Summer & Others

As Conan relinquished his conscious for the dreamworld, Nadeem had worked to get a fire going. Greg and Matt had set off again in the boat, this time making a run all the way down to a dock off of Soloughvein Slough road to pick up Collin at that location and gather some much needed gasoline and food items for their stay in the cabin.

An hour later, everyone was packed into the isolated building, with Summer sitting on the floor in front of the firepit, watching over Conan who was placed out across a blanket, where the fire's warmth could help dry his clothes and keep him warm. When morning came around, Summer was asleep, propped against the side of a chair, still resting near Conan. Collin and Matt were in two of the four beds, while Greg was out on the porch, looking through some cupboards filled with mouse nests and one large snake shed. Nadeem was standing in the main room, peering out the window at the drizzly morning, and worrying over how the water had risen a good several inches over night.

Conan

Photographs and memories -
Christmas cards you sent to me.
All that I have are these
To remember you.

Ordinarily, Conan sleep would have been restless and chaotic through the night, but seeing as he'd basically passed out after Nadeem had finished patching him up, he had slept well enough all through the night. He hadn't even begun to stir when they'd moved him to lay before the fire - his rest had been frighteningly still and silent. But as Greg and Nadeem quietly moved about the house around him, he did stir - and woke; quickly, violently, with a flail of arms to dislodge the blanket around him and a yell of terror. This was normal for him when waking up from one of his near-constant nightmares - what wasn't normal was how the yell cut off mid-shout as fire shot through his chest and the boy fell back from his half-upright position with a thump that rocked the cabin floor, gasping and panting all over again.

Photographs and memories -
All the love you gave to me.
Somehow, it just can't be true
That's all I've left of you.

Summer Wallock

The scream had everyone else awake, in varying degrees of alarm. Matt almost fell out of his bed as he jumped up, and Collin's eyes were wide as saucers as he heaved himself up. Kate, who'd agreed to stay the night on the condition that she'd be back at the house by early morning, woke with a flinch. Summer even jumped a little, even though she was use to this method of him waking up. "Conan - Conan!" He's weapons had since been removed from his person, but Summer still didn't reach out to touch him, knowing that she was likely to get decked just like Ryan had, "You're with us still, we're in a safe place. Calm down now, you mustn't move too much." Despite having just been jarred away from the yell, Summer was able to shrug off the sleepiness with practiced ease in order to tend to the teenager, and turned her trained eyes over his face and body language, trying to determine just how with it he was.

Conan

His eyes had clenched closed again as he hit the floor, but they flashed open abruptly at the sound of her voice, staring at the ceiling above him and his face making it clear he was fighting to understand what was going on, and just where he was. It took several long moments before he was able to speak, and even then, his voice was breathless and barely understandable. "W-where?" One word - that was all he could ask. It was unclear just how much he was aware of at this point, but at least he'd lain still once he'd fallen back, and hadn't again tried to struggle out of the blanket or sling a fist at her. Pain had lit up in him again, but he was fighting that back in an effort to give his mind time to understand the answer to the question when it was offered, and he was trying his best to assess the situation in his injury-compromised mind, though he couldn't even begin to rationalize that his yell had woken the whole house.

Summer & Others

From what she was seeing, Summer chose to withhold from reaching to the boy at this time. She managed it last night because he'd been in such desperate need of something to hang onto that she dared to cross the prickly border of his and initiate touch. This morning however, she wasn't going to risk it quite so soon, lest she cause him more stress than he was already under. "We're at a cabin, twenty miles north of Atroe, on the river." She paused to watch him again and figure out how much he was or wasn't hearing of it, and after a moment, decided to go on, "Everyone is here, and safe. And I want to you keep resting for now, and not worry about anything. Can you do that for me, Conan?"

"Safe from what?" Matt was scrubbing at his dark brown eyes, not use to getting up nearly this early, but unable to get back to sleep after that sharp yell had started him so profoundly, "I don't know about you guys, but camping out in a rickety old cabin on a flooded river doesn't exactly spell 'safe' to me." Kate darted the scruffy-haired kid a sharp look, getting only a shrug and a defensive, "What?" in return.

