Gemini

Chapter 16* Complications

Chapter 16* Complications

My teeth grit and I feel my hands curl into fists. What the hell? This is something I do not need right now. I just don’t think I can stand days of her whining and bitching and sucking up to Sam- even if she was really nice to me. No. I don’t want to spend my-possibly- last days seeing the guy I like snogging another girl.

“You can’t,” I blurt out without thinking.

“Why not?” Zoey is looking at me with tearful eyes, her lower lip wobbling pathetically. Floundering, my mouth opens and closes like a goldfish.

“You just- can’t.”

Lamest. Answer. Ever.

Ignoring me, Zoey turns back to Atermis. “Atermis, please! How do you expect me to sit here and wait for the man I love to come back, with his shield or on it? I’m a warrior too, I can’t just sit here and wait!”

Atermis sighs, looking annoyed. “I’m sorry, Zoey. But Sam and Kayla have been specially picked to carry out this important task. I can’t just let anybody go.”

“Atermis,” Zoey says pleadingly. “Please do this for me.”

I think that was the point Atermis lost her patience, because her mouth tightened and she wrenches her hand out of Zoey’s grip. The next words that come out of her mouth are harsh, even for her.

“You are not included in this equation. Now leave, before I blast you into sorry pieces.”

Way to go, Atermis. Zoey, on the other hand, backs off immediately, the tears spilling over, and she runs out of the room, bursting through the door with loud sobs. Sam makes a move to go after her, but Atermis stops him with a word.

“That little vixen’s not worth it, Sam, and it would be against your better judgment to run after her.”

“I can’t just leave her to cry, Atermis.” Everyone sighed- typical Sam.

“Yes, you can. Now sit with Kayla over here. You two will stay in this room while essentials are being packed for you. You will leave first thing in the morning.” With that, the two gods sweep out- or rather, Atermis sweeps out while Apollo struts- and Charles gives Sam a soft look before leaving with everyone else trailing behind.

The door shuts, leaving me alone with Sam.

“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it.

“It’s okay.” He sighs. “I just didn’t think it’d be so abrupt, you know? I thought we could finally settle here.” He sighs again.

I didn’t know he thought that way. Cocking my head to the side, I survey the room, my eyes falling on a dish of fruits. I walk over to it, grabbing an apple, and toss one to him.

“Eat up.” He does with a grateful glance at me.

After the apple has been devoured to the core, he looks up at me, where I am still nibbling on my apple. We are both trapped in an uncomfortable silence that hadn’t ever been there- at least, not before Zoey.

“We’re going to get back, you know,” I tell him, just to break the silence. “You’re going to get back to Zoey.”

“I hope.”

We sit there for a little while more, letting the surroundings soak in. Both of us know it might be our last, our last time living, now that the weight of the world was upon our shoulders. Nothing else matters anymore. We might die, we might live- we just had to save the world.

“Even if we do,” I murmur, “it’s not going to change anything.”

“Hmm?”

“I said,” I say, louder, “that even if we do save this earth, it’s not going to change anything.”

“That’s wrong, Kayla. How do you know that?”

“Look at us!” I cry. “We are thirty people strong! People like Farah, fifty years old, how long do you think they’ll last out in the ravaged world? There are children who are barely three. They cannot survive out there. They have enough difficulty here, as it is.”

Sam is silent for a while, as he thinks my words over. And then he says, so quietly I can barely hear him, “Anything is better than the state we are in now.”

Humanity has been reduced to such a crumbling nothingness. They are fools to think that finding Gemini will ever change anything. Rubbing my face tiredly, I throw my apple in the bin. “Goodnight, Sam.”

“Goodnight, Kayla.”

It seems all too soon that morning arrived. Someone came in to take us, and I trudge with heavy footsteps through the winding corridor to the dining hall, where Sam and I are taken to a makeshift stage.

Atermis is already there, dressed in a green shift. Her eyes are emotionless as she surveys everyone who is already gathered there. Judging from their puzzled and curious expressions, it is pretty obvious they don’t have a clue.

Atermis fills them in and I watch with barely any excitement as their faces turn from awe, to shock, to happiness. And me? I just wanted to be out there, fighting.

And then the times comes for us to leave. Sam and I are each given a backpack containing essential items and a simple map to get us to Gemini’s dwelling (heck, I felt like Dora the Explorer) and everyone goes to the mouth of the cave where we stumbled in that very first day. It felt like months ago.

As Sam waves goodbye, someone bursts out of the crowd and launches herself into his arms. I know who it is without needing to get a proper look at her face. They kiss passionately, in front of everyone, and I’m thinking how awkward it was when Jeremy emerged out of the crowd, his hands stuffed adorably in his pockets and his cheeks flaming red.

“Uh, bye, Kayla.” He leans over and envelopes me in a warm, tight hug. I much preferred that to a kiss, at any extent. Admittedly though, the hug lasted a little longer than it should have.

“This isn’t goodbye, okay?” Jeremy says gruffly. I have a feeling he’s crying. “Come back and I’ll feed you chicken.”

“If you can catch them in the woods,” I say with a soft chuckle. “They’re much too fast.” He flicks me affectionately on the nose. “We’ll see.”

Sam and Zoey break apart and that is my cue to leave. Shoulders set in determination, I turn without waving goodbye because I know I will cry and I hate goodbyes anyway. I just know I have to succeed.

But it stays in my mind, how this can be the very last time I am walking this path.

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Okay first up let me apologize for this lame shortness and rubbish that I've given you. I just felt I had to upload cuz I haven't for so long. I really hate Zoey and for some reason I think I'm crossing over to team Jeremy. 

My plan for this story is in shatters. I have no idea where it went and I'm too lazy too go find it. So it's just me and my brain from now on! 

Stick with me guys, and don't forget to tell Granny Abbey what you think!