Catching Up
Daniel picked up her pace until she was walking side by side with Gassan. Without a word Gassan slowed down. Daniel followed suit until they had fallen far enough behind their teammates that she thought they might have a bit of privacy. They walked in silence for a fair while before Daniel worked up the courage to look at Gassan again.
“So...what happened?” she asked quietly. Gassan sighed and she quickly scrambled to continue before he could say anything. “I mean just if you want to talk about it! It’s okay if you don’t! I mean I get it-”
“It’s okay Danny.” He laughed softly. He closed his eyes and didn’t speak again for a bit. Daniel waited patiently until he finally began his story. “Jake wasn’t lying. We did get separated. That place was...chaotic like a maze.”
“Oh...I’m sorry,” Daniel murmured. Her ears were lowered but perked up when Gassan unexpectedly continued.
“But...more happened than just that. I don’t remember much but those people were there, those people from the dreams. They caught me...they did something to me.” Gassan paused. He wasn’t looking at Daniel anymore, just staring into the distance. He rubbed his arms lightly. “I wasn’t myself for a bit. It hurt.”
“Gassan...” Daniel put a hand on his shoulder. Gassan shook his head and continued.
“I blacked out then I was just...outside. Jake was there too. He looked really scared and really worried so I thought maybe something had happened to him too but he just said...he’d heard screams. He couldn’t find me. He didn’t know how he got outside either. We were worried something might have happened to you guys too.” He stopped and briefly looked at Daniel again. She looked away. “I guess were right to be worried. We went looking for you but...then it all just goes dark. I woke up in my bed the next morning. It was all normal...like none of it even ever happened. At least that’s how it was until I got Pammy’s call. Then I went to the hideout and that’s it. End of story.”
“I...” Daniel didn’t know what to say. She saw Jake in the distance and a knot formed in her stomach. Guilt was beginning to weasel its way into her mind.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know...and it’s not like either of us were going about things in the right way.” Gassan smiled at her. “We should’ve just told you. Who knows...maybe going to Area 50 is the right decision.”
She smiled back at him. “I hope so.” The two looked away from each other and it dwindled to silence one more. She still felt bad for how pushy she’d been but in that moment she felt the most comfortable she had been since the transformation, maybe even the most comfortable since those weird dreams had started happening. It felt nearly...normal. Tenderness touched her features as she beamed softly, these thoughts running through her head. Abruptly she whipped her head up to look at Gassan again. “Hey, Gassan-”
She was cut off by the cacophony of metal crashing against metal. Her bike had rammed into Pammy’s. She hurried to apologize but was cut off again. She realized everyone else had stopped.
“We’re here,” Pammy said. The front gates of Area 50 were towering over them once again.
Written by Flutterbest on 01 May 2018