Hi guys! This one-shot is a little different, but still similar.
This is actually a narrative Language Arts assignment I had to do in 8th grade. It was actually really fun to write out, but not much planning went into it. I actually did re-write this story once for a different assignment in either English or Intensive Reading. However, despite searching and searching, I couldn't find it. So, you guys, for now, get stuck with the horrible writings of 8th grade Haven.
I do actually plan on expanding this someday though. So, hang on to this for now.
"Mr. Jacks!" Kate exclaimed, embraced the teacher. She was surprised to see the teacher, considering yesterday she never saw him come out of the hanger.
"I knew you could find a way out." Mr. Jacks smiled at her.
"But you always told me to stay in the airplane." Kate replied, a bit confused.
"Well, I guess we all have our moments." Mr. Jacks stared thoughtfully at a tree and had a expression like the expression on the Thinker statue.
Kate looked around but the only other thing around them were some trees, bushes, and Mr. Jacks' old bulldog. "Where is Darby? What about the others?"
Mr. Jacks sighed and turned to the force field. "They didn't believe it was you. Many of them thought it was a trap and thought you were dead. I was the only one brave enough to try to use the mirror you sent us.."
Kate was shocked, did Darby think she was dead? She opened her mouth to ask the teacher when he suddenly shifted to glare at something just over Kate's shoulder. "Who are you?"
When Kate looked there was a young teenage girl, maybe 13 or 14 hanging from a maple tree limb, her knees grasping the tree limb so she wouldn't fall on her head. "I'm Truly, what's your name?"
Kate froze, unsure what to do, luckily Mr. Jacks stepped between Kate and the girl, Truly. "I am Mr. Jacks. Do you know who set up the force fields?"
Truly used her arms to pull herself back into a sitting position on the branch she had been hanging from and jumped off, twisting as she fell so she could face them. "Yes."
"Who, and, do you, do you know why?" He asked the strange girl, stumbling over his words a bit.
"Scargrazor." Truly hesitated before continuing. "He wants to take over the world but he knows that the world won't accept his reign so he trapped us all in those force fields. Whenever someone goes 'pop' they are transported to his lair where they can either choose to follow his reign or be sent out here to die."
"Can you-" Mr. Jacks' question was cut off by his bulldog growling and barking at some near-by bushes. The bushes were shaking just slightly, Kate wouldn't have noticed it without the bulldog.
"Trad, get out of there. You aren't fooling anyone." Truly said a bit to loudly to whatever was in the bushes.
Kate jumped when, soon after Truly finished speaking, a teenage boy who looked slightly older than Truly popped out of the bushes and ran over to where Truly stood. Kate noticed both kids looked almost exactly the same. Truly and the other boy, Trad, were both tall, with tanned skin and brown hair, they also both wore green t-shirts and brown shorts. The only real difference between the two teenagers was that Truly's eyes were dark blue and Trad's were emerald green.
The two kids were whispering quietly and Kate was only able to pick out a few words, "Scargrazor", "hide-out", "Mr. Jacks". Almost two minutes later, Trad ran off, but he did stop to give off a small bark, imitating Mr. Jacks' bulldog. The bulldog howled in response.
"Who was that?" Mr. Jacks asked, pointing to the direction Trad had gone.
"Trad, he's on our side." Truly assured them.
"Can't we go to Scargrazor and get him to stop what he's doing?" Kate asked, finally finding her voice.
For some reason Truly found the question funny and let out a small laugh, "Trying to do that, would be like trying to ask a wild monkey to give you back something it stole from you. It isn't going to happen. But Trad has been spying on Scargrazor lately and we've been thinking on how to get him to stop." Truly narrowed her eyes. "You look familiar, what's your name?"
Kate hesitated before she answered, "I'm Kate."
"You two look like you could use some food and water. If you want, I have some at my hide-out." Tracy explained.
Kate really wanted to go, she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, but she needed to convince Mr. Jacks to come, the teacher didn't seem comfortable around Truly or Trad. "We're going to need food and water, Mr. Jacks." Kate turned back to her teacher.
"Kate, I know, but do you see, do you see the mark on that girl's hand?" Mr. Jacks whispered to Kate, glancing at Truly.
"What mark-" Kate looked back to where Truly stood and immediately noticed that, on the back of Truly's right hand, there was something unusual scared on her hand. It was a circle with the word 'outcast' in the center.
Truly looked at her hand when she caught Kate looking, "That's the mark Scargrazor gives people if they defy him before they are sent out here. That's also how he received his name." she explained.
"We have to trust her." Kate told Mr. Jacks. Secretly, Kate wanted to deny everything that was happening but she knew that Darby was still trapped in the force field along with her other teammates and that Kate's family were probably in one too.
