Categories > Original > Fantasy > Children Of Blasphemy
He lay on the concrete, as gravel buried itself into his face, sounds were blurry and colours vanished. Warmth gently fell down his face, leaking out of the black flesh that was once his sight, like red tears he was now unable to shed. The only thing he felt beyond his pain was the metal in his right hand and the string hanging of his neck. His eyes burnt like fire was melting the very pupils of his eyes, and hot gas sheered through his skull and melted his brain. He tried to scream but all that came out was a silent whisper of a voice, as he felt unable to breath. His entire head was on fire, he couldn't think for pain. Every nerve was being beaten raw by heated coals, until it was nothing more than dripping wax searing the inside of his body. It was an unending torment that seemed to attack the very spirit inside of him, ripping, burning, beating him in the darkness.
And in that moment he felt a whisper.
Gabriel.
A thousand wills may not have been able to move his body, but the memories, responsibilities and love that followed that name did. He couldn't hear anything but his own heartbeat, couldn't see beyond the darkness of burnt flesh. He couldn't feel anything but boiling pain, numbing aches and the physical screams of his body. Yet, despite it all, he moved his arms off, and with slow, agonising shifts, he got closer inch by inch, cm by cm, towards that precious hole that was once a well in the ground. A hole, but a well still in his delusional blinded mind. A well that grew from the ground like a shining beacon of one final hope. In silent pain, under the eyes of the proud Virtues, and behind the back of the wrathful Archangel, he dragged himself across the concrete. Leaving nothing but a bloody trail and pieces of ripped skin in his wake. He couldn't give in. Wouldn't. The well, it was speaking to him. In his mind he could hear it. The voice... His face... His being... His everything became embodied in the figment of his mind and pulled him through it all.
There was an ear piercing bang.
Body froze. Time stopped. There was heat in his chest.
Body fell. Heart stopped. Brain closing down.
The coin escaped his hand.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Almost at the well.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Thud.
A foot.
The coin stopped.
So did his hope.
So did the world.
Only a voice was left.
"Gabriel."
Kye gets very little sleep as it is. Getting at most three hours a night, sleep had become a luxury long sought after by the eternally 19 year old blonde. So, you can imagine the lack of enthusiasm his glare showed, as he stared back at Astrid. She decided to awaken him with a sandwich to the face. Wouldn't be so bad but Kye knew it was his old sandwich from last night, that appeared not only inedible, but like it was formed in an acid factory.
"If looks could kill kid, I'd be deep in hell by now." Astrid chuckled, unfazed by the wrath of the younger, taking a swig from the bottle of beer that often lingered in her hand. She wore last night's clothes, having not gone to bed at all. Last night, Astrid thought back bitterly, the memory leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
"It's four o'clock in the morning, why am I awake?" He grumbled, muttering afterwards about having a good reason or something. In an attempt to encourage his cognitive function to works he stretched his long limbs out and willed at least part of his brain into thoughts beyond that of killing Astrid. It didn't work, as all Astrid was greeted with was the continual death glare of Kye.
"Because someone decided to start a fight in the local bar, and gave us away." A seething deep voice commanded from the tattered doorway, brown eyes never focusing as they carefully skirted about with caution. Jacob loomed in the doorway with a face of contempt; having only just gotten up himself his black hair still stuck about like he had random twigs growing from it. Wearing a pair of shorts he kept his chest bare, showing to the world the dark black abs he'd worked on. It wasn't a pride thing though, at the moment at least, as Jacob tended to be the warmest of them all, and none of them were ever impressed by his "God-like physic" as he branded it rather blasphemously. Astrid rolled her eyes at his tone.
"Hey they were attacking her, what was I supposed to do? I thought we looked after people." Astrid spat back bitterly at the taller more muscular figure. Kye had been all but forgotten as the two engaged in fighting.
