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More ways than one

  VITA'S P.O.V

  Avera slumped forward, falling to Conrad's chest. As I frantically looked around, I saw Lucas and Winter to be the only one still standing. In an attempt to save Lucas from suffering the same fate as the others, I scrambled off the ground towards him.

  “LUCAS YOU HAVE TO FIGHT IT!” I grabbed his arms, yelling into his face. “DON'T GO!”

  He didn't say a word, he looked at me with subtle fear in his eyes. He knew what was coming to him. Whatever had infected the others already began to infect him. His expression relaxed before his visor shut off.

  He became limp in my arms as I slowly eased him down to the ground. Winter was frozen in shock, unsure of what to do or say.

  My own consciousness began to tingle. I kneeled to the ground, prepared to go out like the others. If I was going to fall, I wanted to be close to the ground for it.

  After a few moments, nothing happened. I could almost hear words in my mind, as if it was speaking to me, but it wasn't clear. It echoed a few times before stopping completely.

  I raised myself back up. “I don't know what that was…” I said, taking a deep breath. Out of caution, I unholstered my survival pistol. I wasn't ready to take chances. Somebody was after us.

  Winter finally got the courage to step close, “The fuck just happened?...” She said shakily, “They all just got knocked out.”

  I looked down at Lucas, his chest was still raising and lowering normally. Everyone was still breathing, thankfully.

  What had just caused this? Why was I still awake?

  I stumbled over to Conrad, he was the first one that went out. I carefully pulled Avera off his chest and laid her beside him.

  Garrett, Kyle and Michael had all collapsed into an awkward heap as well. After yelling at Winter, she finally snapped out of whatever panicked trance she was in. After pointing at the guys, she was quick to get them all laid out so they didn't risk suffocating each other.

  I turned my attention back to Conrad. I lightly tapped the side of his visor using the palm of my hand, to no response. I tapped a bit harder, but the same results followed.

  I then grabbed his arm, lifting it a foot or so above his chest. I let it go and watched as it limply fell back to the ground. His arm wasn't stiff, which meant they weren't in some knocked out coma.

  Everyone's breathing also seemed to be relaxed and not labored, which was another positive indication. I doubted waking everyone up from their current state would have been too difficult.

  Winter kneeled down beside me to see what I was doing, “Winter,” I said, “We need to wake them up, and quickly. Do you have any ideas?” I asked her.

  “Hmmm” she thought, “Well we could dump water on their heads like they do in the movies.” was her reply, “Works every time.”

  “How do you suppose we'd do that, then?” I asked her.

  Winter paused before her ears perked up. “I've got some water in my jeep- I'll be right back!” She said as she went darting for her car.

  A few moments later, winter came back holding a few of those weird plastic water bottles.

  She unscrewed the cap of one and handed it to me. “Just pour it onto his face… It might work.” She told me.

  Given my medical experience, the chances of this working… didn't exist. Sure, protogens had a basic reaction to water, but it was subdued when asleep. But it was as much of a shot as any.

  Following Winter's rather basic instructions, I turned the bottle over. I crushed it in my hand, sending a small torrent of water onto Conrad's visor.

  After emptying the entire bottle, he remained motionless. I began to think the effort had been a waste until finally…

  A twitch!

  Conrad's ears began to lightly twitch and move around because of the water. Soon his head began to move

  As he began to move more and more, his visor finally came to life. Conrad's bright blue eyes greeted ours, and he sure looked confused to see us.

  “Hey, you're alright,” I told him softly, “Are you able to move?” I asked.

  He looked at me like I was speaking some otherworldly language. After I asked him again, followed by him blinking weirdly a few times, he finally nodded.

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  “I can move…” He Said, “But what happened?” He said groggily. He turned his head over and saw Avera on the ground with him, making his eyes go wide.

  “Avera..? Hey.. wake up… Avera!” he said, trying to reach over to touch her.

