The Unveiling

Whew, done with my exams, now I can continue writing! To those who sent me an email, thanks a lot. I mean it, really. I'll still love to hear from anyone, so if you would,

my email is mask4truth@yahoo.com.au

Disclaimer: This fiction will eventually lead to homosexual relationship(s)

The Unveiling Chapter 4

I thought about them that night. I missed how Jay would make a joke in every alternate sentence and made laughing too painful for us to bear. How smooth a liar Gary was that he could have fooled us into thinking he was an exiled ex-prince if he wanted to. How wise Jean was when it comes to predicting where and where-not the armies would be. Even how inhumanly composed and silent Simon was in every difficult situation they've been into.

And how Jase was always there to help us, and me, deal things that we had not wanted to. How he would help me hold on to the hope that things were going to ultimately turn out right. Especially how Jase would never leave my sight ever since that day.

Now I no longer have Jase's presence to give me the strength I need. How long can I last without a source to draw from? My pastor would have answered 'God'. But... how? I made a small prayer, not really expecting an answer, and slept.

When morning came, Pagahar, still clad in the same gray outfit, took me to some sort of hangar or vehicle bay. When I saw the jeep that he was taking me to, I realized that they were about to move me to another place. Was I going to where all the other civilians had gone? Maybe I'll meet my family then. Or... were they really about to send me to their 'world'?

Pagahar told me to sit on the backseat of the jeep. Seeing no way out of it, I obeyed. When I was seated, the gray-clad man pulled a seatbelt underneath my seat and clipped it over my shoulders. When Pagahar reached over and pulled a second seatbelt over me, I realized that they weren't seatbelts. They were restrains. And I thought it would be easier to escape on the jeep.

Taking a deep breath, I asked. "Where am I going?"

"To Thrae," he answered without even looking up.

Then I noticed that 'he' wasn't around. "Where's Feristel?"

Pagahar climbed into the jeep beside me. "Sulking. He's in no mood to see you off after arguing with his doctor."

I raised my eyebrow at him. What was that supposed to mean?

As if sensing my incomprehension, he continued. "His doctor refused to give him the permission to come with us."

"His 'doctor'?" I asked, no more enlightened than before. "I thought he had the highest, err, 'Wing', among all of you."

"His Wing gives him power over the soldiers, and anything else military- related. But his doctor's Wing has power over anything that's related to the well being of a person," he said as if explaining one plus one, and yet I had not understood.

Two more soldiers climbed in - one into the driver seat and started the engine. Raising my voice above the engine noise, I asked. "You mean, Feristel can give commands to tear down cities, but he can't do anything that his doctor disapproves?"

"No, I meant that Feristel can give commands to tear down cities, but if his doctor decides that he needed rest and then commands it, he won't have a choice in that matter."

"Then what happens to the tearing down city part?"

"It's up to him. He could command someone else to take over his role until he's rested - but its unnecessary because he could still give commands while resting."

The jeep gave a jerk, and then the four of us were moving out of the hangar. Again, I tried to memorize the directions and the surroundings outside of the hangar. I never realized how much I missed being outdoors at daytime. "So who has the higher authority?"

"Griffon Feristel for anything military-related, his doctor when it comes to anything health-related," he answered impatiently.

It was then I noticed that Pagahar was different today. He seemed... moody - compared to the light hearted and friendly Pagahar I had met only the day before. Was it because of the doctor? Feristel was too upset to meet me because he 'argued' with his doctor.

So I asked him before I could stop myself. "Are you upset at his doctor as well?"

"I am his doctor."

"Oh," was all I said, embarrassed. Feristel and him had an argument?

"I had to tell him ten times that he can't go," he said, suddenly exasperated. "If it was anyone else I only needed to say it once!" I felt like laughing; it looks like I wasn't the only one who was annoyed by that damned Feristel.

"Was it that bad? I mean when I hit him with the chair," I asked. Suddenly I wondered if I was digging my own grave.

"That's not the only reason. I've searched his vital signs last night and found out that he hasn't slept for a week."

'Searched' his vitals signs? Had he meant the magic thingy I had seen the day before? Then I wondered about 'Thrae'. Was it really real? After the magic thing the idea of a second world didn't sound so far-fetched after all. And they didn't even hesitate to tell me that they were sending me there. Unless, they had something else planned?

The path they took was simple and straightforward. The driver of the jeep didn't even attempt to confuse me; it was like they didn't care if anyone discovered their base. Then again, who else was around to stop them? We had not traveled long before we entered Melbourne city - someplace I'm very familiar with. I doubt that's our destination though, because we were heading towards the highway.

The moment I thought that the jeep slowed down and stopped. I looked at Pagahar questioningly. "Here?"

