Being Butch Green || ✓

Chapter 33 - A Side Quest

"I still don't get–" Hailey piked up from the back.

"No one does," I interrupted, cutting her off.

We crawled along, slow enough for us to hear the tweeting of tiny birds as we passed. Janet muffled a honk as Henry patted her head gently. It was weird how he seemed to just have this uncanny knack with animals. I don't know whether to call him the bin chicken whisperer or the squirrel whisperer at this point in his animal taming career.

"Oh my God!" Hailey shouted from the backseat, leaning forward and pointing in a fashion that made us all jump out of our own thoughts.

My gaze followed her finger as a wildly running figure came racing towards us. He bolted towards us in a scattered fashion, like he was dodging something at his heels. His chequered flannel shirt exposed a hideous white tank top that flailed with the wind as he ran.

"Huh, I guess the human was just late to the party then," I said.

We crawled along in the car, fully expecting the man to stop and dodge us. But he didn't, instead heading straight for us. In a panic, I clung onto my seat, bracing for impact as Constance slammed on the brakes. The man flew into the bonnet of the car, stopping himself just in time. Almost as quickly as he'd stopped, he was off again, racing after the mouldy cheese cart.

"Are those?" Hailey clamoured from the back.

"Llamas?" Henry finished, Janet honking in thought as a dozen llamas galloped past us, chasing after the man. The lean, brown beings bounded on, humming in a weird cult-like fashion that creeped me out. Their ears twitched slightly as their intelligent eyes were fixated to the prize they wanted so badly.

"What the fuck is going on!?" Constance yelled. She let go of the steering wheel, putting the car into park mode so the rest of us wouldn't go rolling down the hill. I watched as she unbuckled herself and got hastily out of her seat, landing safely on the road.

"Where are you going?" I yelled after her. "We're supposed to be going to Galgort!"

"Find it yourself!" she yelled back over her shoulder, beginning to walk away.

"Will you at least tell us where you're going?"

"To catch that man and find out what the hell is happening!"

I sat back, bewildered as she trotted away like she was in a professional marathon race. A door handle clicked open and I quickly turned around to see Henry getting out, Janet nestled firmly in his arm.

"Where are you going?"

"Can't let the missus go alone," he said plainly.

"It's just a guy being chased by llamas!"

"A guy who could be of use," Hailey said, shrugging. "Sorry, Butch."

"Oh, not you too!" I scorned after her as she got out of the car and followed Henry.

"I can't believe this!" I muttered, feeling mildly betrayed. It wasn't like he was an ASIS agent who could call in backup and rescue Jack. Nope, he was just some dude being chased by llamas and that was that. Nothing special.

Giving up my stance, I followed the trio into the kidnapping fiasco. It was utterly ridiculous in my opinion that we were following a pack of llamas who were following a man, who was then following a cart full of mouldy cheese. I was starting to see this incident as more of a side quest – a distraction from the real goal.

I wasn't impressed to say the least, but I had no choice. My friends were walking in the opposite direction and it was imperative that I kept them close. I sighed, jogging painfully after them.