We're Still Alive!

Yikes, it's already April and there still isn't a chapter! (Four months is a long time for a blog to be silent...)
My apologies, I have an idea of what I want to write, but time to write is a scarce thing to have these days. However, things are getting a little more flexible, and I think I should write before the cram period of exams and summatives begin. So keep your eye on the blog for the next couple of weeks, and you should see something new come up~~

Thanks for sticking around!

-K

C.N. - chapter 75

I sometimes wonder whether Mr. Dragon truly cared about the well-being of his house, er, submarine guests. Or perhaps he just had too much on his hands to take care of everyone. Either way, once Mr. Dragon escorted Laura, the henchmen out of our cell block (with Kyle dragged behind them) the guard locked the door, Wolfgang, Heathcliff, Dennis and I were locked in one cell, Theo was locked the the adjacent cell, separated from us when she was exhibiting clear signs of hypothermia. I even touched her hand to make sure, it was cold like meat freshly taken out of the freezer. We had to act fast.
Then she fainted.
Wolfgang, Heathcliff and Dennis screamed, 'Theo!' It was in perfect unison.
I shook the bars, 'Hello! Henchmen outside, someone in here has hypothermia, we need medical attention!'
The guard outside didn't hear us.
Heathcliff began running around our cell in circles, shouting, 'AHHH! WHAT DO WE DO! WHAT DO WE DO! WHAT DO WE DO!'
Wolfgang and Dennis reached through the bars and grabbed hold of Theo. They leaned her against the bars and started shaking her. I think they were trying to wake her up.
'Ah ha! I know what to do!' And with this light-bulb moment, Heathcliff produced a liquor flask from his pocket. He covered the length of the cell in three strides, pushed Dennis, Wolfgang and me aside, and declared, 'Move aside, I shall save her with this!'
'With a flask?' Dennis said.
'Of course not, I'm talking about the drink in the flask.'
'And what drink is that?' Wolfgang asked.
'Brandy, 55 percent.'
'That might work,' Wolfgang stood up, 'okay, give it here, I have to make her drink it.'
'No! I'm giving it to her!'
'Hold on a second, Heathcliff,' Dennis looked at him quizzically, 'Why do you have brandy on you? Don't you get drunk easily?'
'Er, it boosts my spirits of chivalry in times that calls for it.'
'Wait, wait, that's no good!' I cut in, 'Making her drink brandy is only making it worse.'
'How do you know?' asked Dennis.
'Well, one time my dad took me ice fishing with a couple of his buddies, now this was at a lake near my house-'
'This isn't going to be a long story is it?' Dennis interrupted, he was still trying to wake Theo up. 'We're really pressed for time!'
I did some addition in my head, '3 more sentences. Okay, where was I? Right. We were at the lake and one of my dad's buddies fell through the ice. When we got him out he was stiff as a hog in the freezer, so we fed him three flasks of hard liquor because we though that would get his blood flowing. He died before the ambulance could come. So you see, alcohol doesn't treat hypothermia.'
'That's more than 3 sentences.' Dennis said.
Wolfgang flung his arms into the air, in exasperation. 'Who cares! Theo's dying, what do you say we do?'
I thought for a bit. 'This other time, my dad took me ice fishing with a couple of his buddies, now this happened at the same lake after the first time, and one of my dad's other buddies fell into the ice again.'
Wolfgang's expression was incredulous.
I did some quick mental math, '4 more sentences to the story,' I said, and continued telling the story, 'When we got him out he had hypothermia, just like last time, so my dad and his buddies took off all his clothes, dried him up and lay on top of him. They sent me to fetch the ambulance. That's how you treat hypothermia, which my dad found out about on the Internet. Now this buddy of his made it to the hospital and survived.'
'Absolutely not!' Dennis interjected, 'You're not taking Theo's clothes off!'
'It's a matter of life and death,' I said, 'We have to do something.'
'But how are we supposed to treat her at all when she's on the other side of those bars?' Wolfgang pointed out.
'AHHH! WHAT DO WE DO! WHAT DO WE DO! WHAT DO WE DO!' Heathcliff resumed running around our cell in circles.
'Hey! What's all that ruckus in there!' The door to the cell blocks opened and the guard poked his head in, 'I don't get paid enough to listen to you hostages raising hell, be quiet in there!'
'Theo has hypothermia, can you put us in her cell so we can treat her?' I asked.
The guard came in. 'Hell, I don't get paid enough for this nonsense. Just leave her, why do you care what happens to her?'
If the bars didn't exist, Dennis would have torn the guard to pieces. His arms shot through the space between the bars, grabbing at the guard, who took a few steps back. 'You monster! That's my sister you're taking about! She's dying, unlock my cell this instant, you cruel, ignorant bastard!'
'Huh, I can't deal with this. I need a drink.' The guard muttered.
'Wait,' Heathcliff shouted, 'Take this!' He raised the liquor flask.
'What's that?'
'Brandy, 50 percent.'
The guard looked pleased, 'Alright, give it to me.'
'If you unlock the cells, I'll give you the brandy.'
'How do I know you won't bust out of here when I turn that key?'
Heathcliff drew himself up to his full height and declared, 'Because I honor the gentleman code of chivalry.'
'I don't know what the hell that means but fine. Don't give me any funny business now. I just want that drink.'
The guard unlocked both our cell and Theo's cell. Heathcliff gave over his flask of brandy, and the guard left happily, locking the cell block door on his way out.
We rushed into Theo's cell and got on our knees around Theo, who was fully unconscious now. Dennis, Wolfgang and Heathcliff looked at each other and then at me, and said together, 'You're not taking her clothes off.'
Dennis added, 'I won't stand for any of you seeing her in the nude.'
That's when I remembered Departures. It was a charming little movie about a funeral custom in Japan that involved taking the deceased person's clothes off to clean the body. All of it was done while the dead person was covered under a blanket and involved a certain set of techniques. I told them about this really in 3 quick sentences and said we could take Theo's clothes off that way without having to see her in the nude.
'I won't stand for you touching her like that even if you don't see anything.' Dennis said.
'We have no time for this! Just do it!'
'How good are you at following instructions?' I asked Dennis.
'What kind of a question is that at a time like this?'
'I'll tell you what to do and you can take off her clothes under the blanket.' I replied.
There was a pause while they thought about this. 'Okay, let's do it.' Dennis said. He draped the blanket over Theo and I got about recalling how it was done in the movie.
'Ok, first you turn her onto her side, facing away from you...' I explained.
I must say that by the end of it I felt Dennis was very good at following instructions. His face was as red as a ripe tomato when he finished undressing Theo, who was still completely wrapped by the blanket. Her damp clothes lay in a pile beside Dennis.
'Now what do we do?'
'We lie on top of her to warm her body back up.' I replied, 'Just like what my dad and his buddies did to their friend who fell through the ice.'
There was silence.
'I am so sorry about this, Theo.' Dennis, Wolfgang and Heathcliff sighed in unison. And we got about doing what I suggested. Heathcliff and Wolfgang sandwiched her on either side, Dennis covered her upper body and midsection. I was busy transferring heat through the blanket and into her legs, which were warming gradually.
It worked. I think part of why it did was because all four of us were red hot embarrassed. Where else could the heat have come from?
Dennis, Heathcliff and Wolfgang lay absolutely still until Theo regained consciousness. The first intelligible thing she said was, 'Who is kissing my neck?' (I think all three of them were.)

