Everything was silent around the campfire that Matt and Janyse had set up. Even though some chatter could potentially lighten the mood, knowing that they just lost another member of their group, especially one that a good chunk of them basically grew up with, did not put them in a good mood to talk. With a soft sigh, Matt stood up from the rock he had been sitting on, the can of beans he had been eating was barely even touched.
"I'm going to bed." He said flatly. Janyse watched him go before she silently went to the tent the girls were sharing. Nazz watched the two, her eyes still red from crying. The blonde sniffled a bit before her gaze trailed over to Kevin. The jock pulled his hat forward and down, covering his eyes as he sat and watched the flickers of their campfire. Without turning his head, Kevin took the can Matt had been eating and finished it himself. Nazz had noticed that the boy started the thought of food getting wasted, she thought she remembered Double D mentioning that it was especially bad to do that now, given the limited number of resources everyone had, but maybe it was from another time.
The thought of Double D only served to make her eyes water again as she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, as if putting herself in a fetal position. Her memories trailed off towards the Eds. She was never sure how, but even back when they were all kids, enjoying their summer vacation back in Peach Creek, with those three boys making trouble with their scams, they still somehow made everyone smile, in their own way. Whether it be from the scams themselves, the fun everyone had in giving them their just desserts when necessary, or just the general atmosphere the boys had, everyone was happy to have them around, even if they didn't want to admit it.
Or maybe it was just her. Nazz always did try to consider herself an optimist that tried to find the best in people. Inevitably, her memories of the past brought her back to Jonny, especially when he snapped and decided to go into his 'Gourd' phase after their Mondo-A-Go-Go escapade. Those last few days of spring break were something else.
Nazz stretched as she sat up from her bed back home. It was just a few days after the events of the movie and things seemed to be going well for her and the rest of the cul-de-sac. Her hair was growing back nicely, but it was still too short for her liking, so she stuck with the red bandana she had. As the blonde continued her morning routine, she smiled to herself about the plan for today; everyone was going to spend their last day of spring break at the swimming hole. It was the perfect temperature outside on a bright and sunny day, a swim sounded perfect. That was when it happened. Something hit the front door to her house, causing a thump followed by a splattering sound. As Nazz went to go see the source of the sound, the confused look on her face quickly sank into a frown.
The object that had hit her door was a rotten butternut squash. Along with the horrid smell, the vegetable left juices on the door and the concrete in front. Stained by the juice was a piece of paper that had just one word on it: 'Revenge.'
Normally, something like this wouldn't worry Nazz in the slightest, but this had been going on a few days now. There were so many questions she had whenever this happened; who was doing this was the most obvious. She and Sarah sometimes disagreed with each other and argued once in a blue moon, but she wouldn't pull something like this. The Kanker Sisters definitely didn't do it. If they wanted to get at Nazz for any reason, they could easily do it without resorting to something this petty. The Eds? No, she and the rest of the kids just started hanging out with them, they all seemed happy with each other and any bad blood between them was settled once everyone really learned why Eddy acted like he did. Aside from that, nobody really came to mind. Maybe the others would know?
After cleaning up the mess, Nazz headed over to the lane where the rest of the kids seemed to be having the same concerns she was regarding the squash. As she approached the group, she noticed that the only member of their friend group that was absent was Rolf.
"I'm tellin' ya'..." She could hear Eddy yell. "Something fishy's going on here!"
"Fish? I thought we were talking about pickles?" Ed asked as he happily munched on the rotten veggie. She, just as many of the other kids, always questioned how Ed could have such an iron stomach.
"Uh, perhaps you shouldn't concern yourself with this, Ed..." Double D answered, giving the larger boy a gentle smile. A sudden grumbling caught the kids' attention as they turned in the direction of the neighborhood only to be met with the sight of Rolf. The foreign boy had a look of fury on his face as he held yet another piece of rotten produce in his hands. Even his movements were rife with anger as he stomped over to the group, carefully looking at each of them before setting his sights on the Eds.
"Ed-boys!" He yelled. "What is the meaning of this besmirchment of Rolf's produce! Have you simply used the recent days as a means of gaining our trust, only to return to your swindling ways?!"
"Wha-?" "Oh dear..." "Rolf's mad, guys..." The three boys remarked as they stepped back a bit.
"Yo, Rolf, chill." Kevin said, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I don't think they did anything."
