Post by Guardsman Patrick on Oct 12, 2006 23:17:02 GMT -5
Chapter 14: Game of Hide and Seek
Patrick flipped the hamburgers on the grill in the kitchen near the living room. The aroma of the beef cooking filled the air. Alex looked over his shoulder as he sat on the couch.
“So, how long until those things are done? I’m starving.” Alex couldn’t help the fact that he was so impatient. Patrick insisted that he wait until every part of the meal was done before eating, and Alex hadn’t done it that way since the last time he could remember someone else cooking for him. All those days of camping out had spoiled him, so he really couldn’t help himself.
“I told you that they decide when it’s time that they finish up,” Patrick was very vague on most of his answers. He didn’t like being specific. It would just make Alex more impatient if he said fifteen minutes, or five minutes. Alex would take that literally and go over and eat in five minutes on the dot.
“Wow, that was what you said the other ten times I asked,” Alex slumped down in his seat, not wanting to wait another second to eat.
“And if you ask me again, I will say the same thing,” Patrick tried to have a good sense of humor, even though he was getting mildly aggravated about Alex asking over and over again. He was beginning to act like a child in a car on a long trip, constantly asking, “Are we there yet?”
“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to finish up. I think I’m going to go see what Rachel’s up to.” Alex left his seat on the couch and walked up the couple of stairs that went to the kitchen and walked to the elevator. Before long, he was inside and moving up to the eighth floor.
The elevator jerked to a stop and Alex stepped out onto the indigo carpet of Rachel’s room. He looked over and saw that she wasn’t in her bed, like she had said she would be until dinner was ready. Alex walked around a little, inspecting the room thoroughly, incase she was just hiding. Alex walked around a little more before deciding she wasn’t there. Something caught Alex’s eye though. He looked over to see what it was. He turned to see that it was the computer screen. Alex walked over to it and saw that it had something typed across it.
So, I guess if you’re reading this note, you found it just fine. If this is Patrick, you really shouldn’t be so nosey, and if this is Alex, I want you to meet me in the forest. Try to see if you can find me. We’ll just call it our little game of hide and seek. Bring your sword. We don’t want you to have any accidents or run-ins with one of our forest neighbors. Be sure to close this window when you leave. We sure don’t want Patrick finding us do we? Hope you find me alright. Just follow the clues, it’ll make things easier.
Alex read the letter over again, making sure he hadn’t just made all that up. When he was sure, he quickly closed the window and hopped back into the elevator. He hoped Patrick wouldn’t hear as the elevator rushed by. Alex held his breath as he passed the second floor, hoping the elevator wouldn’t slow to a stop. The small red two went by, changing into a one without the elevator slowing, stopping or even jerking.
As the elevator doors hissed open, Alex stepped out and walked to the large front doors. He stepped to the side and pressed his hand onto the scanning pad, and the doors slid open, groaning under the weight of the metallic doors. Alex strode out of the tower quickly, hoping Patrick hadn’t heard the doors opening.
Alex stepped to the edge of the forest, listening for the sound of any scavengers that might have plans of accompanying him through the trees. He then remembered what the letter had said. It mentioned that there would be clues along the way. Alex looked right and left for anything that might be counted as a clue. On a tree, almost twenty yards away, was a small ice symbol.
Upon closer inspection, Alex saw that the symbol was shaped like a tree, but not just any tree. The design showed the tree overlooking the forest, towering over the other trees. Alex knew just what he was looking for and jumped into the forest, running at top speed, weaving through the trees, jumping over rocks and bushes.
Alex kept an eye on his surroundings, in case a fellow nightwalker decided it was a good time to hunt. Alex spotted nothing that seemed to be following him, though he saw a couple of wilkers, animals that seemed to be a mix between an elk and a cow. They were harmless in most cases, unless they felt threatened. Alex didn’t know why they would feel threatened about him running through the forest. He saw many of them scamper off in different directions, some with babies, others twice the size of normal ones.
Alex saw his destination coming up quickly. It was the gigantic trunk of the tree that he called the mother tree. He could look around and see that almost every tree around it was the same kind of tree, but this one was the oldest. It had given life to all the trees around it; it protected them and gave them a source of nutrients, making it, in fact, like a mother.
He slowed to a stop as he came in close, walking the last ten feet, nearly out of breath. He looked up into the branches and spotted Rachel leaning on the trunk, facing out into the forest on a branch nearly at the top. Alex grabbed onto the nearest branch and pulled himself up higher and higher into the tree, trying to be as quiet as possible, sneaking up on Rachel with a broad smile on his face.
