Enjoy:
Chapter Thirty-Six: A Hooded Hero
Bossman had the kids work on the roof for the rest of the day.
Just before the sun set, dark clouds began to roll across the sky.
Shortly after the clouds came in, Bossman sent all the kids back to the beach for the night…except for Dipper.
One of the guards pulled Dipper from the group and had him shine all thirty pairs of Bossman's dress shoes, many of which were filthy.
It took almost two hours for Dipper to finish the task.
And what made the whole ordeal worse was that for the entire two hours Dipper was polishing the shoes, Bossman watched as if it were a show. He even ate popcorn and laughed at Dipper's misery.
After Dipper finished the shoes, his wrists were tied together by a cargo rope and he was escorted back to the beach by two guards. One of them carried a lantern since it was near pitch black in the forest.
Then they were about halfway to the beach, one of the guards made a weird choking noise and fell to the ground.
Dipper looked over and saw that the guard who had fallen had an arrow sticking out of the middle of his back.
The other guard pulled out a gun, set down his lantern, and slowly turned, aiming the barrel of his gun into the darkness. "Who shot him? Reveal yourself now!"
The guard holding the gun suddenly made two choking noises as two arrows appeared in his chest. He fell onto his back.
Dipper gulped. He was alone, his wrists were still bound, and someone was hiding in the forest, shooting arrows at people.
Suddenly, a small person wearing a black cloak landed on the ground in the light of the lantern. The hood on the cloak was up, so Dipper couldn't see the face of the newcomer. He also noticed that one of the cloaked arms was in a sling while a crossbow was attached to the other arm.
"P-please don't hurt me," Dipper stammered.
The small cloaked figure reached into the sleeve of his sling arm and pulled out a knife and used it to cut the rope tying Dipper's wrists together.
"Follow me!" said the cloaked figure. The voice that had just spoken seemed to be altered by a voice modulator.
Nonetheless, Dipper picked up the fallen guard's lantern and followed the cloaked figure. The two of them ran through the forest until they arrived at the cabin in the woods.
"Why are we here?" Dipper asked once they stopped running.
"You'll see," the cloaked figure replied. He opened the door and entered the cabin.
The first things Dipper noticed upon entering the cabin was that Robbie, Lee, and Nate were sitting on the couch in the cabin's living room.
On the wall to the right of Dipper was a ten foot tall bookshelf and on the floor in front of it was a pile of weapons that consisted of mostly hand guns, a couple of rifles, a few crossbows, and some swords.
"Dipper?" said Robbie. "What are you doing here?"
"I was rescued."
"By who?" Lee asked.
"Me," replied the cloaked figure.
"Oh," said Robbie. "How did recon go?"
"It went well," the cloaked figure answered. "I was on my way back here when I saw some guards escorting Dipper by himself, so I took out the guards and brought him here."
Tambry entered the room from a doorway on the left wall, holding a tray of what looked like oven baked cookies.
Dipper did a double take. "Wait…you guys have cookies?"
Nate stood up and took a cookie from the tray. "Yeah dude. Thompson discovered a basement under this cabin with enough food to last the four of us for quite a while."
Dipper was shocked. "And you didn't think to share any of that with us? We were nearly starved back on the beach!"
Robbie shrugged. "Well, after that one time where you just wanted to 'search our cabin', we didn't feel the need to keep you in the know."
Dipper did not like that logic.
"Anyway," the cloaked figure said. "I think that if we take back the beach tonight, we'll have enough time to rally everyone up, storm Bossman's building, and find a way off this island before sunrise."
"Wait, why are you using a voice modulator?" Tambry asked.
"Because he doesn't know who I am," the cloaked figure said, gesturing to Dipper.
"Well, he's gonna find out at some point," Robbie said. "After all, I doubt your plan will work if you continue to hide your identity."
The cloaked figure sighed. "Fine." He turned to Dipper. "No matter who I am, I need you to trust me, okay?"
Dipper smiled. "You saved me from those guards. Why wouldn't I trust you?"
The cloaked figure hesitated before pulling down his hood to reveal his identity: Gideon.
Dipper's smile vanished as he processed who he was looking at. "Gideon? But I…I don't understand! You died!"
"Well, I faked my death," Gideon said after turning off his voice modulator.
Dipper crossed his arms. "Well duh! But…how?"
"Well, after you told me you wouldn't trust me while we were inspecting the bullet proof vests, I decided I had to keep you out of the loop of my plan," Gideon said. "When I went to go 'throw up', I ran into the bathroom the guard took me to while still holding the box that contained the bullet proof vest. I put the vest on under my shirt, then stuck my finger up my mouth and vomited into the empty box. Luckily, when the guard went inside to check after I was done, he took one look at the box and was too disgusted to recognize that the vest was gone.
"Then, when we were on the roof and I went to challenge the guard for the gun, I lost on purpose. Thankfully, the bullet proof vest shielded me from any damage the knife and bullets normally would have done to me."
"But you fell off the building," Dipper said. "How did you survive that?"
"I landed on my arm," Gideon said, gesturing to his sling. "After I fell, the guards put my body in a dumpster and after waiting an hour or so, I made my way to this cabin. After Tambry and Lee fixed up my arm, the three of us, Robbie, and Thompson snuck back to Bossman's building and went down to the massive storage area in the building's basement."
"Wait, that building has a basement with a weapons storage area?" Dipper said. "How did you know that?"
"I saw a sign about it in that arsenal room we once found," Gideon replied.
Dipper frowned. "How come I didn't see it when we were there?"
Gideon shrugged. "I dunno. But it was there that day when Bossman captured me."
Dipper didn't respond mainly because he was unsure how he felt about all of this.
"Dipper look, I know that in the past, I've done some things and I gave you every right not to trust me!" Gideon said. "But things are different now! I'm doing everything I can to fix my mess. But I can't do it alone. I'll need your help…and your trust."
Dipper bit his bottom lip. "I don't know…"
Gideon held out his hand. "Please! I'm begging you!"
Dipper hesitated before he took Gideon's hand and shook it. "Okay, fine. I'll help you. And you have my trust. But if you double cross me in any way, I will never believe a word you say ever again. You can trust me on that."
Next time on Lost at Sea, Dipper, Gideon and the teenagers return to the beach to take out the guards that are on watch there. But once everyone realizes Gideon is helping Dipper, the question of "Can Gideon be trusted" arises. Can Gideon earn back the trust of the rest of the yacht kids? Find out in Chapter 37: Taking Back the Beach
~Jameer14