Don't Fear the Reaper: Part 6
"Hey! You're on my foot!"
"Ow! Scarecrow was that you?"
"We need some light..." in an instant, the long tunnel was filled with a wavering red light, illuminating the three cramped figures and the long arm holding the flare above them. The three separated into a line, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright, now what?" Trisha asked.
"Well, someone's impatient!" Scarecrow scoffed. "Well, we need to get out of this tunnel number one, then...then we...should..."
Scarecrow was silent. Trisha and Mantis looked back at him. He looked frozen, staring at the ground as though he couldn't look anywhere else.
"Scarecrow?" Mantis asked.
"I don't know what to do...I don't know...Mother...she usually tells me where to go, what to do...I don't...I can't..." he fell to the ground. Mantis and Trisha were immediately next to him, laying him to the ground gently.
"Scarecrow?" Mantis asked. Scarecrow was distant, he heard the Skinner, but he had no idea where she was...he couldn't possibly conceive that right now...what was he supposed to do? He had never been in this situation before! Mother had always been there for him! She always had a direction for him to walk in, always had somewhere to be...he was a tool and she was the hand that operated him.
He felt nauseous, sick to his stomach, like he was going to explode from within...
"Mantis, my face..." he said shakily. Mantis' antennae twitched in shock and she moved back.
"Scarecrow, are you sure? You'll be compromised!" she said worriedly.
"We're already compromised...I can't breathe..." he said hoarsely. "This isn't me anymore, this isn't my face..."
Mantis looked nervous and hesitantly reached behind Scarecrow's helmet and clicked a small button on the back of it. Scarecrow moved her hands away then reached up on his own, pulling the sides of his helmet away from his head. The two halves collapsed in on themselves and then there was only the faceplate, which Scarecrow's gloved claw gripped and then let fall away.
There was a moment of hesitation inside Trisha, as she was unsure whether or not to even look at all! But then she was overcome with curiosity and gazed upon his face...
Long, black hair flowed across his face in the tunnel's residual cool breeze and wavered over a pale face and two darkened eyes. They flashed a golden orange in every beam of red light, consistently surrounding him in a predator-like aura. Trisha could barely see his face, but what she could make out was catlike in its nature, but was pallor as if it had never seen the sun in its life and was never exposed to the outside. It seemed to glare at her.
Scarecrow panted. Mantis was almost shocked! She had never seen Scarecrow's face either, after so many years being with him!
His voice was softer then it was with his helmet, but still gravelly and deep.
"Much better," he said, and began to stand up. He took a deep breath, then choked and coughed hard a few times. He managed to choke out: "What is that?"
"You've never had to breathe unpurified air before...there's dust and things in here that you're not used to," Mantis explained. Trisha's eyes went wide...he had never breathed without his mask?!
"I see," his voice was hoarse still. "Can't breathe in the damned thing, can't breathe out of the damned thing...what a conundrum."
"You'll get used to it?" Trisha said softly, smiling. He looked over at her, his facial features softening as well.
"You keep hoping and I'll do the important things," he said with another cough and a hacking noise, followed by a charming spit onto the dirty tunnel floor. Trisha rolled her eyes. Scarecrow took a minute and gathered himself a bit.
"So where do we go now?" Trisha asked, beginning to get worried again. Scarecrow shrugged.
"I don't know, kill ourselves?" he asked, completely serious. Trisha and Mantis looked at him with absolute shock.
They were speechless, they could see in his eyes that he was absolutely not kidding.
"What else do we have?" he asked. "What are we? Three fugitives on the run from the most powerful government agency currently in existence, we have no food, we have no friends, we have nowhere to live...I refuse to run forever, I can't...I just can't live with wolves nipping at my heels for the rest of my life...what kind of life would that be?"
And both females were silent.
He was right.
On every account he was right.
"We have eachother," a voice like an angel, golden and sweet, cut through the silence with those three words...three words that made both Skinners practically freeze in place. Trisha stood in the red light, looking at her two companions. Her hands were clasped together in front of her chest.
"Eachother," Mantis repeated. She looked at Scarecrow. "Can we do it?"
Scarecrow was still lost. His black hair whipped around his pale feline face, lost in the moment.
