Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2009 4:42:17 GMT -5
Fin:
Fin looked at the hunting lodge from behind a tree. He tried to see if anyone was in there, if it had been taken over by aliens. Not like he knew anything about traps or would know if one was being set. "And why would they try to set a trap for you?" He had been held by the aliens for a horrific three days. He had been jumpy before but he was down right paranoid now.
He quickly ran over to the lodge and up to the doorway. He looked around trying to see if there was anyone in the woods. He felt like a rabbit being hunted by wolves except the wolves were seven feet tall and had blades everywhere.
"They are going to find me. I have to get away from here. I have to." He pushed the door to the hunting lodge open and slipped inside. Once he was inside he locked the door behind him and then he backed away from it until he almost tripped on the couch and ended up sitting down.
He sat there while thoughts of escape and panic ran around his head. For a while the panic and the fear paralyzed him. For a second he let the horror of everything that had happened get to him. He wanted to cry for his aunt but he needed to get away from this city.
He had seen those flying machines. They flew a million miles a second it seemed. He didn't know if he could ever really escape them but maybe if he got far enough away from civilization, far enough away from the aliens, maybe he could hide. Maybe he could even make it all the way back to CT and try to find his family.
He forced himself to get up and go find his bow. He knew he couldn't defeat the whole invasion with it but his bow was a pretty powerful compound bow and it could take down one of those monsters if he got the drop on them. But Fin didn't really plan on fighting. He wanted the bow so that he hunt on his way across the country.
"This country is fucked, maybe the whole world. Knew it had to happen some day. No hope, we can't fight them."
Mel:
Melanie was watching from a distance,munching some grass,trying to pass for a normal deer,just like the others that lived outside the city. She'd morphed as a way of observing the lodge for a while Johnny was around here somewhere too but she couldn't see him at the moment. Her ears twitched, her keen deer senses alert for any sign of trouble.
<<I wonder>> she said to Johnny privately. <<Free human or rogue controller?>>
Fin:
Fin found his bow and thought about turning right around but he knew he needed some rest. Instead of packing a bag full of food and continuing out of the city he found the bathroom and crossed his fingers as he turned the knobs for the water. The lodge got it's water from a well and Fin had no idea if it would still be running let alone be warm. Well as the water began to spout out of the shower's faucet Fin discovered that the water was indeed running but it wasn't warm. Needless to say Fin took a very, very short shower.
Once he was clean he found a travel bag in a closet and raided the Hunting Lodge's supply of canned goods. We he had put as much food in as he could carry he picked up his bow and a quiver and headed back outside.
He was about to set off in the opposite direction but he saw a flash of movement in the trees. If he had been thinking clearly he might have waited and if he had waited he would have found out it was a deer, but Fin had been running from aliens in an occupied city for two days. Before that he had been held captive by those same aliens in a hellish prison for three days and before that he had been trying to escape the same city right after everything he thought he knew about the universe was blown apart. Fin was not thinking clearly.
He pulled out an arrow and didn't bother taking careful aim, just shot in the direction of the flash he had seen. As he did so he screamed. Fin thought the scream was unintelligible, but that was because he wasn't paying attention to what was coming out of his own mouth. But he did in fact scream words, something like, "Ahhhhhhh! Die Aliens!"
Mel;
The arrow missed Mel as she darted away but did take some hair off her flank. <<Hey, yikes,darn it I knew this was going to happen when I got this morph I don't taste good, honest!>> Melanie being Melanie, she couldn't remember everything in the heat of battle and forgot to keep her thought speak private. She regretted that almost immediately. If she didn't get killed, Matthias would let her have it later.
She thought the guy might *not* be a controller, but she was still being careful, it could still be a trap. And if he was hunting Animorphs, she quite possibly history. Although she knew she had the option to run and try to get to bird and fly away. Unfortunately that would mean going human first and she'd be more at risk then. She could also use the deer's natural weapons, hooves and antlers, but only if she could avoid any future arrows and get close.
Fin:
Fin nearly turned and ran when he heard the voice in his head. It wasn't like he didn't normally have voices in his head, he heard voices all the time but they were normally different incarnations of himself, that or his mother's voice telling him to be careful or whatever mother's usually say. But this voice was completely ALIEN!
He wasn't exactly sure what the aliens did to people but he knew it involved their brains. So when he heard that voice all he could think of was that he had been found by the aliens, found and they were trying to capture him again, trying to throw him back in that cell until they could do something worse to him.
"Noooo! No, I won't go back! I won't go back you alien scum!" Before he could completely think through what he was doing he ran at the thing he had seen in the bushes. As he got closer he saw that it was a deer but this didn't stop him from thinking it was an alien deer.
Fin really wasn't the type of kid to go running off without thinking. He thought through everything he did. In fact he normally thought through something so much that he would think himself right out of doing it. But this was not one of those times. He had been on hair trigger for too long. He was like one of those war vets that come home and go a little crazy because they are so used to seeing enemies everywhere that they start seeing enemies in shadows.
Fin had been hunted and, worse, he had been caught. Now he was convinced he was being hunted again and he was going to do something to stop it. He should have stayed back and used his bow but instead he ran towards the deer and threw himself at it.
If it had been a normal deer he never would have got anywhere near it but Fin actually managed to grab the buck's horns. Eyes wild, the white showing and pupils dilated, he grabbed the deer's antler's in both hands and screamed at it. "What do you want with me! Just leave me alone!"
Mel:
Mel was trying not to panic, unsure how to solve her problem. And Johnny was no help, that was for sure. She was already heading for a chew-out by Matthias if he discovered the thought-speak thing. Should she try it again,intentionally this time,dangerous as it was? Should she just demorph even though it would leave her vulnerable?
She hoped she wasn't hurting him too much, the morph had a strong desire to get loose and run, and she was thrashing. She thought her best bet was to try and get loose without hurting him and find a place to demorph so she could talk to him as a human without giving up her secret. She was just glad she'd found a morphing outfit.
Matthias:
Matthias had been taking a break from his scouting, and thought it a good idea to check on Melanie and Johnny. Maybe their search would turn up more fruits than his own. Matthias wasn't terribly optimistic about things, and usually for good reason.