Phew, that was some cliffhanger Kiki left me in. It took me 'til the new year to figure out how to resolve it. Hope you all enjoyed this belated next chapter. Happy first day of 2014 everyone!

Happy New Year!

We wish you the best for 2014!

-K (and G)

Merry Christmas!

Well, I have no holiday chapter to offer today, with a black out earlier this week and a busy schedule.
But we wish you a merry Christmas, and hope the rest of the holidays go well!

-K (with G in spirit)

T.N - Chapter 74

Despite the blanket, my teeth were still chattering and my body was still shaking. I started to wonder if it was because I was cold, or because of the anger that was roiling inside of me every time I laid eyes on Kent...was it even proper to keep on calling him Kent? He was Kent and he was the Virus, he was someone I’ve known since birth, except I never really did know him. He was a stranger with a familiar face. Thankfully, he walked past me to lead the group along with the Dragon, so I didn’t have to look at him.

Wolfgang placed my glasses in my hands, but my hands were shaking too much for me to put them on. He took them back, crouched down, and placed them gently on my face. His hands were warm, and his fingers grazed along the side of my face. I averted my eyes and stood up.

A guard escorted me over to the hatch where the Dragon had already climbed down. At the urging of the guard, I clambered down the hatch. The inside of the submarine was dazzlingly black, the walls and floor of the corridors polished to perfection. The corridors were narrow, only wide enough for three people to walk side by side. I couldn’t see the Dragon in front, but I could hear him making small talk to Laura.

