Diary From The Carrot Union

Chapter 23: #ASeriousMoment

We finally stopped on an opening inside the vast coniferous forest, where I helped Joseph and Woofer set up camp. It was a star-filled night, and I swear that I can see the souls of my parents looking down judgmentally from the skies above

It is as if the heavens itself is disappointed by my lack of...Anything to be honest, but looking at how Joseph seemed so glad to see me pressed a soft note on my chest. And even now, while I gaze upon the stars above this tall rock I am sitting, I can't find a semblance of loneliness since Joseph is about to come and break the silence once more.

"Mr Leon!" Joseph, the floppy-eared kit, said, "I bring soup!"

"Oh, thanks." There's no point in being a grumpy asshole when the boy's handing over a warm bowl of Borscht, and so I looked back at him and took it and...Smiled.

Without further adieu, I took a small gulp of the delicious broth and felt some warmth on my previously ice-cold chest. Joseph quickly accompanied me, coming to the empty spot near my seat to stargaze. The sounds of the woofers and Violet chit-chattering made a pleasant symphony alongside the nocturnal insects thirsty for mates, and at that moment, everything felt surreal.

"So hey, Woofer finally told me about something...About stars."

My ears popped up, "What about her?"

"Woofer told me she'd be arriving here tonight! Well, if the CGB didn't intercept her car."

"I see..."

I tried my best to sound enthusiastic, for I thought the poor lad doesn't deserve to have his mood ruined by myself, but then again, it has come to a phase in my life that I felt horrible about everything.

And Joseph, being the prospective little shifty kit, quickly picked up my apparent lack of enthusiasm, coming close to my side with those heart-wrenching eyes.

"Mr Leon," He asked, "Are you okay?"

I was not in the mood to sulk more about myself, so I looked back at him and asked, "Enough about me, what about you, Joseph? Somehow we keep bumping into each other, and I don't even know you...Well, other than the fact everything was well until I swung that glass bottle to your cranium."

"It's okay, Mr Leon, I forgive you for that. Unfortunately, what happened in the past can't change, so we'll just move on! You know?"

"God, is that what they teach you in that Evangelist organisation or something?"

"Nah, they told me that everyone who doesn't pay the monthly indulgence goes to gulag, and on quote, never see vodka again! I mean, what do I do without vodka, sir? I'd wither out and die!"

"You know there's more in this world other than vodka, right?"

"Well, looking at you, I think the world does revolve around vodka."

An urge came to my mind as to why he would say such a thing. Still, I concluded when I gave it a few seconds to think, which genuinely made me happy and scared. So the butterflies flap their wings upon my chest, ending up with a horrible bitterness in the pit of my stomach considering everything I did.

I looked back at Joseph and saw a lost kid who just lost his mentor Guava, or does not even have someone to look up to, and a barrage of poignant bile rise my throat just by the notion that this poor lad somehow looked up to me, maybe after losing everything? I don't know!

"L-look Joseph, I'm sorry, alright? I wasn't thinking straight back then. It's just...Fine! You do know you came off shifty the moment you dragged me to that Wolf Apple hive of scum and bad taste, but well...It's all just confusing, alright?"

"Is everything okay, Mr Leon?"

"Well, for a starter, Woofer accused me of being this Ford guy, saying that I should follow him for some help my fucking mind can't comprehend, and then I met you? T-to hell, I was thinking about you! But you show up out of nowhere?"

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?"

Well, I thought, what other harm can come from telling Joseph about my thoughts. He seems like a foolishly innocent kid, just misled, that's all.

"Joseph, we need to build trust okay? I need you to tell me everything you know, and I know the fact that Woofer and his gang of psychopaths are going to cut us off the first moment they see us as a liability!"

"B-but...I told you everything I know! What else do you want to know?"

"Fine...Ship me to FSA. Why? What is Ford? Who is he?"

"Ford? What is Ford? I swear I don't know what you're talking about, Mr Leon."

I saw Joseph's expression change when I said that, but it was not a face of a liar in denial, it was more of a frightened child that bit more than he could chew

"You don't even know what's inside that accursed book that Imran buck gave to me?'

But that is when I heard heavy footsteps approach us from our south the moment I finished my sentence, walking close as if it was waiting for the queue to the next scene of misadventures. It was no one other than Woofer, coming with a fat, burning cigar on his long wolf-like snout.

I scoffed, "Heh, was wondering when you'll show up."

"You are free to have your suspicion against us, Mr Leon, but know that we've sacrificed many to reach where we are now. When you think about it, is a lowly bureaucrat's meagre life comparable to my now-dead comrades?"

I bat a cynical glare back at him, adamant and honestly offended by his disrespectful remark. He noticed my paper-thin ego and subtly rolled his eye as he sat adjacent to Joseph, putting me between the two.

"Apology for not being blunt, Mr Leon, but the CGB has eyes and ears everywhere. The last chat we made in the sanatorium would bring them to the FSA as the main culprit to claim you. Until now, my comrades are getting closer to the border carrying a decoy set to be intercepted in five hours to meet this Ramley Tennison - a CGB agent disguised as a resistance member waiting to intercept, but for you, we'll be heating eastwards!"

To the east? What is in the east, I wonder? So I chuckled nervously. "Heh, Eastward?"

"Eastward! To the land of Nempolitan, warm platinum beaches, and toasty summers! And there finally, everything shall be fulfilled!"

"Wha? What do you mean Mr Woofer?"

Woofer hummed with a small, rueful grin, casting away his half-finished cigar, he stood up and turned his back. Joseph and I promptly stood back to get him, standing upon the distant campfire with the stars ahead of him.

"To put it bluntly, Guava fucked up. Sloppy work I say, the CGB caught his scent straight from the prison and obliterated his cell while you turned yourself in in confusion," He proceeded to turn back towards us, "So now it's up to me and the rest of my comrades the Woofers, an internal agent in the CGB to reclaim you and Ms Violet back."

"Any more questions?" He continued, "We're burning through moonlight!"

"Who is expecting us?" I asked, and at that point, I saw another car arrive on the far side of the camp.

"You'll see him tomorrow, for now, I hope you'll be pleased to know someone you know just recently arrived."

Someone who arrived? He must be talking about the car that arrived, so I focused my sight towards the person coming out, and my chest shuddered in a mixture of anxiety and glee upon realising who just came.

"Star!"

I quickly rushed back to camp with no thought towards my wellbeing and caught Star, who was equally running towards me and gave her an enormous embrace my tiny arms could manage.

And when we released our long embrace, Joseph was there behind me, smiling small as he saw Star beside me, uttering nothing but coming close to me with a hug that meant a thousand words.