Thief

by conTROLLER234

Chapter 20 Emotion

Thief

Chapter 20

Emotion

”Yo, John! Pick up the pace, will ya?! We wanna get goin’ before the traffic gets heavy!” Jason honked the horn of his car. The revving car, housing Jason, Mark, and Kyle, was sitting just outside of John’s parent’s house. John had finally managed to get out of the door, his parents not far behind him.

“Did you remember everything? Including your toothbrush and-”

“Yes, I have everything!” John rushed out the door, a stuffed luggage bag in tow. The bag had a long handle and two wheels at the back, along with two comfortable backpack straps. Even though it was meant to move on cement, he dragged it across his grassy front yard. He had gotten to the car, and trunk was already open for him to toss his luggage in. The car swayed when it landed, and John quickly closed the trunk.

“Okay, what about-”

“Yes! Whatever it is, I have it, now I have to go!” John cut off his mother again, climbing into the front passenger seat, beside Jason. “Bye, love you guys!”

John’s mother sighed and smiled at the same time, her husband’s hand resting on her shoulder to comfort her. “Let him go hun, he’s done this several times before.” He waved off the car as it drove off.

“I know, it just seems to get harder every time he goes away..” His mother also waved them goodbye. The car was out of the driveway and down the street in a matter of seconds.

It was still dark out, but the sun was just beginning to peek over the mountains in the distance. The four of them were headed out to the mountains for multiple overnights on a hike. They were all decently active and healthy, especially with John into freerunning, and Kyle being a loner at the gym all the time.

John had some green cargo pants on, a white t-shirt that hung over his waist. He had just recently come back from a hair salon, so his hair was just freshly cut into the easy buzzcut. He hadn’t shaved, however. His cheeks and lower face were covered in a light, prickly, black carpet of facial hair. Around his neck hung a thin, full silver necklace. It wrapped around his neck, but hid into his t-shirt.

Beside him was the main driver; Jason. He wore some casual clothes, some jeans that were a bit on the baggy side. On his torso hung a white, sleeveless t-shirt, with some old stains permanently engraved into the fabric. On his feet were some expensive hiking boots, though. He must’ve just thrown on some clothes, but knew we we’re hiking so grabbed some appropriate footwear. His hair was a dirty blonde, long and shaggy. He had a brown overcoat hanging over his shoulder as he sat. Everyone else had just a normal t-shirt or thin jacket, but that was because we were all from Canada. Jason, however, had moved from Australia. His outfit didn’t seem to make too much sense, but he had probably just packed better clothes in his luggage.

In the back seats sat Kyle and Mark. Mark was probably one of John’s closer friends out of the four. The two of them talked a lot, even when the four of them weren’t all together. Although Mark wasn’t as active as John, they both made a powerful team. Mark had the greatest grades out of all of them. His strongest suit out of the many classes, was science. His love for the outdoors, and nature all together, was mostly the reason for his success. John was one of the few people that was interested in what Mark loved. John didn’t have great grades, though. In fact sometimes he had to try hard just to pass.

After Mark and John talked so much about the outdoors and wildlife, the two of them formed a strong friendship. And after meeting Jason, then Kyle, an enormous bond of immatureness and excitement was formed. Mark taught John a lot about common things that he would usually find out in the forest, stuff ranging from medicine, vitamins, water, food, etcetera.

Jason and Kyle, on the other hand, didn’t care much for such things like the other two. Kyle, was a bit of a strange one. As buff and energetic as he was, he would be seen as the kind to play football 24/7. Though this wasn’t exactly the case. As of right now, he was reading a Harry Potter chapter book. A fairly thick one, also. He always wore glasses, never liked contacts. He was also a complete anime geek, explained through why he was wearing a Fairy Tail symboled shirt. On his legs were a pair of thick, cargo shorts. On his feet, were a pair of average runners, a bit wore down though, with grey socks underneath.

They all seemed so different, and liked different things. Though it may seem cheesy, the thing that brought them all together no matter what, was some good ‘ol rock music. Once the car was onto the highway, everyone relaxed. They were on their way.

“Hey, Kyle, put the book down or I’m gonna chuck it out the window.” Jason joked, and Kyle sneered.

“I’d like to see you try, buddy.” He kicked up one of his legs and crossing it over his other leg. Kicking John’s chair in the process.

“Hey, don’t bring me into this. I had a rough morning.” He sat up, getting more comfortable.

“Yeah, why were you so late? Did something happen?” Mark questioned, yawning in the middle of his speech.

“No,” The yawn carried onto John. “just trying to make sure I have everything, have breakfast, and getting out the door, all after getting up late is hard. Especially with a pair of parents on your ass the entire time.” He sat back again, focusing his attention to the radio as he turned it on. “Leaving that house never gets any easier.”

“Ninety three point five.” Jason reminded, speaking once he saw me poking at his radio in his peripheral.

