True Heroes (97 page)

Chapter 25

             
The head of the convoy was beyond her sight, making Alice feel completely separated from Caleb again. ‘He has to lead. Has to be up front. It’s not all about us, but nothing has been so far.’ Bare sky bombarded them with careless rays, offering no shield to the weak or strong alike. ‘These people look dead; not scared, but not wanting to move forward either. They’re following him to live, but why am I? Why is Stan? Especially Stan. Unless he loves Caleb too, which I doubt. Do any of these people love him? I’m getting paranoid…. Why can’t he just fall back? No, stop. It isn’t right to be this way, not when he’s being so brave for us all. I just have to…keep going.’

              “What’s on your mind little lady?”

              Alice rolled her head away from Stanley as he fell back to her side. “Lots of stuff. Why?”

              “Well, I know that being out here isn’t easy. Caleb said you’d never left your friends before this.”

              “Caleb is my best friend.”

              “I can tell.”

              She looked quickly to him. ‘Not sarcasm.’ “Are we that obvious?”

              “Not obvious, but you two are something else when you’re doing your own thing. Is that what’s bothering you?”

              “Me and him are fine.”

              “You don’t seem to be together as much.”

              “Not all about me, remember?”

              “Aw, c’mon he didn’t mean it to be as angry as it sounded. You know that. He’s just trying to keep everything in perspective. That’s the only thing keeping you and him from being lovey-dovey all the time is that this needs to be done.”

              “I know, but I’m not even sure he loves me.”

              “You know him better than me, but it seems pretty obvious.”

              “He needs to say it.”

              “Understandable.” He whirled around and raised his voice. “Does everyone else think we’ve gone far enough for the day?”

              Various grunts and a few falling people signified the answer, and Alice leaned around Rue to see Caleb looking back. ‘He’s frustrated. He wants to keep going.’ She hopped between the moving people until Caleb had no choice but to focus solely on her. “Why is he asking them that?”

              “Because everybody is tired.”

              He looked at her with sharp eyes she’d never seen before. “Without getting to the end, everybody will always be tired.”

              “Well, everybody doesn’t see it that way. Let them rest.”

              “They can.” He took a deep breath and unlatched the heavy pack on his back. “You don’t have a tent?”

              ‘Does he not want me to stay with him now?’

              “It’s not what you think. If you want to stay, you can, but there’s no pressure. There never is.”

              She stepped forward, interrupting his stride towards her. “Maybe that’s the problem here, Caleb; you always say what makes me happy, like your happiness doesn’t matter, or like it doesn’t exist. It isn’t all about me, which means you can’t isolate me from our problems like you’re the only one that can solve them. Maybe it pisses me off that you’re keeping me on a limb that I’ve never been on for days and weeks on end, or maybe I’m just scared that the farther we get away from the point of no return, the closer you get to telling me that we’re not meant to be together!”

              Alice threw her pack on the ground and walked away.

-
         
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As the morning came too quickly to all involved, Alice moved into the largest tent in the camp. The gentle dawn was still progressing to maturity when she lifted the grey flap and felt no mind fly to her surroundings. A large container opened under her strength while small details came from the wood beneath her fingers, stimulating a thought to spawn synapse brethren quickly. ‘Cold wood. Kind of expected Texas to be hot all the time. Guess we picked a good time of year to make this happen. Whenever it does decide to happen. He really wants to get this over with, but then why bring everybody along? It would slow him down, he knew that, but he did it anyways. He can’t be worried about time and not worried about it at the same time. I wish he’d talk to me. Not even the Prince would talk to me last night. They’re both avoiding me. Psh, like I could ever get away from….’

She turned her head as her hand snatched a small cup. “Caleb?”

He raised his coffee mug to his puffed eyes and smiled with tight lips. “The real mugs are in the box over here.” His hand disappeared for a moment before throwing her a plain ceramic mug with the same chill as the box lingering in the dense sides. “How’d you sleep?”

“You weren’t there, and I noticed you weren’t there.”

“Had to get up and think.”

“Without me?”

“You were mad.”

“I still am. And you don’t run away from things,” she said while pouring the remaining crude into her waiting cup. “So, why are you really here?”

“What are you really mad at?”

“This. This isn’t talking, Caleb. You’re keeping me at arm’s length because you’re protecting me, or something?”

“There’s nothing to worry about. There’s nothing, no wedge or wall, nothing.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever been able to see a lie in your eyes.” 

He lightly pounded the white bottom of the cup against the flimsy wooden table he sat beside. “Between us, there’s nothing.”

“There’s still something you’re not telling me.”

