Despite the utter mistrust written across Axle's face, Keno still seemed to be pleased with himself. Hailey was busy holding her smart pay card out for Ash to scan and pay up and Allyssa was there nervously wishing she never let them talk her into accepting Keno's plan.
"You know what's funny? I remember asking you to explain yourself some moments ago and you're still just smiling and not explaining"
"Dude it's like reeaally simple. We go out into the woods tonight, hang around for an hour or two, you get over your irrational fear of the dark and officially become an adult." Keno was trying hard, and failing, to get his enthusiasm across.
"Are you crazy?! Of all places to think of you decided on one of the most dangerous places in the city, not to mention that it's a restricted area! Did you even think for a second about the mutant animals that place would be crawling with?! Lyssa, I thought you were supposed to be the reasonable one? How did you let them talk you into something like this?!" Axle was doing his best to keep his voice down but still be loud enough for all of them to hear him.
Lyssa averted her eyes, she did not want any part in this conversation...
"Well the thing is..., it's actually a deeper part of the woods that's restricted, the task force recently cleared out the parts that were closer to the city so it's kinda safe now. I thought... It might be a nice opportunity to get out, you know?" 'She's been brainwashed' Axle thought to himself as he facepalmed. He shuddered at the thought of what they might reply to his next question. "Does Miss Freiya know about this?"
They looked at each other, Keno stopped smiling, Hailey and Ash had just finished their 'transaction' and were now looking like deer after discovering headlights, Lyssa..., Lyssa was Lyssa.
"I refuse. I refuse to get myself killed on the day I turn seventeen, it's just not happening"
"Awwn c'mon man, we were gonna tell her..." Ashton voice rose and fell.
"And you haven't because...?"
Silence.
"Exactly. I don't have time for this. There's no way in hell that she'd say yes. Infact, I put it to you guys right now that if she says yes, then I'll go. Let's see you guys try, and fail, to get her to say yes"
******************************
"WHAT?!" Axle shouted and then fell back on the purple, embroidered two-seater couch. The house they were in was cosy with pictures of the owner, Miss Freiya, and some cats, some clay work and antique pieces over the fireplace and on the center table, four couches arranged to face the fireplace, all having accents of either purple, pink or brown and most importantly, very little tech, just the TV and a few purple accent panels on the walls. Even though no one used fireplaces these days. Typical for a cat lady. Luckily, none of them were allergic to the seven cats in the house at the moment.
The cat lady in question was currently sitting on one of the couches, directly opposite the fireplace. An ebony skinned beauty in a loose-fitting, lilac colored floral dress. Somehow she looked to have the youthfulness of a woman in her twenties and the maternal grace of a woman in her forties, dressed casually, with brown eyes that seemed to hold on to any and all light that hit it, and dark brown hair that was always tied in a bun.
She was absent-mindedly stroking a ginger cat on the arm of the couch as she spoke,
"Well, sure. I mean, I'm sure it'll be fine. As long as you keep to your words and stay in the outer parts of the forest", her sweet voice and smile adding to the warmth of the room.
All eyes turned to Axle, who was sitting frozen like he had just heard the worst news of his life.
"But," Miss Frieya added, "you are all to be out of there by at least nine pm and home by at least nine-thirty, it's too much of a fuss to deal with the authorities as to why you're out this late, amongst other things. Every single one of you is to call me from your home communicators when you do get home. If you feel you're being followed come right back here, and if..."
"Miss Freiya..!" Hailey cut in with a laugh, "It'll be fine. We know the drill"
"Plus, it's like waaayy past 4 already, and we plan to spend a bit of time there, to really soak up that dark forest vibe" Ashton added, squeezing Axle's shoulders as he stood behind the couch, locking eyes with him.
Axle looked away, mumbling something about betrayal, and then noticed the black and white American Curl cat sitting on the couch opposite him, looking him dead in the eyes. Something about the way the light from the fireplace reflected off it's eyes made the normally blue eyes seem like a burning orange.
"New cat, huh?" Ashton asked.
Miss Freiya looked to her side at the cat and smiled.
"Actually, yes. That's Kiwi. She's a stray I found in the neighborhood. Apparently she's been terrorizing other houses nearby in search of a home... Naturally i took her in", she said.
Axle turned his attention back to Miss Freiya as she stood up, walked towards the fireplace, and gently pressed against one of the concealed panels on the wall. A soft, almost imperceptible click echoed through the room, followed by the whisper of machinery as the panel slid out from the wall, revealing a hidden, vertical compartment.
