A great storm rolls in. With it comes a bat with bullet holes in it's wings swinging past the bolts of lightning by forcing air to push against itself. The bat squeaks and it's found it. An old farm. It swoops into a hover, then plops down under a lonely tree. It fumbles into it's pouch and rolls out a stone. It stops, leaning against the tree. Blades of grass engulf the stone and pull it under the ground. The bat wooshes away and a season flies on by.
The sun's rays beet down on Jean, she wipes a bead of sweat away. She jumps as a gunshot goes off. She runs towards it and Jack fires off another shot. Her body trembles as she remembers the past few months. Mama Hearth shouts, "That hurts my ears Jack!" He lowers the pistol and turns to them, "There was a fox sneaking up!" Jean grabs her arm and sighs deep.
Mama waves her hands at him, "You know they never get too close to the farm." He rolls his eyes, "But what if-" "No buts! Take over for Jean!" His shoulders drop down, then his arms almost touch the ground, "Come on now, don't gimme lip!" He groans and mopes off, "Fine." Mama walks over with her cane and lays her hand on her, Jean shuts her eyes tight, "It's alright, Jean." An old truck drives into the farm's long road.
"You don't have to talk about it, Jean. I just hope you can heal." She walks off towards the Farmhouse, but Jean clenches her fists and tears roll down her cheek, flashes of bloodied men, women and children in her head. She suddenly wipes her hands slowly down her face. She slowly walks over to a lonely tree. The quakes Diesel had unleashed upon Ferron had wriggled deep, everywhere but places like this. A cross lies hammered into the ground. "D+E"
Jean's back hugs the tree, her hands gliding through the blades of grass. Her lips tremble, but finally grips her knees. "Hey Diesel. I-" Her voice cracks, "Everything's getting so much worse out there." She looks down, "Or is the storm cloud only over me?" She sighs, "It's not only you, Jean- I get it but- Just any loud noise sets me off since you- It was even hell, getting here." She pats the ground as she forces a smile, "Well, thanks for listening, tree."
The car door slams and Norbert jumps down. He walks down the makeshift market, defended by an American Convoy. On signposts hold pictures of fugitives and their portraits. Jean, Mama, Jack are all there. Norbert grasps his hidden pistol as a woman stops to his side. "It's a real shame." He sighs, "Yeah, they're trying to-" She points and smiles, "I just hope they find those victims soon." He glances up, above the criminals, pictures and pictures of missing people. "Yeah, but what about the criminals?" She smiles, "Oh, a demon saved my son." He turns and looks deep into her eyes with a smile, "Really?" She stares back, but Norbert follows down her body to her fingers, stiff and unmoving. "Yeah, he was so strong. Stones shot out his hands." Norbert tears off a paper and walks away from her instantly. He buys a couple things, then goes directly back towards the farm.
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As he drives, the paper keeps staring back at him, "What the hell are you doing in Britain, Queen?" He stops on the side of the road and hops out for a cigarette. "And then there's Rose. Jean is not the best caretaker since Diesel leveled Washington. It was hell getting back here, too.", he thought.
Something whooshes past in the grass and Norbert pulls out his gun and knife. "Can't even have-" It leaps out, he sidesteps and jerks the barrel to the armored lizard's exposed stomach. "-a talk with myself.", he growls as four bullets rip into the lizard. It lands and Norbert jumps over a swinging tail. He jerks one of it's rocky plates up and stabs deep into it's neck. He twists and jerks it out. He pats the downed creature and hops back in the truck. He looks out into the grass, more tall weeds get trampled as the engine whimpers. He growls, "Come on." More trails of weeds get trampled as the engine roars. He stomps on the gas and rubs his hand into the steering wheel, "That's the stuff."
A day later, Jack sits down next to the tree. A sudden thought to touch the blades of grass crosses his mind and he does. He closes his eyes, a smile is forced upon his face. He questions the feeling, but only for a moment. "Ugh. I can't wait till I'm older. I want to kill those evil Americans." In the farmhouse, Mama spits out the tea she took from a store a month back. Jack continues, "That's what Diesel would want. If they don't let me, I'll just run away." Mama marches outside without her cane and hobbles to the tree. "Jack!" He jumps in his skin as she pants. "Don't you run away! Norbert said they have your picture!" He presses his lips together, but she has none of it, "No, Jack. Tell me what's going on. Now." Mama watches his heart race, he suddenly leaps and hugs her tight, "Mama, they're killing kids!" Her veins pop through her clenched leathery hands as she hugs him back, "I know, kid.", she grumbles. Suddenly, she smiles at the tree.
"Markus!" I gasp awake and a pencil flies out my hands, my hands reach out to grab it, but that just flicks it further away. Kaylin squints, "You were in some kind of trance. You ok?" "I'm okay." I wipe my face with both hands, "Well, hurry. The dropship's here." Where was that place? I clench my teeth and shut my eyes tight. Past the dead lizard, a toppled sign reads "Jaggentide Farm" in glowing letters that faded ever since- A lizard runs towards me and I jump in my skin. My eyes open and I'm back here on the ship. I shake my head and sigh, "Ever since Tesyn." Another episode comes on and my body goes stiff. Kaylin waves past my face and shrugs. "I can't move, Kaylin. Please move me below." Kaylin sighs, "Give me names."
He stares into my glowing blue eyes as they dart from place to place. "Jaggentide Farm, Jack, Mama Hearth and Norbert." He points at me, "This better not be a shitshow."