"We can survive," Trisha continued. "In my whole life, I've never been very well off. I've always lived on the streets; never met my parents...don't even know if I have any! But when I met you...for some reason I knew you would take me. I knew you were there to save me. I had no idea what I was getting into at the time, but now I know that I can never go back to that life. You two have changed everything...nothing is the same now and if we give up now then I don't know where we'll end up. There is no turning back, only forward now...and if we stick together then we can do anything...please believe me..."
Halfway through her speech, she had begun to cry. Small tears dripped down her cheeks; staining her delicate face and making her eyes glisten in the cold red light. Scarecrow looked destroyed.
He sighed, this time without coughing once.
Then, wordlessly, he turned and walked away. Down the tunnel and into the darkness. Trisha's features twisted in sadness for a second, and then she softened and turned in the other direction. Mantis was left in the middle. She looked both ways before turning to walk after Scarecrow. There was a glow of trepidation surrounding the choice though...she knew that Scarecrow was going down a lost road. He wasn't going anywhere and he knew it just as well as Mantis did...she was never going to see him again...
And in that moment, she turned and walked the opposite direction, after Trisha. As she caught up to her, they looked at eachother for a second and Trisha smiled half-heartedly.
She was alone in the world. One little girl lost without anyone. Just like Mantis was at some point far back in time...she was lost...
They walked further down the tunnel until they reached the tunnel exit. The sun warmed Trisha, making her skin tingle. Mantis blinked. She could feel nothing; the suit she wore kept her from the sun's warmth. So there they were, looking out over the beach the tunnel had exited to. Trisha looked over at her.
"Maybe you'd better follow his example," she said, sadly referencing Scarecrow removing his helmet. Mantis looked a bit hesitant.
"I'm not as bold as Scarecrow..." she said, looking down. Trisha smiled brightly.
"You don't need to be bold...you need to be yourself," Trisha said happily. Mantis bowed her head, and looked around. Trisha reached up and took hold of Mantis' helmet, but Mantis backed up and swatted her hands away defensively! Trisha looked shocked for a moment, then softened again and reached up again.
This time Mantis hesitantly leaned her head down. Trisha's fingers probed around the back of the helmet, unable to find the right button. Mantis chuckled quietly and reached up, pressing an almost invisible button directly on the back of the helmet. The back portions of the helmet swung open and then folded into the faceplate, just like Scarecrow's.
"There we go," Trisha laughed warmly. From within the mask, there flowed a wide river of dark red hair around her faceplate. When the faceplate was removed, there stood before Trisha the most angelic face she had ever seen...
Her skin was light, not pale like Scarecrow's, but fair and with not a single marking or blemish save for a small scar that ran diagonally across her left cheek. Her lips, although she wore no makeup, were a rosy pink. By all accounts...she was human.
"You...you're a human?" Trisha asked in surprise.
"You expected another species?" Mantis asked, her voice a river of smooth honey. Trisha melted, which was something absolutely unusual to her! She never found herself attracted to a female, but now as this creature spoke she realized her whole body was trembling with every word out of her mouth.
"I...I...no! No it just caught me off guard, that's all," Trisha stammered and blushed, brushing the hair from her face and looking away shyly. Mantis smiled and clipped her faceplate onto her belt. She started walking towards the beach when Trisha grabbed her arm.
"We're supposed to be dead...remember?" she said. "You think we should be a tad more incognito then this?"
She laughed and tugged on the suit's tight material. Mantis looked herself over and then chuckled a little bit.
"Perhaps you're right," she said. "So then, what shall I wear?"
"Hmmm," Trisha looked around until she saw on the beachfront a small store. "There! You wait here; I'll just go buy you something. What size are you?"
Mantis just looked at her.
"6'2''?" she responded hopefully.
"No not your height, your clothing size?" Trisha asked, smiling a bit.
"There's different sizes?" Mantis asked, wide-eyed.
"You really have no idea about the world do you?" Trisha laughed. Mantis looked insulted.
