Chapter 2
Exiles or no exiles?
As Bobby and Patrick stepped onto Third Earth they saw nothing but flying debris and dirt all around them. They stood there confused. Wherever they were, it was quiet and it didn't help that they couldn't see. If someone were to sneak up behind them right now, they would never know it was coming.
"So," Patrick said, "which way should we go?"
"I don't know," Bobby replied. "I thought you would know. This is your territory after all."
"Yeah, but there has been a few changes."
"Well then, let's do this. We'll just walk forward until we find something."
They took a few steps forward. Suddenly, to the right of them, they heard a sound. They stopped in their tracks. The noise sounded like a quack or maybe a caw. They couldn't place it, but they stood ready to face whatever it was. The sound was getting closer and closer until, finally, it approached them. What they saw wasn't big and scary… it was small and friendly; a cute, harmless penguin. It waddled towards them and when it was directly in front of them, it looked up at them, cawed, then continued waddling. Bobby and Patrick just gazed at it and watched as is waddled into the flying dust and debris until it disappeared.
"That was weird," Patrick said.
"Yep," was Bobby's short reply.
"So, I guess that means the zoo's destroyed."
"… Yep…"
"Shall we continue?"
"It would be for the best."
After that little experience they continued walking straight into the dust.
What was only a twenty minutes of walking, that seemed liked hours, they found nothing. They never even had a break from the dust. It was starting to get to their eyes and they coughed a few times as it filled their lungs. This couldn't be healthy. They soon became startled when they heard a noise behind them. They turned around quickly.
"Please tell me that was the penguin," Bobby begged.
"I don't think a penguin makes a continuous, mechanical sound Bobby."
"Well, it sounds pretty far away, so maybe we'll be ok."
That's when they heard an explosion. It was far away, but a little too close for comfort.
"Maybe we should get outta here," Bobby said simply, but with a hint of nervousness.
"Agreed."
They ran the way they were headed before, but they were still hearing explosions and it seemed like someone was shooting at them.
"Keep running! Don't stop!" Patrick yelled over the blasts.
"Believe me! I wasn't planning on it!"
They continued to run a little more until BAM! They ran straight into a wall. They fell backwards and gazed up. The wall looked to be about eight feet tall and six feet wide. Not a very big place at all.
"Well… this is random," Bobby said, "and why do I keep running into walls?"
"Shh. Do you hear that?" Patrick asked.
Bobby listened. "The explosions stopped."
"Why do you think they stopped so suddenly?"
"I don't know, but I do know that we're not going to get blown up." Bobby then heard a click of a trigger by his ear. "… But then again…"
"On your feet," a woman's voice demanded.
Bobby looked up at the woman and yeah, she was holding an army gun. She was beautiful with deep, blue eyes and short, blonde hair that went down to her shoulders, but she was also very dirty. Her clothes looked like everyday clothes… torn and dirty everyday clothes that is.
"She said, 'on your feet,'" a man demanded next to Patrick.
This guy looked the same as the woman with torn, dirty clothes and pretty much dirty all together, but he was very muscular. Bobby thought that even with his warrior training he would have a hard time bringing this guy down. To make it even more interesting, he was holding the same kind of gun as the woman; which was pointed at them. The guy was rugged with army cut, brown hair and intense, hazel eyes.
Bobby and Patrick did as they were told. Getting shot really wasn't on their 'to do' list. The man and woman moved behind them and poked their guns into Bobby's and Patrick's back.
"Move," the man demanded.
Again, Bobby and Patrick did as told. The man and woman had them go around the corner of the wall; which Bobby and Patrick now realized was a wall from a building. The front of the building wasn't too long, only six feet wide too, but this side had the entrance and that's where they were being led.
There wasn't much inside. Only a table surrounded by three chairs, two chairs at a radar system, and what looked like a trap door in the ground. The place was dirty, like everything else seemed to be, but at least it had a hard wood floor. Bobby was getting tired of walking on dirt.
"Sit at the table," the woman barked.
Bobby and Patrick sat down and just stared up at their captors, waiting for questioning. The man and woman walked over to a corner of the room and started whispering things back and forth to each other.
Bobby leaned over to Patrick and whispered, "See, I told you we wouldn't get blown up."
"You're right, but we did get kidnapped," Patrick whispered back.
"True… but maybe they know something about the exiles."
"You think?"
"The only way to know is to ask."
The man and woman had finished talking and walked over to their prisoners.
"Are you part of Ravinia?" the man asked with intensity.
