.Hope you all enjoy this, and let me know what you think! Feedback is always welcome!
1) How did you like this chapter versus the last one? Which is your favorite in the whole story so far?
2) Are there too many details / not enough? Do they balance well?
3) Are there any questions you have about the story, characters, etc? (any at all, I might not answer if it involves the story, but it might clarify things I need to define more)
4) Out of the entire story, what is your favorite part so far? What is your least favorite part?
5) Is there any part of my writing that distracts you?
6) Who is your favorite character?
-----------------------
Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4.
Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8.
Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Chapter 12.
Chapter 13. Chapter 14. Chapter 15. Chapter 16.
Chapter 17. Chapter 18. Chapter 19. Chapter 20.
Chapter 21. Chapter 22. Chapter 23. Chapter 24.
Chapter 25. Chapter 26. Chapter 27. Chapter 28.
Chapter 29. Chapter 30.
----
Exo Saves the Day
Chapter Thirty One: Blue Tears
By Gynoneko
The cold night air bit through my overcoat as though it wasn't even there. I held tightly onto Joan as she drove the motorcycle down the dark streets of the city. Her body warmth helped keep me from shivering; I was glad her body was designed to stay at an average human temperature but I had to wonder if she ever got cold. She seemed to know just where to go, thanks to the built-in GPS system she had. I held her tighter as I realized how much I appreciated her being there, despite her long hair whipping wildly in my face. She felt every bit as human as any girl, and I was still amazed by it.
My thoughts kept racing between Joan, the dangers we just left behind, and the dangers we faced ahead. I hoped the others were alright. By now the police were there handling the situation, but in what way? Were they going to arrest Jack for his questionable life-style? Was Annie in danger of being discovered and terminated? Then there was Cynthia and her secret she shared with Tom, and now me. I wondered if Jen had made up with Jack, or if it was too late for any of that sort of thing anymore.
Then there was Tera. I had no idea what kind of condition she was in. Was she hurt? Was she still alive? What did he want with her? Who was he? I had too many questions to answer, and I prayed we'd find out soon as we raced down the bitter cold streets at night.
It was probably only half an hour before we arrived in a nice suburb neighborhood to the north, but to me it felt like an eternity. Joan slowed the bike down to a crawl as we navigated through winding roads that ran deep into a heavily forested residential area. It was really a very nice place. Half the houses there could pass as mansions, and the other half probably were mansions. We passed several horse ranches as well, which seemed out of place, before we came to a large clearing in the woods filled with smaller, but equally nice, houses.
Suddenly my mind was filled with a slow but steady stream of data. Tera's signal had started up again, and this time it really was her. There were no messages, no screaming, just background data. I held Joan tighter as I concentrated on it. It took a second, but I knew more about Tera now than I had since she vanished. She was in pain, a lot of it. Her arm was hurt, and she was exhausted, but there was too much data for me to filter through and I got lost trying to figure things out. One thing I knew for sure was that she was terrified.
"It's Tera! She's close" I yelled through the helmet to Joan. She nodded and turned off the road, parking the bike near the trees at the edge of the woods.
We got off and prepared ourselves. I pulled the helmet off, and rifled through my pockets for the guns Joan gave me earlier. With just the two of us, this felt like suicide, but all we really had to do was get in, find Tera, and get out. A covert mission like this required a small number of people, but I was sure this was not going to work. Still, I trusted Joan, and let her lead the way.
"Here" I said, handing her the gun. She took it with an odd look on her face, but it melted into a smile.
"Thanks. You feeling alright?" she asked.
"Of course. I'm ready to do this!"
She nodded, and led the way toward the exact address I had given her earlier. We walked down the sidewalk a short way before cutting across a yard into the back between houses. There was a line of trees defining the back yards of these homes, and we stayed close to them to stay out of view. Finally, she stopped at the edge of a property, and looked around for danger.
The house was beige with blue accents, and stretched 2 stories tall, plus a basement. It had a large deck in the back with a swimming pool still filled with water, even though it was now covered with a tarp to keep it clean. Apparently they hadn't drained the pool yet since the cold weather and only just started to arrive. It was a nice house, to say the least, but with a house that big where would we start to look for Tera? Most of the house was dark save for lights in two windows on the first floor.
