This is your annual reminder to take care of your mental and emotional health. Trust me, being in the right mindset is important.
The RV drove carefully along the trees for about a mile before everyone felt safe enough to return to the road. The Kankers sat around the table conversing amongst themselves, Terry remained behind the wheel with Rachel sitting in the passenger seat talking to her boyfriend's dad, who had been sitting behind the two. Sarah and Jimmy prepared some canned food for dinner which left the Eds to themselves. Eddy lounged on the bottom bunk while Ed looked at him and Edd from the top with his typical goofy smile. Double D sat on Eddy's bunk, the Ruby Red Gym Sock still in his hands.
"Quit your bellyachin' about that thing!" Eddy groaned. "You're already the most responsible person here, it'll be fine if you leave it alone for a little while. Besides you'll get dirt on the bed."
"I'm afraid I can't simply let this plant alone, Eddy." The hatted boy replied. "If what Ricardo said about this flower is true, then we may very well have the only thing that can save the world as we know it in our hands."
"Then we'll give you some time and space so you can learn what you gotta and we'll save the world when you finish, simple!"
"Double D will solve the case and create a super potion that will end the zombie plague!" Ed proclaimed.
"It is certainly not that simple, Eddy." Edd sighed. "I would need much more than some simple tools in order to fully understand what exactly makes this flower so unique amongst other plants, including it's Baby Blue counterpart. While I can use what I know about Botany to learn all that I can for the time being but-"
"Well you better get to it then!" Eddy interjected as he got up and lightly pushed the taller boy and his plant over to the kitchen area. "Why don't you try cooking up that potion of yours!"
Sarah and Jimmy looked on in confusion as the two approached them before Eddy stopped pushing and suddenly turned away with a smug smile on his face.
"Man that guy just keeps talking..." Eddy grumbled as he hopped back into the bunk.
"Um, I think he's just really stressed, Eddy." Ed replied softly.
"I know, Ed. We all are. But moping around and looking all conflicted isn't going to help. Double D's the only person here that'll know how to use that flower and if we have to push him to figure it out, then that's what we have to do!"
From the cooking area, Edd watched Eddy go with an annoyed look on his face.
"He's so annoying..." Sarah growled, her gaze fixated on Eddy as well before looking at Double D with a smile. "You're not though! Hi Double D!"
"Can we see the flower again, Double D?" Jimmy asked.
"H-Hello you two. Sorry about the sudden interruption." As the young genius showed the two tweens the Ruby Red Gym Sock, he let out another sigh and looked at the stew the two were preparing. "The three of us were just discussing what we can do with this plant and how I can somehow learn about it's properties."
"Well if you need any help then you know I'm pretty good with flowers, too!" Jimmy stated. "Time in the Urban Rangers and the school's Botany Club certainly helped me with that."
"That's right, I had almost forgotten you were in those groups! Perhaps you two can assist me after dinner."
"Speaking of dinner." Sarah stated. "It should be ready in just a little bit."
"Very good, I'll look forward to it!"
The sun had already begun to set as Terry pulled over into the woods along the road they had been driving along. Jimmy had managed to start a campfire as everyone either brought out a chair to sit on or got comfortable on the ground while Sarah transferred the cooking pot over to the fire.
"Hmm." Terry hummed as he tried a spoonful of the food. "Not bad, twerps." Jimmy looked proud for just a moment before he registered what was said, following that he simply joined Sarah in glaring at the man.
"How'd you get so good at cooking?" May asked.
"Are you kidding?" Jimmy laughed. "Sarah and I used to pretty much be glued to our Easy-Bake ovens! Plus being part of the Urban Rangers meant that we had to learn how to cook and learn how to live off the land. This isn't exactly 'roughing it' in the typical sense but I think we can make an exception here. I... I just hope Rolf would be proud of me."
"I'm certain he would be." Double D assured, surprisingly Eddy was quick to agree.
"Yeah, I mean you guys were basically different people when you were in your uniforms, especially after the movie."
The praise managed to lift Jimmy's mood as he gave Eddy a look of surprise that quickly melted into a warm smile. The smile quickly became confusion as a bright spotlight began to shine on everyone from above.