"Not at all," Bobby replied innocently. "We're on your side."
"How do we know we can trust you?" the woman asked with the same intensity as the man.
Bobby held out his arms and Patrick knew what he was doing so, he rolled up his sleeves and mimicked Bobby.
"Do you see the Ravinian star on us?" Bobby asked.
"Well, no," the man said, "but we've never seen you before. You could still be lying."
Patrick stood up and looked at his captors directly in the eyes. Using his powers of persuasion he said, "Please believe us. We mean you no harm. We're here to help you in any way we can."
The man and woman stared at him blankly, looked at each other, and then smiled.
"We believe you," the man said looking back at Patrick.
At that moment, Bobby really wished that he could perfect that power. He was never really good at it. Then, far away, they heard the explosions again.
"What's going on?" Bobby asked. "Are we under attack?"
"Not yet," the man said, "but we're getting ready. Those are our tanks out there. We've just finished fixing them and now a few of our people are out there testing them out. Sorry if we scared you a while ago with the explosions. We picked you up on the radar and figured you were Ravinian spies that we've been getting. So, we radioed our people and told them to scare you into running to our hideout."
"Well… that explains a lot," Bobby said simply to Patrick.
"If you two aren't Ravinians and are not one of our people, then who are you?" the woman asked.
"We're just people who are here to help," Bobby said with a smile, "but also to find a large group of people."
"Really? Like who?"
"The exiles."
The man and woman looked at each other confused.
"Exiles?" the man asked.
"Yeah, maybe there were other people who you've never seen before, who are also not Ravinians, but are probably from somewhere else?"
"You mean like another territory?" the woman asked.
"Yes, exactly."
"Well… no, we haven't," the man said shaking his head.
Patrick looked at Bobby disappointed. "So, I guess they're not here."
Bobby shrugged and said with the same disappointment, "guess not."
Yet, Bobby knew they still had to figure out the turning point. Then, something occurred to him. It worried him.
"You said that you were getting ready for an attack, right?" Bobby asked the man and woman.
"Yes," the woman said. "That's correct."
"From Ravinia?"
"Yes. They want to get rid of us."
"How many people are driving the tanks right now?"
"Ten because that's all we have; ten tanks."
"So, you plan on fighting Ravinia with only twelve people?"
The man and woman chuckled.
"No, of course not," said the man. "Come. We'll show you."
The man lifted up the trap door and climbed down, followed by the woman and the two Travelers. When they reached the bottom, Bobby and Patrick couldn't believe their eyes. What they saw were thousands of people in an underground basement that was as big as a football field.
"This is everyone, who's not in Ravinia, that's left in this world. This is our army," the man said proudly.
Bobby and Patrick jaws dropped. They really did have enough people to make an army. They had a chance at defeating Ravinia.
"I can't believe it," Bobby gasped.
"Now the only thing we have left to do is test out the tanks more and get our weapons completely ready," the woman said. "Then we'll be ready to surprise them with an attack."
"That's great… but don't you think that Ravinia is planning an attack too?" Bobby asked.
"We know they are," the man said. "We just don't know when."
"How do you know they are?"
"We have our own spies travel through a tunnel that leads into the Ravinian territory."
"Into Ravinian territory?" Patrick asked to make sure he heard right.
"Yeah. While we live in dust, they live behind a wall in paradise. They have dados around doing the work for them and they just sit around doing nothing."
"That's not real life," the woman said, "and neither is this dust hell we live in."
"Do you think my friend here and I could use this tunnel? Maybe we can find out when they might be attacking," Bobby said hopeful.
"That would be great if you could," the man said, "but it's dangerous. We've lost a lot of our people by doing that."
"We can handle it. Right Patrick?"
Patrick was unsure. He wasn't used to something like this. "Uh, yeah, sure. We can do this."
"Don't worry about us. We'll be fine," Bobby assured the rugged man.
Bobby looked at Patrick with a big smile. He knew he was closer at Saint Dane. Patrick returned the smile weakly and looked like he was ready to pass out. He was sweating, but knew he had no choice. This was the right move. It had to be done.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dun dun dun… into the tunnel or not into the tunnel… that is the question! Ok, so obviously, yes, they're going into the tunnel. What else could they possibly do? lol I hope you enjoyed some of the humor… maybe… I try people lol ^.^; I like cheesy stuff! XD If it makes me laugh I usually put it in, hoping people will laugh too. lol
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and… please review! ^.^ please oh please oh please I'm begging here! lol