"Not expose yourself! They were two guys, we all know you could have fought them without using your abilities. Why would you?" Kye sighed tuning out the rising storm, the pair regularly fought. And by regularly it meant about every couple of hours, whilst sometimes he would try to stop them, sometimes he just had to let them go at it. He'd find out later what happened; right now he needed a cig because God knows he couldn't face the day without two cigarettes, or three. Long legs shivered as they left the warmth of the hard bed. Kye went to his jeans, having slept only in a large tatty jumper last night, which hung off a shoulder and made his body look rather inexistent in its size. Didn't help it was technically a woman's jumper. Kye didn't particularly care, it was comfortable! Anyway they were at best five secret Deviants, and known criminals on the run, hardly the need for a fashion show. His jeans were freshly stolen, meaning the black denim actually looked alright bar the hole he'd already managed to rip in the knee; the same couldn't be said for the tatty old cowboy boots. He had a certain connection to them, in a strange way he couldn't bring himself to get of them despite Astrid's various jabs at his appearance. Slipping past the two Deviants he left them to bicker, someone would call him if it got too bad. As he passed by the now shouting Jacob, who was beginning to become infuriated with the "impulsive acts of Astrid" he reached behind to grab his old zip hoodie, cigarettes and lighter in its pockets as always.
Walking into the corridor was like slipping from dull morning light, into deep night, none of the lights worked leaving the entire place in a drab state. The walls, which had either been left too long without paint or simply had been painted an awful colour, left the place in sewage like glow. As if informing those who stayed they were going to get exactly what they paid for. Passing the second door to the right, which once originally had the number "221" written on it, Kye knocked and gently opened the creaking wood now number "2_I" and checked in on the youngest of their little pack, Nikki. Already out of bed the little rebel was bouncing about, brown hair following behind her in a curly mess. She had already gotten orders from Jacob as she was busily packing up five rucksacks in a hurried state almost as if she was on a countdown. That was just Nikki though, she constantly lived her life on a countdown, they were pretty sure it was all the coffee she drank. It couldn't have been healthy for a 13 year old to drink the stuff like she was featuring on a badly written cop show.
"Everything okay in here?" He asked, catching the youngest attention from whatever she was muttering to herself.
"Oh! Kye! When did you get there?" Kye rolled his eyes.
"Does it matter?" He smirked.
"Oh probably not, but yes everything's awesome! I'm packing up, coz Jason wants everything in the car ASAP, and he said, not me, him, that Kye is probably going to smoke himself to death before he has the energy to help out." Of course she would feel the need to add the overly serious, robotic style voice.
"Ass. Well, my keys should be in the front of my bag when you need them. The pair are fighting so make sure you tell them you're leaving before heading to the car, I'll meet you there once I'm finished smoking myself to death." He was about to leave when he realised he was still missing one.
"Ryker's already outside having a joint!" Nikki called from the room.
"What have we told you about doing that Nikki?" There was no real sternness to Kye's voice; he didn't have the energy right now to be serious, or really anything beyond exasperated amusement.
"Not my fault you think so loud! Take a page from Ryker; I swear he's the only one who isn't projecting his thoughts 24/7." Kye just gave another eye roll, leaving the three be and heading down four floors to the ground of the collapsing business. He would have taken the lift, but to no one's surprise it was broken, although he was pretty sure the stairs were as well, as he did not feel safe from the way they groaned and complained under his rather light weight. I swear, falling through the floor is the last thing I need, he continued to rant in his head, though keeping a wary eye out at all times for other people. Reaching the bottom he found himself having the sudden compulsion to place his sunglasses on. He knew instantly though, by the way the thought entered his mind like a dart to the brain, and flagged all senses in an outer body control that it was most likely Jacob who remembered. He regularly had to put Kye's sunglasses on for him as despite his caution Kye regularly forgot, a bad habit when out of the five he was the most at risk. All around the edge of his eyes was black burnt skin, making him stand out a mile away. I swear one of these days Jacobs going to forget and then we'll all be in trouble, he thought as he ducked his head down making a speedy get away to the exit.
The air was fresh but not entirely unpleasant as the barren car park had strange shadows cast upon it, where the morning sun had only just attempting to rise. Kye took in a breath, forgetting how dusty and unclean the air inside had felt compared to actual oxygen. A breeze of fresh air swirled through the sky, making messy long hair only more tangled and disarrayed. He'd tie it up later. He looked over to the car parked at the very edge, far from prying eyes of the road. The car was an old 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car, apparently a classic not that Kye would know. He honestly just thought it looked cool at the time when they were looking for a getaway vehicle. At first they couldn't wait to ditch the thing despite its sleek look, the way the engine roared loudly and the entire thing warmed up far too quickly in the summer, but the old faithful thing seemed to take to their "get out of dodge" lifestyle well. Helping them out of many tight situations and at a speed Kye didn't think an old timer could do. In the end the five grew a strange attachment to it, considering it part of the family in their own odd way. Nikki went so far as to name it Benny, which embarrassingly stuck, so Benny became part of the team.
