Enter Julian.
Tall, pale man, only nineteen years of age but he has seen far more than most will in their lifetime. He is formidable, intimidating, with blazing blue eyes. And he knows: the boy is far more powerful than anyone realizes. Protecting him is his mission, but, no matter what he does, he fears. For if the darkness reaches the boy, all is lost.
Enter Diego.
Your normal kid. Almost.
A blue streak cuts through his otherwise dark hair. He was orphaned a year ago - his parents died in a car crash. Since then, he's been adopted by three strange guys (Julian, Diego, Chris), barely older than him. They're truly puzzles, with nothing in common. Today is his sixteenth birthday, and things just got weird.
Not only did he catch the three guys discussing him outside his bedroom, Julian just forced them all into a car to go God knows where. After a near-death experience due to a mental breakdown (courtesy of Julian), Diego is still none the wiser about what's happening around him.
The only answer he's been given? "This is important. Like, really important. Way over your head and mine sort of important. But it's not something we can discuss here."
* * *
I'm not entirely sure when I fell asleep, but when I awoke, it was well past noon. I tilted my head to look out the window for a few moments, but found nothing familiar. It was obvious that we'd gone a long way in the time that I'd been asleep. I yawned loudly, announcing to the other guys that I was awake, but they didn't say anything. I figured they'd learned their lesson the first few times, and were just giving me the silent treatment to avoid any questions they didn't want to answer. Or perhaps they were still getting over Julian's earlier breakdown.
I didn't understand it. Any of it. Even afterwards, when Julian had braked and everyone seemed to realize I was there, there was a lot of tension in the air. Tension that signalled uncertainty, and, well, secrets. They were keeping something from me, and I knew it, even before they'd openly stated that they couldn't tell me whatever it was outright. What were they expecting me to do before they shared this 'grand secret?' Roll over and play dead for them? Sure, I could do tricks if I really wanted to, but I'm not a dog of any kind. Whatever it was that they were waiting for me to do, it needed to happen soon before the situation drove me crazy. And if that happened, Julian's breakdown will look like nothing compared to mine.
For a few minutes, I just let the silence be, giving myself time to think things over. I'd have to be careful when I spoke. If I said something wrong, they might decide not to tell me anything ever. I ran over the possibilities in my head, trying to figure out how each person would react to the questions I could ask. Where were we? What weren't they telling me? I wanted to know the answers to these questions badly, but, if there's one thing I knew about them, it's that they don't respond well to direct questions about things they don't want to talk about. I'd have to be less direct, or at least start that way. So, I smiled, and simply said, "Guys, I'm hungry."
For a few moments, silence, and then Chris began to laugh. I grinned with him like I always did, and, for a few seconds, the car actually seemed comfortable. The tension in the air disappeared within seconds, and, though Damion didn't join our laughter this time, something actually felt a lot brighter. I mean, we'd been driving for a reason I still didn't know, to a completely unfamiliar place. There was no explanation, and no destination. When we'd gotten in the car the first time, it definitely hadn't been like this. The atmosphere had been thick and tense. And now… now, I was quite happy the way it was.
"Hey, Julian, you heard the kid," Chris spoke, poking his friend gently. "I don't think he's the only one who's hungry either. I mean, Damion's always hungry. And you didn't even let me eat breakfast. Maybe we should pull over somewhere and get something to eat."
"Yeah, maybe," Julian agreed quietly. I looked at him curiously. He still wasn't exactly alright, not after what had happened earlier. He still had a slightly defeated aura, and I could sense a little bit of fear from him. What was he afraid of? There wasn't much that could harm us at that moment. We were pretty much safe in the car, considering we were going faster than anyone could run (well, as far as I knew, anyway), and there wasn't anything chasing us. Whatever the reason, we didn't pull over.