"Kevin is right, Rolf!" Double D said with a nervous gulp. "Ed, Eddy and I have no reason to abscond with your property, especially now that we've made peace with all of you! While I understand that you have a reason not to fully believe us, I urge you to understand that we are innocent!"
Rolf continued to give the three a suspicious glare before silently sighing to himself.
"Hrmm, perhaps Rolf is possibly making an assumption without true evidence." Rolf stated as he smirked at Ed. "Turkey Eyes has also been a valuable asset to the fieldwork. But if it was none of you who stole Rolf's belongings, then who?"
"That's what we'd like to know!" Sarah huffed.
"Maybe it was those icky Kanker Sisters, Sarah!" Jimmy whined.
"Maybe." Kevin thought aloud. "But they'd probably trash the neighborhood if they wanted to get at us. They've done it before. I can't think of anyone else who'd try something like this either."
"Hey, we can figure out the deal with all this later. We all planned to go to the swimming hole today!" Nazz chimed in. "Come on, getting a day to ourselves and relax under the sun will do us some good! It's a nice day out, let's enjoy it!"
"Yeah, you're right, Nazz!" Eddy beamed, he and Kevin both sharing wide grins and a hint of a blush as they looked at Nazz. "It ain't beach food, but I can finally get to make my world famous omelettes for you all!"
With a renewed excitement, the gang all hurried over to the swimming hole, unaware of Jonny, who was watching them all from the shadows of the trees at their sides. On the boy's head was a massive orange gourd that had two eye holes cut out on it. At his side was Plank, tied to a broom with his eyes covered by a black cloth with eyes drawn on them.
"There they go, buddy!" Jonny cackled quietly as he held up the wooden board to his eye level. "Once they get to the swimming hole, we begin stage two of our plan! They'll regret ever hurting The Gourd and Timber, the Dark Shard!"
The sense of frustration and caution the kids all had earlier was gone when they had set themselves up at the swimming hole. Nazz had her boom box playing music which she was dancing to with Sarah and Jimmy, Kevin was standing by a grill with Eddy and Rolf by him. The three boys were keeping a section to themselves to cook omelettes, hot dogs, hamburgers, and Rolf's giant ham. Ed and Double D stood to the side, the latter shaking a bit as he watched the three dancers while Ed was simply keeping him company, happily munching on a burger.
"Well this is certainly a, um, nice party. Isn't it, Ed?"
"What?"
"Hey!" Eddy called out to them. "What are you guys doing over there? Go on and dance or something! Schmooze! You can't just stand there and do nothin'!"
Before either of the two Eds could respond, a sudden projectile slammed into Edd, knocking him onto the sand.
"Huh?!" "What was that?!" "Double D!" A few of the kids called out as they rushed to help the young genius. As Edd was helped back to his feet, the hatted boy wiped off chunks of whatever hit him, allowing him to see that it was more squash.
"More of that stuff?!" Sarah growled. Rolf's eyes widened upon seeing the vegetable.
"Son of a gun... that is Rolf's produce!" The foreigner shrieked before looking out onto the lake and seeing The Gourd, a crazed smile on the supervillain's face before he began letting out a wicked cackle.
"Is that... Jonny?" Nazz asked.
"Jonny?!" Sarah, Jimmy and Ed asked.
"Jonny!" Eddy shouted as he ran towards the water. "Wait 'till I get my hands on you, you little-!"
The short boy was swiftly met with another rotten gourd, this time hitting him square in the chest from the vegetable-clad boy, who was using a makeshift catapult to launch his attacks.
"Yo, Jonny!" Kevin yelled. "What's wrong with you, dude?!"
"Do not talk to me as though we're friends!" Jonny shouted back. "You all chose to betray me and Plank and side with those... those frauds!"
"Betray?!" Edd asked in surprise. "Jonny, what do you-"
"We didn't 'betray' anyone, Jonny!" Sarah spat.
"Sarah, Jonny's scaring me..."
"You have besmirched Rolf by robbing the squash of Rolf! Return to dry land so that we may properly punish you, Jonny the Wood Boy!"
"Shut up! All of you!" Jonny shouted. "You all know what you did! All I did was try to help you and bring the Eds to justice after the heinous scam they did! But the moment I showed up you all turned on me!"
"Bring us to... Oh! Oh my..." Double D gasped. "Everyone, I believe Jonny is referring to how he was never made aware of what kind of person Eddy's brother was and why you all came to accept us!"
