Bump. Crash.
"Darn it!"
"Ow! My head!"
Splash.
The cabin falls into the river, now underwater.The windows crash open, filling the inside with water. Zaroshi holds his breath and grabs hold of the girl, trying to swim out of the cabin, but it's no use. The Residue which was possessing Cabin is now trying to possess the girl.
But I can't just leave her here! Whatever! We'll do what we can about it on the surface!
On the surface, he takes them across the bank and falls on the side, too tired from the journey and the fight with the Residues.
"So you're just going to lie down there with residue possessed one beside you?", Zaroshi jumps up, point his gun at the guy who just spoke. "What's next? Gonna entrust your life to her too?"
"Who're you!?"
He lowers Zaroshi's gun, "Yours and his supervisor ofcourse."
"How did you know we were here?"
"Your fellow Printel called to let us know of the situation and attached a GPS on the Captain before she switched to the seventh Cabin. She has safely made it to her supervisor by the way. Yours and Alex's stuff is with her too."
No wonder we couldn't find her on the cabin.
"Can you tell me about Ellisa too?"
The supervisor, Aaron, groans, "Let's get you guys out of here first, alright? Look, the Residue is stirring up."
Sure enough, the Residue is morphed the girl's body into a bundle of nerves and an eye, just like it did with the Captain.
"Darn it, the other guy just had to lose control to a kid like that. Hey, human, if you don't want this girl dead, hand over that boy here."
Aaron gives it the middle finger, "Like hell, I will," he pulls out a syringe, "Come here now and be of better use."
The Residue looks really angry now, "Shut up, you weaklings! It's only a matter of time before tables turn!-"
Just then, a figure launches from the waters. It looks like Alex but there's no sign of his persona in that body. It lifts a hand and the cabin is lifted from the waters again.
Aaron and Zaroshi leap back before the cabin hits them. It hits the Residue on the ground instead, trapping some of the nerves.
"Damn, that reeks. Also, don't tell me Alex took in the Residue..."
"He did, probably."
Aaron sighs, "Patrick warned me against this sort of thing," he walks to the cabin, "Let's just get this over with."
He injects the eye. The Residue screams and writhes, until it morphs back into the girl again.
The Residue is dead now.
Above him, the one possessing Alex is about to kick his head. Before he can though, Aaron grabs his leg and holds him in place using it, using the momentum to give him a kick at his back. He twists his body and has him flat on the ground in a matter of seconds.
"You're lucky I always have the extra syringe for luck."
He injects the second syringe into Alex, who remorphs back into his usual state after a minute or two.
"What the heck happened-"
Slap.
"Don't ever do that again. Not under my permission."
Alex bites his cheek before replying, "Yes, Sir."
They both get up and go to Aaron's jeep parked in the distance.
"You're the supervisor, right?"
"Yes. "
"Where's my stuff? Printel took it when she left, right?"
"Yeah, you guys will get your back in a matter of days. Let's just get you guys to base first."
Zaroshi is already waiting by the jeep, the girl at his shoulders.
Aaron sighs, "I'd want to leave her here after having her forget everything but she's the only missing civilian actually alive in thei cabin incident. We're going to interrogate her first and see what should be done with her later."
They both nod. On the way, Zaroshi fills Alex in on what Aaron told him.
"Also, these syringes. Do they actually kill Resideus?"
"Yes.", he answers curtly, leaving no room for further questions regarding the injections. Zaroshi speaks up.
"This attack was all planned, wasn't it?"
"You got that right. The Residues aren't just uni-minded species. They have their own groups to keep track of people. This time, they planned on killing your fellow Ellisa because they believe she's the Reaper.
"She's a what?"
She waves his hand, "Just someone who's blood kills syringes."
They both exchange glances.
The syringes have her blood in them, don't they?
"Regardless, so they first sent a low ranking Residue to put her to the test. Much to their excitement, though, you came along. Unbeknownst to any of us, you possess the eye of the legend."
Zaroshi isn't even remotely surprised.
"Yes, kid. Basically the centre of the one spirit which has caused all this mess. One they have paused you, consider it legend revived. So when they found out about you, they decided to secure you for the time being using that Residue and much to their joy, your captain was possessed by a Residue, originally something he took in for safety measures but lost hold of due to anger issues after you kicked your cousin out," he gets silent. Zaroshi mulls over what he just said.
What would have been the outcome had I not nicked El out? Would Captain have been alive? Would he have fought with us? We would probably in a better situation now, with less people dead.
He clenches his fists.
If only I had known about the injections...
"Any more questions?"
"Uh, yes, um... why isn't Alex allowed to take in Residues?"
"Because he's great at taking them but sucks profoundly in trapping them. He's like a stark contrast against his older brother in that regard." Alex looks away.
The ride is quiet for a while. They can hear rad music in the distance.
"Also, since I have that eye, can I take in Residues as well?"
"Probably not. Residues will be super careful not to come too involved with that eye because any harm to it would mean their heads getting chopped once the Legend gains her centres."
"You say that like she's sure to gain them."
Aaron looks in the distance, "You never know..."
The girl is stirring up, finally awake.
"Where am I?", she shrieks.
Alex replies, "Winqis."
She jumps, "I'm not supposed to be here! Take me back please!"
Aaron replies, "Understood. As soon as I get my students home, I'll drop you off at the airport."
The girl sighs, "Thank you so much," she looks around, "what happened back there?"
Noone of them reply.
Nothing, except you may have killed around a dozen people.
Some distance from the city, Aaron tells them to walk to the Base themselves.
"You'll know it's the base when you find a wall covered in slime."
Both of them cringe, disgusted, as they walk off.
The girl shifts, "So where's the Airport?" Nearing a bank, Aaron turns off the car and gets out. He takes her out too.
"There is no Airport. This river right here will take you straight to the Capital. Or if you want, you could also travel on land with the others, thought you probably won't make it in one peace. Also, you probably don't know this but you killed a bunch of people in that cabin."
The girl gulps, "I did?" She walks to the river. "All I wanted was a visit to the countryside, to see my grandma. Never did I think I'd end up here of all places. You wanna know what my name is?"
"Sure."
"Daisy Silversmith. And could you please kill m-?"
Phew.
He fires a bullet straight into her temple, making her fall backwards. He grabs a 20 kg load from his car and attaches it to her leg. He then throws her into the river.
"That should do it."
He lights up a cigarette and opens his phone.
The night sky sure is starry today.