The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds
18. Tamara

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“DID YOU HEAR THAT?” Takahiro asked. Then, he shook his head, looking at me with confusion. “Wait, didn’t I just say that a few moments ago?”

Then, just like last time, trees were heard rustling nearby. I shone my light on the bush, watching it shake.

“Uh… Quinn…” he spluttered.

“Hold on,” I said, trying to keep calm.

I had to concentrate. Yes, I might have been able to rewind time, but I was only able to go back a few seconds, not where I had wanted at all.

Suddenly, a net sprang up from the ground, ensnaring Takahiro and me.

We both screamed.

My beanie almost slipped off my head, which would have revealed my long locks of brown hair. It was my crowning glory that associated me with Cassandra, and I had a strong feeling that whoever set this trap up had all intentions to capture her.

“Aha!” a voice beamed triumphantly.

My flashlight shone on a stout teenage girl with dark skin and short black hair springing up from the bush in front of us. She wore a dark shirt with little white polka-dots and jeans matched with muddy sneakers. What was interesting about her, though, was the grayish-blue shark hat on her head that looked like it had come straight out of a Christmas bazaar.

“I finally got—” Then the girl’s enthusiasm seemed to drain away from her, and a rise of a brow had taken over its place. “Takahiro?”

“Tamara?” Takahiro squeaked.

Shark girl squinted her eyes. “Oh, Coffee Boy. It is you.”

Takahiro grumbled. “Don’t call me th—”

“I’d like to stay and chat,” she began. She then pulled out what looked like an ax and swung it from side to side, giving me nausea. “But you’re too busy”—she giggled—“hanging around…”

Takahiro groaned as Tamara laughed hysterically. “Hey, what’s up?” she added, chuckling. “Hope you aren’t caught in anything else…”

Man, this girl would hang quite well with Curtis. They could have a pun battle.

Takahiro wasn’t as amused as I was, though. “Just bring us down, Tamara!” he scoffed.

Tamara grinned. “If you say so…”

She then pulled out an ax and drove it into a nearby tree. It took a painful crash on the ground to realize that she had severed the rope that kept the net suspended in the air.

As Takahiro and I wriggled out of the trap, Tamara gave me some sort of stink eye. “And who’s this, Takahiro? Your girlfriend?”

Takahiro sprang to his feet. “What, are you crazy? This is Quinn; she’s one of us.”

“Hey,” I said awkwardly. When I hit the ground, I had broken Takahiro’s fall; it took a while to recover from a teenage boy crushing your spine.

“Another one?” Tamara gasped. “How many of us are still out there?”

“It’s hard to tell for sure,” Takahiro replied, shaking his head.

“Um… a little help, please?” I grumbled.

“Oh, sorry, Quinn.” Takahiro extended a hand and pulled me up to my feet.

Tamara groaned. “Dang, I thought I finally caught her.”

“Oh, you mean Cassandra?” Takahiro taunted. “You do realize she’s just going to rip that net of yours to shreds.”

Tamara cleared her throat. “Not her, moron. Of course, I know that. A girl was wandering around here earlier. She could be dangerous, so it’s better safe than sorry.”

Takahiro and I exchanged nervous looks.

“Can you describe her for us?” I asked.

Tamara stroked her chin. “Hmm… I couldn’t see much in the dark, but I could tell that she was a bit tall, slim, short hair…”

“Harumi…” I mouthed.

Takahiro was right. Harumi was here.

“Um, what?” asked Tamara.

“Where did you last see her?” I urged.

But our conversation was interrupted when the three of us heard a loud splash from a distance. Fear struck our faces. There was no denying that the sound had come from the Lethe. Even though Julio had once mentioned that there was also a spring nearby, I doubted that jumping into a spring could make a splash that big.

“What was that?” Tamara asked, her eyes darting left and right.

Meanwhile, Takahiro’s face turned pale. “We need to replace Julio,” he said, running straight into the dark.

