Just Before the Dawn
Ryan sat up in his seat. As he sat up, he could feel the cracks that his spine made, each one providing slight relief to his aching joints. Sleeping in a car will mess your back up, that’s for sure. Especially after days of it. Of course, it couldn’t help that he hadn’t slept on a bed since he was taken. Thinking about it, he didn’t even know how much time had passed since then. It had all become one long, painful blur. He would give anything to make the pain go away.
Rubbing the grit from his eyes, Ryan took a look out the window. Judging from the color of the sky, it was probably getting close to sunrise, maybe around five thirty. The sky was a deep red shade, with storm clouds approaching in the distance. It was as the old saying goes; “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.” Since he wasn’t going to get back to sleep, Ryan figured that the best strategy would be to just get to Buon Me Thuot as soon as possible. If he beat the weather, he could get on with his campaign against Narendra and be done that much sooner, however little that prospect actually appealed to him.
Ryan started up the car and began to drive onward. By his calculations, he shouldn’t be too far, only about an hour or so out. “Getting so close.” he said quietly. The Woman, surveying the scenery outside the window, nodded.
“You are, Ryan. You’re getting close.” She turned to him. “But why? Why get him now? You could go home, come after him when you’re more experienced in your years.” She leaned on the dashboard. “None of this needs to be done, least of all now.” Ryan sighed.
“Look, we already talked about this. Yes, it needs to be done now. Yes, I need to do it. Don’t question it; just accept it.” The woman sat back in her chair, looking upon Ryan with an aching heart.
“It’s about us, isn’t it?” Ryan didn’t answer. It was just his way now. “Ryan, we aren’t angry at you. It wasn’t your fault.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “You were made to do it.” Ryan shook his head, hands beginning to tremble.
“I’ve always prided myself on my ability to do what others cannot. I should be dead, not you. Not Joey. Not Catherine. I should have just let them take my life...” The Woman watched as Ryan’s misery poured out. His guilt was overpowering; she couldn’t respond. Bleary-eyed and with a running nose, Ryan continued his monologue. “I’ve always been the voice of reason. I’ve always held myself to a higher standard, and so did everyone else. I let go of that standard; I was weak. I can’t go back... I just can’t...” The Woman found herself tearing up.
“We can only do the best we can, Ryan.” Ryan looked up ahead. The clouds were getting closer.
“Screw the weather.” he thought. “I’ll just go anyway.” Without turning back to The Woman, Ryan gave his final assessment. “Sometimes, the best we can do isn’t enough.”
He looked to his right, toward the passenger seat, where the woman was no longer. Looking ahead again, he drove off into the storm.
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Discord could feel Ryan getting back on the move. Not wanting to fall behind, he dropped through the roof of the car and yelled. “HARRIS!” Harris yelled out and shot straight up. He looked up at Discord, furious.
“What the hell, man?!” Discord couldn’t suppress a laugh at the boy.
“Ryan is on the move. Start’er up and let’s get a move on!” As soon as Harris heard that Ryan was on the move, he turned on the engine and drove.
Harris was more nervous today than he had been any other day. he knew that, odds were, today was the day he would have to follow Ryan through the jungle to wherever Narendra’s home was. The idea terrified Harris. He was going to put himself way in harm’s way, in the deadly jungle, surrounded by dangerous people, to follow his friend. Why did he want to follow Ryan so badly? No matter how hard he searched, only one reason came up; he wouldn’t ever abandon his friend, whatever happened.
Discord had felt Harris trying to search his mind, and couldn’t understand the answer any more than Harris. In fact, he understood it less. He didn’t get why anyone would put their life on the line for anyone else. He didn’t get why Harris was following Ryan, or why he had stuck with him at all. He could have left several times, in any of the towns that they went through. Ryan would have understood. He wouldn’t have been mad at Harris. Yet, Harris kept on going along with everything, even now. All because it was his friend out there. Maybe that was the “magic of friendship”? Though he had never encountered such a powerful notion before.
