March 11, 2011
San Diego, California
1:45 am Team #31:- Cody's POV
“Are we there yet?” Demos asked
“Does it look like we're there yet!?” Blue answered
“How 'bout now?”
“Jess!” Blue called
“Got it” Jess said before slapping Demos in the back of the head
That was the looongest three mile walk through a quiet suburb I ever had in my life. Things started out nice with Blue and I finding five flashlights conveniently placed at the front door. But that was about as far as our luck got us. Demos complained and fell asleep in the middle of the street a few times and we had to stop Jess from turning around and going back “home” every five minutes. Blue and Sealie were pretty quiet for the most part, though both of them considered turning back around with Jess. The map wasn't much help either. You try finding your way somewhere with just this to work with:
“So, any ideas on what we're supposed to looking for once we get there?” Demos asked, skeptically
“With any luck, maybe some answers” Jess said “I'm not exactly thrilled at thought of being a kid again”
“Oh come on, Jess! Where's all your childlike wonder!?” Blue cheerfully asked
“What childlike wonder. I thought we've already established that Jess was born an adult” Demos laughed...before Jess hit him again
It was nice, seeing some friendly banter between my fellow RAFians. It helped get all our minds off of how scared we were.
“Uh...guys” Sealie said “I think we're here”
We all stopped. Sealie was right. We made it to the edge of whatever neighborhood we were in. You know those places you drive by in with a bunch of houses under construction? Areas with mountains upon mountains of sawdust? With half finished streets? That about sums up where we were. But beyond this little construction complex was a forest the sorriest excuse for a forest I ever saw. The construction really took its toll on what was left of all of the trees(the ones that weren't already turned into lifeless stumps)
“This place is a disaster” Jess said
“Well...on the bright side, these houses look like they'll turn out nicely once they're finished”
That was Blue, of course. Jess and I both couldn't resist the urge to punch him in both arms after that.
“So..I guess we should go on in” Sealie suggested
“Um...yeah, I guess so” I agreed “Everybody stay close to each other and keep your flashlights on at all times”
We walked in silence. The only sounds that could be heard were our footsteps against the fall leaves and the occasional owl or cricket. As we got deeper into the woods, we realized that not all of it had been affected by the construction. In fact, after walking around for a few minutes, we found ourselves surrounded by tall, considerably healthy trees. We couldn't even see the sky anymore.
“AH!” Sealie jumped and pointed her flashlight behind her
“Chill out Beth” Blue said “It was just a frog”
Blue pointed his flashlight in the same direction Sealie pointed hers, revealing a tiny frog jumping out of some leaves it had got caught under.
“Oh..yeah....sorry”
“It's alright. If it makes you feel any better, I'm terrified of frogs” Blue laughed
“So does anybody know where we are..or what we're looking for?” Jess asked
“Your guess is as good as mine” I said “I'm just waiting for something....abnorm
al”
“You mean our current situation isn't abnormal enough for.....”
Before Blue could finish his smartass remark, he was cut off by what sounded like...distant talking.
“Shhh!” I put my finger up to my lips, signaling everybody to shut up
We all stopped in our tracks and tried to figure out what we were hearing
“It has to be somewhere around here” a distant voice said “The ship crashed around this general area!”
“The Visser is gonna kill us! It's bad enough we let the Andalite kill himself before we had a chance to infest him. But now we have no idea where he hid the Escafil Device.”
My eyes widened and I looked back at the others, each wearing a similar expression to mine.
“...oh sh**” Blue whispered