As we walked along the corridors and climbed up and down countless stairs, we passed by engine rooms with workers bustling about keeping the submarine afloat. We passed by other rooms with scientists tinkering with complex gadgets and writing equations on a whiteboard.

Climbing all of these stairs made my breathing laboured, and I could feel the thrum of my heartbeat accelerate with each step I took. I had tripped a few times on steps, but each time, either the guard or Wolfgang caught me and I would mutter a small thanks.

The last room we passed was the largest out of all of them, and the simplest. A large, circular table was in the middle, with twelve chairs around. Ten chairs were occupied by a variety of people dressed in formal, black clothing. I only caught the glimpse of a few faces, but I recognized them all from the Justice League’s most wanted. A man with slicked back hair glanced up from his conversation, and watched me walk past, his teeth bared in a large grin. I shivered, and looked away.

We descended one last flight of stairs to where the corridors were lined with closed, steel doors. A couple of guards opened the doors, and I was herded along with Heathcliff, Wolfgang and Charlie into one of the steel rooms. Inside were small cells separated by thick steel bars. The guard that was escorting me placed me in a cell alone, while the others were together in the one to my right. The guards locked the door of the cells and then walked outside of the entrance. The Dragon sauntered in, and looked at Wolfgang fondly.

“Your mother and I need to have an adult talk, along with her crew and the North heir” he said to Wolfgang. “I hope you don’t mind being left out of it.”

Wolfgang only stared at him with complete, unadulterated anger. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and just let his glare do the talking.

“I’ll take that as a no,” said the Dragon. He walked out of the room, and paused by the guards. “Make sure my son and his friends don’t make any trouble. I’d hate to show them to Damien in less than one piece.” The guards nodded, and the steel door shut with a clang.

Wolfgang yelled in frustration, and pounded the wall. He said some expletives, but what he specifically said I don’t know. My mind started to become fuzzy, with white splotches swimming across my vision. I slumped against the wall, and slid down to the floor.

“Theo!” called Charlie’s voice, but it sounded muffled. He reached his hand through the bar and grabbed my wrist. His hands were hot, so uncomfortably, burning hot. “You’re shivering, and you’re freezing cold, are you feeling ok?”

I wrenched my hand away. “I...I’m fine, don’t touch me, you’re too hot...” I took the blanket off of my shoulders. “I don’t know...why everyone is worrying about me...” I grabbed the bars and slowly hauled myself up off of the floor. I let go and faced the others, smiling. “I’m totally fine...see?”

Everything turned white, and the last thing I felt was the sensation of falling. 

Geez, we've really let ourselves fall behind! Here's a longer chapter as my apology. School has been crazy and full of work, and I've forgotten that it was my turn to write here! Oops....

Of course, I've been working on other writing projects, so don't forget to look at Zone 1!