From behind Benny, Kye could see the familiar site of thick white smoke rising up, giving off a distinct smell as he approached it.
"Morning Ryker." He called as he approached the car, announcing his presence as to not risk Ryker getting a little paranoid. Looping round the front, Kye sat crossed leg on the bonnet of the car and lit up his first cigarette of the day, breathing in the nicotine, tar and who knows what else. Kye enjoyed the feeling as it hit down his throat and into his lungs. Apparently it's supposed to burn, but seemed he smoked enough his throat rarely complained beyond feeling dry. Breathing out he allowed his head to clear, taking a moment for himself before looking down at the red head below him. Oh, and red was no understatement, Ryker made sure his hair remained bright pillar box red at all times. He had been told on more than occasion it probably wasn't the wisest decision. Ryker kept insisting though
"It's fine man. Out of all of us, I'm the one with practically no criminal history, they're not going to catch me man." Kye sighed; Ryker was quite the stereotype when it came to stoner culture, man being a word he used in almost every sentence. It was like a specific tick that you learnt to ignore in the end.
"So Ryke, how are you doing amongst all this?" He asked, knowing full well what the answer was most likely going to be.
"Meh, it's hardly that bad. We'll leave man and life goes on. All good." Kye sighed, Ryker might have been a dealer once, but that didn't explain how he was able to get accesses to the stuff so quickly and often that he was able to remain 24/7 stoned, despite moving regularly around the country. Kye was sure in some impossible way the drug had seeped into his body and just become part of his natural biology. The few times you'd catch him sober, he barley seemed any different, just with less "mans" in the sentence and more motivation to do just about anything.
"I worked out though; the best place we could go is probably The Howner man, down in Angelssole." So usually Ryker was very useful when it came to the road trips, but this time Kye felt speculative. He knew he shouldn't question, as Ryker and Jacob were best when it came to knowing locations. Jacob had inside Intel, and Ryker had some connection everyone was sure they didn't want to know about.
"You sure? I mean granted we haven't been there since we met Nikki, but there's a reason for that! Ever since shit hit the fan in The Howner we tried to avoid it." Let's just say they didn't meet Nikki in the best of circumstances.
"Exactly, by now they don't expect us to go back there, they won't be looking for Deviants down in The Howner, and it would work as long as we successfully kept our heads down. Just trust me on this man, have I ever failed you before?" He asked, stretching his neck to look at Kye. They often wondered how on earth he could see, but somehow Ryker had some weird Ryker vision because it worked for him.
"Well, can't fault you there pal, how long is it from here?" He asked, residing that his elder probably knew best.
"Couple days drive man, good distance but not so long that we go mental in the car ." Well that was positive thinking; a five minute shopping trip was enough for things to go wrong with them.
"If you say so." Kye let the subject settle, as things turned into a comfortable silence, giving Kye time alone, though he was feeling more awake than minutes earlier. Thank god for nicotine! Neither Kye nor Ryker felt the need to talk, but just simply enjoyed knowing there was another body around. In fact Ryker was being oddly talkative that morning. Usually he resided to saying nothing unless spoken too, and even then tried to limit response to nods and single word answers where possible. He was usually the type to speak only when he felt he had something that needed to be said (not that it always did in his case), but Ryker was a man of exceptions. He kept to himself, and the second you figure something out about him, he goes and disproves it. Kye just watched as Ryker silently put out his blunt, not likely to have been his first this morning, as he leant his back against the car and seemed to enjoy just staring at the bush in front of them.
Kye was just smoking his second when the others approached. Astrid and Jacob had finished bickering, which gave the smokers a bit of hope for a peaceful car journey instead of a rowdy one. Giving Ryker a silent hand up, they helped the others pack everything into Benny, which isn't easy for a car that had no boot. Long term equipment they'd managed to stash under the actual furnishing of the seats, and so the bags got squashed on to the floor and the gang piled in, following another one of their accidental rituals.
