The next day onboard Serene
It's been a long night of basically just getting people settled while traveling slowly through the dark.
Some of us were listening to the radio, of people begging for help while eventually the coastguard sent out their last message of not being able to help anyone anymore by air, land or sea. It was sad to see everyone's faces as they finally realized everybody was basically on their own but what can you do?
Daniel Salazar who was sitting with me along with several other people such as Victoria, doctor Bethany, captain Devon, Annie, Ofilia, Madison and Alicia for good measure were having breakfast in the main dining area while also making plans and deciding what everyone wanted to do.
I threw out that we should probably hit a few ports or marinas on the way so that we could spread out our people a little so people aren't crammed in to every corner like sardines.
They agreed that it could be dangerous though knowing my abilities and the fact that I can scout ahead makes such things more palatable for everyone since it mitigates the danger significantly and the fact there should be other resources at such places as well.
Madison did try to subtly try to take charge, most likely subconsciously since she seems to have a more assertive personality than most but she was also subtly ignored unless it was something that was actually useful. She seemed to want to avoid all contact with the rest of the world and simply hide ourselves away for the most part. I never really understood that kind of mindset though.
Overall everything went how expected, meaning how I wanted. Mostly because everyone for the most part realized it's the only way to be secure long term even if they didn't want to admit it.
I had also sent Helia out to scout out the direction of some rather large signatures on the radar, while she couldn't communicate in words she could send feelings through our bond and when she did so it would be the signal that I should use our bond to see through her eyes, to see what she sees.
While she was doing that the Ex military members among the group were installing the .50 calibers on both ships as well as placing javelin and stingers in secure areas of the ships.
Unfortunately while all this was going on I was basically laying there by the pool just meditating waiting for Helia to find the different ships and then show me the most interesting instead of joining all the others in on the fun either lounging or swimming in the pools or hot tubs, ahhh girls in bikinis is always a plus though.
The fact I wasn't joining the others and just keeping to myself(relatively anyways as I'm up there with everyone) didn't go unnoticed by a few of my friends, mostly my original team and Annie who was obviously observant, made their way over to me. Alicia was already on the bed beside mine sunning herself looking too scrumptious for a 17 almost 18 year old but it's not my fault, she was like 21 when the actress played the part. That should count right?
Surprisingly the first to speak was actually Annie, who was probably was simply observant enough or sneaky enough to ask the right questions.
"So what are you doing right now Alex, does it have to do with your mystic juju?" She asked jokingly but when I smirked in response she just gave me curious doe eyes.
"I am simply waiting for Helia to show me what she found." Its a simple answer really but not exactly what they are looking for.
"Mhmmm." Victoria gave me a look that didn't exactly scream belief.
"Thank of it as a volcan mind meld, my mind to your mind and all that..." it took a few seconds before I got comprehending looks from most of them. "She will show me what she is seeing, if it's important." I add for the less nerdy. That finally got looks of understanding all around.
In the interim I did not allow the whole Alicia talking on the radio thing to the pirate people as it was their port I had planned to raid anyways. We would arrive in that genera area in a day or two at most so we will see. Though I definitely recognized his voice when he was calling out to people on the radio.
"So where are we going to get those other ships you were talking about? I'm sure there are plenty of ports and marinas near us..?" Victoria in a curious voice.
"Well did you listen to that guy on the radio going by the name jack? I'm pretty sure his people are pirates looking for unsuspecting people to raid."
I told them that but I knew I had to tell them a small or maybe extremely altered version of how I knew some of the things that I know. Partially because it's pretty obvious that my story up until now is basically bullshit but most of my group (friends) are too polite to call me on it for the most part aside from the disbelieving eyes I get sometimes.
Sometimes I thank god privately for giving me Helia instead of the power I wanted in the first place as she has become a very convenient and believable excuse to give for weird shit going on.
After letting out a tired sigh I told them the story I came up with without spilling the beans on exactly what happened. I did of course use passive legilimency on everyone to see if they would betray me, the main one I was worried about was Annie but she simply didn't have anyone left to report back to and nor would she at this point as everything she cared about was already likely long dead.
"Well to put it really simply I suppose I should lead with that I was simply a normal every day person a week before the outbreak really hit the world, though it had been gaining steam and actively hidden by the government for months at the least, maybe as much as a year.
Then one day a certain fiery birdy basically lands on my stomach one morning when I am sleeping and wakes me up singing one of her songs. After that I felt different and over the next couple hours random knowledge simply entered my mind(not even a lie really) on how to use certain abilities that came with being bonded to Helia.
What came after that was kind of horrifying, knowledge of what was going to happen within one week after getting all these weird powers, but it was obvious I would need to prepare, as I did to the best of my ability. But what was worse was it was showing me the future of one of my neighbors" I say that last bit looking at Alicia who was looking on with fascinated horror on her pretty face.
"It wasn't just your family or really group I should say, that the memories showed me, there were many different people. Though I changed a lot and much of that future I saw shouldn't come to pass as I wasn't taken into account in the future I had seen."
"You are basically talking about seeing an alternative version of the future that you didn't exist in, that's fascinating..." Annie was muttering out loud to herself.
"In what you saw, how did we do? My family and myself??" Alicia asked in fascination.
I just gave her a grim look not overly wanting to answer the questions I knew would come eventually. "You and your family survived for about a year I think, it was difficult to keep any sort of timeline when I was seeing everything. First to go was tra..." I was about to say before I was stopped by a paling Alicia.
"Never mind I changed my mind I don't want to know!" I just gave her my best comforting smile.
"It's ok no matter what may have been, things are different this time, Helia was sent for a reason right? Visions of a now non existent future can still help guide us in ways. It helps that you personally ran into many antagonists through the vision, you and others, in other areas. So it's not like we don't have a small guide to work with in a way. It's how I know that jake and his people are pirates, they were the first your extended family ran into."
After talking about such thing for another half hour or so giving more details where I could to their questions Helia finally contacted me.