He looked forward, toward the storm. Off in the distance, it was already raining. One could actually see the rain fall. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” he mumbled, not really intending Harris to hear that. “‘Cuz I have a bad feeling about this.” He let himself fall through the roof of the car, into the passenger’s seat. Harris didn’t even flinch, he was so laser focused on the road. “The city, Buon Me Thuot, it’s just ahead, a little less than an hour at this speed. Ryan will probably get there in about half an hour.” Harris nodded, not even for a second letting his eyes leave the road.
“Good. That should give us time to follow at a good distance, keep out of sight. By the time he leaves the town, we’ll have just arrived. No questions will be asked of him, so he’ll never know that we’re here.” Discord nodded. The plan was simple, and had a good chance. But something was missing.
“Any accounting for weather?” Discord asked. Harris paused.
“No.” Discord thought about this.
“Well, I can just use some magic to keep you dry.” Harris nodded, approving of the plan of action.
He hadn’t really been thinking about how exactly he was going to follow Ryan. He had been using Discord to track him, but he didn’t really know how he was going to go about traveling through the jungle. It wasn’t going to be easy, of course, none of this had ever been. But he had to account for things that he had been ignoring before. He had to watch for any dangerous animals that the forest may hold. He had to make sure that he was careful of any plants that may harm him. The biggest threat, though, was old land mines. From Vietnam and before, there were still old, armed mines buried in the dirt that could go off any time. Some didn’t need to be triggered; others still had functioning firing mechanisms. That was the real danger of traveling through the jungles of Vietnam without a guide.
“I wonder if Ryan knows that?” he thought worriedly.
He had reached the area where the rain was falling. It wasn’t exactly pouring buckets, but the rain was still problematic. It was coming down at a steady pace, not ruining the road, but still making it very muddy.
Discord was back on the roof of the car, enjoying every moment of the rain that he could. He had always liked the rain; it tended to make life inconvenient for ponies, which was always entertaining to watch, even from his stony prison. The rain made him think of freshness, of new things to come. Maybe this storm wasn’t a bad omen; maybe it was nature trying to tell Discord that something good was on the horizon. He smiled.
“Life may yet be good.” he thought. Maybe Ryan would kill Narendra and decide to come home after all. Maybe he and Harris would stick together as they returned home. They might even become famous for taking down a dangerous terrorist cell! As his thoughts progressed, the silly smile on Discord’s face continued to stretch across. Life had thrown these boys randomly to the wolves; maybe it would pay them back.
He laughed into the rain, allowing it to pass through his spectral form as he rode along on top of the car.
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Ryan’s car was close to being empty on gas. It didn’t matter, though, because he had made it to Buon Me Thuot.
It was a beautiful city, actually, even in the rain. The streets were pleasant, with no homeless people in sight. The huts and hooches towards the edge of the city had been very well kept, almost just there to provide some historical landmarks for the culture of the area. In the city, a lot of the buildings were very modern, lights and satellite dishes everywhere. There were stores all over the place, some selling locally made crafts, others selling big name brands of clothing. Those were probably locally made too, though.
As Ryan walked through the city, he noticed something distinctly different from the rest of the places he had come through; there were many more tourists, predominantly white, walking around. Whenever Ryan passed a group of them, the people would look at him like he was some kind of alien. He understood, though. He probably looked like shit. His clothes must have smelled like death, there was definitely dirt on his face and hands, and he must have just generally looked completely haggard. Being early, there weren’t many of them around.
“Remind you of anywhere?” Apparently, The Woman thought that made it a good time to talk. Ryan grunted.
“Not now.” he whispered. “I’m busy.”
The Woman walked around him. “Busy with what, Ryan?” she asked, her feathers clearly being rustled. “Trying to find a store to rob? Or maybe some random tourists to mug?” Ryan sighed and walked on.
“If you must know,” he said, walking right past her and looking about. “I’m looking for a store to steal food from. Now quit bugging me.” The Woman would not relent.
“Ryan, you can’t do that.” Ryan looked back at her, an incredulous expression on his face. Behind her, there were some local kids, listening to music.