  I stopped his hand, “Winter, get the commander with some water.” I said to the wolf, “I'll get the others.” I said to her,

  She nodded and handed me a few bottles of water before she started the process on Avera.

  I hopped over the log and got down near Garrett. I repeated the simple motion of pouring the water onto his visor.

  Same results, his ears twitched before his own visor began to spark with color. I immediately moved onto Kyle, pouring the rest of the water I had onto him. I tried to be careful to avoid water touching the cracked sections of his visor, but I must have not done that too well.

  Kyle was up and awake much quicker than Garrett, likely in part to the stinging that came with water contacting a cracked visor.

  Winter came by and informed me Avera was beginning to wake up, which was a good sign. I then turned My attention to Lucas, who had been the last one to have put into sleep.

  Winter followed me, “What about Michael?” She asked, “Shouldn't you have woken him up?” she said.

  “It would be wise to wait until Conrad is fully awake before we try waking Michael… Due to his disliking of water, Conrad and I might have to hold him down while someone can pour water on him.” I replied.

  “Ah… doesn't sound fun.” Said Winter.

  “Yeah. After we get Lucas awake we can focus on Michael.” I said. Winter nodded, “Alright, I'd like to get Lucas up as soon as possible.” she said.

  Winter had the water bottle ready to pour onto him. Without skipping a beat she unscrewed the cap and turned the bottle upside down. The water hit his visor, giving way to Lucas regaining his consciousness.

  “Do you mind if I stay with him or do you need me to help with Michael?” Winter asked me as Lucas began stirring awake.

  “You can stay with him,” I replied, “You'll know when Michael is awake,” I said jokingly.

  Turning back to where everyone else was, I found Kyle kneeling over Michael. Garrett was by his side trying to console him, but was being ignored.

  “CONRAD, YOU GOOD?” I hollered over to the log he'd been sitting at. He popped up from behind it, likely having been making sure Avera was alright.

  He nodded, to which I called him over.

  “Hold down your brother,” I told him, “He probably won't like getting waterboarded.”

  Conrad looked at me like I'd just condemned him to a suicide mission. “Are you sure that's necessary?” He asked.

  “Would you want him to claw you square in the face?” I told him, and that was enough to make him follow my orders.

  With Conrad holding down his legs and Kyle and Garrett on the arms, I began the rather sketchy process of waking Michael.

  I slowly began to pour the bottle onto his visor. It only took a few seconds for the effects to reach him. Within moments he was thrashing his head back and forth, his deep purple eyes immediately came to life, and they were full of anger.

  “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU-” He snapped awake, “LET ME GO!” He screamed, he lifted his arms sending both Kyle and Garrett flying onto their backs. Conrad was forced to let go of his legs to avoid getting kicked.

  His arms came swiping towards my head. I was quick to lean backwards, letting his claws come within inches of my visor.

  Driven by adrenaline, Michael was already off his back and on all fours ready to defend himself.

  After a few tense moments, his senses came back to him. “..Vita?” He said, trying to catch his breath. I nodded, I too was too busy catching my breath to say anything.

  Kyle rolled off his back with a groan, Garrett doing something similar. “I suddenly appreciate you treating me gently…” said Kyle as he got himself off the ground.

  Michael looked shocked to see what he had done to 2 of his friends. “You're okay, everything's okay-” said Conrad in an attempt to calm his brother.

  Michael wobbled to his feet, brushing dirt off his back. “Sorry…” he said embarrassedly… “Can I get a towel?” He asked.

  Kyle went to fetch something everyone could use to wipe off soggy fur. We all took the moment to re-group as well.

  Avera came walking over, rather groggily. “We really can't stay here.” she said, “...Would not be very smart.”

  I agreed, “We don't know what caused it. It could have been Winter's own people, or the person who saved Conrad and Kyle.” I said.

  Garrett was looking over himself for any injuries, “It had to have been telepathic.” He said, “Voices in my head told me to sleep. That was the last thing I heard…” he said.

  “Whoever was responsible for speaking to Kyle and I when we were in orbit must have also been responsible for this.” Said Conrad.