"Well! I'll have you know that I can speak 25 different languages fluently, have been to every civilized country on the planet, can identify all forms of wildlife both in Africa and Australia, and know every type of poisonous flora there is, thank you!" Mantis finished with a haughty 'humph' and crossed her arms. Trisha was already walking along the beach towards the store. "Hey!"
"Be back soon!" she called over her shoulder. At the shop, Trisha was perusing through clothes when the manager walked up to her.
"Anything I can help you with miss?" he asked politely. He had a French accent and a black, bushy mustache over thick, meaty lips. He wore a Hawaiian shirt, stereotypical of a tourist rather than a shopkeeper.
"No thanks! I'm fine," she beamed graciously. The man looked disappointed.
"Are you sure? There's so many things to look through, and the sun is halfway down...certainly there is no time to simply browse?" he persisted.
"Really, I'm okay! I'm not looking for anything specific," Trisha again declined. The man was silent for a moment, and then stepped up very close behind her and began inquiring as to whether she would wear certain articles. Trisha felt awkward and stepped away, only to be followed. She was beginning to get worried...
"You're right, it's pretty late. I think I'd better go," she turned and began walking away until the man's heavy mit wrapped around her wrist and started pulling the other way! Trisha struggled and clawed at his hand, but the man's grip was like iron. She turned to scream.
"Mantis! Hel--" was all she got out before the man's other hand covered her mouth! He started dragging her into the back of the store, where Trish smelled beer and marijuana. In the back area there was a table, and around the table there sat a group of burly men wearing black shirts and playing poker. When they saw the man bringing the struggling girl back, they leapt up to help him. They laughed and mumbled like eager children as they grabbed Trisha's legs and helped bring her into the alleyway behind the store. Trisha couldn't fight them off; Scarecrow had never gotten to teach her how to grapple!
"Hey Manny! I see you got us a playmate!" said one of the men. This one had a thick Spanish accent. The others laughed.
"Well boys? Let's crack this little present open and see what's inside eh?" the shopkeeper laughed.
"How about we crack your skulls instead?" a deep voice resonated from the opening of the alleyway. Trisha saw through tears a black figure standing in the dim streetlight, its flowing coattails licking at its boots in the light breeze from the ocean. Its hair whipped about its face, obscuring his identity...but Trisha knew.
"Who's this then?" one of them asked. "A hero?"
"Not quite," said the figure as it started walking towards them. "You see, heroes have a code..."
One of them took his hands off of Trisha and stomped up to him. He swung a fist, but the figure blocked with his forearm and drove the tip of his thumb into the man's neck. The man fell to the ground, holding his throat as he coughed and choked. The figure lost not a smidgeon of his original speed.
"And the hero code states that killing your enemy is never an option," it continued. The rest of the men except for the shopkeeper ran up to the figure and began throwing punches and kicks. In less than a minute, all of them were on the ground, all of them lying completely still.
"I'm no hero," he said as the shopkeeper drew a knife and held it to Trisha's throat. The figure's golden eyes flared for a moment. There was a flash past Trisha's face and the shopkeeper gurgled as a short blade struck him just above the clavicle. He relinquished his grip as he and his knife fell to the cold ground.
"Just a good Samaritan," he finished and sheathed the other throwing knife he had drawn. Trisha fell to her knees, looking up at the figure. She wiped the tears from her eyes and wrapped her arms around his legs, hugging him so tightly...
"Scarecrow," she whispered. There was a little chuckle as the tall, lanky figure kneeled down to her level. He lifted her chin and drowned in her eyes, those big blue eyes...
"I couldn't leave ya, it just wasn't in me kiddo," he smiled. There was more love in those words then Trisha had ever felt in her whole life...she couldn't control herself...
She jumped up and pressed her lips to his. His feline fur was soft as the night, never marred by the cruelty of the outside world or hardened by the biting winds. The minute their lips touched, he was immediately struck by a sense of joy, of tingling happiness that settled over his skin like new snow on the frost-beaten earth. Then a sense of fear...
He drew backwards and stumbled over himself, falling onto the pavement and staring at her for a second before jumping to his feet and giving a nervous smirk.
"No touchy..." he said and wrapped her up in his arms. He lifted her off the ground and turned to walk towards the beach. "Let's get you back to Mantis, she's probably worried sick."