Lost

August 17th -12:04pm

Once the others had left there was nothing for us to do but wait until nightfall. It took everything I had not to sprint after them and I now sat against the wall chugging one of the remaining bottles of water desperately. I wasn't even thirsty at this point, I just needed something to distract me. I tipped my head back and poured the remaining quarter of a bottle over my face, not caring about waste, and used my calloused hands to scrub away the worst of the dust and grime.

"Hey, Poison?" Jet star called as he appeared in the doorway. He looked in deep thought and his eyes were tired and somewhat confused. "Could you help me with something?" I pushed myself to my feet and walked towards him, but I stopped as I heard my brother's voice behind me.

"It's okay, just try again," he was saying. "Lift it a little higher."

"I'm never going to get the hang of this." whined another voice - a female voice. That was Lucid, and she sounded distressed. I mouthed for Jet to give me a minute and turned to the door of the back room. I walked to it and leaned against the frame, my curiosity getting the better of me. Kobra had a pen in one hand and a small pocket knife in the other, and Lucid was standing beside him holding one of the spare laser guns, but it looked ready to slip right out of her grasp and she looked like she would burst into tears at any moment.

"Okay, let's try this." Kobra said calmly. He handed the pocket knife to Lucid who dropped her gun and took it from him, and crossed the room. Using one of the black markers we used to mark off the blueprints, he drew a messy circle on the wall. It was roughly at his chest height and about the size of a man's fist. "Imagine you're backed into a corner by a drac, yeah? We'll say he's about the size of me and the circle is where his heart would be. Aim to slash through it."

Lucid nodded and Kobra backed away from the wall. There was a pause before Lucid lunged forwards violently and swung the blade out in front of her. It took a chunk out of the wall mere centimeters under Kobra's circle. She dropped her hand with the blade to her side and sighed heavily.

"See?" she snapped. "I'm useless at this." I almost wanted to cry for her, she looked so helpless and like she felt three inches tall. Kobra held his hands up in a dismissive manner, giving her a light smile.

"No, that's really good." he assured her and stepped towards her. "You'd have wounded him which is all you would need to do to get away from him really."

I smiled. My brother the optimist. I could already see Lucid relaxing somewhat. Kobra had always been informative and patient, he was the perfect teacher. He moved so he was stood behind her, his chest pressed to her back so he was looking over her shoulder. He took her waist in one hand and her hand that was holding the blade in the other.

"If you needed to fatally wound him, try it like this." he instructed, and he slowly lifted her arm so it came up across her chest and the blade was rested just above the opposite side of her head. He then quickly swiped her hand downwards at an angle so the blade left a diagonal mark right through the middle of the circle. 

Lucid left out a breathy laugh in relief and repeated the movements alone. Her aim was impeccable. "So the angle gives the height and speed I need? In case he's taller or stronger?" 

I couldn't stop the grin as her face lit up with satisfaction and Kobra's with pride. Having seen all I needed to see, I turned my back to them and quickly slipped through to Jet.

"Okay, what's up?" I asked. I was confused as to why he'd brought me in here. He looked up briefly then back at one of the blueprints, pointing out a route marked in red.

"Why are the others taking this route?" he asked and I looked to where he was pointing. The Eastern road was the one we had all agreed for them to take, but as I looked now, I noticed that it ran straight through Battery City. "Wasn't that where we assumed the Scarecrow Unit was? Just inside the city?"

"Jet, I don't think they plan to go that far out." I reasoned, positive in myself that they weren't that careless.

"No, look! They've marked straight through the city. What if they're planning to get their supplies there? I mean, it's thriving." he suggested. My heart jumped into my throat and I had a hard time swallowing it. It did look likely that they planned to go there and I prayed with every fibre of my being that we were wrong. Any Killjoy would be recognised the second they crossed the border into the city. 

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to cut off my train of thought. "How could they be so fucking foolish?" I whispered. "They're setting their own death trap. They'll get themselves killed."