Clunk had no idea where he was. It was dark, he was terrified and everyone had abandoned him. Cowards. Jerks. Imbeciles. It was all Garble and Crackle's fault. He was just along for the ride. But now he had no idea where Grunt was, where any of them where.
In fact he was pretty lost himself. He looked around. Somewhere on a farm he thought. An apple farm...hadn't they stalked Spike here once?
He honestly didn't remember, or care. The little creep had wandered a lot the past few days, and he couldn't be bothered to remember everywhere that he went.
Still he had to find the others soon. Grunt was probably broken down from the amount of grief that he had received in the past few hours. Spray painted, maced, beaten up, deafened. The poor fat moron.
Clunk paused beneath one of the trees. The fruit was full and firm, probably been hanging for a few days, trying to suck up as much of the good weather as possible. He didn't blame it. He reached up and pulled a fat one off of the stem, a thick bit of leaves and twigs came off with them. He ripped them off violently before taking a large bite.
He chewed appreciatively. His eyes lit up in enjoyment. He hadn't eaten something this sweet in weeks! The skin was soft and thin, yet it still had a firm satisfying crunch. On top of that the actual meat beneath the skin was juicy and a little bit of the liquid dribbled down his chin, he wiped at it with the back of his hand before taking another satisfied bite. Delicious.
The apples had to have some sort of secret, pesticides or growth hormones or something. He didn't think it would be possible to get something that tasted this good naturally. Organic farms always boasted all natural just like God or the weather intended, but he was savvy enough to know that they were pumping weed killer on top of all of that.
At least these apples were fresh from the tree, no plastic sheen over them yet. He took another appreciative bite. Chewed aggressively and swallowed. Over half of the apple was gone. He became bored with that one and plucked another from another low hanging branch. He bit through the skin and chewed it up. He wished that he had something to carry them in, he would use his shirt but that would be too much effort.
He hefted the half eaten apple in one hand, he then turned and whipped it at a nearby tree where it splattered. Like hurling a ripe egg. These things would make great sauce. Clunk chortled at the thought, it wasn't really funny but right now he needed something to laugh about. And if it wasn't applesauce than it had to be something.
He continued walking through the orchard. He would follow a path until he found the road back to town. Just follow that and he would find the others. Than it would be back to the squat and wait until Garble came up with a new plan.
Clunk didn't like the current plan, in fact he thought that it was really stupid. Sure Spike was a rat, but what should he care? He did his time, not as long as Garble certainly but so what? Just move on and forget about it.
A light came on in the darkness ahead. A farmhouse, a barn and a few smaller outlying buildings came into view. Someone was rushing around inside. He couldn't hear anything specific but he could make out a few words being tossed around. Clunk waited in the shadows of one of the trees. Finally a girl came to the doorway pulling on a hat.
She looked frantic, also familiar. She called something over her shoulder and an old woman and possibly the third biggest guy Clunk had ever seen in his life came to the doorway. The woman waved the girl away. She blew a kiss but did not bother to slow down.
Clunk recognized her finally, a friend of Spikes or something like that. He had seen her at that school. She was getting on a bike and pedaling, it was old and rusty, also clearly a boys bike. She rode it down a driveway and out onto a road. She hooked a left, back the way Clunk had come. She must have been going back to town.
Clunk slowly began to go back into the orchard. He stepped on something and a crack reverberated through the entire woods. He looked down at the broken dry tree branch. The woman in the doorway froze and slapped at the bigger boys arm.
"BIG MAC!" She cried out in alarm. "There's a critter in the orchard!"
"Eyup." The boy said before turning to go back inside, presumably to get some sleep. The old woman glared at him for a moment.
"Well go on and get it!" Big Mach sighed but he left the opening and walked into the yard, he went to a stump, sticking out of it was a large axe, with one hand he grasped it and pulled the entire thing free, he plopped it onto his shoulder and began walking towards Clunk.
Clunk was petrified, if he moved he would be spotted and hunted down. His safest bet was just to wait.
"You try and find it, I'll get the shotgun." The old woman called after the slowly approaching behemoth.
Clunk chose to forget this craziness and made a break for it. He heard the whistle as the axe was thrown and ducked just low enough that it didn't decapitate him. A gun shot rang out in the night and all he was concerned about now was running as far away from these crazy people as he possibly could get.
And maybe hopefully find Grunt and the others.
Between school and regular life stuff, my next few chapters might be sporadic. Sorry in advance. In the meantime, let me know what you think of the story so far! It'd mean a lot to me! Thanks!