Kye would always drive. Granted both Ryker and Jacob could also drive, by Jacob didn't enjoy driving and Ryker was too stoned to ever be allowed behind the wheel of Benny. Not that Kye minded, as he slipped into his familiar spot and turned on his mix tape. None of them were sure whether the tape player came with the car or was later added, either way clearly the previous owner clearly wasn't up to speed with technology. Luckily neither was Kye, as the only things he seemed to have to his name was an oversized jacket, a lighter and a homemade mix tape of "indie-trash" as Astrid deemed it.
Astrid sat next to Kye in the passenger's seat. Due to her being the tallest with rather long legs putting her in the back was a joke. No instead she liked to put her feet up, put on some sunglasses no matter the weather, and full asleep. In the back it always went Jacob (behind the driver's seat) then Nikki and then Ryker. The only reason behind this was Nikki's placing in the middle, she was the smallest, and so it was easy for her to squeeze comfortably in before distracting herself via her gamepod. Out dated but it kept her entertained. Ryker would just stare out the window, headphones plugged in as he listened to whatever music he was into that week. It changed about as often as his fashion. As for Jacob he would sit and read, the thought alone would make Kye feel ill. The other reason Kye drove, when he didn't, he could feel travel sick very easily, and if he attempted something like reading, playing or anything honestly beyond looking out the window, he would actually throw up. And has. Not in Benny luckily, though it may have played a part in them having to get Benny to start with.
"Everyone ready, Ryke has set us a course for The Howner." Kye called back, earning a squeal from young Nikki. Nod's and yes's followed tiredly, no one awake enough to question it. Not that you would anyway. Five things you never questioned Ryker on, 1- The quality of weed. 2- His abilities. 3- Fashion. 4- His contacts. And 5- His unofficial job as the families travel planner. So with cig in hand, sunglasses to his side, and his left hand on the steering wheel, Kye woke up the old timer, turned the music on loudly to challenge the sound of the engine, and he set off out the carpark. Sure he didn't fully know what went on before, but he would wait till they stopped for the night to ask. Right now everyone seemed settled in their own activates, which indicated for a pleasant trip. Also it'd be better to ask when they had better grasp on whether this was even going to be a huge issue or not, speculation just led to rows. Specifically rows between the pair who like to wind each other up on an hourly basis.
The sun began to properly awake, as it dyed the sky in hues of orange that matched old Benny. The temperature was warm, but luckily a wind spared them from boiling over, as the car drove down the motorway. Windows down, engine loud, music louder and its inhabitants at an odd but peaceful silence. Kye should have known it couldn't last, after all in their world, if something good happens today, then events ten times as disrupting where going to pounce on them tomorrow. Indeed they did as well, but not in the form any of the five Deviants could have expected.
And in that moment he felt a whisper.
Gabriel.
A thousand wills may not have been able to move his body, but the memories, responsibilities and love that followed that name did. He couldn't hear anything but his own heartbeat, couldn't see beyond the darkness of burnt flesh. He couldn't feel anything but boiling pain, numbing aches and the physical screams of his body. Yet, despite it all, he moved his arms off, and with slow, agonising shifts, he got closer inch by inch, cm by cm, towards that precious hole that was once a well in the ground. A hole, but a well still in his delusional blinded mind. A well that grew from the ground like a shining beacon of one final hope. In silent pain, under the eyes of the proud Virtues, and behind the back of the wrathful Archangel, he dragged himself across the concrete. Leaving nothing but a bloody trail and pieces of ripped skin in his wake. He couldn't give in. Wouldn't. The well, it was speaking to him. In his mind he could hear it. The voice... His face... His being... His everything became embodied in the figment of his mind and pulled him through it all.
There was an ear piercing bang.
Body froze. Time stopped. There was heat in his chest.
Body fell. Heart stopped. Brain closing down.
The coin escaped his hand.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Almost at the well.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Thud.
A foot.
The coin stopped.
So did his hope.
So did the world.
Only a voice was left.
"Gabriel."
Kye gets very little sleep as it is. Getting at most three hours a night, sleep had become a luxury long sought after by the eternally 19 year old blonde. So, you can imagine the lack of enthusiasm his glare showed, as he stared back at Astrid. She decided to awaken him with a sandwich to the face. Wouldn't be so bad but Kye knew it was his old sandwich from last night, that appeared not only inedible, but like it was formed in an acid factory.