"Oh man..." Nazz groaned before turning back to the water. "Jonny, come on, we can talk this out! This is all just one big misunderstanding!"
"No, I understand completely!" The Gourd grimaced before launching a butternut squash at the kids that thankfully missed its mark.
"Argh, so what do we do?" Kevin grumbled.
"I suggest we..." Double D tried to say before Eddy cut him off.
"I say we flank him." Eddy said, putting his arms over Kevin and Rolf. "Kev, you go after him from the front; Rolf, you take him from the left and I'll take the right."
"Got it." "Rolf understands, Righteously-Furious Ed-boy!"
"Ed!" Eddy continued.
"Hello!" Ed cheerfully replied. The shortest Ed had a devious smile as he looked to his larger friend.
"Oh, Ed..." Eddy began, feigning a troubled tone of voice. "Poor Jonny's been possessed by an evil spirit that's forcing him to attack us!"
"Oh no! We must save him!"
"Yeah! But first we have to catch Jonny so that we can take that stupid looking pumpkin from his head and exorcise the evil from his body! Ed, we're going after him and we need you to get a hold of him and make sure he doesn't get away, can you do that!"
"You betcha!" Ed replied, saluting Eddy with a resolute face.
"Sarah, can you watch over him in case he gets distracted?" Eddy asked, looking to the younger redhead.
"Sure. I've basically been doing that ever since I learned how to walk." Sarah shrugged.
"But Eddy, I must suggest that-" Double D was promptly cut off again.
"Alright, everyone get ready! We'll get that weirdo!"
"Ugh, Kevin!" Nazz groaned. "We should at least let Double D-"
"Not a bad plan, Eddy. If this works I'll give you a jawbreaker, sound good?" Kevin replied, with Eddy eagerly agreeing to the deal before the group hurried around the lake to begin their assault. Nazz simply groaned out loud as she turned to Edd.
"Is this what it's like for you dealing with Eddy?" She asked.
"More often than you may think. Somehow I'm not surprised that he and Kevin are similar in this way. Those two are more alike than they may realize."
The two watched as the three boys hurried into the water in their designated positions and began swimming towards Jonny, who simply scoffed at them.
"Hah!" He laughed. "You think something so simple will stop us?" The Gourd then grabbed the mop holding up Timber and used the handle as a paddle to propel himself away from his pursuers. "See you never, fools!"
Jonny paddled his way over to the far end of the swimming hole, his attention turned the boys instead of Sarah and Ed, who were running over to their own positions, Nazz and Edd chasing after them, the latter blushing both from exhaustion and from the fact that Nazz was pulling him forward due to his less than ideal level of fitness. As he approached the beach, Jonny leaped off of his raft with Plank in his hands, his mouth still twisted into a maniacal grin as he looked back towards the three boys still swimming after him. His joy was short-lived however, as he soon ran into what felt like a brick wall. The Gourd looked up to see Ed glowering over him and in a swift motion, he much larger boy scooped up both Jonny and Plank in a bear hug that left the wannabe-villain squirming to break free.
"Way to go, Burrhead!" Eddy panted as he, Kevin and Rolf all swam out of the water, a bit out of breath but all looking incredibly eager.
"Jonny-the-Wood-Boy!" Rolf shouted. "Tell Rolf the reason for your treacherous acts of thievery and Rolf may opt to be lenient and use the Two-Shoe Beating rather than the Three-Shoe Beating you deserve!"
"Tch, of course you'd all immediately resort to violence!" Jonny hissed.
"Grr, enough of this, let's just teach him not to mess with us!" Eddy growled.
"It's poundin' time!" Kevin added as Sarah grinned as she and the boys all approached Jonny with their fists bared.
"WAIT!"
Double D suddenly hurried in front of Jonny, blocking him from the wrath of the kids. After taking a quick moment to catch his breath, he went on.
"You mustn't do this!" The hatted boy exclaimed.
"He's right!" Nazz agreed as she stood by Edd's side.
"Oh yeah? And why not?" Sarah huffed.
"Because, while I can't say I approve of what Jonny has done, after seeing what has become of him after the events of the movie, I believe I've come to understand why he is like this!"
"You think so?" Kevin asked. "So what's the reason?"