"Hey, who turned on the sun?" Lee grumbled.
"Eddward Hart!" A voice from above boomed, everyone tried to look up at the source of the light. "On behalf of the U.S. military, under orders of the Vice President, you are coming with us!"
"M-me?" Double D stuttered. "What do they want with me?!"
"Well if they're after my man they better be ready for a fight!" Marie huffed. From the helicopter, the pilot kept the helicopter steady as the co-pilot looked down at the group.
"Can't tell what they're saying." He grumbled. "You got that Directional Microphone ready?"
A third soldier opened up the door of the vehicle and hung on to the railing as he aimed what looked like a gun at the survivors. The gun itself didn't have a typical barrel, instead it had two long, but thin barrel-like appendages going forward in a manner that almost resembled a sort of rail gun. The trigger looked somewhat similar to that of a typical gun in terms of placement, though with a button in place of a usual trigger. The microphone also lacked a safety most pistols had and in its place was a speaker, which would relay whatever was being amplified in the microphone's direction.
"Well no way we're giving Double D up, they're gonna have to go through us!" Eddy proclaimed.
"The corrupt military shall never take our friend!" Ed added. Before anyone else in the group could agree, the pilot took it upon himself to say something.
"Well, if you won't surrender yourself, we will be authorized to use force!"
"Force?" Jimmy and Double D shuddered.
"EVERYONE INSIDE NOW!" Terry shouted, the gang all sped into the RV as fast as they could. The chopper reared back before pulling it's nose downward and towards the RV as it sprung to life. The helicopter's machine guns began to launch a hailstorm of bullets that shredded the ground that the RV once occupied. Terry maneuvered through the trees in order to try getting the helicopter off their trail but it did little to help as the eye in the sky remained locked onto the RV, it's spotlight illuminating the space around it enough to where Terry could have risked turning his headlights off, but he kept them on for safety reasons.
"Oh man, what are we gonna do?!" May screamed frantically before the eldest of the three sisters grabbed her.
"Shut up, May!" Lee asserted as she shook her sister in place. "Running and screaming ain't gonna help us!"
"But we can't stop a helicopter!" Sarah responded as she and Jimmy clung to each other in fear.
"And we shall not abandon our friend!" Ed added as he hoisted the middle of their trio up by the back of his shirt.
"So we can't fight back, we can't run away, and we're not gonna give up the guy they're after." Terry groaned, he brought the RV back onto the main road as the woodlands became too rough to properly drive on. "What are we supposed to do?!"
Everyone remained silent as they tried to think of a plan, Terry silently thanked the Lord that there was nobody else on the highway he was driving on as the helicopter opted to switch from using its machine guns to firing a missile at the RV.
"Oh come on!" Mr. McGee groaned.
"These are probably the same guys that were chasing us earlier, too." Rachel added. "They probably have a blockade set up further ahead too."
"Oh that's just fantastic!" Terry yelled in frustration before sighing and taking a deep breath. "Ok... ok I think I see a mountain range up ahead, it'll be risky but maybe I can lose them up there?"
"That's very unlikely." Double D interjected. "The angles of those mountains would be difficult to traverse at the very best. We would be slowed down enough for them to find and catch us."
"It's like a damn game of cat and mouse." Lenore grumbled. Gears began turning in Eddy's head as he brought a hand to his chin.
"Mountain range... cat and mouse..." He mumbled. His eyes lit up as an idea popped into his head, he looked over at the others and noticed Lee sporting the same sly grin that Eddy himself had. The two nodded at each other before Eddy spoke up.
"Well if they want Double D, why don't we give him to them!"
"WHAT?!" Marie and Sarah screamed, the former even trying to strangle the short boy before being pulled back by her sister. Everyone gave
"I second that notion, Eddy!" Edd added.
"Just hear me out!" Eddy assured, raising his hands up defensively as he gave Double D the smile he always had when he was ready to scam the cul-de-sac kids. "Double D is their target, we're not actually gonna hand him over, so you can chill about that. But what we are gonna do is throw them off! Here's the plan; we'll disguise a few of us as Double D so they'll get confused and won't know which is the real Double D!"
