THE SERPENT BENEATH THE FLOWER, Part 7
By Bernice Low
[Scouts ahead by Danzinger and Walman revealed equally friendly terrain ahead of us. It seemed like the road to New Pacifica might not be so bad after all. Julia had several more nightmares but it seemed as though once we started traveling again, they just disappeared. Vanished. I however continue to have the same dream of Julia - over and over again it plays in my mind. Yet, none of it makes sense - the Terrians have sent me a puzzle I think and one which they seem determined I must solve alone without their assistance. Is it a warning? A premonition of future things to come? Or a fragment of my own fear that I won't be able to be there for Julia when the time comes? How will I know?]
Julia tossed and turned in her narrow cot , sighed and wished Alonzo was there - he always knew how to get her to relax when she was tense and unable to sleep. But he had drawn the short straw that night and it was his turn to take the late watch.
She fluffed up the blanket and settled her head against the pillow, trying to find a cool spot to lie on. Digging her hands deep under the pillow, she touched something cold and sharp underneath it.
Puzzled, her fingers closed around it and she pulled it out from under the pillow.
She recognised it as Alonzo's blade - the one she had seen him sharpening methodically when fear of the Terrian demon gripped all the colonists.
The one he had used to cut his way out of the BioDome. She looked at the blade and saw the dried blood from where he had slashed Danzinger's face in a desperate bid to defend himself.
She touched the sharpened blade carefully, running her fingers up and down it slowly before putting it back in it's hiding place. She fluffed up the pillow and then lay down again, closing her eyes and trying to will herself to sleep but a soft pattering noise made her open her eyes again.
She listened as the pattering became more frequent and heavier. Julia sat up in bed, wondering what the noise was when she realised it was raining. She heard the rumbling of thunder in a distance and the wind howling outside. The droplets smacked against the plastic tent, making a distinct tapping noise that was strangely comforting, and the rhythmic tap, tap gradually lulled her into sleep. So this is what its like to fall asleep listening to the rain fall, she thought sleepily as she felt her eyelids droop and sleep take over.
A crack of lightning streaked across the night sky, and the thunder boomed over the constant unrelenting fall of the rain. Julia sat up in her cot, her breathing hard.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead nervously, jumping when as another crack accompanied a flash of light in the sky. She could feel her heart pounding furiously, the blood rushing in her ears.
Another dream.
She swallowed and clenched her fists - trying to will her breathing and heart rate to slow down. She felt strangely alert, on edge.
Her ears pricked at the sound of the tent flap rustling. Someone was inside.
Instinctively her hands edged under the pillow, searching for the blade. Her thoughts turned to Alonzo? Where was he??
Her fingers closed around the handle of the blade and she slowly slid it towards her from under the pillow as she heard soft padding in the tent.
The sounds of movement.
Who was it?
A flash of lightning lit the tent up briefly, long enough for her to catch a glimpse of the intruder in her tent. Terrified, she snatched the blade out from under the pillow and prepared to use it against Alex as he advanced towards her, hands outstretched.
"Julia..." his voice was soft and menacing. He was close, so close. She tried to will her arm to move, to propel the blade forward but her arm refused to obey.
"No!" she shouted and threw her hand across her face, huddling away from him.
Another bright streak flashed across the sky. She peeped out and stared around in the tent, unable to believe her eyes.
There was no one in the tent.
Her breathing ragged, and her heart pounding from fear, she looked around frantically to see if he was hiding somewhere in the tent.
Getting up from the cot, she lit the lumalamp and walked around the small tent, constantly expecting Alex to leap from some dark corner out at her but there was no one in the tent except herself.
She couldn't understand it. She was sure she saw Alex in her tent. Did she imagine it?
I must have, she thought a minute later as she switched the lamp off and curled under the blanket, her eyes closing again.
She was awoken from dozing by the sound of someone inside the tent. It wasn't her mind playing tricks on her this time.
Someone was definitely here.
