AWAKENED WASTELAND

Chapter 3: Gaston and Isaac

In the mess hall, April and Mavis saw that Evan was eating more burgers and hotdogs. He had an empty duffle bag next to him. "So, should we pack some food in that duffle bag so we can keep our strength up while we find the others?" April asked, putting her hair back into a ponytail. "I honestly didn't think of that. I just found it in the supply closet," Evan said, after swallowing the hotdog he'd just devoured. "It sounds like a pretty good idea. I think we should also see about grabbing stuff from the supply closet to make weapons, just in case things get a little rough," Mavis suggested, as she looked over at the supply closet door, with confidence. Evan loaded the duffle bag with the foil wrapped burgers and hotdogs, including the vegetarian ones, as well as the pickles, chips and other snacks and the bottles of soft drinks. Mavis and April opened the supply closet and grabbed the broom and the mop, April snapped the broom head off, turning it into a sharp pointed stick and did the same with the mop. Then Mavis had the brilliant idea of going to the kitchen and grabbed two massive chef's knives and went back to the supply closet where April was and grabbed some rope. She tied the knives to the ends of the mop and broom, while April took a bunch of the cleaning agents and mixed them together to make a heavily toxic spray and filled four bottles full. Mavis grabbed six pairs of safety goggles. Once everyone was ready, they started walking out of Moondale Cabin and started searching for the rest of their group.
The three of them wandered for awhile through the Woodskill Mountain forest, until they heard what sounded like voices coming from overhead. They began searching for the familiar male voices. "Gaston?! Isaac?! Nicolas?!" Mavis and April exclaimed repeatedly as they looked around up in the trees. Suddenly, one of the trees about three meters away started shaking, the leaves rustling as branches trembled. A male scream was heard and suddenly Gaston fell out of the tree, taking a branch with him. "Whoa, shit!!" Isaac screamed as he fell down after him, landing on top of Gaston, who cried out in pain. "Gaston? Isaac? Is that you?" Mavis asked. The two boys stopped wincing immediately and looked up in excitement. "Davis! Oh my god! I can't believe you're alive!" Gaston exclaimed as he ran up to Mavis, pulling her into a bear hug. "Hawkeye!" Isaac exclaimed as he sauntered up to her with a slight limp and gave her a tight hug. "Wait, who's that guy?!" Gaston asked, somewhat panicked as he stared at Evan. "That's Mavis's new alien boyfriend Ev1-X68, Evan for short! He saved our asses and he's here peacefully!" April exclaimed, grinning. "Okay then," Isaac said, shrugging. "So, does he have super powers?" Gaston asked, straight faced. "I'm gonna answer your question with another question, does this answer your question?" Evan said, grinning as he raised his hands causing Gaston to float in motion with his hands. "Uh, yup!" Gaston yelped. Evan lowered his hands slowly, letting Gaston down to his feet again."Well, I'm Gaston Fletcher, this adorable little guy is Isaac Walker. My best friend," Gaston said, grinning as he now had Isaac in a headlock. Isaac grinned and waved as he said, "Hi, I'm Isaac!" "Nice to meet you guys. Now if may I ask, how did you two end up in that tree?" Evan asked. "So, uh. We were running from this big thing with two heads and really long arms and we sorta lost it for a couple of minutes, so we climbed up the tree and stayed quiet until we saw it give up and run away and probably twenty minutes later, you guys found us," Isaac said, still grinning. Mavis noticed that both Gaston and Isaac's eyes were bloodshot. "Are you guys stoned right now?" Mavis asked, chuckling. "Yeah! What else were we gonna do while we waited in the tree besides smoke some tree?" Gaston laughed. "Do you have a little more?" April asked, grinning. Mavis side-eyed her. "What? This is a really stressful time right now and I think you should smoke a little too!" April said, rolling her eyes. Mavis sighed in defeat, "Okay, fine. Twist my arm." "Yeah-ha!" Gaston exclaimed and pulled out a fresh joint. "Is it at least a sativa?" Mavis asked, smirking. "You know me well enough! That's all I get!" Gaston chuckled. Then he passed the joint and a lighter to April and she sparked it up. "Do you smoke, Evan?" April asked, holding the joint out to him. "It smells good, but I've never tried it. I've come here many times to observe humanity. But I'll try anything at least once," Evan said and took a hit off the joint. Evan held it in and while holding the smoke in, he said, "Watch this!" Then he closed his mouth and plugged his nose. Then smoke came out of his large ears like an angry cartoon character. "Whoa, that's trippy," Isaac said, giggling. Then Evan started coughing as he passed the joint to Mavis and she took a hit. "Wait, you can breathe through your ears?" Mavis asked, as she passed the joint to Gaston. "Yeah, my lungs have passage to my ears, nose and mouth," Evan said as Gaston took a big hit from the joint and passed it to Isaac. Isaac took a hit and said, "Sounds like you're every earth girl's dream. How long is your tongue?" "Twelve inches and it's prehensile like a monkey tail," Evan said smugly. "Well, fuck. Sounds like you have it made," April said, winking at Mavis as she took a hit and passed the joint to Evan. Evan took another hit and blew it out his mouth this time, coughing a little. Then he passed the joint to Mavis. Mavis took a hit and said, "I don't have it made just yet. We've only found three out of the six of you guys." "That's true," Gaston frowned, and grabbed the joint from Mavis and took a hit. "Well, hopefully we can find Nick, Selena and Naomi soon. I really hope they're alive," Isaac said as Gaston passed him the joint. Isaac took a hit and passed it to April. "Anyone else a little thirsty?" April asked after taking a big hit and blowing it out through her nose. "Yeah! Do you have something?" Gaston asked, mildly gasping. Evan dropped the duffle bag off of his shoulder and opened it up. "Take your pick," Mavis said, as Gaston quickly grabbed out two bottles of lemonade, passing one to Isaac.  