"If looks could kill kid, I'd be deep in hell by now." Astrid chuckled, unfazed by the wrath of the younger, taking a swig from the bottle of beer that often lingered in her hand. She wore last night's clothes, having not gone to bed at all. Last night, Astrid thought back bitterly, the memory leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
"It's four o'clock in the morning, why am I awake?" He grumbled, muttering afterwards about having a good reason or something. In an attempt to encourage his cognitive function to works he stretched his long limbs out and willed at least part of his brain into thoughts beyond that of killing Astrid. It didn't work, as all Astrid was greeted with was the continual death glare of Kye.
"Because someone decided to start a fight in the local bar, and gave us away." A seething deep voice commanded from the tattered doorway, brown eyes never focusing as they carefully skirted about with caution. Jacob loomed in the doorway with a face of contempt; having only just gotten up himself his black hair still stuck about like he had random twigs growing from it. Wearing a pair of shorts he kept his chest bare, showing to the world the dark black abs he'd worked on. It wasn't a pride thing though, at the moment at least, as Jacob tended to be the warmest of them all, and none of them were ever impressed by his "God-like physic" as he branded it rather blasphemously. Astrid rolled her eyes at his tone.
"Hey they were attacking her, what was I supposed to do? I thought we looked after people." Astrid spat back bitterly at the taller more muscular figure. Kye had been all but forgotten as the two engaged in fighting.
"Not expose yourself! They were two guys, we all know you could have fought them without using your abilities. Why would you?" Kye sighed tuning out the rising storm, the pair regularly fought. And by regularly it meant about every couple of hours, whilst sometimes he would try to stop them, sometimes he just had to let them go at it. He'd find out later what happened; right now he needed a cig because God knows he couldn't face the day without two cigarettes, or three. Long legs shivered as they left the warmth of the hard bed. Kye went to his jeans, having slept only in a large tatty jumper last night, which hung off a shoulder and made his body look rather inexistent in its size. Didn't help it was technically a woman's jumper. Kye didn't particularly care, it was comfortable! Anyway they were at best five secret Deviants, and known criminals on the run, hardly the need for a fashion show. His jeans were freshly stolen, meaning the black denim actually looked alright bar the hole he'd already managed to rip in the knee; the same couldn't be said for the tatty old cowboy boots. He had a certain connection to them, in a strange way he couldn't bring himself to get of them despite Astrid's various jabs at his appearance. Slipping past the two Deviants he left them to bicker, someone would call him if it got too bad. As he passed by the now shouting Jacob, who was beginning to become infuriated with the "impulsive acts of Astrid" he reached behind to grab his old zip hoodie, cigarettes and lighter in its pockets as always.
Walking into the corridor was like slipping from dull morning light, into deep night, none of the lights worked leaving the entire place in a drab state. The walls, which had either been left too long without paint or simply had been painted an awful colour, left the place in sewage like glow. As if informing those who stayed they were going to get exactly what they paid for. Passing the second door to the right, which once originally had the number "221" written on it, Kye knocked and gently opened the creaking wood now number "2_I" and checked in on the youngest of their little pack, Nikki. Already out of bed the little rebel was bouncing about, brown hair following behind her in a curly mess. She had already gotten orders from Jacob as she was busily packing up five rucksacks in a hurried state almost as if she was on a countdown. That was just Nikki though, she constantly lived her life on a countdown, they were pretty sure it was all the coffee she drank. It couldn't have been healthy for a 13 year old to drink the stuff like she was featuring on a badly written cop show.
"Everything okay in here?" He asked, catching the youngest attention from whatever she was muttering to herself.
"Oh! Kye! When did you get there?" Kye rolled his eyes.
"Does it matter?" He smirked.
"Oh probably not, but yes everything's awesome! I'm packing up, coz Jason wants everything in the car ASAP, and he said, not me, him, that Kye is probably going to smoke himself to death before he has the energy to help out." Of course she would feel the need to add the overly serious, robotic style voice.
"Ass. Well, my keys should be in the front of my bag when you need them. The pair are fighting so make sure you tell them you're leaving before heading to the car, I'll meet you there once I'm finished smoking myself to death." He was about to leave when he realised he was still missing one.
"Ryker's already outside having a joint!" Nikki called from the room.
"What have we told you about doing that Nikki?" There was no real sternness to Kye's voice; he didn't have the energy right now to be serious, or really anything beyond exasperated amusement.