Mr. Jacks nodded reluctantly and followed. Truly led them over a hill to a river with a very small and unstable bridge being the only way to cross it. After they climbed another hill, they trudged through the forest. Normally Kate would be fascinated by the beautiful fall colors and the leaves falling lazily from the oaks, sycamores, and maples despite everything that was happened, but she was too worried about her family and lacrosse teammates to pay much attention.
Finally, when Mr. Jacks bulldog was beginning to lag behind, Truly showed them to a tunnel leading deep under the ground. "I found this hide-out after escaping from a force field and climbing inside for protection from a storm. Just follow me and you'll be okay." Truly told them before crawling into the tunnel, Kate followed, Mr. Jacks hesitating before climbing in when his bulldog did.
At first Kate could see Truly crawling ahead of her through the dim light but soon the tunnel became pitch-black. She could tell the walls expanded at some points and closed in on others until finally she could see a dim light ahead. Kate began to crawl a bit faster when finally she saw Truly stand up and move out of the way.
When Kate stood up, she stared in surprise at the hollow in front of her. The hollow was underground with only candles perched on rods for lighting. There were tents set up with sheets and sticks for shelter and privacy, several people were also there.
"Kate, can you move?" Kate heard a deep voice say from the tunnel.
"Oh, sorry Mr. Jacks." Kate stepped out of the way.
Mr. Jacks was a lot larger than Truly and Kate so he was covered in dirt from trying to squeeze through. His bulldog sat down by the tunnel, clearly tired from the journey.
"This is the hide-out I share with Trad, there are several other people who defied Scargrazor here. I've used that mirror trick before, so some of the people here were rescued." Truly explained. "Right now we're waiting for the right moment to go against Scargrazor and try to defeat him."
Some of the people in the hollow were obviously nervous about Mr. Jacks' and Kate's arrival, others acted as if they weren't even there. A few people flashed them a smile but most were too nervous or busy to do much.
"Are there any adults around here?" Mr. Jacks asked.
"Yes, actually most of the people here are adults." Truly answered, gazing around the hide-out.
"Where are your parents then?" Mr. Jacks questioned the young teenager.
Truly hesitated a long time before finally answering, "They died trying to escape from a force field."
Kate could tell Mr. Jacks was about to say something else when Trad came crawling quickly through the tunnel. "Scargrazor has figured out that people are escaping from the force fields!" He yelled. "He also located where the hide-out is!"
"We need to move everyone to the other hide-out. It will be a tight fit with so many people but he'll never find the people there." Truly told Trad. "Start to gather up people, tell them to only take the basics."
Trad nodded and ran to where the other people were.
"I need to go help Trad, could you two help as well?" Truly asked them after Trad had left. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to eat or that I didn't explain more what was going on."
"I'll help." Kate volunteered. She wanted to help these people, hopefully they could find her family once this was over.
Mr. Jacks hesitated before nodding, Kate didn't know why he was reluctant, normally Mr. Jacks tried to volunteer to help anyone. When they all began to head towards the people to help them, a woman ran up and hugged Mr. Jacks. "I missed you so much!" She cried into his shoulder.
Mr. Jacks returned the hug and rubbed the woman's back gently.
"That's Mrs. Jacks." Truly whispered to Kate at the same time the couple began talking. "I knew that they were probably husband and wife, but I didn't want to say anything, just in case they actually aren't."
Kate nodded and began helping Truly pack basic supplies for a small family that was too busy calming the younger children to try to pack. Before Kate knew it, many of the people were gone, being led by Trad and a few other volunteers to the other hide-out.
Finally, Kate was able to exit the tunnel and wait for the others. When Truly came out with Mr. and Mrs. Jacks behind her and the bulldog she told Trad to lead them all to the hide-out.
Kate was going to follow when she noticed Truly wasn't following. "Aren't you, aren't you coming too?"
Truly shook her head, "Scargrazor is going to arrive soon, I can distract him so all of you can escape."
Normally Kate would have admired the younger girl's courage, but after seeing the looks of terror on the people's faces she knew that Scargrazor was something to fear. "You don't have to-"
Truly interrupted her, "I can handle it."
Kate turned back but Trad, Mr. and Mrs. Jacks, and Mr. Jack's bulldog were already leaving. Mr. Jacks seemed a bit reluctant, so did Trad.
"Okay, you can stay. But do as I say." Truly seemed a little reluctant.
Kate nodded. "Who else is a follower of Scargrazor?" Kate wanted to know what they were dealing with.
"His assistant is Jared, I can tell he isn't a fan of Scargrazor but he wants to stay on the man's good side." Truly stopped to listen, the birds had stopped singing and one gave of an alarm call. "Let's get in the hide-out and pretend that all the people with us." The two girls crawled into the tunnel, which seemed ominous now that there was no light at the end of it.
"Follow me." Truly said through the darkness, taking Kate's hand.
Kate followed, she was able to feel the mark on Truly's hand "Ouch!" Truly exclaimed, letting go of Kate's hand.
