The Unsolved Case

Stolen Food (1)

Taco aimlessly wandered throughout the Perilous Forest, Microphone's words still fresh in her head as she walked. She tried to shrug it off, and forget that it ever happened, but that just made things even worse on her. She walked in silence, stuck with her thoughts for the entire time.

It was torture for her.

She hated it.

She regretted her actions, and it was obvious. Yet, she didn't try to apologize yet. If she apologized right now, it would be like rubbing salt in a fresh wound. She figured that it would be best to wait to apologize, maybe a week or two? Yeah, that sounds within reasoning. She didn't really think that she had a chance of forgiveness, yet she decided that it was still worth a shot.

Taco began humming a simple, yet familiar tune. She couldn't quite recall where she heard it from or the name of the song, but it was nice. A good distraction to keep her mind busy. The last thing that she wanted right now was to come off as weak or get all mushy. Even if nobody else would be around to see her break down. Emotions are just a waste of valuable time, Taco decided.

As she wandered through the forest, she passed by a specific clearing.

The same one that she and Microphone met at.

Shoving those thoughts away, Taco continued her journey through the woods. It would be easy to get to the place that she was going, she knew this place like the back of her hand by now. The only tricky part of it all is the fact that she has a small chance of running into one of the current contestants. Like Knife.

She would be surprised if he hasn't spilled the tea about herself and Microphone just yet. Which he hasn't, for whatever reason.

It made Taco wonder about things. She was confused. Why hasn't he warned the others about her? Told MePhone that Microphone was teamed up with Taco and that they had been cheating to win? It just didn't make sense to he-

.

She tripped over a pebble.

Ouch.

Taco sat up with an annoyed groan, using one hand to feel around the cracks on her shell and see if she had been damaged anymore than she already was, and using the other to chunk the stone as far away as she could.

Now in a sour mood instead of a soggy one, Taco stood up and dusted herself off. Small crumbs could now be seen on the forest floor, along with very small pieces of her shell that had been chipped. Great. Now she was falling apart even more than she was before. 

She wondered if she should continue walking, or just start heading back to her makeshift camp. It didn't look too good, but hey, she doesn't have a lot to work with. You can't exactly build a five star shelter in the forest. Cut her some slack, would you?

..

Later on throughout the day, she finally had a fire going. The wind wasn't exactly helping, though. It was chilly out today, and it was getting late..

She temporarily let her guard down, placing her hands in front of the fire. Taco sighed, finally relaxing for a small moment. She didn't have too much time for relaxation or.. literally anything nowadays. She was constantly on the run from someone. Always hiding.

Though, she wasn't hiding well enough.

Out of nowhere, a wet cloth was placed on her mouth. It was used as a gag of some sort, muffling her screams. Taco tried to reach into her shell and grab her temporary paralyzer, but she was being too slow. Her captor roughly grabbed her arms, pinning the shorter object to the ground.

Test Tube held the thief down, struggling to tie her hands together and restrain her. Though, it was getting easier and easier the longer things went on.

By the effect of whatever drug was on the cloth in her mouth, Taco felt herself growing weaker. Her limbs felt like jelly for a moment, and the rest of her body was fuzzy. Numb.

She struggled to stay awake and fight against Test Tube, but to no avail.

Her captor had won the moment her eyes closed.