"Obviously we won't let the people acting as bait go alone, so we'll split up into pairs. Whoever they don't go after will have some more time to think of a way to take that chopper down."
"But what about the ones they do go after?!" Jimmy squealed.
"They're gonna have to stall those creeps for a while. But they probably won't shoot at you if they think you're Double D. If they want him to go with them then that means they want him alive. If you guys stick close to the decoys then they won't shoot and risk hitting their target." Lee explained.
"That's a crazy idea!" Rachel commented.
"Insane even." Edd remarked before sighing and looking over at everyone. "But if there's anything I've truly learned after all the years I've known most of you, it's that some things are just crazy enough to work!"
"Then let's get to it!"
"They really think they can get away." The co-pilot chuckled.
"They almost didn't thanks to you!" The pilot replied. "We're supposed to bring this kid back alive, remember!"
"Yeah!" The third solder added. A fourth member of their team sat and waited by the second door opposite of the 3rd member who held the microphone earlier.
"If General Shirley finds out we ended up killing the kid then he'll have us hung up by our balls for it." The 4th soldier commented.
"Hmph, you got that right." The pilot agreed. "Wait... what the fuck are they doing?"
The two pilots watched on as the RV pulled over on the side of the highway with a sea of trees rising upwards to the side of the mountain on its right. Right as Soldier #3 was preparing the directional microphone again, the door to the RV opened and everyone aside from Terry, Rachel and Terry's dad scrambled out of the vehicle and running into the woods. The pilots turned the Night Sun back on but were stunned to see what looked like multiple Double D's running around.
"The fuck?!" The pilot cursed.
"What do we do?!" The co-pilot asked.
"Shit shit shit... Fuck it! We'll pick one and follow 'em. If it ain't Eddward then we kill 'em and go for another!"
The two aimed the light over at one of the Double D's and the person grouped with them.
"Hah! They took the bait, Lee!" Marie laughed as she ran with a set of clothes that looked almost identical to her crush, though it was just the slightest bit off in terms of color. She also wore a black beanie cap with a skull on the front. "Now what?"
"Now we gotta last long enough for the others to think of a way to bring that bird down. Think you can last that long?" Her older sister answered, both not bothering to stop for even a moment as they bobbed and weaved through the trees.
From several yards away, all three Eds ran together as a group before slowing down when they noticed the light moving in a different direction.
"Alright, we got them off us, now how do we bring them down?" Eddy asked. The three looked at the helicopter in silence as they watched it hover in near silence.
"If we had a sniper rifle or some sort of rocket powered explosive we could destroy it, but your brother still has the rocket launcher and we don't have any ammunition for it anyway."
"Yeah, a sniper would be perfect, especially if it had night-vision. But what can we do otherwise?" Eddy added. As the two continued to ponder, Ed dug around in his jacket pocket.
"Um, I don't know if it can help, but I have this." Ed noted, showing the two a grenade. "I got it from back in that big mall we were in."
"Not bad, Lumpy!" Eddy praised. "But how can we use it to get rid of those army creeps?"
"Hmm... well it would be difficult to pull off, but if we can manage to create a slingshot powerful enough to reach that helicopter, we can potentially blow it up and continue onward. All we would need is an elastic piece that is durable enough to stretch out with enough force to launch this grenade with enough velocity to reach its target."
"Elastic, huh..." Eddy parroted. "Ed, it's been a couple years but didn't you keep a bunch of rubber bands in your jacket from when we tried to prank the geography teacher?"
"Oh, yeah, that was going to be funny!" Ed laughed before digging into his pocket and pulling out a small ball of rubber bands. He pulled out the biggest one of the bunch and handed over to his smart friend. "Will this work, Double D?"
"Hmm..." The genius looked over the piece of rubber for a moment before nodding. "Yes, this should be just enough for us to make this work. All we need now is enough force to pull the rubber band back."
"Hey, I thought I heard you three!"
"Baby sister!" Ed announced happily as he hurried over to Sarah and embraced her, leaving a disguised Jimmy a bit surprised.
