Magical Mystery Tour

Chapter Twenty: John's POV

John's POV-
"John!" I heard. I didn't wanna wake up. "John, please, I'm all by myself and I'm scared. Please, George was dragged off somewhere and they took Beatrice too! Please come and help me!" I made a face and adjusted my position under my thin blanket. I'd only been asleep a few hours after Stryker took watch. Needless to say, I didn't wanna get up yet.
"Lilly I'm trying to sleep." I grumbled.
"Please?" Lilly pleaded. I sat up and looked around with a gasp. I was in the woods like I have been for the past two nights. Lilly wasn't there. Just Serena. She'd come to talk to me before I went to sleep and we ended up sharing her blanket. She stirred a bit, but didn't wake up as I looked around in my still half-asleep daze. Lilly wasn't there. It wasn't for another ten minutes that I realized Lilly wouldn't be there. I only laid back down and turned on my side, looking at Serena. I could see why George liked her. She was pretty and what I knew about her was nice. She was smart and sarcastic. I'd never go for her though, even if George wasn't interested in her. She wasn't really my type in the first place, but she was George's and apparently she was Stryker's type.
I watched her sleep for a while, until she woke up randomly with a jump. I raised my eyebrows at her and she rubbed her eyes. She'd been looking like she felt much better than she had a few days ago.
"I just had a weird dream." She mumbled putting her head against my shoulder. My arm instinctively went around her shoulders and she sighed, "It was about...George?" She didn't sound like she remembered very well.
"Yeah?" I asked as she nuzzled into me a bit, which I didn't expect. She nodded and sniffled.
"Yeah, he was in some room with Beatrice and something happened. Lina and Cindy were in it." She mumbled, sounding like she was falling back to sleep. I thought about that. George and Beatrice locked in a room with Lina and Cindy. Where was Lilly?
"I had a weird dream about Lilly." I responded. Serena looked at me and she frowned, "She was scared because she was left alone in a dark room. Someone had taken George and Beatrice someplace else." Serena suddenly looked very shaken up by the news. She seemed to have made this idea in her head about the dreams and she looked like it was too stupid to speak out loud.
"Rena?" I asked, causing her to look at me funny. I'd never called her that and George only called her that every now and then. Lina was the one to call her that most, but recently she'd barely spoken a word to anyone but Cindy. "You can tell me what you think of it. I might tease you for a bit, but right now I'm bored and I don't wanna go back to sleep." Yes, I was scared of going to sleep. I didn't want to dream those dreams about Lilly anymore.
"I don't want you to tease me even a little bit." Serena whispered closing her eyes, "But I'll tell you anyway." She sighed and sat up. I did too and she leaned against me. "I think our dreams are linked somehow."
"How's that then?" I asked, tiredly. Serena wrapped her arms around me with a shiver.
"Well you said Lilly was left alone without George and Beatrice in your dream and in mine George and Beatrice were with Lina and Cindy, not Lilly." Serena explained, "So maybe it's all happening at the same time."
"Stuff like that doesn't happen, Serena." I said rolling my eyes. She scoffed for some reason and then looked up at me.
"Beatles don't just come back from the dead after they've been shot or dead of lung cancer for so many years either, John." she said with a smug look. She had a point and her theory did make sense, but still...
"Hey so if those dreams happened, then wouldn't Cindy and Lina be there instead of here?" I asked suddenly. Serena sat up and crawled over to the tent. She opened it and found Cindy and Lina asleep on either side of the tent under the blankets.
"Maybe it's going to happen." She whispered as we looked at Cindy and Lina. I shrugged and sat down at the entrance of the tent.
"Maybe." I said back, "But..." Serena sat next to me and pulled her blanket tight around her shoulders.
"What?" She asked getting comfortable.
"Well I've been noticing things...about Cindy and Lina and I can't really share them with you because you'll get mad at me." I said adding the last part quickly.
"Why would I get mad?" Serena asked making a face.
"Because it's your sister and I think there's something suspicious going on between Lina and Cindy!" I said under my breath. Serena made a face before she put her face in her hands.
"No, I'm not mad," She sighed, "I actually, kinda, agree with you a little bit." I raised my eyebrows at her and she shrugged at me.
"Really?" I asked cocking an eyebrow.
"Yeah, really. I've noticed Lina's been acting odd. I started noticing it a while ago." She said looking at her lap.
"How long?" I asked, wondering if this was the longest conversation I'd ever had with Serena.
"Uh, I dunno!" She said shaking her head, "A while...since you crashed my truck I guess." I nodded and thought about how long I'd been taking notice of Lina and Cindy's weird behavior. I couldn't even remember.