Johnny only supported this by running into Matthias in mid-air, saying that he had lost Melanie. Furious, Matthias had sent Johnny home, and gone after Melanie alone. He was fuming as he scouted, his powerful raptor eyes scanning the area for any of Melanie's morphs.
It didn't take him long to spot her and Fin, tussling at the edge of a forest near the cabin. Fin's screams had been plenty audible. You damned fool. Matthias thought to himself. What a proper mess this is. There would be time to chastise Melanie later, Matthias reflected as he fought to keep a level head in his anger. For now, he had to deal with this new person. It made him glad the gyrfalcon was a big bird, because his plan relied on his eyes.
Dropping from the sky like a thunderbolt, Matthias crashed into Fin, knocking him off of Melanie. Then he circled back around, regaining height as he shook off the impact. <<Is he a Controller, Melanie?>> Matthias kept his thought-speak tone level; Melanie's lecture would come later.
Fin:
The alien deer fought his grip but he refused to let go. He had had enough of being hunted. He didn't know what was going on here but he wasn't letting go until he got some answers.
At least that is what he thought until a huge bird dropped out of the sky and knocked him away. It shouldn't have been possible. Even though the bird was big and moving fast it was still lighter than a human. But the birds hit did hurt quite a bit and Fin was shocked enough by the unexpected attack he let go and fell to the ground.
Alien deer and alien birds! They were everywhere! He began to realize what it would mean if he was surrounded by aliens, if he had to constantly be on the lookout, and he knew the paranoia would drive him insane.
He couldn't face it if even the animals were enemies. He got up and ran back to his stuff. He picked up his back pack and his bow and decided he wanted very much to be somewhere else. He thought about trying to take another shot at the deer but he didn't want that bird dive-bombing him again so instead he turned and tried to run.
Mel:
<<It doesn't seem like he is>> She was sure to keep it private although it was a bit late and she didn't really think he'd let it go easily. <<I screwed up, I know it. Although I wouldn't have slipped if I'd known for sure he *was* one. I had suspictions about his not being a controller by the way he kept...keeps...yelling "Die aliens" and muttering about them chasing him. My guard was down and. I got scared..>> she sighed a deer-sigh <<looks like it's my usual luck...I never do anything right. Even when my life is at stake. Not to mention other people's. I guess I can't complain if I'm kicked out.>> She finally stopped, afraid he'd yell at her to stop it already since she was going on a lot.
Matthias:
Matthias waited impatiently for Melanie to wallow in self-depreciation before he made a decision. <<Well we can't just let him get away. I already sent Johnny home. Follow me, we're going after him. But you and I are going to have a talk when we get back to the hideout.>>
One good thing had come of all this, Matthias reflected, they had at least found a new home. The cabin that Fin was hiding in would serve nicely if they wanted to transplant themselves, as Matthias suspected they would very soon. Now, however, they had greater worries.
Flapping hard to regain altitude, Matthias circled back, trying to get to an angle where we could cut off Fin's escape. He needed Melanie to stall Fin while he morphed into something more dangerous. That gave him an idea. <<Run up ahead and cut him off. Keep him hemmed in with your speed. You don't need to stall him long, just long enough for me to be able to track him down.>>
Matthias ordinarily would have gone with the panther, but today he was in a cobra mood, and so that was what he intended to morph. His plan was simple; sneak through the undergrowth and wrap himself around Fin's leg, before kindly suggesting that he try nothing funny.
Mel:
<<That figures>> Mel sighed as she ran off to follow directions. <<I deserve a yelling at>> She managed to get in front of him like she'd been asked to. She spotted a flash of green and the scent of snake in the bushes coming toward her and Fin as she engaged Fin, and had to fight the deer's urge to run from the snake.
Fin:
As Fin was doing his best to get away the alien deer decided to get in his way. Now he wasn't a big guy and even though he had his bow it was a long range weapon not a short range one, so when a full grown male buck with a rack of horns stepped out of the woods and leveled those horns at him he decided it was time to surrender. He had seen one of those nature videos of male deer ramming each other and he had way too good a mental picture of what would happen if those horns were rammed into him. Maybe if he gave up now he would have a chance to escape later and if worse came to worse, and some of those bladed monsters showed up, he could run at one and it would chop him up before they took him back to that hell that was the One Wall Center.
Fin was too busy staring at the horns pointed at him to see the cobra.
Matthias:
Good work, Melanie. Matthias thought to himself as he snuck up on Fin. Melanie was doing an admirable job of doing exactly what he asked her to do for once, and Matthias was pleasantly surprised. From now, however, the plan depended on how sane Fin could remain.
Waiting until he could not possibly miss, Matthias launched himself at Fin's leg, coiling tight around his ankle before he could do anything. Then Matthias began his favourite part of the recruitment, the talk. <<Hey, you. Yeah, it's me. The snake. I see you've already met my friend, and it's very smart of you not to fight. Let me tell you what's going to happen here. That deer is going to walk off, and you're going to follow. I'll stay here as a kind of ankle bracelet. You try anything funny at all and I'll make use of these poison sacs. You might just live long enough to regret it.>>
To Melanie he privately added, <<Do you have much time left in morph?>> They were a ways from the trailer. If Melanie wasn't going to make it, he would have to find an alternative plan.
Fin:
"Snakes don't talk. Deer don't talk. I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy. Hopefully that means that all of this is a dream. My mom is alive, my little brother is alive, my dad is alive. My aunt isn't a slave. Ok, the world hasn't ended. I've just gone crazy. Makes sense." Fin relaxed. Someone who had heard him might think that Fin was being sarcastic, but he was being completely serious. A world where he had gone insane and might be in a padded room right now would be much better than the world they were living in now.
"Lead on Bambi. Where are we going? To meet Santa, I've always believed in him. This being crazy thing could be fun."
