CHAPTER 10: Hunted
Two of the pollen jocks had managed to fly themselves from the glue-like grip of the tennis ball, in which they began helping Barry and the other pollen jock. Birds were chirping their nightly tunes, as the night remained vacant with no swaying movement from the grass; as the bees struggled to deattatch themselves from the tennis ball, the uncertainty and the stealthiness of the atmosphere around them was unsettling, particularly when you consider that there's a threat somewhere nearby.
Barry couldn't fly himself off the tennis ball, in which his attachment to it was reminiscent of the time he was stuck on a tennis ball that was being hit by Vanessa and Ken during their game of tennis. A pollen jock had flew over towards Barry to pull him off.
"You're still conscious, get off..." he said, pulling Barry off, before a large, thunderous step-like sound could be heard in the near distance.
All four bees looked behind themselves and to the left and right, realizing that they needed to get a move on.
"Come on, we need to get moving before whatever that was gets here..." the pollen jock added, gently yanking Barry off of the tennis ball.
Because the tennis ball had hit all the four bees directly, it had rendered their wings into a state where they were simply unfelt and tired-like; meaning they couldn't fly, and that also meant they were stuck on the ground for a bit. Their wings would eventually recover, but the gigantic impact of the tennis ball meant that their wings were simply unusable.
"Guys, what's the status?" a pollen jock asked, as they got together in a square-like shape.
"None of our wings are flying...I can't even feel mine..." another pollen jock responded.
"Bugger..." Barry said, as his wings too felt like they weren't there.
The four bees all took in a deep collection of air; they had to risk their lives at this point; they were vulnerable, stuck on the ground, with that threat closing in on them. They needed to get moving.
"Alright, the others shouldn't be too far from here, let's move out, guys..." a pollen jock said, lifting up his yellow arm to talk into his hand phone to the others.
"Get your stingers ready, last resort..." he added.
As all their stingers were more out, unveiling a shiny-like appearance from them, Barry was actually quite nervous; he was now having to walk in a dark, abandoned-like park with what is clearly two unknown humans in the vicinity as the threat; it felt like he was being followed. If you were in a dark field at night, and somebody was amongst the huge collection of trees in said field, stealthily watching you? That's exactly the creepy feeling Barry was feeling at the moment, but if any of them could fly, that feeling would be eradicated.
"Attention, guys, this is Barry's group, we can't fly, we're vulnerable, we're gonna hopefully find you all, but at the moment, it'll take some time for us to be in a position where we can safely wait for you...hopefully you hear this..." the pollen jock said.
"Waiting for them safely? I haven't felt this apprehensive in ages..." Barry said, in response to the pollen jock's message to the other group.
The four vulnerable bees were now on the park path, so they managed to get a clear view of all the tall green grass, but as they walked further along the path in their tiny, miniature bee sizes, movement could be sensed and heard approaching their direction quite rapidly, and one of the pollen jocks sensed this.
This particular moment, where they could feel movement, felt like, again, being in a dark field at midnight, but imagine if you saw a flashlight at the far end of said field, revealing that a stranger, possibly with dangerous intentions, is in the field with you, with that stranger pointing that white flashlight at you as they run at you, giving you a fight-or-flight sense? That's what this moment of hearing movement felt like for the bees.
"Guys, movement coming from the east..."
"Get under that grass, MOVE IT..." a pollen jock stated, as the four bees started running for the grass to hide their miniature bodies from the upcoming threat.
Suddenly, two gigantic bikes had raced by the bees BARELY; both humans had white beekeeper costumes on, but one of them had a flashlight on their bike handles; the bees instantly noticed the beekeeper costumes. The wheels of the bikes emitted a thick, loud, thud colliding with the ground, giving the bees an intimidating shiver, but they got over it; they now know that there's two humans, but said humans didn't see the bees, so they tried to keep their cool and move away from the humans as they sped past their yellow and black bodies.
"Alright, let's move..." one of the pollen jocks said, with one of the humans stopping on their bikes at the tennis ball the bees had just gotten off.
This human was basically directly behind them.
As they could the human behind them walk towards the tennis ball to study it, they ever so slowly continued to walk away, before seeing yet another godzilla sized white figure covered in a beekeepers costume, prompting them to drop to their pollen jock uniforms belly first to hide.
"We're here bees, hahahahahahahaha..." Andy said to himself, with Barry and the pollen jocks hearing him; Barry thought he recognized that voice, but he nodded it off to hide for his survival.
"Hold up, we've got company..." a pollen jock said, in reference to another beekeeper (seemingly) and this one was DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THEM.
"Hey Ken, I don't think you threw this correctly?" Andy said, picking up the tennis ball.
"K-Ken?! Wait, that's Ken!-" Barry whispered, but the pollen jocks had placed their hands over Barry's mouth.
"SHHH!" they subsequently said.
