From the writer that brought you Zak's New Problem, comes the companion Mark Codies' Tale!
Mark 1
Mark Codies is a 15 year-old delinquent boy. He lives a victorious life and he just might be the only one with enough street smarts to survive the streets of Tallahassee and the wrath of a new challenge.
The day a boy came crashing through the ceiling my life took a whole 'nother course. Here's a little info for ya. My name is Mark Codies; I'm 15 and very dangerous. I live in Tallahassee, Florida. To be even more specific, I live in a shack that used to be an old tree house. It's a small shack, but at least it's away from the alligators. I have survived the streets since I was eight.
It isn't all that bad, though. I get free fruit from some of the trees surrounding my hut. The tree house used to belong to a farmer and his family, they had taken care of me since I was three and built me the tree house. Then a tropical storm blew threw crushing the house. The family had thought I had died and left far away. In fact I had only been blown into town. There I had hid in an ally and when the storm was over I wondered back to the farm.
By this time the family had cleared out. I was eight at this point and on my own. But, if we go way back into my past when I was 3, we'll meet my sister. She was always a leader, and one day we got caught wondering the streets, and an orphanage took us in. My sister, Theresa was shipped off to England and the family, who ditched on me during the storm, adopted me.
That's pretty much my whole past. Pretty sad right? So here I am getting free fruit from the ever-blossoming trees and occasionally catching fish for myself. Now onto my shelter…
It is small and square. On the wall facing out of the tree there is a door and a rope ladder. On the next wall there is a window with a net over it. Underneath the window was a table I made and a chair. The back wall has a dresser where I keep my hole-y clothes and on top of that is a small collector's book with various photos of me doing various things. Then on the last wall there is a small bed and shelf.
The nice thing was there weren't any leaks or holes. There was only one window and a door; 2 openings. That was until I was awoken with a startling crash. Then there were holes… and leaks… and three openings! I remember I jumped out of bed and my life changed completely.
LET THE FLASH BACK BEGIN!
"What the? Who are you? Where did you come from? Dude! You messed up my ceiling! You're going to fix that. Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
"Good because you're going to fix that. Who are you anyway?"
"Who are you?"
"I asked first."
"Fine, My name's Zak. Now?"
"Nope."
"What?"
"I never said I would tell you."
"Mark!"
"What? Wait! How did you figure that out?" I had asked upset.
"It says it on that collection book."
I wanted to curse.
"can you help me?"
"With what?"
"I need to get to the opposite coast."
"Dude, in case you haven't noticed I… live in a tree house." I grabbed one of my stored up water bottles and chugged some down.
"Yeah. So?"
"Dude! I live in a tree house! How would I get you anywhere?"
"I don't know. Do you know someone who can?"
"NO! I live in an abandoned tree house! How can you think I can help you with anything?"
"Fine, I'll find a way myself."
"You'll never make it out there."
"Hey, I'm pretty sure if I survived that fall I can definitely make it on my own for a couple days."
"Yeah, where did you come from?" I asked sipping on my water bottle.
"Uhhhh, my enemies battleship." He smiled nervously. As if I would believe that.
"Wow."
"No, no! I'm not lying!"
"Well if you have any chance of getting anywhere, you can start by leaving here."
"Wait, I don't have to fix the roof?"
"Aww! Shoot! Well, I'd rather fix it myself and you leave than having you fix it while I host you."
"Yeah, umm see you around."
"Whatever."
"Nice to meet you too!" The kid yelled as he jumped out. I turned to look out my window the kid was jogging quickly into town. He'd never make it out there. I decided to list the possible dangers.
One: Starving.
Two: Thirsting.
Three: Tropical storms
Four: Wild animals, such as snakes, and alligators and what ever
And Five: The poison guts gang.
Six: Don't forget Mrs. Libba's Bull dawg.
Wait a minute. I backed up. The Poison Guts gang… I was about to swallow some water, but I spit it out. I had no time to think. That kid was in serious danger.