“Like Hell; I’ve done it before. I’ll do it again.” He spun around on his heel and continued along his way.
The Woman ran to catch up to him. “It’s wrong, Ryan. All of this is. Just go home. It’ll be better for you than anything here.” Ryan looked up, closing his eyes to prevent the rain from stabbing at them.
“This is here. This is now. I don’t care about ‘the long run’. All I want is to kill that man.” He looked back forward and opened his eyes, blinking to knock away the water droplets which attempted to invade his eyes. “You know nothing about what will make me ‘feel better’.” The Woman walked alongside Ryan, stepping carefully to avoid any mud puddles.
“On the contrary, Ryan,” she began. She startled herself when she stepped in a puddle, making no motion whatsoever. “I know exactly what you need.” Ryan put his hand up as if to smack The Woman across the face.
“No. You don’t. No one can tell me what’s best for me.” He spotted a store in the distance. Inside, he saw shelves like one would find in a convenience store. Bingo. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have food to steal.”
Ryan made his way through the rain and across the street to the store. Once outside the window, he peered in. Being so early and with the weather, there was no one but the clerk inside the store. As much as this made it more difficult, Ryan didn’t care. He wasn’t here to be nice.
He opened the door and walked in, not making a sound. It was odd; ordinarily, there would be some kind of bell telling the shopkeeper that someone came in. This store didn’t have that. The clerk just sat at his counter, facing the wall. Looking over, Ryan saw that he was on a computer, surfing the web for whatever he entertained himself with. Ryan couldn’t help but wonder what kinds of porn were looked at by the men of this city. Ignoring the potential distraction, Ryan quietly made his way through the store, scanning the shelves. He found a lot of food, some of which he would have loved to take, but they were in bags. We all know how frustrating those bags are when one is trying to be stealthy.
He kept looking around, and found bottled water, which he gladly grabbed two bottles of. After looking around a bit longer, he came to the unfortunate conclusion that there were no snack foods that didn’t come in annoying plastic bags. He glanced over at the clerk, just peeking over the shelf; he wasn’t looking away from his computer. Ryan slowly grabbed several small protein bar-type looking things and a bag of what looked like Chex Mix. He moved like a crocodile stalking its prey, not a sound emanating from his person as he executed his escape. At the door, he looked at the clerk one last time, but this time, he looked at the computer monitor.
Ryan burst through the door and sprinted down the street. Whatever the hell was on that monitor could stay there. He didn’t want to know what it was. Stopping when he got to around one block away from the store, he looked back. The owner of the store had just burst out as Ryan turned. He ducked into a side alley, not wanting to be seen. Inside, he was met with a most unwelcome sight.
“I’m not going to try to stop you any more.” Ryan flinched as he nearly ran into The Woman. Careening to the side, he crashed into the wall and ended up slamming face first into a dumpster and falling to the ground. After taking a moment to recover, Ryan looked up at her.
“What?” He hadn’t really expected her to say that. His response was surprise more than an actual desire to understand or hear it again.
“I won’t try to stop you.” She looked to the end of the alley, the rain coming down harder than before. She looked longingly to the road. Her long, blonde hair looked dirty and matted in the rain. Her demure figure looked vulnerable and shaky. Her eyes, green and half-lidded, didn’t seem to focus on anything. “I can see that you can’t stop. I can see what’s wrong with you. So I’m done.” Ryan stood up, wiping his mouth. There was no blood, though he could taste it in his mouth.
He looked at her, angry about what she had said. But, at the same time, he was sad about it, yet relieved that he was going to be able to work unopposed. He took in a deep breath, shutting his eyes. “I’m sorry, Nadine.” When he released his breath and lifted his eyelids, The Woman was gone.
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Luna was in the Royal Canterlot Library with her guard, reading old tomes on spells while Starstep read about advanced flight maneuvers that had been developed since his retirement from active military duty. Luna would frequently look over at him so gauge his reactions to the ever-developing flight of pegasi, but each time she did, Starstep was looking at her. Every time, he averted his gaze.
