The Venerate Order

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Strafe

As I made my way home, I could see that many people were concerned about me. Even though this was a big town, word traveled fast. I was making a name for myself with my projects. So, people had volunteered to look for me, and a crowd of concerned people had gathered.

I made my way to State Street, as it was the quickest way to get back to my neighborhood. As I got closer to home, I saw my neighbors surrounding someone. The neighbors looked angry, and the person they surrounded had raised his arms in submission. When I got closer I could see it was Gain. He lived in Ventura now, but would stop in town every once and a while. Gain was originally from New Santa Barbara, too. He, unfortunately, had a reputation for being a hothead and reckless.

He had already caused two traffic accidents pulling off stunts with his Mag-Cycle and tended not to tolerate criticism. When he turned 21 he moved to Ventura, but we always kept in touch. He behaved himself when he was with me, and he really knew engines and how to work with metal. We'd hit it off when we first met back in grade school ten years earlier. Like the rest of us, though, he had his imperfections.

"What the hell were you thinking, letting Strafe shoot off like that? No matter how many tests you ran, a human is not the same as a bag of potatoes!" a policeman asked him.

"Listen, I told you, once this guy gets something into his mind, that's it. He's not afraid of anything and nothing we could have said or done would have stopped him!" Gain replied, "If you have to put the blame on someone, go ahead and put it on me like you people usually do! But, I'm not going to jail or to court until we find him!"

It was kind of funny to see their faces when I simply walked up and waved to them. They didn't know whether to be shocked or angry, "Strafe!?!"

The crowd rushed towards me. Gain looked unsteady – rocking back on his feet. People asked me if I was okay, how I managed to escape the rapids, and what was this "metal thing" I was grasping on to. I thanked them for their concern but told them I first needed to discuss this matter with Gain in private. They respected my wishes, and I pulled Gain to the side and told him the story.

"No kidding, I can't believe that you ended up there. On a... battlefield?" I was back – but he was having a hard time believing my story. A policeman stepped up to us.

"Listen, we are glad you are okay, but we need to take you down to the hospital to get you checked out and ask you a few questions. It looks like you have a pretty mean cut on your head. The Mayor himself has requested we take this safety precaution."

I agreed and we were on our way.

When we arrived at the hospital, the nurse requested the sword, as it was customary for them to register all items when one enters. I placed the sword on the counter for them to hold and walked into a patient's room and sat on my bed. To my surprise, the Mayor and Police Chief walked in within five minutes of my sitting down.

"Strafe, we are glad you're okay. We couldn't believe that you showed up on the street all of a sudden as if nothing had happened," the Mayor told me as he came up and patted me on the shoulder and then sat down next to me in a chair. He was wearing a black suit with a purple and silver insignia in the shape of a knight's helmet pinned to his collar. I couldn't help but think it resembled the helmets of the enemy force I had found myself fighting against on that battlefield.

"Mayor Chiller, Police Chief Sense, I am very sorry for causing all this trouble. I found something very important that I think you need to know about. There's an amazing cave up in the hills! Plus, I got..." I said before getting interrupted.