Catalyst Ch. 5

The sun slowly made its way behind the horizon as night slowly fell upon us. I had managed to loose the pack of angry swine-men that chased us, and I did it while keeping them from seeing which direction we lived in. Unfortunately, in the process we had been driving for hours and everyone was starting to look annoyed from sitting so closed together for so long. Marxie, out of everyone, seemed the most bothered. She was starting to look pale and feverish.

It wasn't long after I thought about this that Leya started to kick my seat like a wild child. "What the hell is taking you so long to get us home German! I gotta take a leak!"

"Dammit Leya, can you at least try to act like a grown woman sometimes?" Krot said is his deep scolding voice.

"Shut your mouth Krot...Who asked you?!"

She sat back and pouted. Krot was the oldest of all of us and somehow the only one who can tell Leya what to do. He turned to look at her and shook his head.

"Quit your pouting and keep an eye on the kid 'til we get there, give her the rest of your water while you're at it." He turned back and whispered to me, "How much longer? Marxie doesn't look too good."

"I had to drive a couple hours North so I can throw them off, but I guess we have an hour left...maybe an hour and a half."

"Any faster?" he asked with a disappointed frown.

I shook my head.

Ever since I can remember, the group had counted on me as a gear head of the group, unfortunately I was no pro. Not like my older brothers anyway, or my father for that matter. I was limited to source material and actual working material. I also lacked the experience my brothers had previous to me. So when asked if my buggy would go faster I couldn't help but feel like a failure.

I looked into the makeshift mirror I had placed in front of the buggy. It was usually meant to see what was behind me when I had to looked forward, but I could see Marxie, fast asleep in Russians lap. I shifted my eyes and noticed Leya starring back at me. Flinching, I looked away and then looked back hoping she had turned away, but she continued to stare. Slowly she lifted her hand and pointed her middle finger upwards at me. We both grinned like children laughing at a bad word. It was hard to believe, but Leya was the second oldest in our group. She acted like a vulgar five year old most of the time and it didn't help that she was only a foot taller than Marxie, who was only ten. Childish as she was, she was the most talented of everyone when it came to survival. She always claimed that she was an islander, which is how she knew everything, but we all assume she was from one of the better Tech-cities. It was hard to find someone as rough yet well read as she was these days, but we all knew Islanders were just a myth, so we just agreed she was a lying psycho.

After what seemed like an hour went by, I could see the distant outline of our hometown. I can hear a small snore escape Marxie. I smiled in relief as the town drew closer.

"About Damn Time!" Leya yelled as she kicked my chair.