There were four, black, almost spider shaped objects in the compartment, she pulled out two and nudged the panel again, causing it to retract into the wall.
"Phones up, everyone..."
All eyes were on her as she held both in one hand and swiped them over their phones, both objects flashing a red light as it went over each phone.
"What... is that?" Hailey asked.
"That's an ADM-14S!" Keno and Ashton exclaimed.
Miss Freiya smiled with subtle pride.
Hailey stared at the two in confusion.
"I'm sorry. Were we supposed to understand that?"
Keno facepalmed and explained,
"Arial Defence Mech... version fourteen, stealth edition. Basically mythic tier military stuff. The only time a drone like this can get into civilian hands is after a heroic service done to the city or nation at large... either that or some special connections..."
All eyes turned towards Miss Freiya, questions in every single one of them.
"Oh, stop looking at me like that. I had a life before you kids, you know?" she laughed dismissively.
"And what you should have now is a boyfriend", Hailey said in mild dissapointment and then grabbed Axle and Lyssa, heading towards the door,
"Come on guys let's go!"
Axle, who was still trying to make sense of everything, blindly hit his leg on the couch as he was being led on. He stumbled and fell, stopping himself from landing on his face with his hands.
He tried standing again and then froze.
The American Curl was standing right in front of him.
And he wasn't sure the fireplace light should have been able to reflect off it's eyes from this angle.
Miss Freiya giggled and lightly tossed the drones in the air. The legs of the drone unfolded and extended, hidden propellers on the main frame of the drone began to spin,
"Kiwi seems to like you" she said.
"And he seems to love the floor. Come on Axle, let's move. It's like... thirteen minutes to five already", Keno gestured towards the door where all the others were standing.
With a sigh, Axle dusted himself off and walked to the door like a lamb that had accepted it's fate. He decided to leave his hoverboard at Miss Freiya's, not wantng the hassle of moving it around where he was going. There was no point in arguing anyways, they'd drag him along with them whether he liked it or not, so he'd rather go while he still had dignity left in him. Within the next hour, the group had made and completed plans for holding a small picnic, making sure to buy the things they would need on the way there instead... partly because Hailey kept talking about how Axle would dissapear if they decided to get things from their houses, even though he already told them he didn't have any thing at home. In the end, Ashton had the bag containing the two drones, Keno with the bag of picnic mats and utensils and the girls had the shopping bags with the food. Axle carried nothing, 'birthday boy privilege' Hailey had called it. They took a speed train to the outskirts of the city, the journey only taking a few minutes.
At the last train stop, they stepped out of the station and deduced the shortest path to the edge of the forest from an online map. After a minute or two of walking, the edge of the forest was in view, as well as many tall structures spaced out and painted in a black and white version of camoflauge and people in the same color of uniform.
"See those towers?" Keno pointed at the structures, "They're the military's watchtowers. Heard they gathered some of the world's best snipers for outposts like this after the first mutant wave. Also heard there's a twelve foot wide artificial river boundary and a twenty foot tall electrified titanium chain link fence separating the inner and outer parts of the forest and if I'm right then it should be about a half mile away from the part we'll going in from..."
Axle shuddered quietly at the thought of being that close to things that had been mutated by the black plague... the same thing that their parents had before dying mysteriously... He shook his head and steeled his mind. Nothign bad was going to happen. Nothing bad was going to happen...
They walked in silence for a minute, passing by one of the towers and getting closer to the small clearing that served as the entrance to the forest, making sure to avoid eye contact with any of the ruthless looking military officers.
"... died down... sixteen-hundred hours... bit of a relief on the boys eh?..." "...heard... about thirty to forty yards... avoid that area... found nothing of interest... the barrier... scout..." They caught wisps of the conversation, interrupted by the passing of military vans and the sounds of orders being barked from somewhere close-by. The officers seemed to pay them no mind as they walked past.
"How exactly do you know so much about all this? I mean I know you're into this kind of stuff, but I'm not exactly sure if info like this is widely known" Allyssa asked in timid curiosity.
"Well I..."
"He's a nerd that's why. No ifs ands or buts about it" Hailey butted in.
"As i was saying..." Keno continued, glaring at Hailey, "I have some other friends in different places, especially online. We're all into these things and some of them have parents that actually work in the military"
"You say friends, I hear nerd gang..."
