YP – B3: QtnoWLM – Chapter 37 (Chapter 134)

163 Days Until Saftey And the Uncertain End 

The cars rolled to a stop, and Zeydar threw himself out of the car to the ground vomiting the moment he was on his knees. Doors flew open and Evester was the first to Zeydar’s side as Zeydar passed out in the afternoon light. Evester checked Zeydar who groaned. Rolling him to his side, Evester sighed out, glancing at his wrist and then Kony was there. Kony checked Zeydar’s pulse and placed his hand against Zeydar’s back feeding him magic, Heia assumed.

She was not sure.

She watched from her car door, slowly moving around the car to the other side, looking to the others who were exiting their vehicles to observe Zeydar who was on the ground passed out. The entire car ride, Zeydar had been speaking with a voice that was breaking as he tried to focus. She could remember it so clearly, him repeating things, directions, orders, the crack in his voice as he was fading. Each time she had wanted to clarify, she had gotten the look from Evester to say nothing. So she had driven, taking the lead and leading the group where Zeydar said, and the Arlax had disappeared. They had driven all night and much of the day, their cars having to charge, because they were out of power.

Zeydar had been latched to Evester’s wrist, and in the light of the day Heia could see the faint red lines purpling to a bruise on Evester’s wrist. Zeydar had grabbed him and not let go. Evester had not said a single word about it even though it looked like it was swelling and was probably giving Evester much pain. The sky was blue where they were and the frigid air was going to hurt them all if they were outside too long. Still, the sky wasn’t as blue as it could be. Nor was it as cold as it could be.

Zeydar was still using his powers unconciously.

The world around them had been muted as they drove away from the Aralax. It was muted now. He was still defending them even when he couldn’t defend himself.

“We don’t have much time before sunset.” Shawn called to her.

“We need to get somewhere safe.” Phil agreed, glancing to Kori who was next to Kony as the two tried to make sure Zeydar was okay, that Evester was okay. Zeydar was shaking, not in a convulsion sort of way, but a shiver of cold.

“We need to get Dreams in him.” Kony snapped to Evester. There was an argument that Heia had missed between them. Kony never snapped at anyone and now he was.

“You think I don’t know that?” Evester hissed back, but it seemed as if he was not going to give it to Zeydar.

“He’s overloaded.” Kony breathed out, placing two hands on Zeydar’s back. “He’s still using his magic and he’s pulling at mine. We need to help him stop it.”

“The Dreams will stop it right?” Kori asked. “How did they give it to him when he was a kid?”

Phil was the next one over, checking on Zeydar. “Kim do we have water?”

“You want to mix it into water?” She asked.

“The medical grade can be,” Phil answered. “If he was right and they made the medical grade for him, then we can do it that way. We can’t make an IV drip here, but we might be able to get him to swallow it.”

Kim nodded and moved through her car looking for water. Heia heard what Phil muttered next about how he couldn’t believe Zeydar had actually saved them from that mess. And she could not believe it either. Yet he had.

“Kori.” Shawn called out.

“Yeah?” She looked up.

“You are with me. We need to find a place to stay and cover for the night.” Shawn was not waiting for others to tell him what to do. They had to find a place to rest for the night, and he was already getting in his car nodding to Heia that he’d be back. She could not let him leave.

“Out here?” Kori stood up. They were in the middle of nowhere. Scant few trees were around and the remainder of the world were fields once used for farming.

“Yes. Out here.”

“We have to find another place to stay.” Heia finally found her words. “We aren’t sure what sort of distance Zeydar got us. I suggest that we get rest now and drive through the night. Staying in one place may be a worse risk. We’ll just crash inside the cars. It won’t be comfortable, but it will be safe from the chill.”

“I agree.” Kim handed Phil water. Heia then looked to her car. From inside she grabbed her bag that held Zeydar’s drug case. Phil looked at what was needed and back to Evester. He was not in on the exact dosages we were supposed to give Zeydar, but he was the only one sho seemed to have an idea of how this would work. Heia gave him what was supposed to be the dosage, and Phil mixed it into the bottle. Phil hurried to Evester who was holding the pale Zeydar up and against his chest as he leaned against the car.