"John, we should tell Stryker." Serena said suddenly, "He can figure out what to do."
"No!" I said getting up, "He'll distrust them and try and leave them behind."
"But if they're trying to-"
"What if they aren't?" I asked seriously. I never thought I'd be having this conversation with Serena, "If we're wrong, then your little sister gets left behind? What happens then?" Serena came to sudden realization and sighed.
"You're right." She got up off the ground as Stryker made his way to us.
"We should start packing up. The sun's coming up and we need to be going before whoever's looking for us picks up where we've been." He said seriously. I looked at Serena and she went into the tent to wake up Cindy and Lina. "If we don't stop until late in the afternoon we can make it to Durango and drive the rest of the way to Missouri." I sighed at the thought of our trip only being half over. We really needed to get to George and Lilly. I just hoped we didn't have for to go once we made it to Missouri.
After camp was packed up, we walked for a long time. Well into the day and into the afternoon when the heat was starting to get bad. In reality it had only been about a week and a half since this all started, but it felt like forever. In that week, spring seemed to hit and instead of it being a tad cold during the day it was warmer and breezy, today it wasn't breezy at all. It was just hot.
We walked until sunset when we made it to Durango, Colorado. Serena seemed happy to be able to sit down and still be able to make progress, and I was glad I didn't have to deal with walking and then making camp and then taking down again. It got annoying after a while.
We didn't have anything eventful in Durango happen. We got a white van that Lina called a 'creeper van' and then we all climbed in. Stryker said he was driving and Serena went head and said I wasn't allowed to drive at all, no matter what, and Stryker agreed out of spite. I was stuck in the back with Cindy and Lina while Stryker drove and Serena sat in the front next to him.
As it started to get late, everyone went to sleep. Well all except me. I didn't want to have any dreams of Lilly, and if I dreamed about something else, it could end up much much worse. I watched Lina and Cindy sleep instead, wondering what they were planning, if anything. Why they were keeping secrets from us? What were they? I eventually left those thoughts alone and looked at Serena, who was also asleep. But she had her head placed nicely on Stryker's shoulder as he drove and it got me a bit mad. I knew she liked George, but I didn't know she liked Stryker all that much. But not even a week ago I'd seen her cuddle up to George like that and I suddenly wondered if she ever meant anything by it. Stryker looked at me in the rear view mirror and he sighed.
"Listen Lennon," he said, "I'm not trying to cause any trouble. I'm just trying to help, and sometimes I get a bit carried away."
It was a bit random, but I took his apology. I didn't apologize to him, you know, since I didn't do anything to apologize for. I nodded and shrugged, "When do we get to the lovely Louise Harrison's house?"
"Around ten hours." Stryker said, "If we can keep driving all night we should be there by tomorrow."
I nodded. This was good news. We were almost there. We just had to make it ten more hours. Only ten. I fell asleep repeating that over and over in my head. I didn't wake up until I felt someone shaking me.
"John!" It was Lilly's voice again. I really needed to stop having these dreams. "John, please hurry! I'm really scared now!" I sat up and looked at Serena who looked a bit worried.
"You OK?" She asked grabbing her backpack, which she'd actually carried with her since we started all this. I nodded and got out of the van, which had stopped someplace. As I got out I looked around and found we were at a house in the middle of an empty looking neighborhood.
"We here?" I asked as Stryker spoke to a woman on the front porch of a little house. Serena leaned against the van and sighed.
"Think so." She said. I thought maybe she was watching Louise Harrison, you know sister of a Beatle? But she wasn't. She was staring at Stryker. And it hit me that she really did like him. After all the crap he put her through and all the things he'd said and did, she still liked him. I guessed maybe that's how she felt about me in a way. I was a pretty terrible guy the first time I was around and here she was, still not hating me.
I cleared my throat and looked around for Lina and Cindy. They were sitting in the van whispering. I had to make sure I kept an eye on them.
As we all walked up to the front door, dirty and tired, Louise Harrison looked at me and nodded. "John. It's been quite a while." I was grateful she didn't go for the 'You're supposed to be shot dead!' thing, since that was getting pretty annoying, but that wasn't really the greeting I was expecting.
"I agree." I responded as we all managed to get inside.
She gave me a soft smile before she turned to the rest of the group, "OK, I have three bathrooms. Girls can have the one upstairs and the one down here, boys since there's only two of you, you can have the one down the hall. Now go get washed up and then you can tell me the full story of what's going on over dinner."
I raised my eyebrows and Serena giggled before she called first dibs on the shower. This shouldn't be so bad. Better then the woods anyway.