Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 30

Jonas was right. He did land the jet in an old cornfield.

It was abandoned as a cause of more efficient agriculture methods to utilize less space. Mallory told Zane it was something FEPE had approved and performed.

Short, broken, dead stalks were like spears in their feet, stabbing into their skin, occasionally drawing blood. Zane winced with every step and, even though he had shoes on, he couldn't escape the pain the cornstalks caused. It felt similar to the pinpricks of a needle of which he was used to.

Jonas was ushering them away toward a patch of forest in the general direction of the city. "We've gotta go before they get here," he hissed, prodding Zane through the deathly dead plants. The imminent threat of arrest was supposedly adrenaline-inducing, but Zane halted for a brief moment.

"I thought you said London didn't have a military?" he said.

Mallory's head snapped around. "Nobody ever said they didn't," she spat. "They're just not as coordinated as Japan or New Vancouver. They still have police and soldiers and they won't hesitate to lock us up for flying a military jet over the city." She sped up, her gait lengthening. "I am not going back to jail."

Zane understood her intense desire to never re-enter that phase of her life. He never wanted to go to New Vancouver ever again. It was a place of undesirable remembrance. The same could be said for jail cells and Mallory.

Zane turned back to watch the jet sink to the far reaches of his vision. So much had happened in the span of less than a day, most of it on the plane. Many personal revelations had also conspired, and for the first time in his life, he found himself feeling nostalgic. He had never had the desire to relive a previous time in his life before. But despite the dire circumstances that were realized on the jet, he found himself wanting to be back on the aircraft. Perhaps back in the bunking quarters, still kissing Joseph.

He was scared that Joseph would try it again, but inside he knew that the boy had only been feeling overly nostalgic and had just needed something to bring him down to earth. That something had been Zane. Joseph's actions had been compulsive, and Zane anticipated he regretted them, unless he was glad they had gotten him a short makeout session.

Lost in his thoughts, he brained himself on a low-hanging branch as they entered the sparse woods. Daisy giggled. "Could you be any less lovestruck?" she demanded, forcing a blush from both him and Joseph, who was walking nearby.

He rubbed his forehead and watched his step from then on, dodging tree trunks and branches when they threatened to smack him in the face.

He found himself absentmindedly running his hands along the trunks of the trees, feeling the rough bark and the texture it left behind on his fingers. He felt the spiny dark green needles as his feet scraped through the thin layer of snow lining the soil. A smile spread across his face when he realized this was his first real encounter with the natural world. He had never breathed in fresh air before, felt a prickle in his side, or stumbled over a root protruding from the ground.

Jonas pulled up alongside him. "You look like a kid with candy," he said accusingly.

Zane shook his head in admiration. "I never imagined the world could be so beautiful and colorful," he whispered, his head tilted to the open, blue sky. The soft, cold sunshine cascaded over his face and shoulders. He closed his eyes to savor it.

Jonas chuckled. "Me neither," he responded. "I thought color was generic, without shades or hues. New Vancouver was devoid of all variations of colors, it was mostly gray. Now I see that color can be anything you imagine, any feeling you feel, any emotion you see."