"Come on" Joan whispered as she waved me forward and began to make her way toward the home. There was no sign of any security system so far, and we didn't hear the bark of dogs. Maybe we were in luck after all. As Joan and I made our way over, I could hear muffled voices from the lit room, but couldn't tell what was being said.
Joan stopped by the edge of the deck, and slowly we followed it around until it met the house on the side. She made her way over to a short window that was about 3 inches off the ground. Peering in, I couldn't see anything, but with her advanced vision, Joan could see in better than me. I decided instead to make sure no noisy law-abiding neighbors were watching us. The last thing we needed was to be caught as thieves or something.
"It's the basement. I don't see any security systems; we should be able to get in here." She kept her voice low, just above a whisper, and started to fiddle with the frame of the window. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but I feared it was making too much of a racket, so I kept my eyes peeled for anyone else. Luckily no one noticed us yet, and I hoped it stayed that way.
"It's heavier than I thought" she said as she strained to pull at the window, frame and all. Somehow, she managed to dislodge the window with a few strong tugs. What would I do without her? As she lifted the window away, her foot slipped on a patch of mud in the grass. Instinctively, I reached out and caught her before she hit the ground or dropped anything.
"Thanks" she whispered with another odd look on her face. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?" she asked.
"I feel fine. Why?" I whispered back.
"Your arm... You broke it just this afternoon. Doesn't it still hurt?" I realized now that I had been using my arm to take off my helmet, hand her a gun, and even catch her from falling, and yet didn't think twice about it.
"That's... strange. Maybe a little if I twist it" I said, testing my arm. It did hurt a little when I twisted it, but maybe it was just the pain killer. "Couldn't it be that drug you gave me?"
"That wore off hours ago" she whispered, putting the window down nearby. "Your arm is healing incredibly fast! The same thing happened with your bruises."
I shrugged. I had no idea why I would heal fast; I never had any special healing abilities before. But it was true. Recently I had noticed my wounds healing quicker than usual, but I had no idea why. Still, this was not important at the moment, and I nodded toward the window.
"Right. I'll help you in" she said. "Be careful." Slowly, I backed myself toward the window crawling on the ground. As I reached my feet in, Joan grabbed my arms, and slowly helped lower me into the dark basement. I landed softly on a hard concrete floor, unable to see anything near me, but surrounded by a lot of junk. It was like my parent's old basement, cluttered with things they couldn't bear to part with over the years until it was packed full. Joan backed herself in next, slowly lowering her feet into the window above me. I placed my right hand on her rear to help her as she lowered herself in. I couldn't help but think about her soft butt, but I easily shoved that thought aside and got back to business. She was in a second or two later and stood up next to me.
"Perv" she whispered with a smile, lightly elbowing me in the ribs.
"What? I-" I joked back, but our friendly banter was quickly interrupted when the muffled voices from upstairs started up again, this time much clearer.
"Goddamn it! Don't you talk back to me! Do you have any idea how much that remote unit cost me? You can't just buy a cougar model off the shelf! I had that made custom just for her!" The male voice was familiar. It was the man that had attacked us before, the same man that somehow invaded my dreams, and the same man that took Tera from me. We were in the right place.
"But sir, I had everything under control, if she hadn't-" the muffle voice of 262 replied.
"Bullshit! Don't you blame this on Leonis! She's a cat, and you were responsible for her. You failed my orders, so she did what she was supposed to do. You have not!" We moved away from the wall, slowly navigating our way in the dark, trying not to knock over any of the various objects in the dark.
"Master, please give me another chance" 262 pleaded with her master. I felt bad for her to some extent, but I had no idea how bad it was.
It was quiet upstairs for a while, so we halted our motion, trying to make sure we didn't make any sound when they'd hear it. We knew 262 had excellent hearing, so we were extra careful.
"Sir?" 262 asked. "Could I at least bandage my arm?"
"I'm not going to waste my first aid kit on a robot... I admit I'm down to one RCU myself. But you had no excuses. He was defenseless! None of the other robots could reach him, and you even disarmed him. Yet you still failed to follow out my orders! Until you can prove to me otherwise, you are being demoted to my house maid."
Feet moved upstairs, the ceiling boards creaking under their weight. We used this opportunity to move forward some more, hoping to use this chance to look around in the dark while they were busy.
"RCU?" I whispered to Joan.
"Remote Combat Unit... experimental remote cyber body, never approved for combat" she replied quietly, before the voice boomed upstairs again.