Barry was puzzled; why was KEN here, at night, in a beekeepers costume? Unless...Barry's internal fears came true; was Ken apart of the threat to harm the hive? Barry's been wanting to talk to Ken, but with the guy acting like this, Barry didn't know if it was smart to do that at the moment. He was genuinely shocked to see Ken here, of all times.
Ken walked DIRECTLY OVER THE FOUR BEES towards Andy, to study the tennis ball that he had thrown before. It's only been about twenty seconds since Andy and Ken had rode here, and Barry's already had a bunch of close calls with them; this was dangerous, to put it lightly.
"I didn't, did you see that throw that I did? It hit all four of em, I was precise in my attempt, clearly?" Ken replied.
"Yeah but they've gone...we might've hit em, but they've probably flown away..."
Barry had gathered even more information; Ken himself threw that tennis ball just now, the one that's led to his wings, alongside the wings of the pollen jocks, to be unusuable. Barry's heart was racing; the ex-boyfriend of Vanessa was truly behind all of this, but why? The only thing Barry could remember on the spot was Ken's clear unhappiness at his presence with Vanessa, and that time where Ken had tried to kill Barry himself in the toilet room; maybe that was the key to why he was doing this? Either way, Barry knew that there was no talking to Ken that could be done; he and his pollen jock pals simply had to escape.
"Silly bees, I thought they'd be less wild and more...I dunno?" Ken said, "especially that Barry..."
"Kid, these guys know you?!" one of the pollen jocks whispered to Barry.
"I uh, yeah, it's a long story..." Barry said.
"Wow..." the pollen jock replied.
"Do you want this tennis ball, Kenneth?" Andy asked.
"Nah, just drop it, we can continue-ARGH!" Ken yelled, at the sound of buzzing; it was Barry's other group of pollen jocks coming to the rescue.
"GUYS, WE'LL DISTRACT THEM, RUN AWAY, AND WE'LL LIFT YOU ALL UP IN A BIT!" a voice from one of the hand phones yelled.
Ken reached out for his bugswatter, but because he was trying to pull it out that fast, he was unable to think clearly; he forgot that his allergy to bees, DESPITE wearing a beekeepers costume, led to him panicking more than he needed to upon hearing them. Andy, forgetting a bugswatter for his own usage, ran off, having no other way of killing the bees. Both Ken and Andy ran off.
"Alright, we're clear..." the pollen jocks said.
"Let's move..."
Barry, standing up from the ground, as Ken and Andy evacuated, was still flabbergasted; he was definitely going to tell Vanessa about Ken's involvement.
Because Ken and Andy were so huge compared to the bees, all of Barry's groups couldn't afford leaving them without a distraction; they simply needed to get Ken and Andy to back away from the park. As a result, Barry and his own group had to continue walking on the ground, this time nearing another set of large grass. But as they walked, more steps could be heard, as if it was circling them, and then, the nightmare they had all dreaded emerged.
"BUGSWATTER AND FLASHLIGHT! GUYS, ACT DEAD!" the pollen jocks yelled, dropping to their bellies at the emergence of a white figure, carrying a medium-sized flashlight and an ELECTRICAL BUGSWATTER; the bees stayed ABSOLUTELY STILL. Ken stopped right next to the 'dead' bees, with his boot literally next to Barry's body; Barry's heart was racing at the reality that he could easily be electric-shocked to death from that swatter.
"Stay down...STAY DOWN..." they whispered, as Ken surprisingly didn't even see the bees right beneath himself; the beekeeper's mask had ruined his vision a bit.
The bees weren't moving at all because of that electrical bugswatter in Ken's hand; it was instant death if they get hit by it.
The bees could see the light from Ken's flashlight circle around the ground around them, and as the flashlight made slow turns, left and right, with Ken looking for bugs or any insects that were bees (even though his feet are literally next to bees, but again, he couldn't see them due to the beekeeper's hat ruining his vision slightly), anxiety was running rampant through the bees.
They could sense two large eyes looking over them, and the flashlight passing over their bodies had only enhanced that thought. Ken, though, luckily missed them, and he slowly started walking away towards a couple of trees; because Ken saw those bees (Barry's other group) fly around him just now, he was intent on searching for the hive up in the trees; he flashed his flashlight up at the branches as the bees on the ground had a clear view of his beekeeper figure.
"The human's moving away, let's go..." the pollen jocks said.
"Ken, I'm heading home. This is already becoming tedious for me, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"What? What're you talking about, we haven't even found the HIVE yet, and you're backing out?!" Ken said.
"I'm not wasting a whole night searching for bees. I said I'd help you in killing them so you can get your life back, but I didn't think it'd take this long...I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Y-Yeah," Ken sighed, secretly pissed off at Andy's cowardice ways, "see ya..." he said.
