Europa

Chapter 5- The Forest

We start to head down the mountain, taking extra care to stay beneath the safety of the trees and also keeping watch for any furry bodies zooming past.
Loan insists on a game of I Spy. Everyone groans and protests but he persists until we all cave.
"I Spy with my little eye, something beginning with..... T!" He says proudly.
"Tree." Farren answers immediately.
"Farren!" Loan screeches, "that's not fair, your not meant to get it right away!"
"How did you expect her not too?" Marsh laughs.
"Yeah, that was pitiful Loan!" Adds Alora.
"Ok, my turn!" Stephen smiles, "I Spy with my little eye, something beginning with M."
"Marsh" Farren guesses.
"Nope" Stephen laughs.
"Moon!" Alora shouts.
"Do you see a moon?" I chuckle.
"Oh yeah, wrong sky!" She huffs. We all laugh.
"I know, mound!" Loan says proudly.
"Wrong!" Stephen tuts. "Do you give up?"
We all concede and Stephen points at Loan.
"It was moron!" He shouts, buckling over and howling at his own joke. We all giggle but Loan shouts in protest, chasing after Stephen.
"Stay close!" I shout after them.
Luckily this side of the mountain is more of a slow slope, so we're able to walk instead of climb down.
"I used to love that game as a kid!" Farren laughs. "Every time we were in the car me and my dad would play. He was always so good! I could never guess his word."
"I preferred charade's!" Alora laughs, "we had a game night ever Saturday and took it in turns to pick the game. I would pick charades every time it was my turn."
"I never liked it" Marsh adds, "too much guessing."
"That's the point!" Alora laughs.
"You know what I loved?" I grin, "Hide and Seek. Me and my brother used to play it all the time growing up. He was such a good hider it was damn near ridiculous. I would rip the house apart trying to find him and it drove my mom and dad crazy!"
"Yeah, I hated that game!" Alora laughs, "being the seeker was too much work!"
We continue down the mountain. It seems faster going down than it did up! After a while we feel the ground levelling out and then the long woodland edge appears in front of us
We stare ahead of us at the forest beyond. The trees here are higher than any we've seen and they loom above us, dark blue trunks with huge leaves drooping down and yellow vines hanging from the tops. The ground is covered in shrubbery, fallen leaves, vines and strange looking plants.
The drooping leaves above us mingle with each other, blocking out most of the light and sky, though some rays cascade down through the gaps, mildly illuminating the area.
"Creepy" Alora says quietly.
"Yeah" I agree, "really creepy."
We start ahead slowly, taking in the unusual biome. Rotted leaves crunch under our feet and the air feels thick with moisture.
"What do you think lives in here? Those furry freaks?" Stephen asks.
"I don't wanna know!" Loan whispers.
We're all on edge, thrown off by the silence that's only interrupted by our steps and the menacing aura of the area surrounding us.
"Nobody stray too far" I tell them, "we've just gotta try and get through as fast as we can."
"You mean we aren't going to rest for the night?" Loan groans. "I'm tired!"
"Not here" Farren says. I turn and see her face wrinkled with concern. "There's something really off about this place."
"Let's go back" Stephen says quickly, "we can walk around another way and then keep west right?"
"Stephen, stop with the 'let's go back' jargon. We can't!" Marsh barks, "this is west, and west equals home. We need to keep going."
We cautiously advance. I walk over to a tree and study it's trunk. I touch it, it's slimy and wet. It feels similar to bark but kind of spongy.
"Hey Adriel, come and look at this" Marsh says to the left of me. I walk over and peer at the tree he's pointing at. It has scraps of yellow fur stuck to the trunk and a wet substance splattered on it. I touch the wet stuff then look at my fingers. Light pink, thin consistency. I smell it, a hint of iron.
"Blood" I declare, wiping my hand on my shirt.
"What do you think did it?" Marsh asks me.
"I can't say. But we don't want to bump into it, that's for sure."
We decide not to tell the others, it will only panic them. We trot back over to the group and keep walking.
Me and Marsh stick next to each other, looking for more evidence of whatever dwells here. We spot some concerning sights, a smashed tree here, disturbed shrubbery there. We're on high alert when suddenly I hear shuffling not far in front. Stephen screams like a girl and Loan jumps at him, slamming his hand over his mouth. "Shut up idiot!" He hisses.
We stop dead, staring into the trees. I glare at the sight of the noise and focus. After a moment i see what looks like a small yellow head poking out from behind a tree, then two more pop out.