She could tell that he was looking at her again. She had trouble understanding exactly why; was there something on her? Did he put something on her? This time, she decided to play games with him. “Admiring the view, Starstep?’ she asked, smirking mirthfully. Behind her, Starstep took a moment to respond.
“Well, the moon in the morning is an astonishing sight.” A book closed behind Luna. “I mean, look at that crater!” Luna’s face exploded into a shade of red. She spun around to take away the view only to see a Starstep in hysterics. He was rolling about on the floor, practically choking on his laughter. It was certainly better than the previous night; he had been sobbing in the garden, and still silently cried in Luna’s chambers. To comfort him, she had put her wing around him and held him close. Not long after that, he fell asleep.
She stepped over to him and leaned in closer. She had only lost a few of these games, and she wasn’t about to lose this one. “You know, while I was on the moon, I found that many of those craters had entire cave systems.” She put her mouth just behind Starstep’s ear, taking on a hushed, come-hither tone. “I had an interesting time exploring them, I’ll tell you.” Starstep looked up at his princess, at a total loss for words.
She laid down on him, pinning his wings under her belly. “Maybe, someday, you’ll get to delve into one? Of course, that would only work if your spelunking gear was sturdy enough for lunar exploration!” She couldn’t help but almost shout that last part, she was so giggly. Under her, her guard couldn’t even stammer out a response. Falling onto her back, she exploded into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Starstep looked back at her, as red as she had been before responding to him.
“I... I...” He sighed, resigning his attempt. “You win this round, your highness.” Luna recovered, still giggling, and patted Starstep’s side.
“Better luck next time, little guy.” As she put her hoof back to the ground, Starstep looked right at her eyes.
“One; I’m not little. I’m surprised you haven’t taken the liberty to check.” Luna smiled sheepishly, causing Starstep to lean back. “Second; by the sound of it, I’ll be much luckier next time.” Both ponies grinned playfully. As Luna spun around to exit the library, she brushed her ethereal tail against Starstep’s chin, dragging it quickly across his scruffy chin. He needed to shave, apparently.
“You never know.” And she walked back to her chambers, leaving a chuckling Starstep to his books.
Once again, she found herself in a good mood at the start of her day. It was around eight thirty, probably a good time to go see Ryan. Instantly, her smile faded. “I hope he’s okay.” She couldn’t help but lose any mirth she had had when she thought about him. “I wonder how far he’s gotten?” He could easily be at that next city. What was it, Buon Me something? And he didn’t have Harris with him any more. That was concerning. “He’s all alone out there...” she said quietly to herself. She walked at a slowed pace in a subconscious effort to take longer to learn what was happening with him. “... that’s no way that anyone should have to live.”
She treaded through her door cautiously, as if the evil man Narendra could be in there himself. She still didn’t know how she felt about Ryan’s plans for him. Sure, she had no idea what was right and wrong in that world, or what she would do in that situation, but couldn’t she use her basic sense of right and wrong to tell what was what? These thoughts and more dashed about her mind as she walked through her personal library and down the secret staircase.
“Should I help him any more?” The question irked her; she couldn’t just abandon him to his fate, but at the same time, wouldn’t it be better to avoid being involved with such a situation?
“No.” she concluded. “No, friends don’t abandon friends.” She recalled the Elements of Harmony, and the ponies who bore them. “Friends are loyal. Friends are kind. Friends are generous. Friends are honest. Friends are fun, and friendship is magical. He is my friend; through thick and thin, through the darkest of waters and deepest of seas, I will stay with him.” She approached the pool, but didn’t look in this time. “Courage doesn’t see around corners.” she thought. She dove in head first. “But it goes around them anyway.”
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Ryan was trekking through the jungle already. It was only half past eight, but he had decided that he would travel sooner rather than later. Plus, if he traveled early, all of the most dangerous animals would probably be asleep.