He didn't reply, instead he leaned forward to the driver. "Why are we sto-" his eyes widened when he leaned just enough to look over the driver's shoulders. "Oh."

Pagahar stepped out and walked to the front of the jeep. I pushed against the belt-restrains in an attempt to see what's ahead of us. But I gave up shortly and asked instead. "What's going on?"

The soldier in front of me turned, with grief and hardness plain in his eyes he said. "Our brethren. Someone dumped their bodies in the middle of the road."

'Brethren'? He must have meant his fellow soldiers. I only nodded at him.

Then I heard Pagahar's voice somewhere in front of us. "We're burying them. Come help me."

Both the soldier and the driver climbed out in almost unison and headed to where Pagahar was. Without the soldier blocking my view now, I could see the bodies he was talking about. From all the blood and wounds on their armor it was obvious that they were riddled by their own rifles. Was that a work of some other 'resistance', or my own friends? I was surprised that those soldiers would bury their own dead.

Suddenly someone on my left clamped my mouth shut. I struggled and tried to shout, but with the restraints I was as helpless as a fox who was caught in a bear trap.

"Shhh.." he whispered. "It's me, Simon."

Surprised, I turned around and saw the familiar blond haired guy I've known since two years ago. Then I felt a weight shift in the jeep and whipped my head back to see beautiful Lil' Lily in the driver's seat. My heart was racing by now and before I could say anything Simon silently but deftly climbed on the seat next to me and started to undo my restrains.

"It's useless," Simon said calmly. "It has a lock."

With that he pulled out an army knife from his pocket and began to saw the thick belt. Lil' Lily kept her eyes on the soldiers in front of us and readied her fingers around the handbrake. Not wanting to look too suspicious, I turned my head to the soldiers and watched them as they carried the bodies to the side of the road. Were they going to bury their dead right there, on the city roadside?

"Where's the shovel?" I heard Pagahar asked.

"In the jeep - I'll go get it," one of the soldiers replied.

Lil' Lily turned to Simon questioningly and he only nodded. Then in a flash she released the handbrake, stepped on the accelerator and steered us away from the soldiers. I heard Pagahar shouting something about 'not to fire' as we disappeared between the buildings.

"Which way?" Lil' Lily raised her voice above the engines.

"Hide us in a building - the train station, we'll go there," Simon said as he continued sawing my restrains. They were only about halfway through.

Suddenly remembering the train station when I passed it barely five minutes ago, I quickly told them. "Not the train station, there are soldiers there! Go to one of the shopping arcades on Bourke instead."

Lil' Lily steered us into the next alley which I knew was the right way. I looked at Simon again as he sawed my restrains. I wondered how can he be so calm when I felt as if my heart was about to pop out of my chest. When we arrived at the alley she steered the jeep up some steps and into a coffee shop before parking underneath a giant umbrella. Although we weren't in a building at least we were partially concealed by the walls of the coffee shop.

Again I looked at Simon's saw-work and saw that he was nearly done with the first restrain. Once again I was awed by his steady hands; how did he manage to do it when Lil' Lily was driving as if she was a stuntman - stuntwoman? Even better, how did he do it when the jeep was going up the stairs?

"Simon, quick - we can't hide here forever!" Lil' Lily exasperated.

"I know, but the belt is tough," he replied.

Lil' Lily turned off the engine and climbed off. "I'll see if I can find a better knife to help you... we still got one more belt to cut after that one," she said as she hurried towards the kitchen.

But Simon stopped Lil' Lily and said, "Don't worry about it. I only need to cut one - Tony can slip out the other one."

Suddenly I realized that I haven't been called by my name for quite a long time - Feristel and Pagahar had thought I was Jase. Lil' Lily nodded and waited outside, which I presumed she was keeping watch. After a few minutes, Simon gave the restrain a hard tug and it broke free. Never feeling so close to freedom before, I held Simon's arms as he pulled me out of the other restrain.

"Come, let's go back," he said quietly when I was free.

"Back where?"

He only smiled.

When we arrive our destination, I understood his smile. It was our church, the place where we used to meet every week for our music practices. It was our second home.

Instead of entering from the large front double-door, they led me to the rear entrance where the door small and concealed. Simon knocked on the door twice, then thrice, then once. The door swung open almost right after and Jon pulled me in before I could say anything.

He brought me to the room and everyone was there. Terry our drummer, Kevin the bassist, electric guitarist Jay, tech guys Dean and Gary, vocalists Jean and Irene, and Jase. They cheered when they saw me and Jon gave me a tight hug. "We missed you," he said.

Then Jase walked up to me. "Do you have any idea how worried we were? You're such a hero-wannabe."

I laughed and felt moisture in my eyes. "Hero-wannabe? I deserve much more than that!" I instinctively tried to suppress tears from forming.

