The Wastelands

Chapter 50 - 14

Wastelands

Later that night, Lilia watched the rain as she sat in the girl's section as she leaned against the railing, daggling her feet. Everyone was asleep except for Daniel in the boy's section. They were on watch.

Lilia picked up voices, and they were loud. Daniel was arguing with someone. It sounded like that annoying boy, Conner. It seemed troublesome, so she let Daniel handle it.

At least Daniel will get some sleep soon; she, on the other hand, would have to stay up for the rest of the night as punishment for being reckless when she chased after that guy in the woods.

Something about almost causing an incident that could have deterred diplomatic relations: Lilia rolled her eyes in exasperation. The guy was spying on them; what else was she supposed to do? There was no other choice but to see if he was a threat.

Unfortunately, they happen to be the Nomad. Okay, maybe she should have doubled back, but at the time, Lilia didn't want to lead them to the camp.

In any case, Lilia wasn't going to sleep anyway. The Wasteland's singing at night was way too loud. Her earphones were on to the max, trying to protect her poor ears.

Lilia leaned back with a sigh. At least it was distracting her from her injuries, which was healing but slower than she liked. Check it up with the rest of her healing injuries. The pain was something she was used to. Though Lilia was smart enough to know, that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Maybe I should have told Terran sooner," Lilia muttered.

*You think?* Sil snide back, pecking at the railing at his feet. *It's Terran's job to look after you guys' well-being; you pretty much took that away from him. You're lucky that he's such a nice guy because if it were me, I would have been furious.*

"Yeah, yeah, stop digging it in, will you?" Lilia grumbled.

*And deprive me of one of my greatest joys, never!* Sil in mock shock, ruffling his feathers a little, it seemed to have a little trouble reaching an itch.

Lilia just rolled her eyes at his antics as she reached out to help him out. "Here you go."

*Thank you,* The falcon responded, satisfied, making Lilia roll her eyes once again. *Don't forget to take your drops. Your eyes look unnaturally shiny.*

'Damn! That's right.' Her hand moved to her carry bag, searching for a bottle that Terran gave her. Putting a couple of drops in her eyes, 'Oh, that stings!' All the while, Sil was giving her a stink eye. "Fine, you're right."

*Hmph.* Sil preened, happily, such a drama queen. *Watch it, someone coming!*

"Ha, who are you talking to." A voice asked from behind her.

Lilia turned toward for a moment here; her mind couldn't register what she saw, then with another blink that Tower's Teacher face came into focus. "Miss? Mrs.?"

"Sonia, please." Sonia smiled in response.

"Um, I'm talking to Sil." Lilia moved to make sure that the other woman could see the falcon, a little embarrassed at being caught. "It'd um, comforts me?" She half-lied until Sonia showed up; Lilia hadn't known that she was speaking out loud.

"Oh, how pretty," Sonia gushed as she got closer. "I never saw one with silver wings before."

"Oh, thanks?" Lilia moved instinctively moved away; she felt kind of uncomfortable around the older woman, maybe because that she didn't like a person she didn't know in her personal space. "Why are you..."

"Awake?" Sonia leaned against the rails. "Hmm, couldn't sleep, maybe?"

'Okay, that was a strange way of wording it.'

"I wanted to speak with you," Sonia continued. "I heard from the Captain that your musical intelligence is really high."

"Yeah." Lilia really wanted to leave; she hated pushy people the most.

"I'm studying the effects the MI recipient has while under the influence of the Wastelands. I never encountered someone with such a high MI count; this is going to be great." Sonia said in an excited tone.

"Okey, that's one way to put it." Lilia mused as she adjusted her headphones. "It sounds like I'm on drugs or something." If the Wasteland was a drug, why was she only got the side effects?

"To those who are more s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e, in a way they are. Will you help me?" Sonia tried to grab Lilia's hands but moved a little to avoid it; that didn't seem to deter her.

"With what exactly?" Lilia reluctantly asked.

"Just tell me what you sense? That'll be a good start." Sonia responded.

Lilia was very reluctant. "Just tell her, doesn't seem that's she is going to leave any time soon," Sil advised.

"Fine." As she closed her eyes, listening to the Wasteland's music. She felt the rain dropping on the ground, resonating with everything it touches. "I see Spike sleeping underneath the tree. There's a group of wolves nearby, but they are steering clear of where we are, probably because of Spike." She paused, wiggling her nose, in concentration. "Um, they're hunting. Oh, there it is, a rabbit." Then she sensed something a lot closer. "Traveling plants," she exclaimed.

"Travelling plants?" Sonia asked.

"Um, there plants that travel so they could find good soil to plant themselves in," Lilia explained. "If you leave them alone, they shouldn't be too dangerous." In fact, Lilia could feel their curious wonder, though she still wouldn't want to tangle with them. There was something further out that caught her attention, a distortion? But it smoothed out as soon as she concentrated on it, making her a little bit concerned. "There's something…" Lilia's head whipped to the boy's side, just as a scream echoed.

