// Without Cause // Chapter Six // Allons-y! //

Hello, everyone! Ammelia here with another chapter. Sorry for the delay, much has happened here. (But mostly me just forgetting to post... :) Anyway, hope you enjoy!

//Without Cause//

//Chapter Six//

//Allons-y!//

-Ethan

   The two strangers led us over a hill where a white farmhouse sat at the edge of a field, four cars were parked in the driveway. People milled about in front of the house, looking alert and waiting for something. Beyond the house was what looked like several acres of dense forest.

   “Do you know them?” I questioned, pointing at the house.

   “Yes.” The tall guy responded in a British accent. “We’re friends of your parents, whom are alright, by the way. Speaking of alright, are you?”

   “Pardon?”

“Well, we did just jump out of a moving aircraft.” He smiled. “Not something you get to do every day.”

   “Oh, right. My knees are a little wobbly, but I think I’m fine. It was actually kind of fun.”

Kylie nodded. “Same here.”

   We neared the house and a pretty dark haired girl walked up to us, and talked quickly. “We have massive waves of activity coming from all directions. It looks like they knew we’d be here. I need you two—”  she pointed to Kylie and I “to go into the house, and stay there. Take these.” She handed us each a backpack. She turned to the blond girl. “Show them to the house, then meet us at point three.”

   Blondie nodded, then turned on her heels and led us towards the house. Six other people were standing on the porch. When we reached the porch, I unzipped the backpack. Inside were two bottles of water, two apples, and two sandwiches. Kylie checked her pack and found the same. We both shrugged and Kylie reached for an apple, continuing to follow the girl to the porch.

   From somewhere in the middle of the field, someone screamed, “GET DOWN!”

   A car blew up behind us, sending debris and smoke flying everywhere. I pushed Kylie around the side of the porch, both of us dropping our backpacks. Three gunshots made us cover our heads. Blondie jumped over the side of the porch, landing behind Kylie and I, motioning for us to follow her. I shielded my eyes from the fiery inferno, crawling with Kylie towards Blondie.

   A girl who greatly resembled Kylie stepped around the side of the house, pointing a gun at us. Oh great, not you again. This girl was bad news.

   Two rapid fire explosions jolted the ground, knocking everyone standing off their feet, including Kylie’s look alike. Dirt flew in our direction, and glass broke in a top story window of the farmhouse, falling on us. Kylie’s look alike righted herself and scowled, pointing her gun at us again. Blondie grabbed her own gun and pulled the trigger, which sent some sort of shock wave at the other girl. Okay, let’s get out of the line of fire… I looked around for a safe place to lay low. Everyone around us had hidden or crouched behind something, and began their counter attack.

The other girl and Blondie were now in a wrestling match, so I grabbed Kylie’s arm. “Come on, let’s head for those woods!”

  “Ethan, you moron, no! We can’t just run through the middle of all this! We’re going to be killed!”

   I made a face. “That’s a chance we need to take.” Taking a deep breath, I charged across the field, tugging Kylie along. Another explosion rocked part of the field behind us, making us lose our balance. Kylie landed on her rear, while I fell on my face in the muddy grass. I helped Kylie up, looking back and seeing the whole field covered in smoke and partially on fire. The blonde girl had ditched the look alike, and was running in our direction. “Wait, stop!” she screamed.

   No way! We ran into the woods, choosing our steps carefully.

   It was denser inside than it looked from the outside. The trees were covered in moss, and ferns and berry bushes grew everywhere. We swiftly followed a small dirt path that wound deeper into the forest, until slowing down to climb over a fallen tree

   Kylie stopped. “Wait, wait, wait. Listen.”

   Someone was calling something. “It’s just that girl again, let’s go.”

   “Let’s see what she wants. They could take us back to Mom and Dad. They said they were friends.”

   “You don’t know that. They never told us their names, and we can’t know for sure.” I pulled her into a run again.

   “Ethan, just wait a minute! They want to help us! It could be those Cause people!” A revelation came over me. I stopped to face her.

   “I’d forgotten about them. You could be right. I’ll ask, but we keep our distance.” We jumped off the trail and behind a tree. Beside the sounds of animals, and the noise from the distant battle, everything was quiet. A minute passed.

   Kylie opened her mouth, but I quickly covered it.

   A twig snapped.

   Peeking out from around the tree, I expected to see the blonde girl. What...?  I stocky man, around thirty, with short brown hair, was there instead, squinting and scanning his surroundings. He held a rifle, pointed at the ground. I pinned myself to the tree, and Kylie gave me a concerned look. “What?” she mouthed.

