Chapter 110: Pain and Courage
In the Central Agriculture Zone. The search for Morgan continued. The flying vehicles had passed over them again, but this time in the other direction. Each time they passed over them, the noise scared the groups of Sapiods away.
‘You said he would stay within this area,’ said Denise angrily to Orcille.
‘That’s how it normally works,’ said Orcille. ‘Sapiods gather fruit from their designated areas. I think the unusual activity may have disrupted their usual patterns.’
‘So he could be anywhere,’ said Denise as she placed her hands on her hips.
‘Come on, give Orcille a chance. He’s trying his best,’ said Demarcus.
‘I know. I’m sorry. I get frustrated easily,’ said Denise.
‘Orcille, I’ll need your help finding someone else,’ said Demarcus.
‘What! Another Sapiod?’ asked Orcille.
‘I hope not yet,’ said Demarcus. ‘My friend Polly was likely taken by enforcers to another region.’
‘Most likely, Cellrebrum,’ said Orcille. ‘That is a long way from here.’
‘Is there anything we can do for her?’ asked Demarcus.
‘Not at the moment,’ replied Orcille. ‘It is too inaccessible.’
Demarcus, sadly, nodded.
‘Don’t give up,’ said Orcille as he pushed his fingers under Demarcus' chin. ‘Once things have settled down, we’ll go and look for her. For now, we need to focus on finding Morgan.’
Darius had become even more vocal. He was regularly stringing full sentences together.
At their campsite that night. ‘We find Morgan. We find Morgan,’ said Darius as he jumped up and down on the back of the vehicle.
Denise clapped her hands together. ‘Yes, we will,’ she said as she patted Darius on the leg. He jumped down from the vehicle and kissed her on the nose. He then ran over and jumped on Hamlet. Denise smiled as she watched.
Orcille walked over to Denise. ‘He’s doing really well,’ he said as he placed his arm on Denise’s shoulder.
‘His talking is greatly improving, but…,’ Denise paused as she tried to articulate her thoughts.
‘Something’s still not right, huh?’ asked Orcille.
‘The more he is able to communicate, the more I realise that he probably isn’t there anymore,’ said Denise as her face turned very sad.
Orcille glanced over at Darius, who was now licking Hamlet’s ear.
About an hour later, they all went to sleep. Hamlet fell asleep in a large pile of grass she had collected earlier. Darius lay down next to her. Denise lay down next to Darius. Demarcus went to sleep in the back of the vehicle. Orcille went to sleep on the back seats of the vehicle.
When awake, Darius was far from his previous self. When he was asleep, he experienced his previous reality. He dreamed of the times he spent with his brother and the mischief they would cause. He dreamed of his time with Denise and the Inquisitives. He dreamed of the time he spent with Mikayla in Jeed. He had both good and bad dreams.
The medication he took made these dreams more vivid. He would mumble in his sleep. Sometimes Denise would hear him mumble. She listened when he was happy and comforted him when he was distressed.
Orcille woke up early the next morning. He grabbed the containers to collect water from the nearest water source. He moved quietly, as the others were still asleep. The water source was a little further from this campsite. It had rained recently. They wanted to stay somewhere they knew was dry.
Orcille woke up early because he wanted them to begin their search for Morgan as soon as possible. The more hours of daylight, the better. The sun was just coming up. It looked like a beautiful day. Orcille reached the stream. He began filling the water containers.
Meanwhile, at the campsite, Darius was having another nightmare. He was screaming and thrashing about. Hamlet, Denise, and Demarcus were awoken by the noise he was making. Denise tried to calm Darius.
In a semi-awake state, Darius grabbed Denise and slammed her hard against the vehicle. Demarcus shouted at Darius to stop. In his mind, Darius was reliving the time Denise was arrested and how he felt so betrayed by her. He grabbed Denise again. He flung her down hard onto the ground. On impact, blood spluttered out of her mouth.
Hamlet squealed in panic. She ran off to get Orcille. Darius was going to slam Denise again, but Demarcus intervened. He grabbed Darius from behind. Darius tried to pull Demarcus off him, but Demarcus refused to let go. Darius reached over his shoulder. He grabbed Demarcus by his head. He pulled Demarcus around to face him. He twisted Demarcus’ head sharply, causing his neck to break. Demarcus dropped lifelessly to the ground in front of Darius. Darius stood still. He was now fully awake and fully aware of what had happened.
Orcille had just finished filling the containers with water when he heard Hamlet squealing. He looked up to see Hamlet running towards him. It was clear that Hamlet was calling him for help. Hamlet turned to lead Orcille back to the camp. Orcille chased after Hamlet. He ran as fast as he could.
