Chapter 7 - Laying Low

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Corbin never imagined his journey would lead to being curled in a fetal position inside a wooden crate, sneaking past security. Nor did he imagine breathing through a tube with a layer of fish piled on top of him. Trying to focus on anything but the rotting stench, he focused on the memory of Merric's face. Except, all he could visualize was a tall, blurry figure in the doorway of the dirty Sage Brush bathroom.

Would Merric know his face if they crossed paths again? Or were The Hounds following leads for the witcher that got away?

The wooden crate tipped over, and before he even knew what was happening, he spilled out, along with the slippery fish piled on top of him. Daylight invaded Archibald's van through the double doors as he blinked, trying to adjust his vision. Luna's short but curvy silhouette stood in the door frame next to her father's tall and burly one.

"You alright, princess?" Jasper crouched over him, grinning. "You look like hell."

Corbin spat the breathing tube out and crawled into a sitting position. His stomach churned as he inhaled the rotting fish scent and the slime soaking his clothing.

"I think I'm going to be sick..."

"Come on out." Archibald motioned with his hand. "There's a creek you can wash up in."

"Where are we?" Corbin slid from the van.

"About an hour north from Lake Tahoe. So it's best not to dilly dally," Archibald replied.

"Wait. Are you leaving me here?"

"Jasper and I need to drive the van farther north to throw off The Hounds in case someone followed us. We'll double back on foot and meet up with you and Luna. I've marked it on the map."

"I still think Luna should be the one to go with you, not me," Jasper said.

"I know how to handle myself." She patted the gun holsters on her hips.

"I know you can. My doubt lies with him." Jasper nodded at Corbin.

"Luna will do just fine. I trained both of you to handle your weapons, so it's not like you'll do any better," Archibald said.

"Well, he should at least carry this." Jasper shoved a shotgun into Corbin's hands.

"I... I'm not that good with guns."

"Just stick to the basics. Point. Pull the trigger. Don't miss."

"That's comforting," Corbin muttered.

"It'll be fine." Luna patted his shoulder. "Now wash up in the creek. You STINK."

"And who's fault is that?" Corbin shouted over his shoulder, walking away.

However, his smile faded when Luna's attention shifted to Jasper, who was standing inside the van and wiggling a fish in her face. She slapped it from his hand with a shriek, but began laughing when he leaped from the van to chase her. They circled the vehicle twice until he tackled her to the ground. Meanwhile, Archibald shouted at them to stop horsing around and get back to cleaning.

As Corbin stepped into the freezing creek, an ache swelled his chest over his family's absence. He was alone in the world-even with new companions.

Once the fish slime was scrubbed clean from his body and fresh clothing caressed his skin, the four of them set off in opposite directions. After a few hours of walking uphill and through dense trees, Luna stopped to wipe her brow before taking a swig from a canteen. Then she passed it to Corbin so she could study their map.

"How much longer do we have?"

"Perhaps an hour or two more." She ran her finger along the map. "Think you'll make it?"

"Listen, I've been traveling on foot for a majority of my trip, so don't you dare take a jab at my stamina."

"Judging by your heavy panting, I'm guessing you could use a little more cardio in your life." She grinned.

Corbin patted his abdomen. "I'm in decent shape."

"Doubt it." She shrugged, so Corbin plucked her hand from the map and ran her fingers up his stomach to feel the ridges.

"Still doubt it?" He cocked his brow, and Luna jerked her hand away, which only made him laugh. "Wait, a second... are you blushing?"

"I don't blush."

"Well, you are!" He pointed at her face.

"You're no fun." Luna folded the map and began walking again.

"Oh, I'm plenty of fun. Just ask the woman I met outside of Sage Brush. We had a good time drinking and dancing and..." he trailed off.

"And what?" Luna glanced over her shoulder, amused.

"Not sure. I can only remember bits and pieces, but I know that I woke up naked."

"Oh? Did she rob you of your clothes?" Luna chuckled.

"No. She was kind to me."

"So, did she tell you about Merric?"

"Romie? Yes."