Conan

As she offered the answer, he slowly relaxed, indicating that he’d understood the information she’d provided him with. He let out a deep breath he’d been holding, and closed his eyes again, muttering something unintelligible. “Good,” he managed finally, apparently satisfied that they’d gotten to someplace where Lanny – or that mysterious shooter - would not think to look for them. And then his fingers took up the words, after he found that speaking aloud hurt a great deal. Kate, Matt, Greg, Collin, Nadeem? All here? That last name, more than anything, showed how far gone he’d been last night – he couldn’t recall fighting Nadeem and Summer over the stitching, since he apparently didn’t even know if the Arab was in the house. For now, he put aside Matt’s rather tactless question in order to ask this of the woman, and didn’t answer Summer’s soft instruction that he needed to rest – first thing was first – establish everyone’s safety.

Summer & Others

While Matt was saying something to the effect that he just might die of boredom, Summer was patiently reading the letters that were spelled off to her, not having the heart to stop him from this, even when he needed the rest. "Yes, they are all here. Kate has to return home soon to take care of the animals, but she'll be back after that." It was clear to her that all of yesterday's events weren't quite there for Conan, and as pressing as the issue their safety was, she didn't pry for that information just yet. So long as they were all at the cabin, she felt safe enough to prioritize his rest over the information that he had. "Do you think you can sip on some tea? You really need to be drinking plenty to keep your fluids up."

Conan

With her confirmation that everyone was safe, a look of relief ran over his face, pulling some of the deep lines away and again letting him rest more comfortably against the floor. It was a little while before he managed more words, having to resort to slow spelling as opposed to the quicker full signs that were faster, but involved movement of the shoulders that he just couldn't manage now. Send someone with Kate when she goes - no one needs to go to any of the houses alone. If we're lucky, they'll only be ransacked. If we're not, they'll be occupied by people waiting for them. And tell her to be very careful. Contrary to how directly ugly he'd been to Kate yesterday when he'd been trying to get her to let him alone about his wound so they could go, now he was more with it, and concerned about an ambush. With that said, he finally answered her latter question, and moved carefully to put his right hand firmly against the ground so that he could begin to sit up. His left signed briefly, Help me, knowing that he didn't quite have the strength to do this by himself just yet, but knowing he had to sit upright to drink. This was just a peculiarity of Conan's - he couldn't swallow while laying down, even liquids. It was just impossible for him. He was already looking for something to prop himself up with so that he could lean and not risk passing out from the energy needed to hold himself up.

Summer & Others

Totally opposite of how Conan's worry phased out a little, Summer's became more prominent when he spoke in more detail about this mysterious dangerous that was impacting all of them. Her initial guess was the CrypticSilvers, but with so many shady people and groups in the Valley, she was open-minded to any and all possibilities. "Greg will go with her, but I'm sure the animals will watch over her as well." She knew Starlit had a history of over-zealous defensiveness in her, and had once gone through a 'screening' process as the Center after she and a friend had assaulting a few hunters. She might have mentioned that Innuo was also living at the house, but the massive liger, despite his size, wasn't quite the 'protector' type.

With his permission, Summer leaned forward to help support his back, helping to prop him up, and with a great heave, to scoot the chair closer to him so that he could lean back against it as she had during the night. "Conan... will you tell me what happened? Ryan is very concerned as well."

Conan

With the little detail of Kate's safety taken care of, Conan focused on getting himself upright - and on actively suppressing any noise he wanted to make for the little bolts of pain that harried him as he moved. He wasn't about to give Summer any more reason to worry than she already had. Trying not to lean too heavily against the chair, even though without it he would have promptly fallen back again, he reached to grab hold of the blanket, moving in short pulls to try to gather it over his legs - he was still quite cold. Tea would be very welcome, said his fingers, to ward off the cold. It was his way of getting her to go do something so that he could briefly try to set his thoughts in order. He was much more aware and with it this morning than he had been last night when Summer had been forced to hold him down, but it still took a lot of effort for him to form coherent thought.