The rain had bogged down his speed considerably. Mud on the ground was dragging at his already torn up shoes, his jacket was catching on branches, and the vest had nearly been torn off by another branch. In order to prevent anything from stopping him altogether, Ryan had to slow down and move at a slug’s pace through the dense jungle terrain. The mud was trying its best to yank his shoes off, but he had tied them tight enough that they wouldn’t budge. At one point, he actually laid eyes on an old land mine, revealed to the world by the soon-to-be torrential downpour.
“Gotta watch for those.” he had said. Other than that, he had lost several syringes of morphine; only two remained. Besides that, he still had his M1911 and three full magazines and his knife. Those were the only tools that he would need anyway.
He looked up at the canopy of the jungle that he was growing continually more frustrated with and took in a deep breath. “Getting so close.” he said to himself, almost lost within the words. He had come so far. Gotten so close to the end. What was there for him after, if there was nothing he could think of? He shook off the thoughts and kept moving forward. Eventually, he had to reach that river, and once he did, he would be able to find the compound. Narendra seemed to like riverside homes.
“Fucking brat.” Narendra could live away from such expensive compounds for a day, couldn’t he? No, probably not. Narendra was just one of those guys.
Ryan stopped for a short break, not wanting to overexert himself for the coming potential fight. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes.
“Ryan?” a feminine voice called. He opened his eyes. Luna was looking at him, worry affixed upon her semblance.
He licked his lips and responded, “Yeah?” They felt a bit dry.
Luna stepped forward and sat before Ryan. “Where are we?” she asked, looking over their surroundings. Trees, easily up to a hundred feet tall, surrounded them, along with dense foliage on the ground. “What are you doing here?” Ryan put his hand up to signal her to wait; he was oddly out of breath.
“First question; this is the Jungle of Vietnam, baby, where looks don’t count for shit. Second question; I’m heading to Narendra’s home, to the north. There aren’t exactly roads that lead there, so I have to take the annoying way.” He pushed himself off the tree.
“How are you?” Luna looked at him like he was missing his arm.
“What?” Ryan asked. Luna stepped forward and put a hoof to his face. He didn’t move away, though.
“You look awful.” Ryan shrugged.
“Like I said, where looks don’t count for shit.” He stared into her eyes. She seemed fascinated with something.
“Well, while you walk, we can talk. Maybe make the journey less boring?” She gave him a genuine smile, which he completely ignored.
“Eh, sure.” He moved away and kept moving north.
While they walked, Ryan partly listened to what Luna was telling him. The other part of him was thinking about her as a being. “Staying here won’t be good for her.” he thought. He glanced over at her; she was happily blabbing away about something she had done with her guard. It sounded like simple trolling. “Not with what I’m about to be doing.” He thought over everything that he had learned about her during the course of his journey with her along his side. She clearly didn’t understand why he was doing what he was doing, or even exactly what he was doing. She hadn’t witnessed him take a life as of yet.
“This kind of experience will mess her up something fierce.” She kept on talking about how embarrassing she was to her guard, and him to her. “Such innocence...” It reminded him of Nadine and Joey, the memory visibly making him flinch. Luckily, Luna wasn’t looking at that moment. “I won’t let that be destroyed.”
Having met that conclusion, he decided to start fully listening to his companion’s stories. Turns out, he came in at an interesting time. “So then I told him that he could only do lunar exploration if he had durable enough spelunking gear!” She laughed loudly, enabling Ryan to get the context almost immediately. Ryan smiled a little bit, not wanting to ruin her mood. As angry as he was, as sad as he was, as terrible as he had been feeling, he still wanted nothing more than to protect other people’s happiness. As long as they deserved it.
“That’s... pretty good.” he commented, giving a hint of praise. “I must say, you can think quickly on your feet. Hooves. Whatever.” Luna’s chest puffed up a bit.
“I need to be clever. I am a princess, after all.”