She felt the cot sag under the weight of another body. Arms reached around her waist, and a warm body pressed against her back.
Arms that felt strangely alien. It all felt wrong. It didn't feel like Alonzo. She breathed in his scent and alarms pealed in her head. It wasn't Alonzo.
"Julia..." a whisper sounded in her ear. She knew that voice. She had heard it countless times in her dreams - calling to her, never leaving her alone.
His arms tightened around her and she felt him moving closer to her. Her hand stretched under the pillow again and her fingers felt for the blade. His closeness made her feel sick. The goosebumps on her skin prickled and her throat felt dry.
"Julia..."
Without thinking, she inched out the blade and held it against her chest. Taking a deep breath, she twisted around and jammed the blade in-between his ribs. She felt the blade bury itself into his firm flesh and heard him shout in pain and fall backwards as she twisted the blade away from him. She scrambled off the bed, over him and with a flick of a switch, turned on the lamp, flooding the tent with light.
She turned to look at her intruder. To her horror, she saw Alonzo, lying on the ground, clutching at a wound to his ribs. His hands were stained red as blood poured from the gash in his side.
"Julia ... what... ... ?" he gasped, his dark eyes betraying his shock. She lowered the knife and stared in disbelief. No!
That couldn't be Alonzo.
It was Alex. It was Alex who had come in and... not Alonzo. Had she made a mistake?
She blinked and shook her head in confusion. She opened her eyes again and it was Alex. He struggled up and staggered towards her, backing her up against the side of the tent.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Danzinger enter the tent. "Danzinger - it's Alex! He came into my tent!!" she yelled, holding up the knife again.
"Calm down Julia... give me the knife..." he said slowly, inching closer to her.
Julia stared at him in disbelief. Didn't Danzinger understand? It was Alex! He was in her tent in the dead of night. For god's sakes, didn't he realise how dangerous Alex was?
"Get away from me! Danzinger - are you crazy? He's the dangerous one! " she cried, jabbing the blade at Alex, who was grinning maniacally.
"Julia...it's OK...Nobody's going to hurt you...just give me the blade..." Danzinger said, holding out his hand and taking one step at the time to get closer to Julia.
"What's he done to you?? All of you?? Turned you all against me!!" she yelled desperately. She felt the tent's plastic walls against her back and her desperation grew. She was trapped and all alone. Where was Alonzo?? Why wasn't he here to help her? To save her from all of this madness?
"Julia..." Danzinger said, his voice low." Alonzo's right here..." he said, gesturing to the man standing beside him.
She looked back and forth between the two men. Then she laughed.
Hysterically.
"You think I'm mad!!"she said between laughs. She looked at the confused expressions on the two mens' faces.
"Just gimme the knife doc... ok... everything's going to be just fine...something weird's happening here but we're going to help you...ok...me and 'Lonzo..." Danzinger voice was assuring, and he started inching closer again.
"You're lying! That's not Alonzo!"she snarled. She brandished the blade and Danzinger took a cautious step back.
She turned to look at Alex but he wasn't there. It was Alonzo.
And he was hurt.
She looked at the knife in her hands and saw the blood stained on the blade, blood on her hands.
Had she done that to him?
NO!
It was Alex in her tent. Not Alonzo. It was Alex she had struck out at.
NO!NO!NO!
She looked up again. The faces blurred. Alex... Alonzo...she felt confused. What was happening to her? Nothing was clear in her mind...it was all a fuzzy blur.
Get out...I've got to get out...get away from here. Without thinking, she slashed open the side of the tent, intent on making her escape.
"Julia!" she heard her name being called as she squeezed through the tear in the plastic into the pouring rain.
Alonzo...
She looked back but all she could see was Alex, laughing at her, coming closer to her... The rain soaked her hair and her clothes and she felt the water from the wet ground seeping into her socks.
What's happening to me?? This is crazy. I'm going crazy. She turned and ran.
"Julia!"
Again she thought she heard Alonzo calling to her. She willed herself not to look.
