Chapter Eight: Bone City — Part 5

Daria moves in while Jon, her muscles taught and rippling under the strain of her compound bow, covers her. It is a careful, awkward moment, one in which the lives of two people hang in the balance. Daria doesn’t have time to think of what to say. She doesn’t want to be a hero. Jon doesn’t want to kill, ChoCho, obviously, isn’t real keen on dying. She doesn’t want to sound like she’s in charge to a man who thinks he has to be. But she doesn’t know any other way. So she lowers her voice, and tries to sound threatening, but the effect is that she ends up sounding sultry with a hint of anger.

“Please, be a doll and disarm.” Daria says quietly, her lips within an inch of the Sheriff’s ear. “I would hate for Jon to lose her title as Paladin because you forced us to kill you, an officer of the law, in defense of the friend of one of the most honorable people I have ever been pleasured by.” Daria pauses uncomfortably, sensing all eyes on her.

“Sheesh.” ChoCho says under his breath, while Jude is muttering something completely incoherent that is accompanied by a smile.

“That came out totally wrong.” Daria starts up insistently. “But it still stands. So, you want to find a better way to solve this problem in the new world, or are we going to get bloody, and keep up appearances from the old.”

“Arpie, I promise, they’re all good kids.” Jude says.

Arpie’s hand is starting to shake with indecision. It’s becoming obvious that he isn’t a man who likes to lose control. So Daria decides for him, cutting his bowstring with a slick knife at the base of the bow, on the inside of the retaining pulley. The string twangs and slips upward, cutting into the sheriff’s fingers while the bow snaps free of his hands, bouncing on the ground, then setting with an almost metallic vibration. The arrow has been knocked from his grip, and has dug itself into the tar, somehow, at his feet. Arpie drops to his knees, screaming in pain, then collapses into a fit of tears, crying the quiet desperation of a broken man, suddenly oblivious to the fact that moments before, he had been considering putting an arrow in ChoCho. Blood trickles down his perfectly ironed pants, staining them permanently. In the time it takes Jon to lower her bow, Teri has stepped in and wrapped his fingers in bandages. Jude moves in next, disarming Arpie of his knife, taser, and can of mace.

“Arpie, love. You’ve always been a handful.” Jude says, helping the Sheriff to stand. “Let me get you back home.” Jude puts Arpie’s good hand over his shoulder, and draws the emotionally strained man to his feet.

“You folks probably need to reunite. Drive on ahead when that’s done. Arpie and I are going to walk in together. Should take about a half an hour.” Jude says. “Try not to be too long, though. Arpie’s going to have a lot of explaining to do, and he’ll need to answer to what he did to ChoCho.”

Jude and Arpie are out of sight in a few moments, leaving Daria, ChoCho, and Jynx in a circle, with Jon and Teri watching the road ahead, while Kevin, Joe, and a gangly young man, take guard of the road behind them. Daria smiles sheepishly, Jynx remains carefully stoic, and ChoCho, despite his pain, seriously resists the urge to punch Daria square in the nose. Jynx helps ChoCho into the passenger seat and starts undoing his boots, the swelling of his left ankle is quite profound.

Under the seat is a first aid kit that Jynx opens on the floor of the truck. Jynx wraps Cho’s ankle in gauze, and then pulls out some thermal packs and breaks them, causing a chemical reaction that creates an instant gel ice pack. She loosely binds the packs to his foot, and then helps him to scoot back on the seat so he can elevate his leg by setting it on a pillow braced on the open passenger side window. Jynx begins treating the minor scratches on ChoCho’s face and hands, checking carefully for more signs of serious injury. At Teri’s prompting, Kevin comes over to help with ChoCho while Jynx unloads and relaxes the crossbows

“Listen Cho,” Daria starts sheepishly.

“That’s ChoCho-San to you.” ChoCho’s indignation creeps into his voice.

“I’m sorry I made a move on your girl.” Daria says.

“So why follow us?” ChoCho is still angry.

