The Runaways

Chapter Twenty-Five - Recalculating Route

Elias

"Okay Corban let me look at your eyes." Warren said as he knelt down in front of Corban who seemed to be worse from when he woke us all up a couple hours ago. It was a nice sunny day out barely any clouds in the sky, which sucked seeing how Corban had been keeping his eyes shut, a sensitivity to all the light and finally kicked in.

I watched from behind Warren as he preformed a simple concussion screening on Corban. Corban opened his eyes and blinked about a million times as he did so. After a good few seconds of adjusting he was able to open them up wide enough. Warren stared at him for a few seconds before sighing.

"Yeah you're definitely concussed." Warren said.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"Look at his pupils." Warren said as he gestured for me to get a closer look. I leaned in to see Corbans pupils slightly shaking back and forth, it was slight, but it was noticeable, "They're moving like that because his brain is having a hard time focusing on objects, it's even worse with moving ones."

"Can I close my eyes now?" Corban asked.

"Yes," Warren said as he stood up and faced me, "I'm aware we're not in the best position right now seeing that we're dangerously close to Syndicates but Corban needs to have some time to rest, I don't believe his concussion is too severe but I speak from experience when I say even a minor one won't be fun. I also wanna make sure his back heals correctly, the depth of the slash isn't the thing I'm worried about, it's the size, him moving around and getting sweat and dirt inside won't only effect the healing but he's at a high risk for an infection."

"Yeah you're right." I sighed.

"Did Remington tell you how far he wants to get away from here?" Warren asked.

I let out half-hearted chuckle, "What? You think he plans ahead?"

"Good point." Warren muttered as we both looked over at Remington who was still fast asleep like the fact one of the biggest most cruelest gangs were right by our temporary camp in large numbers wasn't even a thought that would cross his mind, let alone a reality. "I don't understand how he sleeps like this."

"Sleeps like what?"

"For this long and this well, I can't sleep while someone is having a conversation ten feet away from me, well unless it's a sleep spell but those are rare." Warren explained.

"I thought with narcolepsy you always sleep like, all the time."

"Oh I wish it was like that. See no one ever talks about the horrible insomnia that comes along with it. See my hippocampus is completely destroyed there's nothing in my brain regulating my circadian rhythm. I can be just utterly exhausted and I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for hours or it could be the middle of the day and I feel— the least tired out of the day and I can just fall asleep right then and there. But that's very rare if I were to just fall asleep right now, usually only happens when I'm sitting down." Warren explained.

"Yeah, that must suck." I said as I nodded pretending to understand what the hell a circadian rhythm is.

"I haven't felt energized in thirteen years." Warren sighed.

"How did you end up with narcolepsy?" I asked.

"To make a long story short; it was a big car crash and I suffered a lot of head truama." Warren said as he took a step forward and began walking over to where Remington was asleep on the ground. As he walked by I glanced at the large semi-circle scar that covered a good majority of the left side of his head. It was mostly hidden by his uncontrollable curly hair but you could still make it out, it looked very similar to a scar someone would get after a major surgery. I watched as he walked over to Remington and nudged him a couple times with his foot to wake him up. I just sat back and watched being thankful I wasn't the one who would have to argue with Remington on why he can't sleep til two in the afternoon.

"That... doesn't make sense." Corban whispered.

"What?" I said as I crouched down to be at Corbans level.

"The hippocampus is located in like... the direct center of the brain." Corban said keeping his voice low as he looked in my general direction with his eyes still closed, "I mean if it was a really bad car accident yeah maybe but, how does it just completely destroy one of the most inward parts of your brain to the point it doesn't even work anymore without leaving other horrible damage as well? If that's what happened, Warren shouldn't be able to talk right now."

"Okay but you are concussed Corban why should believe you over the literal brain doctor." I said.

"Concussions don't make you temporarily stupid idiot." Corban retorted.

"REMINGTON C'MON!" Warren yelled in frustration as he struggled to get Remington to get up.

"Reece can you show Warren how to wake up Remington?" I said as I looked back at Reece who was just quietly brushing out her hair.

"Sure thing buddy." She said in her normal cheery voice as she got up and walked over to help out Warren.

"What's the issue again?" Remington asked as he sat up on the makeshift sleeping bag he made while he combed through his messy hair with his fingers.

"You said it yourself earlier we need to be as far away from this area as possible but Corban needs a few days to sit rest and recover and those are obviously going against each other... and can you please put on a shirt we are having a serious discussion." Warren said.

"Oh I'm sorry it's almost as if I just woke up!" Remington snapped back.

"You slept with all those bandages on your arm with an already healed scar yet you can't put on a shirt! And just so you know not letting that skin underneath breathe isn't going to help that scar look any better!" Warren argued.

Remington just stared at him in complete anger before he looked back down and kicked Warren in the shin.

"OW! What the hell!?" Warren exclaimed.

"Do you have any ideas of what to do?" I asked Remington, if he and Warren started arguing we'd be here all morning.

"Well I have an idea but you're probably not going to like it." Remington said.

"What?"

"There's these guys who have a gang over here, we're on good terms, they used to be friends of mine. Back when I lived in a shitty little village and just made knives. These guys are chill they might let us stay until Corbans ready to be moving long distances again." Remington said.

"We just escaped from one gang and now you want to go straight into another?" Warren asked, "You can trust them, I don't care who they are gang members only care about themselves and I'd they find out your worth something to the Syndicates were all screwed."

"These guys are trustworthy plus they owe me, I made them some good ass knives for free that took weeks to make." Remington said.

"I don't know..." Reece muttered, "It seems dangerous."

"It's the best option we have." I shrugged, "It's either that or we walk to the next town over which is like a weeks worth of walking."

"We're going to camp with these guys over here, I promise we'll all be fine." Remington reassured.

"I really hope you're right." Warren muttered.