"Flantlocs!" Alora shouts.
The creatures jump back in alarm.
"Marsh, the device!" I bark, he digs around in his bag and hands it to me. I quickly insert the ear piece, luckily Flantloc already switched it to reverse.
"Hello?" I say. Just like when I used it on the furry beasts, I can't hear the change. But I'm guessing that I'm speaking in Flantloc tounge.
The biggest of the Flantlocs steps out cautiously and addresses me.
"Where did you get that!" He shouts suspiciously.
"What did he say?" Farren asks.
I take out the earpiece and relay it quickly, then pop it back in and respond to the yellow man.
"A friend, one of your kind, gifted it to me to help us communicate as we cross your planet" I tell him. "We mean no harm what so ever, we just want to get past."
"No harm? Am I to believe that?" The Flantloc says. "No harm he says, junb." The other bigger flantloc steps out, holding the arm of the smaller one, it seems to be a child. "No harm?" It asks, it seems to be a female.
"None at all" I tell them, smiling.
"What are you? You sure are ugly, that's what you are! What's your business here?" The male Flantloc questions.
"We're humans from the planet called earth. We accidentally opened a hole to your planet and fell through" I tell them honestly. "We need to get back to our machine so we can get home"
"Machine? Your machines here? Never make it" he tuts, "may as well die now instead of later."
I take out the earpiece and relay our conversation back to the others as it happens.
"We need to try" I say firmly, "but thankyou for the advice."
"Try all you want" he chuckles, "they will gobble you up! That's why we hide underground, only out to get more food. No getting us down there, that's for sure!"
"Very clever" I smile, "but we've made it far enough as it is and fought our way to this spot, so I hold out hope. Can we pass?"
"Sure, you can pass" he reply's. "I can't stop you from passing. But be wary the further you tread through these parts, that's for sure!"
"Wary?" I ask him, "any particular reason that I should be wary? Do the furry bungon creatures dwell here?"
"The bungon?" He laughs, "You mean those fluffy tribes of tree dwellers? They wouldn't dare tread this forest. They live in the open, no hole to hide in, a shame."
"Oh? What keeps them from straying in here?" I ask.
"Half a tree tall, thicker than any trunk" he warns, "huge mouth and huge hands that will clobber you to pieces. No hope of escape, not for you or anyone else who dwells in the open forest. They've probably already heard you coming. Your feet are loud."
I relay his words to the others.
"Scrintuffs!" Farren gasps, "he's speaking about the giants!"
I throw the ear piece back in. "You mean the scrintuffs?" I ask the Flantloc.
His ears twitch. "Ah, so you've heard of them too? Well, you definitely haven't faced them. Wouldn't be here telling me if you had. But yes, they are who I'm talking about. Try to avoid them, but try and fail. They keep to the forest when hunting for dinner, so if your planning on passing through they'll find you."
"Then why are you out here?" I ask.
"Holes just down there" he says, pointing to a small bush against a tree. "Those bumbling brutes will never fit down there. Deep underground so they won't go through the trouble of digging us out. Only stepped out for some fresh air and to get some root, never stray too far, aren't stupid enough."
"Thanks for the advice" I smile, "we will definitely keep it in mind, but we're gonna go ahead regardless."
"Well, we each make our own choices. Good luck to you!" The Flantloc says, then scurries into the bush, followed by its family.
"They go ahead?" The female asks, she seems surprised.
"They die ahead" the male laughs. He ducks down into the bush and shuffles into his hole.
The small one looks back and stares at us in awe, but the female yanks it's arm and they too disappear from sight.
I relay the rest of the conversation to the others.
"Well that's unnerving!" Alora gasps.
"Farren, I blame you." Stephen tuts.
"How is it my fault?" Farren laughs.
"You asked where all the monsters are, and since then we haven't stopped seeing them!" Stephen jeers, "You jinxed us, idiot!"
"Go to hell!" Farren jibes, "it would have happened either way!
"Stop joking around, we need to be serious!" I scorn, "keep your weapons at hand. Farren, Alora, walk in the middle."
"Oh, so the women are the weak ones who need to be protected in the middle of the pack?" Alora sniffs.
"Yeah, talk about misogyny Adriel!" Farren laughs.
I ignore them and shuffle them into the middle.
"The small one was kind of cute!" Alora giggles.
"The last time you said that we almost got turned into a meat feast!" Loan chuckles.