With Andy departing, Ken's intention of tracking the hive became a task for himself. Those bees he saw just now were gone, and now that he's by himself, he hasn't got that extra helping hand. But despite that, he REALLY wanted to get back at Barry for stealing Vanessa in particular, so he didn't want to give up.
Barry's parents had suddenly woken up; his mum stared up at the roof, but she had a strange feeling in herself; that her son wasn't at home, in the slightest; she nudged Barry's father to get up, as he too had that same feeling.
"I-Is Barry home? I just have that strange feeling that...-" she asked, before he interrupted.
"I feel the same...should we...check?" he asked Barry's mum, before the two flew out of their bed to check on Barry.
To their shock, Barry wasn't ANYWHERE; as they entered his room, though, they noticed that his pollen jock uniform was gone; he was outside, AT NIGHT, STILL? His parents genuinely were worried, and because of this, they had the intent of going out the hive, despite their tiredness, to look for Barry.
"I don't care, hun, I'm his mother, I need to find him..." she said.
"Who said I'm not going with you? Barry's in big trouble when we find him.."
"I mean, I know he has a job as a pollen jock, but THIS LATE at night? It's not happening..."
The two parents had bypassed the pollen jocks guarding the entrance and exit of the hive, they were that desparate to track their son and bring him back to safety. It felt weird for them to leave the hive for the dark, cold, vacant-like atmosphere of the empty, midnight park. They flew further away from the hive, before noticing a human flashing a light across the trees; they noticed him as a beekeeper, prompting them to consider this guy as a neutral human. After all, they had a courtcase together that solidified a bee and human companionship, evident by Barry and Vanessa, so Barry's parents had no worry in asking this stranger where their son was.
He was a beekeeper, too. Clearly, he specializes in bees. They flew over to him, with the mother intent on talking instead of the father. They were still tired, but intent on getting directions. The problem? This 'beekeeper' was the very guy who's been trying to find the hive to kill Barry and the bees; it was Kenneth.
"Uh, e-excuse me?!" Barry's mum yelled Ken, prompting Ken to jump out of fright at the voice.
"WHAT?! YOU...WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?! I'LL DESTROY YOU-" Ken yelled, about to lift up the bugswatter, before being interrupted by the surprisingly peace-like tone of Barry's mother, as she and Barry's dad remained flying on the spot.
"Sorry to disturb you, human, but we're really desperate...we're looking for a bee called Barry...we're his parents, and uh, we've just been worried...he wasn't meant to be outside for this long, do you know where he is?" she asked.
Ken's eyes widened; these bees were the parents of the very bee he wants to get revenge against, and what better way to do that than to take advantage of Barry's bee parents? Ken took off his beekeeper's hat, unveiling his intimidating-expression face. He reached down into his pocket, dropping his electrical bugswatter and flashlight briefly, to pull out the jar; he took the lid off of it and looked at Barry's parents.
"Oh yeah, I've seen him, but uh...pardon me, but I think THIS IS A 'CLOSED' SITUATION, WOULDN'T YOU AGREE?!" Ken said, rapidly waving the jar from below Barry's parents up to them, trapping them automatically inside it, before he slammed the lid shut.
"I'VE ACTUALLY GOT THEM! HAHAHAHAH! I HAVE HIS PARENTS! RATHER THAN TRYNA KILL HIS BEE COMPANIONS AND THE HIVE, I'M GONNA LURE HIM AWAY AND USE YOU GUYS AS MY BAIT..."
"OH NO?! LET US OUT! LET US OUT!" Barry's mother and father pleaded, slamming their bee arms against the glass.
Ken instantly ran away from the trees to get to his bike; he left the electrical bugswatter and flashlight on the ground; he's got no use for them anymore because he's got Barry's parents captured in his jar.
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU NEED US FOR YOUR ENVIRONMENT!" the parents yelled, with Ken pushing the jar against his ear to hear them yell.
"YOU'RE RIGHT, I DO NEED YOU, FOR I'VE FELT VERY...'TRAPPED' FOR A WHILE, HAHAHAHAHAHHA!" Ken laughed.
"Oh no...our son...OH NO..." Barry's father yelled, with the two of them crying in the jar at the thought that they'll never see their son again.
"OH NOOOOO!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" they yelled, as Ken placed the jar with them in his beekeeper's pocket.
"Guys, where has he gone?" the pollen jock asked, in reference to the two humans, as he and Barry's group were still unable to fly.
"I genuinely think we're clear...but stay sharp..." another pollen jock said.
"W-Wow...Ken's been trying to harm us...I've gotta tell Vanessa tomorrow..." Barry said to himself, still shocked at Vanessa's ex-boyfriend trying to harm him and his hive tonight.
But Ken's already harmed him; Barry just hasn't realized it yet. When he goes back to the hive to find out his parents are missing, things will truly take a turn for the worst.