Fourth Earth

Great Strydes

        In side the shack, there is a huge bed, and a desk of equal proportion. Among them is a bison of great stature. He is seven feet tall, dressed in a rough hewn trench coat and immense pair of jeans. His furry chest was exposed to the air. He was frantically running around his shack, grabbing random equipment and food, shoving it into a makeshift backpack constructed from two suitcases lashed together. He looked severely shoken and rather confused. I stood stunned for a few seconds. I had known him for years and had never seen him like this. But on the other and, I could completely understand why. I called out his name.

       "Stryde!" His reponse was almost immeiate. He dropped what he was holding and quickly turned around, causing the whole shack to shudder. He words were slow and deep.

        "Bubbles?" he asked timidly. If you could descrube one syuch as he as "timid." His face lightened upon my responsive nodding, the worry leaving him. "It's so good to see you!" he bellowed delightedly. "You survived the attack! And now I shall escape with a friend!" His excitement continued to make the loose structure shudder.

        "We need to get out of here. Quickly." His nod was slow and understanding. He lifted his bed with one hand, like it was a feather, and grabbed I device I did not recognize. I was oblong, machined, and constructed of recycled steels. It seemed like it was dangerous the way he gingerly handled it, as though it might explode. I was huge, design quite obviously for his hands, and not a person of my stature. He looked at me with a determined face.

        "Lets go. My lizard's ready. Do you have Buck?" he asked as softly as his immense lungs could manage.

        "I have Buck plus one. I managed to get Nobark out safely. I have provisions of my own, so we should be on our way. Stryde's face twitched and lifteed. 

        "I have an idea! He grabbed two small cages of some sort, and ran outside. There was a rushing sound, and the claking of madibles. Ohhhhh... "Here we go!" he exclaimed as he held the cages up, revealing the mantises inside. "Call it extra provisions," he said in his rumbling voice. 

        We walked outside at a hurrried pace, startling Nobark. He was the first to speak. "So this is your friend?" he asked in the most polite tone he could. Stryde smiled widely, and Nobark relaxed. He sat on Buck's back much more balanced than before, but you could still tell he wasn't a rider. Stryde unhitched his lizard and mounted as quickly as his clumsy frame could manage.

        With a kick and a pull, Buck was off, Stryde following on his coatails. The night grew colder, and the hair on the back of my neck shivered. I elt like we were being watched or followed... 

        Probably nothing.