Jean put a hand on Jase's shoulders and said, "Both of you really are the same you know? After dumping us back at the apartments, Jase planned to save you all by himself! Hero-wannabe huh?"

"Hey!" Jase reddened and turned away as we burst out laughing.

I went over to Jean and hugged her. "Thanks." She muttered something which I did not catch. When I released her I went on to hug and thank each one of them, meaning it more and more every time. Irene, Lil' Lily and Gary actually had tears in their eyes, and Simon was calm and quiet as usual. Kevin and Jon played cool but when I put my arms around them they hugged me tighter than the others had. Dean and Jay told me how much missed me, and Terry nearly crushed me in his strong hug - though not a giant he was definitely close to one.

When I looked around for Jase however, I couldn't find him. Jean must have understood, because she pointed at the dormitory. I thanked her and headed straight to the dormitory room that we usually slept in whenever we stayed overnight in church.

Jase was sitting up on the bed when I opened the door. "Hey," he said after I closed the door behind me.

"Why weren't you there?" I asked him.

He shrugged and turned away. "For a dumb reason."

"I want to know."

Still not looking at me, he said, "I thought you had forgotten about me."

I chuckled softly. "Because I left you for last?" When I saw that he did not say anything, I continued. "Jean was right you know - we aren't very much different at all. 'Best for last', remember?"

He seemed surprised at that and grinned weakly. "Yeah, guess she was right."

I felt moved when I realized he had just admitted that I was the 'best' when Jase had done the very the same thing to me; the first day after the hall incident he had talked with everyone else first before coming to me.

I sat on the bed and put my arms around him. "Thanks."

Jase did not return my hug. Instead, he said, "You promised, you know, that you won't do anymore stunts."

"Sorry... I had no choice."

"I know. And you did the right thing," he turned to me. "I just... just am still angry at you I guess. You had me so worried and guilty."

When he said that I thought he was about to leave, instead he returned my hug. We tightened our hug and stayed that way for a while.

"Look, Jase, I can't promise you that I won't do that again. But I will promise you that I'll try my best," I said finally. Jase only affirmed it with a nod.

"Tony," Jase said slowly. "Sleep here tonight."

I smiled. "I thought I always do," I told him. We never slept in a different room since that day.

"No, I mean here. On the bed, with me."

"It's a single bed."

"Doesn't matter," he said as he pulled me down with him onto the bed.

I suddenly laughed at the absurdity of it. "Catching up on your childhood and teenage years that's deprived of me?" I quipped.

He laughed as well. "Yep. Make up for all those sleep overs that we missed out."

When we were both laying down on our sides, he pulled me against him as if we were still hugging. Suddenly I realized how much I missed his hugs, and how intimate they were. I could feel his hot breath on my neck, and the weight of his head rested on my shoulders. I liked the way his hard chest pressed against mine, and even the feel of his soft groin on my own. Both of us considered our groins to be a very personal area, so I was glad we were both comfortable enough with each other for that. And his heart - I could feel it beating on my chest, in the very same rhythm of my own heart, as if we were one person.

I returned the awkward hug and whispered 'good night'.

We were still in the same position when I woke up. There probably wasn't any room on the bed to move around anyway. Then - as I felt my cheeks go hot - I realized that Jase's groin was hard against mine. It was only a morning erection, no doubt, but it embarrassed me. I tried to pull away, but that only resulted in Jase pulling me in tighter. Our groins rubbed, and when I gasped at my sensitivity I realized that I too had a morning erection.

"Jase," I whispered and shook him a little. I had not wanted to wake him up and embarrass him, but I wasn't sure if I could take anymore of that. The whole thing was too... sexual for me to be comfortable. "Jase!" I shook him again, harder this time.

He stirred and yawned. "Yeah?" Jase murmured into my shoulders and tightened his hug again. I felt myself coloring again - was he completely oblivious to it?

"Wondering if... uh, if you could let go."

"Hmm.." he said in a way which told me he was falling back to sleep.

"Jase!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, let go," he said, then chuckled. "You're not used to this?"

"To what?" I asked, not wanting to embarrass myself further by misunderstanding.

"This," he said and pushed his hip into mine.

I breathed and stiffened, which I guess he took as the answer.

He laughed, "The trick is not to think it as anything sexual, Tony," then he pulled his head back so that I could see him grinning. "Were you?"

If my cheek got any hotter it would set our pillow on fire. "Just shut up and let me go."

"Why? I liked this. I thought it was kinda cool if we could be such close friends that we won't mind each other's erections."

I glared at him at first, and then laughed when I realized that he was serious. "You take friendship to a whole new level, Jase."

"What would the world do without me," he sighed.