C.N. - chapter 73

The submarine rose out of the water. Its gray steel hood raised our inflatable raft right out of the ocean from below. A few meters away, Theo and Kyle, who was conscious now because he was squirming like a fish-out-of-water in his bounds, were sprawed too on the hood of the submarine.
This was a huge submarine we were on.
Normally a person can plunge into the Pacific Ocean for only a few minutes without freezing solid. When the person exits the water, the sooner they change out of their wet gear the less likely they will catch hypothermia. Theo and Kyle should get on some dry clothes as soon as possible, so I stood up to go over to them with an emergency blanket I found tucked under where I was sitting in the raft.
'Sit down boy, leave them there.' Mr. Kent ordered.
'If they don't dry themselves up they'll catch hypothermia, I know this because one winter I went ice fishing with my dad and a few of his buddies on the lake near where I live...' I didn't finish because Mr. Kent fired a shot into the air. And everyone including me ducked down.
'Shut up, you'll do as I say without questions, now sit down.'
A radio signal cracked to life. There was confusion for a moment, and then Mr. Kent took out a walkie-talkie out of his suit pocket.
'Did you just kill one of the hostages?' The voice in the walkie-talkie said. I recognized Mr. Dragon's voice because the volume in the speaker was surprisingly loud and high-definition.
'Uh no Dragon, that was a warning shot.'
'What have I told you about wasting your warning shots, you haven't got an extra magazine clip on you, am I correct?'
Mr. Kent patted himself down and replied, 'Uh no, I don't.'
'And there are more hostages with you than there are bullets in your gun to threaten all of them with, therefore if they had know earlier about your lack of sufficient ammunition, they could have overpowered you completely, couldn't they? As a matter of fact they can do so right now.'
Mr. Kent was speechless; he sputtered some things trying to come up with a reply, but failed.
'Damn,' Terry said, 'Knowing that we totally could have overpowered the old fart back in the flyasaurus, couldn't we, Terry?'
'Absolutely, Terry.' The other Terry nodded, 'And what more, we can do that right now, who's up to take a bullet or few for the team and maybe get killed? Anyone?'
'I am rather sorry to inform you, it is now too late for that.' Mr. Dragon's voice said. A hatch on the hood opened and two men dressed in military attires emerged first from the submarine, carrying automatic weapons, followed by Mr. Dragon himself, followed by two more men dressed and armed in the same way. The men trained their weapons at us. Mr. Dragon spoke as he approached our raft.
'I admire your dilligence in listening in on the coversation I was having with Virus here, I assume he had forgotten to put speaker volume on low, am I correct to say so, Virus?'
Virus! Mr. Kent's real name is Virus?
Mr. Kent, or Mr. Virus, I don't know which name to call him by, sputtered some more unintelligible things. I was under the impression that Mr. Dragon was ridiculing Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus quite harshly and enjoying doing it.  
Two more people exited the hatch, a man and a woman in orderly uniforms, and they approached Kyle and Theo with blankets.
Mr. Dragon turned to Laura and flashed a wan smile, 'Long time no see, Laura.'
Laura returned a smile which I couldn't decide whether it meant love or hate. 'Same to you, Clark, so we meet again.'
'I'm sorry I couldn't afford a better condition for this reunion, I hope you still understand me after all these years.'
'Don't worry yourself, I remember you like it all took place yesterday, you old scoundrel, at least you kept in shape.'
'So have you, my dear.' Mr. Dragon gave a gentlemanly bow. 'I'm still the same man when you left me, my dear.'
'Oh save your flourish, Clark, you can't fool me again with that old stuff.'
'Always for you, my dear Laura, always for you.' Mr. Dragon regarded Wolfgang next, 'Ah, my son! Our last separation was rather untimely, I did not even get to say goodbye.'
'Fuck you, dad.' Wolfgang spat. His stare seemed murderous, though the fire from his eyes had no visible effect on Mr. Dragon. Laura shushed him.
'Good! The boy still recognizes his own father. I had thought a bullet was too much for him to handle.' Mr. Dragon turned to me, surprisingly.
'Charlie, do you still have misgivings at me for having taken you hostage before our last parting?'
'I don't think I do, because I don't think you weren't really intending to shoot me in the head - maybe just knock me out, if the situation required it.'
'Well then I'm glad the trust between us is not broken.' Mr. Dragon shook my hand.
'What trust?' I heard Theo say and looked in her direction. She was wrapped in a blanket, staring murderously at Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus the same way Wolfgang was still staring at Mr. Dragon, 'Who exactly are you?' She said; the question was directed towards Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus.
Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus looked at her amusingly, 'I am Mr. Kent, as you know, or knew, more appropriately, and I am the Virus, tenth member of the United Terrorists. I have been planted in the North family since before you were born, Theo, I am a double agent - the grandmaster of double agents.'
'Now, now, Virus, I like like your introduction, but there's just a tiny detail I wish to correct,' Mr. Dragon said, putting a hand on Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus' shoulder, 'You're the eleventh, not the tenth, member of the U.T., Alligator is the tenth, and by the way, he's the T-Rex now.'
'That is incorrect, Dragon, I am the tenth member, Alligator-I mean, T-Rex, he's the eleventh.'
'That's not how I remembered it.'
'Well it's how I remembered it Dragon, do you want to bring this up with the others, because I'm right when I say this, I'm the tenth member of the U.T.!' Mr. Kent/Mr. Virus said indignantly.
Mr. Dragon waived him off dismissively with a hand and said, 'Enough of this standing around. Alright hostages, I have business with almost all of you, so let's get down to it. Welcome aboard.'
Escorted by the guards and Mr. Dragon, we entered the submarine.

T.N - Chapter 72

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I could barely comprehend the sight of Kent holding John hostage, never mind focus on his demands. His mouth moved, but all I could hear was a roaring silence as thoughts flittered through my head. Kent...he’s betraying us? It couldn’t be...

I felt someone tug at my hand, pulling me towards the back of the truck where Graham was. I stumbled along and noticed that everyone, except for the two at the cockpit, was all piled in the back. “I’m sorry,” breathed Wolfgang into my ear as he squeezed my hand.