Summer & Others

Picking and choosing her battles, Summer reached out to help tug the blanket up over his legs, and then to lean over and poke at the glowing embers of the firepit. It was still producing plenty of heat, even with the wood burned down to ash, and as soon as Kate came back from her morning chores, they'd have a fresh supply of fuel to stoke it again. "I'll have a batch made up in a few minutes." Smiling as she said this, Summer picked herself up and moved off to rummage through a back near the door, until she came up with a bag filled with an assortment of leaves. It took little time for her to got this into a pot of water and settled over the fireplace. It was a bit more time consuming than using the stove, but with the flooding, they just didn't have the luxury of power right now.

A few minutes later, the woman was using a ladle to scoop out a cup full of steaming, lemon-spice flavored tea, and handing this over to Conan, "It may be a bit warm yet, mind not to burn your self."

Conan

During the time it took her to fetch the tea things and get the mixture prepared, Conan closed his eyes to rest them, breathing evenly and trying to put his thoughts in order. By the time she handed him the cup, he had them mostly sorted out; he blew on the liquid in the cup to cool it some, and took a careful sip - and a long, low sigh blew out of him, allowing him to relax and lean more against the chair without worrying about who could see him. The spicy flavor also helped to clear his head some, enough that he managed a low, "Ahhhh..." in appreciation of the tea, and then opened his eyes again, settling them on Summer. And it was after taking a few more sips that he finally set the cup down on the floor for a moment, and let his hands begin to take up the explanation she was due. I ran into Lanny at Orca Bay yesterday - he didn't say it so much, but he pointed his gun at me and I got the idea he was very upset with me. He accused me of sending a letter I didn't know anything about, and I told him it wasn't me. He threatened to kill me for not telling him - that didn't bother me much. But then he said he was going to come after all of you for the answer - that's why I was so set on getting everyone out of town. But he didn't shoot me... someone else did that. I didn't see them. Well, that was the rundown version of what had happened, simple and easy, as he reached for the teacup again and took another swallow, some of the color coming back into his face now and making him look a little less peaked.

Summer Wallock

At first, she had offered him a continual smile, pleased that he was able to drink and begin to restore just a bit of the energy that his body was running so desperately low on. That smile wavered just a little, then slowly waned until it was fully replaced by solemn expression that wasn't without its share of worry. "The CrypticSilvers did this?" Soft brown eyes swung over to meet Kate's, to ensure that the girl heard what she'd said, and understood what the dangerous of going back were. "For what it's worth, I'll inform Ryan-" A quick, tiny sigh interrupted her words, baring some frustration at the situation that she knew would be near impossible to resolve. She trusted Ryan fully, but most of the rest of the ACPD was good for nothing, as far as she was concerned. The moment of fury was gone as quickly as it had come, and a diminished smile was taken up again, "For now, I don't want you to worry about any of that. The gang might be bold, but they aren't foolish enough to try and hurt so many people. We can stay here until you're rested up, and from there, we'll figure things out."

Conan

Listening to her words, Conan began to shake his head before she'd even finished, and set his cup aside to sign again. That's not what I'm saying - Lanny dragged me near down to the bay's edge with his gun to my back. He's in love with the girl - the one who came to help him take Raimi back. His fingers didn't falter as he signed his brother's name, but they did start to shake just a little. Nevertheless, he went on, She's pregnant - and apparently somebody sent her a threatening note of some kind. He had his mind dead-set that it was me, and wouldn't believe me when I told him it wasn't, and that I wouldn't hurt a pregnant girl. Then he wanted to know who it was, if not me - he would have shot me, right there, and lost no sleep over it. But he didn't get the chance. Someone else shot first. Got me here, he paused, laying a hand over his own heart to indicate the wound, and then continuing, And got his stomach, from what I could see as I got up and made a run for it. Whoever it was, they either wanted us both dead, or likely they wanted one dead, but knew that we hated each other, and didn't want to obviously appear to be the ally of one or the other, and so shot us both. I'm betting on somebody who wanted Lanny to win, for obvious reasons. That showed a level of understanding of manipulation that he'd never displayed to Summer before, that he could make those connections. His hand now moved back to his chest, holding his fingers against the gauze that protected the wound and pressing a little as if trying to relieve the pain. And then he signed more slowly, There's a third party involved - and I'm pretty sure they're on the CS side of the issue, since they got Lanny in the gut and near-killed me.

