His Last Song- "Ji'de Tas Anse"

Chapter Ten 10.1

9:30 a.m., 2021/5/22

We all go to the foyer with the things that we need. Those things being the guitar case on my back; Song has his backpack, his bat, the pistol on his hip and the knife attached to his leg; Ai has a small bag that holds their notebook; and Adrian has a pistol in the same place Song has it and a bulky backpack over slung over her shoulder.

Adrian sets down the bucket that's in hand, "These are weapons" –Adrian picks up a flare gun and hands it to me— "Put it on your belt."

I put it on my belt as Adrian starts to explain the other weapons, "*Daxi and *Jaisin weapons are better than regular weapons because the animals don't like them and they're quieter; loud weapons should only be used in emergencies because the noise will attract pretty much every animal." —Adrian takes a few fire weapons out— "Just take a few and put them in your backpacks and be careful to not hit your backpack on anything, because they could combust."

Adrian and Song put a few Jaisin and Daxi weapons in their bags then Adrian hands me a small satchel.

"There's a few Daxi weapons in there," Adrian says to me.

Adrian picks up a Jaisin staff and twirls it in her hand, "This could be useful."

"Do you know how to use it?" I ask. "I heard that they're hard to use."

"I did most of the work when designing them. I'd hope I know how."

I gasp, "You helped design them?" —she nods— "That's so cool!"

"Should we get moving?" Song asks. "We're ready."

"Yes," Adrian says. "We should. We only have a few hours."

"Should we take a car to the jungle?" Ai signs to me.

"Ai asks if we should take a car to the jungle," I translate.

"Wouldn't taking a car be too loud?" Song says.

Adrian nods slowly, "Yes, but it's also not safe enough to go on foot."

"Your car isn't that loud," I say. "If we drive at a slow pace, we might not upset the animals."

Ai whistles to get our attention, we look at them as they write. "Forget following the chicken scratch map the whole time, I just remembered that there's sky carts that we can take to the jungle. They start in the middle of Puip Cee Yarro Cheng. Once they get to the start of the jungle, they get pretty low to the ground so we can jump off there."

"What's...Poo-i-p Cee Yar-ro Cheng?" Song asks.

"Purple Sea Lake City in hardanese," I say.

"Oh."

"Taking the sky carts will work," Adrian says. "We can take the car there."

Song walks to the front door, "Then we should get going."

We all leave the house then we follow Adrian to the car.

Adrian stops abruptly then looks at Ai, "Do you want to say goodbye to your home?"

Ai shakes their head then they skip down the steps. They go over to the car, and we all look at each other.

Ai takes moving out of their home a lot better than I do.

Ai eagerly waves us over and we leave the porch with a chuckle. We get into the car and head for the sky carts.

After a few minutes, dark figures run in front of the car, Adrian slows down and turns the headlights on. Ai guides Adrian through the city as Song and I look out the window. Weird mutated animals, that should really have new names created for them, stare into the car. Some hiss, a few of them growl, and others get ready to pounce.