“Yeah yeah, I know.” John mumbled as he twisted the knob, searching for the right station. “Aha, here we go.”

The best thing about the station is that it was an automatic station, so there were no people controlling it or talking between songs. It did, however, still insert random infomercials and commercials. Yeah, you would get some replays every once in awhile, but whatever. They were still good songs. All the good stuff that everyone in the car liked.

As John twiddled with the piece of technology, static seemed to sound through in inconsistent waves, until acknowledgable sounds began to seep through, and started to overtake the static until it was the only sound emitting from the machine. When a song was finally heard through the radio, the memorable feeling of relaxation and happiness swept through the car like the wind from a pickup truck that just recently drove past you on the sidewalk.

“Aww yeah, this is the shit.” John smirked as he turned up the volume, sitting back in the chair after finishing what he started. The song was easily recognisable as none other than the famous Thunderstuck, by AC DC.

“Man,” Mark groaned in the backseat. “I’ve heard this song waaaayy too many times recently…”

“Well you’re gonna listen to it again, so stop ya fuckin’ moanin’ or I’ll turn it up louder.” Jason laughed, reaching out to the radio.

“Alright, alright! Damn…” Mark lifted his hands in surrender, turning his attention out the window. “Where are we going again?”

“We’re going to roughly be in the area of Evan’s Peak, though because we’ll be camping and they don’t allow that there, we’re gonna have to go off trail quite a ways to not get caught.” Kyle spoke up, audibly putting his book away and relaxing in his seat. “Or so, I was told.”

“That’s correct,” Jason nodded. “And it’s gonna be cold up there, so I hope that you all brought good sleeping bags. It gets below zero at night.”

“You should be the one worried Jason. Up in the great white north we canadians ain’t got shit to worry ‘boot cold eh?” John joked, bringing in a strong Canadian accent halfway through his sentence and nudging Jason in the shoulder. He rolled his eyes dramatically in response.

“I don’t know why you do that. I’ve never heard a canadian actually talk like that.” He added, focusing on the road more than the passengers.

“Well, that’s probably because we’re drownin’ our stomachs in so much maple syrup that we ain’t got time fer talkin’.” John quickly snapped back, earning a light punch in the back of his chair from Kyle.

“Oh, fuck yeah bud.” He laughed, and Jason just shook his head.

“I don’t know how I put up with your shit sometimes…” Jason sighed, speaking through it.

“You don’t have to do anything, but no matter what you’re stuck with us now.” John spoke, shrugging as he stared out his window. The snow-covered mountains that just peeked over the forest treeline catching his eye.

There was a bit of a silence, as everyone settled down for the trip. Their excitement levels dropping as they relaxed. The quiet roaring of the engine was the only noise aside from the radio, which had been turned down. Both of them, becoming white noise over time. The beauty of the outdoors consuming all of the passengers’ attention, all of their thoughts and concerns being washed away by the peace of outside.

“Hey, anyone got games on their phone?” Kyle broke the silence, Mark and John slowly turning to him.

“What kind of question is that? You sound like my eight-year-old cousin.” Mark teased.

“Yeah, I’m guessing you want to play some Candy Crush, or Angry Birds?” John joined in, and Kyle quickly realized the mistake he had previously made.

“Okay, okay, never mind. I get it.” He shook his head, and Mark and John both turned away, back to their own thoughts with a smug grin on their faces.

“So, how much longer do you think?” John mumbled to Jason, barely putting much effort to make his voice heard.

Jason hesitated for a moment, glancing at his GPS that was stationed on his dashboard. He sighed a moment later, turning back to the road. “About four and a half hours to go. Roughly, probably longer.

John grunted dropping his head from the support of his palm, to his bicep as he rested his elbow on the windowsill. “Fuck me…”

- - - - -

Her wings hurt. Her legs hurt. Her head hurt, everything hurt. But it wasn’t enough to stop her. Hell, nothing was going to stop her at this point. She had been running down the same road for what seemed to be hours, and she never stopped to take a break, or even walk. She ran, and didn’t stop, nor look back. If she wanted to save him, this was her only chance and she wasn’t going to let him die, knowing she could’ve done something to prevent it.

Every 30 minutes, waves of pain and fear washed over her face. Whimpering and whining noises escaped her lips, her throat tightened, and her legs grew weaker. She quickly pushed the feelings away, knowing that she was going to stop this and she’ll be damned if anything were to stop her. If only she hadn’t been so weak before he left… She could’ve helped him.

There wasn’t any point in dwelling on the past. All she was focusing on was gazing into the distance. Waiting for maybe the big, blue, pickup truck to come roaring down the road with John inside, completely fine and they would both go home. Or even just to see the top of a tall building of the town that she was positive that John was stationed at. But everything was hazy for her at the moment, she couldn’t think straight. All she could do was keep running.

