“You see now, you have to give me more credit.” She says, I feel, just to break the silence between us.
“How did you know it wasn’t him?” I hoist my eyes off my hands to meet her eyes and keep staring.
“It just didn’t add up. Everything he says didn’t sound like him. I can’t believe you fell for that.”
“I guess I just wanted him to be back so bad, I didn’t care even if it were a hologram I was standing across to.”
I see her approaching, bending on her knees and placing one hand upon my shoulders.
“Somehow, I knew something like this was gonna happen,” she says, making me be attentive into her eyes even more. “They wouldn’t just let us get over with it so easy. We saw horrible things there. It’s only natural they’re gonna haunt us, until we find our way back.” I don’t know whether this chit-chat was supposed to comfort me or something, but what it does is, it’s just giving me the creeps. I don’t wanna be haunted. I don’t wanna be chased after. I don’t wanna waddle aimlessly about a forest I don’t recognize.
All I want is have a normal life. The most random life even. Just being away from here would do. But it seems like I don’t have that luxury.
Although somehow her presence is calming. I feel her breath upon my neck. It’s warm and somehow tickling me. I swing my head which was fixated towards the ground, into her eyes, and keep staring deep into the mahogany, as if I’m looking for secrets there, answers and meanings, as though if I keep scrambling upon them, I’d find the most irresuscitable ancient Egyptian enigma.
I feel her breath into my lips now, which are too close by the way. I try to smash that barrier between us and collide and it’s all so calmative and endeavoring at the same time.
Until I almost jump out of my own skin when I hear my name being called out.
“So, both of you have been cuddling up overnight.” Carter winks at me. After the previous circumstances, we’re overbearing, I can’t handle being mocked at.
I look Zoey in the eyes, and together we hoist ourselves from the ground up and waddle into the muddle that separated the river from the tents. We have to give them an explanation, but right now the only thing I can put up with is taking a seat nearby the water, leaning against a tree and trying to gather myself and have my mind render into a normal mood.
13
It’s been two days since Cody decided to make an appearance, when we realize we’re running out of food supplies. When we decided to run away, we were so taken by the idea of putting the plan into effect without getting caught, we didn’t pay much attention to the other necessary features, like the very fact of the food supplies. But on the other hand, we had absolutely no clue as to how many days we’d spend around, or if we’d make it safe and sound a mile afar the Eatonii, so you can’t expect someone who’s struggling for endurance to have a reasonable thinking. Anyway, point is, we have to find our own food now, and needless to say, it’s rather hard since we all lack the eruditeness when it comes to hunting.
On the bright side, during these two tiresome days, we’ve had the latent time to get over the bizarreness of the Cody’s appearance. I still cannot believe how good I was being fooled. If it weren’t for Zoey, I’d have embraced our friend into the rally and get stuck into whatever the crew’s vaster plan was. But we knew now that they had all sorts of means to come after us. (They could reincarnate our friend for God’s sake!) And we also knew we were chased after.
That’s why for the last couple of days, we’ve done nothing more than running. The only ceasing points have been during nights, when we needed to recalibrate our energies for the next run. The strange thing is, we hadn’t found anything of any value during the hundreds of miles while running, other than trees and wild, forest plants. We had no clue when it came to our whereabouts, we had a useless map and a crazy compass.
So at this point, it’s safe to say, we were screwed!
“Hey, Greyson, would you come and take a look at this?” Colin asks me.
I feel so tired as though I’ve been walking around for three thousand miles, although we just had our last break only a few hours ago. But who could blame me?! At this point, all we do is run. And with our nutritional supplies coming to an end, I don’t think it’s gonna get any better.
So, I just feel so bored and uninterested to take a gander at whatever Colin has to show me right now. After all, what might have he found in this forest? A weird, wild plant? A muddle of desiccated leaves? A bunch of flies spuming around it?
Well, summed up briefly, just a trivia, insignificant thing, that would never come in handy for anything.
“I think you might wanna see this.” He persists.
I hate it when anybody persists as of late. I hate keeping waddling about this forest. I hate it when we come to a break point without having found anything of interests. I hate it that my life has turned out like this—into this disastrous catastrophe, where nothing significant is to be found.
“What is it this time, Colin? Another honeycomb?” ‘Cause, yeah, I forgot to mention. The most interesting token he had found at this point, was a honeycomb, that is minus the bees, or the honey for that matter.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure.” He proceeds, voice echoing afar, from behind the series of trees. “I think it looks like a tablet, though it’s way more complicated than that.”
In no time, I bring myself to my feet, putting the plug to the contemplative moment I was embraced erstwhile and run towards my friend. Carter is standing there, quietly, hands plucked on the waist, looking down at something on the ground. I follow his look and find out what it has been that he brought me here for. I bend down and grab hold of that black, tech thingy that, now that I’m taking a better look at it, really seems like a tablet. Though there are a few buttons and chips that makes it seem like a sophisticated technology of a greater range. I press the power button, and stare at the screen flickering any moment. I pore at it, high and mighty, with all the competency to own its implement of equations. Though with some bizarre icons and enumerative system popping up, I can tell that I’m completely incapable of putting up with that kind of technology.
