Adopted by a Seed ( Jacob )

XII

    "Uncle John, are you okay ?"
    It had only been a few minutes since the three people had exited the church, followed by most of the faithful that were inside. Marie could hear screams outside, she didn't liked it any. But at the same time she was happy the woman who gave her this weird feeling was gone. The younger Seed brother was looking rather shocked, eyes widely open, staring at the emptiness in front of him, a hand over his mouth. He was almost shaking. Jacob tried to put a hand on his shoulder to try and sooth him, but John put his other hand up, signing he didn't wanted this right now. He was muttering to himself, and she only heard a few words, but she got that he was saying something along the lines of "it's her, it's really her". Did he knew that weird woman ?
    "Who is she ?"
    Jacob's voice was soft as he asked the question they were all thinking. He usually used that tone when he was speaking to her, it showed he was worried for his brother right now. And honestly he had reasons to be, the youngest's reaction was quite something. She had never saw someone react to someone else like that. Than again, she though, she had just felt her guts tied in knocks so tight she might have puked, just from the sight of that woman. But it didn't seemed to be the same kind that her uncle was experiencing. John looked up at them, licking his lips and swallowing, gaining his composure again before saying :
    "She...she's an old friend. We lost sight of each other when she had to move and change college. We, we were pretty close at the time.. we were (he shot a glance at Marie and seemed to rethink what he was going to say) yeah close is the word... I never though I would see her again, not like that at least that's for sure...
    "What's her name ?" Marie asked
    He looked down at her, suddenly confused. It was like he was processing the fact that this little gitl was actually in front of him, even though he had looked at her a second ago. "Camille." He uttered after a moment. His reaction had frozen her blood. For a moment it was like she hadn't existed before. She hated it, she couldn't exactly put words on it, but it was like having to focus on this 'Camille' had momentarily contradicted her existence in her uncle's mind. Oh she hated it, her guts did that weird thing again, she felt sick.
    The sound of a violent crash came to them from outside, as well as the screams of victory from the faithful. They had crashed the choper somehow. Marie's guts twisted for an entirely different reason this time : what if the people in the engine had died ?? She was sure they would never hurt Joseph, but what about Staci and Earl ? They were good people, they had been nice to her. The four of the rushed outside. In the distance they could see the orange light of flames. Jacob jumped in his truck, followed by John and Faith. She jumped after them, she wasn't going to let them go by themselves, even if she had to see the weird woman again, she was going with them. If they had had time to, her dad would have probably told her off, to stay behind, Gabriel was still here, he could have took care of her, but they were in a hurry.
    Her dad began to drive, and by some miracle they didn't hit any of the faithful standing near. She had full trust in her father, even when it came to driving, but right now she was holding herself to Faith like her life was on the line. Jacob was going way too fast, she couldn't see anything through the car's windows, just a blur of dark colors, and every bump in the ground would have sent her flying against something. But all three siblings were too concerned with their brother to care. She would have smiled if she had liked Joseph : even after a fight Jacob was still caring deeply, she hadn't make a dent in their relationship, it brought relief.
    They got to the crash site in mere instants, and all four ran out of the car. Joseph was on top of a car, preaching about God and whatnot. She hated her uncle, he was overly dramatic and scary. What really worried her was the choper in flame. She saw people running from it : the Marshall, Earl, Hudson, and after a while that weird woman. She didn't get the feeling this time. She brushed them all off as some faithful started running after them, responding to their leader ordering them to bring the deputy to him. She looked around, she couldn't see the last of the three deputies. Was he still inside ? Marie went up to her dad, who also was looking around. "I think Pratt is still inside !" She was worried, he was a nice guy, she didn't want for him to burn alive. Maybe he was unconscious and hadn't been able to get out of the frying choper. She saw in Jacob's eyes that he cared as well, he immediately went toward the engine, as close as he could, to check. She saw his eyes widen in fear before launching himself near the flames. Her heart skipped a bit and no one seemed to understand what he was doing before he emerged with an unconscious deputy over his shoulder.
    The girl ran up to them just in time to see first hand the poor guy get thrown on the ground. He coughed and fold up on himself, holding his ribs. Jacob sighed and leaned against a nearby rock. She went just next to him and giggled innocently, relieved that they were fine : "You smell like burnt stuff." He raised an eyebrow and gently pat her head, not taking it badly. Marie smiled and looked at Pratt : he was quite frail like that, just laying on the ground, she noticed some red marks around his neck. "His security belt was broken, would have choked him up, and he probably couldn't have gotten out of here if he was conscious. (he ruffled through her hair) He would have probably died if you hadn't notice him." She proudly stood next to him, happy she had done something good. Her dad seemed relieve he got the guy out of here as well. They were playful with each other when they had meet him in the car, maybe they were friends ? Unlikely, but maybe.
At the same moment she saw two faithful dragging a body behind them, it was Joey Hudson , knocked out cold. She seemed to have been the only one to have been caught out of all the others. For now at least. She heard John saying he would go and take his plane to find those who had aran away. They wanted the Marshal in particular, if he was to get away they might have sourer troubles later on. Joseph however was not shutting up about the missing deputy, almost imploring everyone else to find her and bring her back. "We need her to reach Eden's Gate" Marie heard him mutter to himself. Remembering what her dad had told her, she wondered if he thought that this Camille was the second key to Eden that God was sending to him.
After a few minutes spend discussing what to do now, Jacob asked
"Do you think you can handle the situation from here ? I'd like to get back to the Veteran center, we need to prepare all we can as soon as possible, who knows what will happen."
"But what do we have to face now, asked Faith ? We shoudn't have any problem getting to the other three."
"I wouldn't be so sure. The old Whitehorse knows the area well, and he might find members of this resistance that has been rising around. As for that deputy, if she is what Joseph wants her to be, than she has more than enough power to bring us trouble."
They discussed between themselves, Joseph joining in soon after. Marie patiently sat next to Staci, making sure he was still breathing normally. His deputy uniform was burned in some spaces, but the iron star was still shinny. He had a wristlet on his left hand, like hers it wasn't made to be pretty, so it was probably a gift or something of sentimental value. Looking at his face, he had bruises over his left eye, nose, and there was a bit of already dried blood at the corner of his mouth. He was pretty overall, despite the injuries. By the look of it he wasn't hurt anywhere else, and she wondered if it was her dad who made the bruises by trying to get him out of the choper as fast as he could.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her dad. "We're going Marie." She rose on her feet, ready to follow, surprised to see him kneel next to her to throw Pratt over his shoulder. To her confused face, he answered with a chuckle and started walking toward his truck. It took her a few second, but a big smile spread over her face as she ran to the truck. He was coming to their region, and he was most likely to stay until the very end. She giggled, her head full of potential happy endings for her, her dad, and maybe everyone else she knew.