"Romie?" Luna halted, causing him to run into her. "You know her?"

"Yes..."

With that reply, she spun around and glared at him. "If you're a junkie, we're done here. I refuse to risk my family's life for someone who will gamble with their own."

"What? I'm not!"

Luna snatched a revolver from her hip holster and pointed it at him. Corbin jumped back and brought his hands up to protect his face as if his arms were bulletproof. She stepped closer.

"Are you lying to me?"

"NO. I swear." Corbin pushed his sleeves up, exposing his arms. "See? No track marks. I didn't even know Romie is into drugs until I walked in on her doing it!"

Luna sighed and kept the gun aimed. "Do you swear to me you don't touch that stuff?"

"I swear! I promise you."

Luna maintained her glare for a few more beats, but nodded and retracted the revolver. "Good. Let's keep walking."

Corbin's breath rattled upon exit as he followed behind her. Scare to ask, but needing answers, he spoke up, "How do you know Romie?"

"Romie used to be one of our girls," Luna replied over her shoulder. "With us, the sex-workers have our protection in exchange for information on who to rob. Romie thought she deserved a cut of everything, but it was never the deal. Protection for information. That's it."

"So the prostitute who approached me in the brewery, was she gathering information for you?"

"Chantelle? No," Luna chuckled. "She's a hard worker, but she doesn't catch on when we're running an operation. She almost got in the way with Merric. He hurt her, and under normal circumstances, I would've whipped him with my revolver, my father would've dragged him out, and Jasper would have beaten the mierda out of him."

"Mierda?"

"Crap," Luna answered. "But that would've made it worse, and we needed information, so he got away with it. For now."

"Well, I guess that makes the three of you superheroes." Corbin lowered his voice and spoke from deep within his belly as he flexed his arms. "Fighting the evils of the world to protect the innocent. Rawrrrrr."

"You're a comedian. Congrats."

It grew silent between them as they continued weaving through the wilderness, only making stops to sip water from their canteens. When the sun began slinking towards the horizon, and the sky transitioned into a sherbert hue, Luna pulled out the map again.

Her breathing was labored as she said, "Pretty sure we're in the right spot. We can wait now."

"Good because I'm exhausted."

Corbin sank to his knees and pulled out his canteen, taking a long pull while Luna crouched and searched through her bag for food.

"Hungry?"

"Starving! Should I start a fire?" Corbin asked.

"NO. The smoke could attract attention."

"Sorry, I didn't think about that."

"Have some of this." She handed him bread and cheese.

"Did you hear about how the government is gonna ship canned food to Oregon and Washington?" he asked with a mouthful. "And start rationing it out?"

"Yes, something like that." Luna chewed and added, "We're lucky up here in the mountains. We have the lake and rivers for water, but one day, if the drought continues, we'll be like the other states. Dry and fighting over water."

Luna studied him as she nibbled on pieces of bread, and with the sunset's light casting on her face, her green eyes appeared absent of color. Corbin couldn't help but reach out and trace a finger down her temple to her chin.

"What're you doing?" She pulled away.

"I've just never seen eyes like yours before. Green is already a rare color, but to have a green as light as yours? That has to be even rarer."

Giving a half-smile, she looked down and picked at a piece of cheese. "Back in Cuba, a man who worked on my grandfather's coffee farm called them the devil's eyes."

"Why?"

"That's a story for another day..."

Corbin sat back and motioned to their surroundings. "It's not like we have anything else to do."

"No." Luna shook her head.

"Ok, can you at least answer me this: do you and Jasper have different mothers? Because you don't look alike."

"Why? Because he's Asian and I'm not?"

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude, aren't I?"

"It's ok." Luna waved her hand. "No, we don't have the same mother because Jasper isn't my actual brother. My father found him searching for food in a dumpster outside of a restaurant in Florida."

Corbin crooked his brows. "Was he homeless? Where were his parents?"

"They passed away after coming to the States on vacation. He doesn't know what happened-just that they got sick. Social Services wanted to take him until they could locate his family in Malaysia, but Jasper was a frightened child and ran away from them. He was living on the streets for weeks until my father took him under his wing."