Zeydar breathed heavily, no longer seeming to be cold, as his head was against Evester’s exposed chest. When Evester had managed to unzip his jackets, Heia was not sure, but he was holding Zeydar as close to his body as he could manage. His heart beat, that was why Zeydar had clung to Evester’s wrist, to feel Evester’s heart beat. It was why they had been sleeping so comfortably not so long ago.

“Time to sleep then. Everyone should get sleep now, but two people. We can rotate to sleep during the night as the others drive off.” Shawn suggested.

“I’ll stay awake.” Evester stated. Everyone looked at him as he helped Zeydar to drink. Zeydar was coherent enough to do the action, gulping down the bottle of water from Phil, coughing and spitting a bit out. He then continued to drink. Too quickly, too fast, but seeming to know what it was. Evester tugged on Zeydar to pull him away from the vomit and closer to Shawn’s car instead of Heia’s. They stumbled away to the other side and Evester relaxed again, Zeydar on top of him. Kony checked Zeydar’s temperature and pulse once more, his hand against the back of Zeydar’s neck.

Zeydar’s eyes flickered open with the action but he did not open. “More.” Zeydar hissed.

“I can’t.” Phil shrugged. Heia watched as Zeydar turned directly to her.

“I need more!” He tried to grab it, arm out, magic out, and Kony stopped him, shielding Heia from the ice magic that shot at her. Zeydar would not harm Kony, because Kony was feeding him controlled magic as well, just like in Valaria.

Evester grabbed Zeydar tighter. “Zeydar calm down. Listen. Listen.”

“I need more. I can’t. I can’t. It’s too loud.” Zeydar was crying, as Evester pulled Zeydar to his chest, and wrapped his jackets around them both, covering Zeydar from Heia directly. After a moment, Evester relaxed a bit, and his jackets fell away a bit. Heia could see Zeydar gripping Evester’s shirt, shaking, and crying. The lot was quiet as they listened to Zeydar slowly growing silent, and then Kony was on his knees in exasperation. Evester ran his hand over Zeydar’s head and repositioned them so he could shield Zeydar from the sun better. His wrist was  purple then, turning darker.

Was it broken?

“Nasty bruise.” Shawn whispered to Heia.

“He held onto Evester the whole car ride as he made sure all Aralax staid away and that we did not run into more.” All while erasing their tracks. They had relayed the messages with flashlights and mirrors. Heia felt bad for Evester who clung to Zeydar watching as Zeydar’s body calmed down as Kony placed his hand on Zeydar’s back once more.

“Those three will stay awake.” Kori suggested. “The rest of us get sleep.”

Heia turned back to Kim who starred at Evester with a mixed expression. She then turned away. Heia raced after her as Kim pulled supplies from Heia’s car. Her heart raced for the feelings that Kim might have seeing what they had all witnessed. Kim and Evester were so close…

“We will need to do inventory.” Kim sighed as she looked at the mess of the trunk and back seats. She dropped a blanket over the seat in the back of the car after she moved everything to the floor.

“Are you okay?” Heia asked her. 

“Me?” Kim looked at her confused. There was silence for a moment before Kim looked past Heia and then focused on Heia again. “Oh. Evester?” She shook her head. “I love him, but not like that. I just hadn’t realized that he was already screwed.”

Heia knew what Kim meant. Evester was screwed. He had let Zeydar hold him the whole car ride, without complaint. He had been gripping Zeydar protecting him from the world. If he didn’t know it already, Heia and Kim did. Evester cared, loved, Zeydar and Heia could not place why or when it had happened.

“It’s just hard to see your best friend struggling and realizing he doesn’t understand why he is.” Kim sat on the blanket. “Want to sleep with me? I can’t sleep alone.”

“You sure?” Heia knew Kim never slept alone, but she hadn’t thought that was because Kim couldn’t. 

“I’m sure.” 

Heia climbed into the car after Kim, kicking off her shoes and getting closer to Kim. Kim shut the door and collapsed back. Tight and cramped on the backseat, Heia realized it was the closest she’d ever been to Kim before. As Kim’s eyes closed, Heia noticed the way her eye lashes were the same color of her hair. She had always assumed that Kim dyed her hair, but nows she wondered it if that were truly the case. Closing her eyes Heia let herself fall into sleep next to Kim, who she felt safe next to, safe and warm.

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