“You were the friendliest faces we know that were still alive.” Daria says, choosing to speak only part of the truth behind her intentions.

“But why follow us?” ChoCho repeated, sounding more urgent.

Daria can tell he’s looking for something specific, but freezes, for fear that what she thinks he wants to hear might be the opposite of what he really wants.

“Because we couldn’t follow the people who tried to kill Daria, now could we?” Jon says, shoving her arm into ChoCho’s line of sight.

A pink scar more than six inches long shouts angrily across the inside of her arm. ChoCho reaches out and touches the freshly healed slash, his fingers tracing the wound. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know what to feel.

“Sometimes good people do stupid things, Cho.” Kevin says this kind of quickly. “There was considerable unrest in the crowd on where to travel, and when to travel, all of which had been settled by your presence. That unrest resumed in the early hours of morning after your departure. Daria was attacked in her tent, while still asleep, by the rest of the Black Purse Order, but Jon, Teri, and myself were prepared. In the battle for leadership that followed, a petty despot named Samuel pushed us out. He had united with a man from the Krewe of Linens, who worked hard to push Joe out as well, and I must say Joe played Samuel a bitter blow, working with us while pretending to work against us. In the end, Joe had one ally, the man’s name is Blake, and he’s standing with Joe, watching the road. In the rush to stay alive we stole two trucks and a van and got far onto the road, fast enough that we’d lost them before they could follow.”

“So you got hurt protecting Daria.” ChoCho says.

“Of course. Teri and I love her. She’s family to us.” Jon says.

“So what’s up the road?” Teri asks suddenly.

“Quick Fox Glenn.” ChoCho says. “It’s a bunch of houses around a big circle tree park and surrounded externally by crop fields, bordered by stone walls and chain link fences. A massive steel roof building sits to the North of the fields, enclosed with chain link as well. I saw about 200 people moving around the north end of the complex. I was looking for somebody closer to the southern entrance when Arpie saw me and started shouting insults and threats.”

“So are we together now?” Daria asks politely.

“Yeah, I guess we’d all better stick together.” ChoCho says grudgingly. “Jynx, do you agree?”

“Yes.” Jynx says.

“We’ll go get the van.” Jon says suddenly, motioning for Joe, Kevin, and Blake to follow her.

“Then we’d best get up to the compound.” Jynx says. “Cho, dear, rest easy, we’ll have you taken care of soon enough.”

ChoCho isn’t thinking about his ankle. He isn’t really even thinking about Jynx, who is so careful not to let her emotions for Daria slip out. He isn’t worried about Arpie or Jude, or even Gryph, who are up the road and out of sight. If he were the jealous type, he would be worried about Daria, because even though she’s trying hard to keep her emotions in check, it’s obvious to ChoCho that she fosters some kind of love for Jynx, and that Jynx might well have the same kind of emotion to return. What has come to his attention is Kevin. Kevin, who is worrying over him, trying to help him get more comfortable. Kevin, whose pale skin and hair smell warm, like amber, but look and feel cool as ice.

“Hi,” Kevin says gently, his voice strained and higher pitched than most young men his age, “My name’s Kevin.”

“I know.” ChoCho says. “You’re Daria’s boy.”

“And you’re the one Jynx loves.” Kevin says.

ChoCho stares into Kevin’s eyes, a deep hazel green set in skin that has just enough tan to it to hide the smaller veins. His hair is accented with shades of straw that make him a darker side of blonde, his face isn’t chiseled in shape so much as polished and defined. ChoCho then looks away, closing his eyes. Kevin is suddenly confused, but Jynx isn’t worried, because it is apparent to her that ChoCho has simply had enough. At some point, everybody who needs to be seated must be, because Jynx starts the engine, and the truck starts heading up the road, toward Quick Fox Glenn. Jynx hasn’t missed ChoCho’s curious expression, and the trace of a smile that has finally settled onto his lips. Some of the worries Jynx has felt start to dissolve, and for the first time in months, Jynx feels the tiniest spark of an emotion that is something almost like hope.

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