Mel:
<About 20 minutes...I have tried to keep track if you're wondering...but I don't know if it gives me enough time to get back or not.> Melanie replied, making sure to keep it private this time, even though she knew it was too late to avoid trouble. She heard Fin say "lead on, Bambi" and said questioningly <Do I? Lead on I mean? Or do we need a different plan so I don't get stuck?>
Matthias:
Matthias did the math in his head. It had taken him an hour to fly here casually. Fin couldn't move all that fast...they weren't going to make it. In fact it was possible that he, too, would need to demorph before they made it back. <<Lead on, and keep a fairly quick pace. We're going to take a detour when we get close so at least one of us can demorph. For now, just head straight home.>>
The two hour time limit was a major setback to morphing, Matthias reflected, but it was not unmanageable. The supermarket was a good place for a quick change, and it was right on their way back, so it would work fine.
Fin:
Fin had been willing to be led anywhere. When he started out he was completely, %100 sure that this was a dream or actually a nightmare. A good 15 minutes, stubbed toes, scratched arms and itchy neck later he wasn't so sure anymore. Were dreams supposed to be this real? He scratched at a newly acquired mosquito bite. The itch seemed real enough.
As they came into sight of a grocery store Fin stopped dead in his tracks. Snake or no snake he was not going back into town. Danger was in town. Aliens who wanted to kill you or worse were in town. He had escaped once he wasn't stupid enough to think he would escape a second time.
"Listen, whoever, whatever you are. I don't know if you noticed, I mean maybe the little trials of humanity don't mean a thing to forest animals or whatever, but going into town is not really working for me. So Kaa or whoever you are, get off my leg or we all turn around cause I'm not following Bambi any further.
Mattthias:
Oh, don't worry. Matthias thought to himself in response to Fin's question. You're not going in there.
<<Melanie, go. Get inside, make sure you aren't being watched, demorph and remorph and get your ass back here. I'll handle this.>> Matthias was in no mood to play nice, as he switched the target of his thought-speak to Fin, <<Alright, listen up kid. I'm a cobra. At this distance, I can have my fangs buried an inch into your leg before you can so much as think of doing something I don't want you to do. And I'm not some pet store snake, either; you're not gonna survive without medical attention, and as you so correctly pointed out, going into town is a bad idea. So you're going to do things my way. There's a trailer park just outside the city. You can probably see it from here. That's where we're going. Just you and me. Now get a move on, snakes are trigger-happy with their fangs when they're angry.>>
Matthias had no real problem with killing Fin if necessary. Better dead than a Controller. That being said, he'd rather have another live body in the faction, so it was probably best to avoid it if possible.
Mel:
<<All right.>> She definately heard the way he talked and he really meant buisness, she knew that much. <<Don't worry, I'm in too much trouble already to even *think* about getting into any more>> She did keep it private as she talked. She sighed, as much as a deer can. She moved into the stoor, feeling a bit conspicuous but glad no one was around at the time.
The hardest thing about the store was just walking. Hooves on tile weren't easy to control and she slid and skittered, but somehow avoided bumping into much, either with her body or her antlers. The best place to demorph would obviously be a bathroom but a deer wasn't going to fit into a bathroom stall, that was obvious. Plus, hooves couldn't exactly open doors. So, she settled for a stock room, which had no door to encumber her. She'd really have liked to get wings but she needed ground power to complete the plan they were in the middle of, so it was back to deer when she remorphed.
<<I'm back>> she said to Matthias privately. <<By the way, walking on tile flooring is tricky in a hoofed morph. But don't worry, I didn't hit anything along the way,fortunately. Except the wall once.>>
Fin:
Fin didn't really like being ordered around by a snake. In fact he didn't like being ordered around by anyone especially right now since it reminded him so much about the One Wall Center. Because of this he was tempted to try to get the snake off his leg and if he had knife he might have been more tempted still. But devoid of any close range weapons and knowing very well that the snake wasn't lying and could move much faster than him, Fin let it go. He was interested in survival and fighting the snake was not the way to survive.
He looked around until he spotted the trailer and then began walking towards it but just because he had to follow orders didn't mean he had to be agreeable about it. "That where you come from Kaa," he said referencing the giagantic snake from Jungle book, "Cause it doesn't look like much of a place for snakes or deer for that matter. Then again if you're aliens maybe it's bigger on the inside than on the outside. Still, why would you chose for your secret headquaters to look like a trailer and so close to the city too. Unless of course you are aliens that don't get along with the one's in town. If that's true I feel sorry for you because they're pretty tough and I'm pretty sure they won't be scared by snakes and deer."
He was taking low shots but he was tired of being put in situations he didn't have any control over. First the aliens had ruined his life and now different aliens or maybe the same ones were telling him what to do. When would he be able to fight back?
Or at least run away successfully.
Matthias:
Matthias had started tuning Fin out from the moment he called him Kaa. Matthias got the reference, but he really wasn't interested in dealing with two idiots right now. Cleaning up Melanie's mess was enough. He did catch pieces of what Fin said and they made him smile, if he could smile, that is.
<<Don't get used to it. We're probably going back to where we found you. I happened to like that cabin. This is just where you're going to be locked up for the next three days so that I can be sure that you are, in fact, a crazy human being, and not a crazy alien.>>
To Melanie, he privately added, <<I'm running out of time in morph. We'll make it home in time, but you have to keep watch on him while I demorph. If he tries to run...well...don't let him. Use whatever means are necessary.>>
Mel:
Melanie also would have chuckled at the Kaa reference if she a,could have and b,wasn't preoccupied worrying about being yelled at and whether she'd even be allowed to stay on the team. She did recall the Bambi reference from earlier though.
<<All right>> she replied, privately, nervous but hiding it under the deer's perpetual nervousness. <<Got it. And I'll do my best to keep him alive if he runs...but I do know that he can't be allowed to escape and talk to anyone about us either, so I do know what you mean by 'any means necessary'...>> She trailed off, thinking she didn't need to say it. <<Let's just hope he doesn't drive me to that>> she said with a sigh.
Fin:
"Oh, I see. You're a thief as well as a kidnapper. I'm so glad I met you. If you think you're holding me for three days I'm thinking I can't stop you since you happen to be a poisonous snake that is faster than me but after those three days I walk. Take the damn shack Snake but I take my property and you let me go."