As he pulled himself up to a branch about five feet away from Rachel, he stood up slowly, balancing on the thin branch that could barely hold his weight. As he was just about to try to scare her, Rachel turned around and smiled.
“So, you were going to try to scare me, huh?” Rachel giggled slightly, knowing Alex wouldn’t know how to react.
“You must have heard me.” Alex leaned against the tree, looking off into the moonset, thinking of how it would look if it were winter, his favorite time of year. Alex could almost picture the frost covered trees sparkling in the moon light.
“No, I just guessed. Besides, I was waiting, and I had to check behind me every ten seconds,” Rachel looked at Alex with her deep brown eyes. Alex had never noticed them before, and couldn’t help but stare back into them the same way she looked at him.
“So, how long have you been here?” Alex asked, breaking the staring contest with Rachel. Alex slid up to a spot near where Rachel sat, making sure she still had room to move.
“Only about an hour, I’ve slipped out here before when you and Patrick were doing something else. I couldn’t help but find it a little bit more fun after that, and now Patrick is the only one being left out.” Rachel smiled, looking at the ground, staring at the tiny wilkers below, grazing on the brown moss that grew abundantly on the forest floor.
“Yeah, so, I wonder if he’s finished with dinner yet?” Alex heard his stomach growl in anger for passing up the food to spend time in the forest. All Alex could do was hope it would pass.
“When do you think we will get started with the whole protecting Andorg stuff? It seems to me like that isn’t happening quite yet.” Rachel seemed to be entranced by the large grazing creatures that scurried about the base of the tree. She almost seemed to be losing balance, about to fall out of the tree entirely.
“Well, after building the tower, I thought we needed a little bit of time to settle in, and get a little training done as well. I guess it will be soon, maybe even tomorrow, who knows.” Alex didn’t think too much on the question, not really having a clear idea if he planned on doing much protecting at all.
“Oh… so, what do you plan on doing after this is over, whenever that may be?” Rachel seemed to be more worried about T3GM than what she actually had called him out here for.
“Well, I was hoping I could settle down with someone, make a family, eventually dying at an old age, and having my funeral on the moon, ” Alex joked, being a flippant as he could.
“Do you have any ideas about who the lucky girl might be?”
Alex knew she would ask something like that eventually, he just didn’t know when it was going to come.
“I have my eye on someone, but I’m not sure yet. I might have to get to know them a little better first… maybe,” Alex looked over at Rachel, who didn’t seem to catch the hint very quickly. After a second or two of thinking, she finally blushed and smiled.
“Well, I hope that someone can get to know you a lot better. In fact, I think she might like you already.” Rachel played along with Alex’s little game. Alex smiled as he thought about suddenly talking about some girl named Lauren or Sandra, but then he decided that it wouldn’t be the smartest move on earth to do that when he had this moment to exploit.
“I thought she might like me so far, but I wasn’t too sure yet. Seeing as how I never got too many chances to talk to her, maybe she might like to go out and do something sometime.” Alex went along, acting as if neither of them knew the girl, most likely too embarrassed to talk about it.
“Well, I think she will say yes. In fact, I know she’ll say yes. You do have a great sense of humor, and you’re pretty much mister perfect, or at least she might think so.” Rachel caught herself slightly after saying it, noticing that she had messed up.
“Well, I guess I wouldn’t know, would I?” Alex kept up the act, knowing that now she would probably be confused.
“I guess all she needs is a little more coaxing, that’s all,” Rachel put her head on Alex’s shoulder, yawning slightly as the night grew older. Alex looked over at the moon once more, only to see it just slipping over the mountains to the north. Alex put his arms around Rachel, pulling her slowly closer. Rachel didn’t seem to mind, or notice, all she did was lay her head on Alex’s chest and put her arms around him as well.
Rachel looked up after a long minute of this. She locked eyes with Alex and they both stared at each other, their gazes not breaking. Alex leaned closer to Rachel and Rachel did the same. Their lips were just about to touch when suddenly a tiny beeping sound went off.
Alex cursed as he looked down at his communicator watch and saw it was an emergency transmission. Alex wanted to cut it off when Patrick’s voice broke in suddenly.
“I don’t know where you two are. I don’t know what you are doing, or why you left the tower, but you two had better haul your asses back here, we are being attacked by what looks like an army of some sort. You two had better get here quick, I don’t think just the defense systems will be able to hold them off. Pat out.” The transmission crackled out. Alex looked over the trees to the south and saw the top of the tower. The clearing was aglow with gunfire and the bluish glow of the towers shields.
“Let’s go,” Alex jumped out of the tree, landing on the forest floor. He left Rachel gape mouthed and shocked in the tree, before she finally caught herself, and jumped out after Alex, running on his heels.