"And he trusted your father?"

"If you're a frightened little boy and a gentle stranger prevents an angry restaurant owner from beating you to a pulp, wouldn't you trust him? And what if that gentle stranger tells you he can protect you, give you food, and a place to sleep on his boat? You know, kind of how he's taken you under his wing?"

"Well, when you put it that way."

"We're not bad people, Corbin. You can trust us."

"I'm realizing that."

"Anyway." Luna looked him in the eyes. "Can I try something?"

"Sure." Corbin shrugged, and she inched forward, bringing her hands up to the sides of his face without touching his skin. She inhaled a deep breath and looked into his eyes. "Is this voodoo?"

"Quiet! I need to see it again, and I can't do that if you're distracting me."

"See what?"

"I said, quiet!"

Corbin snapped his mouth shut, and for a moment, they simply breathed together while looking into each other's eyes. After a few seconds, his head swam with fuzziness, and her eyes morph into a rich green color again. Every muscle in his body tensed, anchoring him to the forest floor before everything faded to white.

Moments later, Corbin found himself on his back and starting up at the purple sky.

Confused, he patted himself down, but to his disappointment, he was still dressed. When he glanced around, he spotted Luna pacing while rubbing her arms. Except she wasn't alone. Archibald and Jasper had returned, but when? He registered her voice as she paced.

"Hands were pulling him deeper and deeper until the lake evaporated and all that was left was the fish gasping for air as they flopped about. I saw men falling from the sky and landing on the ground with blood seeping from their skulls. There was a loud noise like thunder, and I heard a name." Luna paused in her tracks and shook her head as she bit down on her thumbnail. "There was a shadow... it was behind me. Taunting me. Like it wanted me to know it's in control."

"What name?" Archibald asked, his body leaning in as he clung to her words.

"I'm not sure. I need to look again."

"Absolutely not!" Jasper blurted with a sweep of his hand.

"Excuse me?" Luna's brows shot up to her hairline.

Jasper stepped in front of her and pointed to the ground beside them. "We had to pry your hands away from Corbin's face because of how far gone you were in one of your rabbit holes. Your skin was ghost white. You were cold to the touch, and it took at least five minutes to get you to respond to us!"

"Yeah, SO!" Luna shouted at him on tiptoes.

"Every time you look into someone's eyes, it takes more and more energy out of you." Jasper turned to Archibald. "You know she won't listen to me, so you have to tell her."

"You know I can't ignore her gift or the things she sees."

"This isn't Cuba!"

"I KNOW it isn't," Archibald replied.

"Then stop living in the past. You'll never be able to change what happened back there, and enabling her is irresponsible!" Jasper shouted.

"I'm not enabling her!" Archibald shook his fist. "You know what happened when I ignored her vision when she was a child. You saw what happened on my father-in-law's coffee farm! You saw what the Soldados did to his family. To Luna's mother-my wife!"

"Yes, father, I saw. It's forever ingrained in my memory, but I swear if you don't put a stop to this..." Jasper pointed at Corbin. "You're going to kill her!"

"Jasper, wait," Luna said as he stormed past her.

"I need a minute," he called back and disappeared into the trees.

Corbin got to his feet, drawing Luna's and Archibald's attention. "Listen, I don't want to stick around if I'm going to create a rift in your family."

"It's alright." Archibald frowned. "Jasper just needs to cool off, and we'll get going."

"Where?"

"I know a man a few miles from here. We'll be safe with him for the night."

"Listen, I meant what I said. I can go find your friend on my own, so your family can get back to Tahoe."

"Don't insult me," Archibald replied and walked towards the trees where Jasper stormed off. "Luna saw something in your eyes, so we're not parting ways until we figure out what it means."

A few minutes later, Archibald returned with Jasper, and the four of them began trekking through the wilderness with only the moonlight guiding their path.


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As always, thanks so much for reading, voting, and commenting. AND for sticking with me.

In the next chapter, we'll meet a familiar character from Water in a Time of Thirst and a new character who was talked about, but we never saw.


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