  “We need to get back to the house…” Said Michael, who was trying to shake the water off his head.

  “No,” Winter said, drawing our attention. “Whoever is.. interfering with you guys, is afraid of you contaminating my culture.” She said, “Which means we should go somewhere public.”

  Everyone was confused, “We can't do that. We would be drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves.” Said Conrad.

  “I'm counting on it.” Winter said, “You guys can't be messed with if it risks exposing yourselves.” She continued, “We can stop at the cafe in a town called Moline, it's a short drive away.”

  Avera looked incredibly skeptical, “This is a poor idea.” She said..

  Winter shrugged, “If we go to my own house, then whoever the fuck controlling you will be able to do it without any consequences.”

  Kyle came back with some folded up towels that he gave to Michael and a few others. Lucas was already up and stood half asleep trying to listen to our conversation.

  “We can also get coffee for Lucas.” Added winter.

  Avera didn't seem to care, “We could go, sure. But logically speaking we need to first figure out who it is that's stalking us.” She said to Winter.

  “We can figure that out later, we really should be getting out of here though.” Replied winter.

  “You aren't exactly wrong.” Said Avera, “We should be leaving.”

  We proceeded to gather up our belongings, throwing them in the back of Winter's jeep. The guys went around the EX-5 covering it in multiple large green tarps. It was the best camouflage we had to use for it at the moment.

  Winter and Avera climbed into the front seat, while Kyle was sandwiched between Garrett and Lucas in the back seat.

  As for Conrad, Michael and myself… we had to sit next to the tailgate nearly facing backwards. It was less than comfortable, nor did it seem safe.

  Winter started the jeep and gunned it down the trail. Instead of going left on the gravel road towards her house, she went right instead. We were being taken far beyond what we had previously seen from Winter's own property.

  Soon we reached an actually paved road. We turned east and started the trek towards the town. Behind us, something we'd never seen, made itself clear. Dozens of tall white structures dotted the surrounding hills. Spinning blades topped them. They all faced the same direction, which I found to be odd.

  Conrad was quick to point this out, he too was mesmerized by the groups of spinning blades.

  “Oh that's just the Waney valley wind farm” winter hollered back to us, “Those are wind turbines.” She said,

  “Ah, that figures.” Replied Conrad.

  I tried to readjust my posture while sitting here in the very back, but it was difficult while sharing the space with 2 other large protogens.

  That reminded me… Conrad, Michael and I were probably over a foot taller than most people on this planet. That might be a problem.

  I couldn't reflect long because we entered the small, dilapidated town. “Welcome to Moline Kansas, everyone. Try not to get too excited.”

  “I don't see how anyone could be excited by this…” She said, “Oh come on, they have the oldest swinging bridge in kansas.” Replied winter, “A sign said that.” She said,

  The town was pure and utter depression. The buildings were in horrid shape. I noticed one large frame of what might have been a shed, with a buckling tin roof. It was leaning so badly I thought it could fall over if you looked at it wrong. For this town being the first we've ever truly seen of winter’s civilization, it sure was not much.

  Winter turned down another road. There we went past a few houses that were falling apart until we arrived at the cafe. It didn't look like much, nor did it look like a cafe. When we pulled closer into the parking lot, I could hear winter cursing. When I looked for myself, I saw why. The parking lot and surrounded roads were full of News vans, random cars, and boxy beige colored vehicles. Humvees, as winter was cursing at them.

  Winter parked her jeep in an open spot near the cafe, but I didn't think it was an actual parking spot.

  She shut off the car and we all began piling out. As I stepped out onto the cracked pavement, I could only think. This could go wrong in more ways than one.

  Authors note: This is a real town with a population of only 340, which I visit a few times a year as a part of cabin trips. Yes, it's depressing, yes it's got a giant old shed that's on the verge of collapse, and yes, it has a lovely little cafe. During hunting season, it's a popular lodge where hunters sleep. It is used to be a nursing home!

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