Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2021 11:14:37 +0800 From: Tallahassee Wilson Subject: A Timeline Away 13 (Young Friends) (Science Fiction) Part 13. Donate:http://donate.nifty.org/ ------------------------------ "Okay, let's see what you guys found." Terry said as we laid all of our loot in a table. They found some pretty gnarly stuff as well, including a bottle of vodka, a dagger and even an arrow. These things are perfect. We just need to get out of here. We went out of the hotel and activated the schematics on the metropolis. We were 621 miles away from the center. It may take us days to get there, but we'll risk it. "So, still planning in making me your bait?" Terry said as all 3 of us took the time to think about it. It seems Terry's knowledge about this altered present might prove useful. "If you're gonna count me in, you 3 may need to settle a deal. My services are not free." He said. What the fuck is he talking about? Is he sweet talking us into having sex with him? "You! You perv! You think you can do us that easily?! Stanley, grab that dagger!" Phil charged at Terry. Terry blocked Phil as he twists his arm, leaving Phil whimpering in pain. "What, no. I'm not...you know what, if I help you, I need that starship to get out of this world. I'm not that low to hit on you 3." Terry explained as Phil chilled out. "And, if we don't? It took me 3 months to steal, I mean buy that ship!" Phil said. "I'll easily rat you out to the hunters." Terry threatened Phil as he had no choice but to give the ship recognition to him. "Thank you. Now, there's an underground tunnel that can lead us closer to the northern part. We need to take that tunnel, in order to assure our chances of survival." Terry cleared the path for us. We followed Terry to a pneumatic tubing station. It was fucking creepy to go under here. There's no lights and we have no fucking clue what we would encounter there. We may get ripped to shreds, eaten by men, or even get collapsed by heavy concrete! "Whoa, whoa. This isn't looking safe at all, Terry. Are you sure there's no other way? Can't we just go directly to the center?" I said. Terry pulled Carl and Phil towards a broken pipeline. "You coming?" Terry asked. "Come on, Stanley! I'm pretty sure that we have a high chance of surviving this rather than going back up there." Carl said as Terry fired up the pressure. Is he really serious?! "Hey! Wait up!" I jumped, right before we were blown away to the far end of the tube. We got out of the broken tube as Terry stopped the air pressure. Finally! Light! It's kinda weird. Why were there lights here? "Get down!" Terry whispered as we heard men talking in the distance. "Shit! How did they found out about this route?! It was supposed to be secretly hidden!" Terry whispered to himself as Carl grabbed a pipe. Carl threw the pipe away from our spot as the men noticed the sound. As usual, they were drawn to that suspicious sound as we stealthily crept to another hiding spot. "See if you can take him out, Stanley." Terry said as I reloaded the gun. I only had a limited amount of ammo, so I hope this shot is worth it. I silently crept to a container as I aimed for that man's head. Okay, play it cool. I kinda missed my shot as it ended up on his ear. He was screaming in pain as all of the men were loading their guns. I had to shoot him again. I shot him, this time directly between his eyes. The other guys started freaking out as they were shooting in every direction. Carl took his shotgun and shot 2 of them. They found out where they were hiding as Phil took his dagger, pounced on the man and stabs him a couple of times until Terry calmed him down. "Whoa! Phil, take it easy. He's dead now. Stanley, ammos. Take it. There's more of them here. Take that keycard." Terry gave me their ammos as he got some of their guns. It seems like they came from that storage room there. We crouched down as we opened the door slowly and used the keycard. We needed to be extra silent. Who knows? We may get eaten by hungry cannibals. It was a silent room, the atmosphere was thick. "C'mere kids. Let's sing a happy song!" We heard a cheery voice coming from a kid, our age. Did he just say, kids? "Oh shit. I can't shoot kids! Wait, if they have kids here, maybe they're not out to eat us!" Carl said as we heard laughter coming from the halls. Laughter from little children. We needed to turn around to get out of here. This was a trauma center for children. But, why were there armed men outside? We realized that the keycard was from a woman, meaning they may have stolen it. They wanted to eat them?! Disgusting! We crouched when suddenly Carl got caught by a net. Shit! Traps! We ran away, but we all got caught and hung upside down. "Good one, Carlton!" Phil said as a boy showed up, pointing a gun at us. It seems like he has 3 kids around him, each holding a gun. Oh shit. "State your names and business!" A little girl with a ridiculously high pitched voice said. "Brianna, calm down. They're friendlies. Yeah, extremely sorry about the whole trippy traps. They're all over the dang place. Anyways, I see that all of you got caught by it. Kids, it's okay! They're good guys. They don't want to eat us." The boy our age said as he gets a small saw and cuts the wire. We all fell down as he helped us stood up. "Are you the guys that made the gunshots outside?" A small boy asked. We were a bit scared to tell them. They looked like they were only at 5 or 6 years old. "Oh yeah! We killed those evil baddies that want to eat and gobble you up!" Phil said as the kids were jumping and cheering in joy. Okay, did not expect that. "Wait, so you 4 killed those men? Oh my goodness! Thank you! Oh gosh. We were stuck in this goshdarn pneumatic tube station! Thanks for clearing the men." He shook