“There is, and it’s something that can’t be said. Not yet”

‘He can’t say it. He won’t say it.’ She stared down at the container of sugar at the edge of Caleb’s small table before taking a small packet and tearing it open atop her cup. ‘Can I take this? Why can’t I draw the line with him? What power do I have now?’ The coffee swirled while cresting along the sides, never surpassing the rounded lip. ‘I don’t need power. I don’t need anything, and I’ve never needed anything as bad as I do right now.’

“Hope the coffee is good,” was all that came from her mouth.

“Could use some more sugar….”

Her eyes and mind still unlocked and unraveled, she took a single white packet from the container and gently laid it before his resting hand. She turned. ‘He’s not looking up. He’s staring down at that packet.’ A few steps into the early day, a small crashing sound could be heard from inside the tent at her back.

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              Stanley rose from his crouch as Caleb approached with his eyes closed. They opened before the two men collided, and Caleb said, with a forced smile, “They’re out of sugar.”

              “We had bags of it.”

              “Ah, well they need the extra stuff.”

              “What happened to the last stuff?”

              “Used up.”

              “You had a helluva late night then.”

              “Yeah, but didn’t drink any. The smell is kind of comforting.”

              “You’re weird, man.”

              “Another true statement from Stanley Rufus.”

              Caleb passed the militarized man for a few steps. “You want to go running with me? It’ll clear your head a little. I might even let you keep up with me.”

              He turned back while walking backwards. “Can’t. Have to gather firewood.”

              “It’s the morning.”

              “Looks like the journey is on hold until the Major helps. Everywhere is surging with Stephen’s energy. There’s no more direction for us to go.”

              “That means we’re getting closer.”

              “That’s a scary thought right now,” Caleb said before turning back towards the open path and reaching his walking speed.

---

              Caleb couldn’t get a grip on his thoughts. ‘You can’t do this forever.’ A blatant echo met his internal statement repeatedly until the voice was weaker and weaker. ‘We need to do this. We need to help everyone. Alice needs us.’

              His hand violently snapped a medium-sized branch along the pathway. ‘Talk! You can’t be afraid of this! If I die, they all die! Alice will die by Stephen’s hand and you know that! Talk!’

              His grasping arms hugged the growing pile of wood tightly into the flesh of his left bicep. ‘You’re wrong. You think this will prove to me and her that you can make a choice and change, but all it proves is that you can make a choice that protects yourself. Maybe you are better suited for Alice because you wouldn’t let this bother you at all. You’d be with her and protect her because it made you happy. If this keeps up, you’ll be able to find out first hand. I will not back down from this, so either I die, or I don’t; either she dies or she doesn’t. That’s what makes you wrong. She’s just another gambling chip for you to wager. We both are, and everything we could stand for is. All for your pride.’

              There was the sound of rubber against dirt-covered pavement ahead; a small rustling came from both sides of the path. Caleb froze with a leisurely stance while his mind continued to speak quietly. ‘I’m not going to beg you, or say I need you to win because it doesn’t matter. The body will be destroyed, one way or another, but showing people what can be accomplished with it is quite a higher matter. Either I do what needs to be done, or you will for the wrong reasons. Baby steps. The world needs this to be seen through.’ Digital camouflage emerged around him while the equal lines of highly-organized steps quickened from his front. ‘And no matter what these guys have in mind, it will be done.’

              Black barrels of raised guns were about him, aimed with cross-fire precision at concentrated, upward angles, showing a new pathway to oblivion with only three-point-six degrees of separation as the cylinders collided near his chest. There was shouting from behind and in front, but Caleb was lost within his mind, looking for a single hint of Power’s will, but finding nothing. ‘Take care of Alice.’ 

Chapter 26

             
Alice came rushing out of her tent. ‘More people-hey!’ She struggled against a gripping hand on her shoulder, but quickly felt a piece of cold metal against her twisted joint. ‘People gathered, but they’re being gentle with them. No screaming. Lots of confused looks. Whoa there’s a big group of them surrounding someone. Caleb. Has to be. Why’s Stan walking with them? He sold us out?’

              The group of—‘White outfits with black and green block patterns that would match up with a cloudy day perfectly,’—soldiers split to reveal Caleb walking with his hands at his side and a very wary look in his eyes. Alice broke away and jogged towards the men, only to have several barrels raise and Stanley to slide in front of her. “Lower them now, or Caleb will tear everyone here apart!” They all quickly heeded the warning, a few glancing back to the silent man in the middle of the mob. ‘He is very angry now.’ Rue turned around and spoke quietly to her. “Help us out. These guys are here to help, so just make sure they all know that and that cooperation will be the best course.” Her eyes had been locked with Caleb’s beyond Stanley’s shoulder. ‘Is he okay? Why didn’t he attack them?’ His eyes went soft from across the short distance. ‘He wants me to trust him.’