When Worlds Collide (MxM)✔

Chapter 23 - Delivering Bad News

Peter tied Kade up next to a tree and kept him in line of sight while he went back to the campfire.

Kade observed his surroundings, noting that there were boxes of army rations stacked beside the plane. He assumed they were brought when Peter was sent through, which explained why none of them mentioned how difficult it was to find something to eat in this dimension.

As the sky grew dark, he sat in his wet clothes, hoping that Aino and the guide were safe.

Kade had been a boy scout in his younger years and learned a thing or two about how to get out of knots. Peter had his wrists bound tightly, but that didn't stop Kade from using a sharp rock to cut himself free.

He worked for hours at the binds. Whenever someone looked in his direction, he'd pretend to struggle to scratch himself. Eventually, the knot loosened, and he wiggled his wrists free.

Now he just needed to pick a time to slip away. With Peter casting glances toward him, it would be hard. The man was fit and could easily outrun the scrawny Kade.

But there was one thing that might give him an advantage, and that was the weapon he spotted in one of the tents. It was a gun with an ammo cartridge sitting next to it on a table. And while Kade had never fired such a thing before, he could use it to escape. So that tent became his first goal.

He wondered which of them would fall asleep first. But Peter remained alert, right up until he changed shifts with the man in the polo shirt. The new guy was much less vigilant and barely checked on Kade.

Kade meanwhile watched in distress as Peter went to sleep in the gun tent.

So much for an easy escape.

He didn't hear any animals like he did the other day and realized it must have been because of the camp. Animals got quiet whenever a predator was around. And humans fit that description very well.

The man in the polo shirt got distracted in the middle of the night when he heard something behind the plane and went to investigate. Kade quickly scurried over to the entry of Peter's tent and paused. From the even breaths, the man was asleep, so he peeked inside and his heart stopped.

Peter was looking directly at him.

Kade pulled his head back and was about to make a run for it when he realized the man hadn't made any sound. He stopped, listened, then looked again.

This insane man was lying on his side, facing the tent door, eyes wide open.

Kade waved but got no response.

He was asleep, but with his eyes open.

Creepy.

Bracing himself for a potential disaster, he grabbed the gun and a few packets of trail rations before bolting into the trees. He tried keeping his eyes on the sky to track his direction, and eventually found the river.

Following it back was harder than he expected. There were a lot more cliffs than he remembered, and he had to do more climbing than ever before. He was exhausted by the time the sun arose in the sky, and he rubbed his eyes groggily.

A few four-armed monkeys watched him from the trees, letting him know that predators were absent, so he took comfort in that. Then he spun around when something came flying at him from the left.

"Kade!" Aino rushed forward, embracing him in a hug and lifting him off the ground. "I thought you were dead!"

Kade looked a mess, with his disheveled clothes and wild hair. He never had a chance to groom himself after the river incident and had been too focused on getting back to worry about how he smelled or how much mud was caked onto him.