Cayo Elina 33
“Gus, wait!” Elina called after Gus as he trudged away.
He paused near the entrance to the building and turned back with a questioning look on his face.
“Wait up a minute.” Elina moved over by his side. Once in the doorway they could both keep an eye on most of the technicians, who were busy taking apart some sort of motor they had found.
“I heard you while you were fighting, you were talking and you said something I want to test.” Elina said to him.
“Sure. What?”
“You mumbled something about not being able to see the cause, but being able to see the effect. So you can’t see what isn’t there, like me, but can you see what I do?”
A smile crept to Gus’s face, “Yeah?”
“So let’s test it. You look ahead a little and see what I’m going to do, write it down in your notebook and…” Elina stopped as Gus shook his head.
“I gave it to Anne Marie for safekeeping.”
Elina thought for a moment, then a sly grin crossed her face… “You’re gaming the system!”
Gus blushed.
“You said you read stuff in the notebook, stuff you’re going to write down later. So you left the notebook to ensure that you would be alive to write it later. The best thing we can do is have Anne Marie burn the damn thing.”
Gus looked pained, “I don’t think it works that way, the future changes with each thing we do. You’re right, I did leave it with her, hoping I could, I dunno, stop something from happening or at least delay it.”
“Your death.”
Gus didn’t make any effort to confirm or deny the statement, but moved ahead like a charging bull, “So this is more of a test, really. I think I will write more stuff in it, as I figure it out, it’s easier than losing so much of my life as my mind wanders.” Gus’s gaze shifted ever so slightly as he was talking, his face drifting away from Elina’s.
“What?” Elina asked.
“Hm?”
Elina put her hand on Gus’s chin and looked into his eyes, ‘Either I never noticed this or something is changing with him.’ Gus’s eyes had what looked like a thin milky haze cover the pupils. “What’s happening with your eyes?”
Gus shook her hand away. “My eyesight’s never been that good.”
“Gus, are you losing your vision?”
“Which kind?” he joked.
“The kind that lets you see the here and now.”
Slowly he nodded, “It seems like it’s worse than when I was on the island.”
“It’s getting worse?” Elina asked.
“Yeah, I think so.” He answered.
“Shit.”
“Yeah. The upside is my third eye is working better than ever.”
“Do you think it’s related? Maybe if you stopped looking ahead you’d retain more of your normal vision?”
Gus shook his head, with a frown on his face, “Elina, I come from a family that had cataracts. I’m not old enough to be getting them and what, with the whole ‘Maxson’ thing I thought that was one problem solved. I think it’s happening faster than normal, but I don’t think looking ahead has anything to do with it. I’m…”
“What?” Elina asked.
“I’m kinda working with another theory here, maybe this whole ‘Maxson’ thing is the problem. Maybe it’s burning me out faster than I should?”
“You don’t look old or shriveled or anything.” Elina observed.
“You either.”
“I wouldn’t; I’m a pretty new recruit, you signed on earlier than I did.”
“I just don’t know. The worst thing is, how would I find out? Maybe I could take a trip down to the ‘Maxson Institute for Paranormal Anomaly’ during my free time and see what they have to say.?”
It took Elina a moment to understand he was joking and she took a playful swipe at him, which Gus dodged easily, even though she had moved quickly. With a laugh she punched at him more vigorously and he dodged that blow too.
“Cause and effect. You were right about that. I can’t see you, but I know what happens if you tag me. Touch me if you can, slow poke!” Gus teased, stepping out of the building onto the pavement.
They spun about for half a minute, Elina trying to tag him and Gus just simply not there when she made the effort. Finally she put her hands on her hips and nodded, “Alright, you win!”
Gus stopped a couple feet away and she lurched into action with another punch, he caught her fist in his hand and smiled, “I knew you would do that.”
“No fair looking into the future!” Elina said.
“Darling, I didn’t even have to look into the future to see that punch coming.”
Alban cleared his throat beside them. Gus and Elina looked over to where the techs had all stopped working to gawk at them. Elina arched an eyebrow and asked, “Yes?”
“Nice. Very good. Can you help us? We need to live the side of the motor up and Perry said you were very strong.” Alban said to Elina.
“I wonder where he got that idea from?” Elina said, casting a glance at Gus, who only smiled back, “Well come on, you have to help too, I’m not doing all the work.”
Gus only shook his head, “No, I feel more comfortable keeping an eye on the area, someone has to make sure nothing sneaks up on us.”
Elina nodded, “Sure.”
“No, you go ahead and show off. For some of us the work never ends.” Gus let out a deep sigh and put a look of misery on his face that Elina felt was as sincere as the profession of love from a horny teen male to his girlfriend during a snogging session that had progressed to third base.
She laughed and shook her head, “Any excuse to get out of work in this humidity, eh? I understand. Chivalry is completely dead.”
“Hey!” Protested Gus, “No it’s not! I killed the invisible zombie while you just stood and watched.”
“I think I shot her, actually.” Elina called over her shoulder as she bent down to lift one end of the motor.
“I don’t deny that, but the work of the matter was in finding the woman, not in shooting her. I mean, shooting,” Gus snorted his derision. “That’s just a trigger pull. How much work is that?”
