Chapter 4: My Stereo Explodes

Juarez's POV…

Darwin was being so sweet to me. Another thing I like about him is that he is always looking out for his teammates. I can't believe that I cried in front of him. I cried! That's something I don't usually do. But I couldn't help it. Never have I been so humiliated. I was about to invite Darwin in my room (he's the only one I would ever make the offer to. Anyone else would be killed if they entered my room) when Hurley showed up. He greeted, "Hey, guys. Blaster had a question for you, but he thought you both would be too mad to answer him."

"He thought right," I said bitterly.

"What was the question?" Darwin asked.

"He wanted to know if you've seen any of his handmade exploding listening devices," Hurley informed us.

"Exploding listening devices?" Darwin echoed.

"Who would be stupid enough to make a listening device that explodes? Listening devices are supposed to be hidden," I commented.

"Hey! I helped!" Hurley claimed.

"Well, we haven't seen any, Hurley," Darwin assured.

"Okay. I'll go tell Blaster," Hurley stated and walked away.

"Now, would you like to come in?" I asked Darwin when Hurley was gone.

"You're actually letting me in your room?" he asked. He looked confused, and he looked cute when he was confused.

"Yes, Darwin, I am. You're the only one I'd ever allow in here," I promised him. "So, come on in."

"Okay. Thanks," he shrugged and graciously walked in. I hoped he couldn't here the rapidness of my wildly beating heart. "Nice place you have here."

"Thank you," I said. Then, on top of my stereo, I spotted what I thought was a bug. I approached my stereo and saw that is was a bug, but not the creepy, crawly kind. It was a listening device. I then realized something. "Blaster was in my room!"

"What? How do you know, Juarez?" Darwin asked me and ran over to where I was.

"I think I found a listening device," I told him. He eyed it.

"I wonder how he arms them, or how they're set off," he wondered. Suddenly, there was a rapid beeping. Darwin yelled, "Hit the floor!"

We both dived down onto my floor when the listening device exploded. My stereo was in flames. Blaster and Hurley barged in with a fire extinguisher. They sprayed my stereo until the flames were gone. Then, Blaster said, "I thought you hadn't seen any of my eaves-bombers!"

"Eaves-bombers?" Darwin repeated.

"THAT WAS BEFORE WE CAME INTO MY ROOM! YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T BE IN HERE, BLASTER! GET OUT! NOW!" I screamed at him.

"Whoa, whoa, Juarez, calm down!" he tried to tell me.

"FIRST, YOU YELL AT ME ABOUT WHO I LIKE! THEN, YOU HUMILIATE ME! NOW, YOU WRECKED MY STEREO! GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" I yelled. He must've seen the intense anger in my eyes, because he seemed frightened and backed out the door. Hurley was obviously scared, because he ran out so fast he ran over Blaster.

"Maybe I should give you time to cool off," Darwin said. He left my room and closed the door behind him. I plopped on my bed and began to cry. What did Darwin see in me now? Did I just make a fool of myself? Or did I make a jerk of myself? If I had made a drama queen of myself, I was going to commit suicide. I wanted to turn on my stereo and drown out the sound of my cries, but it was nothing more than charred metal now. It made me hope that Blaster accidently blow up his game stations.

I had an idea. The iPod that I had hooked up to the stereo was thankfully undamaged. I pulled out a pair of rodent sized ear-buds and grabbed the iPod. I plugged the ear-buds in and looked through my music. Before I could put on a song, I heard an explosion and I assumed that Blaster found another one of his eaves-bombers. It was kind of a shame. I couldn't help but wonder who or what got wasted. I put on a loud song to drown out anymore explosions. "Another one of Blaster's tactic gone awry," I muttered.

"Juarez? Juarez, we'd like you to meet someone," I heard Darwin's voice say. I opened the door. I went over to the door, and then I opened it. Darwin was standing there, holding the paw of a small squirrel. She was just a child. "This is Monica. We recently found out that the Vipers destroyed her nest."

"Oh, you poor thing," I knelt down so that I was at eye level with Monica. She seemed shy, but she had big dark eyes. She was a cute little thing.

"So, we're taking her under our wing," Darwin continued. I gave the little squirrel a hug.

"When was your nest destroyed?" I asked her.

"L-l-last night," she stammered, holding back her tears. "I'm the only one left in my family. My parents and siblings were eaten."

"Oh, you poor little thing. Don't worry. You'll be okay," I tried to soothe her. I suddenly knew that the Vipers were capable of great despair and I knew that they had to be stopped.

"The worst part is that one of their leaders, James Anaconda, was there. He cut the tree down, and he had a pack of snacks with him," Darwin informed me. I nodded, showing that I got the rest. Monica was lucky. It must've been by some miracle that she got away. Darwin then added, "Marcie and Ben found her early this morning and fed her."