“This must belong to the crew.” I whisper. “Question is, what is it doing lying all comfy and cozy here on the forest with the risk of random strangers finding out?”
“Random strangers, like us?”
“The identity of the strangers is not relevant.” I object, and in a relatively insignificant time, Colin is grabbing the tablet off of my hands.
“Yeah, you can have it,” I mock, regarding his obnoxious manners. “No problem.” But he totally ignores my sense of mockery. He looks involved into the tech thingy.
“This is very sophisticated technology that I think must be connected to the Eatonii system.” He says. “I think this is very valuable, which brings up the question about it being here.” I nod. Sure, it’s strange they would leave behind such an important thing.
“What if they knew we might come across it?” I bring up the question.
“Dude, have you seen this place? It’s interminable.” He guffaws, like he’s trying to put highlight to how ridiculous my idea was or something. “I wouldn’t drop things out in hopes that some random strangers would take possession of it by accident. Yeah, right! What are the chances?”
“We don’t know how their agenda works out,” I hold tight to my previous idea, despite his attempt at poppycock. “For God’s sake, we had Cody coming to join up, and it was just a sophisticated illusionary topic, so tangible and real. This place is nuts man. We can expect the unimaginable from them.”
It seems like my resolution has put him into contemplation. Good! I don’t think I could’ve born any more with this delight of crock. And as I’m looking aimlessly at the tablet on his hands (even though my sight, in real, seems to be elsewhere; out of this dimension really,) some idea strikes me and I spill it our coherently.
“Man, that could be their way to track us. The tablet was lying a
ll the time at the same position, when they spot its coordinates coming along, that’s how they know we have found it, and they can suss out where we are.” I grab the tablet from his hands and try to put it again at its rightful place where we picked it up erstwhile.
“But, dude, we could use it. It has all the sophisticated technology connected to the main system. We could have on our hands all sorts of information in relation to the Eatonii. We could pinpoint priceless things with it. Just give me a couple hours to take a crack at it and I could find us insidious, classified data about the crew and what they’re after to.”
His idea seems too cajoling and irresistible, but… nope. I cannot allow myself to be coaxed by a plan that after all, may not even breed true.
“We can’t take that risk,” I tell him, stubbornly. “We can’t have them pinpoint our location.”
“What if I plug off the chip from the device? Would you let me take a gander at it?”
“You could do that?” I ask, astonished. Sure, first-hand, I liked the idea of Carter hacking us into their system and finding out as much as we can about their plan. The only thing that bugged me was them knowing exactly where we are. But now that my friend could take care of this problem, all was good.
He nods and in to time encumbers into the tablet thoroughly, totally snubbing anything else around. I give the guy some space and concentrate on my own gist. We’re running out of food and nobody seems to give a hoot about it. What’s left up to this point, could only hold the posse until the end of the day. Next morning, I can see ourselves starving, with not a granola bar to satiate the hunger. I take a seat beneath the wild indigo and try to not think. If I do, I know it’d just fuzzle me up and at the end, no solution is to be found. So I better skip over it. Do I have a better choice, anyway? Nah, I don’t think so!
“Hey, what’s up?” Zoey smiles from afar and seems to approach. Soon enough I see her sitting down, so I just make some room for her to lean against the stump.
“Not much.” I say. “Except,” and frown, “Colin has found some tech device we think might be relevant to the Eatonii, and he’s taking a stab at it. He thinks he could hack us into their system.”
“What?” her eyes sparkle. “That would be awesome.”
“I know.” I don’t seem as much excited as she is. “But there’s a glitch. I think they might be using the tablet to track us. So I had Colin trying to get rid of the chip.”
“Look, at you. All nitpicky and peachy.” I like it. She giggles.
I look at her with goofy eyes. It’s hard not to. She has an irresistible smile. I don’t know if she’s aware of that, because with a smile of that effect you could do horrendous things, literally get anything you want in life. So, it might be better, I guess, if she’s not cognizant of the effect her smile has upon me.
“Andrew has found some mulberries and he’s making a meal out of it.” She brings it up. “I don’t know how long one could hold up on berries, anyway.”
“What are we gonna do?” I ask, since she seems to be concerned, though it doesn’t tangle her complexion, which seems just as serene and mesmerizing as it always is. “We didn’t take into account that our trip would prolongate this much.”
“We’ll have to find our own food.” She’s still so calm. How does she do it? With all these troubles on spot, she manages to remain untangled. “We’re in a forest, remember?” she smiles.
She’s right! We’re in the forest. Of course, she didn’t take inventory of the tremendous lack of deftness on hunting, though, never mind, she’s so ferocious and contumacious as a sugar glider. You could expect anything from her. I don’t think she would cease with a tiniest barrier she found.
“When are we gonna make a break for it? I think I’m enough recharged as it is.”
“Well, how about we take another few hours on relaxation? I don’t think it’d be neat waddling.” I suggest. “Really, when was the last time you let go of the jitteriness and took delight in the serenity of the day?” Soon enough, I realize how silly this question sounds. She’s always getting the best of anything. I’d much better have asked this question to myself. After all, it looks like it was intended to me anyway.