"Strive?" I suggested innocently and he laughed. "Anyway, let me go. Time for me to wake up."

He look disappointedly at me. "Okay," he said finally and unwrapped his arms from me.

Grateful, I climbed out the bed and petted his head before washing up in the bathroom. Then I went to the common room and saw that most of us were already awake. So I sat with them and said, "You guys haven't told me how you found me."

Jean smiled, "I was wondering when you'd ask. You won't believe it, we've got a hacker with us."

"Hacker?" I looked at Dean, our computer geek questioningly.

"Ex-hacker," he replied defensively, emphasizing on the 'ex'. "I used to do it when I was little, before discovering that it was illegal."

"Wow, so these armies actually used the Internet?"

"Yes, and, uh," Dean hesitated. "There were a lot of communication between them around the world."

"Oh," so they weren't lying about that at least. They did 'attack', or 'help', or whatever the whole world, not only Australia.

"You aren't surprised," Jean stated questioningly.

"They told me as much," I said, which surprised them. "Dean, tell me more."

Dean nodded. "Their organization existed for five years now. And I think they have enough members now around the world to fill several countries. Do you know they attacked almost every country and state simultaneously? Anyway, the tactic was the same in every country - stop phone lines and Internet providers to prevent communication, take out the defenses - including police force - by surprise, then finally take the civilians."

"How can you make it sound so easy?" Kevin interrupted. "Our defense force, whether police or military, are way better than that."

"That's because they never expected an attack from the inside,"

Dean said.

"Maybe not, but their base are much better defended than that. They won't just let anyone waltz in take them."

"No, I mean, an attack from inside the base."

Kevin stared at Dean incredulously.

"Where did they take the civilians?" I said quickly, wanting to change the subject.

Dean was silent for a while, he looked as if he was trying to form the sentences. "Portsea, or 'point Zero' they called it," he said finally. "I traced the route given by the navigational charts - and even superimposed their navigational map with our map of Melbourne - 'Point Zero' was a perfectly ordinary warehouse."

"Which of course, was impossible," Kevin chimed in. "The entire Melbourne's population's headed there you know... No way the warehouse could fit the entire city."

"That's why I said there either was a boat or a hidden underground facility over there," Jean said impatiently. "Since if they wanted to put people on boats it was easier to send them directly to the docks, the underground facility would make a little more sense."

"Yeah, a 'very' large underground facility."

"Kevin, it was only a theory!"

"Well I have another theory - I say there's an incinerator in that warehouse. That would explain how they fit millions of people in it."

"Kevin!" I snapped, and immediately wished I hadn't. Kevin was taken aback at that and only looked away - though in anger or embarrassment I couldn't tell. Neither's good. "Sorry, I was just..."

"I agree with Kevin actually," said a voice behind me, which I recognized as Jase without having turn.

"Good evening to you too Jase. Honestly, guys, the 'incinerator' idea is even more far-fetched than a giant underground facility," I told them.

Jean looked as if she was insulted. "Okay, I guess the underground facility is 'far-fetched'. Do you have any idea what it may be then?"

I grinned at them. "Why don't we go and find out?"

Jase stared at me incredulously. "Are you mad? We just saved you from it!"

From 'it'? So Pagahar was bringing me to this 'Point Zero' as well? Feristel had told me that the civilians were brought to the other world 'Thrae', and that's where he was sending me as well. So far Feristel's story had no contradiction...

"Uh, Jase, we haven't told him yet," said Dean cautiously. At first I didn't know what he meant, but when I saw Dean tense up uncomfortably, I understood - he had misunderstood my silence as shock!

I laughed, "Let's go anyway. Besides, I need to find out if he was telling the truth."

Jase looked at me questioningly.

"Come on... We'll just be careful and we'll be fine. If he was telling the truth, then we're better off accepting his help."

"Help?" Jase said disbelievingly. "What the hell did they do to you?" I flinched at that. I never expected anger from Jase, but then again he hadn't exactly had a good week. And he had a point - where did 'help' come from.

"Yes, Jase, 'help', but only if he was telling the truth," I retorted. Before he could say anything I cut in, "I didn't say I believed him Jase. I'm just saying we need to find out the truth."

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Last time we talked we had all agreed that the 'truth' plain enough."

"Oh? Maybe something had happened to change my point of view - like being captured for example?" I retorted impatiently. I can't believe Jase was acting like that. Won't he even acknowledge the possibility that they were trying to help?

Jase shot me a glare that cut right through my heart. Then, without a word, he turned and stormed off. I frowned at him right before he disappeared around the corridor.

"I can't believe him," I told the rest of them.

"Jase was right about one thing though," Jean said carefully, as though I was the one fuming. "You're different, Tony."