070 Strangers
"This is just my luck," Nick muttered, crouching just behind the 'Welcome to Briarwood' sign. "Drive into a new town, lose all the colour. They told me Briarwood was weird."
From here, even just outside of town, he could see the explosions and hear screaming. The road behind him was blocked; a group of the strange round-headed creatures had shown up and were busy felling trees to make a barrier.
"Sorry," Nick muttered, patting his bike and feeling absurdly guilty. "Gonna havta try and hike around them. I'll try and come back for you."
The wood lining the wood was thick, but it looked fairly passable. Nick pulled on his jacket and, after hiding the bike as well as he could, headed into the trees.
It wasn't as easy as it had looked, though. Within five minutes he was lost, totally turned around and no idea which way he should be going.
"Great. That's just…great."
"Udonna?"
Nick ducked behind the nearest tree, peering around it. A blonde girl, maybe a year or two older than him, was wandering through the trees, obviously fairly dazed. Blood was streaked across her forehead and she almost walked into a tree as he watched.
"Udonna?" She stopped, turning in a circle and heading off at an angle to her previous path. "Udonna!"
Nick watched until she was almost out of view and then began to follow her, watching carefully.
Of course, the way his luck was running, he should have expected something to go wrong. The girl crashed through a strand of bushes and straight into a group of the round headed things. "Oh…" She backed up, running into a tree.
"Great," Nick muttered, scrambling to his feet and crashing through the bushes after her.
The group hadn't been expecting resistance and he put them down quickly. The girl had slid down the trunk and was huddled on the ground when he turned back to her.
"Hey, you ok?" She didn't answer, staring vacantly past him, and he crouched, easing into her field of view. "Hey."
She focused on him, frowning, and he repeated, "You ok? Do you have someone who can help you?"
"No," she whispered, reaching automatically to touch her forehead. "She's gone. He took her away."
"Ok. Well, listen. Do you know the way back to town from here? Maybe someone there can help you."
"Um…yeah. I know where we are."
"Good." He rose, helping her to her feet. "My name's Nick."
"Clare."
"Nice to meet you, Clare."
She smiled faintly. "Nice to meet you, Nick."