April grabbed out a bottle of Bleeding Wells spring water and passed the joint to Evan, Evan took a hit and blew it out his nose and grabbed out a water for himself. Mavis grabbed a Woodskill Cola and then grabbed the joint from Evan and took a hit. She passed the joint to Gaston and he took a hit, and took a drink of his lemonade, swallowing it before releasing the smoke. He passed the joint to Isaac and then burped out the rest of the smoke. Isaac grinned and did the same thing and passed the joint to April. April took the killer hit, finishing the joint. "How's everyone feeling now? Less stressed? Less scared? Not quite as dehydrated?" April asked, grinning. "Yes to all of the above!" Gaston said, giggling. "Me too!" Isaac exclaimed. "Me three!" Mavis exclaimed. "Samesies!" Evan said. "Okay so we're all good," April said, smiling. "You boys take these," Mavis said, handing Gaston an Isaac each one of the spray bottles. "What are these?" Gaston asked. "Toxic spray, so, take these too and if you have a mask with you, I'd suggest you put it on," April said, handing them each a pair of goggles. The five of them then started walking towards the mountain, walking just outside the property line of Camp Bloodmoon, on the Bloodcrest side. The moon was high and and bright, lighting the way enough with its fullness shining down through the trees. The smell of fresh blood soon caught their attention as they were now on the other side of the campground. A few minutes go by and that's when they notice the sounds of two people crying. As soon as they passed the bushes they saw two trails of fresh, metallic smelling crimson running along the slope. The crying was getting louder as the group of five got closer to the sources. They passed another bush and found the sources of the twin blood trails. A deep feeling of unease washed over everyone but Evan, who remained calm, as they discovered that it was none other than Donna Majors and Mark Ripley. The two of them had their innards hanging out of gaping holes in their abdominal regions. "Oh my god…" April said, cupping her hand over her mouth in fear and disbelief. The two victims slowed their crying to look at the five people that stood before them. "We're gonna die, aren't we? This really hurts," Donna sobbed. "Please, I can't handle this. Can you guys do something?" Mark asked crying and choking. Blood poured out of his mouth as he coughed hard. "What do you need us to do? I can't imagine the pain you're feeling," Mavis said, tears welling in her eyes. "End us, please. Make it quick," Donna said, crying and coughing blood. "Please, end our suffering, it's unbearable. I don't wanna die slow," Mark cried. Without hesitation, Evan turned his head while maintaining eye contact with both of them, snapping their necks simultaneously. Suddenly a two headed creature with long arms snatched the bodies. Mavis's instant reaction was to use her makeshift spear and stabbed one of its heads right through the mouth and out the back of the head, she yanked the spear back and the creature collapsed forward, dead. "Is that the creature that chased you guys?" April asked, looking at Gaston and Isaac. Both of them nodded vigorously. "It's a Groob," Evan said, smiling slightly as he looked at the cadaver. "Did you finish Donna and Mark or does that monster have powers too?" Mavis asked, disturbed by what just happened.  "Yeah, I didn't want any of you guys to do it and have to live with the fact that you killed someone. Is that alright, Mavis?" Evan asked, seemingly worried he did something wrong. "It is, but it isn't. I'm really not okay right now," Mavis said, a single tear trickling down her cheek, making her mascara run. Gaston stared at the gore and shouted, " Ah, fuck! I think I'm gonna be sick!" Then he yanked his mask down and began wretching violently, emptying his stomach of all the food he'd eaten earlier. "Me too!" Isaac cried out as he joined the regurgitation.  April plugged her nose and closed her eyes fast and stepped away, pulling Mavis and Evan with her. "That was a bold move, Evan. I respect that you know you're technically the outsider here and because of that, you did the honors of ending their suffering, since they were already basically gone," April said, almost smiling. "Well, I did what was needed. I'm amazed that I didn't have to kill the Groob, too. Mavis was unexpectedly quick with that spear," Evan said smiling. Mavis giggled, "Thanks! I was really scared and I thought it was gonna get us. I didn't know that all I had to do was go for at one head to kill it. I was just hoping if I injured it, it'd leave. Well, I guess that's technically what it did." "You're a natural warrior, Mavis. You fight in the face of fear," Evan replied, smiling proudly as he planted a kiss on her cheek. "You guys are kind of adorable together," April said. Gaston and Isaac were finished puking and began chugging the rest of their lemonade after using a mouthful to gargle and rinse their mouths out. "So, now what?" Gaston asked, as he and Isaac joined the conversation. "Well, now we resume the search for our lost friends," Mavis said, as she looked up the mountain trail. "Who knows, we might get to kill some more monsters!" April said grinning as she held her spear on her shoulder. "It's not hard to kill these monsters. They're much like most animals on your planet, easy to kill with sharp objects and most toxins," Evan said, smiling confidently. "Okay, let's go!" Isaac exclaimed, grinning. With that, the five of them continued up the mountain.