"Thanks to you, I've had to activate that blasted virus I installed in all those androids" the man continued. "Damn it! That was my last resort! It took me years slaving away at that shit-hole to set that up. I was going to use that for... more important things... I need to take out my frustrations."
"Master! You promised you wouldn't hurt her anymore!" 262's voice sounded frantic as she begged her master to stop whatever he was doing up there. "Please sir, not the whip, you promised!"
"A promise to you is like a promise to my toaster."
Before we had a chance to do anything else, a square shaft of light appeared in the dark, illuminating our surroundings. The door upstairs had opened, and the silhouette of a man appeared. Joan and I scrambled to get behind something for cover and pray he didn't see us. We managed to find a place behind what looked like a large workout bench under a sheet. I could tell Joan was just as scared as I was as her body shook against mine.
The man walked down the stairs into the dark, his shadow growing smaller on the ground below with each step. I could see our surroundings better now. The place was cluttered with all assortments of junk, and it had been unfinished, with no real ceiling, no painted walls, and just a concrete floor. It was rather hideous looking and I wondered what else lived down here in the dark.
Finally he came into view. It was the same man as before, identical in every way to the robot we destroyed, the "cyber-doll" that attacked us back at the motel. He wore a business suit exactly the same as before except this time he had in his hand what looked like a whip, except different. The whip itself reflected the light of the room above like metal.
"Please sir" 262 pleaded as she followed him down the stairs. He pulled a cord at the bottom of the stairs, and a solitary light illuminated the scene. The whip was definitely metal, with wires running up and down it. I could also see 262 more clearly as well. She was wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans, and held onto her arm with her other hand. Her arm hung lifelessly at her side, the wound from Annie's bullet still untreated, still stained with android blood now dried down her arm. She looked in pain, but tried to hide it from her master.
Joan and I remained hidden as best we could, but to our horror, the man turned and walked straight toward us. Joan ducked down farther, pushing herself tighter against me, as we watched him get closer and closer. As soon as he was a foot away from the bench we hid behind, he turned and followed a short path to a door I hadn't noticed before in a nearby wall. It was a heavy wooden door, padlocked and shut tight. I was still close enough that I could reach out and brush his leg, but I didn't dare move.
262 followed close behind and luckily she didn't notice us either. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. After undoing the padlock, he returned the key to his pocket, and opened the door. The room was dark, with no windows to illuminate it. He took a step inside, and flipped a switch, turning on a bare bulb hanging in the middle of the tiny room. It wasn't much bigger than a walk-in closet, and had pipes and wires lining the walls into various parts of the house. On the floor in the middle of it all was Tera.
I felt like someone had kicked me in the chest. She looked far worse than I imagined. Tera sat on the ground against a set up pipes running up the wall, still dressed in what remained of her blue dress from the other night. Her wrists were bound with handcuffs, and not the fun kind, and were attached to a juncture in the pipes almost 2 feet over her head. There was something off about her right arm, and it took me a moment to focus well enough to see what it was. The skin from her arm had been methodically torn off from the wrist down to her shoulder. Her artificial muscles, optical wires, and everything else under her skin was clearly visible. Her orange-red blood soaked her right side, as an IV ran down into her arm, replenishing her blood. What kind of monster would torture a girl like this and then give her just enough treatment to keep her alive through more of it?
Her arm shook with pain, but there was no other sign that she was alive. Her head hung loosely, her auburn hair obscuring her face. She looked completely and utterly defeated. As I gazed longer, I could see her body was covered in long thin burns. She sat in a pool of filth; a mixture of her blood and urine which was artificial, but still filtered out waste from her system and smelled just as bad as the real thing. Around her neck, she wore a collar identical to Annie's. Joan was every bit as shocked at the sight as I was, and even 262 seemed taken aback by it.
"First time seeing it like this? Just be glad it's not you!"
"Master... I thought you said you needed her to look human!" 262 objected.
"It will, as soon as it submits. It's shown remarkable resistance to the collar, but it will break soon. Why do you think I dragged that repair station down here?" he said, pointing back directly at us. I looked closer at the object we were hiding behind. It wasn't a workout bench; it was the same model workstation that Tom had installed in his lab. With this, he could repair her skin like it was brand new, and the only scars left would be emotional ones.
The man flipped a switch on the whip in his hand, and it hummed with electricity. Blue light emanated from the whip as it arced with electricity. The end of it dragged along the ground, and sparked with white energy at the contact, leaving burns in its wake.
