A Long Ways From Home

Chapter Eight: The Aftermath

"Did you see anything?" asks Reynolds when Cody returns to their hideaway on the western coast of Florida.

"There are a fair few of them following south down the same freeway we took on our escape. They're hours away. To them we could be anywhere. I doubt they'll find us," Cody confirms.

"How many is a few?"

"I counted three cars, all of them black with tinted windows, with a truck tailing behind, probably carrying the beasts."

"And you're sure it's them?"

"It had to have been them," Cody answers. "Who else could it have been?"

"Did they see you?"

Cody shakes his head. "I stayed above cloud cover the whole way and back. I know we're all on edge, but Reynolds, there's nothing to worry about."

This time Reynolds shakes his head. But it isn't with the same informative sense or confirmation as Cody had. It is with the same disappointment and sadness he has been carrying since they fled Alabama. It doesn't surprise Cody; he understands.

"We'll lay low for the next couple of days," Reynolds says then. "After that we should keep moving."

With a final nod from the fifth Garde to the last Cêpan, Cody wanders away.

Until he reaches the empty living room of peeling wallpaper and dusty cracked hardwood. It's an old abandoned house that they found. Laying messy and rundown; AJ has screamed of several cockroaches already. There are dense forests leading out back far into the distance that even Cody can't see the end of if he flies high enough. Trees as far as he can see with a great pond at least a hundred feet away. It is the best spot they found; the only place they found. Its appearance does a great job of getting his mind off of his Cêpan.

He still can't believe the day came.

All those days spent on the run with no one but Sandor since he came to Earth and split from the others, he knew what was at stake. He knew how hard Sandor tried to keep Cody safe. He had hoped that Sandor wouldn't be in the same danger as him. He had hoped he could keep him safe just the same.

But he failed.

After years of running, years of hiding, the Mogadorians really found him. Cody managed to get out alive, but Sandor wasn't so lucky. He still remembers perfectly the way that the brutish soldier stormed onto the field behind Sandor to shove his silver sword through his back. The way he flew to Sandor faster than he ever flew before; his hand outstretched toward the nasty pale alien with deep dark eyes to run his hidden dagger through. And he did. But not in time.

Not in time.

With a cold shake of his head, Cody erases the image from his mind. Disregards it. Deletes it. Tries to forget it is even there.

That is when he hears the screech of the hawk before its talons grip tightly to his right shoulder. The bird looks at him, and Cody can tell it knows.

"Hey Regal," Cody says wretchedly with a pat to the bird's head, his Chimæra. "I'm glad you're still here at least."

With the bird on his shoulder, Cody walks into the messy kitchen to seek a cracker or uneaten slice of bread to feed the small beastly creature.

"How're you holding up?" asks Kevin in a stance with his arms crossed by the cracked-at-the-bottom kitchen wall.

"Not flying as high as I used to, unfortunately," Cody responds, not bothering to fake a smile. This, of course, is only true in its metaphorical sense. In reality, Cody has to fly high to avoid detection. That's just the way it has always been. Always above cloud cover where no one can spot him. If there aren't clouds, well, he best stay on the ground or be extra careful.

"Yeah..." says Kevin, awkwardly but understandingly then. "Did you find her?"

Cody doesn't need to ask who he is referring to. Amongst all the fighting – five Piken, half a dozen Kraul, and nearly a hundred Mogadorians with a hundred more after they killed the first of them – Mae was taken.

It was the same one that killed Sandor that took her. Killed Katarina and raced with Mae back to the ship they came on. None of them could get to her in time; Cody supposes that was their plan: become the diversion so he could flee with what they were after. As soon as he had Mae, all the others became even nastier and all the more deadly. All hell broke loose, as if it hadn't already. Cody couldn't even fly at top speed to grab her from his clutches without getting shot in every direction. It was the same for the others like it was for Cody. They were all pinned down. Trapped in the destroyed mansion without a possible exit point anywhere. Katarina and Crayton died; caught in the intense crossfire; caught trying to protect them. Even the Chimærae, who have fought mightily as great powerful mythical creatures against the ferocious beasts, had their struggles to pursue survival. They had lost three of them in the fighting. Gamera, the turtle Chimæra; Biscuit, the golden retriever Chimæra; and Stanley, the orange chubby cat Chimæra. AJ and Fabian haven't been the same, Fabian perhaps most of all; he had practically lost everything the night of the attack. It doesn't surprise Cody one bit that he is more distant than usual.

"How will Mae react when she finds out her Chimæra is gone?" Cody still asks himself internally. He doesn't know.

"Cody?" Kevin blurts, bringing him out of his thoughts. Cody hadn't noticed how lost in his thoughts he was. "Did you find her?" he repeats.

"No," Cody finally replies with a subtle upsetting shake of his head. "I went back to the house, just to see if there was any clue as to where they've taken her... I didn't find anything..." He pauses to keep his voice from cracking, making sure his eyes aren't wet or his face isn't flustered. They aren't. Nothing about him could tip Kevin off as being emotionally despondent. All he feels is a heaviness in his every vein and emptiness in his heart wracked with so much sorrow.

Kevin reaches a hand out to his shoulder. Cody hardly notices, but the small part of him that does wonders if he is simply going to pet Regal, who still sits on his broad shoulder. He doesn't.

Instead, he holds him by the curve of where his shoulder meets his bicep, and says, "She'll be okay. Mae is strong. She is the strongest of us all." Though by the way he says it, Cody can tell that even he isn't sure. Regardless, Kevin still tries to convince him, with every slow word seeming to carry more weight, "Nothing bad will happen to her."

Cody hopes that. He hopes it with all he has. He hopes Reynolds won't fail as a Cêpan. He hopes she won't be hurt. He hopes she won't be killed. He hopes Mae will return.