“What are you say—“

“I already said, no talking,” said Kent, cutting me off. He gently pushed the muzzle of the gun right against John’s head.

“This is just a clever trick, a way for us to focus on solving the problem instead of bickering by providing extra crisis! Like we’re going to crash in a few moments and we couldn’t figure anything out and so this was your way of helping, right?” I knew I was babbling, but I didn’t care. “You couldn’t possibly betray us, you’re Kent, you’re like family, you helped us so many times, you—“

A gunshot ran through the air, and I winced as I heard the shattering of glass. John was shaking, and clutching what was left of his right earlobe. Blood trickled through his fingers, running down his arm, and started dripping onto the floor.

Kent shot John. Kent shot John. Kent betrayed us. Kent betrayed us!

“If you would be so kind, Mr. Gable, please silence her before she becomes a hazard to John’s safety,” said Kent. “I’m afraid she’s close to hysterics, which makes delivery to the boss a little bit more difficult.” Wolfgang let go, only to clamp a hand over my mouth and wrap his other arm around me in a restraining embrace. I hadn’t realized until then that I was hyperventilating, and that tears were running down my face.

“Now then, Graham, I do assume that you’re finished preparations for landing?” asked Kent. “Otherwise, I’m not certain if we will be able to get out alive.”

“Done,” replied Graham. “Though quite respectfully, we won’t be able to open the back door with the vehicle’s systems down...”

“That is of no consequence at the moment,” replied Kent. He ushered John towards the pilot’s seat. “Now then, I’m going to turn the manual system on, meaning that you’ll be able to land us and the doors will be able to open.” He turned towards us. “If any of you try anything, and I do sincerely mean anything, I will blow John’s head off.” He pointed the gun back at John’s head and smiled.

The Terries growled, but didn’t move forward. I could feel Wolfgang tense up and pull me in even closer. Laura, calmly and coolly, said, “We understand.”

Kent pulled a small hard drive out of his shirt pocket and plugged it into a port on the dashboard. He then quietly pressed a few buttons, and the lights on the dashboard came back on. “That should do it,” he said, sounding satisfied. “Now John, if you could do the honour of landing us.” He glanced at his watch, “I hope to be on the water’s surface in one minute. I’d hate to be late.”

John’s ear was still bleeding, but he stopped compressing it in order to take control of the wheel. The nose of the vehicle started to dive down even more rapidly than before, and I could see the glittering blue Pacific Ocean coming closer and closer...

John suddenly pulled up, and the vehicle jolted and bucked as it met the water’s surface. He pressed one of the lit buttons on the dashboard, and the back door of the truck swung open. Water started rushing in at an alarming rate.

Graham quickly pulled a cord on the life raft, and as it expanded, he pushed it onto the water. Kent, escorting John, climbed in first, followed by everyone else. Heathcliff was hesitant, but as Wolfgang walked past with me in tow, he grabbed Heathcliff’s arm and hauled him in. The raft started floating away from the quickly sinking truck when I noticed someone was missing.

“Where’s Kyle?” I asked, panic creeping into my voice.

“Still inside,” said Kent. “He already fulfilled his role to me and the boss, he’s just deadweight now.” He smiled. “He made a good proxy villain.”

Kyle was only a proxy. Kyle was innocent. And he was going to die.

I wrenched myself out of Wolfgang’s grip, and before Kent or any of the others could do anything, I whipped off my glasses and dove into the water.

It was so numbingly cold that my breath was nearly taken away. Without my glasses, everything was blurry, and the salt water stung my eyes. I made my way towards the dark shadow that was the truck. I swam into the truck, and found Kyle still strapped in. Despite my fingers going numb, I managed to fumble with the seatbelts and free him. His limbs were still bound, but I was running out of breath. I grabbed Kyle around the waist and started to kick upwards towards the surface. Oxygen deprived, black spots started dancing in front of my eyes, and I could feel my mind turning fuzzy. I held onto Kyle even more tightly, refusing to let him sink. The black spots had multiplied until I could only see a tiny splotch of the daylight above, but even that was disappearing. The surface was so far away...the thought occurred to me that perhaps I wasn’t going to make it.

Suddenly, I felt a solid surface push up from underneath me, lifting me up to the surface. As soon we reached air, I gasped for air, filling my lungs with oxygen again. My mind cleared, and that’s when I noticed that the solid surface, the one I was pushed up to safety by, was a huge submarine.

Super long chapter to make up for the fact I was back for more than a week and hadn't posted anything...hope you enjoyed villainous Kent as much as I did!