There wasn't exactly a place to pull over, anyway. No matter how hungry I was - or was pretending to be - there didn't seem to be anything down the road we were on, save for the occasional farm. We'd be in the car for a while before we had any chance to get edibles, I knew, but it was better to talk about food than anything. Food was a safe topic; it would keep me in their good books for a little while. Still, no one continued speaking after Julian's words. They had been too quiet, too withdrawn - that wasn't like him, and it worried me. I guessed that it worried the others, because they seemed more on edge than normal. The tension was back again. No matter how hard I tried to repel it, it always seemed to want to return. Great.
We drove in a silence for a few more minutes, before it became clear that something was wrong. The car was slowing down, and, knowing Julian, it wasn't on purpose. That guy basically had a lead foot; he couldn't help pressing down the gas pedal more and more, forcing the car to go at higher speeds. But, instead of going faster, we were doing quite the opposite. It wasn't long before we'd slowed to almost a crawl. Annoyed, Julian pulled the car to the side of the road just as the car sputtered and stopped moving completely.
"Um, what the heck?" I asked, looking between the three guys. Damion looked slightly amused by the situation, but I didn't really get it. At least, until I looked at the gas meter. The needle was below 'E'. We were running on fumes, I realized with a smile. The normally great and intelligent Julian had completely forgotten that cars ran on gas. He hadn't been watching the meter at all, I guessed. Then again, none of us did. We must have passed a town or two as we left the city behind, but nobody had noticed. Not once.
I wasn't the only one grinning. Chris was trying hard not to laugh, and even Julian looked a little bit amused. There was still frustration, but even he could see the humour in this stupid situation. What would we do, now? Continue running from… whatever we were running from… on foot?
"Okay, everyone out of the car," Julian ordered, but his tone was light. We all obeyed immediately, glad to be out in the open for a while. I turned away from the guys for a moment, looking out at the scenery around us. Now that I wasn't looking through a car window, it was actually kind of interesting. We'd stopped close to a farm. An old-fashioned farmhouse was surrounded by a fallow field, which in turn was bordered by tall, bright pine trees. I liked the look of them. Everything seemed so peaceful here, so… so perfect.
Of course, my life was never perfect for long. I forced myself to look away from the trees and back at my adopted family, the three guys that had given me everything I'd needed for the past year. They were talking amongst themselves, far quieter than they ever had been before. I couldn't tell if they were arguing or not, but there was an urgency in the way that they were speaking. I might have gone up and forced my way into the conversation if they hadn't all turned at the same time, looking expectantly at me. This was good. At least they might be telling me something - this would be one less confusing secret to deal with on my birthday!
"The car's out of gas," Damion told me quickly. I felt like saying "I know that," but didn't for fear that they'd stop talking entirely. "Um. So, yeah… Chris, feel like talking now?"
I couldn't help but grin at this. Chris looked like a deer caught in headlights for a few seconds, but he shook it off in a few seconds. Behind him, Julian stood impatiently, looking as though he might speak if no one else did, but he kept silent, staring straight at me. I tilted my head curiously, a queue for Chris to start talking some time soon. He flashed a smile before speaking.
"As Damion said, car's out of gas. Guess someone wasn't watching the fuel gauge. That's okay, that's not really a problem. We're gonna have to keep walking. Our best bet is probably through those fields, there might be a town around here somewhere."
"Wait," I cut in, confused. "You don't actually know? Dude, we could be wandering around, completely lost and we wouldn't even know it."
"Yeah, but that's a risk we'll have to take," Julian spoke now before anyone else could. "I remember this area relatively well. It's been a while since I've been down this road, but that's alright. We're gonna have to go through the field if we want to find a town, because I can tell you that this highway doesn't connect straight to a town for a while. We might have to camp overnight in the field. It won't be that bad, though."
"Wait," I said again. "So you're telling me that we're gonna go across some random person's field, probably sleep there, and all that? On my birthday? I thought maybe we'd go do something fun, but…"
"Diego, we don't have time for this. You don't understand…"
"Explain it to me, I'm listening." I kind of even surprised myself when I said that. I mean, nobody really challenged Julian. He might have been the youngest (well, besides me) but he was the authority figure. But seriously, I was getting tired of the whole 'Diego-can't-know' act they had. Sometimes I was okay with them being secretive, especially if it didn't concern me and I really wouldn't have wanted to know in the first place, but this was starting to get old. I stared pointedly at the guys as they looked between one another. I could feel a little bit of guilt coming from them.
