Debut

[not_a_quaker]

Nix sprawls in the passenger seat, carelessly elegant, as I drive us to our intended destination, the jeep zipping smartly along. "What is this place?" Nix asks as we get out and head over to the door of the partially demolished home

Comments

[vat_69]

The island fucks with people. In Lew's estimation, that is incontrovertible fact. The island fucks with people, and whether it's simple sadism or some kind of theomorphic social experiment isn't clear, but the point is, you can't trust the fucking thing. Your eyes and ears and even intuition can be deceiving in this place, this hell in paradise wrapping. Okay, so maybe it isn't quite that bad, but the fact remains it's a tricky little bastard

[fourforone]

For a long second, I swear to god I ate something wrong or maybe I drank too much or Charlie's having a go with us, but that's just not Charlie Crews and I stand there gaping myself before I can move myself to motion and push myself forward, shooting Nix one helluva look, like 'can you believe this?' because a part of me sure can't.

Hell. I'm just glad Nix is here for Dick and vice-versa. Not that I haven't enjoyed Nix's company or anything, but you get the feeling when you're just being a replacement for someone else (and, I think with a mild pang of guilt, I have to wonder if that's what Babe's feeling lately). "Well, shit," I announce with a laugh, wandering over to clap Dick on the shoulder. "Look what we found, Nix." If Nix can bother to get up from off his ass, which has me mildly concerned but hell, different strokes for folks and whatever people say now.

[not_a_quaker]

I see Nix first, and then Buck, and I'm not sure what's stranger - seeing them together, when I know darn well Nix hates Buck; seeing them in civvies when we haven't been in anything but uniforms for years now; or seeing them suddenly emerge from what I'm rapidly concluding is definitely not a hallucination.

I give Buck a confused quirk of the lips and return the gesture, and I'm about to ask him what in the world's going on when Nix falls. It's stupid, I know, since we're not in active combat and I know it's just a flashback, but my heart suddenly seizes up in my chest and it's like Market Garden all over again. Hearing that ricochet, turning to see my best friend in the world knocked backwards onto the ground, seeming to fall in slow motion. A split second, a flash of memory, and then I'm moving.

"Nix!" I call as I jog over to where he's sitting in the grass, dropping to a crouch once I reach him. "Are you all right?" I ask, one hand going to his shoulder.

[vat_69]

"You're here," Lew says, staring up at Dick, stunned as if he actually had been shot. His gaze flicks over Dick's shoulder to where Buck's standing, looking more than a little amused over Lew's current predicament, and that somehow solidifies the situation, makes it real.

For one petulant fraction of a second he wants to shove Dick off, but luckily catches himself before he can prove to be a complete ass. A smile spreads slowly across his face instead, and he laughs.

"It took you fucking long enough," he chastises, still marveling.