Pack [Eddsworld]

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Dawn was approaching. Edd awoke, glanced at the clock, and then let out a soft groan. It was too early to even consider being awake, and he rolled over in hopes of getting back into his lovely dream about cola. He was just about managing it, too, until the doorbell rang.

The Brit opened one eye and glared at his bedroom door, as if that would help anything. Eventually, he was able to drag himself out from bed, rubbing at his face tiredly and stumbling down the hall. He figured that if someone was calling around this time, it must've been important.

Just as he was about to reach the door, the bell trilled again, the volume of it making him cringe. He yanked open the front door with an irritated expression, only for it to fade into surprise as he saw two men on the doorstep in similar outfits.

"Edd, right?" The one on the left asked gruffly– his name tag was upside-down and read 'Paul'.

"Yeah." Edd was far too sleepy to engage in proper conversations, so he hoped short answers would suffice.

"Is Tord here? He said he'd be waiting outside with Ylva, but... Well, he's not." The other one, a little shorter with equally dark hair, had a much friendlier tone.

"Tord...? I don't think he's here..." He turned around to peer down the dark hallway into the shadowed living room, only to jump and yelp as Matt seemingly appeared next to him out of nowhere.

"Oh, Tord left earlier! He was with Ylva and they said their goodbyes." The ginger helpfully explained with a smile that didn't suit anyone at five in the morning.

"Wh- that can't be right. Are you sure?" Paul frowned, the action bold and heavy due to his large eyebrows.

"Certain! Tord didn't look too well, though. He was quite pale." Matt trailed off and seemed to get lost in his thoughts, which was a wonder considering his tiny brain.

Paul and the other young man exchanged worried glances. Edd blinked tiredly at the two, but was easily awake enough to sense the concern in the air. He wasn't too sure what to say as his mind was foggy, but he decided to give it a shot anyway.

"Uh... Sorry, who are you, anyway?" He tried to keep his tone polite, although his words slurred together and his tongue didn't seem to want to move.

"Patryk, Paul." Patryk introduced the two, "we're pilots for Tord in the Red Army, and we were here to pick both him and Ylva up to take them back to Norway, but..." He paused, glancing over his shoulder nervously. "It doesn't seem like things have gone to plan..."

"What's hap'nin'?" Tom emerged and startled poor Edd again, enough to wake him up properly.

"Tord's gone missing!" Matt squeaked out with far too much energy, adding a little bounce on his toes and raising his hands excitedly.

"Tord's gone missing?" Tom echoed lowly, raising his eyebrows as a look of surprise flickered across his features.

"Ylva, too." Edd added, "these two were apparently supposed to be their ride back to Norway, but Tord hasn't showed."

"How do we know we can trust what these guys say?" The Brit narrowed his eye-holes at the pilots, causing Patryk to shuffle and squirm uncomfortably due to the intensity of the glare.

Edd frowned slightly, ruffling his bed-head of hair from his eyes. "It would be difficult for anyone to have known that Tord was here in the first place, not to mention that they knew Tord was going to be flown back to Norway."

"Plus those fake policemen only know him as Red Leader." Matt pointed out, gaining mildly surprised expressions from his friends. "And didn't Tord say they were part of some enemy gang?"

"The Burning Tygers." Paul confirmed quietly, his voice softer and less formal than before.

"I think it's worth trusting them, especially if Tord and Ylva might be in danger." Edd finally decided, glancing at his housemates briefly to see if they would argue, but they nodded in agreement.

"So what did Tord say to you as he left?" Patryk turned his attention to the ginger, offering a comforting smile.

"Oh! Um... Something about... Going to a plane that would take them to Norway." Matt let out a soft sigh, "But then we all said goodbye and I went to bed."

"What time was that at?" Tom inquired, calmly using Edd's shoulder as an armrest.

"Maybe about... Midnight?" The ginger said uncertainly, the corner of his lips turning down as he spoke.

"So possibly about five hours at most. If they were kidnapped, they couldn't have gone too far." Paul sounded doubtful even as he nodded to himself; it seemed as if he was trying to look for the positives in a very negative situation.

Edd's eyes widened slightly as he was struck with a thought. "Did you hear any sort of vehicle when they left?"

"No, just footsteps... But I wouldn't be able to hear from my room, anyway." Matt let out a soft 'oh' and beamed brightly. "I did look out my window to wave goodbye, but they didn't see me. They were walking. I didn't see any cars on the street."

"Then, if there was a vehicle involved, it wasn't close by. If there wasn't, they must've walked, meaning they definitely couldn't have gone too far." Paul's eyes practically glowed with relief and he even started to smile contentedly...

Then there were loud footsteps at a rapidly approaching sprinting pace. The pilots whipped around, withdrawing guns from who-knows-where and suddenly seeming very alert. Edd found himself tensed up and vaguely following where his ears said the sound was coming from– it was difficult as the noise rebounded off buildings and echoed down the street in the silence of the city.

Tom was first to spot them, and he straightened up, taking a step outside in his brazen shock. "Tord?"

Tord and Ylva bolted around the corner, stumbling and tripping and panting heavily. They jolted to a stop on the lawn outside the house, Tord literally collapsing while the ginger barely managed to stay on her feet. The pilots rushed to their aid, conversing in hushed voices and unable to get any answers while the pair were blindly exhausted from what was clearly a long run.

"Well," Edd muttered to himself as he observed the scene unfold, "I guess that's one mystery solved."

~

Yikes, I left this book for two months and finally managed to motivate myself into writing another chapter.

Hope you enjoyed!