Survival

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO (edited)

Jack hurried through the woods. He tried to get away from the argument. Anger haunted him but he refused to let in, on it. Peace. He needed that right now. He had to forgive Katherine because she was just being her old stubborn self and it was hard on her. She had already tried hard enough to keep everyone safe: Nedit, Miya, Lina and Nellie, and Jacob, Danny, Katy and Geaorgie. This is a big group with just two leaders. No. There's only one leader now. Maybe he should return. He couldn’t just leave Katherine to face all that danger out there. Fear. But it didn’t seem like she cared. So why would he? She’ll be fine. Jack tried to calm himself. He stomped his way through the bushes, angrily shoving tree branches out of his way. He needed to concentrate on his trip to the headquarters. Dr. Niclion’s text message was plain and simple. Jack just needed to follow orders. The text message probably isn’t traceable. It said, ‘Jack, come to headquarters soon. Problem occurred. Keep this private. Dr. Niclion.’ ‘Soon’ clearly meant as soon as possible and when Dr. Niclion said to keep it private he meant even Katherine. Jack hated to lie to her or at least not tell her the whole truth. She’s been hard on him and obviously suspicious.

It was getting dark. Too late to reach the headquarters, he thought. Jack took out his cheap phone. No service. He grunted. If Katherine hadn't been so hard on him he would have helped her and those families but.....

“But what?” he whispered to himself. Jack wanted not to just (only to)save families but to save them by stopping the Grambles. He remembered horrid stories being told when he was younger, stories of Grougis and his men. He heard stories about attacking the country, conquering and leaving nothing but lonesome, hungry families. Children. Children, sons...

The words tumbled through his brain. Son. Collin. His eyes went misty. No! Thought Jack, real men don't cry! They stand up for what they believe!

            He needed a place to stay overnight. The darkness was now wrapping around making it hard to identify the trees, bushes and shrubs. Usually a place overnight wasn’t so hard to find.

Suddenly, he stumbled on something. Jack whirled around. Nothing. Nobody. He searched for what he had stumbled on. It was a knapsack. Jack slowly opened it and it revealed a moldy apple, a ratty looking notebook and an I.D. card. One look at the card made Jack gasp.

“Collin Trasper,” he read.