The day began innocently enough. Most of us awoke rather early the next day for some reason. Since our explorers felt like sleeping late, Ashley, Caitlin, Nadya, Sobek, and Danielle went out to explore and record the area surrounding the treehouse. The rest of us simply milled about in the early morning hours until the expedition finally appeared one by one.
Marguerite was the first up. "Oh damn." She said stumbling in to the kitchen. "I hate being the first up and making breakfast." She said, probably contemplating returning to her bed. "You weren't the first up." Said Tigs from behind her. Marguerite turned around, startled and screamed when she saw 10 people around the usually empty table. "Who are you?" she gasped. "Ummmm…we came yesterday, remember?" put forth Rissy. "Oh, of course." Marguerite remembered, still a bit shaken.
Marguerite's scream had awakened the others, who came running in. "What happened, Marguerite?" asked Roxton, pistols drawn. "Just our friends from the future." Sighed Marguerite. "Now now, Marguerite, you must remember to be polite and not forget guests." Said Lord Roxton as he holstered his pistols. "Someone's liable to be shot that way." "Thanks for the tip, but perhaps you should remember that the next time you run in here waving your guns around." Roxton gave her a fake smile and asked "What's for breakfast?" "Cereal or eggs and bacon." Replied Lisa. "REAL eggs and REAL bacon?" asked Marguerite who was suddenly in much better spirits. "I should hope they are." Said a surprised Lisa. "Who or what is 'Cap'n Crunch'?" questioned Challenger. "Probably some bloody American naval hero." Said Roxton as he scooped up some eggs. "You should be talking, Admiral Nelson." teased Malone as he entered the room. "Actually," began Kimmy, "it is a flavored granular bi-product, meant to appeal to children." Everyone in our group glared at her when she said "appeal to children", as half of us were eating it. "Interesting." He said, inspecting the contents label.
"If you don't mind," started Challenger after breakfast, "could you tell us how you got here? Why you are here?" "Yes." Said Roxton suddenly wary of us. "Why ARE you here?" "It's a long story." Said CalGal trying to avoid a lengthy conversation. "Please, tell us the entire thing." Said Challenger with a solemn face. "Go ahead and tell the man." I urged. "We have nothing to hide." CalGal agreed. "Okay, but you asked for it." She said as she began our tale.
"And now we are here." CalGal ended 10 minutes later. "A time machine?" questioned Challenger. "Fascinating." "So you come from 2001?" asked Malone. "Yes indeed." Said Lex. "And you've come to rescue us?" he continued. "Yes." Repeated Lex. "Because you saw us in a moving picture box?" said a mystified Roxton. "It's called a television, but yes, you are correct." "So would you be taking us back to London in our time, or back to your time?" asked Malone, finishing his questioning for the moment. CalGal looked at the rest of us, searching for answers. She found none. "Back with to our time, from what I can gather." She stated.
Before anyone could comment on this, a shot rang out. The bullet hit a jar next to Roxton's head. Everyone grabbed for their guns and ducked instinctively. The next shot hit some books on the bookshelf on the other side of Roxton's head as he ducked too. The torrent of books fell on Malone, who crumpled to the ground. Most of us finally regained our sense and cautiously peered outside of the treehouse from the balcony. "Where is the shooter?" I called out while taking cover behind one of the wooden supports and trying to peek outside at the same time. "He must be on your side." Yelled ASIG from the opposite side. "I see him!" cried Sarah who was looking through a pair of binoculars. I glanced him briefly a few seconds later through my scope, but all I caught was a flash of khaki. "Damn!" I exclaimed. "He's gone!"
Marguerite hurried over to Roxton. "Are you alright?" she asked, very concerned. "Yes." He said as he got up. "But whoever that was made me spill my tea." Veronica was hunched over Malone. "He's unconscious." She said in a worried tone. "ASIG!" I called. "Break out the AK-47s. CalGal, take a head count." As Challenger, Marguerite, and Roxton picked up their guns, Roxton asked, "What is an AK-57?" "It's –47." I corrected as I ran about and checked everyone's ammo. "and I'll tell you all you want to know later." I finished. Just then CalGal ran up to me and said, "Everyone is here except the ones who went out earlier." "OH NO!" I cried. "I forgot about them! Ummm…ASIG, Eva, Tigs and Rissy, come with me. CalGal, you are still in charge at the treehouse." "Everything will be fine here. Just get everyone back safely." She said as we boarded the elevator. "Will do!" I said. Then we went down.
"Now where would they go?" I asked aloud when we hit the bottom. "I'd guess down the path." Said ASIG. "Sounds good." I replied, and we ran down the path. After running for a short time, we came upon Ashley who was lying in the path.
Rissy shook her awake. "What happened?" she asked. Ashley groaned, then wobbled to her feet. "We were looking at a tree or something, when some guy in a khaki cape and pith helmet came up behind us and asked us to drop our weapons and come with him. I tried asking him some questions, when he suddenly yelled 'You talk too much!' to me and hit me with his gun butt in the head." "Well, he left your guns behind." Said Eva holding up Ashley's pistol belt and shotgun. "He was very polite." Ashley said. "Maybe he didn't want to leave me out here unarmed."
Since it seemed obvious we couldn't catch up with him that day, we went back to the treehouse. Before I went up, I looked around where the man had been and found two empty cartridges. When I got upstairs, Ashley was telling her story to everyone. After she finished, I spoke up and said, "I just found these outside." "What are they?" asked Christina. ".577NE empties." I responded. "So?" she asked quizzically. "So whoever that was came prepared for large game." I said. "Okay." Started CalGal. "Let me get this straight. We are dealing with a well armed, polite man, wearing a cape and a pith helmet?" "Sounds like a deranged lawn-care worker." Said ASIG. Roxton's face had paled when he heard the run down by CalGal. "What's wrong, John?" Marguerite asked. "I…I know who this man is!" Roxton revealed.