It was an odd feeling, like they were transferring some of that guilt to me. It didn't make sense. I've always had a bit of a skill for reading people's emotions, even if I didn't want to, but I'd never really felt anyone else's guilt like this. It was as confusing as everything else. I shook my head in attempt to clear it, and thankfully the guilt washed away. Yet I still stared at the guys, who still didn't seem to know what to say.
"We should get going," Julian decreed finally. "Come on. Chris, grab some food from the back. Damion, get whatever you think we might need. Diego, I don't know, get something you might find useful. We should get going so we can find a place to sleep before it gets dark. We want camp set up before the sun goes down - definitely not after."
I stared at him as everyone else started to move. He'd brushed me off so quickly, like I hadn't even said anything! I was annoyed, to say the least, but still I did as I was told. There wasn't much in the car. I hadn't even noticed that we'd brought food, but as far as I knew the car had stopped during the time that I was asleep. Either way, there wasn't much interesting in the car besides one of my favourite books, and I knew better than to bring it. I'd probably lose it and then, when we got back to the car, I really would have nothing. But I was lucky enough to find a few dollars stuck behind the seat. I grabbed them quickly, putting the coins in my pocket in case I ever needed the money. I didn't think Julian would mind; he never went in the back seat, anyway. The money here had probably been mine at one point.
When I closed the car door, it seemed like everybody was waiting on me. I rolled my eyes but walked up to them anyway. I could have stalled longer, I guess, but it wouldn't have helped anything. Julian had said we needed camp before nightfall. I didn't want to be stuck in the middle of a field that, in turn, was in the middle of nowhere, during the night. Unfamiliar territory combined with the inability to see? That was a deadly combination right there.
"We'll be going this way," Julian told me, pointing towards some of the trees. "Beyond the row of pines. I think there's a field on the other side. We'll probably end up camping there for tonight. We'll have a while to set up camp and get firewood or whatever else we need, it shouldn't take us more than an hour or two to get over there. Ready, guys?"
Everyone nodded simultaneously. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again. With a nod from Julian himself, we started walking through the field. It was strangely easy to trespass. I'd never really been the kind to cut across anyone's yard, let alone a farmer's field, but I didn't feel guilty for doing it. It was actually kind of fun.
The fun wore off in a while, though. My legs were starting to get tired. No matter how small it seemed, the farmer's field wasn't exactly too tiny. By the time we even made it to the trees, everyone was panting. No one had spoken for the last twenty minutes. We'd spent all our time making sure we weren't tripping and concentrating on our walking. It was boring, really, but it gave me time to think.
It took us about two hours to find a place that Julian actually liked. We might have stopped earlier, but he insisted that we stay in the middle of the field. Don't ask me why. I had absolutely no idea. He'd said something about not wanting to light the trees on fire, but that answer didn't even make sense. By the time we'd found a spot he liked, the sun had started it slow trek back down. I was immediately tasked with getting some firewood.
For a moment, I felt like saying no. After all, we'd just walked two hours because he hadn't bothered to look at the gas. But then again, I didn't want to make a tired Julian angry. So I just took the assignment and started the slow walk back towards the woods. Fortunately, it didn't take quite so long to get back to the trees now that I knew the best route and I was alone. There wasn't much for firewood here, considering that the strip of wood was only one or two trees across in most places, but it would have to do. There were plenty of twigs on the ground for me to grab, and thus I did, allowing myself to be a bit picky about which ones I picked and which I didn't. It wouldn't kill to take a little while longer if it meant getting some good wood.
