Go school... yay...
Chapter 4 First Contact
Despite that he was sure that Alice didn't see him, Bone kept a paranoid eye behind him as the group went for the North Gate. Nico sat patiently by the gate, with a large chest full of supplies ready for long travel. You couldn't see it in his face, but he seems to be contemplating about something, then showing a face of anger. Assume which a grain of salt, that this is an act of revenge. A loss, of this, of one, important person, a figure, a human, a father. Made him blind to reality, he thinks that a group of children, all but one older than him, could exact his desire, to let his father rest in peace. Bone, pointed at him, signaling the rest of his little platoon to follow suit.
"Jo-san [good morning] Nico-chan!" The oblivious child always finds a way to make the people around her to smile in their darkest times with little effort. "Whatcha doing?" Standing up, Nico pushes the large chest to Rex and motions him to "go ahead."
"Why?" He'd ask obnoxiously. They know that this would spike an economic crisis to the cafe, and Nico really cares about both of his parents and their jobs, as they gave him the most support in the whole world due to his disability to speak. "Why go this far?" Rex asked in a commanding tone. The child wasn't acting his age here, that very same face where he showed anger but the feeling of revenge. Bone and Ji-gu grabbed the supplies without any questions, Bone was looking at Rex the entire time, tipping his chin to tell Rex to resupply too. Resist. "We are just going to find out where our dad's went and then we're going home, you're over exaggerating on the supplies for something this dumb." Nico beamed. "Look, you're mom's job is going to need that more." Infuriated, Nico took the contents of the chest and stormed home, not taking the chest itself as he is not strong enough to break blocks without a tool.
"Can you be anymore of a jerk?" Bone asked towards Rex. The human was just about ready to punch his cousin. Ji-gu, in the other hand, was patting herself and looking around her in confusion.
"How am I holding stuff?" She asked.
Bone replied, with a shrug, "The world may never know." Rex went off through the North gate without warning the other two, turning back realizing that Bone is the only one with the map, and the only one who knows how to use one.
"We're moving people!" The other two stopped their bickering and followed, Ji-gu ran ahead of the group being the child she is. It wasn't enough that every time she takes a step when she runs, her large saggy hat would occasionally bounce up like there was a slime in there.
Seconds later, Cupa ran to the north gate to find an empty corner with a random chest near the Post Office. "Jeez, and I thought I was sneaky." She thought to herself. The sign on the door of the Post Office reads "closed" so Cupa immediately knew that asking them for any tips was a bad idea. Plus one of the guys who works there hits on her too much.
Trying to find a place to strap the diamond sword in, Rex looked over to his cousin who was staring at the map like it was a very difficult puzzle, which is for one thing hard to imagine for a scholar like Bone. "Where to?"
Bone handed Rex Nico's letter. "Look at the back." Rex flipped the paper around to find an "interesting" drawing of a cliff and jungle.
"Could've at least used a ruler."
Bone looked over, "Why would you use that word?"
"What?"
"'Ruler.'"
Rex shrugged. "Why my old man says that is beyond me." He stopped a bit to catch the sword that was just about to fall off of his back.
The little girl turned around, now walking backwards, asked, again, the most appropriate question for someone her "age." "What's a 'ruler?'"
Bone replied, now not taking his eyes off of the paper. "Someone who controls people or things." Ji-gu smiled in confirmation before turning back towards where they were heading. "Looks like we're going to Miss Widow's cave."
"Yee-ba? [Mixture of Yee-yee and Ba-ba with both means Auntie]"
"Yes Ji-gu," Rex replied, tired from the thought of having to go see Miss Widow again. She loves to play with Ji-gu and Nuisance always scares his mother, and Miss Widow encourages Nuisance to do so. "But we're just passing by to find daddy, alright?" Ji-gu nodded with another smile, and turned to see a sheep up on a cliff. It was then that Rex noticed that they were not going to Miss Widow's cave. "Bone, where are we going?"
"There are three markers moving North-East, North-West from us. Could be our dads."
Rex looked over just before they were beyond the map's perspective. "Looks like they're going the same path as the underground railway your dad made."