"Please sir! No!" 262 objected. Tera never looked up, but she curled herself slightly into a ball in preparation.
"Would you rather I use this on you? God knows you deserve it!" the man spat at 262. "Or perhaps you would rather do the honors?" he suggested, offering the handle of the whip to her. She recoiled her hand, unable to bear the thought of hurting her sister like that. "Huh! I thought so." He looked her hard in the face with pure disdain. "You know none of this would be necessary if you'd bind with me!"
262 was shocked, even disgusted at the thought. Yet, she contemplated it for her sister's sake. The wheels in her head were turning, but the man was impatient.
"Suit yourself. Go upstairs and bring me up some water, I'm thirsty, maid. And while you're up there, check on the workstation and tell me when that bastard's nanites stop responding. He should be dead soon."
He was talking about me. He had been monitoring my nano-bots all this time?! What else has he been doing, besides torturing my girlfriend?
262 turned to leave and obey his orders, but stopped and turned back. "He told me he loved her. Tera said the same thing to me..."
The man froze in place before slowly turning to face her. Hate filled his eyes, and he shot his malice at her. He punched 262 hard in the jaw, knocking her off her feet. A punch that strong could have killed a normal human; in fact a normal human would have a hard time throwing such a punch in the first place. This had to be another one of those cyber-dolls. 262 held her jaw as she looked up at him in shock.
"Its name is 263, and you will address it as such" he growled. She remained still for a while looking up at him, holding the side of her jaw. He turned away, back toward Tera, ignoring 262. Slowly, she got back to her feet, adjusting her jaw, as though he had knocked it out of place.
As 262 turned around to head back toward the stairs, her eyes suddenly stopped on me and Joan! She looked surprised, and my heart skipped a beat. We were discovered! To our surprise, 262 looked back at her master, then back at us, before turning and walking back up the stairs.
"You've changed" she said as she vanished into the light.
"No I haven't" the man growled to no one in particular. "You've only opened your eyes. Now then, you are going to help me get the information I need, and if I have to break you to do that, so be it! Shall we continue where we left off?"
"Danny... will save... me" Tera said in a voice so quiet I almost didn't hear it.
"Your little DaNnY is dead!" he said, mocking my name. "What kind of sick fuck would love a robot anyways?" He raised the whip over his head in preparation to strike.
I couldn't take any more of this, and I could not let him hit her! I ran out of my hiding place, and charged at him. I must have made a noise to distract him, because he paused and turned toward me but it was too late, I was already upon him. I grabbed at the whip in his hand, and knocked it to the floor, the electricity draining from it. I then proceeded to launch a series of ineffective punches at him; without my Exo suit, there wasn't really much I could do. Luckily, Joan was right behind me and punched her hand at the man's neck. She managed to slice right through the skin and into his artificial throat, pulling at the RCU's spine.
"YOU!" he said through a broken speaker in his neck staring at me before Joan snapped his neck and pulled out wires and circuits. Sparks erupted from his neck as his robotic body went stiff and fell to the ground. I kicked at the monstrosity before turning toward Tera.
"TERA!" I cried, diving toward her. I dared not touch her though, for fear of hurting her more.
Tera took a little while to respond before she looked up at me. "Danny?" she asked in a weak voice. "Where? How?" Suddenly her eyes started to glow blue and she recoiled violently away from me.
"NO! Don't get near me! I... I'll hurt you!" she screamed.
"AARRRG!!" a muffled voice from upstairs yelled. It was a male voice, but sounded different than the one I was familiar with. We needed to hurry!
"Tera! You could never hurt me! I-"
"It's the collar! I can't control it. I'm so tired! I'll hurt you!" she pleaded, still trying to back away from me. He was crying profusely from her large blue eyes; each tear reflecting the blue glow they emitted.
"Tera! I won't let you hurt me. I've already hurt you enough. I... should have told you this a long time ago. Tera, I love you!"
She stopped struggling at my words and looked up at me. "Really? You really love me?"
"Of course! More than anything! I've loved you since I first saw you and brought you home." I pulled out of my pocket the intricate heart-shaped gear necklace that I gave her the night she was kidnapped. "It just took me a while to realize it." I leaned in and placed it around her neck, much to her delight, and gave Tera a gentle kiss. She closed her eyes and returned the kiss, even though it was brief and very wet from our tears.