Tamara raised her brow. “Wait, Julio’s here, too?”

“Come on!” Takahiro yelled, his voice echoing through the trees.

“Takahiro, wait!” I cried.

I took a deep breath and began running after him, which, for me, had changed the game entirely. I had always been the one running away, and there was always someone on my tail, chasing me. However, that didn’t change how my lungs reacted to it. I tried my best to catch up to Takahiro, but my frail body just didn’t seem to allow it. He had already been a good distance away when I’d started, and in the dimness of my flashlight, he only grew more and more unreachable with every step he took into the forest.

Destroy him… a chilling voice whispered in my ear.

I looked behind me to see no one but Tamara running toward me. She saw how I was already clutching my chest, trying to breathe.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” I began. Of course, I actually wasn’t, but Tamara definitely looked like someone who belonged in the front lines. I didn’t want to be a burden on her—or on anyone for that matter.

When I got to my feet, I heard the voice again. This time, it was telling me to give up.

I didn’t need any explanation. Cassandra was here.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Tamara nodded, and she and I began to run. It only took about a few strides into the forest for us to replace Takahiro dashing toward us with Julio trailing behind him.

“Tamara,” Julio said. “What are you doing here?”

Tamara stopped in her tracks. “Well, I—”

“Forget it,” he scowled. “We need to get back to the headquarters immediately. We need to alert the others.”

“Why? What’s wrong?”

And that was when Julio had dropped the bomb:

“Cassandra’s in this forest.”

And the silence came after it had detonated. It had left too much destruction for anyone to utter another word.

“Wh—what?” Takahiro stammered. “How?”

“I dunno,” Julio said. “Get in the car and I’ll—”

Tamara began to wheeze. “Ca—Cassandra? ” Her voice went an octave higher.

“No, Tamara,” Julio extended a hand toward her. “It’s okay. We’ll—”

Tears began streaming down Tamara’s face as she crouched helplessly on the ground. Takahiro knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Tam—”

“No!” she shrieked, swatting Takahiro’s hand away. “I won’t have it again. Not again… not again…”

I was horrified; watching Tamara on the ground like that made me remember what Julio had told me before entering The MacGuffin:

Cassandra wrecked us pretty badly, and some are more traumatized and paranoid than others.

“Tamara…” I began. “Is she—”

“Yeah,” Julio said, shaking his head. “She didn’t take the attack well.”

He then looked up at the steep incline where he had parked his car. For sure, all it took was a quick sprint down the forest and up the hill, but with Tamara all shaken and anxious, she was in no state to run.

“You three stay here,” Julio told us. “I’ll get the car.”

“No, Julio—” Takahiro stood up and gasped, extending a hand toward Julio as he spun on his heel and began running toward his car.

Julio stopped and turned toward us. “I’ll be quick. I promise.” And he was gone.

“Dammit,” Takahiro hissed.

Tamara continued wheezing, muttering things like “Get away!” and “Don’t hurt ’em!”

“Takahiro…” I began. “What happened back there?”

The boy simply shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said desolately. “But it has something to do with Yu—with Harumi.”

I placed my hands over my mouth. Harumi was somewhere in the forest. And Cassandra was, too.

That didn’t spell good news at all.

I feared that Cassandra had something to do with Harumi’s disappearance. The last time they talked, Harumi had refused to destroy the Metropolis with her, and Cassandra didn’t like it. Now, being in this forest only heightened that fear, and my allegations were beginning to ring a convincing tone in my ears.

Then, a familiar voice spoke.

“You fools…” it said.

Takahiro and I turned to its direction, dreaded by the sight of Tamara slowly rising to her feet like a corpse coming back to life. She smiled widely from ear to ear, but the look on her eyes was wild and unsettling.

They glowed red.

“You’ll never make it in time…” Tamara taunted, but the voice wasn’t hers.

It was Cassandra’s.