NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

I heard someone talking… “It looks like she’s been shot in the abdomen, has shrapnel in her leg, and sustained head injury..."

The Pathfinder replied. “Is that all?”

They answered. “Luckily yes, they’ve been starving her… It’s likely they weren’t doing anything else to her because they wanted to sell her.”

There was a pause, then the Pathfinder said something. “I suppose that is good to hear… I was under the impression they had done much worse to her…” I think he walked out…

The other one tried to wake me up… “Hey, can you hear me?” He was patting the side of my face… It burned but I was able to open my eyes. “Good, good, I need you to stay awake ok.” He lifted my arm, he had a needle… There was a yellowish liquid in it… He stuck the needle in my arm and injected it. “You can close your eyes now… You’ll feel better in the morning, then we can get you some food.”

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of food. I opened my eyes, the Pathfinder was standing there… he had a Styrofoam container. I tried sitting up, I felt sore but it didn’t hurt that much. I noticed that I felt better. He sat down on the foot of the bed.

He pushed the container towards me and started talking. “I have a question… Do you hate us?”

I picked up the container. “No?”

He seemed relieved. “That is good to hear… Do you have any questions?”

I had several. “Why did you bring me back here?”

He sighed. “Normally I would have been forced to execute you on the spot… Selfishness maybe? I think it is our past that caused it, I’ve been watching you since you were brought here. I guess I don’t want to kill you because of it.”

He was so willing to earlier… “When I was with the others. They took me to surgery and removed several things. Why did you guys leave them in?”

He answered it, reluctantly. “I’m afraid to say, I don’t know… I was never aware of what was wrong…”

I had one important question. “Why did you shoot me the first time I mentioned that?”

He cleared his throat. “Poor judgement, that entire situation could have gone much better. It didn’t need to end in violence, I overreacted… If it comes down to it, I will take responsibility for my actions.”

Why is he not trying to kill me now? “Why are you suddenly being friendly?”

He sighed. “I do not expect you to trust me. I wouldn’t trust someone after they tried to kill me either… The reason was, circumstantial. We went in with an offer, anyone who turns themselves in, or sides with us; would be forgiven for their crimes. you happen to be there… I would like to know how they captured you though?”

Now he’s asking me questions… “They attacked us, I tried stopping them…”

He was silent for a moment, I wonder why he always wears that mask? “I see, I suppose that military convoy was you and your friends… We left them be, but it is good to know who that was… Don’t worry, we have no more intentions of fighting… At least unless provoked, again.” So, he didn’t want to fight anymore. “Now, I need an answer from you… I said those that sided with us would be forgiven for their crimes, you can side with us and be forgiven… Or not, you will be put in prison though…”

Another choice, that isn’t really a choice… “That doesn’t seem like a choice… Will I be able to see my friends again?” He nodded. “If I don’t have to fight them then yes, if I do I’d rather stay in a cell.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “It’s good to have you back then. I’m sure Owen and Kayla would like to see you, despite everything that’s happened.”

Back then… I wanted this at first, now it’s what I dread… I couldn’t do anything else so I ate the food he gave me, my stomach hurt afterwards but I was happy to have finally eaten something. The Pathfinder walked out, I was left alone for a few hours... Then the door opened and Kayla walked in.

The second she saw me her eyes went wide, she ran up to me and grabbed my face. “Oh my god Red! What happened to you!?” She was practically smothering me…

A little while after she stopped smothering me, Owen walked in… He looked depressed. Kayla walked over to him and grabbed his hand, she dragged him over to me.

He didn’t say anything, Kayla was talking though. “Owen, this is Red… She’s our friend.”

He looked up and gave me a weak smile, his teeth… They were sharp… That means I must have killed him… He probably doesn’t remember me then.

Owen said something. “Hi Red.” I said hi back, I felt awful.

Kayla frowned… “It’s ok Red… We’re not angry…” That didn’t stop me from feeling horrible though. Kayla hugged me, then she convinced Owen to do that same… He squeezed really hard. “Owen be careful.” He let go and apologized. Owen walked out afterwards, Kayla stayed.

