Trying to tie my hair up, Zed's head suddenly appears in the entryway of my tent, causing me to jump back and drop the fabric,
"Jumpy much?" he teases with a smirk, a single eyebrow raises behind his round glasses while he watches me calm my now rapid heartbeat,
"Zed you little-what do you want?" I snap slightly while picking up the strip of fabric off the ground,
"Have ya' seen Josh?"
"No, I think he went with Tyler after that Clancy guy left in a hurry," I respond while tying up my hair,
Zed frowns, "Clancy an' Tyler left too?"
"Yeah, something about a rescue I think, why?"
"Only Josh, Clancy, an' Tyler went?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, that's not good." He pauses as his seemingly floating starts slowly backing out of the tent before shoving his head back in, eyes squinted behind his glasses, "When'd they leave?"
"Yesterday I think, so if things went well they should be back sometime today,"
"Good ta know," his squinted gaze shifts to the void as he processes something, "thank you for yer' service dear friend!" and with a silly half-assed salute, his head is no longer in my tent,
"DON'T CAUSE TOO MUCH TROUBLE, PLEASE!" I call out after him, shaking my head with a smile. Whatever he's planning, it sounds mischievous.
Not long after, a voice comes from behind the door to my tent,
"Zeik?" comes the voice of Luke causes me to turn as he pokes his head in, "Oh shit, sorry Athem," he says softly while backing his head out of the doorway,
"No, you're good!" I chuckle, "I think lover-boy is out with Zed the littles,"
"So I'm guessing that's him with about 10 kids piled on top of him?" he asks with a chuckle as he turns to look again, "Actually I think that's Zed with the little ones all over him, I think Zeik is.." He pokes his head in again, "I found him," and with that, he disappears again. It took me a moment to register what was said,
"Damnit Zed," I breathe while making my way out.
Sure enough, upon stepping out of my tent, there a few yards away is Zed, about 10 littles piled on top of him. With a laugh, my eyes land on Zeik standing a few feet away holding Zed's gasses,
"I see you've gotten yourself into yet another predicament, Zed," I laugh while walking over to the pile of children
"Athem, don't laugh, I've been brutally attacked, b'trayed even by these vultures," he playfully grunts out through the weight on top of him,
"Oh no! How could they betray you?" I playfully joke along,
"Athem, please, this is not a joking matter," he grunts again more dramatically, "I'm dying," he dramatically wheezes out,
"I'm sure you can get yourself out of this mess," I smile at him
"Zeik, Luke, please," he wheezes out to the boys, "help,"
"You're doing fine little dude," Luke sarcastically rolls his eyes,
"yeah, and I got your glasses so you're all good," Zeik adds in,
"Betrayed by even my closest friends," Zed gasps in a playfully offended tone.
The three of us watched and laughed as Zed gently roughhouses with the kids, letting them pin him down as if he had a choice with ten small children against one 15-year-old boy. After a bit of watching them all roll around in the dirt, one head pops up from the pile,
"Tylers back!" she calls from the mass piled on top of Zed,
"And Josh!" another calls as they all disperse to welcome Tyler and Josh, leaving a very winded Zed laying on the ground,
"That, for the record, was not part of the plan," Zed grunts as he reaches up,
"Will you ever learn your lesson?" I ask, taking his hand and pulling him up, and taking his glasses from Zeik to hand them to Zed,
"I'd say no," he puts on the glasses, leaning his head back as his eyes adjust, "but we both know that would, in fact, be a lie." he looks up at me as we both start chuckling,
"The day you don't cause trouble with the littles is probably going to be the day camp gets very bo-" Zeik pats on my back to get my attention causing me to stop,
"Ath, you gotta see this," he almost breaths, half grasping my jacket,
"Wha-ARLYN!?" is the name that spills out of my mouth the second my eyes make contact with them, their hair long and overgrown, an exhausted look plastered over their entire being, but not the usual 'trek though trench' exhaustion,
"Athem?" Alryn's eyes light up a bit, "Zeik?" a smile spreads as they call to us before looking to Clancy, Tyler, and Josh before making their way over to us.
"Thank the fucking stars above, you're alive!" my eyes fill with tears finally seeing my friend again after so long. Making my way to meet them halfway, it became a bit more apparent that Arlyn was not in good shape, "Arlyn," Embracing them in a hug, I can feel Zeik join in, the 3 of us together again, "What did they do to you in there?"
I could feel Arlyn's breathing hitch slightly as they hold in sobs, "It's so good to see you again," Arlyn sighs into my shoulder, "I missed you,",
"What about me?" Zeik leans into us, a playfully offended tone to his voice,
"I guess I missed you too, Zeik," I can feel Arlyn chuckle slightly as their arm reaches around to pat Zeik on the arm before ultimately holding onto it. Standing there in the middle of the camp, hugging tightly, almost afraid to let go, Arlyn lets out a small grunt of what I knew was pain. Immediately break away, causing Zeik to almost fall off of us, Arlyn steps back a little, gripping their shoulder, a small smile starts on their lips. Knowing exactly what's about to come from their mouth, I interrupt
"Arlyn don't you even attempt to tell me that you're fine or good, we are getting you to the med tent to get you checked out." Gesturing in the direction of the tent, Arlyn opens their mouth to object, And I'm not taking no for an answer." They give me a playful glare before walking the way to the med tent, "Thank you."
YOU ARE READING
Rebel Red Hope
FanfictionTRIGGER WARNING: mentions and implied self-harm and mentions of su*c*de! WARNING: Some of the contents of this book might be triggering to some! My name is Arlyn. I am a resident of Reisdro's district in the city of Dema and this is my story. My sto...