"Alright, I'm serious now guys. Jokes over!" I assert, "let's try and keep talking to a minimum. Keep your ears open and try to make soft steps. The Flantloc said our feet are loud so we need to be extra cautious."
We proceed in silence, practically tip toeing and trying to avoid any twigs or leaves.
The forest gets less dense as we continue, the rays of light become more frequent and the area is thankfully now well lit. We don't see anymore creatures, not even the small wiggling worms, which is a bad sign in my book.
As I'm thinking this Farren pokes me and points at the ground. I look down and see what looks like man - or not man - made stones pitted in the dirt.
"A path" I whisper. I lean down and study them. They're pretty damn big as stones go, probably a few meters long and a meter wide. They cover the ground in a zigzag fashion as far as I can see.
"Shall we head into the bushes?" Marsh whispers. "This looks like an obvious clue to civilisation."
I think about it for a second. It's tricky, there's pros and cons to both- while we are definitely more exposed on the path, the bushes amongst the denser trees will have unavoidable shrubbery and we will make a lot more noise. Considering that we're facing the scrintuffs, who are cursed with absolute blindness but good hearing, there's only one real option.
"We stay on the path" I say firmly.
The further we walk the wider the path gets. Swirling patterns adorn the rock, they've clearly been carved in with some sort of stone, or sharp and insanely strong nail. Farren snaps a quick photo of the other worldly art work, then suddenly the path opens into a huge clearing.
The whole clearing is also paved and a huge stone structure stands in the middle. It kind of resembles stone henge but bigger.
In the centre is a huge table-like rock and as I look closer, I see the remains of unfortunate Flantloc creatures strewn across it.
Alora gasps aloud at the sight and I turn and glare at her. I look at the others and place a finger to my lips, indicating absolute silence. Pink, foamy blood oozes down the sides of the table, it's clear these remains are very fresh.
Farren pulls out her phone and takes another photo, que more daggers from me. She rolls her eyes and slowly places her phone back in her pocket. I turn back around and continue scanning the area.
Then I spot it.
Far on the other side of the clearing leaning up against a rock sits a huge creature.
Even at sitting height it towers over us, it's impossibly gargantuan, the kind of monster you see in horror films or read about in a scary book. It has pale, sickly green skin that looks lumpy and boil infested. Wide shoulders and ripped arms that would make any pro body builder bow their head in shame.
Two stumpy troll like legs attached to fat hairy feet.
It's head looks like a cancerous tumour. A huge, fleshy lump. No hair, eyes or recognisable features, just bubbled, lumpy flesh and a long slit of a mouth. The others see it too and stiffen immediately. It grabs what looks like a Flantloc leg from the ground next to it and opens its sorry excuse of a jaw, tossing it in and catching it with a long green tongue, then crunching down on it. It's truly sickening, the mouth stretches wide and mucus looking dribble drips from it. But more concerning than any of its ungodly features are the four rows of sharp, long teeth. Two rows each to the upper and lower jaw, sitting back to back.
Loan panics and takes a small step back, I shoot my head around and shake it furiously.
The cancerous creatures neck snaps up and it stays dead still for a moment. We freeze. After a few seconds it shudders and continues eating. I point my arm to the left, making sure the others see my signal. We need to walk around and get back into the forest, far away from this shrine looking structure and the colossal creature.
I take a shaky step forward, balancing on my tiptoes. The others follow cautiously. We creep along the side and I hold my breath as much as I can, not taking my eye off the monster.
Marsh suddenly grabs hold of my arm and I turn to silently protest, but before I do 2 more of the huge creatures jog from the forest to our left and right past the front of us. Their footsteps shake the ground and I quickly steady myself before I topple over. The monsters throatily chuckle and shove each other, seemingly playing. The one sitting down let's out a disgusting gurgle and the two stop, hanging their heads moodily and stomping over to the table. By that display, the one seated seems to be the alpha of the trio.
With a loud thump they flop onto the ground and plant themselves in front of the table, tugging viciously at the remains and chewing on them.
I gather myself and take another step forward, followed by the others. I'm hoping the sounds of their grotesque chewing will drown out our steps as we get closer to them.
A loud snap sounds out behind me.
I turn rapidly and see that Stephen has stepped on a stray twig.
The monsters heads spin towards us almost simultaneously. The large one leaps up and gargles, bounding towards the table. They stand there, heads shooting around the clearing, trying to sense the culprit of the snap.