Darius was in shock. He looked down at both Demarcus and Denise, lying motionless on the ground. He began breathing heavily. He knew he had just killed his brother and girlfriend. Memories flowed through his mind as tears flowed from his eyes. He saw the time he climbed the wall with his brother and how he fell and hurt himself and needed to be rushed to the medical centre. He saw his time with Denise by the lake, meeting Hamlet and David, and their first kiss. He then looked down to see them both lying on the ground. He was overwhelmed with emotion and pain. He reached out and grabbed a metal pole lying in the back of the vehicle. He looked at it as tears continued to roll down his face.
Orcille could see the campsite. He saw Darius holding the metal pole as he stood over both Denise and Demarcus. Orcille slowed his pace as he approached Darius.
‘Put it down. Please, just put it down,’ said Orcille loudly as he drew closer to Darius.
Darius stared back at Orcille with tear-filled eyes. He clenched the pole tightly. Then he drove the pointed end straight through his own head. He fell immediately to the ground.
Orcille reached the three bodies. He checked all three to see if they were alive. Darius and Demarcus were dead. Denise was alive but unconscious. She was in a very bad condition. It appeared she was going to die very soon.
Orcille grabbed his bag of medication. He looked through what he had. He could not find anything that could save Denise’s life. Orcille opened the side pouch in his bag. Inside was the vial of 19CE. This was the only thing that might save Denise. If he used it, he would not be able to test it and replicate it. Orcille took a deep breath. He pulled out a syringe. He filled it, leaving about a quarter of the 19CE in the vial. He resealed the top of the vial. He then injected Denise with the syringe.
Orcille delicately picked Denise up and placed her in the back of the vehicle. Orcille looked over to Hamlet.
‘I need to take her to the nearest region for more help,’ said Orcille to Hamlet. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t fit you in the vehicle. You can run along behind if you can keep up.’
Hamlet grunted. Orcille kissed Hamlet on the head.
Orcille jumped in the front seat of the vehicle. He began driving in the direction of the Downs Region. Hamlet sprinted after the vehicle. She ran faster than thought imaginable for a very large Sape.
After driving for about twenty minutes, Orcille could see a Sentray in the distance. Orcille drove away from where the Sentray was coming. The Sentray could move much faster than the vehicle, and she had decided to give chase. The Sentray ran up behind the vehicle and gave it a huge kick. The vehicle flew up into the air. Both Orcille and Denise were flung clear of the vehicle. The vehicle smashed on impact with the ground.
The Sentray stopped running. He looked at both Denise and Orcille lying on the ground. Denise was lying on her back, motionless. Orcille was face-first on the ground and had just begun to move. He was badly hurt and disoriented. The Sentray walked closer to Orcille. Orcille knew it was too late to become invisible. He rolled on his back to face the Sentray.
The Sentray roared loudly while placing a large claw on top of Orcille. Orcille could no longer move. The Sentray began to sniff him. Orcille closed his eyes. The Sentray was about to crush Orcille under the full weight of his foot when he heard a squealing sound.
The Sentray turned towards the squealing sound. The sound became louder. Powering through the bushes was Hamlet. The Sentray roared at Hamlet. Hamlet barked back at the Sentray. The Sentray walked up to Hamlet, roaring louder. Hamlet refused to budge. The Sentray glanced back at Orcille, but he had disappeared. The Sentray roared at Hamlet again.
The Sentray walked over to Denise, who was still lying on her back, unconscious. Hamlet moved over to put herself between Denise and the Sentray. The Sentray roared in rage. Hamlet charged forward. She knocked the front leg of the Sentray with such great force that the Sentray had to take a step backwards. The Sentray roared again. Hamlet refused to move.
There was a rumbling sound in the distance. Both Hamlet and the Sentray looked up. It was the giant flying machine heading towards the Capital Region to collect more weapons and ammunition for Cellrebrum. Hamlet and the Sentray watched as it moved across the sky. Once it had disappeared out of sight, Hamlet and the Sentray stared at each other. A few moments later, the Sentray turned away from Hamlet. The Sentray ran off in the opposite direction from where the giant flying machine was heading.
Orcille became visible again. He looked over at Hamlet. Hamlet walked over to Orcille and licked his face. Orcille struggled to his feet. He moved over to Denise to check if she was still alive. Amazingly, she still was, but she had suffered several more broken bones.
Orcille picked Denise up and draped her over Hamlet’s back. Then Orcille climbed on Hamlet’s back as well.
‘Sorry about the weight, big girl, but I can’t get very far walking,’ said Orcille as he patted Hamlet on the side.
Hamlet was not bothered by the weight. She set off at a good pace towards the Downs Region. Hamlet galloped all day and much of the night before reaching the Downs Region.
Hamlet approached the Downs region entrance. There was a big sign. It read, ‘Welcome to Downs Region. The place we don’t count chromosomes.’ Orcille slid off Hamlet’s back. The gate opened. A guard came out to greet them.
‘Hello friends, have you lost your way?’ asked the guard.
‘We need urgent medical attention. My friend is dying,’ said Orcille, as blood dripped from his nose.
The guard radioed someone. Within a few minutes, a medical team arrived. They took both Orcille and Denise to their medical centre.
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