Bab 90: 89: Star Child: A Keepers Past XV
"Chase! Chase! CHASE!" A voice yelled at the top of their lungs. I groaned and opened my eyes then immediately wished I hadn't as a wave of nausea hit me. I rolled onto my side and vomited onto soft grass though all that came up was bile.
"Thank the gods he's awake." Haws familiar voice grumbled hoarsely. I blinked a few times then rolled back onto my back and frowned as I looked up at the starry night sky.
I was outside at least and based on the sounds around me somewhere in the woods that surrounded the town. Obviously I was unconscious for a few hours, I was still in a lot of pain but it felt less than earlier.
I tried to sit up and felt a hand on my chest instantly pushing me back down to the ground.
"Hold on Chase, you have a concussion and you've been in and out of consciousness for the last few hours. Just lay down for a bit and get your baring's." Haws said. I relaxed a bit then glanced around.
Haws was sitting on the ground next to me with his back to a tree. Louie was laying down on the ground in front of a medium sized rock, Angie was seated on the rock trying her best to get comfortable but with her baby bump that wasn't going to happen easily.
"What happened? I asked then frowned when I realized why voice was no longer nasally.
"After we found you in that safe house the sheriff department set up we tried to take you away but your brother and that deputy had other ideas. They wouldn't stop harping in the idea that you had to be at fault for the attack. The only reason they stopped was a group of thrads found the place and attacked. We took advantage of the chaos and carried you out of there. Once we couldn't go back we just camped out in the woods and patched you up so we could hunker down, at least until the military comes through and wipes out all the thrads." Haws explains.
"You guys did that…for me…?" I muttered. Angie smiled softly as she rubbed her baby bump.
"Of course Chase. What they did to you was inhumane and disgusting. You've done so much for the town. It would have been run over years ago if it wasn't for you." Angie said with a smile.
"You've saved both Haws and mine's lives more than a few times. You can say we owe you." Louie added. I laid my head back down in the grass and stared back up at the stars.
"I fully expected to die in that building. I was actually hoping I would…at least I wouldn't have to deal with their hatred of me for a stupid war that was fought over three hundred years ago…I'd be free." I said softly.
I felt Haws tense up and heard Angie and Louie gasp softly. Everyone was silent for several minutes. That was fine I liked the silence. Haws leaned over and grabbed my shoulders tightly, his hand felt like it was quivering.
"You can curse normal humans till your blue in the face, scream how much you hate this town, you can even beat me in the face till you get all your anger out but…you can never say that you hoped for death…" Haws voice was hoarse and sounded like it was close to crying.
"Haws…?" I said softly.
"I almost got married once. Bet you didn't know that…" Haws said softly. "Got my girlfriend in high-school pregnant. We were in love or so I thought, we made plan about what we were going to do once the baby was born and we graduated. Then she had the baby…a little boy and perfect in every way or at least I thought. He was born a splicer, had a square crystal on his left earlobe."
My mouth dropped at Haws revelation. I'd known Haws for most of my life thanks to Mom and Dad's taking me to work with them but he's always been the gruff and grizzled factory foreman type. Never really shared much about homes elf unless it involved the factory. It felt so weird and out of character to see him so vulnerable.
"You didn't marry her because she gave birth to a splicer?" I asked. Haws glared at me then crossed his arms.
"Of course not!" He boomed, though his anger disappeared as soon as it flared. He looked off to the side and sighed. "I refused to marry her…because she killed our baby..."
"WHAT?" Louie and Angie exclaimed. Angie subconsciously cradled her baby bump and rubbed it softly.
"It's not uncommon…there would be a lot more splicers in the US if more mothers decided to keep splicer babies instead of killing them…" I said softly. Haws nodded in agreement then shook his head.
"I had a son for three days, six hours, and fifteen minutes…then I found him…the nurse at the hospital helped her smother him and put him back in his crib. I'd thought that we were on the same page when it came to him, that we'd keep him and raise him. I was wrong…." Haws said.
In the dim light of the stars I could see tears rolling down Haws cheek as he sniffled and wiped them away with his hand.