Then someone's stomach gargles.
They shoot towards us instantly, arms in front of them, reaching out.
"RUN!" Loan screams.
The monsters shriek and seemingly grin, Loans shout solidifying our position.
"Your an idiot!" Alora screeches.
"Scatter, now!" I shout.
We run off in separate directions. Alora and Farren head right, Loan darts backwards. Me and Marsh run to the right too and Stephen bolts left, then right, clearly panicking.
The closest monster dives forward with its arms outstretched, aiming for Stephen. He jumps backwards in alarm and screams.
"Stop screaming!" Marsh shouts.
The other two whip their heads around and bound towards us. We dive separate ways as they lunge at the spot where we stood.
Stephen ignores the advice in his panic, screaming loudly again. The two who chased us snarl and turn around, bounding back towards him.
If it wasn't so seriously terrifying, it would be comical. Stephen jumps and darts around like a headless chicken, yelping and just barley avoiding the grasp of the giants huge hands. The monsters fall over each other as the chase after the nimble Stephen, each one eager to be the first to taste fresh blood. Suddenly, the alpha shrieks and shoves the smaller two backwards. They land on their backs with a thud and cower on the ground. It puffs out it's chest and swivels it's head left and right, trying to sense Stephens position. I spot him backed up against a rock to the right of the monster.
I wave my arms around and catch his eye, pointing to the sword in my other hand. He nods, body shaking, and pulls out his sword. With a click the blade shoots out and the monster dives towards him. He flys to the left and swipes at the monsters thigh as he does. It slashes just above the knee, opening a small gash. The giant cries out and swings it's huge arm, almost knocking Stephen over.
Stephen darts away and dives behind a rock but the monster is right behind him, it beats both of its hands on the stone furiously.
It gives way and begins to topple over, Stephen sees the threat and rolls to the side. The stone collides with the ground and dust flies up in the air, obscuring the view. I squint, trying to see through the dust. As it clears I spy the monsters rolling around on the floor, choking on the dirt contaminated air. I snap my neck left and right, looking for Stephen. I spot him in a corner, leaning against another stone.
I turn to see Loan, Alora and Farren have made it back to me and Marsh. They stand around half a metre behind us, wide eyed and staring at Stephen.
I want to help him, hell, I would do anything to help my friends! But I don't know what I could do right now without endangering all
of us. I could use the disk device Flantloc gave us, but that requires crying out and telling everyone to duck immediately. If Stephen doesn't hear it on time or doesn't understand it might make things worse rather than better, all I can do is wait for an opportunity to help. We continue to watch powerlessly as the monsters slink around, grabbing and pounding at the bare ground in front of them. Stephen leans against the rock and clutches his sword to his chest, looking fearfully on at the creatures as his whole body shakes.
We all know it, so does he.
He's trapped.
The monsters begin pummelling the stones, causing them to break apart and topple over. Dust flies up into the air and booms sound out all over. They're working together to eliminate the hiding places.
When the dust clears again I see that only three rocks remain, and one of them is Stephen's.
He looks around too, taking in his predicament.
Then he looks up at me with desperate, blood shot eyes.
"Run" he mouths.
He scoops up rock fragments and leaps up, tossing and scattering them in all directions. The monsters screech and go wild, throwing themselves on the landing sites.
We run to the other side of the broken fissure, staring helplessly on at Stephen as he darts around. He's just about avoiding their grasp, but he's getting slower.
Just as I think this the monsters box him in. He's stood in the middle of them, sword raised and panting.
It's over.
Then a realisation flows into my mind.
The laser gun!!
"Loan!" I scream, "the gun!"
He hops in front of me like a strapping young super hero, pulling the gun from his pocket.
He slicks back his hair and throws a smile at Farren and Alora.
"Loan to the rescue!" He chimes, "I'm gonna-"
"Shoot you idiot!" Farren screams.
He flinches, then turn back around. He takes a deep breath and aims at the pit at the back of the smaller ones knee.
"POW!" He shouts, firing the gun.
It hits the target and the monster shrieks before collapsing to the ground, thrashing around and holding its leg. Loan shoots again, hitting it in the back of the head and silencing it.
"Dude, that was awesome!" Loan howls.
The others turn towards us and their fatally injured friend, coking their heads slightly. Stephen darts through the space and runs towards us. As he does so Farren picks up a stone and hurls it. The remaining monsters run towards it, falling over each other. Then the big ones head swivels round. It's smarter than the other, its not gonna fall for that again.
