Thank you for following NotGiveinAGlub! That makes two followers... either of you can feel free to leave a review. No? Okay...

~ CHAPTER 6 ~

No Scuttlebuggy and no Hoofbeast

Reaching back with a groan Dwayne rubbed his sore head.

"What did you do?" Wesley chided while feeling his own forehead.

"What did I do? What did you do!" Dwayne spun around in the chair and noticed the other boy's narrowed eyes. He fought to restrain the torrent of anger that threatened to crawl out his throat.

"You should've just passed it over!"

"You should-!" Dwayne leaned forward and the smoking ship creaked. They both stopped as it lurched away and they fell a couple more metres to the ground with a crash. Wesley toppled back and sprawled on his seat while Dwayne gripped his chair. There was silence.

"Ow..."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes..." Wesley moaned.

Dwayne turned forward and jabbed a button, praying it would work. The glass shield hissed and retracted about half-way before grinding to a stop.

"We're going to have to make it on foot. Only I don't know which direction the base is in! What are you doing...?" Dwayne felt strange stirrings as Wesley got up and squeezed past him to get out of the cockpit. He jumped off their smoking wreck and turned to face the broken tree and wide hole in the forest roof.

"The ship was flying straight..." he surmised "due to the angle of the tree we should start going this way, North!" and then he moved off confident in his deduction.

"Wait!" he turned around. "Ah... do you want your board?"

"Leave it." he replied and turned away. Dwayne pursed his lips and grabbed the backpack in case there was more food in it before hopping out and abandoning the no longer transparent ship.

"It's going to take hours for us to get back!" Dwayne called as he ran to catch up.

"Stop complaining."

"I think I have every right to complain, actually!"

"You're starting to give me a migraine." he muttered darkly.

"You mean that pounding sensation? Yeah, I got it too when you head-butted me!"

"Seriously Dane, if you know what's good for you you'll shut up."

"It's Dwayne!"

Wesley whipped around and snagged the collar of his shirt while clenching and unclenching his other fist, the knuckles cracking threateningly. He took a deep breath to calm himself down while Dwayne didn't move.

"Let's stop trying to blame each other, alright?" he spoke in a dangerous quiet "I just want to focus on what we can do now. And no more talking."

Dwayne stared back into those cold grey eyes saying nothing, Wesley released him and kept walking. The smaller boy scowled and swung the bag over his shoulder, they continued in silence. After a while Dwayne may have only imagined the feeling of unease coming from the boy who walked beside him. Wesley might have been feeling guilty but of course he didn't say anything. Dwayne said nothing either and kept his stare forward. It was difficult to know how long they'd been walking for exactly, hours passed and eventually it was evening. Through the cracks in the dark forest above the sun began to descend indicating West and keeping them en route. Dwayne looked up at it, there were plenty of birds flapping and chirping but no other animals were seen in this place. His foot snagged on a root and he fell forward onto his knees with a grunt, the bag slipping off his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Wesley was leaning over with a look of legitimate concern.

"I'm fine," Dwayne was surprised but still moody.

The taller boy knelt down and picked up his bag, swinging the strap over his shoulder. Dwayne got back onto his feet and slapped the dirt off his shorts. His knees stung but they weren't bleeding, he hid the pain with a grimace however and kept going after Wesley continued. God he was so tired. All he could think of with each agonising step was the comfortable sofa he'd been reading that book on hours earlier.

God, what if they'd walked right past the base? Heading back to civilisation wasn't an option, but how easy would it be for them to miss the large metal hive? Dwayne was probably doomed to wandering this forest alone with the only other member of his species he'd ever meet, and the guy was an asshole. Even though his hope was almost spent he couldn't bring himself to speak up. What if Wesley got angry and blamed him? What if he got violent? As all the scenarios were playing out in his head he made sure to watch the ground carefully lest he trip again. Suddenly he bumped into a motionless Wesley who was staring forward. He jumped back in shock but then noticed the metal hive.

"Eureka!" he yelled suddenly and ran forward "We made it!"

"What the fuck is that!?" Wesley cried.

Dwayne looked forward and saw the mother grub crawling out the front entrance, Wesley started blinking at her with mystification.

"Can he hear you?" Dwayne asked her and the moth monster turned her skull-like head to him.

I can transmit feelings to him, but it is not an effective form of communication. You must tell him I mean no harm.

"Wesley, she's the mother grub. She's here to help."

"Yeah, I got that." he answered not moving his stare from her.

I'm so glad you've returned, I was worried you may have failed and all was lost. What happened to the scuttlebuggy, Dwayne?

"Genius over here crashed it."

"Are you communicating with that thing?"

'Whoops, maybe I should just think at you to prevent confusion?' Dwayne thought 'To say this guy has been a handful would be an understatement.'

Yes, he's not as close to the midbloods on the hemospectrum as I thought. Wesley here is a Teal Blood, the caste directly above yours.

'Really? Only one level above mine?'

Oh yes. It is actually laughable to compare this boy's roguish demeanour to that of the violent high bloods. Still, it would have been a lot easier for you if you had dealt with a fellow green blood as planned.

"What the fuck is going on right now?" Wesley continued.

You'd better take him inside, she crawled backwards into the hive.

"Come on, let's go in" Dwayne insisted "I need to get some sleep."

Wesley looked unsure but started stepping towards the entrance, Dwayne went in first and found himself in the familiar front room. The books still sat in a messy heap atop the wide table.

'What are we going to do about the ship and finding the others? It looked completely totalled.' Dwayne thought to the mother grub who was curled up in her corner of the room.

We don't have the resources to salvage it, but there are other methods of travel. Not to worry.

'Oh, good.'

Dwayne I feel I owe you an apology.

'Oh? Why?'

Your mission was more perilous than I'd expected. If you'd been trained for longer I could've explained more to you and you would not have had to go through that. I hope you understand that considering I have such little time left I really did believe for a while that there was never any hope at all for me in finding you. If I hadn't lost track of you when you were young, maybe this wouldn't have happened... I know my time is short so I wanted to be here to help you build your team as much as I could before I go. Yet I feel like my urgency was reckless and could have resulted in disaster so early on. I am sorry.

'No!' Dwayne responded, a little embarrassed. 'It's not your fault, I totally get that! I guess, there's stuff I could've done better too but most of it was his fault.' he turned to look at Wesley who stood in the doorway, his eyes shifting between Dwayne and the monster.

"I'm getting some sleep," he told both of them "Reading material is on the table, Wesley."

Well that was a tad more tricky than at first imagined. The two boys are safe, now what further secrets of their race will be imparted to them?