"I was so mad…I blacked out and when I came too there were six security guards piled on top of me trying to hold me down, my ex was in the corner with the nurse who helped her murder our child. Apparently I tried to strangle her." Haws ran one of hos massive hands down his face and wiped away his tears then looked to me. "I spent years mourning my son's death and years wondering what my life would have been like if he'd been in it…then I met you. A small boy no bigger than my shin who just walked up to a rampaging titan and calmed it down by offering it a sandwich."
Haws laughed despite himself and even Louie chuckled a little at the memory. I frowned however, I remembered that day. It was the first day that Dad brought me to the factory. I was in elementary school and just gotten beaten up by a group of bullies at school. He wanted me to see the first titan the factory had created only when we walked into the warehouse the titan was in the middle of a rampage. Everyone was scrambling trying to either get it under control or get out of the way. They all saw a vicious monster but I just saw a scared creature that had been beaten and abused, like me. I gave it my sandwich wanting to let it know everything was going to be okay.
"I often wondered if my son would have been as brave as you in that moment. I wonder what sort of life he would have lived, if he'd leave home to learn more about splicing, find a wife…or husband, maybe raise some kids…but I'll never know now." Haws continued. "Your life is shit right now. I will never deny that Chase. But it will get better, you have two more years until you turn eighteen. Once that happens you can go anywhere, do anything. As smart as you are you won't have a problem making a mark on the world."
"And when you do, there will be a lot of people looking at you with pride." Louie said. "Your parents and grandparents for one."
"The three of us as well." Angie added with a smile.
"So don't ever say that you hoped for death. Because there are people here that would be devastated if you died…" Haws finished.
"Haws…." I started.
"Oh no! OH GOD!" Angie suddenly exclaimed. Louie jumped to his feet and rushed over to his wife.
"Baby what's wrong?" Louie demanded.
"My…my…my water just broke!" She exclaimed almost in tears. Louie's eyes got so wide they nearly popped out of their sockets. He turned to Haws and I with a panic stricken look a split second before he broke into hysterics.
"No, no, no, no! Not now! Can you stop it?" Louie exclaimed.
"How would I stop labor Louie?" Angie asked dismissively.
"I don't known, cross your legs or something! " Louie shouted. Angie slapped loonies on the back of his head then scowled at her husband.
"That's not how pregnancy works honey!" Angie exclaimed.
"Keep your voice down you two. We're still in a evo infested forest at night." Haws said sternly. I pushed myself to a sitting position then gritted through the pain and forced my body to stand.
"We need to move. I don't know what the plan was guys but pretty soon thrads are going to start heading our way thanks to Angie and Louie's screaming." I said.
"I'm not screaming!" Louie screamed. Haws stood up and walked over to Angie and grabbed her hands.
"Angie, we need to get you over to the steed carriage. Once the contractions start you'll be in too much pain to move." Haws helped her to her feet and lead her down a path in the woods with Louie dithering behind them. I followed then, slowly but surely. The bruised and possibly broken ribs made walking painful but not impossible.
I froze when I heard the now familiar hiss of a thrad coming from my flank. I looked over my shoulder and saw two sets if golden glowing eyes crawling over the rock that Angie had been seated on. They smelled the rock then snapped their head toward our group and let put a loud hiss.
"Fuck a duck!" I groaned then turned and channeled some energy into my crystal Nad sent it to the two thrads, it wrapped around them and controlled them instantly before they had a chance to charge us. I ordered them to kill each other then turned and hurried after Haws and the group, only slightly limping as the sounds of hissing and tearing flesh echoed into the night behind me.
"Chase hurry up!" Haws yelled from a few yards ahead at the mouth of a clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood Magnus with a steed carriage attached to him. Haws turned and lead Angie to the carriage and opened the door for her and helped her inside while Louie jumped into the driver's seat and grabbed Magnus reigns.
I climbed into the driver's compartment with Louie while Haws climbed in the back with Angie then slammed the door shut.
"Drive!"
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn Evo Fact: It is more common for a non-combat oriented evos. While ascended are uncommon and even rare there are a few types of evo that are more prone to having ascended born among their ranks. Steeds, Thraw-saw, Loglock, and bloodwight are all types that have higher than normal chances to spawn a ascended.
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