When I was sure that I couldn't pick up any more of the twigs without dropping them, I started the hike back to camp. It was a lot harder to navigate the field with arms full of sticks - half of which we probably wouldn't even need. Still, I took some pride in my work and was careful not to fall. The camp looked okay when I got back. It wasn't like we had a tent or anything, just a tarp stretched over a few sticks. It would have to do. But there was something odd. I stopped for a moment to watch Chris and Julian.
Chris seemed to be arguing with the younger man. I couldn't really hear exactly what he was saying, but it sounded something like, "Come on, just let me see your arm for two seconds. I know you cut it on the wood, I'm not stupid. I'll have it fixed in no time. Just move your other arm so I can see!"
Julian grumbled something I couldn't make out, but as I watched, he moved his hand from his arm. There was a relatively large cut there, and I watched, transfixed, as drops of blood hit the ground. Slowly, Chris moved towards the other guy. He looked at the wound for a few moments before nodding. I strained to see exactly what he was doing, but he was standing in the perfect position to block me from seeing anything. I rolled my eyes and started walking towards them again. Maybe someday they'd learn something called trust.
"Hey, guys," I called, but they didn't turn around for a few seconds. I stood there, my arms and legs aching from all the walking and carrying, but they took their time in turning around. I guess I sort of deserved it, considering I went out of my way to take my time with the firewood (at least I was being useful). Chris's face lit up when he saw the twigs, and he began to take them from me immediately. I was glad to have them gone. One more moment and I might have just dropped everything.
"Nice of you to finally come back," Chris grinned at me. "We were kind of getting worried. Thought you might have gotten eaten by a wolf. And, while Julian didn't mind that much, Damion looked a little worried. At least we have something to make a fire with now. I don't know about you, but I'm seriously regretting not bringing a jacket. It's kind of cold."
I laughed with him, watching as he set up some of the sticks like I'd seen people do on TV some times. It looked like he was building a hut of some kind. I considered offering to help, but just sat on the ground near the twig-hut instead. My muscles screamed in protest when I sat down. I was seriously going to regret the walk we'd taken, worse than I was now. I tried hopelessly to ignore it, preferring to watch Chris's struggle with the sticks. It actually didn't take long for him to light the fire, and it seemed to brighten the mood as well as the field around us.
Damion came and sat by me as the sun's rays started to look bleak on the horizon, and Julian sat down not too long after. Nobody really spoke for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts. By the look of everyone else, they were tired, as exhausted as I was, but nobody seemed ready to sleep. We were all awake, pumped by adrenaline or something equally entertaining. I tried to think about things other than the predicament we were in, but my mind kept insisting on coming back to the same thing, the same question.
What were they keeping from me?
After a while of this bouncing in my mind, I finally had enough. I coughed a little too loudly, going out of my way to get everybody's attention. Immediately, heads turned towards me. It was like there was a spotlight on me or something, because everyone had guessed that my cough wasn't real. Maybe I just wasn't a great actor, and it sounded too fake. Either way, I stared back at them, glancing at each in turn, before I spoke.
"Okay, guys, I want to know. What aren't you telling me?"
The uncomfortable tension was back as the other guys looked at one another, silently communicating with their eyes. This didn't help my frustration. I only stared at the flame now, willing the other guys to answer. Finally, Julian looked at me, a strange sort of a smile on his face.
"Let me tell you a story."
* * *
Author's note:
As always, reviews are loved. < 3
This chapter is relatively unedited, so I'm aware there are things that will need changes. Feel free to nitpick.
!Edit:
I'm sorry to say I may not be posting much more from now on.
Though, if you check my blog, you might find excerpts from time to time.
It wasn't bad, but I felt the action was a tad bit slow at times. I'm more of a get-hooked-in-five-paragraphs kind of gal, so your story took me a bit to get used to. Let's see, now...your description is really good. You could do with lowering the amount of detail a tad bit, though; while detail is good, it often keeps us from getting to the good parts. Not many grammar nitpicks here. And you could divide this chapter into two halves, I think. While I'm a novel junkie, even I can't stand such a huge amount of words on a computer screen. And...that's that. Now, I think you've got a great idea here. You just need to work on it a little. 
