Chapter 18 – The Future is in Your Hands
*NOTE – Almost 20 chapters already, everyone. But the story's far from over. Thanks to all my readers, we have here Chapter 18. Keep reading. THANK YOU!*
"As if I trusted you." Dave exclaimed. "I should have known better." We had been arguing for at least 20 minutes already.
"I'm serious!" I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't accept it.
"The future? How can you say that!" Dave yelled. "Why should I believe your lies?"
"Dave, trust me, I'm not lying."
"Just shut up! I'm not going to believe a word of it until you've explained the whole situation to me."
"I will, just…"
"Well what are you waiting for! Tell me how it's possible that you can 'see the future'! How can you see what hasn't happened yet!" The Mudokon's face had turned an impossible red. He was clearly frustrated by the whole situation.
"Ok Dave. Ok." I waited for him to calm down before I continued. "I'll explain everything." He slowly sat down and gathered himself together. And then, I began.
"It was a couple of weeks back. I was sat at my house in a town called Trosking, England."
"England?" Dave asked, "Where the Odd's that?"
"It's… on a different planet." I answered. "I'm not lying. Anyway, I was sat at home playing a video game. It's called 'Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee.' It's about a Mudokon… Abe… He has to escape from Rupture Farms. And he has to save the others." Dave looked on and shook his head slowly, then faced the ground. He was obviously having a hard time comprehending this.
"I know it's difficult to understand, but where I come from, Oddworld's just a fictional place. It's just a game. It really is. But then it happened."
"What happened?" Dave asked.
"I kind of… went to answer the door, but when I got back, the TV… it sucked me in."
Dave was puzzled once again. "It sucked you in?"
"I don't understand it myself. But it did, I swear."
"Ok." Dave said slowly. "I can believe that. I might as well, there's nothing else to believe. But…" he hesitated, "How can Oddworld be fictional? We're here, right now."
"I have no idea," I told him truthfully, "But that's why I know what Abe could have done. That's why I know what would have happened next. I've finished the game before." Dave lay on his back and gazed up at the stars. He heaved a deep sigh.
"Alan?" He asked.
"Yeah?" I replied, wondering what was going on in the troubled Mudokon's head.
"Am I real?" That was a question I couldn't answer. I didn't know if Dave was real, I didn't even know if I, well Security Commander Grike, was real. But Dave's eyes had begun to close slowly. He was falling into a peaceful sleep. I could tell that he didn't want to be told he didn't exist. So I answered him.
"Yes, Dave." I told him. "You are real."
The next morning, I awoke at an early hour and wandered around our campsite a little. I found a small stream hidden behind some trees, and had a refreshing drink of the cool water. Dave awoke about an hour after that, and we quickly made a small breakfast of slightly over-cooked Fuzzle. Not what I pictured as a healthy start to the day, especially since the Fuzzles were just one of the many species of Oddworld I was hoping to save by resurrecting Abe. But it did the trick. Soon after breakfast we were ready to hit the road again, but not before we'd actually worked out where we were heading.
"So, we need to find the way to Vykkers Labs 25." I said, to clarify the situation. "Any ideas?"
"Well, I've never heard anything about Vykkers Labs 25. I didn't even think the Vykkers had made any more than 17 of 'em." Dave obviously wouldn't be much help in the navigation area.
"Well, I do know that it's somewhere near Ma Spa." I assured him." And that's along the Mongo River."
"Right." Dave said. "So we just need to find the river and follow it."
"That's right. Now, where would we head to find the river?" I puzzled it over in my head. "Got it! The stream behind those trees. We just have to follow that until it flows into the Mongo River." Then, without ant further ado, we set off along the side of the stream. We had a simple plan. We walked for an hour, then rested for 5 minutes. An hour, 5 minutes, and so on and so forth. This continued until about midday, when we reached an estuary.
"Well, this is it." I said. "The Mongo River. Now, let's follow it to the source."
"Wait." Dave said quietly. "There's someone over there." He pointed to an area beyond my view. This was the first time I'd ever really thought about my height disadvantage as a Slig. The trees he gazed at where at the other size of a relatively tall rock. I went to peer around the edge of this rock and saw exactly what Dave had seen. Wolvarks. And they were right in our way. I thought back to the time that Fope and I had met a Wolvark security wall. I'd pretended to find an intruder downriver to distract them so we could sneak past. It had failed. However, I could always pretend that Dave was my prisoner. I headed back over to where Dave was milling about and told him the plan. Not long later, we were ready for action.
"Ok, Dave. Ready?" I asked, after running through the plan a final time.
"Sure. And you?" He replied, rubbing his hands together.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I assured him. "Ok, now just follow my lead." With that, we walked out from behind the rock and towards the Wolvarks. I held Dave's hands behind his back and pressed forward. The Wolvarks began to gather and we met them with a few unfriendly glances.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The lead Wolvark said. "A Slig AND a Mudokon. It's a little slice of the East, right here in the West!" The other Wolvarks chuckled and closed in on me and Dave.
"So what are you doing here, Slig." The leader said, leaning in close to my face. His breath was foul, and I took a step back before answering.
"This Mudokon is my prisoner." I told the Wolvark guard. "I'm taking him to my superiors."
"Superiors! Hahaha!" The pack of Wolvarks erupted with laughter. "You don't have any superiors, not out here." Once again, the leader leaned in close and his eyes bulged. "So I'll ask you again, Slig. What are you doing here?"
"I've already told you." I said adamantly, "I'm taking this prisoner to my superiors."
"Alright, alright." The Wolvark said, turning away for a moment. He turned back and said slowly. "So answer me this, Slig. If he's your prisoner, and you're 'escorting' him to your superiors… where's your gun?" I swallowed and looked the Wolvark hard in the face. "Did you hear what I said, Slig? WHERE'S YOUR GUN?"