Before Keno could come up with a reply for Hailey, a burly man with a low taper fade, at the opening to the forest, stopped them, his most prominent features being his size and dark facial hair. He eyed them thoroughly, his huge frame like an immovable mountain as his head turned to observe each and every one of them.
"Do you have any means of communication to anyone in the city?" his gruff voice came from behind his thick moustache hairs.
They nodded nervously.
"Anyone who can get here within ten to fifteen minutes of your call?" he added, his left brow slightly raised.
They looked at each other... Miss Freiya couldn't exactly get here that fast. So they shook their head.
"Any means of securing yourselves?".
His slight irritation was leaking through his voice.
"Well actually sir..." Ashton started.
"Yes or no?"
The sharp tone made Ashton take a step back in mild fear.
"Yes sir"
"Let me see"
Cursing himself in silence for choosing to carry the drones, Ashton set the bag down and pulled out the drones, their metallic black bodies glinting in the evening light. The burly soldier seemed slightly amused and equally suspicious when he saw the drones.
"Military connections, I see..."
Ashton just shrugged, unwilling to speak any further.
The man sighed...
"The finest soldiers of the New Quentin City army have lost their lives and shed blood to keep mutants as far away from the city as possible... the safe zones in the forest are a testament to that. But that does not guearantee your safety. If you tourists die in there, there will be no one to blame but yourselves... goodluck", and he side-stepped to allow the group pass.
"Well that was uplifting..." Axle murmured to himself, hating every second that had passed since he agreed to come here.
A bit hesitant, they moved forward after Ashton picked up his bag.
A few seconds later Hailey tossed the drone disks into the air and they instantly activated, legs with propellers at the end extending out and the outer edge of the drone glowing with a green light. They flew up above the trees and immediately started scanning the surrounding areas for threats. Their phone screens lit up with a notification that indicated that the drones were active.
After a few minutes of walking some more, the vegetation seemed to thin out... in fact, just ahead the trees seemed to have been completely cleared away and so they decided to set down their things there.
As they began laying out the things they brought, Ashton stared at the top part of the fence that was visible to them, it stretched both ways as far as the eye could see.
"There's no way that thing is just twenty feet tall..."
"Guess the nerd gang was wrong then" Hailey added without missing a beat
Keno said nothing.
Allyssa sat up on the mat with one leg drawn close to her chest, looking up at the sky as she spoke,
"I think it might rain tonight. It's not in the air yet, but the clouds look like they'll make rain late this night... probably"
Axle looked at his phone to check the time and saw that it was already twenty minutes to seven. Under no circumstances did he want to be caught in the rain in this place. He watched in silence as the others put the food together, and anytime he tried to help Hailey would threaten to smack his hands with a bread knife. A few moments later they were eating and making small talk, and laughing every once in a while at how his head was always jerking around restlessly especially to look behind him at the part of the forest they came from, as that was the closest part to them for obvious reasons. A few more minutes passed and he seemed to calm down.
'It's my birthday for heaven's sake, I should be enjoying myself', he thought.
"Hey Axle," Ashton started, "we were thinking of coming over tonight, as a sort of after party for your birthday... what d'you think?"
Axle laughed as he took another bite of pie.
"The only reason you're coming to my place is to use the jaccuzi again, you can't lie to me"
"Okay, okay, the jaccuzi is one of the reasons, I mean we are the reason you bought it in the first place" Ashton raised his hands in defence, a soda can in one of them, "but we also want to come for a sleepover, we thought it'd be nice to end the day that way"
Axle raised a finger and threw his head back to down the entire content of the soda can. Then after a long and loud burp that made the friends burst into laughter, he replied,
"Sure! I'm out of food at home though so we'll have to stop for groceries at ..."
He froze in fear, his eyes locked dead ahead at something lurking behind the trees close to where they came from.
They all paused, noticing his fear and sudden silence and turned to see what he was looking at.
And there it was, so close to the ground but high enough to be considered a fairly big creature, its figure hidden from the pale light of the advancing moon, a pair of slit like eyes burning orange glowing from the darkness.
They were already on their feet and ready to zoom off at any sudden movement.
Why hadn't the drones alerted them yet?
They were weaponized, they should have started shooting by now at least...
The friends took small and careful steps back as the eyes advanced out of the darkness. And as the first rays of moonlight hit the figure, they all sighed in releif...
Visibly shook, Axle was the first one to speak,
"What's Kiwi doing here?"