Patrick flipped the hamburgers on the grill in the kitchen near the living room. The aroma of the beef cooking filled the air. Alex looked over his shoulder as he sat on the couch.
“So, how long until those things are done? I’m starving.” Alex couldn’t help the fact that he was so impatient. Patrick insisted that he wait until every part of the meal was done before eating, and Alex hadn’t done it that way since the last time he could remember someone else cooking for him. All those days of camping out had spoiled him, so he really couldn’t help himself.
“I told you that they decide when it’s time that they finish up,” Patrick was very vague on most of his answers. He didn’t like being specific. It would just make Alex more impatient if he said fifteen minutes, or five minutes. Alex would take that literally and go over and eat in five minutes on the dot.
“Wow, that was what you said the other ten times I asked,” Alex slumped down in his seat, not wanting to wait another second to eat.
“And if you ask me again, I will say the same thing,” Patrick tried to have a good sense of humor, even though he was getting mildly aggravated about Alex asking over and over again. He was beginning to act like a child in a car on a long trip, constantly asking, “Are we there yet?”
“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to finish up. I think I’m going to go see what Rachel’s up to.” Alex left his seat on the couch and walked up the couple of stairs that went to the kitchen and walked to the elevator. Before long, he was inside and moving up to the eighth floor.
The elevator jerked to a stop and Alex stepped out onto the indigo carpet of Rachel’s room. He looked over and saw that she wasn’t in her bed, like she had said she would be until dinner was ready. Alex walked around a little, inspecting the room thoroughly, incase she was just hiding. Alex walked around a little more before deciding she wasn’t there. Something caught Alex’s eye though. He looked over to see what it was. He turned to see that it was the computer screen. Alex walked over to it and saw that it had something typed across it.
So, I guess if you’re reading this note, you found it just fine. If this is Patrick, you really shouldn’t be so nosey, and if this is Alex, I want you to meet me in the forest. Try to see if you can find me. We’ll just call it our little game of hide and seek. Bring your sword. We don’t want you to have any accidents or run-ins with one of our forest neighbors. Be sure to close this window when you leave. We sure don’t want Patrick finding us do we? Hope you find me alright. Just follow the clues, it’ll make things easier.
Alex read the letter over again, making sure he hadn’t just made all that up. When he was sure, he quickly closed the window and hopped back into the elevator. He hoped Patrick wouldn’t hear as the elevator rushed by. Alex held his breath as he passed the second floor, hoping the elevator wouldn’t slow to a stop. The small red two went by, changing into a one without the elevator slowing, stopping or even jerking.
As the elevator doors hissed open, Alex stepped out and walked to the large front doors. He stepped to the side and pressed his hand onto the scanning pad, and the doors slid open, groaning under the weight of the metallic doors. Alex strode out of the tower quickly, hoping Patrick hadn’t heard the doors opening.
Alex stepped to the edge of the forest, listening for the sound of any scavengers that might have plans of accompanying him through the trees. He then remembered what the letter had said. It mentioned that there would be clues along the way. Alex looked right and left for anything that might be counted as a clue. On a tree, almost twenty yards away, was a small ice symbol.
Upon closer inspection, Alex saw that the symbol was shaped like a tree, but not just any tree. The design showed the tree overlooking the forest, towering over the other trees. Alex knew just what he was looking for and jumped into the forest, running at top speed, weaving through the trees, jumping over rocks and bushes.
Alex kept an eye on his surroundings, in case a fellow nightwalker decided it was a good time to hunt. Alex spotted nothing that seemed to be following him, though he saw a couple of wilkers, animals that seemed to be a mix between an elk and a cow. They were harmless in most cases, unless they felt threatened. Alex didn’t know why they would feel threatened about him running through the forest. He saw many of them scamper off in different directions, some with babies, others twice the size of normal ones.
Alex saw his destination coming up quickly. It was the gigantic trunk of the tree that he called the mother tree. He could look around and see that almost every tree around it was the same kind of tree, but this one was the oldest. It had given life to all the trees around it; it protected them and gave them a source of nutrients, making it, in fact, like a mother.
He slowed to a stop as he came in close, walking the last ten feet, nearly out of breath. He looked up into the branches and spotted Rachel leaning on the trunk, facing out into the forest on a branch nearly at the top. Alex grabbed onto the nearest branch and pulled himself up higher and higher into the tree, trying to be as quiet as possible, sneaking up on Rachel with a broad smile on his face.
As he pulled himself up to a branch about five feet away from Rachel, he stood up slowly, balancing on the thin branch that could barely hold his weight. As he was just about to try to scare her, Rachel turned around and smiled.