Summer & Others

For the most part, Summer had stayed out of anything involving the gang or groups with a violent edge. What she knew of them she caught from newspapers, idle chat, or from her own son. Yet she did have a keen understanding of just how complex the various ties must be between the different organizations and individuals, and followed along well enough with what Conan was spelling out for her. Her shoulders slipped down a little when he was finished, while her dainty brows scrunched together in concentration. Her hands went up to sign as she spoke out loud, "It sounds like there are four parties tangled together. Someone is after Lanny's girl, the CS are seeking you, a third party attacked you and Lanny, and-" There was a note of sadness in her voice, but her words did not falter as she tried to piece together what he told her and make sure she understood it well enough, "-there is you. An unfortunate forth party, that doesn't deserve to be caught up in all of it. Do you have any idea who the two unknown groups could be? The cops won't take on the CS, but they may yet go after the other criminals."

Conan

Now was another of those times when the boy resorted to quiet contemplation to work over just how much he could tell Summer. Foremost in his mind now was not just the issue of how much he trusted her, but of his own connection with one of the most dangerous men in town, whom Summer believed to be the harmless fellow that everyone else thought him to be. His eyes closed again to set these things straight in his head and sort out what he could and couldn't tell her, and finally he took up signing again. 'The thing is - I'm not so sure it's four parties. It is entirely possible that the person who is after Lanny's girl is the same person who attacked me and Lanny - in some form or other. Not necessarily the person themselves, but a servant of their purposes.' He paused there, and opened his eyes to look at her, his gaze weighing and judging, and seeming to look to the bottom of her soul, seeking some reassurance that he could trust her. Finally, whether he found it or not, he went on. 'Lanny isn't the father of his girl's baby. My father is - was.' He frowned briefly at the tangle of tenses, and then continued, 'He told me, the night I came home to you before the fever set in.' He didn't reference the bruises for now, knowing how angry that made Summer. Instead, he murmured, 'He raped her - and now she'll bear a Carlyle child... for the second time. There is too much history to go into here, Summer... I don't even know all of it, and I've watched most of it unfold. The lines of coincidence and fate are crisscrossed over this whole thing in a dizzyingly-complex pattern... it gives me a headache.' And indeed, the boy pressed two fingers to his temple, squeezing his eyes closed again and breathing evenly for a moment before he dared reach for his tea again and take a few small swallows to settle his nerves.

Summer & Others

The complexity of what Conan had gotten himself surrounded by was just starting to dawn on the woman, and more than ever now, she was determined to protect him from all those out there that strove to take advantage of the teen. And now, by extension, those few that he'd let himself get close too. "Whatever happens, we'll be here for you." The depth of history and the number of people involved - some of which she and Briar didn't even know the names of - was too much for her to sort out at the time, not that it mattered much for the woman anyway. She would give her life to protect her family, Conan included, but she simply wasn't a violent individual. Her method of solving conflicts just wouldn't cut it in this war, and it hurt her to understand that. As a means of defense for the boy, she did offer him a weak assurance, "I'll let Ryan know what you've told me. He at least has the authority to try and put an end to this mess."

Conan

By now, the teen had finished the tea, and had set his cup down, resting his eyes and allowing himself to relax against the chair. But his ears were still attentively listening to what the woman was saying, and even though he knew that Summer didn't understand and couldn't control the situation, hearing her renewed promise to look after him made him swallow hard. He'd just never been familiar with the depth of care that Summer continued to shower upon him - and every time she again repeated that promise, it nearly gave him the shakes all over again, and not because he was frightened. It was because something at the bottom of his gut tightened in a painful way to know that somebody - particularly someone who hadn't known him until he'd stumbled into her son's house - could... love him that much. Emotion swarmed him for a long moment so that he could neither speak nor sign - and then he wordlessly reached his hand out to her.