"It was us." Nazz responded. "We're the reason. Remember how exactly things went down at the amusement park? Jonny only showed up after we found out about Eddy's Brother and he thought we were all still after them. To him, we all just attacked him for no good reason!"
The rest of the kids were silent as they tried to absorb everything they had just heard. After a few seconds, they all heard sobbing coming from behind them. Nazz and Double D moved away, revealing Jonny, crying as Ed still held him.
"Me... Me and Plank were just trying to help..." He cried.
The sight of the boy's tears made the four angry kids finally relent.
"Oh, Jonny..." Jimmy sniffled, looking shameful and full of regret as he quickly glanced at each of the Eds. "I know what it feels like to let revenge cloud your mind..."
"Maybe we did go a bit overboard with all this..." Kevin said with Eddy nodding in agreement. Ed smiled as he looked down to Jonny before turning his bear hug into a more normal hug, though it still squeezed the breath out of the wood-loving boy.
"I forgive you, Jonny!" Ed cried.
"So please, fellows, can you spare Jonny from your attacks and find it in your hearts to forgive him?" Edd asked.
"Maybe..." Kevin sighed.
"So long as the robbery of Rolf's produce ceases, and Jonny-the-Wood-Boy bakes Rolf the Cupcakes of Sorriness, the Son of a Shepard may forgive him."
"But what if he tries this all again?" Eddy asked, giving the two a skeptical look.
"I won't. I promise." Jonny sniffled.
"Alright, Melonhead..." Eddy sighed. "We'll give you another chance, just like everyone gave us one."
"Okay... Yeah!" Jonny smiled as Ed released him. "Plank and I will be good, right buddy?"
"And we'll be good to you, too!" Nazz replied, placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder.
Nazz smiled to herself as she put out the fire. The others had all gone to bed already and she had promised them she'd put the fire out. As she headed to her tent, she continued looking back on her memories of the past. After Spring Break had ended, things all started looking good for all of the Peach Creek Kids. Everyone except Sarah and Jimmy graduated that June, thankfully, they all ended up going to the same high school afterwards. The next four years at Peach Creek High School certainly had their ups and downs, but despite everything, they all stuck together. Even when Jonny got some weird looks from other students for still having Plank for so long, everyone from the cul-de-sac stood by his side. Heck, there were even times where it seemed like Plank was more alive than any of them expected, but Nazz still thought she may have just been seeing things.
Still, she was happy with the way things were going and then... Everything just fell apart with this plague. Rolf was gone, Jonny was missing, half of their friends were who knows where... She wasn't sure how she would fall asleep, but somehow, her eyes closed and her mind began to wander into dreamland.
"Let's get 'em!"
The sudden shout startled the survivors as they were suddenly bombarded with a series of punches, kicks, and what felt like wooden bats pound them. Erin's dog began barking and snarling as tears started forming on the two tents. From the inside, some of the survivors began to scream in the wake of the attack while some of the others tried to fight off the attackers.
As the sound of the men laughing as they attacked the group rang out between the trees in the early morning, Kevin looked through a hole that had been torn through his tent, allowing him to get a look at one of the men's ugly mugs. With his eyes bloodshot from anger and the sudden awakening, Kevin plunged his fist into the man's face with as much force as he could muster. Being forced to wake up to a beating was the absolute last thing he needed right now and with the adrenaline coursing through his veins, feeling his fist knock against the head of his attacker felt good in that moment. As the man reeled back in pain, Kevin felt a hint of relief as he noticed that neither he nor any of his companions appeared to be wearing military uniforms. The fact that they weren't using any guns helped.
As the initial shock of their awakening wore off, the rest of the survivors began fighting back against the group of scavengers. When one tried swinging a baseball bat at Janyse, Matt swiftly ran over and punched the man in the face before Janyse promptly smashed the man's ribs with her hammer. Another tried charging at Nazz, only for the blonde to deliver a flying kick the sent her attacker flying into a tree.
"Argh, enough of this!" One of the scavengers growled, reaching onto his belt and pulling out a pistol, not caring who he hit as he raised it towards Erin, who happened to be in his line of sight.
The world seemed to slow down for Kevin as he tried to stop the gun-wielding thief, only for one of his friends to grab him and hold him back before he could run. Some of the survivors tried to reach for their own weapons, but even they knew there was no way for them to stop the man from firing first.
"No!" Kevin screamed.
