Courageous Compassion | Illinois x Reader |

Try to fix

[Mark] Great. I'm glad you trust me with this sort of thing. But could you hold on to my little buddy here?

He reached for the box in front of him and handed it to me. I was a bit skeptical to do such an action, but I didn't want to show it in front of Mark.

[Mark] He's pretty special. Now, let's see what this engine is all about.

He took of his apron and scoffed a bit while opening the door to the vehicle and out into the forest.

[Mark] How hard could it be? I've always felt that blind intuition was better than actually knowing what the hell you were doing in the first place.

He opened the hood on top of the engine, but when he did, the ground shook and made a loud groaning noise. Mark let down the hood, confused as ever. He opened it back up again, and it did the same thing. The ground shook vigorously and groaning and grunting noises could be heard. He opened it back up but only for a split second.

[Mark] Okay. Um, could you come out and look at this thing? It's, um, it's weird. The alternator is not connecting to the, um, the gas flange.

I stepped out the door and walked to where he wants me to be.

[Mark] I think it's a little— I mean, just take a look.

I opened the hood a bit wider, and the ground shook more than the times before. The earth churned and groaned. We could barely hold our balance and more noises could be heard.

[Mark] Uh-oh. That can't be good.

And then, the ground opened up and we fell down into it. We both screamed as dust clouds consumed us and our lungs. We coughed for a good bit and I got up, seeing that the box was opened. I stood up fully to see Mark, stretching to pop his bones.

[Mark] Okay. Well, that was um— that was weird.

Mark looked to his side and fear filled the air around him. He began to run and scream while a big boulder chased him down. Lucky, it didn't notice me. But then, another figure came into picture. A man, who looks a great lot like Mark, appeared and looks like a doppelgänger of Indiana Jones.

[???] Hey, was that you screaming? No need to be afraid. I showed that boulder who's boss.

He chuckled a small bit until he looked down, his face painted with amazement. He bent down to hold onto the mysterious item that was in the box.
'Strange.' I thought to myself. 'What a piece of junk Mark wanted. Won't make good use to it.'

[???] This looks like it belongs in a museum. You didn't steal this, didn't you?

His intense eyes stared directly into mine, daring me to make any sound possible. Though, he doesn't look like a hard fight. Probably the only worse he could do is probably lay a finger on me. Oh, and trust me, I don't approve of people who have standards like that. Don't actually see the point in it. His eyes softened a bit while monkey noises could be heard.

[???] Eh, nah. Not you. No way. I know a fellow adventurer when I see one. Well, I better figure out where this belongs and take it back there. You could accompany me, if you want. I lost my last assistant to a unfortunate boulder incident.

'If ya want me to accompany you, which I bet you do, then try something more suitable for this event.'

[???] Its like that thing was hunting me. But, anyway, you seem up to the task. What do you say?

As much as I don't want to, he IS my only option. If I still had Mark by my side, we would work together to find a place out of here. But, seeing that I have no choice, I have to go. Plus, he may know this place from the top of his head and I'm pretty sure he knows his way around balls. Boulders. Get your head out of the gutter. Sicko.

. . .

If you'd like to pass this segment of the story, you can go to 'Boulder Chase' in the table of contexts above.