Magical Mystery Tour

Chapter Eighteen: John's POV

John's POV-
"Please can we take a break?" Serena panted. She still wasn't completely healed and I could tell she was trying her best to hang in there, but she couldn't take much more if we didn't stop for a bit.
"Stryker." I growled, "We need to stop."
"We can't stop, Lennon." Stryker said. Serena had started off up front with Stryker. She slowly fell back to Lina and then to Cindy and now she was starting to lag behind me.
"Well Serena's not doing so hot," I said looking over to her. She didn't even look up.
"Well we have a long way to go and it'll take us at least five days. We can rest when we get to Colorado." Stryker said. I gritted my teeth when he didn't even turn around. If he would just look at the poor girl and see she couldn't go any farther. He didn't though and Serena tripped and fell.
"Serena," I said picking her up off the ground, "C'mon, you can do it."
"I can't John." She said, out of breath, "I just need a rest." She was leaning heavily on my shoulder as we walked, and I couldn't just let her suffer.
"OK, stop here for a second." I said. I took off my pack and I put it on Serena's back before I made her put her arms around my neck. "Can you jump?" She did as she was told and I started piggy backing her some of the way. I caught up to Stryker and he looked at Serena. She was nearly passed out, but still he refused to stop.
"You can't really expect us to walk for five days without a break." I said, "Serena is still ill and you're pushing her too hard. Lina and Cindy are just as exhausted I'm sure. We need a break."
Stryker didn't look at me again. "We'll stop at sun down and spend the night wherever we end up." He said finally. "Happy?" He glared at me and it only seemed to make me dislike him more. Even more than that I didn't trust him the longer we were with him.
I ended up carrying Serena until we stopped. She was exhausted and she looked even worse than before.
We stooped at a clearing in the woods. Stryker was making a fire and I was supposed to be setting up a tent, but Serena seemed to need more attention. Lina and Cindy weren't doing anything so I got them to set up the tent.
"Serena, can you hear me?" I asked putting her down. She looked at me tiredly and she sighed, "Are you alright?"
"I think so." She said before she started to cough.
"Get her some water, John." Stryker said from the fire he was producing. I nearly told him to bugger off, but he was right. I got out one of the many water bottles we had and I gave it to Serena. She drank from it and leaned back against a tree.
"Thank you John." She said weakly, "You didn't have to do that." She ran her fingers through her hair, which was falling down around her face.
"I know, but I figured you'd wanna see Georgie when we found him and he'd kill me if I let you fall behind, never to be seen again." I said jokingly. Serena gave a small laugh and she handed me the water bottle. She only drank half of it.
"Here, John. You've got to be worse off than the rest." She said, "Have the rest of mine." I took it and drank it before Stryker walked up and offered Serena some food. It was just a sandwich of some sort, but Serena took it with a thank you.
"Yours is over there by the fire, Lennon." Stryker said. I got up and walked over to where Cindy and Lina were talking.
"I don't think they suspect us anymore. They shouldn't." I heard Cindy mumble. Lina nodded along and bit into her sandwich.
"Oh hi John." Lina said, "Is Serena alright?" I narrowed my eyes at her and sat down.
"Yeah she just needs some rest." I said, deciding to let it slide for now. "She'll be OK I think."
"Good." Lina said. No one spoke for a long time, but I could hear Stryker talking to Serena nearby. He seemed to like her, but the way he acted earlier made me think otherwise.
"Are you sure you're OK?" I heard him ask gently.
"I'm fine." Serena responded gently, "Really. I'm just a bit worn out."
"Well you're going to be after what happened." Stryker said.
"You could have given her a rest you know." I said without turning around to look at them.
"What?" Stryker growled.
"I said you could've let us stop for ten minutes." I said with a scowl. Stryker got up and naturally so did I. "I wouldn't have had to carry Serena all afternoon, and we would still probably be right here right now anyway."
"Well maybe I made a promise to someone to get our missing back!" Stryker said getting a bit loud.
"So? You'll end up losing more people than you're going to save if you push someone too hard!" John hollered, "Serena was nearly left behind because you decided you didn't want to stop."
"She was fine!" Stryker yelled, "She even said she's fine now!"
"Yeah, no thanks to you!" John yelled back.
"Do you wanna get George back or not?" Stryker asked, still very loudly. John only glared at him and he took a step back, "No of course not! You're only worried about getting the other girl back."