"What's going on?" The younger boy asked.
"We have a plan to destroy our pursuers, we'd like the assistance of you two if you don't mind." Double D proposed.
"Sure." Jimmy replied. "But we need to work fast, I don't know how much longer the others can hold off those brutes!"
"Lee... I don't think I can run much longer..." Marie said in between gasps for breath.
"Keep it moving, Marie!" Lee urged before her sister collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion. Lee hurried over to try moving her exhausted sister, allowing the chopper to finally catch up to them.
"You got them in your sights?" The pilot asked, unaware that the megaphone on the vehicle was turned on, allowing everyone in the area to hear them.
"I see her!" The co-pilot replied cheerfully. "She's beautiful!"
"The hell are you talking about?! He's down there! HE'S A GUY!"
The pilot turned to look at his targets and saw Lenore, who had joined her daughters and tried getting Marie back on her feet. With exhaustion now clouding her mind, Marie took off her hat and accidentally revealed her blue hair.
"Wait what?!" The pilot shouted. "The kid we're looking for doesn't have blue hair! You bitches are dead, you hear me! DEAD!"
"Oh you're so macho..." The co-pilot replied.
"Shut up, Frank!"
The argument between the two continue to go back and forth, allowing the Kankers to hastily make their escape wit the help of May, who was also in disguise. This halt in the chase kept the helicopter suspended in the air, unmoving, and allowing Sarah and the boys to line up the perfect angle for their attack. The rubber band had been stretched out as far as it could go with its ends wrapped around thick tree branches. Sarah and Ed pulled the rubber band back as Eddy prepped the grenade.
"They've stopped moving, this may be our only chance!" Edd stated.
"Are you sure this will work?" Jimmy asked.
"It has to work. Ready everyone?"
"Ready!" The others replied simultaneously.
"Alright, on three Eddy will release the pin and you both will release the rubber band. One... Two... Three!"
Eddy yanked the pin off the explosive and as soon as they heard it, the two siblings let go of the rubber band and tried their best to see the grenade zoom at the helicopter in the moonlight. The next few seconds went by in a deafening silence as the blood of everyone running went ice cold. The silence was broken by the sound of glass shattering as the grenade smashed through the windshield of the helicopter...
"OH SHI-!"
The ensuing explosion lit up the night sky as parts of the helicopter scattered along the forest. The survivors all cheered as the descended down the mountainside and regrouped at the RV, with those that stayed behind more than happy to celebrate their victory.
"Fuck yeah! I don't know how you guys did that but it was fuckin' AWESOME!" Terry hollered.
"It was way cool!" Ed added. "We had this rubber band and this grenade and the bad guys were all like 'Oh no, we're gonna die'!"
As the sci-fi lover went on, the Kankers approached Double D.
"Double D!" The genius was caught off guard by Marie embracing him. "Are you ok?!"
"Y-Yes, I'm quite alright, thank you Marie. But I believe I should be asking you that question. You're out of breath and you look like you can barely stand!"
"Yeah, that chase took a lot out of her." May explained.
"But we pulled through, I don't know what you did but it certainly did the job." Lee added, giving the hat wearing boy a smirk.
"Indeed it has. I suppose we should head inside. We should get moving before any reinforcements come. I'm sure the others can fill you in on exactly what happened as well."
"Yeah... let's go." Marie said. As the four headed back inside the RV, Edd noticed that his hand was still holding Marie's. While he was certainly a bit embarrassed by it, he also had another feeling that even he couldn't explain when he noticed it. It wasn't fear though... safety perhaps? He wasn't sure but... he quite liked this feeling.
Back in the town the group had just exited, the platoon that had went after them had set up a temporary base in one of the destroyed buildings. The moon was now high up in the sky as it bathed the town including General Shirley, who sat by the window at an old coffee table looking incredibly annoyed as several troops were either eating rations, planning their next move, or just chatting. Several advisors and other personnel sat by him.
"It shouldn't take this long to catch one kid. I gave them the Warhawk and they're clearly struggling out there." The man growled.