I still felt awful. “I’m sorry.”

Kayla frowned. “Red, it’s ok… You were defending yourself. I don’t blame you.” Then Kayla left, she ran to catch up to Owen…

I tried standing up, I got dizzy trying to and laid back down on the bed… At least I still had the collar Elizabeth gave me. I’m not losing this one… I wonder what type of person Owen is now… I guess I’ll find out, I laid down and went to sleep; it didn’t matter what time it was…

The Pathfinder was waiting for me to wake up the next day, I opened my eyes and saw him. He was sitting in a chair next to me…

He started talking… “So, I have a few questions… This is more of a personal request. What did they have you do?”

He’s asking about my work? “Uh, they had me helping Jessica with her work?”

He waited a second before replying. “Who is Jessica?”

I guess he wouldn’t know… “My sister, she’s also one of the commanders!” I felt proud about that…

He paused for another moment… “So, you were the assistant of a commander… That’s very commendable, you’ve managed to surprise me again…” Was that an insult or a compliment?

I had a question for him now. “Can I ask, you said that you don’t want any more NightTides to be created, I saw what I did to Owen… I want to know what NightTides are and how we came to be.” This had been bugging me for a while but maybe he knows.

He leaned back in his chair. “Oh? Well to say what NightTides are would be a difficult thing to answer. They’re people, like you and me, but with a difference. Several things have to line up, first the individual has to be infected with a semi-aggressive strain, two they must have a weakened immune system; what counts as weakened is undecided… Then they must die, while the person is alive the virus replicates itself within their cells. Once it detects that brains waves have halted, it springs into action. It starts mass replication in an attempt to keep the heart of the host beating, when it succeeds the body will start to heal and the virus will take over the brain… Under normal circumstances the vaccine we created would cause the strain to simply assimilate with the host, it doesn’t want to die so it starts working with the body in an attempt to keep the immune system at bay… Normally it doesn’t go farther then that, but when it does a NightTide is born…”

That’s one question answered. “So, why are they called NightTides?”

He leaned forward now… “That is due to how they were discovered. The first strain was found in the waters of Texas at night, during high tide… The second strain was found inside victims of a ship wreck, also at night during hightide… It was a nickname at first but it seems to have stuck. Medically speaking it’s called the Noctis Altum virus… At first the virus was very lethal, anyone infected would surely die… It ravaged it way through the old America, it’s reach was halted in southern Canada and northern Mexico though… Shortly after a vaccine was created, it worked.”

Ok then. “Why is America the way it is now? Elizabeth said they were trying to restore America to what it once was.”

He sighed. “That is a tall order… America fell apart shortly after the Yellowstone eruption. It spit ash everywhere, luckily the world ending detonation didn’t come to fruition but it ultimately destroyed America. Agriculture was ruined, the temperatures dropped throughout the country. The government was in shambles because of the virus and that finally killed it. America fell apart, but the rest of the world survived… NightTides are local to America, the other countries worried at first but slowly came to accept them. Our goal is to stop new ones from being created, while the current one can live on… A NightTide and human can procreate and a NightTide will always be born, there’s little chance of them dying out. I understand both of the ruling governments in America are communicating with the outside world… Who will come out on top is still unknown, perhaps we can work together though.” So, he doesn’t want to kill anyone else… Or he might be lying to me.

He answered my questions at least. “Thank you.”

He chuckled. “Now, I think it would be best that we talk about it. I cannot in good conscious give you a weapon and send you to fight for us, you said you’d help but I need more than your word… Since you seem to have a history of assisting commanders, you may be able to help me… I do not need you to fight, nor do I need you to do paperwork. Simply walking with me on my day to day tasks is enough…”

Does he get lonely… “Do you get lonely doing your work?”

He had a small nervous laugh. “Y-yes, but that is beside the point… I usually have more to carry then I can handle, it’s not especially heavy, but I think you can handle it.” I nodded, if I’m lucky I might be able to slip away…

Just a little authors note, I know the story is currently a work in progress but it's nearing the end... It's still got a good twenty or so chapters left.