As if Celestia were listening to her thoughts, the very next second she saw the very top of a billboard in the far distance. The same one she noticed by the entrance of the town the last time she was there. Immediately after seeing this landmark, her pace seemed to pick up without her knowing.

Not long after the rest of the town was visible in the distance. She could only hope that she wasn’t hallucinating, as she was deathly dehydrated and hungry. Really, there was only one way to find out.

As she drew closer, she couldn’t believe her luck as she saw John’s pickup truck, parked just outside one of the shops in the town. A wide smile grew on her face, distorting the sounds of her quick exhaling as she used the rest of her energy to get there as quickly as possible.

She realized. After all of this running, hoping and pleading, she was going to make it. She was going to find John, stop him before he does the horror she was expecting! They were both going to go back home, and...
Her ear flicked at the noise. She brushed it off as nothing, until she quickly realized what it was.

A gunshot.

She froze, realizing the sound came from the town… She immediately assumed the worst…

Her breath escaped her lungs, almost as if death had come and grabbed it out of her, through her throat. Her eyes widened as she stopped running. Her face drew white, all of her blood seemed to escape her body as she felt nothing. Her form quickly took the advantage of her break in running and collapsed to the ground. She did nothing to stop it, and fell onto her side and curled up as she shut her eyes tightly.

She was too late… She was so close, but still too late…

Tears gushed through her eyelids as she hid her face in her hooves. Why? What did she do to deserve this? All she wanted to do was save a friend, but she couldn’t! Now John was… Gone.

Her mind quickly thought into the future. What was she and the rest of the ponies back home going to do without him? And if those other two humans were to attack, there wouldn’t be much her and her friends could do to stop them. They couldn’t do anything without him, and now he was dead. Just like that.
She instinctively looked up, and had to blink several times to confirm what she was seeing, was real. Her head turned up, as she stared at the figure walking towards her. As much as she wanted to get up, her body was practically in shutdown mode. The sun being behind the figure, made it almost impossible to confirm who the human was, as it was only a silhouette, and a part of her wanted to hope to death that it was John. But, the gunshot…

“...Fluttershy?”

Her breath returned as she gasped. She knew that voice, it was John’s voice! This had to be him! He was alive!

Her sudden adrenaline boost gave her the power to spring up off of the ground and run towards the figure. Her tears of despair, quickly exchanging into tears of joy. “J-John!!”

John weakly dropped his pistol from his hand, the firearm banging to the ground on the gravel sidewalk beside the road.

He bent down on one knee as soon as Fluttershy collided into him with a crushing hug. John hugged her back with the same amount of power, and he nearly lost his balance.

“Y-You’re alive!! I was so worried, I heard that gunshot after coming all this way, I thought you-”

“You…” John cut her off, not pulling away from the embrace. “You came all of this way… Because you were worried, about me?”

“O-Of course!” Fluttershy pulled away from the hug, and stared into John’s eyes, her own filled with sadness. “When you left, I-I had a gut feeling that you were going to d-do something… Something, horrible..” She also noticed, that his were filled with regret, some of the tears escaping down his face. She had never seen him cry before. She figured her was too strong for such a thing…

“Suicide?” John finished for her, and she simply nodded. He scoffed, looking away in shame. “No, I couldn’t do it… I realized that I wanted to stay in this world a little longer, before I actually pulled the trigger.”

“B-But,” She wiped her face. “I heard a gunshot… I thought you had, committed suicide.”

“Oh, actually that first shot was for a walker that had tried to sneak up on me. If I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be by the hands of an undead freak.” He shrugged, and suddenly got violently slapped across the face with a yellow hoof. The blunt leg did more damage than a normal hand-slap would, and John turned back to Fluttershy to see her holding back more tears. Or, at least trying.

“...D-Don’t, you ever do that to me again, or I will never. EVER! Forgive you!!” She yelled furiously.

John felt a little surprised. Aside from the pain, of course.. He’d never seen her get this angry before.

“You’re stronger than this, and there isn’t anything weaker than trying to take your own life, because of JEALOUSY!

He knew he was deep in the wrong, and he deserved this. As much as it hurt to get yelled at by Fluttershy, he made a stupid choice and now had to pay the price.

“..Yes, you’re right Fluttershy…” He rubbed the side of his cheek where he was hit, a large, red circle that had formed was easily visible. “I’m sorry…”

She gulped, finally realizing everything that had just happened. She almost lost a friend, and not a moment later she was giving them hell… She felt changed.

“L-Let’s just go home… please.” She rested her head against his chest, in which he held her close.

“Good idea.. And I’ll get you some water, you look like you could use some.” John then picked her up. Her aching body did nothing to resist, and grew limp in his arms.

The next thing she knew, is that she was fast asleep.

Comments

[verypeeved]

my fucking ears, man

[conTROLLER234]

7115511 Are you talking about the sound effects?

[verypeeved]

7121624 the gunshot one, in particular