"Help!" Daniel's voice called out, and suddenly Lilia was up and moving toward the commotion.

"Sil, come on," she called out as Sil flew ahead.

Lilia never saw Sonia watching her back, her eyes cold, "Ah, too bad." Holding her hand out to feel the raindrops splash against her hand.

She found Daniel on his belly, trying to reach for something just beyond the railing. "What's wrong?" she asked, but she already detected the problem.

"He fell! Conner fell," Daniel looked up with a panicked gaze. "We need to get him up!" Lilia could see that Conner was hanging there listless, his feet tangled up with the pull-up ladder. Saving him from having a hard landing, though there were a couple of issues. One was that ladder wasn't attached to the shelter but was caught up with a much smaller tree below. Also, there was a lot of obstruction in the way so that a person couldn't go straight down. They could cut their way through, but the branches would fall on Conner. Then there was the wolf pack. Their gaze was full of easy prey.

When the wolves were in that much of a frenzy, there was no reasoning with them.

"Damn," she could help but curse. Her eyes searched everywhere for a way to get to him, safely, without touching the ground; she didn't want to mess with that many wolves. "If I hang from there, I might be able to get him." She pointed to a lower branch than she liked, but she couldn't find any other options.

Daniel tried to stop her. "Ha, you're hurt, I should be…"

"No." Lilia interrupts. "I'm lighter. I need someone with a little more muscle to drag him up." However, Lilia could lift him by herself. The angle Conner was hanging would make it pretty tough. Plus, the extra weight would be a problem. "Do you know where the supply crate is?"

"Ah, here." He pointed to a box nearby.

Lilia moved to search for something. "Ah, this will do." Pulling out some rope and a pulley system, they used to hoist up the shelter. She wrapped the rope around herself, making sure everything was secured.

"Then, at least, wait for the others to get up," Daniel advised, but he said that Conner suddenly slipped and stopped a foot lower. A wolf jumped up, almost catching Conner with his teeth.

"No time!" Lilia scrambled from one branch to the next, making sure to move quickly, so she wouldn't be on one branch for too long as she felt a branch crack underneath her feet. Her route was pretty roundabout, but it was all she had.

Then she cursed as she almost slipped off a couple of times. It was so much harder with the rain pouring down. Lilia gripped the tree to steady herself before inching her way closer to Conner.

Lilia heard a voice from above. The Caption was yelling, and Sonia, the teacher's, worrying undertones. Now she had an audience to her attempted rescue attempt. Great.

There was a gap that she needed to jump over, and there was Conner. She jumped the gap, but the branch she landed on broke beneath, and she had to use her claws to keep herself from falling with it. Sliding a little, one of the wolves tried to take a chuck out of her when something pushed him away. She looked up to see Heather watching, hanging just below the shelter.

Lilia nodded her head in thanks; she watched as Heather lifted herself up again.

She finally scrambled up to Conner. 'Is he still breathing? Good. Now let get everything situated.'

Conner g.r.o.a.n.e.d out. 'Please, please, please don't wake up. The rescue would be so much harder if you wake up.'

She worked as quickly as possible, cutting him away from the ladder, tying him to the tree, before rigging the make-shift pully, and attaching it to Conner. Now all she had to do was somehow get the other end back to Daniel.

As Lilia held the end of the rope, then suddenly she threw it to the side. Suddenly Sil was there, catching it with his talons. It was a beautiful sight to see.

"Who needs perfect aim when I have you," Lilia told Sil

He didn't answer, but he seemed pleased as he carried it up to the top.

Lilia looked down at the circling wolves. "You think I forgot about you, didn't you," she whispered. Conner's weight would most certainly make the line sag. Damnit!

Then she heard shouting, to the left. "Ha, over here, don't I look tasty. This way." Katy's voice called out.

To the right. "Up here, up here," Heather shouted.

On the other end. "Over here!" Tessa's voice carried over.

There was also Tyson, shouting, not too far away from Tessa.

The distraction kind of work. The wolves scattered, but there was one persistent one who won't give up. Lilia just smiled, then she dropped down to the branch she was standing on as soon as the wolf tried to leap up. Lilia flipped and kicked him right into the travelling plants.

He yelped as the startled plants bared their poisoned thorns in self-defence. He couldn't get away fast enough.

Lilia breathed in a sigh of relief as she climbed back up. She heard cheering broke out all around.

"Hell, yeah!"

"Nice job!"

"Lilia, awesome!"

After that, it took no time at all to untie Conner and allowed the pully to do what it does.

She leaned against the trunk, highly grateful that Conner wasn't her problem anymore. Lilia was about to climb back up, but something caught her eye.

Taking a closer. Lilia took a closer look at the ladder's ragged edge.

Lilia's hands rubbed against the edges, and her confusion rose even more.

"Ha, why are you so slow?" Heather called out. "Get up here already."

"Coming," Lilia responded back. She rubbed her fingers together, rubbing the frost off their tips.

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