Ryan had forgotten about that, and so the two spent the next at least two hours talking about Luna, her job, and her homeland. It was called Equestria, clever wasn’t exactly the word he would use to describe whoever named it, and it sounded like paradise. Sure, it had its fair share of problems, some rather severe, but it was a helluva lot better than Ryan’s world. The ponies who lived and thrived there were, more often than not, happy with their lives, and did what they loved. There was conflict, to be certain, but there hadn’t exactly been any World Wars or genocides. That was the thing that stood out to Ryan.
Still, as peaceful as their world sounded, that also meant that there was little to overcome, not like Ryan’s world. Hell, he was overcoming something huge right now. As terrible as certain things are, rather than fruitlessly try to wish them away, humans would learn from them and become better as a species. While there would always be those who didn’t, the vast majority did, and that was a source of pride for Ryan in humanity versus ponies. Humans had proven to be capable of overcoming challenges and hardship, and so they could always say, “We can overcome anything. We need only try, and we shall defeat the darkness of our own hearts.”
Before he knew it, Ryan was looking into the river. He nearly walked right in. He looked out over the river, to both sides. To his right, he saw his target.
“Narendra’s home.” He turned to face it, and without turning to face his friend, said, “I think it would be best for you if you didn’t stay for this.” Behind him, he heard a very effeminate gasp.
“What... what? Why?” She sounded like she had been stabbed in the back by her best friend. For all Ryan could tell, maybe she had.
“You need to go home. This kind of thing isn’t meant for your eyes.”
Luna walked forward, tears rimming her eyes. Her good, human friend, who she had been helping throughout this entire trial, was asking, no, telling, her to leave. Why? “But... but I want to help you, Ryan. I can’t just leave you.” She sat herself down next to Ryan and leaned on him. As she began to fall through him, she pulled herself back up. “Why would you send me away?” Ryan stared off in the direction of the huge compound, which had a dock and even a boat garage.
“The same reason I sent Harris away.” He faced Luna. “I don’t want to see you hurt.” Luna’s jaw shook.
“But I can’t be hurt!” She waved her foreleg through his body. “See?!” Ryan sighed loudly and kneeled next to Luna.
“That’s not what I mean, Luna.” He turned to face her, face coated with a glaze of rain water, streaming down his face. “You’re too innocent for this world. Just like Joey and Nadine.” Luna looked into his eyes; all she could find behind those dark hazel eyes was deep sorrow and longing. “I won’t let that be destroyed. Not again.” He put his hand on the spot where her hoof was. “Please, Luna.... don’t let the last bit of hope and innocence I’ll ever see be ripped apart.” He blinked three times. “Go home.”
In his eyes, Luna could see the fear and the sorrow, the loss and the anger, the determination and the uncertainty. She knew that he was right, too. Whatever was about to happen, it wouldn’t be the kind of thing she should be exposed to. People were about to die. Ryan was going to kill a man out of hatred. These would prove too much for Luna.
Luna sat straight up and looked at Ryan. His eyes were red; whether it was from exhaustion or crying, she could not tell. It was only now that she realized just how little of a husk he was of his former self. As she disappeared, she felt more tears stream down her face.
“Ryan,” she said. One final note. He looked into her eyes one last time. “I will always be able to help you. And I will always be your friend.” With that last word, she disappeared from Ryan’s world for the last time.
Ryan fell to his knees, the salty water surging down his face, realizing that he had once again sent away his friend for their safety because of his anger. Now he was truly alone.
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Harris approached the treeline with trepidation. On the other side, he had no idea what may lay in wait for him. In the rain, he could probably see any geographic problems, but any animals that might be dangerous would be hidden in all the noise.
“You heading in or what?” Discord asked from behind. Harris looked back. “I mean, he isn’t even a mile in yet. You have time.” Harris looked back and forth between the spirit and the forest.
“Let’s get some food first.” Discord nodded, and the two went into the town to find some food to steal.
Harris walked through the now torrential downpour and searched the area for any places that sold convenient food. He saw a little convenience store, but the owner had a pistol on the counter with his hand resting on it. “Someone already hit that store, apparently.” It was unfortunate; that was the perfect store.