Its seen through the trick.
It shrieks and leaps, bolting towards Stephen with its jaw wide open, long green tongue and saliva drooping out. Stephen doesn't turn to see the threat, he's just hellbent on reaching us.
"NO!" I scream, but Loans ahead of me before I know it. Just as the monster leans its head down to lock its jaws onto Stephen's back Loan fires right into its mouth.
It's head explodes, chunks of meat and blood fly outwards and rain down. It's body drops slack on the floor and it lies there, seemingly dead. The remaining smaller monster has heard and gurgles loudly. It shakes its head and gurgles again, getting no response from its friends. It steps forward, then steps backwards. Throwing it's arms in the air and shrieking, it turns around and bounds off into the forest, flattening the trees as it goes.
Stephen falls at our feet, sobbing.
I lean down and pull him up by his arms.
"It's okay Stephen" I tell him, "they're gone now."
"I thought I was dead!" He sobs, throwing his arms around me.
"Did you guys see that? I'm a natural! Hey Stephen, looks like we're even now!" Loan laughs, "I saved you like you saved me in the river!"
The girls shoot Loan daggers, as do I. He's not very well versed in sensitivity or sensing the right moment for things.
Stephen doesn't seem that bothered though. He looks up, drying his eyes and pulling back from me.
"Yeah, thanks Loan" he smiles shakily.
We stare off at the path the living giant took.
"We should get out of here!" Farren says.
"Yeah" I agree, "it's gone for now but i don't wanna wait around for it to come back!"
I pull out the remote and check the signal. "Come on, this way" I tell them.
We jog over the paved clearing, jumping over smashed stone. We arrive back at the woodland edge and duck back into the forest. It's still less dense here than when we first entered, but the trees are still very much frequent. If another giant heads towards us we should hear them snapping.
"That was insane!" Loan laughs, "did you see me? I was like an assassin!" He holds the gun up, jumping side to side and making pow noises.
"Stop waving that thing around!" Marsh scolds, "put it back in your pocket."
"Stop bragging now Loan, it's getting boring" Farren scolds.
Loan scowls and turns his head away from her, sticking his nose in the air.
"Remind me not to risk my life if your in danger" he sniffs.
"It wasn't fun for me!" Stephen gasps. "I thought I was a goner a few times, they came super close to grabbing me!"
"They seemed kind of stupid" Alora quips.
"They did" I agree, "there seems to be scales of intelligence on this planet, just like on ours. I don't think they were super low down it, but they were definitely dumber than Flantlocs."
"Why don't Flantlocs take over like we did?" Alora queries. "I mean, we managed to gain control of the lions, wolves and bears on our planet with technology and become the top contendor and Flantloc has a lot of cool weapons! Why don't they do the same?"
"I don't think every Flantloc is like the original Flantloc" Farren laughs. "You saw that family. They're too scared to do anything."
"Plus, they might not be the only intelligent creatures." I add, "maybe the chunbers are just as smart as the Flantlocs, and with their brute strength and size they trump them easily."
"That's not a great thought" Loan whines, "if they are, how are we supposed to fight them!"
"Hopefully we don't have too. Besides, we've overcome a lot already. If we have to deal with a few chunbers we have fair enough odds."
"Adriel, Im all for this conversation but I'm tired!" Stephen moans, "can't we find somewhere to rest?"
"Yeah, I'm tired too, and starving!" Loan agrees.
"So it was your stomach that growled!" Alora accuses, pointing at Loan.
"I- I mean.. I'm hungry Alora! We don't all have a stick insect body like you, I'm a man and a man needs to eat!" Loan shouts.
"You big pig!" Alora barks, smacking him around the back of the head.
We all laugh, but they're right. We need somewhere to rest for the night.
"Yeah, let's start scouting" I agree.
We walk for a while longer through the forest, then Marsh points out a small hole in a rocky mound. I lean down and glare in, pulling out my phone to use the torch. Inside is a small cave, if you can call it that. We should fit. I look down at my phones battery. 10%.
"What's everyone's battery on?" I ask
Marsh, Farren and Loan check their phones.
"22%" Farren says, "it was fully charged when we arrived so it's lasted well"
"5%" Marsh says sheepishly, his is never fully charged.
"89%!" Loan laughs, "I win!"
"You do!" I smile tightly, "we will use yours as a torch, it's dark in there."
