Chapter 8

There was nothing left to hold Calla back, and so she ran. She ran with absolute purpose and with only one goal in mind; to put as much distance as she could manage between herself and the river before she was caught. The climb back up the hill to the road had been very difficult. Her throat burned and her chest felt like was about to explode but she ran on regardless, driven more by her feelings than her strength. In the end the dogs would catch up to her, and their handlers would retake her as their prisoner before dragging her back to Gran's twisted idea of a future Earth; but until they did, she would run.

Driving herself onwards was also supposed to be a distraction for her. Considering what she would face in the weeks and months to come, the last thing Calla wanted to do was dwell on the boy she had just lost.

Back at the river, the two Gate Guards continued their pursuit. Much to the men's annoyance, the first place the dogs lead them to was the water's edge.

"Dammit; it's too cold to go in there" one of them complained.

"You wanna tell Gran we let the other girl get away because you didn't wanna get wet; do ya Stan?" the other admonished.

"No Oliver" Stan said as he stepped into the water.

While the men had been arguing, they had failed to notice the tracking dogs had left the river bank and were now sniffing around behind Oliver.

"Wait a minute; they've picked up the scent."

Not wanting to lose any time, Oliver grabbed the lead of Stanley's dog and allowed both animals to lead him back up the hill; thus leaving the other poor man behind to shake the freezing water from his boots while cursing, Blue, Calla, Abigail, the dogs, Oliver and all aspects of life in general. Naturally the dogs lead them all the way back to the road. But instead of following the easy path along the dirt track, the scent took the dogs into the deep forest on the other side.

"Damn these kids are smart" Oliver mumbled to himself.

He had no doubt in his mind about his dog's ability to find their quarry, but tracking through the dense, scented pine forest would be much slower than just following the road. As he made his way methodically through the wood, Stanley finally managed to catch up and retrieve his dog from Oliver. The pair continued on for another five kilometres before they received an obvious clue, telling them they were getting close.

"RUN BLUE, RUN! THEY'VE ALMOST GOT ME!" a girl's voice echoed in the trees.

The last thing Calla wanted was for her pursuers to realise Blue was not with her, and she hoped pretending to call out to him would throw them off.

A few minutes later, the two men found Calla half leaning on a fallen log, gasping for breath.

"Okay... I give up" she panted.

After handing his dogs lead to Stanley, Oliver went and grabbed Calla's left arm just below her shoulder, and dragged her to her feet.

"Which way did the boy go? TELL ME!" he demanded.

"If you want to marry me when I grow up, I suggest you ask nicely" Calla smirked.

Both men cursed, knowing full well she was just making fun of them.

'

'

Abigail was mildly surprised with Eric. He normally wasn't the type to sit and sulk silently, but now he was clearly upset.

"I don't know why you're so cranky" she stated "after all, you caught me didn't you?"

Eric looked at the young girl with daggers in his eyes, but said nothing. Abigail let the awkward silence hang in the air a little longer before she spoke again.

"After all, you surely can't be surprised we tried to escape. When you consider..."

"YOU PUT ALL OUR LIVES AT RISK; WHAT KIND OF IDIOT TRIES TO FLEE WHEN THERE'S A METEOR ABOUT TO ENTER THE ATMOSPHERE?"

"Now now, settle down" Abigail begged, making Eric even angrier.

"Selfish little brat" he mumbled

"I mean seriously, how were we supposed to know it wasn't just a drill?"Abigail defended herself.

"Gran knew" Eric stated.

"Well she never told me. And what is her real name anyway? She's no more a grandmother than I am the Queen of Bulgaria."

Eric fell silent once again, continuing to stew in his anger until three figures appeared in the road ahead. He stood and looked down at Abigail with a smirk of satisfaction.

"Looks like we've caught another one" he said smugly.

"They caught another one" Abigail noted "You've just been sitting here on your butt feeling sorry for yourself."

Eric pretended not to hear the comment, even so something wasn't right. Why would Stanley and Oliver both bring the girl back?

"Shouldn't one of you be tracking down the boy?" he asked them when they arrived.

Oliver just shrugged while Calla smiled in a disturbing way.

"I don't know why but the dogs couldn't pick up the scent" Stanley said.

"I told you why" Calla offered.

"Oh shut up" Oliver barked "He did not turn into a dragon and fly away."

"Blue's half magic on his mother's side; didn't you know that?" Calla smirked at her own joke.

'Dragons' Calla thought to herself; wouldn't it be good to have a few mythical creatures like those on her side.

"So what do we do now?" Eric asked.

"We go back" Oliver declared "It'll be dark in less than an hour so we'd better get these two locked up for the night. If Gran gives the order, in the morning we'll go to the place where we first caught them. The kid may be trying to find the old guy in the weird machine."

"His name is DeGroot" Calla noted "and he's not that old."

"To be fair though, he does look old" Abigail nodded.

