All Is Found

Chapter 18: The Lone Habitant

     Jim and I walked away from the longboat until we came across a hill like area. We both slid down the metal stump to the bottom. I looked at my arm when we reached the bottom and saw some blood slipping out between my fingers. "Jim...." I mumbled. He looked at me and saw the blood. He looked around and grabbed a fungi like leaf from the ground. Morph turned into a knife for Jim to use to cut a vine from a tree off. He came to me with the stuff.

     "Move your hand." He said. I did so, seeing my palm coated in red. Jim quickly pressed the leaf onto the wound and used the vine as a bandage to keep it still. "It's just until we can find somewhere to hide, okay." I nodded. We continued walking through the jungle like terrain. While we walked, I kept thinking about Silver and his betrayal. I stopped walking, just staring at the ground feeling tears build in my eyes.

    "Emma? Are you okay?" Jim asked. I looked at him and started crying. "Hey, what's wrong?" He said as he came over to check on me.

     "Everything!" I said. "Silver, his betrayal, Arrow's death, everything! I-I trusted him a-a-and he backstabbed us! I-I saw him as my d-d-dad since I never had o-o-one! He even knew what S-S-Scroop did and let u-u-us take the blame!" I tried to wipe my tears away but more came. I cried harder than the night when I told him I was an orphan. It all felt like too much.

     I felt a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Emma I understand. I saw Silver as a father figure too. Look, I know it's gonna sound harsh but I need you to keep it together right now. I know you're taking a lot of pain in your heart but you need to stop crying now. I don't want anything bad to happen right now. You think you can hold it together until we find a hiding spot?"

    I shrugged. I didn't know if I could keep it together. I took a few breaths to calm myself down and Jim wiped some tears away. After a while I put myself together. I nodded and we continued walking off through the wild. After a while it felt like we're being watched. We both scooted over a metal trunk as we heard something rustle in the bushes. I jumped behind Jim and pushed him towards the bushes. "You go check it out." I said.

     "Did you really have to push me?" He whispered.

     "You got the gun!" I hissed. Morph chittered in fear. Jim and I shushed him. He pulled the pistol from the back of his pants and turned it on. I held my hands out to Morph for him to hide. He zoomed into my hands and I clasped them around him. The brunette boy walked closer to the bush and looked. Something popped out from the bush with a scream, making Jim scream, which made me scream. Jim fell onto the ground with the thing on top of him. It was a robot with bronze like skin, thin arms,hands and legs with his torso, head, and feet a bit bigger, a compass on his chest and wires sticking from the back of his head like hair. I saw his pixelated green eyes as he examined Jim.

"Oh this is fantastic!" He said before opening Jim's mouth and looking inside it. "A carbon-based life form come to rescue me at last! I just wanna hug you and squeeze you and hold you close to me." The robot grabbed Jim and pulled him into a tight hug. At this point I let Morph go.

"All right. Okay." Jim said as he tried to get the robot off him. I giggled when he just jumped back on him. "Would you just let go of me?"

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry." He said as he let go of Jim. He then wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "It's just I've been marooned for so long. I mean, solitude's fun, don't get me wrong. For heaven's sakes after a hundred years, YOU GO A LITTLE NUTS!" His head jerked forward as his eyes and hair went crazy. He laughed and looked at Jim.

     "I can tell." I said, making him look at me.

    "Oh, I didn't know you brought your sister. Oh no, your arm."