He protests but I take it anyway, then we all crawl in. It's dewless in here, the dirt is overly dry and the ground is scratchy.
I take out the root flantloc gave us, the water from the river, the fruit and the juice box.
The fruit is bruised and squishier but seems edible still. I share them out between us and we eat happily.
"We can share the juice box" I tell them, "one small swig each until it's empty. Don't take big ones!" I shoot daggers at Loan and Stephen, they laugh and agree.
"How much further do you think we have to go?" Stephen asks me, taking a small sip of the juice and passing it along to Alora.
I pull out the remote and study it's screen again. "The signals getting stronger, that's for sure" I reply, "I can't say for sure how much further we have to go but we have got significantly closer."
"What are we going to do if the machine does nothing?" Farren asks.
We all look at her and she shrugs.
"I mean, it's not guaranteed that pulling the levers up will do anything. For all we know it was a one way system. So what if we do it and nothing happens, and what if the portal is nowhere nearby? We can't track it like we can track the machine."
"Don't be negative, Farren!" Stephen tuts, "it will work!"
"It has to work!" Alora agrees.
"No, she's right" Marsh says quietly, "it's a long shot. There's no guarantee our theory is right. Look at the amount of scientists that have been wrong, there's more failed theories than correct ones, a lot more!"
Stephen, Loan and Alora look to me, desperately hoping I'll agree with them. But I can't lie, even if it will damped their spirits.
"They're right" I tell them, "unfortunately we can't guarantee it's what we've theorised. There's a big chance that it won't work or that it will shut the portal instantly if it does. Also there's a big chance that we won't even reach the machine, and if we do the portal might be nowhere near it, it might not even be open anymore. This whole thing is a true gamble."
They hang their heads. Alora starts to cry quietly and Stephen and Loan just stare at the floor.
"But a gamble is better than nothing, right?" Farren says, "firstly, we could have landed here and immediately suffocated or burned or froze. We gambled the moment we entered other worldly conditions and it payed off! We could have landed without the remote, we could have not obtained an antenna, we could have died when those alien dogs passed us, if Flantloc hadn't been nearby, in the river, on the mountain, at the hands of those giants or any moment in between! But we didn't, we have gambled since the moment we got here! You said yourself Alora, we need to rely on luck! And luck we have had. To give up now because we have a few more dice to roll would be wrong, it would be unethical even! We need to have faith in our theory and follow it through to the very end, no matter how rewarding or how disappointing!"
I marvel at Farren. She's always had leader quality's but that was a truly inspiring message that we all, even me, needed to hear.
"Yeah!" Marsh adds, "and if we get there and it doesn't work, or something goes wrong, we are in no more of a mess than we are already in! If we go down, we go down together! As the first humans to set foot on another planet, as the first humans to encounter alien life! We've set so many records in the space of a few days it's crazy!! We are the greatest scientists who ever lived and we are going all the way!"
"If the worst happens we can head back to flantloc and live in his hole!" Stephen quips
"I don't think we could remember the exact location of flantlocs hole Stephen" Alora laughs.
"Well, we could make our own hole" I add, "if we loose all hope we could live underground."
"I would rather be at home on my games!" Loan chuckles. "God, I never thought I could miss them so much!"
"And tv!" Alora adds, "what I would do to catch up on my programmes!"
"I just want bacon" Stephen says super seriously.
We all laugh but his face remains straight.
"You don't understand! I ate bacon every single day!" He whines, "I would kill for it!"
"If we do make it home, we are gonna be national heroes!" Farren says animatedly, "we will be invited on every tv show, we will have articles made about us! We're gonna be famous!"
"Famous!" Alora cries, "I wouldn't mind that!"
"I would" Marsh adds, rolling his eyes. "I prefer a private life."
"I'll protect you from the papparazi Marsh" I chuckle.
We finish up the juice box and lie down. After a while the chatter dies down and our occupied hole becomes silent. Farren chose to lie next to me again tonight. Even though I'm on another planet and have a million different worries I'm still super nervous about lying next to a girl, especially Farren. As we drift off to sleep I feel her hand brush against my leg. Not exactly first base but I'll take it! I pull out the remote and take another look, there's no mistaking it, the signal is stronger.
I smile and slide it back into my pocket, then turn and lie on my side just close enough to feel Farrens breath on my shoulder. We've gotta push hard tomorrow, I have a feeling we aren't as far as we think.
I close my eyes and allow myself to be pulled into the realm of dreams.