"Hmm, s'pose" Calla shrugged.

Calla had spent a lot of her time zigzagging through the forest. So now they were all back on the road, it only took them a little over half an hour to get back to the compound surrounding the tunnel entrance; but what they found there was not what they had left. From a distance the landslide had looked dangerous; up close they all saw it was devastating. Falling rocks had destroyed two buildings and damaged most others, as well as the wall across the canyon. Calla and Abigail would certainly not be spending the night locked in their room, for the tunnel entrance was now completely buried under massive pyramid of dirt, rock and fallen trees.

"Oh... my... God!" Calla gasped.

A terrible gloom hung in the air as the group slowly stepped forward and examined the pile. None of them felt able to talk as they took in the scene of devastation rising up before them. Oliver sank to his knees, unable to stand and unable to fathom the unbelievable sight he faced. The work of his past now lay in ruins, along with his planned future.

"I suppose... you may as well go then. See if you can find your friend" he said in a very weak voice.

"Go; what do you mean?" Calla wondered.

"Go as in leave! Go to wherever the boy is headed. Isn't that what you wanted?" Oliver said tersely.

"Actually it's about time we all got to work I'd say" Calla replied.

"Wha... what are you talking about?" Eric looked at the young girl as if she had just suggested he eat his own face.

"What do you think I'm talking about? We've got to get everyone out of there" she gestured to the tons of rubble concealing the tunnel entrance. "Sure we want to leave, but we're not just gonna abandon all those people."

"DON'T BE STUPID!" Stanley barked "they're... dead...they're all... dead."

"I highly doubt that" Abigail said in a matter-of-fact manner.

Stanley threw his arms in the air and stomped around if a half circle.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? NO ONE COULD SURVIVE BEING BURIED UNDER ALL THAT!" he gestured violently to the place where the tunnel once was.

"On the contrary; the tunnel was hewn from some very solid rock strata and wherever there were cracks or fissures, proper bracing had been installed" Abigail informed them.

"Oh really?" Oliver hissed as he got to his feet again "And what make you such an expert about all this? Are you some kind of geology professor or something?"

His words cut deep, and he found out just how deep when Abigail picked up a fist sized rock and hurled it at the angry man.

"I STUDIED UNDER A VERY BRILLIANT PROFESSOR!" she snapped "at least... I did till he was murdered."

"You should listen to her" Calla interrupted "I felt really nervous about that tunnel when we first arrived here, but Blue and Abby made me feel better about it by explaining about how well built it was, no matter how rough it looked. They told me about the rock structure and how it was made to withstand the constant vibrations from several freight trains per day back when it was first constructed."

"And how did you know they weren't just making it all up?" Stanley sneered.

"My brother and I had both spent our entire lives living underground; me on Mars and he in Sumatra. And when you live in a subterranean community, geology and tunnel construction are very important school subjects."

The three men looked to each other. They all wanted the hope Abigail offered, but found it hard to accept from a pretty little fourteen year old girl.

"We... we should try I suppose" Eric said, coming around somewhat.

"Good" Abigail rubbed her hands "We're gonna need wheelbarrows, spades, pickaxes... um... and some gloves would be good. Do you have any explosives?"

'

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Blue shivered as he made his way through the forest. He had managed to find a wide shallow section of the river a few kilometres downstream and had crossed back so he could try to find road gain. Nevertheless his clothes were still soaked from his earlier dunking, and he felt sure he was truly living up to his name.

The clouds continued to block the sun; so as it set in the early evening, finding his way became more and more difficult. Soon he could only continue slowly with his arms outstretched and waving back and forth. He was constantly stumbling and tripped several times until a few hours later, Blue finally fell onto the road he sought. To his left, the way back to the compound and the tunnel but to his right, well he could not really be sure.

Blue soon learnt that walking on the left side of the road was the most advantageous, for he could feel when the ground started to rise up beneath his feet while on the right side, he would occasionally step off the side and fall back into the forest. He walked on for the next several hours, still unable to see and unsure if he was even walking the right way. Sometime after midnight, exhaustion finally overcame Blue and he lay down on the verge of the road and lost consciousness.

And of course there were no pleasant dreams that night.

'

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Compared to the last place the dragon had stayed, this island was a vast improvement. The heat from the volcano made it a cosy place to rest, and the abundant schools of fish in the nearby bay only added to the level of comfort. Deep down inside, the dragon knew this was not the place he wanted to be, but right now he found it very easy to put aside all thought of moving on.

Now was the time to simply relax and gain a little weight.

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Hello everyone

One of the best things about writing this story is it keeps me from overdoing it on computer games. It hasn't stopped me from watching all 5 seasons of Steven Universe for the fourth time. I am looking forward to seeing the movie soon.

Thanks Vin for your little notes in the review section, and thanks again to all those reading. Back in a few weeks, Marty.