"Not my fault you think so loud! Take a page from Ryker; I swear he's the only one who isn't projecting his thoughts 24/7." Kye just gave another eye roll, leaving the three be and heading down four floors to the ground of the collapsing business. He would have taken the lift, but to no one's surprise it was broken, although he was pretty sure the stairs were as well, as he did not feel safe from the way they groaned and complained under his rather light weight. I swear, falling through the floor is the last thing I need, he continued to rant in his head, though keeping a wary eye out at all times for other people. Reaching the bottom he found himself having the sudden compulsion to place his sunglasses on. He knew instantly though, by the way the thought entered his mind like a dart to the brain, and flagged all senses in an outer body control that it was most likely Jacob who remembered. He regularly had to put Kye's sunglasses on for him as despite his caution Kye regularly forgot, a bad habit when out of the five he was the most at risk. All around the edge of his eyes was black burnt skin, making him stand out a mile away. I swear one of these days Jacobs going to forget and then we'll all be in trouble, he thought as he ducked his head down making a speedy get away to the exit.
The air was fresh but not entirely unpleasant as the barren car park had strange shadows cast upon it, where the morning sun had only just attempting to rise. Kye took in a breath, forgetting how dusty and unclean the air inside had felt compared to actual oxygen. A breeze of fresh air swirled through the sky, making messy long hair only more tangled and disarrayed. He'd tie it up later. He looked over to the car parked at the very edge, far from prying eyes of the road. The car was an old 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car, apparently a classic not that Kye would know. He honestly just thought it looked cool at the time when they were looking for a getaway vehicle. At first they couldn't wait to ditch the thing despite its sleek look, the way the engine roared loudly and the entire thing warmed up far too quickly in the summer, but the old faithful thing seemed to take to their "get out of dodge" lifestyle well. Helping them out of many tight situations and at a speed Kye didn't think an old timer could do. In the end the five grew a strange attachment to it, considering it part of the family in their own odd way. Nikki went so far as to name it Benny, which embarrassingly stuck, so Benny became part of the team.
From behind Benny, Kye could see the familiar site of thick white smoke rising up, giving off a distinct smell as he approached it.
"Morning Ryker." He called as he approached the car, announcing his presence as to not risk Ryker getting a little paranoid. Looping round the front, Kye sat crossed leg on the bonnet of the car and lit up his first cigarette of the day, breathing in the nicotine, tar and who knows what else. Kye enjoyed the feeling as it hit down his throat and into his lungs. Apparently it's supposed to burn, but seemed he smoked enough his throat rarely complained beyond feeling dry. Breathing out he allowed his head to clear, taking a moment for himself before looking down at the red head below him. Oh, and red was no understatement, Ryker made sure his hair remained bright pillar box red at all times. He had been told on more than occasion it probably wasn't the wisest decision. Ryker kept insisting though
"It's fine man. Out of all of us, I'm the one with practically no criminal history, they're not going to catch me man." Kye sighed; Ryker was quite the stereotype when it came to stoner culture, man being a word he used in almost every sentence. It was like a specific tick that you learnt to ignore in the end.
"So Ryke, how are you doing amongst all this?" He asked, knowing full well what the answer was most likely going to be.
"Meh, it's hardly that bad. We'll leave man and life goes on. All good." Kye sighed, Ryker might have been a dealer once, but that didn't explain how he was able to get accesses to the stuff so quickly and often that he was able to remain 24/7 stoned, despite moving regularly around the country. Kye was sure in some impossible way the drug had seeped into his body and just become part of his natural biology. The few times you'd catch him sober, he barley seemed any different, just with less "mans" in the sentence and more motivation to do just about anything.
"I worked out though; the best place we could go is probably The Howner man, down in Angelssole." So usually Ryker was very useful when it came to the road trips, but this time Kye felt speculative. He knew he shouldn't question, as Ryker and Jacob were best when it came to knowing locations. Jacob had inside Intel, and Ryker had some connection everyone was sure they didn't want to know about.
"You sure? I mean granted we haven't been there since we met Nikki, but there's a reason for that! Ever since shit hit the fan in The Howner we tried to avoid it." Let's just say they didn't meet Nikki in the best of circumstances.
"Exactly, by now they don't expect us to go back there, they won't be looking for Deviants down in The Howner, and it would work as long as we successfully kept our heads down. Just trust me on this man, have I ever failed you before?" He asked, stretching his neck to look at Kye. They often wondered how on earth he could see, but somehow Ryker had some weird Ryker vision because it worked for him.