   A gunshot rang out and we hit the ground. Yeah, we’re leaving. Helping Kylie up, and grabbing her hand, we took off again. Several more shots rang out behind us, one hitting a tree to our left.

   “Run faster, would you!” I yelled.

   She gripped my hand tighter. “I’m trying!” She screamed back. “Do you even know where we’re going?”

   “Just keep running!” I had no idea where I was going, but I knew we had to get out of there. 

   Both Kylie and I had done our fair share of hikes, also with Kylie and her soccer playing, and me with baseball and football, but none of our practice or training even cut close to this.

   We rounded a group of trees and I instantly noticed a sharp drop off. “Whoa, whoa!” I skidded to a stop, but Kylie didn’t. I grabbed her left arm with both hands as she teetered over the edge. We paused, scared out of our minds, and stared down into the ravine, which had a large pond of nasty looking water, and a nice number of tree roots.

    Kylie's foot slipped over, but she grabbed my arm and held on while I pulled her back away from the edge. “You okay?” I asked.

   She hesitated , then nodded. “My arm’s a bit sore, but I’m fine.” She pointed into the forest. “Shall we continue?”

   After around ten more minutes of jumping over fallen logs and rocks, avoiding holes, and trying not to trip over anything, Kylie pulled me to a stop.

   “Ethan, I have to stop. Please, just for a few minutes!” she pleaded in a wheezy voice. I nodded, while bending over and resting my hands on my knees. We both sat down, panting, and tried to hide behind a dead tree stump covered in moss. I gave her one of the water bottles from our remaining backpack.

   Kylie took two gulps and capped it. “What’d you see back there? Why’d she shoot at us? I thought we were going to talk to her.”

   “It wasn’t her, it was a guy. He wasn’t one of the people back at that farmhouse, and he wasn’t dressed like they were. I think he was one of the people who started the fight.”

   “What if he was one of the good guys?”

   “Well, he shot at us, so I really don’t care.”

   Several minutes or so passed without us seeing or hearing anyone, so I assumed it was safe to come out. This time, we walked, and found a nice patch of ferns and moss, secluded by two small trees. I informed Kylie she could rest. She nodded and lied down on the ground and promptly fell asleep. “That wasn’t what I meant.” I thought aloud. But soon, I too collapsed on the forest floor and fell into a deep sleep. It had been too long since we’d had a full night’s sleep.

*****

   “*squawk* This is Agent L. Robard, have you sent out the search party? *squawk*”

“This is Agent R. Freeman. I’m about to give the order.” A deep voice replied in a British accent.

   “Alright, proceed. And be careful. I know it’s pretty bad out there right now.”

“Roger!”

   Mr. Robard sighed and returned his walkie talkie to the clip on his belt. He turned to Mrs. Robard, and helped her put on her jacket. “Richard just sent out the search party. They’ll start at each end of the forest and work their way in. David is on his way. He’ll be here in a couple minutes with a chopper. They've only been out there for an hour, I'm sure they're fine.”

   “Ok. You don’t think… I mean, you don’t think they’ve gotten themselves injured or anything? Two days is quite a long time for them to be “cared” for by James. He probably hasn’t even fed them.”

   For a split second, Mr. Robard let his mind wander. Are they hurt? They must be starving! Has someone else found them? Could they—The sound of a helicopter brought him back into reality. He inhaled sharply. “No. They’ll be fine. James needed them alive. He fed them.”

   Mrs. Robard turned to face him. She looked deep into his ice-blue eyes and took his hands. “You’re doubtful. We have to remember to trust, Logan. Trust.” He pulled her into a hug and began to pray silently, then aloud in a quivering voice as the he heard the helicopter land. “Help them see You in all this. Please guide them. Lord… please…” his voice cracked and the walkie talkie squawked. He sniffed and concluded. “We know this is Your will, so let it be done. Thank you, so much. In your name,…” He sniffled and Mrs. Robard finished, “Amen.” She smiled as he wiped away the stray tears that had slipped from his worried eyes, and the walkie talkie continued to squawk. She giggled. “You’d better answer that!”

He smiled back as he pulled the radio from his belt. “Agent Robard.”

   An impatient voice with a British accent sounded on the other end. “Come on, Robard. I’m waiting, didn’t you hear me land?”

   Mr. Robard grabbed Mrs. Robard’s hand as they started for the door. “Coming now.”

*****

 

And that's all, folks! Next Monday, I hope to have chapter seven up, so stay tuned for that. New characters soon to be introduced. :)

For the will of Cause,

Ammelia

Joshua 1:9 -  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.