Matthias:
<<After those three days, you do exactly what I tell you.>> Matthias replied as they neared the trailer at long last, <<Because I'm going to let you in on a little secret right now, and here's the thing. It's very important that no one knows this secret, so if you so much as think of running away after this point, I will have to kill you.>>
On a lighter note, he told Fin the good news, <<On the plus side, I think you'll like this part. You see, I'm not really a snake, and my friend there isn't really a deer. We're both just as human as you are. Those aliens you've been running into? We've been spending our days fighting them. When we can get a new recruit, we take it, because our numbers are sparse to say the least. The three days is a waiting period. You see, the aliens need to feed once every three days or they die. So if you stay alive in the trailer, subsisting on human food, for 72 hours, then we know you're one of us.>>
<<What I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but no crazier than anything else I've been saying. In three days, you will have the power to turn into animals, just like I can. That is how we stay hidden, and that is how we fight. Do you have something worth fighting for?>>
Fin:
"No except to stay alive." He didn't like how who ever this guy was, why not just stick with Kaa, he didn't like how Kaa just assumed that he would want to join his little group here. "Why in the world would I want to fight those things. Have you seen them. They can't really be beat and if they could why would I want to be the one to do it. I could very easily die that way. You asked me if I had something to fight for. Well, Kaa-I-feel-like-throwing-my-life-away, do you have anything to live for? I do, I want to live to see my eighteenth birthday, and I want to live to find my family if they can be found. So no, I don't have anything to fight for but I have plenty of reasons to stay out of this fight. So I don't care who you are, after these three days I'm gone. I won't tell your secret but I don't want to be part of it either. It's not my fault you brought me here and revealed your location. I seem to remember being forced this far."
He hadn't let anyone push him around in a long time. Everyday he had to deal with drug dealers, addicts and suspicious cops and authority figures. He wasn't about to back down in front of some snake.
If this wasn't a dream, and he was about %85 sure that it wasn't though he was still hoping, then it was a nightmarish reality and everyone knew that you weaklings didn't survive in post apocalyptic worlds.
Matthias:
Matthias was not in the best of moods to begin with, and Fin was not helping matters. Then again, he reflected, it was probably a human reaction to get the hell out of there. Pity Fin didn't yet realize that there were only two choices. <<You don't have an option in this.>> Matthias replied calmly, <<Sooner or later, those aliens, Yeerks we call them, will find you. They're pretty much everywhere, as you might have noticed. You can't be out on your own. They'll find you. If you want to stay alive until you're eighteen, just walk into a city. You'll still be alive. You won't be able to control a single damn thing in your body, not even when you breathe, but you'll be alive. Unless you run into me again, in which case you won't.>>
<<I'm not going to let you walk away. You can think of this as conscription if you like. It's war. Get that through your head. I know you're just a kid, but then again, we all are. We didn't ask for this. But someone's got to fight them, and we're the only free humans left. You do have something to fight for; yourself. You want to live to see your eighteenth? How about living in a free world when you're an adult? Isn't that something to fight for? How about freeing the ones that you care about that the Yeerks have gotten a hold of?>>
<<As for not telling our secret, you're not going to have much choice. The Yeerks can filter through your memories once they are inside your head. And I've got news for you, they'll get there. You can't run forever. Sooner or later there will be nowhere for you to run to. I can't take the risk of that. Bad luck for you that you crossed paths with my friend, I guess, because at the end of three days, you're going to be free in one of two senses of the word. You'll either be free to become any animal you touch, or you'll be free in death. There is no middle ground.>>
Matthias was really riling himself up to let into Melanie later, but he couldn't afford to snap at Fin. The cobra was feeding off his frustration, and was about ready to strike, and he had to hold it back lest he do something he might regret later. Fin just had to realize that the situation was bigger than he was; a lot bigger.
<<Oh, and you can stop calling me Kaa. My name is Matthias and the deer you saw earlier is Melanie.>>
Fin:
"That's impossible. They can't be everywhere. I mean...," his voice trailed off. He had seen what those things could do but everywhere. "I mean, ok, so maybe they took over Canada. Maybe they even got the entirety of North America though I'd find that hard to believe, but Europe? Asia? Some places in Asia don't even have cities to burn down. You're telling me they're gone too? No way. And if there are still places that are safe then I want to find my family and I want to get them there. If I stay here then what chance to do I have to do that. I'm not from around here. My family is back on the east coast. I have to try to find them. They're all I have left." The last was said in a small voice. He hadn't meant to show that much vulnerability, especially in front of the stranger. "Look, I'll stay or fight or whatever but after. Just let me go to try to find my family, try to get them to safety. Or," a hopeful gleam came into his eyes, "maybe you have people on the east coast, people who could look for them. It would be much faster than me trying to get there by myself."
Mel:
Melanie stayed fairly quiet, letting Matthias do the talking. She was already in enough trouble as it was, she didn't want to make it any worse. But she was on alert, poised for action if Fin tried to run or attack. Still, she was nervous as well, fully expecting she'd be off the team when Matthias got time to yell at her. The biggest fear in her mind was that they'd kill her; if they just ran her off and the Yeerks got her, it would be a terrible thing.
Cassie:
Cassie. Matthias thought to himself. She was on the East Coast, and Matthias was certain she'd be more than happy to take on a little side mission. But that meant a cross-country trip. This was hardly a registered emergency and that meant no use of the phone. I need to get a goose.
<<I think that can be arranged. Though, sadly, we don't have an easy way of communicating to our fellows on the other side of the continent. We'll figure something out. The unfortunate thing is that whether you believe it or not, the Yeerks own the whole planet, not just North America. Nowhere is really safe anymore. The safest you can be is with us.>>
By this time, they had at long last reached the trailer and Matthias uncoiled himself, getting very close to the two hour mark, <<Go right on inside.>>
<<Melanie, show him to that little back area, the one with the spare bathroom that doesn't totally work. That has a lock on the door. He'll be spending the next few days with us, and then I think we might just be moving camp.>> It bothered Matthias immensely that no one was at camp. The trailer was utterly deserted. <<Where IS everyone?>> He added privately to Melanie.
Fin:
He nodded and went into the room thinking about what Matthias had said. It seemed that he had unwittingly found some people who might actually be able to help him and might keep him alive longer than he could have himself. All he had to do was fight and die for them. Not the best scenario but he knew when to roll with the punches and now was not the time to keep fighting.
Hopefully this would work out. He would find out in three days.