“So, you were going to try to scare me, huh?” Rachel giggled slightly, knowing Alex wouldn’t know how to react.
“You must have heard me.” Alex leaned against the tree, looking off into the moonset, thinking of how it would look if it were winter, his favorite time of year. Alex could almost picture the frost covered trees sparkling in the moon light.
“No, I just guessed. Besides, I was waiting, and I had to check behind me every ten seconds,” Rachel looked at Alex with her deep brown eyes. Alex had never noticed them before, and couldn’t help but stare back into them the same way she looked at him.
“So, how long have you been here?” Alex asked, breaking the staring contest with Rachel. Alex slid up to a spot near where Rachel sat, making sure she still had room to move.
“Only about an hour, I’ve slipped out here before when you and Patrick were doing something else. I couldn’t help but find it a little bit more fun after that, and now Patrick is the only one being left out.” Rachel smiled, looking at the ground, staring at the tiny wilkers below, grazing on the brown moss that grew abundantly on the forest floor.
“Yeah, so, I wonder if he’s finished with dinner yet?” Alex heard his stomach growl in anger for passing up the food to spend time in the forest. All Alex could do was hope it would pass.
“When do you think we will get started with the whole protecting Andorg stuff? It seems to me like that isn’t happening quite yet.” Rachel seemed to be entranced by the large grazing creatures that scurried about the base of the tree. She almost seemed to be losing balance, about to fall out of the tree entirely.
“Well, after building the tower, I thought we needed a little bit of time to settle in, and get a little training done as well. I guess it will be soon, maybe even tomorrow, who knows.” Alex didn’t think too much on the question, not really having a clear idea if he planned on doing much protecting at all.
“Oh… so, what do you plan on doing after this is over, whenever that may be?” Rachel seemed to be more worried about T3GM than what she actually had called him out here for.
“Well, I was hoping I could settle down with someone, make a family, eventually dying at an old age, and having my funeral on the moon, ” Alex joked, being a flippant as he could.
“Do you have any ideas about who the lucky girl might be?”
Alex knew she would ask something like that eventually, he just didn’t know when it was going to come.
“I have my eye on someone, but I’m not sure yet. I might have to get to know them a little better first… maybe,” Alex looked over at Rachel, who didn’t seem to catch the hint very quickly. After a second or two of thinking, she finally blushed and smiled.
“Well, I hope that someone can get to know you a lot better. In fact, I think she might like you already.” Rachel played along with Alex’s little game. Alex smiled as he thought about suddenly talking about some girl named Lauren or Sandra, but then he decided that it wouldn’t be the smartest move on earth to do that when he had this moment to exploit.
“I thought she might like me so far, but I wasn’t too sure yet. Seeing as how I never got too many chances to talk to her, maybe she might like to go out and do something sometime.” Alex went along, acting as if neither of them knew the girl, most likely too embarrassed to talk about it.
“Well, I think she will say yes. In fact, I know she’ll say yes. You do have a great sense of humor, and you’re pretty much mister perfect, or at least she might think so.” Rachel caught herself slightly after saying it, noticing that she had messed up.
“Well, I guess I wouldn’t know, would I?” Alex kept up the act, knowing that now she would probably be confused.
“I guess all she needs is a little more coaxing, that’s all,” Rachel put her head on Alex’s shoulder, yawning slightly as the night grew older. Alex looked over at the moon once more, only to see it just slipping over the mountains to the north. Alex put his arms around Rachel, pulling her slowly closer. Rachel didn’t seem to mind, or notice, all she did was lay her head on Alex’s chest and put her arms around him as well.
Rachel looked up after a long minute of this. She locked eyes with Alex and they both stared at each other, their gazes not breaking. Alex leaned closer to Rachel and Rachel did the same. Their lips were just about to touch when suddenly a tiny beeping sound went off.
Alex cursed as he looked down at his communicator watch and saw it was an emergency transmission. Alex wanted to cut it off when Patrick’s voice broke in suddenly.
“I don’t know where you two are. I don’t know what you are doing, or why you left the tower, but you two had better haul your asses back here, we are being attacked by what looks like an army of some sort. You two had better get here quick, I don’t think just the defense systems will be able to hold them off. Pat out.” The transmission crackled out. Alex looked over the trees to the south and saw the top of the tower. The clearing was aglow with gunfire and the bluish glow of the towers shields.
“Let’s go,” Alex jumped out of the tree, landing on the forest floor. He left Rachel gape mouthed and shocked in the tree, before she finally caught herself, and jumped out after Alex, running on his heels.