Summer & Others

Summer sat there silently, knowing that Conan had more than his fare share of problems and confusing thoughts to deal with, so she didn't impede his troubled thinking by asking any more questions. Respectfully silent, the woman waited until Conan did something that surprised even her - he reached for her hand. She took it in her own, and dared to lean in to drape him in a brief hug as she spoke quietly so that her words were meant for his ears, and his alone, "You haven't had the best life, not by far. But I stand by what I've told you - you're a part of our family, and no matter what troubles you get into, we'll always be there to help you back out."

Conan

Definite improvement showed in that the teen didn't flinch or try to pull away when Summer leaned forward to hug him. Thankfully, she was wise enough not to apply any pressure, or he might have frozen, as much from panic as from the pain that would have rushed through him with his still-mending injury. He couldn't lean toward her - if he'd tried, he'd have fallen over, but his head tucked in briefly against her shoulder, accepting the comfort that she had continuously offered - and he had rejected - for so long. He swallowed hard again, pulling back something that was battering at him from the inside and trying to break loose... finally, he murmured breathily aloud, "O-kay... I... b'lieve you."

Summer & Others

She'd been exceedingly careful in not to give any sort of squeeze to her hug, as much to spare him from the pain it would cause, as well as to keep him from reacting adversely to it all. If his ongoing quirks weren't evident enough, the mass of bruises and wealth of brutal scarring over his body told her that he experienced far more torment from those he was suppose to trust than anything remotely close to comfort. Accepting a hug was a tremendous step for him, so she didn't dare push it. Breaking away from those sentiments, with her soft smile renewed on her face, Summer spoke up, "Now then, how about some more tea? I don't imagine you've got much of an appetite, but I'll have Greg and Kate make a food run while they're out."

Conan

As much as he was fighting back intense emotion - and perhaps on a certain level, secretly enjoying the soft touch around his shoulders and the feeling of protection it imparted - Conan was relieved when she changed the topic. He pulled his head away from her shoulder now, and opened his eyes, now looking just a little embarrassed by how he'd let himself lean on her reassurance, but not saying anything to suggest he regretted letting her hug him. It was just - nobody but Aralyn and Raimi had hugged him for as long as he could remember, and certainly not in the tender, motherly fashion that Summer just had. Gladly taking up the distraction from sentimental ends, he nodded to answer her. 'I would like more - I have never had tea like this before.'

Summer & Others

She was already pouring out a second cup for him, and nodding as she replied, "I'll have to teach you the recipe sometime. It's something I've adapted from my mother's old recipe. I'll tell you one little secret - I add a good helping of staghorn berries. Gives it a nice lemony taste, and a tinge of color for effect." She was in the process of handing the cup over to the teen when the whole cabin suddenly lurch, and a rumbling, muffled crash sounded from the front end of the structure.

Greg dashed to the northern window, and was followed quickly by Collin and Matt as they crowded in to see what had happened. Summer's immediate thoughts turned to the CrypticSilvers, but her son allayed that fear... and spawned a new one, "It was a tree. Got us with a glancing blow." At his side, Matt whistled low under his breath, and the trio navigated towards the eastern porch to watch as a giant silver maple turned slowly and drifted by the house.

Conan

Now that they'd made it past pulling him back over the edge to being someone who wanted to live, from the point yesterday where he'd have almost welcomed the bullet Lanny would have killed him with, the discussion turned positive again. His main focus was still upon taking care of everyone else because he didn't want his troubles to hurt them, but now part of him was able to acknowledge - openly - that he liked them all, and definitely looked to Summer like the sort of replacement mother figure that she'd quietly been being to him for almost a year now. With that positive thought in mind, he was able to offer her a soft smile as he reached to take the cup from her, and answer her with warmth and life in his tones that had been lacking only yesterday. "Stag'orn - 'dve never thought o' that. I gues-" His hand faltered and rammed the cup in her hand, splashing tea about when the cabin shook under them, and when Greg's report came back to them, his eyes closed again, all of the quiet joy gone out of his eyes. Once Greg was finished talking, he whispered, "Which means... tha' we can' stay 'ere musssh lon'er. This 'ole place'll shake loose if'n we get a direc' 'nuff hit."