When she opened her eyes again, they were no longer glowing blue, but were now shining bright white, obscuring her irises and pupils.
"Stand back" she said as her eyes started to glow brighter. I backed up a little and I watched puzzled as to what was going on. Finally, I heard a pop and a fizzle, and smoke rose from the collar at her neck. Tera's eyes went back to normal, and she collapsed even more onto the ground - her arms still bound above her - exhausted from her effort.
She looked up and smiled weakly at me. "Oh Danny! You did save me! And Joan too!"
"I couldn't leave my baby sister to this fate!" Joan said as she rushed to her side. Instead of hugging her, she focused on Tera's bonds, still holding her arms uncomfortably above her head to the pipes. Meanwhile, I started working on removing the collar she just fried.
"No! Don't touch it!" Tera objected. "I only shorted the part that was trying to control me. The security part is hardwired, and will still shock me if you try to remove it!"
"Oh... shit" I put it eloquently. I left the collar alone, and realized it must have been him who gave Liberati the collar he put on Annie. I could hear more yelling upstairs as the man screamed for 262, who was apparently taking her sweet time attending to him.
Joan pulled the handcuffs apart, and gently helped Tera lower her arms. She was in a lot of pain from her position alone, not to mention her right arm being skinned like that. Thank goodness she wasn't human, or that kind of injury would get infected and kill her. She gently placed her injured arm against her chest, wincing at the pain of moving it and touching it, while she let her other arm dangle by her side.
"That's better" she sighed. She leaned her body against mine and closed her eyes, breathing deeply and slowly. She was exhausted, as her nano-bots had told me, and went limp against me as she rested. Naturally, I lifted her up as best as I could, and realized my arm was not fully healed yet, and taking on her weight was going to hurt. But still, I did it. I lifted her in the air as she leaned against me, and prepared to carry her out, ignoring the pain in my arm.
Joan ran ahead, taking to the stairs as she prepared to clear us a path. "Take the front door out and get to the bike! I'll hold them off while you get Tera to safety."
"I can't abandon you here, Joan" I said.
"I'll find you later" she said. "This was the plan wasn't it? You can only get two on the bike after all."
She had a point. I knew Joan could take care of herself, and I trusted she would do her best to meet with us, but I feared she would get caught and used in Tera's place. Still, I had no choice, so I nodded in approval before she darted up the stairs. I followed behind as quickly as I could, and joined her upstairs.
"Danny, you look awful" Tera commented looking up at me. Had she not looked so much worse, I would have laughed, but instead I smiled, glad she was still acting like herself a little.
The basement door led up to the kitchen, which was still brightly lit with a dozen or so inset lights. It was a very nice looking house, with modern furniture, clean aesthetics, and mostly clutter-free. It was nothing like his basement. I decided not to ogle his place though, and followed Joan through the kitchen. I did notice one peculiar thing. A small black and white cat sat on counter, watching us. It looked old and ragged with a collar around its neck that I couldn't see clearly, but I caught enough of a glimpse to see that it said 'Leonis' on the tag.
Joan led the way to the front door, with no sign of either her sister or the malevolent man that owned her. We had made it to the door, and for once I saw a glimpse of hope that we could get out of there in one piece. I was sure it couldn't be this easy to get out, and unfortunately I was right.
Before Joan could reach the doorknob, 262 stepped out from around a corner and put her hand on the door, blocking our path.
"Move aside, little sister" Joan growled.
"I'm sorry, I can't do that" the redhead replied in a melodic tone.
"You can come with us" Joan suggested, although I wasn't sure if that would be a good idea.
"I'm sorry, I can't do that either."
"Don't make me hit you" Joan warned.
"Oh, you don't want to do that" 262 replied with less malice than I thought she would.
Joan didn't listen and started to punch at her sister. 262 just stood there and took the blows, without so much as flinching. Before Joan was finished, 262 made her own countermove. She blocked one of Joan's punches, and pivoted her body twisting around in an arc. I didn't see how she did it, but somehow she managed to grab the wooden coat hanger from beside the door and slammed it into Joan's side, splitting the thick shaft of wood in two.
Joan buckled over and held her side, falling hard against the wall. 262 dropped the other half of the shaft of wood, and stood over her older sister.
"Hurts doesn't it? They turned off your ability to bypass the pain didn't they? So sorry about that."
