Postby ClaecElric4God » Fri May 03, 2013 6:05 pm
I wasn't sure if it was the abrupt stop or Wolfsong's sharp whisper that woke me up. Either way, I jolted awake, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and trying to remember what was going on.
“Claec!” Wolf whispered again. This time she shoved me, and I went sprawling out of the sled.
“Ow, ow,” I groaned sleepily. “What was that for?” I stood up slowly, checking to make sure that all of my limbs were still intact.
“You were out like a light,” she replied shortly. “How else was I supposed to get your attention?”
“Oh, I don't know. Maybe something like, 'Hey, Claec, we're here, time to wake up'.” I dusted myself off, trying to recover my dignity. “Besides, I wasn't really asleep, I was just thinking deeply.”
Wolf snorted, climbing down off the cart and making hand motions to her lead wolf. The wolf looked at her and seemed to nod, then as if by unspoken consent, the whole team lunged against the braces and smoothly took off, melting into the darkness. I couldn't help but wonder where they were going and how they were supposed to get loose from that sled.
At first I couldn't figure out why we'd stopped in the middle of nowhere, but on closer scrutiny, I realized that there was another trapdoor built into the ceiling, blending perfectly with the color of the dirt. The only difference from the trapdoor we'd come out of before was that this was in the middle of a tunnel, rather than at the end of a branch-off. Wolf pushed open the trapdoor, and we both climbed through. We came out in what looked to be another tree, though slightly smaller and not as well-stocked. Most of the stuff looked ordinary and mundane, as if it was trying to maintain an air of innocence. Although a furnished hollow tree seemed a bit suspicious anyway.
Outside the tree, it was still pitch black. But the air here was different. It was still Canadian, that much was certain. But it was intensified. A slight breeze carried the stench of sour cream toward us, and my hair stood on end. That must be the sour cream moat. An old, familiar feeling of dread and anxiety came over me, and then I heard it, ever so faintly.
Do, do, do, do, do – do a dollop.
I resisted the urge to clutch my head and scream. Waves of horror washed over me. What had I been thinking? There was no way I could go through with this. Nothing was worth this pain. I'd been foolish to believe I was ready for this, and heartless to bring Wolf along. Regret overwhelmed me, and I wanted to crawl into a hole and drown my worries in coffee.
I felt a steadying hand on my arm, and realized that Wolf had just kept me from losing my balance. I nodded gratefully at her and struggled to regain my composure.
“We'll be in and out, like that,” Wolf reassured me. “Easy as pie.”
Once I felt like I could walk without falling over, we silently headed through the darkness toward the building. Luckily, the pine tree we'd emerged from grew inside the compound. This way we wouldn't have to deal with the fence, and I was more than a little pleased that we'd managed to avoid swimming, or rather floundering, through the moat. The music became more distinct as we got closer, but I'd strengthened my resolve, and my confidence kept growing. I finally felt in control of the situation. We approached from the side of the building, and backed up against the wall.
The Daisy Compound wasn't very large. The moat was about three feet wide, and right up against the fence. It was made of concrete, with the far wall rising about four feet above the level of the sour cream, making it nearly impossible to reach the fence and climb out. Between the moat and the building itself was a perimeter about fifteen feet wide. Inside, there was a row of rooms around the walls, and a block of rooms in the middle of the building, creating a hallway with facing doors every few feet. There were about thirty Dollop Chambers in all. I'd been here enough times to know from memory that the guards consisted of two at the main entrance, two that patrolled the grounds outside, and one patrolling the hallways inside. My only explanation for the astonishing lack of guards was that the inmates were too incapacitated to try to escape, and no one in their right mind would try to infiltrate the building. Lucky for me, they didn't keep tabs on their citizens' mental condition.
Light footsteps caught my attention, and I motioned for Wolf to stay quiet. We plastered ourselves against the wall and held our breath. Someone was walking casually around the building, almost looking half asleep. As the figure got closer, I recognized Cleanedbyblood. She was one of the SCR's best units, though it was rumored that she was clinically insane. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as I realized that she was actually looking around, as if searching for something. We crouched in the shadows, hoping she'd be too bored to notice us. As she walked past, I noticed she had ear plugs in her ears, apparently to keep out the monotonous music. She had a wild look in her eyes, and I instantly knew the rumors were all true. I shuddered to think of what she would do if she found us. But as luck would have it, she simply walked past, as if we weren't there. I breathed a sigh of relief, and we quickly moved to the corner of the building.
I craned my head around, and saw the two guards. They both seemed to be busy doing something, sitting off to the side hunched over something, sharing a pair of headphones. I tuned my acute hearing to try to figure out what it was. I heard Japanese voices I didn't recognize (considering I don't know any Japanese people at all), and realized they must be watching anime. One of them leaned back and laughed, and sure enough, there was an Ipad resting between them. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how they could watch that over the music. Regardless, I knew this was a perfect opportunity, and we rushed over to the big glass doors, quickly pulling them open and slipping inside.
It was trickier to stay hidden inside, since the halls were lit and there weren't any shadowy corners to shrink into. I realized that we would just have to outrun the guard and make sure we stayed in a different hall. I listened closely and realized that whoever it was, they were in the hall right behind us, and I ran for the corner, feeling like Link running through the courtyard looking for Zelda. Except the one I was running from wasn't blind or stone deaf. Well, unless they were wearing ear plugs too, which was a distinct probability.
As we rounded the corner, I read the room numbers: 2015...128...33...2...35...56. Wow, these numbers were haphazard. As we got down to the end of the hallway, I finally saw it. Room #198. An idea dawned on me, and I dragged Wolf around the next corner just before the guard came into view. I whispered my idea to her, and a creepy, evil smile crept across her face. She pulled a crab apple out of her pocket and tossed it experimentally into the air. The footsteps got closer, and just as the guard came into view, Wolf chucked the apple full force, and it went flying toward an average looking guy I thought I recognized. The apple made impact with the side of his head, and he crumpled to the ground, out cold.
I feel your pain, buddy, I thought sympathetically.
Wolf filched his ear phones, shoving them in her pocket. I looked at her quizzically, but she simply said, “We'll need them later,” and gave me that look. Realization dawned on me, and I nodded my head in understanding.
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and counted to ten. There was no telling what I would find behind this door. And with that, I gently turned the handle, and pushed it open.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? -Micah 6:8 KJV
They have shewed thee, O teen, what is good; and what doth the world require of thee, but to fit in, be wealthy, have good looks, and be rebellious? -Peer Pressure 1:1
"I hate milk; it's like drinking vomit." -Edward Elric and me.
ClaecElric4God in regards to Wolfsong - You're the coolness scraped off the top of this morning's ice cream, after being pulled out of a beautiful summer day!
). Although the ideas were floating around in my head for a couple days in advance, I basically sat down and wrote this in two hours. And except for fixing a few accidental contradictions in the storyline, I tried not to tweak it too much, so I could get the original critiqued. Plus if I nitpicked at it I'd die of old age before I was satisfied. 
SOUR CREAM AND I HATE EACH OTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
. I don't know what you do for a living, but you, like my friend Raider~joseph, have that natural story-telling ability that I would love to see shared with the world 
On a somewhat unrelated note concerning the posting of large blocks of text in a forum you could do what I did the first time I tried to convert the Next Gen rp from this site to short story format and upload your documents to Scribd. Then you can post a link in the forum like sharing a photo through Photobucket. I posted roughly 70 pages of story on this forum doing that and it only took 2 forum pages of me and others feedback of the product.
maybe I should tone it down for a while...
Thanks for thinking so highly of me. I love you too.
