To Be A Hero

Chapter 63: Bed of Lies

"Ah, there it is." Sam sighs, looking out of the window of the van. "Man, I haven't been here since I was a kid. What's the news from New Canton?"

"At the time the transmission cut, they'd lost more than 100 people setting up the distraction that got us through the cordon," Janine replies, and I feel a stab of guilt hit me in the gut.

"We'd better make it count then," Maxine says. "If there's something in there that the Minister wants more than anything, I want to take it from her. Whatever it is, if there's power for her, we will take it."

We open the doors to the van, all of us but Sam stepping out. I can hear the ocean waves, smell the salt of the sea, taste it even.

"It's been awhile since I've gone out to the ocean," I say. "Last time I think I was around the water was..."

I trail off. When I was under Moonchild's control... When I blew up Comansys, that's the last time I was around the ocean.

"Right," Sam says, drawing out the word, poking his head out of the open window. "Okay. Things I know about this place: over there, there are three witch's fingers, poking up out of the cliff. Spooky, right? They're supposed to have been Celtic or something. A bunch of archaeologists came here when I was a kid. They'd done imagining and knew that there was some interesting sealed caverns in a labyrinth pattern out under the ocean with passageways leading inland. But every time they tried to get into one of the passageways, it filled with water."

"And your hypothesis is that the diagram we thought showed a honeycomb is actually a map to the labyrinth, and the marker in the Viking metalwork shows a place where we could break through?" Janine guesses, and she gets a shrug in reply.

"Worth a shot if the final piece of the cure is down there, which is what everyone, including Sigrid, seems to think."

"The headland's been falling into the sea for centuries," Maxine says. "Can't take any vehicles out there. Too risky. We have to run."

Janine nods, then looks at Sam. "You have to stay here, Mr. Yao. Be our ears and eyes. Use the equipment to monitor the caves and sea level."

He nods quickly, nervously.

Janine looks at us with molten eyes and a smile made for war. "Runners, let's move."

We head off towards the headland, and after what felt like hours out there in that van, it feels good to run, good to move. I'm anxious and scared, but also slightly happy, excited. I try to focus on that, focus on the good instead of worrying about the bad. We're okay for now. Everything's going well.

We've got here, and that's pretty good since Sigrid has been so focused on stopping us, on caging us in. It's disgusting to know what people will do in order to cover up their own sins. Although I guess I shouldn't say much. I did try to kill Summer at one point, so she couldn't turn me in to the Torrencers for what I've told others.

But I didn't kill millions of people. I didn't replicate an ancient disease and set it lose on the world. I just wonder what could possibly be the goal for that? Why would you do that? Just why?

The question echoes in my mind, but I get no answer. Not from Moonchild, and not from Archie or Sarah...

I haven't really heard anything from the last two in awhile anyway, not since Moonchild came in, actually. I wonder if her being here in my brain has done something to effect the visions and how they work. They might have. I think it would be interesting, but it also seems very scary. I'm able to resist her control now, if only for a few minor actions, but that doesn't mean I'm not afraid of her, or afraid of myself.