And continued running, not caring where but just knowing that she had to get away.
She ignored the images flashing in her mind. Alonzo. Blood gushing from his wound. The hurt look on his face.
Who had she stabbed? What had she done? The questions came and went unanswered.
The rain pelted down hard on her and the ground slipped beneath her stockinged feet. She pushed away at the trees and branches, ignoring the nicks and cuts they made on her hands and face.
Finally she stopped. Tired, cold and soaked to the bone, she barely made out a cave ahead of her. Stumbling, blinded by the rain, she collapsed on the dry ground and closed her eyes, willing the exhaustion to blot out the image that stood firm in her mind. The look of sheer disbelief in Alonzo's eyes.
What had she done??
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We've got to find her." Alonzo insisted to Devon and Danzinger. He winced as Dr McCann wound the bandage around his torso.
"Is he going to be ok?" Devon asked the doctor. The doctor pushed up his spectacles and regarded his patient. "Fortunately he's not lost a lot of blood. The blade just missed any of his vital organs by half an inch. But it's still a very deep wound."
"We've got to find Julia." Alonzo repeated, looking anxiously at Devon. "She needs our help." he shouted, angered "It's raining out there and she's got no coat, no shoes. Devon, we have to find her."
At that moment, Walman stepped into the tent. His jacket was streaked with rain and as he pulled off his hood, rivulets of water ran onto the ground.
"The rain's too heavy. And Daniels is gone." he reported. Alonzo looked desperately at Devon.
"Devon! Don't you understand? She thought I was Daniels and that's why she stabbed me." he told her. Visions of the traumatic event that had just occurred replayed in his mind's eye.
The look of pure fear and desperation in her eyes. The expression of disgust on her face. The strangeness in her laugh as she contemplated her own madness. All intermingled with his own pain. It had hurt him to see Julia looking at him like he was... some...psychopath out to hurt her.
Devon seethed with frustration. She wanted to look for Julia but at the same time, she had to acknowledge that the weather was making that impossible. It was dark and wet, and they were unlikely to find any tracks since the heavy rain would have washed them away.
"Alonzo - we can't find her in this weather." she said gently. "We can't just leave her!" he exploded. "Try to stay still." McCann advised, putting a firm hold on his patient's shoulder.
"Alex is out there too! What if he finds her before we do?" his eyes were full of anger and his fists were clenched tightly as he stared at Devon, almost challenging her to come up with a better reason not to search for Julia.
Devon looked at Danzinger and they moved to the back of the tent to confer privately.
"John?"
Danzinger stuck his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "There's no telling where or how far she's gone Devon." Devon bit her lip. She didn't like this one bit. She looked over at the distressed Alonzo.
"How soon can we start looking for her?" she asked, keeping an eye on Alonzo.
Danzinger shrugged." As soon as it's light and it stops raining. But without tracks and no GEAR, be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Could be a hundred possible places she could be."
He followed her eyes and looked over at Alonzo. "Look Devon, I'm just as worried about Julia. But I can't see what we can do for the moment." he said in a low voice.
"Well you tell that to him." she snapped under her breath, angry, not at Danzinger, but the way all they seemed to be able to do was stand around helplessly while Alex was out there, hunting Julia. Angry that she had let this come so far.
Danzinger put an assuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up on this Adair. It's not your fault." he said intuitively.
"We'll find her." he promised.
Walman came up to them, a what-now expression on his face. He stood in front of Devon and Danzinger, arms on his hips, waiting for instructions.
"What are we going to do?" he asked. "I don't know Walman." Devon answered and was distracted by McCann desperately trying to restrain a very determined Alonzo and failing as the pilot easily brushed the man aside.
"Alonzo, please. Lie down. You've been very badly injured..." Devon pleaded, standing in his way, while Walman and Danzinger tried to hold him back.
"I don't care!!! What about Julia?" Devon found it very hard to look him in the eye. Why won't you help me? his dark eyes seemed to be asking.