"Her name is Lilly and that's not true!" I said, becoming rather angry now, "Yes, I want to get them back, but you know as well as I do that if Serena doesn't make it to save George than George will beat you to a bloody pulp because something happened to her, and you were the one who let it happened!"
Stryker knew I was right. He knew he couldn't argue with that. I knew he liked Serena, but I also knew George liked Serena and I knew what George was like when he liked a girl, especially if something happened to her. I'd seen that before, and it wasn't a joyous occasion.
I raised my eyebrows at Stryker, waiting for him to say something back to me. I was sure I'd won the argument when I looked away from him. That was apparently a bad idea because as soon as my eyes locked on Serena, she gasped and I was on the ground. Stryker had hit me! He punched me in the face!
I quickly got up and hit him back. I heard Serena yell at us to stop, but he started it and I wasn't just gonna let that go.
"Both of you stop it!" Serena yelled pulling at my arm, "John! You're both being ridiculous!"
I hit Stryker in the nose and he stumbled enough for me to advance on him better. Only I didn't get a chance to because Serena suddenly gasped and collapsed on the ground. I stopped and turned to look at her. Stryker scrambled over to her and he couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong with her.
"I don't understand." He said shaking his head as he tried to find a reason for Serena to fall unconscious.
"Move." I said knocking him out of the way. I looked over Serena and found nothing wrong. She was totally fine. It was then that I realized it was totally silent and mostly completely dark. I looked at Stryker and he seemed to notice it as well. The fire had gone out and Cindy and Lina were missing.
"Shit!" I mumbled getting up, "Now we've managed to lose Lina and Cindy."
"Sh." Stryker said putting his finger to his lips. I looked back at him and Serena was sitting up.
"What just happened?" She asked putting her hand to her forehead.
"We don't know, but we've lost Lina and Cindy." I said looking around.
"I'll go look for-"
"No, you stay here." I said seriously. I walked toward the woods and started to go looking for Cindy and Lina, but Stryker didn't seem to like that all too much.
"Are you joking? I'll find them faster and-"
"Look I'm the oldest here. Now you better quit trying to boss me around! I'm going to look for Cindy and Lina so you better shut your gob and stay with Serena!" I hollered. Serena got up and grabbed my arm.
"I'm going too." She said seriously. I shook my head and pushed her to sit down.
"No, you just passed out for no reason. Stay here."
"But Lina's out there!" Serena said worriedly, "She's my little sister-"
"And I'll find her." I said gently, "Stay here and make sure Stryker stays here as well?" I said with an untrustworthy glance at him. Serena nodded and I walked into the woods.
"Cindy!" I whispered loudly, "Lina where are you!?" There wasn't an answer and I didn't have a flashlight.
"C'mon Cin! Lina!" I called a bit louder, "Serena's wigging out back at the tent! Where are you?"
"Over here!" Lina called. I ran over to her and she and Cindy were trying to apparently find the way back to the tent.
"Everything went black and we were trying to find you guys again," Lina said sounding scared, "But we just kept getting further and further away!"
"Take us back, John!" Cindy whimpered clutching onto my hand. I nodded and pulled them back to the camp where Serena and Stryker were sitting trying to start up the fire. It was surprisingly warm out, compared to everywhere we've been, but I wasn't sure we'd need a fire all that badly. I was a little worried it would draw something unwanted to us.
"I don't think that's such a god idea." I said sitting down. Serena got up and walked to her sister, making sure she was alright. There was still something off about Lina and Cindy though. Why had they been wandering around alone?
"What will we do for warmth then, Genius?" Stryker asked, looking a bit pissed off.
"We have blankets." I said rolling my eyes, "And we can all sleep in the tent. It won't kill any of us to be a bit crowded. Besides it's warm out anyway." I picked up my pack and pulled out four blankets.
"Who's sharing?" Serena asked sitting back down next to me. I looked at Stryker and he snatched one and walked away.
"Not him." I said rolling my eyes, "And you shouldn't. You've still gotta get all your strength back."
"But I also need to be warm and I think that sharing with someone would be warmer than being by myself. I'll share with Lina." She said taking a blanket and walking over to Lina. I gave Cindy her blanket and then pulled mine over my shoulders. Someone had to keep watch and if Stryker was pissed, and the girls were asleep, then I guess that meant me.