Summer & Others

Summer didn't get the chance to elaborate on the ingredients, or explain the various bits of plants that all went together to make the unique, nutrient-rich drink. She had only a few despairingly short moments to enjoy a rare, brighter side of Conan before the unfortunate collision jarred all of their attention to a new matter entirely. The cabin was raised high enough to escape the usual spring floods, but the high stilts it was balanced on meant that it was more vulnerable to collapse if hit hard enough. "Okay, I think I'd rather take my chances in the city." Matt was the next to speak, watching wide-eyed as the giant tree slowly drifted down the swollen, brown waters, carried aloft as if it were no more than a mere twig in a stream.

Conan

It took very little for the teen to agree with that - as much as he wanted to wait a while longer before they headed back into town, he knew the the safety the cabin offered would do them little good if the building collapsed and they all drowned - he seriously doubted he could swim right now, when he couldn't stand. "See 'bout packin' tha thin's we need," he murmured to Summer. "I don' think we'll fin' our 'omes undis'urbed when we get back." He couldn't know it, both the trailer and Nadeem's house would prove ransacked when they got back, though apparently the shooter had feared the dogs around the old farmhouse, for it would remain untouched. With his instruction given to Summer, he then spoke up a little louder. "'deem - 'elp me up. S'gonna take me a lil lon'er ta get goin' than 'nyone else."

Summer & Others

"We can head to my house first, if you're all agreed on it." Nadeem offered, knowing that he at least had the most space to accommodate the large group with comfort. Little did he know that his house was not in the pristine order he'd left it in last night - and Abhay would be having some stern words with him for getting left behind on his latest adventure. Waiting mostly for Conan's agreement or disagreement for this plan, considering he was the center point of their information right now, the young man stepped across the creaky floorboards to offer Conan a hand.

"If it's alright with you guys, I think I'd rather get back to our pad. With the big tiger and the wolf-dogs, you know? No offense Nadeem, but I think our pets are a little more kickass than your horse." Matt let his own opinions be known as he helped Kate and Greg gather up their supplies and prepare things for being loaded on the boat.

Conan

Laying one arm around Nadeem's shoulders so he would have help as he began to heave himself to his feet, Conan blanched a little bit and fought swimming vision once he'd raised up. That belayed him answering anyone for a moment as he waiting for the world to stop pixelating before his eyes and fought to keep his knees steady beneath him. He was still far weaker than he would have liked, and standing had put infinitely more pressure on him, his heart and chest chief among these. His breathing sank into a low pant as he stared vacantly ahead of him - it took several seconds of most of his weight resting limply on Nadeem's shoulders before he pulled back from the darkness and managed not to pass out. It was then that he drew his drawn face up and turned it questioningly toward Summer - he hadn't heard what either of the other men had said.

Summer & Others

Not at all liking how Conan appeared to be on the verge of collapsing, and definitely not approving of him walking anywhere on his own, Summer was coming up on his other side to brace him. "We'll take this in small steps. Thank you Nadeem - we can stop at your house to regroup. I'd like to have Ryan stop over too, if that's alright." She explained, while moving forward along with the Arab, to guide Conan towards the door. Greg scrambled up to open it, and without needing to be told, hopped into the boat tied along side the steps leading down outside.

"Watch yourself, easy now..." Coaching them along, Summer took up control of the situation once it was determined where they were going. With Nadeem and Greg's help, the did there best to get Conan down the steps and into the boat, and taking every step with great caution. One slip, and any one of them could fall victim to the turbulent waters that swirled so ominously around them. It wasn't a guaranteed death, but the risk of getting caught in an undertoe or snagged by debris lurking the brown waters cut the chance of survival significantly.

