Chapter 1: You Know That Feeling?
It seemed like Gunny and Spader had been in Eelong for years now. They had gotten settled in and lived in Black Water. There was realative peace between the klee and gars now, with only a few fights now and then. It was much like what happened on Second Earth with the Civil Rights Movement. Every now and then, Gunny, Spader, and Boon took a new and improved gig. Now it had four seats and a radio to the front of the gig. Other than that, it was very much the same. Gunny looked almost the same, but had a little more gray to his hairs and bald a little. Spader had grown a bit of facial hair and his hair was very long now, it reached to the bottom of his shoulder blades. Boon, didn’t change at all, except personality wise. He had slipped into a depression. Just like Courtney, but not for the same reasons. He was depressed because he couldn’t do much to help Kasha and now he didn’t know what to do. The group flew during bright days searching for any signs of a flume gate or anything that stood out. They had found a few places, but not a bit of what they were looking for.
“Hobey, mate, I don’t think we’re ever going to find a way out of here” Spader said with no enthusiasm. No one said anything to that, because they all felt the same way. Ever since the flume collapsed they were determined to find the flume. Boon wanted to find it to see if Kasha was okay, because they really had no connection to the other territories because they had gotten word to Wu Yenza, but couldn’t contact anyone who knew what was happening. The only thing they could do was to find a way out. It was the only thing they could do to help Bobby right now. Spader had become a great pilot while they were here enabling him to make little patrols to ship Virloam. (For the people who don’t remember, Virloam is the thing that grows the plants, takes moisture from the air and grows plants, and as Gunny says “The plants love it. It grows like crazy.)
Since the territory could now make food as long as there was moisture in the air, many groups of klees and gars went far and wide making other civilizations around the territory. Gunny was one of the explorers looking for new habitable places. They traveled in very big gigs that held up to 12 people and 4 propellers. The middle section was much like a cargo bay and the seats now could fit a klee or gar comfortably. Spader and Gunny didn’t spend much time together much, but when they did meet, they would go for weeks to find a flume. When they came back empty handed, they went along with their Eelong lives. The hardest part about all of this was knowing that all of Halla could crumble, and they would just be living a life they weren’t even supposed to be living.
Gunny had the most hope of them all, and always told them it was the way it was meant to be, but getting out would also be they way it was meant to be. So one day on a trip to look for another flume, clouds started to dot the sky little by little and covered the Sunbelt. The gigs power was going down and they needed a place to land and fast. They found an abandoned farm they used BBW (Before Black Water) and crashed the gig next to the farm hitting a support beam. The farmhouse surprisingly stood firm so they didn’t dare move the gig and got out. Spader was told to stay back and try to radio a nearby gig for pickup.
They made there way into the barn house to see if anything suspicious was in there. Gunny and Boon cautiously walked into the middle of the barn. There was a lot of dust and empty and broken crates that used to carry food. All of a sudden they heard a loud crash outside and all of a sudden the barn house started to shake. The last thing they heard before they heard the cracking of the barn house was “Gunny, Boon, it’s the tangs!!!” They were to far from the front of the barn house and quickly looked around for a place to hide.
“There!” Boon yelled over the roar of the shaking building. There was a handle sticking out of the floor. Boon opened it up and let Gunny go in first and jumped in right after him. The whole building gave a loud rumbling sound as they heard the building collapse on top of them.
Spader was having his own problems. While he was busy radioing in for help, a group of tangs had ambushed him. One lunged at him and he dodged and it hit the gig making it tip over and having the support beam’s support come out of place. He took out a tang knife even though he knew it wouldn’t have been much help. The tang that just hit the gig was crushed by the falling barn house. Well… that only left 3 more against one Spader. Spader had to think fast because in a matter of seconds, there wouldn’t be time to think at all.
He then found out what he should do. He dashed over to the gig and looked to the sky. Good he thought to himself with a grin. The clouds weren’t completely over them. He then looked over to the gig as his grin faded. The propellers were broken. His plan to shred those nasties up went up in flames. They had him surrounded and he knew it. One dashed over to him with his blood red eyes locked onto him. Spader rolled away, but felt something rip through his skin and yelped in pain. Spader lay flat on the floor forcing himself to get back up. The tang had slashed his back, but he wouldn’t dare look at how bad it was. Another tang had leaped onto him making Spader drop his tang knife right next to him. It dug its claws in its feet into Spader’s legs making him wince in pain. He pushed away as hard as he could but it kept trying to snap and claw at his face. His muscles were straining too much and he could feel them tiring. This was the end for him, he thought went he heard something cut through the air and made a sickening cracking noise. The tang on top of him fell to the ground with its neck at a very odd angle. He took a breath and forced himself to get up again, which was even harder to now that his body had taken a beating. He couldn’t see straight anymore and the last thing he saw was the tangs running of to a group of klees and gars charging at the tangs.
Gunny and Boon walked around in darkness for a while trying to find their way through this underground place. They reached a hard wooden door while feeling around. They tried opening it up, but it was locked. Then the most unexpected thing happened. Boon’s ring activated. He didn’t know what to do so he took it off and threw it to the floor. It shot a laser like thing at the door making the star symbol on all the flume gates. The two looked at each other with smiles on their faces.
“Boon, have I ever told you how much I love you?” Gunny said jokingly.
“No, but I’m guessing it will become a routine now” he said with a chuckle.
“Don’t move at all, alright Boon, I’m going to see what’s going on.”
“Where are you headed to?”
“Third Earth. I have a friend there that might help us out with all of this” Gunny said with a hint of happiness and worry. They both new that there would definitely be news they didn’t want to hear, but they had to.
“Stand back Boon” he said.
“As if I have to be told twice” Boon replied. Gunny opened the door and waved back to Boon. Boon waved back.
“Third Earth!”
A wave of music and the shining light came through the crystal tunnel that had just been made and swept Gunny and then it all disappeared with Boon left alone in the dark.
“Good luck…” Boon said to no one but himself. His words echoed through the room. Everything seemed to be changing for the better and now he thought Gunny was right, this was the way it was meant to be.
((Don't complain about how short it is! It was 3 pages on microsoft word and plus... It takes time to think.))
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