chapter 15: YOU are on the FASTEST AVAILABLE ROUTE

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October 25th, 8:57 PM, Mule-deer Forest

Leaves crunched underneath Henry's ill-equipped shoes as he walked, his voice was terribly sore as he called out several times, hoping for a response.

"HELLO? ANYONE OUT THERE?" Henry waited a brief moment, no response. He sighed.

His head snapped around as another pair of shoes shuffled over. "Henry," a recognizable face was illuminated by the flashlight "everyone's packing up." the voice sighed, Henry looked in disbelief.

"Packing up? What do you mean packing up?" Henry spoke with clear confusion in his voice.

"Henry," the lady sighed. "It's nearly 9, everyone gone home by now, and I think we should too..." she placed a hand on Henry's shoulder, a slight tug of concern. Henry shook it off.

"No... I'm...I'm fine." Henry spoke, trying to believe the words coming from his mouth.

"Henry, I'm not asking, I'm telling. It's late, I have to go home, you have to come home, we-" she paused a second, reconsidering her words, Henry was still focused on the dark, so much that he didn't notice her as she turned off her flashlight. "Henry... I know how important this is to you, but... I have to go home, for Raf. I won't force you to leave, but just promise me that you won't go missing too." Henry turned his head over to look at the lady, giving out a soft, warm smile.

"I promise, Lena. I won't" Lena returned the smile, but her wariness was clear. She turned around to head off to the car, leaving Henry alone.

Henry continued to wander, even he had to admit that his light wasn't doing much in the pitch-black nighttime of Jasper Nevadah. Henry turned on a small GPS that he brought along, with a small click a computerized voice spoke with its static-y mess.

"You are: one quarter of a mile from your destination", Henry then clicked the volume off, a bit of relief knowing how far he was from the carpark area. "Just a bit longer, then I'll go home." Henry thought as he quietly walked, occasionally stepping on a stick and causing a semi-loud crack. "Surely someone would hear that" Henry mumbled.

His throat was sore, and his teeth began to ache slightly from the bitter cold of the forest. It was slightly humid, making the air seem muggy and damp as the sole of his shoes brushed along some blades of grass. All of that was nothing compared to what it was like being in the forest at night; however, the once colorful spectacle fall brought to the local trees of Mule-deer Park was now void, replaced by winding branches and humanoid silhouettes.

It made Henry shudder, just thinking about Max getting lost here... he only wished that wherever she was, she was being cared for.

The last thought made Henry feel slightly better in the woods.


The moment was short lived as Henry nearly stumbled over a rock. Although he managed to not fall on his face, the flashlight made a harsh dink as it bounced off the stone. Picking it up, Henry saw that the plastic bit inside the light had a crack, which must've affected it somehow as now the dark thing wouldn't stop flickering.

He sighed, picking out his radio "hey, um... Henry Esquavel here, I'm going to call it a night. Lena, if you're there, don't worry. I'll take my car home." Henry clicked on the GPS tracker, once again the mechanical voice spoke; "you are: 802 feet from your destination" Henry blinked his eyes once in surprise. "802 feet?" he thought the distance didn't seem too odd, however Henry noticed that it must have meant he was walking towards the car park, and not away like he had intended...

"Eh..." he sighed, he was headed to the carpark now, so it was no biggie. He trudged through the grass as the voice went silent, to then alert again.

"You are: 660 feet from your destination" Henry blinked his eyes again, now even more confused, was he really walking that fast? Surely it was just him being tired, right? Plus, going a little fast couldn't hurt...

Henry continued to walk, although a bit more slowly, his mind went to other things as he walked to fill the time. Mostly his daughter, Max. Oh god, Max...it would be the understatement of the year to claim he was worried about her. Every second by himself his thoughts went over to Max, with worry and fear filling his head on what happened to Max, the idea that his daughter could just vanish like that so suddenly...

In general, it was horrifying to think someone could just disappear so suddenly, regardless if they had a family or not.

It was almost...alien to him...



Henry tried to think of something else to keep the creepiness of the forest from getting to him, although it was hard. Everything always seemed so much more hopeless at night, alone...

"You are on the fastest available route" Henry nearly jumped 10 feet in the air as the mechanized voice spoke, he took a sigh as he saw it was on the GPS.

"You are: 250 feet from your destination" Henry, if he wasn't already, was now very confused. He looked up, trying to shine the unsteady, flickering light from his flashlight over to the trees in front of him. Pitch black.

It was odd because if he was truly this close to the carpark, he wouldn't even need the flashlight because the fluorescent lights from the carpark would be bright enough to see through the thick branches and bushes. Yet, there was nothing...

It only occurred to Henry now to dig into the pockets of his pants for something...

Keys, watch, lighter, energy bar... aha! Compass!

He took the tiny little thing in his hands and looked into it, the red arrow in the middle was spinning around like a loose wheel. Henry's heart sank.

It was true, he was lost...



Henry tried to keep calm however, trying to track back his steps, but between the flickering light and how his hands became all clammy and sweaty, he was panicked, frozen in fear as his body dared not to move a single inch.

"You are: 152 feet from your destination" Henry's eye was glued to the GPS as it spoke. "You are on the fastest, available route."

Henry knew one thing, and it's that the "destination" was moving. And it was moving fast!
He ran in a random direction, praying that he was getting fast away as the GPS began to spam its inhuman, synthesized voice.

"you are: 85 feet from your destination."

"You are: 60 feet from your destination."

"You are: 53 feet from your destination."

"You are on the fastest, available route."


Henry didn't realize how fast he was going as a tree branch smacked into him, practically sending him flying down a valley, hitting his face and knocking his glasses off as he broke his nose.

When he finally hit solid ground, the GPS spoke again.

"You are: 13 feet from your destination" Henry groaned as he rubbed his face, he wasn't sure whether it was blood or dirt that smeared down one side of his face as reached over towards the GPS.

"Congratulations, you have arrived at your destination" his eyes went bloodshot as he stared at the GPS, the text on screen read congratulations! As it seemed to mock him.

Henry snapped his head around him, although he didn't see very much without his glasses or flashlight...

The forest seemed to be dead silent, as he looked around for a bit... nothing...

A sigh of relief passed though Henry as he picked up the GPS, he looked at the screen somewhat fondly as he let out a nervous chuckle. It would be quite the funny story to tell his sister, Lena once he gets back home and they all can have a small chuc-


Drip...

A dark drop of liquid fell from the sky and landed on the GPS, followed by the loud sound of metal scraping against the earth. Henry didn't even get a chance to look up...


"ZE DU ARE! I'Z HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR DU!"



AUTHORS NOTE:

hey readers! sorry that this was such a short chapter, but honestly, I think that's a good thing because the next chapter? HELLA LONG. it's a heck'in behemoth of text and after the previous chapter, I'm not sure if anyone would really want to read two long chapters in a row.

that said, due to how long the next chapter is, I'm not sure if I'll be able to post it on time, so is it ok if I miss a schedule date? I'll of course try to post it on time, but guys, seriously, I'm not joking when I say this chapter is literally a behemoth of text.

also, who do you guys is the one who kidnapped Henry? (although it's not TOO hard to figure that out..., lol)


.: The TRANSFORMERS Will return after these messages :.

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