"Is it possible that they escaped or destroyed the Warhawk?" One of the advisors asked.
"Impossible." Another replied. "The Warhawk is a military grade helicopter up against, what? A ragtag bunch of civilians who may have simple guns, at best?"
"Do not underestimate Eddward Hart." Shirley warned. "From the intel we have on him, the boy is a super genius with an extensive history of building surprisingly potent inventions with only materials scavenged at the local trash dump."
"General Shirley!" An officer called out as he ran into the room and saluted his commanding officer. "We've just located the Warhawk. It's been completely destroyed by what we can only assume to be an explosive. We've lost Eddward Hart."
For a single moment, the blood of the advisors and every soldier in the room went cold as their eyes went straight to the General.
"Those USELESS BASTARDS!" He shouted, slamming his fists on the table before standing up. "HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO GRAB ONE KID!"
After taking a deep breath and composing himself, the General's face returned to the stoic death glare he normally sported.
"With this news I hope you all have come to understand just how important it is that we get this boy." He began. "If he is intelligent enough to use the resources he has to destroy the Warhawk, then who knows just how beneficial he can be to the Vice President. Clearly, the only way to get to him is by sheer force." With a huff he began to head for the door while continuing his speech.
"I'll request more weapons and ammunition. I want all of you to prepare yourselves for what is to come. Be ready."
Meanwhile, the RV had long since appeared to enter a different state as the terrain became less mountainous. Eddy was recounting the series of events that led to the destruction of the helicopter, with just a little bit of exaggerating.
"So we got the rubber ban all stretched out and ready to launch. Sarah and Ed are keeping it steady, pulling it back as hard as they can. Sarah's pulling it back looking like she's about to bust an artery while Ed's pulling off the most constipated looking face I've ever seen. As I put the grenade into position I hear Double D say 'This may be our only chance!'"
Sarah rolled her eyes but grinned at the over-exaggeration.
"Hehehe, constipated." Ed chuckled.
"I look over and see Jimmy, sweating like Kevin after a basketball game, as he looks at Double D and says 'Are you sure this'll work?' Double D, the most terrified I've ever seen him, looks back at him, says 'It has to!', and then on the count of three Edd gives us the signal. I pull the pin, Ed and Sarah let go of the rubber band. We all just stand there, not sure if we did it and then... BOOM!"
"Hahahaha, we watched that thing blow from here, went up like the first time I used the El Mondo Stink Bomb!" Terry laughed.
"Or the Fourth of July fireworks." Lenore added.
"Speaking of which, you gotta tell us stories about when you lived here, Mom!" May pleaded to which her mother brought her daughters in for a hug and assured them she would tell them another time.
"Hey, you doing alright there, Edd?" Rachel asked the smartest Ed, who looked down at his feet in contemplation.
"Physically, yes." Double D replied as he looked over at everyone. "Though I still can't help but wonder as to the reason why the military is after me. I mean, I haven't done anything to warrant their ire and why me specifically?"
"Hey, don't beat yourself up on this." Eddy assured. "Whatever the reason is, they're gonna have to get through us!"
"And we will not go down without a fight! So says I; Ed, Warrior of the Wasteland!"
"Nobody's gonna lay a hand on my man!" Marie added. As some of the others agreed, Terry pulled into a gas station on the side of the road.
"As touching as this all is." The man began. "I think we're all due for a break. We never got to eat our dinner and as luck would have it, we're at a convenience store. Who's up for some grub while I fill our baby here with some gas."
While most of the gang hurried into the store, Rachel turned the stove back on to reheat the stew. Double D checked on the flower again, still in its corner of the bathroom and unharmed. As he looked at it he thought of his parents again.
'Mother, Father, I still haven't forgotten about you two. I don't know where you are but I pray you're still safe. If you truly are gone then I hope you watch over all of us. I don't quite know the secrets of this plant yet, but if it truly can end this plague then I hope you'll give me the strength I need to find that secret and survive.'
And so ends another chapter! Thank you all for being patient with this story as I know these months in between updates can be frustrating. Still, I hope the wait is worth it and I will keep trying to get these chapters out in a more reasonable timespan.