The Weirdos

33

His shirt collar was caught, making him choke, then he was hauled back up and shoved into the tree he'd tripped over.
"You're never going to save anyone at this rate. Whoever decided you were the perfect candidate for saving our world was an idiot. An absolute fuck up. Tch, they just want us to die off."
Narcolepse said to Jasper, something very dark in his glare.
"We're all doomed."
He walked off, joining the others at a marker. Jasper rubbed his neck, then went and joined them as well. Was Narcolepse right? Probably. Would Jasper still try and prove him wrong? Absolutely.
Jasper...
All of his hairs stood on end and he felt himself grow cold, stomach dropping.
"Did anyone hear that?"
He was looking around for the one who had whispered his name. There was no one else out there, just them boys. But this voice... It was definitely a woman. The others stared at Jasper, confused.
"Hear what?"
Books asked.
"N-nothing. Never mind."
"Fuckin' weirdo..."
Narcolepse mumbled to himself. The group began opening their bags and looking at all the items they contained. Books laughed when he realized that Skins had packed them all lunches.
"She's trying to poison us before we can even reach the halfway point."
Jasper stared into the bag, frowning. All he had was a flashlight and rope along with the sandwich everyone else got. They all had a lot clanging around in their backpacks. Mainly water. He had exactly three items without including the backpack. What would they do with a flashlight in the middle of the day in a rather bright section of forest?
"Gl-glasses."
Narcolepse suddenly gasped out, Books grabbed him before he fell and hurt himself. His curls fell away from his forehead as his head fell back and he was out. Books laid his head down on one of the backpacks, then started looking around, up into the trees and under rocks. Jasper watched him for a moment, then looked at Freak, going through his backpack, and Roderick. Roderick was picking flowers and humming to himself. Jasper didn't know what exactly to do. Or how Roderick was helpful. Why was he here, again? Well, if there ever came a day when they needed to run, they'd need to take him with them. That was probably the point. Narcolepse let out a moan and his head turned from side to side. Jasper looked at him and he was panting. His cheeks had a light flush to them. It made Jasper wonder what the hell it was that he could've been dreaming about. His attention was drawn to Books when he called Freak. The blue skinned boy hopped up and ran over. Jasper followed.
"Ok, I found our card."
He pointed up. The tree was massive and the card was somewhere quite high up. There were no lower branches, nothing for you to climb.
"How the hell are we supposed to get that? How the hell did it even get up there?"
Jasper said, completely confused. Books laughed.
"We've never figured that out, how Skins hides our clues."
"What is the point of this, exactly?"
Jasper said, squinting up at the note.
"Learning teamwork and sometimes new discoveries of our abilities."
Books was rifling through his bag again. He hummed to himself and started bringing out items. Jasper wandered back over to where he'd last seen Narcolepse and Roderick. Narcolepse was still lost in dreamland. When he looked for the albino, though, he was gone.
"Guys! Roderick's gone!"
Books and Freak came running over to him.
"Gone? Well, where'd he go? Wasn't anyone watching him?"
Jasper looked at the ground and shook his head. Freak bit his lip. The three all looked up a second later at the sound of leaves rustling.
"Oh. There he is. But how the hell did he get up there?"
Jasper looked around, then nudged Books' arm and gestures with his head at a very climbable tree.
"Tch. Of course. Doesn't make this any less dangerous, Roderick!"
Freak gasped when something sounding like a snapping branch filled the air around them. Jasper felt his stomach drop.
"Roderick!"
He ran toward the sound and was almost to it when his collar was grabbed and he was pulled back until he fell to the ground. An entire tree branch fell at the same time, right where he'd been standing. He looked up and found a pair of teal eyes that were alight with fiery anger.
"How many fucking times do I have to save your ass out here, snowflake? It's getting annoying. Stop being an idiot and use your damn brain for once."
"But Rode-"
"He's fine!"
Roderick walked over to them with a wide grin and feathers and twigs sticking out of his afro. Narcolepse picked out a leaf and Roderick held out a folded paper.
"Thank you, Roderick. You did good."
Narcolepse took the paper. Jasper stood and brushed off his clothing.
"Have faith and trust, you really must."
Roderick said to him, patting Jasper's shoulder.
"A path alone is not yours to own."
Roderick ran off to go pick more flowers.
"Books, we've got the clue."
Narcolepse said. They all gathered around to hear it.
"Great, you've found the first clue. They are far and few. Your first step in the right direction has to do with the correct selection. Choose a leader and the rest will follow. Hurry now, before you hear the swallow."
"Swallow?"
Jasper asked when Narcolepse was done reading.
"It's talking about the bird. We have to choose a leader before we hear the bird."
"And that should be easy, right?"
Books shrugged at the question. It was between Books and Jasper. Narcolepse was out of the question because of the way he tended to treat people. Not to mention his... Weakness. Narcolepse rolled his eyes and said,
"Jasper's the leader, how about that?"
"I was gonna suggest Books."
Jasper said, eyes wide as he looked at Narcolepse. Had he really just volunteered him?!
"It would be better if I was the leader, seeing as I'm more experienced and organized and not a clumsy oaf."
"Yes, I agree. Wait. What's an oaf?"
Narcolepse snorted and shook his head.
"You're a prime example."
"So you don't think I should lead?"
"No, I think you should."
Narcolepse said immediately.
"I disagree."
Books shook his head.
"He's not ready."
Jasper frowned.
"But we can't stand here and keep arguing like this. Someone's got to be the leader. The note said we had to choose before we heard the-"
Just then, they heard it. The cry of swallows.