The Valuable

Chapter 9

After I recover from my moment of daze, I begin chipping away at the solidified dirt again in hopes of finding some more clues. I eventually come across a port where, I'm assuming, the electronic chip would be connected.
"Do you know what happens when the chip is inserted?", I ask Rupert curiously.
"Somewhat. But speaking of it is forbidden, my Master made that blatantly clear.", Rupert says distractedly.
"Come on! You have to tell me if you want help stopping this madness! Besides, your Master is dead and my Leader is nowhere near here.", I insist.
"You can never be too sure, Joel. I'd do anything for you kid, but this is a rule that I have to follow if you want to see me alive for longer than a few days.", he grumbles.
Biting my lip, I run my finger over the uneven port. Lost in my thoughts, I'm suddenly snapped back to reality with the ring of a gunshot in my ears.
"Take cover!", I yell to Rupert as I'm pulling Haven behind a rock with me. We sit in silence for thirty minutes, waiting for the culprit to show their face. When nothing happens, I motion for Rupert to follow me as I slowly creep out from behind the tall rock. I search around cautiously for a few minutes, hoping to find that the gun was abandoned. Instead I see a wounded animal by a decaying tree about fifty feet away. As I get closer I can see that it is a grizzly bear, a dead grizzly bear. The gun had been shot at the innocent animal, leaving the bullet to plummet straight into his heart. The wound is wide open with blood oozing out of it. Haven skips over and begins sniffing the bear, but I push her backwards as I spot the bullet under a couple of layers of blood and broken fat. I roll up my sleeves and reach into the bear's body, pulling out the bloody bullet. I examine it for a second, when I hear Rupert coming up behind me.
"That's from a M16-A2 assault rifle, the best in the business. It's got to be The Leader's.", Rupert mumbles.
I nod, turning it over in my hands.
"Hey, what's that?", Rupert inquires forcefully.
I follow his gaze and see a tiny slip of paper in the bear's body where the bullet had been. I pull it out and flip it over, seeing bold type which says,
"I'll get you eventually. It's just a matter of time until I decide to pounce."
Post-reading the note leaves an eery silence between Rupert and I. I read it over multiple times, barely believing what I am seeing.
"This can't be for us.", I whisper. "It can't."
"Who else would it be for boy? We're the only people in this forest!", Rupert retorts.
"B-but how did The Leader know where to fire the gun?", I ask, shaking.
"Lucky guess?", Rupert says hopefully.
"No. Somehow she knows where we are, we need to leave immediately.", I pronounce.
"But what about the port for the electronic chip?", Rupert says worriedly.
"As long as The Leader doesn't have the chip, she can't access the port and whatever is in it. Keeping the chip, me, safe is the priority right now.", I inform.
Reluctantly, Rupert follows me with Haven on his heel as I jog up an incline of the forest floor. Because it is dark out, I hope that The Leader isn't able to see where we are going. We finally make it to a little nook in the side of the tall hill and settle down for the night. I pull some hanging forestry to cover the opening in our nook and try to lie down.
"It sure is cramped in here.", Rupert moans as he curls up awkwardly to sleep.
"It's the best that we can get.", I sigh.

We are woken the next morning by Haven's loud yelping barks outside of our little hideout. I figure that she must have nudged her way out through the forestry.
"What is it girl?", I ask groggily.
Her barks are only getting louder and stronger as time goes by. I finally manage to shimmy out of the stuffy hole and I am astounded by what I see. Surrounding the side of the high forest are dozens of helicopters hovering in the air. Lights flash all around, as clear as day through the few trees in front of us.
"Rupert! Come on! We have to go!" I scream.
I grab his wrinkled hand and help him out of the nook quickly. Making sure that Rupert can keep my pace, I dash as fast as I can up the winding forest floor, hoping that I can find some place to hide. All that I can see is the green from the tall trees blurred as I run. I trip on a root and fall to the ground, hitting my chin on a rock causing it to rip open and gush blood. I scramble on the ground trying to get back to my feet.
"I'm afraid you won't be getting away this time Joel.", The Leader's voice echoes from a speaker.
At that moment a large claw-like machine reaches from the bottom of the closest helicopter and envelopes me in its metal fingers. I try to hold my ground, gripping to the plants on the forest floor, but the machine is too strong for me. It yanks me into the sky towards the helicopter, leaving Rupert and Haven dumbfounded on the ground.