SHIFTER ─ marvel

XXVI. Hallucinations

Chapter Twenty-Six
Bucky

I can't remember the last time I had been this exhausted. It's gotten to the point where I can't blink too much or I think my eyes will just fall shut and never open again.

Khari hasn't pushed either of us to sleep. I think he's getting angry and frustrated at our lack of progress. He doesn't want to rest anymore than we do. Okoye is staying at the ship for now, she needed some sleep after searching for three days straight without sleep. Alex and I slept about a day and a half ago. It was for about four hours but it's better than nothing. Khari I think slept for a few hours maybe a day ago. I can't even remember the last time any of us ate something.

Khari's Kimoyo Beads beep, and I watch him bring them up, tapping on them a few times. Shuri's face appears, her face frantic and exhausted. She must not have slept that much either.

"Khari! Soroya's Kimoyo Beads just popped up on my radar. Her tracker has been activated. I have her location."

All exhaustion I had felt drains away. "Where is she?"

"Here, I just sent you the tracking beacon. Do you see it?" She asks.

Khari taps on his Kimoyo Beads again, making a screen pop up next to Shuri's face. There's a little red dot, and I know that dot is Lena. The screen says she's currently in the Russian Boreal Forest.

Khari glances at me. "Do you know where that is?"

I nod. "It's just beyond the Mongolian border."

"Shuri you need to have medical supplies ready for when we arrive. I don't know what state we'll find her in."

She nods. "Bruce and I will be ready."

He shuts the Kimoyo Beads off, calling for Alex. The wolf appears within moments, shifting back into human as he runs our way.

"What? What is it?"

Khari smiles, gripping my shoulder tightly. "Shuri found her tracking signal. We know where she is."

So many emotions go through Alex's face, and I know just how he feels. I couldn't agree with him more as he says; "Enough standing around. Lets get back to the ship and find her."

With a nod from both of us, we all run at full speed back to the ship. As we do, Khari calls Okoye on his Kimoyo Beads and tells her to get the ship ready.

My panic hasn't subsided one bit. I am overwhelmed with relief that we know where she is, but what state will we find her in? Will she even be alive?

I can't think like that. I push my worries out of my head for now, continuing on through the forest with the others, ready to have Lena in my arms again.

-

Soroya

I let out another scream, covering my face with my hands as another one of the branches tries to reach out and grab me. Then another. Then another.

This has been going on for some time. To me the trees look alive; with their branches and trunks trying to crush me and stab me, like the Womping Willow in Harry Potter.

I keep trying to ignore the hallucinations, but they are so strong, it's nearly impossible. I don't know how long I've been in the forest, but it feels like hours. It was dark when I came out of the house and it's dark now, that's all I know.

The wind has picked up more since I've been out here. My hallucinations are making the wind look like mini tornadoes trying to whisk me away. The wind is also freezing, more so than it was earlier. I can feel my whole body grow colder and colder the longer I'm out here. I'm in a hospital gown after all, there's not a lot of coverage.