She just looks at me bizarrely and doesn’t answer. Instead, I see her taking comfort, among the limitedness of comfort the stump has to offer, and leaning her head upon my shoulders.
Really, I don’t mind prolongating the trip to eternity now that she’s here, next to me.
14
I wake up by the series of light spreading across my face as a significance of the new day. Boy, I feel like I’ve slept upon a smash of trees for a mattress.
Oh, wait.
I’ve slept against a tree stump!
That makes sense.
I feel hungry. This feeling accompanies the distressing lack of food supplies on our tent. Am I the first to wake up? It’s still dark out here. I mean, it’s dark enough for it to feel like a comminglement of atmospheres. The rays of beams haven’t yet embraced the forest well enough for it to feel like a proper morning.
I have to help to my hunger. My stomach is gnarling in inquisition. What do I have to do? There’s absolutely nothing left, no leftovers, nothing!
Berries.
I remember Zoey mentioning there are berries in the forest. Why haven’t I been attentive? Where can one find a bunch of berries to saturate the morning hunger? I wish to wake Andrew and ask him, though I don’t wanna disturb his calmative sleep on the tent. Good; why did I have to wake up so early? Now I have to think about eating and food, and I have absolutely no clue where I might find some.
Maybe if I waddle around, I might come across some kind of berries. That’ll do. Thing is, I don’t even am so keen on berries, and for that matter, don’t even think they’ll satisfy my hunger properly. But at this point, I’m willing to infuse any kind of absorbable, chewable thing on my stomach, just so I don’t have to feel so… miffed.
Yes, I am miffed!
After all, no one wants to be woken up like this! In the middle of the forest… Having spent the night against a tree… With no food to be found…
I bet that’s not the ideal morning routine for anyone!
I scramble into my mind. Where do berries grow, anyway? Clusters of juicy, scrumptious berries basset out all over the bushes, which can grow up to twelve feet tall, but most peak at about 6 feet, and are pollinated by bees in the spring. How did I come up with that? Where have I learned this sort of information? Oh, I miss my previous life. Even though don’t remember a thing about it, this kind of information pops up on my mind in regards to data ingrained in there from my perspective. And you can’t wipe the perspective out just like that. It stays with you, implanted deep into your subconsciousness.
I scramble around for bushes.
Ugh, where are all the bushes when you need them? There’s plenty of trees around, but not a bush to be found. How come I’m lodging in the middle of the forest and there are no bushes nearby me? What am I supposed to do with that?
Maybe I should keep plodding. Somehow I’d have to spot a bush out there for sure. I swing my head back and look at the stump where I spent the night at. Zoey is still cozying up there so serene and untroubled. She’s looking terribly attractive even when she’s not her fierce, unbearable, usual self. Ugh, but the hunger, can’t give me the luxury to keep looking at her. I have to find berries. Have to find berries! With that mantra in mind, I keep shambling forward in desperate pursuit of berries.
Like, how cockeyed is that?
Waddling about the forest, in pursuit of a random bush infested by any kind of possible berries that would help to my hunger, I hear something strange. Like, that kind of sound you might expect to hear when in forest, given that it must’ve been sparked by all sorts of things inhabiting the area, for instance a rabbit crackling upon a bunch of leaves and branches on the ground, or just the wind brushing away a couple of leaves scouring against each other, or probably chafing across a series of bushes.
<
br /> Bushes!
As long as my head tangles up against that idea, I instantly jump off and turn around excited to spot any kind of clump of shrubs featuring moderate-sized stems. I pore around desperately. Unsuccessfully, my ophthalmic senses (currently wretched by the stringency of food which can obscure arrant functionality) fail to detect the sought-after target.
What I have to find, instead, is just as shocking and striking as my need of food.
“Cody?” I frown. Is this a joke? I now he can’t be. I won’t expect to be fooled twice. After having been tricked once, I’m wary now. How could you expect to trick someone using the same joke? Even the crew is not that stupid!
“Greyson,” he says mildly. He sounds just like… him. I just want so bad to believe it is real. Though I know, this is just a way of the crew to get at us. Something inside me incites my requisiteness to go and stab him with a knife, just like Zoey did. But then again, I know it’d not turn out just as good as Zoey’s attempt, if not pessimum, because first off, I don’t go around keeping a knife alongside me, like a hoax does, which I should given the circumstances, and secondly, I don’t think I’m just as audacious as to get on with stabbing a person, even though if that person happens to be just an unrealistic digitally manipulated hologram.
God, I should work on my conniption fit! How else am I going to survive into the wilderness? I guess none of us was expecting this sort of occurrence to embrace us, but now that we have to fight for our existence, I don’t think that using comportments and swell manners would do, other than accruing your chances at not making it.
And boy I do want to make it. Out of this forest. Back to my own life, which I still can’t recall. But at this point, I think we all do. All of them yarn getting back on track just as much as I do.
Faking Apocalypse (The Apocalyptic Games Book 1) Page 10