Fin looked at the hunting lodge from behind a tree. He tried to see if anyone was in there, if it had been taken over by aliens. Not like he knew anything about traps or would know if one was being set. "And why would they try to set a trap for you?" He had been held by the aliens for a horrific three days. He had been jumpy before but he was down right paranoid now.
He quickly ran over to the lodge and up to the doorway. He looked around trying to see if there was anyone in the woods. He felt like a rabbit being hunted by wolves except the wolves were seven feet tall and had blades everywhere.
"They are going to find me. I have to get away from here. I have to." He pushed the door to the hunting lodge open and slipped inside. Once he was inside he locked the door behind him and then he backed away from it until he almost tripped on the couch and ended up sitting down.
He sat there while thoughts of escape and panic ran around his head. For a while the panic and the fear paralyzed him. For a second he let the horror of everything that had happened get to him. He wanted to cry for his aunt but he needed to get away from this city.
He had seen those flying machines. They flew a million miles a second it seemed. He didn't know if he could ever really escape them but maybe if he got far enough away from civilization, far enough away from the aliens, maybe he could hide. Maybe he could even make it all the way back to CT and try to find his family.
He forced himself to get up and go find his bow. He knew he couldn't defeat the whole invasion with it but his bow was a pretty powerful compound bow and it could take down one of those monsters if he got the drop on them. But Fin didn't really plan on fighting. He wanted the bow so that he hunt on his way across the country.
"This country is fucked, maybe the whole world. Knew it had to happen some day. No hope, we can't fight them."
Mel:
Melanie was watching from a distance,munching some grass,trying to pass for a normal deer,just like the others that lived outside the city. She'd morphed as a way of observing the lodge for a while Johnny was around here somewhere too but she couldn't see him at the moment. Her ears twitched, her keen deer senses alert for any sign of trouble.
<<I wonder>> she said to Johnny privately. <<Free human or rogue controller?>>
Fin:
Fin found his bow and thought about turning right around but he knew he needed some rest. Instead of packing a bag full of food and continuing out of the city he found the bathroom and crossed his fingers as he turned the knobs for the water. The lodge got it's water from a well and Fin had no idea if it would still be running let alone be warm. Well as the water began to spout out of the shower's faucet Fin discovered that the water was indeed running but it wasn't warm. Needless to say Fin took a very, very short shower.
Once he was clean he found a travel bag in a closet and raided the Hunting Lodge's supply of canned goods. We he had put as much food in as he could carry he picked up his bow and a quiver and headed back outside.
He was about to set off in the opposite direction but he saw a flash of movement in the trees. If he had been thinking clearly he might have waited and if he had waited he would have found out it was a deer, but Fin had been running from aliens in an occupied city for two days. Before that he had been held captive by those same aliens in a hellish prison for three days and before that he had been trying to escape the same city right after everything he thought he knew about the universe was blown apart. Fin was not thinking clearly.
He pulled out an arrow and didn't bother taking careful aim, just shot in the direction of the flash he had seen. As he did so he screamed. Fin thought the scream was unintelligible, but that was because he wasn't paying attention to what was coming out of his own mouth. But he did in fact scream words, something like, "Ahhhhhhh! Die Aliens!"
Mel;
The arrow missed Mel as she darted away but did take some hair off her flank. <<Hey, yikes,darn it I knew this was going to happen when I got this morph I don't taste good, honest!>> Melanie being Melanie, she couldn't remember everything in the heat of battle and forgot to keep her thought speak private. She regretted that almost immediately. If she didn't get killed, Matthias would let her have it later.
She thought the guy might *not* be a controller, but she was still being careful, it could still be a trap. And if he was hunting Animorphs, she quite possibly history. Although she knew she had the option to run and try to get to bird and fly away. Unfortunately that would mean going human first and she'd be more at risk then. She could also use the deer's natural weapons, hooves and antlers, but only if she could avoid any future arrows and get close.
Fin:
Fin nearly turned and ran when he heard the voice in his head. It wasn't like he didn't normally have voices in his head, he heard voices all the time but they were normally different incarnations of himself, that or his mother's voice telling him to be careful or whatever mother's usually say. But this voice was completely ALIEN!
He wasn't exactly sure what the aliens did to people but he knew it involved their brains. So when he heard that voice all he could think of was that he had been found by the aliens, found and they were trying to capture him again, trying to throw him back in that cell until they could do something worse to him.
"Noooo! No, I won't go back! I won't go back you alien scum!" Before he could completely think through what he was doing he ran at the thing he had seen in the bushes. As he got closer he saw that it was a deer but this didn't stop him from thinking it was an alien deer.
Fin really wasn't the type of kid to go running off without thinking. He thought through everything he did. In fact he normally thought through something so much that he would think himself right out of doing it. But this was not one of those times. He had been on hair trigger for too long. He was like one of those war vets that come home and go a little crazy because they are so used to seeing enemies everywhere that they start seeing enemies in shadows.
Fin had been hunted and, worse, he had been caught. Now he was convinced he was being hunted again and he was going to do something to stop it. He should have stayed back and used his bow but instead he ran towards the deer and threw himself at it.
If it had been a normal deer he never would have got anywhere near it but Fin actually managed to grab the buck's horns. Eyes wild, the white showing and pupils dilated, he grabbed the deer's antler's in both hands and screamed at it. "What do you want with me! Just leave me alone!"
Mel:
Mel was trying not to panic, unsure how to solve her problem. And Johnny was no help, that was for sure. She was already heading for a chew-out by Matthias if he discovered the thought-speak thing. Should she try it again,intentionally this time,dangerous as it was? Should she just demorph even though it would leave her vulnerable?
She hoped she wasn't hurting him too much, the morph had a strong desire to get loose and run, and she was thrashing. She thought her best bet was to try and get loose without hurting him and find a place to demorph so she could talk to him as a human without giving up her secret. She was just glad she'd found a morphing outfit.
Matthias:
Matthias had been taking a break from his scouting, and thought it a good idea to check on Melanie and Johnny. Maybe their search would turn up more fruits than his own. Matthias wasn't terribly optimistic about things, and usually for good reason.
