ROTWOTA: Book 2 - The Falling City of Anthros

Strange Happenings

Like I said, our father assigned all three of us jobs, excluding Julie since our mother needed the help around the house, as we were right above the updated minimum age a kid can work and so we could be more controlled and not get ourselves into what they consider life threatening choices, and also because our war against humans needed it. And they let us know that today they were going to sign us up for a tour around the entire workforce as we would be working in the yards loading and unloading all the materials while getting to know some of the other workers who could effectively show us around.

He explained to us that someone very important to the job would come by and pick up all of us later that day and take us to the site we'd be working at. Later at 9:15 AM our dad took us down to the nearby bus stop where we would meet the lynx man who'd pick us up. He was a high ranking 58 year-old man who had a title and was referred to as the yardmaster who's name was Garrett Sizemore. After we made it there, we found Garrett among the many others that were there and our father wished us goodbye before leaving. When we actually met Garrett face-to-face, he seemed to be quite a nice guy even when Jayden was grumbling about something.

"I don't understand why we're all working this early, sir." He said. "My friend, you shouldn't be complaining as there are some of my boys who've worked at some sights overnight while others like you get to sleep in. Consider yourself lucky you only have to work during the middle of the day." Said Garrett. "Whatever, Grandpa. I don't have to listen to you, I can guarantee that we can do this without any advice of yours." Said Jayden. Jake joined as his supporter. "I may be old, but at least I got this far, unlike you, you cocky canine scallawags." Said Garrett. I assume from the expressions on their face that Garrett's words were enough to shut them up.

However, everything started going downhill when the bus meant to take us to our destination was 10 minutes late and there were more and more people arriving here every minute. At this point, Garrett and my brothers were just annoyed while I tried to be optimistic about this whole situation we were stuck in, but Jake and Jayden acted like I wasn't even there.

Suddenly, Garrett suddenly grunted as he looked behind himself at me. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I don't know, I swore I just felt some sort of pain in the back of my leg and I thought someone hit me with a pen or pencil by accident, and maybe you could've seen someone or seen your brothers do something." He explained. I answered that I saw nothing and that if he really did feel his pain that it was maybe a bug that bit him, but we both figured it was only something minor.

Eventually, the bus finally arrived with the driver apologizing that he ran low on gas and also had to deal with oversleeping. Regardless, we all boarded on the bus with relief. However, when Garrett and Jayden and someone unfamiliar sat in the row across from me, I saw Garrett sit down on his left leg and he shot up out of nowhere. I didn't know what was going on but my theory at first was that it was some sort of splinter in his leg and he might've been driving the splinter deeper into his leg when he sat down.

"June, hey. Come back down to earth, space canine."

I looked over to my right to see Nikki, who looked happy to see me, but also looked as if there was something bothering her. "Yeah, what's up?" I asked. "Well, sort of. But the real question is where have you been this whole time!?" Asked Nikki. It was then I remembered I hadn't been in contact with any of my friends since we visited the facility. "Oh, yeah right! Sorry, I've just been busy with a lot of stuff. And I haven't really been able to say hey to you guys in a while." I said. "Well, alright. I was just going to ask if you had seen Leon, but you probably don't know anything." Said Nikki.

"Wait, what happened to him?" I asked. "Well, he's gone missing. And all we know is that Peter knew he was at his house last night, and then he just vanished into thin air sometime between then and this morning when Tony came to visit him around that time." Explained Nikki. When Nikki initially told me the news, I wasn't immediately concerned about it as I was sure there was a perfectly rational explanation to what happened. "Well, do you have any clue on what happened to him? He could turn up later today." I suggested.

"Well, Tony said he asked about what possibly could've happened. Leon's mom said that there was a chance he could've been abducted and she explained that there was no way humans weren't behind his disappearance if it were the case." She explained. From there, we began talking about other things that could've happened as I said that it was best not to focus solely on the worse case scenario. However, Nikki wasn't having it.

Eventually, we arrived at the station near the yard where we were relocated to. We were given new clothing while being told safety protocols by experienced workmen. And soon enough, we got to work loading the trucks with all their cargo including things like food, medical supplies, oil, pipes, and much more. It was during the time we were loading a train for 1477 when I noticed something about Garrett's behavior.

What I kept noticing when around him was that he was continuously gritting his teeth and sweating profusely and other workmen tried suggesting him going home or at least a medical center. I figured it was the "shooting pain" in his leg that was causing this. Now, I remembered seeing him heading towards the station bathroom and then I went back to helping other workmen load the oil drums. However, it wasn't until I saw Garrett again that I knew he wasn't alright despite him telling us all that he was ok. He looked totally awful and evidently looked as if he were in pain and he tried assuring us that he just needed to grit his way through the rest of the shift. But the other workers, including me, wouldn't let that happen.

And so, I volunteered along with two other workmen to get to the bus to take a miserable Garrett down to the nearby recently set up medical center to make sure he was fine. When we arrived at the ER, a doctor pulled him away so he could explain everything that had happened. A few minutes later, the same doctor came out of the room and called for someone else to get a look at Garrett, and soon enough, a nurse came into the room and shut the door.

Eventually, the doctor and the nurse came over and told us what they discovered. Apparently there was a lot of swelling and redness which had gotten worse since the last time Garrett looked at his leg which was when he had presumably gone to the bathroom. And the two also told us that the best thing to do was to admit Garrett to the hospital and run some tests to try and make him comfortable.

From there, all we could do was wait it out for Garrett to hopefully get over his pain as he was being given all the medicines and treatments to lower the effects of his legs like the swelling. And so, we were allowed to go back to work. However, when we got back to the lobby, I was met with none other than my parents.