each of our hands as the kids thanked us as well. "We've been trying to get out of here for weeks! We're running out of food!" He said. He told the kids to drop the guns and gave us some spare food. We were getting hungry, so we agreed. The kids grabbed our hands as they took us to their dining room. He went to the stockroom to check on canned goods. The room was filled to the brim with toys. He said he used it as a distraction from all the apocalypse thing. He didn't want the kids to get traumatized. "Why were you stuck here? You have guns of all kinds and you didn't put up a fight about it?" I asked. I just needed to clarify things. "Well, funny story actually. You see, I dropped my spare keycard when I was out, looking for food. The other night, a man broke in here, tried to kill the kids but didn't stood up a chance. He stole my other keycard, locks the door thus, making us stranded here. I'm so glad you 4 found us!" He said as he hugged all of us. He really seemed like he was saved. "Apples. They came from a tree." A kid came to us with a basket of weird, red circle things. "I don't think those are apples." Carl said. "No, they're not." The kid replied. "You know what, I don't even wanna know what they are. Anyways, are these your siblings or cousins or something?" Carl asked as the boy served us some soggy bread. "Oh, these. These are some kids that have been abandoned. I saved them from being eaten. I don't want them to be all alone. Every one of them are special to this world. Who knows? Maybe one of them may find the cure for this catastrophe." He said as he gives us some spoons. "Anyways, this is Brianna, this rascal is Gill and this is Pascal. Say hi to them!" He said as the kids waved and smiled at us. "Oh, so you're like their foster brother or parent. That's kinda cool." I said. He nodded and smiled at us. He grabs a ukulele as he called the kids for a sing along. He seems like the cheery, optimistic type. "Yeah, that reminds us. We'll be going now. We need to get to somewhere." Terry stood up as they stopped singing. "Oh, that's sad. I really thought that you 4 would stick around for a lil longer. It's okay." The boy said as the kids hugged us. "Umm, can we come with you?" Pascal said as he clinged at my leg. "Oh! Maybe we could join you! We'll be changing locations to the metropolis' center. Figured out that there will be more men coming for us. They said that they have sustainable agriculture there. Anyways, where you folks off to?" He asked. It seems like we were going to the same destination. "Oh! Maybe they should c..." Terry stopped Carl from talking as he grabbed the 3 of us to a corner. "What the hell were you thinking Carl?! We can't let kids meddle with our mission!" Terry whispered at us. "But we can't let them die either! Do you really have no conscience left?! Look at them! Just look! Do you really want those to get ripped and torn to shreds or be eaten by men?" Carl made all 3 of us feel guilty as we agreed. I also can't let them die. The boy looks like he's a weapon expert. Look at this crossbow he made! "Alright. If he cocks up, it's all your fault. I'm not gonna turn into a babysitter." Terry said coldly as Phil came over to the boy and told the good news. He hugged us. "Oh my goodness! A million thanks to all of you folks! As a reward, I give you my latest invention. It's a liquid nitrogen infused grenade. Well, basically it cools the surrounding area, making us undetected near beasts. Just don't fire it nearby. When I say cool, I say frozen. You do not wanna be frozen." He said and gave each of us this cool grenade. Yep, his weaponry skills are useful. "Not bad... what's your name again?" Terry was amused about his creation. "Darius." He said as Terry shook hands with him. Darius then cheerily gets his backpack full of guns and explosives. He gave each of us a bag. "To help you with collecting more stuff for resources or food or even new weapons. Okay! Everybody, let's go! I know a way out of this tunnel." Darius said as Pascal rode Carl's back. Carl really loves children. "Wow, I'm jealous." I said. "Yeah, if you were 20 pounds lighter, I could carry you from behind." Carl chuckled as we followed Terry and Darius. Having kids around made the journey less scary and more loud. Terry seemed like he didn't liked children that much. Darius gave me and Carl new guns since they said that we were good with guns. Carl insisted to use the rifle and the bayonet as I had the desert eagle. Darius also gave us some ammos. Not a lot, only enough to get us from northern part of the metropolis. We continued to walk through the tunnels as Darius said that we were closing in. I was walking when I noticed something shiny. It was a brass knuckle. This could be in good use. Maybe if I have no ammo left, I could punch anyone that tries to get in our way. Who am I kidding? I'm weak with punches. Darius had big, veiny arms so maybe he could use these. "Whoa! Where did you found these?! These are like, so ancient! Like way back from the 1990s or so." Darius said as he grabs a crowbar from his backpack and used it to punch a hole in the ceiling. "Here it is! Sweet, sweet sunlight!" He said as we all got out. Maybe having new members of our makeshift dream team here isn't that bad. All we need is to get to the fucking center of this humongous metropolis. We may need transportation. "Anyways, Darius. Do you know someplace where we can find transportation? Like a car or something?" Carl asked. "Cars? What are you, from the 21st century? I may know a place where there are some spare parts we could find and fix something that I found weeks ago. I sure hope it's still there. It's a small hover-shuttle and maybe we could all fit there." Darius said as we continued going north. --------------- TO BE CONTINUED...