Johnny only supported this by running into Matthias in mid-air, saying that he had lost Melanie. Furious, Matthias had sent Johnny home, and gone after Melanie alone. He was fuming as he scouted, his powerful raptor eyes scanning the area for any of Melanie's morphs.
It didn't take him long to spot her and Fin, tussling at the edge of a forest near the cabin. Fin's screams had been plenty audible. You damned fool. Matthias thought to himself. What a proper mess this is. There would be time to chastise Melanie later, Matthias reflected as he fought to keep a level head in his anger. For now, he had to deal with this new person. It made him glad the gyrfalcon was a big bird, because his plan relied on his eyes.
Dropping from the sky like a thunderbolt, Matthias crashed into Fin, knocking him off of Melanie. Then he circled back around, regaining height as he shook off the impact. <<Is he a Controller, Melanie?>> Matthias kept his thought-speak tone level; Melanie's lecture would come later.
Fin:
The alien deer fought his grip but he refused to let go. He had had enough of being hunted. He didn't know what was going on here but he wasn't letting go until he got some answers.
At least that is what he thought until a huge bird dropped out of the sky and knocked him away. It shouldn't have been possible. Even though the bird was big and moving fast it was still lighter than a human. But the birds hit did hurt quite a bit and Fin was shocked enough by the unexpected attack he let go and fell to the ground.
Alien deer and alien birds! They were everywhere! He began to realize what it would mean if he was surrounded by aliens, if he had to constantly be on the lookout, and he knew the paranoia would drive him insane.
He couldn't face it if even the animals were enemies. He got up and ran back to his stuff. He picked up his back pack and his bow and decided he wanted very much to be somewhere else. He thought about trying to take another shot at the deer but he didn't want that bird dive-bombing him again so instead he turned and tried to run.
Mel:
<<It doesn't seem like he is>> She was sure to keep it private although it was a bit late and she didn't really think he'd let it go easily. <<I screwed up, I know it. Although I wouldn't have slipped if I'd known for sure he *was* one. I had suspictions about his not being a controller by the way he kept...keeps...yelling "Die aliens" and muttering about them chasing him. My guard was down and. I got scared..>> she sighed a deer-sigh <<looks like it's my usual luck...I never do anything right. Even when my life is at stake. Not to mention other people's. I guess I can't complain if I'm kicked out.>> She finally stopped, afraid he'd yell at her to stop it already since she was going on a lot.
Matthias:
Matthias waited impatiently for Melanie to wallow in self-depreciation before he made a decision. <<Well we can't just let him get away. I already sent Johnny home. Follow me, we're going after him. But you and I are going to have a talk when we get back to the hideout.>>
One good thing had come of all this, Matthias reflected, they had at least found a new home. The cabin that Fin was hiding in would serve nicely if they wanted to transplant themselves, as Matthias suspected they would very soon. Now, however, they had greater worries.
Flapping hard to regain altitude, Matthias circled back, trying to get to an angle where we could cut off Fin's escape. He needed Melanie to stall Fin while he morphed into something more dangerous. That gave him an idea. <<Run up ahead and cut him off. Keep him hemmed in with your speed. You don't need to stall him long, just long enough for me to be able to track him down.>>
Matthias ordinarily would have gone with the panther, but today he was in a cobra mood, and so that was what he intended to morph. His plan was simple; sneak through the undergrowth and wrap himself around Fin's leg, before kindly suggesting that he try nothing funny.
Mel:
<<That figures>> Mel sighed as she ran off to follow directions. <<I deserve a yelling at>> She managed to get in front of him like she'd been asked to. She spotted a flash of green and the scent of snake in the bushes coming toward her and Fin as she engaged Fin, and had to fight the deer's urge to run from the snake.
Fin:
As Fin was doing his best to get away the alien deer decided to get in his way. Now he wasn't a big guy and even though he had his bow it was a long range weapon not a short range one, so when a full grown male buck with a rack of horns stepped out of the woods and leveled those horns at him he decided it was time to surrender. He had seen one of those nature videos of male deer ramming each other and he had way too good a mental picture of what would happen if those horns were rammed into him. Maybe if he gave up now he would have a chance to escape later and if worse came to worse, and some of those bladed monsters showed up, he could run at one and it would chop him up before they took him back to that hell that was the One Wall Center.
Fin was too busy staring at the horns pointed at him to see the cobra.
Matthias:
Good work, Melanie. Matthias thought to himself as he snuck up on Fin. Melanie was doing an admirable job of doing exactly what he asked her to do for once, and Matthias was pleasantly surprised. From now, however, the plan depended on how sane Fin could remain.
Waiting until he could not possibly miss, Matthias launched himself at Fin's leg, coiling tight around his ankle before he could do anything. Then Matthias began his favourite part of the recruitment, the talk. <<Hey, you. Yeah, it's me. The snake. I see you've already met my friend, and it's very smart of you not to fight. Let me tell you what's going to happen here. That deer is going to walk off, and you're going to follow. I'll stay here as a kind of ankle bracelet. You try anything funny at all and I'll make use of these poison sacs. You might just live long enough to regret it.>>
To Melanie he privately added, <<Do you have much time left in morph?>> They were a ways from the trailer. If Melanie wasn't going to make it, he would have to find an alternative plan.
Fin:
"Snakes don't talk. Deer don't talk. I'm pretty sure I'm going crazy. Hopefully that means that all of this is a dream. My mom is alive, my little brother is alive, my dad is alive. My aunt isn't a slave. Ok, the world hasn't ended. I've just gone crazy. Makes sense." Fin relaxed. Someone who had heard him might think that Fin was being sarcastic, but he was being completely serious. A world where he had gone insane and might be in a padded room right now would be much better than the world they were living in now.
"Lead on Bambi. Where are we going? To meet Santa, I've always believed in him. This being crazy thing could be fun."
