Chapter 11: Where did You Go?

Back in Tarrant’s office, a few tense minutes passed. Tarrant finally snapped and threw off all of the files and books off of his desk and groaned in pain, trying to hold back his screams of agony.

“Are you done with your temper tantrum?” Tarrant looked up, and there stood Stephanie holding a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of purified rainwater. “If you aren’t then turn on the soundproofing. We can’t afford another slip up. Are you okay, Tarrant?”

Tarrant pulled himself up and glared at Stephanie. “How can I be okay?! I think I’ve pushed the only person who cared about me far far away and I know I can’t get him back at all.”

Stephanie sighed and put the plate down in front of Tarrant. “Eat. Then go to Jordan. I don’t care what you need to apologize for, but what you said was childish. Tarrant, think long and hard about how you’ve changed and why Jordan is giving up on you.”

“I can’t go there. You saw just how pissed he was at me.”

Stephanie put down the other plate on the desk that had an exact copy of Tarrant’s meal. She sat down and crossed her legs, leaning back, and glaring at Tarrant. “Well, you were a dick. I’ll give you a chance to go apologize properly and take him some food. He hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday.”

“O-Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Yeah, you will. And I’ll know if you don’t deliver.” Stephanie left meaning every word.

Tarrant ate quickly and thought back to everything that has happened. When he finally got the courage, he stood in front of their bedroom door for over an hour. “Whoever is out there, just come in already. I can smell the food, and I know you’re not Stephanie, because if you were, you’d be knocking down the door by now.”

Tarrant fidgeted a couple of times before letting the door creek open slightly.

There sat Jordan. He was sitting at his desk surrounded by all of the blueprints, plans, and contact info to any and almost all of the bunkers.

Jordan looked up at Tarrant’s blue eyes. They used to be crystal and full of hope, now it was like the darkest parts of the ocean. “What can I do for you, Tarrant? I thought you were going to stay in your office for a while.”

“I-Stephanie asked for me to give this to you.” Tarrant placed the plate onto Jordan’s bed since there was no room on the desk. “A-And I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what exactly?” Jordan raised an eyebrow allowing his hazel-green eyes to shine in the lamplight. “You weren’t really the best a while back.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. Since the new world has called me the Vuurdemon, I’ve taken on that role.”

“That’s not a good excuse.” Jordan felt the pounding in his chest quickening. “It’s been years since they first called you the Vuurdemon. You kept telling them not to even call you that and to treat you like they did with Ace, but your body count wasn’t helping either.” Jordan took the sandwich and took a bite while leaning against his desk to stay a little ways away from Tarrant. “So tell me. What’s the real excuse you have for acting the way you are? We’ve both lost someone, and we’ve handled it very differently.”

Jordan looked into the dull blue eyes that were Tarrant’s eyes waiting for a proper answer.

“I’m lost, okay? Does that sound like a better answer?” Tarrant collapsed onto his old bed. Said bed barely had his scent to it. It smelled foreign. “I don’t know who to be anymore. The world expects me to be one and you guys expect me to be something else. I only had maybe a day to mourn my own Papa, and then I was forced into this ratchet business with him.”

Tarrant sighed and put a hand over his chest. Jordan came over standing closer to him. “We both had to go through that. The only thing that’s different is that I wasn’t called a demon. Tarrant, I had those same people breathing down my neck for the next move.” Jordan placed a hand on Tarrant’s tensing bicep. Tarrant turned glaring at him, but the moment he realized it was Jordan, his eyes softened. He always had a soft spot for Jordan.

“This doesn’t get to excuse you. Why do you think you need to be the way they want you? I’ve never heard you say something like that especially to me.” Jordan stood in front of Tarrant’s body trying to hold back his want to slap Tarrant for everything he said.

“I said I was sorry. That was hard for me, and you know that.”

“I know that, but I want a proper understanding as to why you did it in the first place. You’re in control of your own emotions and how you act, so why even ask why I’m wary of you? You’ve kept this secret man away for a long time, and you never came back.”

“Well, I’m trying to protect you from what I know.”

“We’re a team, Tarrant. We need to be in the loop of everything if we’re going to take back our home from these Tyrants.” Jordan pushed himself off his bed and stood in front of Tarrant glaring at him. “We need to know we can trust you, and you pulling all of this shit isn’t helping.”

“I’m doing all I can.”

“So all you can means we don’t even know who you are anymore? I know I might have said some very harsh things back there, but they’re the truth. We haven’t seen you properly in over two years. I miss my. . .best friend.”

“That person you knew is mostly dead.”

“No he isn’t. Tarrant, you just don’t want to change. You’ve given into this idea of being the Vuurdemon, and now you want to live up to that name, and I’m fucking pissed by it.” Jordan pulled Tarrant to him and sighed. “I don’t want to fight over this, but I want my Tarrant back. I want the guy that would help me fall asleep, who would stay awake all night talking with me about our dreams. Where did my Tarrant go?"

“I know, it’s just hard to know what to do.”

“Then stop pushing us away.” Jordan moved to place his hand over Tarrant’s but that’s when Sean came running.

"Jordan, you might want to see this. Oh hey Tarrant, same to you too." Sean ran to get the old VHS tape player and popped in a very old VHS tape.

Tarrant sighed and lazily ruffled Jordan’s hair. “Bye. . .um, you ready to go?” Tarrant held a shaking hand out to Jordan.

“You still have a lot of pleading to be forgiven, but this is a good start.” Jordan grabbed his teddy bear from his bed and gave it to Tarrant. “I know you’ve been giving me the koala. Stephanie likes to think I’m not awake, but-. . .” Jordan blushed a little and started to ramble. “Um, I mean. Uh, l-let’s get to the living room.”

The two got to the living room and found everyone ready to discuss. "Where did you find that VHS tape and what is on it, Sean?"

"You’re not going to like the answer to the first question, but it does have something that'll surprise you more than anything."

“Tell us where you got the VHS tape, Sean. These things are ancient. They died in the early 2000s.” Tarrant crossed his arms raising an eyebrow at Sean.

Sean started to pale.

“Where did you find this?” Sean looked at Jordan and sighed hoping the news wouldn’t hurt him.

“Alice and I found it when we went against Jordan’s strategy.” Jordan’s eyes widened as his eyes burned with some new born hatred towards Sean.

Jordan sprang up and slammed Sean to the couch with some hidden force that no one knew he had. “Why didn’t you stick to the plan?! Is this the real reason why my sister and Tarrant’s father died, because you guys wanted to go fuck somewhere in the woods?!” Sean looked down in shame. “ So I’m right?! Why do I have to be right?! You were in the fucking wilderness! Why did you feel the need to fuck around?! She was the last of my family! How could you do this?!” Jordan slammed Sean into the couch again, and this time, his head banged against the back giving him a nice headache. Tarrant came over and placed a hand on Jordan’s shoulder.

“This won’t change anything, but he will pay for what he’s done. Let’s just watch what we have and hope there’s something on it that can help us.” Jordan turned around with tears streaming down his face.

“How can you say that? This fucker lied to our faces about our family’s deaths and that they found this tape!” Tarrant pulled Jordan into his arms and tried to keep him from lashing out as Jordan kept pounding his fists into Tarrant’s chest.

“Shh, shh. I know I know. Shh.” Tarrant patted Jordan’s head as he felt the bruises form. “Let’s stay alive and make a better world for them. Let’s give a reason for their deaths.”

The others ran to put it into the only working VCR in the facility.

When the video played it was blurry, but there were five people in lab coats standing before them.

"Date 2020. We have just made this serum that can enhance the human’s immune system and will make them super humans. We will now have the best type of immune systems.”