"Go to hell" Joan coughed as she reached for the gun in her pocket, still hunched over from the pain. 262 swiftly kicked the gun from her hand, and struck her again in the side. I watched as Joan screamed in pain at the impact.
"I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to 260" she said calmly to her sister.
"My name... is Joan!" She could barely get it out, after having taken such a force to the abdomen. Still, she did her best to try to stop her sister, but the pain, and what appeared to be low energy levels, left her slow and predictable. 262 easily blocked the attempted punch, grabbed her arm, and twisted it, giving her another punch to the same spot as before. She was relentless, and knew exactly how to disable a person through pain instead of killing them.
"Joan..." 262 repeated. "I'm sorry..." She leaned in closer to Joan and whispered something in her ear, which I couldn't hear.
"What?" Joan coughed. She had heard her, but whatever she said took Joan by surprise.
However, I had no time to ponder it, as 262 turned to me next. I realized I should have run during this confrontation, and gone out a back door. However, I was so transfixed by their fight, I didn't think about it until it was too late. Slowly 262 approached me, and slowly I backed away.
"I can't let you leave" she told me as she slowly walked toward me. I was cornered, walking into a wall. But wait, it wasn't a wall, there were stairs! I slowly made my way up the stairs to the top floor, trying to keep my distance between us. There was little else I could do, but I began to contemplate what my options were at this point.
I could try to go through 262, but after what she did to Joan, I would be no challenge for her. Maybe if I kept going upstairs, I could find a way around her and head back down, but that seemed far-fetched. He had a swimming pool in his back porch. Perhaps with a little luck I could jump out a window into the pool and make a getaway, except it was a rather small pool, and with Tera in her condition, she might short circuit if her arm hit any water. I was running out of options fast!
Tera was shaking in my arms, perhaps from the pain, perhaps she was just scared from her sister, but she grabbed onto my shoulder with her left hand and held on tight. I had backed my way all the way up the stairs to the top landing, and found myself in a narrow hallway with a few doors to my sides, and one directly behind me. 262 continued at the same pace toward me, and all I could do was keep moving.
"Joan?" I called out, hoping she was alright, and praying she could help us. Instead of a reply, all I heard was her moaning downstairs from the pain. 262 did a number on her, again, and Joan was out for the count.
"She can't help you anymore, Daniel" 262 replied for her.
I found myself pushed against a door at the end of the hall, and discovered the door was unlatched, and let me right in.
"Mr. Hawthorn, so nice of you to visit" an unfamiliar voice called out to me from behind. It was the voice of a man, and it sounded weak, and a little rough.
"That voice..." Tera said softly looking around the room, still gripping onto me.
262 came in and closed the door behind her, staying in the doorway as I entered the room. Turning around, I could see this room was huge, and filled with all sorts of things that didn't belong in a master bedroom. First there was a large computer terminal which had readouts on it similar to what I was experiencing with Tera's nano-bots. I instantly realized he was picking up the signal from my bots, and was monitoring me. He probably couldn't tell where I was with it, but it was still disturbing.
Near the large terminal, there were 3 empty stations that looked like charge ports for robots, except I figured these were for his 'RCUs' as he called them. I had only ever counted 2 from him before, but all 3 stations were empty. Near those was another similar station, but this one was much shorter, and must have housed the RCU for Leonis the mecha cat.
Finally, next to that was a life-support system adjacent to a pod-like bed facing a giant window looking out at the moon. The bed was tilted for comfort, and while the rest of the room looked more-or-less like a fancy master bedroom, the bed looked more like it belonged in a hospital of the future.
The voice came from that bed, but I couldn't see anyone in it at this angle. At least, not until a figure of a man slowly started to emerge from the sheets. He looked frail, weak, and sick, and groaned as he struggled to stand. I still couldn't see his face yet, but Tera peered out at him as though she had just seen a ghost.
Finally, he made it to his feet, and stood facing us. He was much younger than I expected, probably in his late 20's or early 30's, with shaggy black hair and an equally shaggy beard to match. He was thin, with an angular face, and dark eyes. I had never seen the man before, but Tera's eyes widened and she gripped me tighter.
"Hello 263" he said.
"ROB?!"
------
/Chapter 31
Chapter 32 here.
Glad you like it! I have been dying to get to this part, I just hope you all enjoy the next chapter ad the conclusion. That's right, 2 more to go, 33 chapters in all.