Mel:
<About 20 minutes...I have tried to keep track if you're wondering...but I don't know if it gives me enough time to get back or not.> Melanie replied, making sure to keep it private this time, even though she knew it was too late to avoid trouble. She heard Fin say "lead on, Bambi" and said questioningly <Do I? Lead on I mean? Or do we need a different plan so I don't get stuck?>
Matthias:
Matthias did the math in his head. It had taken him an hour to fly here casually. Fin couldn't move all that fast...they weren't going to make it. In fact it was possible that he, too, would need to demorph before they made it back. <<Lead on, and keep a fairly quick pace. We're going to take a detour when we get close so at least one of us can demorph. For now, just head straight home.>>
The two hour time limit was a major setback to morphing, Matthias reflected, but it was not unmanageable. The supermarket was a good place for a quick change, and it was right on their way back, so it would work fine.
Fin:
Fin had been willing to be led anywhere. When he started out he was completely, %100 sure that this was a dream or actually a nightmare. A good 15 minutes, stubbed toes, scratched arms and itchy neck later he wasn't so sure anymore. Were dreams supposed to be this real? He scratched at a newly acquired mosquito bite. The itch seemed real enough.
As they came into sight of a grocery store Fin stopped dead in his tracks. Snake or no snake he was not going back into town. Danger was in town. Aliens who wanted to kill you or worse were in town. He had escaped once he wasn't stupid enough to think he would escape a second time.
"Listen, whoever, whatever you are. I don't know if you noticed, I mean maybe the little trials of humanity don't mean a thing to forest animals or whatever, but going into town is not really working for me. So Kaa or whoever you are, get off my leg or we all turn around cause I'm not following Bambi any further.
Mattthias:
Oh, don't worry. Matthias thought to himself in response to Fin's question. You're not going in there.
<<Melanie, go. Get inside, make sure you aren't being watched, demorph and remorph and get your ass back here. I'll handle this.>> Matthias was in no mood to play nice, as he switched the target of his thought-speak to Fin, <<Alright, listen up kid. I'm a cobra. At this distance, I can have my fangs buried an inch into your leg before you can so much as think of doing something I don't want you to do. And I'm not some pet store snake, either; you're not gonna survive without medical attention, and as you so correctly pointed out, going into town is a bad idea. So you're going to do things my way. There's a trailer park just outside the city. You can probably see it from here. That's where we're going. Just you and me. Now get a move on, snakes are trigger-happy with their fangs when they're angry.>>
Matthias had no real problem with killing Fin if necessary. Better dead than a Controller. That being said, he'd rather have another live body in the faction, so it was probably best to avoid it if possible.
Mel:
<<All right.>> She definately heard the way he talked and he really meant buisness, she knew that much. <<Don't worry, I'm in too much trouble already to even *think* about getting into any more>> She did keep it private as she talked. She sighed, as much as a deer can. She moved into the stoor, feeling a bit conspicuous but glad no one was around at the time.
The hardest thing about the store was just walking. Hooves on tile weren't easy to control and she slid and skittered, but somehow avoided bumping into much, either with her body or her antlers. The best place to demorph would obviously be a bathroom but a deer wasn't going to fit into a bathroom stall, that was obvious. Plus, hooves couldn't exactly open doors. So, she settled for a stock room, which had no door to encumber her. She'd really have liked to get wings but she needed ground power to complete the plan they were in the middle of, so it was back to deer when she remorphed.
<<I'm back>> she said to Matthias privately. <<By the way, walking on tile flooring is tricky in a hoofed morph. But don't worry, I didn't hit anything along the way,fortunately. Except the wall once.>>
Fin:
Fin didn't really like being ordered around by a snake. In fact he didn't like being ordered around by anyone especially right now since it reminded him so much about the One Wall Center. Because of this he was tempted to try to get the snake off his leg and if he had knife he might have been more tempted still. But devoid of any close range weapons and knowing very well that the snake wasn't lying and could move much faster than him, Fin let it go. He was interested in survival and fighting the snake was not the way to survive.
He looked around until he spotted the trailer and then began walking towards it but just because he had to follow orders didn't mean he had to be agreeable about it. "That where you come from Kaa," he said referencing the giagantic snake from Jungle book, "Cause it doesn't look like much of a place for snakes or deer for that matter. Then again if you're aliens maybe it's bigger on the inside than on the outside. Still, why would you chose for your secret headquaters to look like a trailer and so close to the city too. Unless of course you are aliens that don't get along with the one's in town. If that's true I feel sorry for you because they're pretty tough and I'm pretty sure they won't be scared by snakes and deer."
He was taking low shots but he was tired of being put in situations he didn't have any control over. First the aliens had ruined his life and now different aliens or maybe the same ones were telling him what to do. When would he be able to fight back?
Or at least run away successfully.
Matthias:
Matthias had started tuning Fin out from the moment he called him Kaa. Matthias got the reference, but he really wasn't interested in dealing with two idiots right now. Cleaning up Melanie's mess was enough. He did catch pieces of what Fin said and they made him smile, if he could smile, that is.
<<Don't get used to it. We're probably going back to where we found you. I happened to like that cabin. This is just where you're going to be locked up for the next three days so that I can be sure that you are, in fact, a crazy human being, and not a crazy alien.>>
To Melanie, he privately added, <<I'm running out of time in morph. We'll make it home in time, but you have to keep watch on him while I demorph. If he tries to run...well...don't let him. Use whatever means are necessary.>>
Mel:
Melanie also would have chuckled at the Kaa reference if she a,could have and b,wasn't preoccupied worrying about being yelled at and whether she'd even be allowed to stay on the team. She did recall the Bambi reference from earlier though.
<<All right>> she replied, privately, nervous but hiding it under the deer's perpetual nervousness. <<Got it. And I'll do my best to keep him alive if he runs...but I do know that he can't be allowed to escape and talk to anyone about us either, so I do know what you mean by 'any means necessary'...>> She trailed off, thinking she didn't need to say it. <<Let's just hope he doesn't drive me to that>> she said with a sigh.
Fin:
"Oh, I see. You're a thief as well as a kidnapper. I'm so glad I met you. If you think you're holding me for three days I'm thinking I can't stop you since you happen to be a poisonous snake that is faster than me but after those three days I walk. Take the damn shack Snake but I take my property and you let me go."