"My dad made an underground railway?" Bone stared at the huge mountain biome he was staring at this entire time. "Makes sense." He placed the map back into his inventory, since his hands got tired holding the piece of paper up to his face. "I wonder when did he make that?" He moved up to Ji-gu to tap on her head. "Hey, we're going this way." He said lightly.
Ji-gu nodded again and turned.
Rex stared at Ji-gu's cheek for a moment. "What's in your mouth?"
"Nuffin'" She replied back. Rex grabbed her by the arm and held his hand up by her mouth.
At first she refused to cooperate. "No eating while walking." Rex said in a voice similar to Mr. Lee's tone. Almost tearing up, she spitted out a bite-sized brown ball.
Bone stared at the ball. "Chocolate?" Rex dropped it on the ground and wiped his hand on his jeans. "Where did you get chocolate?"
"In the box thingy." She replied, now really looking like she's about to cry.
Bone looked in his inventory. "I never found any chocolate."
Rex crouched to Ji-gu's level. "Did you hoard all of the ch-"
Before he was able to finish the sentence, Ji-gu pulled her hat over her eyes and began crying, sobbing out an occasional "sorry."
"Crud..." Rex turned around and pulled the sobbing girl onto his back. "Okay, we're going to Miss Widow's."
Bone shrugged. "Fine, whatever." He's actually tempted to tickle both Rex and Ji-gu. Rex because he wants to prank him and cause him to drop Ji-gu, and Ji-gu just to make her feel better. But he know's it would lead to him being in a state of near death.
When they arrived, Ji-gu was wiping her eyes and were red, or red-er since her irises ARE red. They found a hole within the stone tunnel where light was radiating.
"Miss Widow!" Bone called out into the surprisingly modern-like home. A short, purple haired woman looked up from her book and propped herself on her chair. "How are you Miss Widow?"
Widow yawned a bit. "Why are you guys here?"
"We want access to the rails, if you could, please." Rex said after propping Ji-gu up. Widow stood up from her seat and patted the wrinkles of her security uniform. She saw Ji-gu and attempted to make her feel better. "Miss Widow, please?"
She sighed and lifted Ji-gu off of Rex's back. "Hai." She replied with a huge hint of tiredness. Widow entered a room next to the entrance. You would guess her time of constantly dealing with constant traders would be perfect for Widow's outgoing personality. Rex looked around the home to find a confiscation box.
TNT, splash potions, even a small sized knife that Ji-gu could hold easily. There was a sound of pistons moving outside of the entrance; the opening for the tunnel was opened.
"Hey," a voice whispered. Rex turned to see his cousin peeping through the entrance of the home. "check this." He disappeared from the hole and Rex followed. He turned the corner and his jaw was on the floor. He heard footsteps coming from the entrance. Bone quickly moved to cover Ji-gu's eyes. Widow's eyes widened at the sight.
"What the..."
Rex replied with a commanding tone. "Get her back inside Miss Widow." She picked up Ji-gu and quickly went back inside the home. "Okay Knuckle-head, I hope you don't mind dealing with this." They stared at the entrance of what could of been a highly maintained stone tunnel. At the very beginning of the torch ridden track lay bodies of zombies, creepers, and the scattered bones of skeletons. Some of the bodies have signs of a deadly fight, open cuts revealing the insides of their bodies, arrow punctures, broken limbs, heavy bruises, even severed limbs. A hole has been blown open on the right of the tunnel which proves that they were not attacked by surprise. "We have to push them into the hole." He said, kicking a creeper's severed head down the ravine below. Bone dragged a corpse of a zombie into the hole as a form of agreement. As they began to dispose of the bodies, Rex wondered of the three markers on the map as well as the bodies. Surely their pacifist fathers who spends most of their time doing nothing but their work couldn't possibly kill this many mobs. Bone's dad sure since he's a blacksmith (and the town representative), but Rex's old man spends most of his time farming and collecting resources and Ji-gu's father always being in his library or in the town hall. Surely they can't do much against, what? 31 zombies, skeletons, and creepers.
"Found something." Bone said as he tossed the last zombie in the hole. He reached for an item on the ground, but as he just touched it, it turned into a dark green and blue orb. "What the...?" Rex picked the orb up without any hesitation. He think he knows what it is, the orb that his father keeps talking about when he talks about the times before The Wall was built. Rex shook his head and placed a finger over his mouth.