"Alonzo...you've got to understand..." Devon began despite her common sense telling her that no matter what she said to him, it wouldn't deter him from going out into the storm and looking for her.
"I don't want to understand. There's nothing to understand...if you won't look for her then I will..." he started.
He felt the SedaDerm gun at his neck and heard the hiss as the chemical entered his bloodstream. He looked at Devon and saw the expression of regret on her face. Then blackness.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Julia opened her eyes slowly and stared up at the roof of the cave. Her throat was dry and her joints ached. Her clothes and socks, caked with dried out mud felt awful on her as she sat up, groggy and disorientated. She stared out the cave entrance at the early light of day.
The memories of the night before came flooding back. And the recollection of what she had done to Alonzo.
She shook her head and rubbed her eyes, willing it to all make sense. Had she mistaken Alonzo for Alex? It was all crystal clear in her mind - she could still smell Alex's scent in her nostrils, feel his arms around her, the bright red blood that stained the knife... .
The knife!
Her hands were empty and she looked around the cave for her only weapon but it was nowhere to be seen. She must have dropped it while she was running through the rain.
She tried to piece together the night before - thinking, racking her brain for any semblance of evidence to indicate that she might have made a mistake. But everything she remembered screamed that what she had done was right.
Had her eyes lied to her? Was her mind playing tricks? Who had she really seen? Alonzo? Alex?
I heard him call me. I saw the hurt in his eyes. She questioned herself over and over but she had no answers. No explanation. Nothing to tell her why she had acted in the way she did and why she had run.
She looked up at the jagged roof of the cave. And screamed.
It was a scream of anger, of frustration, of misery and despair. It echoed around the cave as Julia tried to release all the pent up emotion she was feeling. To not think but to just give in and let her feelings be vented. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and this time, she didn't fight to keep them back.
Julia Heller buried her face in her hands and sobbed. For now she felt truly lost and alone.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alonzo opened his eyes and winced as he tried to lever himself up. Clutching his side, he maneuvered into a sitting position and shook his head several times to clear his thoughts.
He turned and saw Uly sitting beside the bed. He was in the MedTent. Devon - the SedaDerm - Julia!
"Are you ok Alonzo?" he heard Uly ask him. "Yeah... I'm ok Uly." he replied and turned to look at the little boy." Where is everybody?"
"They're in mom's tent talking... about Julia. Walman and Danzinger went to look for her. Why has Julia run away?" Uly asked, innocently.
Alonzo swung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to get up. He shook his head.
"I don't know Uly." his voice was edged with frustration... He looked out through the tent flap and noticed the bright morning sunshine. Walman and Danzinger had gone to look for her. Had they found her already? Was she safe and on her way back?
Or had Alex already found her?
"Maybe the Terrians can help us find Julia." Uly suggested mysteriously. Alonzo stopped when he heard Uly's remark. He looked over to the little boy but Uly seemed quite impervious to the significance of his remark. It simply seemed like a logical suggestion to the little boy - and his blue eyes looked almost expectantly at Alonzo.
Maybe it's time to find out what that damned dream is all about, thought Alonzo.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Almost there... ... ... . just a little bit more!!!
Oh yeah, if it can rain on G889, It can pour cats and dogs! I'm just assuming that it probably rained sometimes at night but we never got a chance to see it - my only question is how the heck did they stop the water from coming into their tents? [Did ya ever notice how they ploinked all their stuff on the ground inside the tents??] Perhaps tent technology too was ahead of it's times... . :)
Comments to drteong@pc.jaring.my
Oh yeah, if it can rain on G889, It can pour cats and dogs! I'm just assuming that it probably rained sometimes at night but we never got a chance to see it - my only question is how the heck did they stop the water from coming into their tents? [Did ya ever notice how they ploinked all their stuff on the ground inside the tents??] Perhaps tent technology too was ahead of it's times... . :)
Comments to drteong@pc.jaring.my