"What happened?" Kate asked, still unable to see in the pitch black of the cavern.
"I walked right into the wall." Truly explained. "Shows me for putting out all the candles."
Kate couldn't help but laugh, but she suddenly felt like something was watching them. There was scuffling behind them, and when she turned to look a young man stood there holding a torch and with a sheathed sword attached to his belt. "There they are!" he shouted, more people following him out of the tunnel.
"Jared…" Truly whispered, before heading deeper into the hide-out.
Kate followed, the light from the torches dimly light the way , but Kate was mostly following the sound of Truly ahead of her. The smell of smoke began to fill the area and Kate looked back to see that Jared was setting the tents on fire!
"Truly, there's going to be to much smoke!" She shouted. She had been in a fire before and knew just how difficult it was to breath in one.
"Don't worry. There are small holes in the top of the cavern, the smoke will escape." Truly explained as the girls ran to the back of the hide-out.
"We're trapped!" Kate panicked, after reaching the back of the hide-out there was no way out that she could see.
"No, we're not." Truly watched as the younger girl squeezed through a hole in the wall. "Come on!"
Kate followed, barely able to fit through the hole in the wall, luckily it widened out after a few yards.
"That should take them a while to figure out." Truly said once they were safely through the hole. It was pitch-black again. "Let's keep on goi-"
Kate waited in the dark but Truly didn't finish her sentence. "Truly?" she asked.
Someone came running down the other side of the passage… Trad! And he was holding a small torch. Through the small amount of light Kate saw Truly, but someone had placed a knife to the other girl's throat. Before Kate could look to see who it was, Trad dropped the torch, and tackled whoever had Truly.
The light went out and Kate thought about joining in but she would probably end up hurting Truly or Trad in the dark. "Kate run!" Kate heard Truly yell.
Kate began to run in the direction that she remembered Trad coming from. She was actually able to continue running until she ran right into a wall. "Ow!" She yelped. She noticed a faint amount of light coming from a small hole in the roof of the tunnel and that the tunnel had widened out. There was a small, but very deep pool in the center, and different tunnels leading of from the tunnel she just ran out of.
Kate could pondered which route to take, finally deciding on the one right next to her, on the right. But when she went through it the tunnel made a wide u-turn and she ended up at the exact same cavern. This time Kate tried a different tunnel, this one was very long and made a lot of turns and was hard to travel through. Kate was about to give up and go back when she finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel, she ran towards it, not even bothering to stop when she tripped and cut her arm on a sharp rock.
Finally, there was a alarm call from a robin as she raced into some woods. Luckily the bushes were thick here and Kate huddled in the bushes, staring at the entrance to the tunnel. Her arm wasn't bleeding as bad as she had expected it to, so Kate waited, hoping that Trad and Truly would come out soon.
The birds began singing and Kate could hear some crickets chirping as the sun began setting, "Come on. Come on." Kate urged, she wanted to be sure Trad and Truly were okay. Kate waited, after the sun sank below the tree tops she began wondering if she should go in after them. As if on cue, Kate could hear Trad's voice.
"Do you think Kate went to the others at the hide-out?" She heard him ask.
"No, she doesn't know where it is. Besides," It was Truly! "I'm not sure if she even made it out of that cavern. There are so many ways to get lost."
"True, but Kate's strong, and, smart. She was smart enough to use that mirror trick." Trad spoke again.
"You do have a point." Truly said.
Kate noticed the girl sounded really tired and when they finally emerged from the tunnel; Kate was in a bit of a shock. Trad had Truly's left arm draped over his shoulder, with his right arm supporting some of her weight. Truly's right leg had a bad cut right above her knee and running down her leg.
Kate stepped out of her hiding place and walked over to where Trad and Truly stood. "What happened?" She inquired.
"That was Scargrazor. He set up a trap." Trad explained. "He had a spy and tried to set up a trap, the only thing that allowed us to escape is that I caught the spy before they could tell Scargrazor where we were going. Scargrazor in the end killed himself and Jared and the rest of them ran off."
"And I saved your life." Truly snapped, there was anger in her tone but her eyes shone with playfulness.
"But I saved yours before you saved mine." Trad hooted like a owl.
"Is that how you were injured?" Kate asked.
"Yes," Truly replied. "but we both lived. We need to go to the other hide-out so we can tell the others it's safe."
Kate nodded, "Then can we go and rescue the others."
"Right, and find your family." Truly placed a hand on Kate's shoulder. "Together."
Yeah, not my best story ever... But, trust me, this is a lot better then some stuff. While searching for the edited version of this trash, I found several even older writings, some of which dated back to my year of 4th grade. I was such a horrible writer at that age and I almost wish I had never looked at those stories. (Trust me. If they had been posted, then I would lose the respect of all of FanFiction.)
Again, I will extend this some day! There will be a bunch more stuff and I will re-write it to match the edited form that I still can't freakin' find. Bye guys.