"Not a word about it."
Bone nodded, he either knows what's going to happen or he's going to get punched by Rex if he didn't listen. "Miss Widow, we cleared up the place." When she emerged from the doorway, she was hugging Ji-gu around her neck and checking the surroundings. "I'm going inside to fix the rails and the hole." Bone added, with a small wink to Rex, who eyed him a look.
Still worried about accidentally scarring Ji-gu, Widow was still looking around the area for any more horrid sights. "How do you think that happened?" Rex shrugged.
Bone called out from through the doorway. "Okay, could someone help me carry this?" Rex responded first.
Then he spots Bone with most of the contents of the confiscation box. "Really?" Rex muttered.
"What?"
When the two repaired the tunnel in hopes to catch up with the 3 dots, Widow announced her plan of action in regards to the situation. "I suggest we don't use the carts and walk to the end."
"Wait, hold on!" Rex was partially infuriated. "You're saying that the rest of the tunnel is damaged?"
She only shrugged. "It's just a guess, I don't want you guys getting hurt or falling down a hole. I'm just going to walk with you guys."
"You're just saying that so you could hang out with Ji-gu more, don'tcha?" Rex smirked at his own statement. Widow mumbled something under breath. "Well let's get going then..." He was expecting to get this search over with so they could all get home. "At least this way we could fix the rest of the tunnel for the people in the future."
"That's new," Bone whispered in Rex's ear. "I never expected you to be the caring type."
"It's called I don't want to hear this from Ji-gu or her parents."
Despite that she wanted to protect the three kids, Widow was in the back carrying Ji-gu as she played with her flute. Bone and Rex were up front, doing their best to not get bored out of their minds.
"Hey now that I think about it..." Bone said out of nowhere.
"What?"
"Do you know how to use that thing?" Bone pointed at the shiny blue sword his cousin is holding incredibly awkwardly. Rex, despite using both hands to hoist the sword, is holding it in the farthest end of the hilt- farthest from the blade.
"I've seen Auntie use a sword multiple times, I think I could easily copy her fighting."
"That diamond sword is a one hand sword, I highly doubt that a person-"
"Shut it!"
The girls in the back demanded that the two stop yelling at each other, despite that they had already stop talking by then. It was a long walk to the very end of the tunnel. The terminal was like the same as the other end, a wall and an opening for a checkpoint officer to speak through. A women who sat at the other side of the window bears the same uniform as Widow, except she seems to wear it in a far more mature manner. "Let me handle this." She said to the three as she let Ji-gu down on the ground. Widow walked up to the window and greeted the woman at the other side. The three collected themselves in the corner. Bone was trying to hand Ji-gu the knife he had stolen before-hand, saying that it would be best to let her have it since she would need to defend herself in case they were not around.
"But daddy said not to use those when I def-defend myself." She responded. Though some people would love to have an obedient child like her, Rex and Bone finds this case to be very unneeded at the time. Bone puts it back in his inventory when Widow returned. The wall next to them opened up as she began speaking.
"When you go back home, could you tell your daddy to ask someone to take care of the tunnel?" By the way she spoke, Rex could already tell that she was talking to Ji-gu. The little girl nodded.
Rex realized something. "Miss Widow, when did that women started working?" Widow went up to the women again and spoke, there were a few sets of giggles amongst the conversation. "You know what?" Rex was annoyed that he didn't get the answer directly and went up to the window. "'scuse me but I would like to know when did you get on that stand?"
The women looked at the right of her, where there is probably a clock. "I'd say around a sixth of a cycle, why?"
"Thank you." He replied back, neglecting the question. He nudges his head out towards the exit. "Let's go." Bone nodded and jogged around the corner of the cave, Ji-gu hugged Widow as she waved hello to the women in the checkpoint when she ran out of the cave. Something was bothering Rex, surely the three fathers could not have sneaked though the checkpoint two hours ago. He turned to the woman again. "Did three men came here before us?"
The women eyes widen slightly, then she looked slightly away from the boy. "Not that I know of..." She immediately turned to her purple haired co-worker and fumbled to strike up another conversation.
"That's all I needed to hear."