Harris continued to walk around when he noticed something odd. All around him, there were way more white people than he would have thought. Most sounded American when he passed them. “Huh. Must be here to see the sights of Vietnam.”
Of course, sights meant the battlefields and mountains. As he passed one group, the group stopped and looked at him. Harris topped too. They were studying him intently, which made him uncomfortable. He probably looked awful, but was that a reason to stare. His vest was under his shirt, so that couldn’t be it. “Can I have some money?” he asked. On the one hand, if they gave him some, he could buy food. On the other, they would probably leave him alone. He was surprised when they handed him a wad of about one hundred fifty dollars, US. “Umm, thanks.” he said, pocketing the cash. The American man who gave him the cash spoke up.
“You’re that kid from the news.” Uh oh.
“What?” Harris asked, shocked at the man’s sentence. The news?
“Yeah. You and the other one are international celebrities. Kidnapped by terrorists, then escaped and freed the other people who were taken?” Those other people that Ryan had freed alongside Harris must have told their stories. “Man, you two are something. Anything we can do to help.” Harris was less concerned about help than about what the world knew.
“Does the world know our names?” he asked. The man gained a gleam in his eyes as he shook his head.
“What are your names?” he asked a bit too eagerly. No doubt, he wanted to get his fifteen minutes of fame by talking about his encounter with the boys.
“Sorry, can’t say. Too dangerous to our families.” While he had come up with that on the spot, it didn’t make it any less true. The man looked at him, wonder evident in his eyes.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Well, listen, if you need any help, we’ll be here for the next few days.” Harris took a note of that as the man left, two kids in tow behind him. If he did try to get any help from him, it would be to get home.
“I don’t want to drag them into this mess. Not now.” With the money in hand, Harris went over to the store that he had spotted before.
He walked inside, and the clerk looked at him suspiciously. When Harris pulled out some money, the clerk visibly relaxed and leaned back in his seat. “Glad to see that money still makes people see one way rather than the other.” Not really. He never liked how money did that. As Harris went through the store, Discord floated just over him, pointing at random bags and suggesting them.
“Oooh! How about those?” he would say every time. He had suggested plenty of decent things, but some were ridiculous; he pointed at a canister of motor oil once. Clearly, he wasn’t reading the labels.
“Discord,” Harris whispered. He floated in nice and close. “Please pay attention to what you’re pointing at. Maybe you’ll make a good suggestion.” Discord saluted in a silly manner and ceased his assistance. Shaking his head, Harris pulled out a bottle of water from the coolers and some Chex Mix bags from the shelf. As he approached the counter, the clerk eyed him, seeming to size him up.
After looking over the food, which Harris dropped on the counter, he said, “Two fifty.” Harris pulled out a ten and handed it to the man, scooping up his meal.
Before the clerk could give him his change, Harris said, “Keep it.” The clerk looked happy about that and just stuck it right in the register. Harris had an idea of who had robbed his store anyway, and felt that he should compensate the man.
As Harris made his way across town in the rain, he devoured his first bag of Chex Mix, eating it as quickly as he could. Then, he downed half of his water.
As he made his way across the town, the few tourists who were around seemed to look at him, awestruck and yet afraid. Did they know everything? Did they know about the events of Thailand and Cambodia? How could they? No one knew that those were Harris and Ryan; they might have known that it was a couple of foreign kids, but no more. Nonetheless, it was enough to make Harris hurry across town, rather than risk being carted away by local authorities.
He quickly found himself looking back at the jungle again. Inside, it was dark, dark enough that it was hard to see the plants on the ground. The rain fell in fewer, but much larger, globs beyond the treeline. Birds and monkeys could just barely be heard making their calls above the rain. Harris looked back at the town. In that direction, he had safety, security. He would go home, be with the people he loved. In the jungle, he was leaving all that behind to follow his friend and ensure that he didn’t fall into the flaming depths of Hell on his own. This was his last chance to decide on his own fate.
He walked into the jungle with further hesitation, followed closely by a Draconicus snaking through the air just above.