The Iron giant: Hogarth meets Deirdre

Chapter 10

For the rest of the day, Deidre hanged out with Giant. Deidre taught Giant how to play fetch with Rover and showed him her drawings and comics. Giant even carried Deidre in his hand for a ride around the forest. Wind whipped in her hair and face as she whooped with excitement riding Giant. She had a great time with the huge robot, and felt like she connected with and understood him.

Later that evening after she ate dinner and her father was busy with his astronomy work, Deidre called Hogarth.
"Hello, this is Hogarth Hughes speaking, who's calling please?", Hogarth answered.
"Hogarth, hey! I have to tell you something! It's urgent."
"Yeah, what is it, Deidre? Dose it have something to do with the comic?"
"No, even better! I have a surprise for you tomorrow, a big one!"
"What is it?", Hogarth asked very interested.
"Nope, can't tell you."
"Come on, at least give me a hint!"
"Nope on a rope! Meet me at the forest entry at 11:00."
"Alright, then, Deidre, but it better be a good surprise."
"Oh, it sure will. Trust me."

The next day promptly at 11:00 o'clock, Hogarth ride over to the forest on his bike. He arrived there and saw Deidre waiting by a pine tree. Rover was with her barking for him to come over. Hogarth smiled and went over to see Deidre, excited for the surprise she's about to show him.
"Hogarth, I see you're here in time! You ready to see the surprise?"
"Of course! Though I still don't know what it is. "You'll see. But first, let's play a game of chase..."

Deidre sprinted off into the woods while Rover followed behind, hollering back to Hogarth,
"Ya snooze ya lose!"
Hogarth laughed.
"Oh, really! Well, Ms. Mc speedy, you won't be in the lead for long, cause I'm coming after you!"
Hogarth teared off into the woods in hot pursuit after Deidre. The kids laughed as they ran though the woods, zigzag around trees, jumping over logs and bushes. Deidre had made it to a chestnut tree and leaped onto a lower Branch, quickly scaling upward. Rover stayed on the ground, barking at them to cheer them on.

"Oh no you don't!" Hogarth soon catches up to the tree and starts climbing up, though Deidre was still farther up the tree. Eventually Hogarth made it right on her heels. He stepped on branch though suddenly SNAP!, it broke under his foot. Hogarth would've fallen to the ground but luckily Deidre caught his arm while holding on the upper trunk.
"Got ya! Turns out you might not have much balance as I do, cat boy." Deidre smiled wide with a smirk. Hogarth smirked back, but unknown to Deidre, he had a trick up his sleeve.
"True, cat girl, but I know that you don't bathes ...take THIS!" Hogarth pulled out a water gun and squirted water into Deidre's face. She screeched and lost her footing, falling onto Hogarth. The both of them fell through the branches and landed in a bush at the base of the tree. The both of them groaned and laughed at the same time. Rover pounced on the both of them. Deidre was on top of Hogarth, both of their faces close to each other. They chucked awkwardly but gazed into each other eyes.

Suddenly, they heard the low growl of a animal. They slowly got up and looked to see where the growling came from, and when they found the source, they froze, their blood running cold. Twenty feet from the kids was a large cougar, his eyes lividly menacing and sizing them up, fangs bared into a ferocious growl, muscles twitching. Hogarth and Deidre stood still as possible, gripping each other in fright and holding their breaths. Rover cowered behind them, whimpering in fear.

The cougar stated creeping towards the two kids. Deidre and Hogarth knew better than to turn their backs on him and run, neither than to trip, because that would provoke the animal to attack. So they backed up slowly, still holding each other, while the cougar kept coming near them. The kids kept backing up until Deidre stumbled over a branch and thudded to the ground.

Unfortunately, this was a dire mistake. The cougar saw this as a perfect opportunity to attack, and before Hogarth could get Deidre back into her feet, the cougar swiftly charged at the both of them.