Conan

He offered Summer a wan smile as he pulled up beside him, trying in his own way to convince her that his falter and what had nearly been a loss of consciousness was not as bad as it seemed to be. But even that was subtly different now - ordinarily, he'd have only looked over at her, and mumbled 'I'm fine' - now there was more of a friendly reassurance to it. But then, he had to put his full concentration on walking - even though Summer and Nadeem were bearing most of the weight, Conan was doing his best to take what of it he could and to keep himself balanced as evenly as possible between them so that they stood the least chance of falling over. His attention on this doubled as they descended the steps and had to scoot by the muddy water to get to the boat. He took it in tiny steps, not wanting his weight to shift suddenly to either of them and cause them to fall. Stepping into the boat nearly cost him his awareness again, as he raised one leg over the lip of the boat and found he'd lifted it too high, and nearly fell forward, straining his shoulders and chest to keep himself more or less upright. But after a couple of moments of panting, he put the foot down in the boat and raised the other blindly, putting his trust in Nadeem and Summer to steer him since he couldn't see. And once inside the craft, he panted, "Ok-ay - if you... sit me do'n... I c'n... ride on my... own."

Summer & Others

Nadeem was holding his breath for a moment, and looking squarely at where he was planting his own feet to ensure he didn't slip up himself, and cast all three into the river. Greg and Summer, well use to working around and in the river, were a little more sure in their movements, having grown up in the area their entire lives. Summer had taken note of the smile she'd gotten from Conan, knowing that just a week ago, she would have been offered even this much for her benefit. It was one more little victory that told her she was doing some right by the boy, "Wait a minute-" The woman stepped nimble into the boat next, while Greg again held the craft steady to offset the shift in weight. "-there, now you can lean back." An old, mouse-chewed life-jacket was placed against one of the metal seats, so that Conan could lean his back against this rather than the rough surface. Nadeem climbed in next, and after Greg shoved off from the stairs, they were tooling back towards the levee where the vehicles waited.

Now they worked in reverse to help get Conan out, though going up the slippery embankment was a great deal tougher than going down the level stairs. Nadeem took most of the slack, powering up the slope as best he could without slipping too much. "If you guys get their first, the key is under the stone next to the patio." This information was given to Summer as he now helped her guide the teen to their car, and once inside, Summer spoke to him again, "We're off to Nadeem's house now - unless you don't think that's a good idea. We'll probably end up at Gregs before night, and I'm sure Ryan will agree to stay over as well."

Conan

He leaned gratefully back against the life jacket when they settled him down, and rode quietly across the water with them. The real trial came when they were forced to head up the steep and muddy incline to head back for the cars - halfway up, he couldn't help them anymore, and had to let them essentially carry him the rest of the way to the vehicle. With one hand on the seat to steady himself and the other leaning heavily on Nadeem, he managed to get himself seated and pull his legs inside so that the older man could shut the door. Leaning heavily back against the seat and closing his eyes, he spent several seconds panting breathlessly, feeling as though he'd taken a long sprint as opposed to being half-carried a few hundred yards. His legs felt like jelly and he was beginning to feel very light-headed, so it was no wonder his voice was a little airy as he answered the woman without opening his eyes. "It's a... good... idea... to move a... 'round a bit." He paused and drew in another heavy breath, clenching his fist in his jeans to fight off how the world seemed to be spinning around him, and then finished, "It'll... keep 'em... conf'sed." He offered only that to confirm that he thought this course of action a good plan before he fell silent and turned his focus to breathing and staying conscious again.

Summer & Others

Summer split her gaze between monitoring Conan and ensuring he didn't pass out, and watching as Matt, Collin, and then Kate descended into the boat when it returned to the steps. "If that's what we have to do to keep us safe, it is a small price to pay." Putting it off as something that was no big deal, whether or not that's how she really felt, Summer's goal was to keep any burden of guilt off Conan that she could. "It's time for you to rest again, catch your breath." The faintness in his words alerted her that he was fighting for consciousness, so she gave him those light orders as she started up the car and made for Nadeem's house.