Choni

Back to the Beginning

The crunch of leaves beneath their feet was the only sound they heard. Toni and Cheryl remained dead silent, keeping on the alert for any movement or possibly Claudius. It seemed as if they were always on the run from something. Cheryl wasn't running from anything this time, but rather marching towards something. The place where it all began. Where she last saw her brother, alive and well. She hadn't been back there since she had tried killing herself. Toni was marching towards her friend and a member of the brotherhood she had been sworn into not that long ago. Being a serpent was all she knew at this point, and Sweet Pea was one of the few people who had always had her back.

That's what was truly different this time. They were marching and trudging towards their struggles and in the end they would remain triumphant just for facing their battles.

They reached the edge of Sweet Water River. Cheryl stared off to the other side, scanning the shore line for any sign of Claudius or Sweet Pea. Cheryl had hidden a concealed weapon in the waistband of her pants, hidden under her large winter coat. Toni didn't even know about it. Cheryl had taken the gun from a metal box she found under Toni's coffee table. She assumed it didn't belong to Toni, otherwise she would have brought it herself.

"This river is quite long, he didn't even give us a specific location to meet him at. We could be walking for miles" Toni said, kicking a rock with her steel toed boot.

"Isn't it obvious?" Cheryl asked. "Its gonna end where it all began, where I last saw Jason"

Toni nodded and began walking again. Evidently, about fifty feet ahead sat Sweet Pea, strapped to a chair, duck tape around his mouth. Toni and Cheryl sprinted to him. They ripped the duck tape off his mouth and began untying him. Toni hugged him and began crying. "Where is he? Ill kill that bastard I swear to God I will"

"You need to get out of here, now" Sweet Pea said. "It's a trap, a game"

"Well we assumed so" Cheryl paused a minute. "A game?"

"He surrounded the area with electric signals. You're basically like a dog with an electric collar on, stuck inside an invisible fence. He said if we can find a key clue, we can get out of here unharmed, but there's also a time limit. We have two hours before he begins hunting us down and killing us off one by one" Sweet Pea stood up, brushing the debris off his leather.

"Well what's the key?" Toni asked.

"He gave me a clue that doesn't help at all. Something about Nana Rose and something she wore" Sweet Pea shrugged. "I have no idea who this Nana Rose is"

"That's my grandmother" Cheryl said. She stood there, thinking for a moment. "My grandmother always wore a ruby necklace. It was priceless, a family heirloom. If sold, it worth a fortune"

"Where is it now?" Toni asked.

Cheryl pulled her pant leg up, a small anklet hung from her pale ankle. A ruby hung from the silver chain. "I always wear it. It was passed down to me form my Nana Rose"

"So maybe if we give it to him, this will all end" Sweet Pea offered. He shrugged and swatted away a bug that was making a bee line straight for his face.

"I dont understand why he would want it" Cheryl shrugeed. she bent down and removed the anklet, holding it delicately in her hand.

"Well finally after all these years" A voice said, coming out of the shadows. "Hand over the ruby and i will be on my way"

Claudius stodd there, looming over them. Cherly tossed him the anklet. "All of this over a damn jewel?" she asked. 

"Indeed"  was his only response.

Dear readers, this was the last chapter i wrote of this book. Quite frankly after joining the military,i lost the time to write. I do not quite wish to finish this book. Thanks for reading thus far.