Just as the man was about to pull the trigger, an arrow zipped through the air from within the trees and struck the man in the back of the head, splattering blood behind him and from his nose. As his eyes began to roll to the back of his head upon his collapse, his companions either froze in shock or tried looking around to see where the arrow came from.
Suddenly, more arrows rained down upon the area, hitting the poachers dead on in the head or in the heart. Quickly, all of the attackers were killed, allowing a stunned silence to settle amongst the Canadian survivors until...
"What the fuck was that?!" Matt asked.
"Hey guys!"
The group all looked up into one of the trees and saw...
"Jonny!"
The nature-lover sat on the branch of one of the trees above the others, a big smile on his face and a wooden bow in his hands with a quiver of arrows on his back with Plank among the sharp tools.
"Bro, that was wicked!" Matt called out as Jonny jumped down from his perch. Once Jonny landed on the ground, Nazz immediately rushed over to hug him while the rest of their group looked just as happy to see him.
"Jonny, what happened to you?! Where did you go?" Nazz asked.
"These must be those friends you were telling me about." A large, burly man with pale skin and long brown hair walked out of the trees holding a bow of his own. He had a long, scraggly looking beard and he wore a brown jacket with no shirt underneath, black pants and light brown hiking boots.
"Yup!" Jonny nodded to the man before looking back towards his friends. "After we got separated in the subway, I was walking around the woods when it was getting dark. I wandered around for a bit before I found a cabin that this guy was staying at! We both like being in nature than being around people most of the time, so we got along pretty quickly. I told him everything that happened to us and how I got separated from you guys. He figured you all should still be close so we spent the rest of the night looking for you. Then when we heard all this commotion, we sprang into action!"
"Well it's good that you managed to find us all again." Janyse smirked. "Who knew you were a good shot with a bow and arrow, too!"
"Yeah, Rolf taught me and Jimmy for an Urban Ranger merit badge. Plank and I got ours easily, but Jimmy struggled a bit before getting it, so I think this is perfect for me! This guy said he had an extra so he let me keep it!"
"Nice." Kevin nodded as he turned to the large man. "Thanks for the save mister..."
"I have no name anymore. I've spent so long away from the city and away from people that my name became irrelevant, but anyone who does come around here refers to me as 'The Woodsman'." The man explained with a huff, the gruffness in his voice sounding annoyed at the sight of so many people.
"Woodsman, got it." Erin replied. "So, what do we do now? We're going to need to get to the city and get more supplies since these creeps ruined some of ours."
"It's a long way to any sort of civilization." The Woodsman said. "But I can escort you to it, but I refuse to go any further than that."
"Just escorting us is more than alright." Keenan sighed. "I'm sure we can manage from there."
"Hold on." Nazz called out. "Guys, can I talk to you all for a sec."
As the survivors all huddled together, Nazz made sure the Woodsman couldn't see her face before she continued speaking.
"Guys..." She whispered. "Are you sure about this? I mean, I get that he saved Jonny and us, but can we count on him to get us out of the woods? He definitely isn't a people person and I'm worried that if we say or do something that offends him, he might just leave us, or worse, kill us!"
"I don't think he'd do something like that." Jonny replied firmly. "Sure he seems a little rough around the edges, but he's a genuine guy, honest! Besides he... he kind of reminds me of Rolf..."
The mention of his lost best friend made Kevin exhale deeply and look towards the ground.
"What are you thinking, Kevin?" Kathy asked. Kevin looked back up to see all eyes on him, from Kathy and Tony to Keenan to Jonny and Nazz.
"Yeah, Kev." Erin added. "I mean, you've kind of been our unofficial leader of the group so maybe this can be your call. What should we do?"
Kevin looked around the others one more time as he thought about his decision...
Make your choice...
Choice A: Go with The Woodsman
Choice B: Go on your own
And that does it for this chapter. I know it wasn't exactly the most action packed and the flashback took up a lot of it, but there will definitely be more action coming up very soon.
The choice may also be a bit simple, but, just like with the action, it'll ramp up with the next one once that one comes. It will be one with heavy implications. Regarding the uploads of these chapters, I know they've been sporadic at best, but that was mostly because of my work schedule and working on other stories. My schedule may take a bigger hit as I'll be returning to school soon while also working a full-time job. Regardless, I will continue working on this story and I intend to see it through to the end. Hopefully it remains entertaining to read for you all.
See you next update!