An Apocalyptic Invasion

i get involved with cacti and something gets broken

So the next day, I decided to go for a walk.

I was listening to music as I strolled down the path and into a store.

Mia, who came with me for no reason, bought herself a pack of gum.

As she was checking out her gum and my can of Pringles, I noticed a man standing outside the gas station. He was occasionally looking in, and he was wearing a black jacket despite the heat.

I walked out the door and stood next to him.

"Do you have it?"

He nodded.

"Toby sent you?"

Another nod.

"Okay, give it quickly and tell him that I'll send a letter back."

He slipped the parcel into my pocket. We shook hands, and he steathily crept away.

"Dealer?"

I nodded. "Comes every two weeks. It's one of the ways I make money."

"Who's Toby?"

"He's a gang leader, but his gang is really a cult. He keeps his members in separate places, and they obey his every order."

"Wow. It must suck."

"It does; but since I'm the super leader, I get to decide to bring people to a different environment if they feel trapped there."

Mia popped some gum into her mouth. "That's so sad. I'm glad you're helping them out."

"I get drugs in return, which I deal and earn money."

"You do drugs?"

I shook my head. "I tried, but then I realized that getting drunk is better."

We walked back to the HQ and I gave the drugs to Garth.

Mia headed for her room, and I went outside again.

The arena was coming along nicely, and it made the HQ look like a toy.

In addition to being tall, it was also really wide.

One-thousand feet by one-thousand feet, it would provide the Catwings more than enough room to run around and blast fire all over the place.

I heard a crash inside the building. I didn't think anything of it at the time, so I continued walking.

There was a small beach that was next to the forest, and on the sand there was some Teddy-bear cholla growing next to a tiny mound of sand.

I'm pretty sure you could guess where this is going.

Like a dumbass, I got near the cactus to try and see its flowers.

There were several times where the little arms got close to attaching to my skin, so I was careful to avoid it.

But I got too cocky, and as I was watching a horned lizard scuttle into the shelter of the cactus, I felt something sharp pierce my skin.

The first thing I felt was the uncomfortable pain, which shot through me like a rocket in space. It was like the feeling you get when you're bitten by a mosquito, except much worse.

I slowly ducked out from under the cactus and turned my head to see the small elliptical things in my arm and on my leg.

This meant that walking would be a pain; I tried taking a step, but that just made my leg hurt even more.

I had to figure out how to get back without causing any tears in my calf muscle.

Eventually settling for shuffling towards the building, I headed there and entered through the glass doors.