"Well, can't fault you there pal, how long is it from here?" He asked, residing that his elder probably knew best.
"Couple days drive man, good distance but not so long that we go mental in the car ." Well that was positive thinking; a five minute shopping trip was enough for things to go wrong with them.
"If you say so." Kye let the subject settle, as things turned into a comfortable silence, giving Kye time alone, though he was feeling more awake than minutes earlier. Thank god for nicotine! Neither Kye nor Ryker felt the need to talk, but just simply enjoyed knowing there was another body around. In fact Ryker was being oddly talkative that morning. Usually he resided to saying nothing unless spoken too, and even then tried to limit response to nods and single word answers where possible. He was usually the type to speak only when he felt he had something that needed to be said (not that it always did in his case), but Ryker was a man of exceptions. He kept to himself, and the second you figure something out about him, he goes and disproves it. Kye just watched as Ryker silently put out his blunt, not likely to have been his first this morning, as he leant his back against the car and seemed to enjoy just staring at the bush in front of them.
Kye was just smoking his second when the others approached. Astrid and Jacob had finished bickering, which gave the smokers a bit of hope for a peaceful car journey instead of a rowdy one. Giving Ryker a silent hand up, they helped the others pack everything into Benny, which isn't easy for a car that had no boot. Long term equipment they'd managed to stash under the actual furnishing of the seats, and so the bags got squashed on to the floor and the gang piled in, following another one of their accidental rituals.
Kye would always drive. Granted both Ryker and Jacob could also drive, by Jacob didn't enjoy driving and Ryker was too stoned to ever be allowed behind the wheel of Benny. Not that Kye minded, as he slipped into his familiar spot and turned on his mix tape. None of them were sure whether the tape player came with the car or was later added, either way clearly the previous owner clearly wasn't up to speed with technology. Luckily neither was Kye, as the only things he seemed to have to his name was an oversized jacket, a lighter and a homemade mix tape of "indie-trash" as Astrid deemed it.
Astrid sat next to Kye in the passenger's seat. Due to her being the tallest with rather long legs putting her in the back was a joke. No instead she liked to put her feet up, put on some sunglasses no matter the weather, and full asleep. In the back it always went Jacob (behind the driver's seat) then Nikki and then Ryker. The only reason behind this was Nikki's placing in the middle, she was the smallest, and so it was easy for her to squeeze comfortably in before distracting herself via her gamepod. Out dated but it kept her entertained. Ryker would just stare out the window, headphones plugged in as he listened to whatever music he was into that week. It changed about as often as his fashion. As for Jacob he would sit and read, the thought alone would make Kye feel ill. The other reason Kye drove, when he didn't, he could feel travel sick very easily, and if he attempted something like reading, playing or anything honestly beyond looking out the window, he would actually throw up. And has. Not in Benny luckily, though it may have played a part in them having to get Benny to start with.
"Everyone ready, Ryke has set us a course for The Howner." Kye called back, earning a squeal from young Nikki. Nod's and yes's followed tiredly, no one awake enough to question it. Not that you would anyway. Five things you never questioned Ryker on, 1- The quality of weed. 2- His abilities. 3- Fashion. 4- His contacts. And 5- His unofficial job as the families travel planner. So with cig in hand, sunglasses to his side, and his left hand on the steering wheel, Kye woke up the old timer, turned the music on loudly to challenge the sound of the engine, and he set off out the carpark. Sure he didn't fully know what went on before, but he would wait till they stopped for the night to ask. Right now everyone seemed settled in their own activates, which indicated for a pleasant trip. Also it'd be better to ask when they had better grasp on whether this was even going to be a huge issue or not, speculation just led to rows. Specifically rows between the pair who like to wind each other up on an hourly basis.
The sun began to properly awake, as it dyed the sky in hues of orange that matched old Benny. The temperature was warm, but luckily a wind spared them from boiling over, as the car drove down the motorway. Windows down, engine loud, music louder and its inhabitants at an odd but peaceful silence. Kye should have known it couldn't last, after all in their world, if something good happens today, then events ten times as disrupting where going to pounce on them tomorrow. Indeed they did as well, but not in the form any of the five Deviants could have expected.
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