Matthias:
<<After those three days, you do exactly what I tell you.>> Matthias replied as they neared the trailer at long last, <<Because I'm going to let you in on a little secret right now, and here's the thing. It's very important that no one knows this secret, so if you so much as think of running away after this point, I will have to kill you.>>
On a lighter note, he told Fin the good news, <<On the plus side, I think you'll like this part. You see, I'm not really a snake, and my friend there isn't really a deer. We're both just as human as you are. Those aliens you've been running into? We've been spending our days fighting them. When we can get a new recruit, we take it, because our numbers are sparse to say the least. The three days is a waiting period. You see, the aliens need to feed once every three days or they die. So if you stay alive in the trailer, subsisting on human food, for 72 hours, then we know you're one of us.>>
<<What I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but no crazier than anything else I've been saying. In three days, you will have the power to turn into animals, just like I can. That is how we stay hidden, and that is how we fight. Do you have something worth fighting for?>>
Fin:
"No except to stay alive." He didn't like how who ever this guy was, why not just stick with Kaa, he didn't like how Kaa just assumed that he would want to join his little group here. "Why in the world would I want to fight those things. Have you seen them. They can't really be beat and if they could why would I want to be the one to do it. I could very easily die that way. You asked me if I had something to fight for. Well, Kaa-I-feel-like-throwing-my-life-away, do you have anything to live for? I do, I want to live to see my eighteenth birthday, and I want to live to find my family if they can be found. So no, I don't have anything to fight for but I have plenty of reasons to stay out of this fight. So I don't care who you are, after these three days I'm gone. I won't tell your secret but I don't want to be part of it either. It's not my fault you brought me here and revealed your location. I seem to remember being forced this far."
He hadn't let anyone push him around in a long time. Everyday he had to deal with drug dealers, addicts and suspicious cops and authority figures. He wasn't about to back down in front of some snake.
If this wasn't a dream, and he was about %85 sure that it wasn't though he was still hoping, then it was a nightmarish reality and everyone knew that you weaklings didn't survive in post apocalyptic worlds.
Matthias:
Matthias was not in the best of moods to begin with, and Fin was not helping matters. Then again, he reflected, it was probably a human reaction to get the hell out of there. Pity Fin didn't yet realize that there were only two choices. <<You don't have an option in this.>> Matthias replied calmly, <<Sooner or later, those aliens, Yeerks we call them, will find you. They're pretty much everywhere, as you might have noticed. You can't be out on your own. They'll find you. If you want to stay alive until you're eighteen, just walk into a city. You'll still be alive. You won't be able to control a single damn thing in your body, not even when you breathe, but you'll be alive. Unless you run into me again, in which case you won't.>>
<<I'm not going to let you walk away. You can think of this as conscription if you like. It's war. Get that through your head. I know you're just a kid, but then again, we all are. We didn't ask for this. But someone's got to fight them, and we're the only free humans left. You do have something to fight for; yourself. You want to live to see your eighteenth? How about living in a free world when you're an adult? Isn't that something to fight for? How about freeing the ones that you care about that the Yeerks have gotten a hold of?>>
<<As for not telling our secret, you're not going to have much choice. The Yeerks can filter through your memories once they are inside your head. And I've got news for you, they'll get there. You can't run forever. Sooner or later there will be nowhere for you to run to. I can't take the risk of that. Bad luck for you that you crossed paths with my friend, I guess, because at the end of three days, you're going to be free in one of two senses of the word. You'll either be free to become any animal you touch, or you'll be free in death. There is no middle ground.>>
Matthias was really riling himself up to let into Melanie later, but he couldn't afford to snap at Fin. The cobra was feeding off his frustration, and was about ready to strike, and he had to hold it back lest he do something he might regret later. Fin just had to realize that the situation was bigger than he was; a lot bigger.
<<Oh, and you can stop calling me Kaa. My name is Matthias and the deer you saw earlier is Melanie.>>
Fin:
"That's impossible. They can't be everywhere. I mean...," his voice trailed off. He had seen what those things could do but everywhere. "I mean, ok, so maybe they took over Canada. Maybe they even got the entirety of North America though I'd find that hard to believe, but Europe? Asia? Some places in Asia don't even have cities to burn down. You're telling me they're gone too? No way. And if there are still places that are safe then I want to find my family and I want to get them there. If I stay here then what chance to do I have to do that. I'm not from around here. My family is back on the east coast. I have to try to find them. They're all I have left." The last was said in a small voice. He hadn't meant to show that much vulnerability, especially in front of the stranger. "Look, I'll stay or fight or whatever but after. Just let me go to try to find my family, try to get them to safety. Or," a hopeful gleam came into his eyes, "maybe you have people on the east coast, people who could look for them. It would be much faster than me trying to get there by myself."
Mel:
Melanie stayed fairly quiet, letting Matthias do the talking. She was already in enough trouble as it was, she didn't want to make it any worse. But she was on alert, poised for action if Fin tried to run or attack. Still, she was nervous as well, fully expecting she'd be off the team when Matthias got time to yell at her. The biggest fear in her mind was that they'd kill her; if they just ran her off and the Yeerks got her, it would be a terrible thing.
Cassie:
Cassie. Matthias thought to himself. She was on the East Coast, and Matthias was certain she'd be more than happy to take on a little side mission. But that meant a cross-country trip. This was hardly a registered emergency and that meant no use of the phone. I need to get a goose.
<<I think that can be arranged. Though, sadly, we don't have an easy way of communicating to our fellows on the other side of the continent. We'll figure something out. The unfortunate thing is that whether you believe it or not, the Yeerks own the whole planet, not just North America. Nowhere is really safe anymore. The safest you can be is with us.>>
By this time, they had at long last reached the trailer and Matthias uncoiled himself, getting very close to the two hour mark, <<Go right on inside.>>
<<Melanie, show him to that little back area, the one with the spare bathroom that doesn't totally work. That has a lock on the door. He'll be spending the next few days with us, and then I think we might just be moving camp.>> It bothered Matthias immensely that no one was at camp. The trailer was utterly deserted. <<Where IS everyone?>> He added privately to Melanie.
Fin:
He nodded and went into the room thinking about what Matthias had said. It seemed that he had unwittingly found some people who might actually be able to help him and might keep him alive longer than he could have himself. All he had to do was fight and die for them. Not the best scenario but he knew when to roll with the punches and now was not the time to keep fighting.
Hopefully this would work out. He would find out in three days.