Chapter 11: What Happens Between Us Stays Between Us!
Astrid
Wow Mitchell can talk! Why do all the guys get such long chapters? I will never know.
I can't even leave for 2 minutes without my two best friends nearly killing each other. It only took about 15 minutes for me to find Jenna and Mitchell's camp. It wasn't too far from ours', in fact. I was expecting to find Richie standing on the river bank with Zach holding Jenna and Mitchell's flag, instead I burst through the bushes to find Richie injured, Zach with Tarzan's satchel filled to the brim with weapons and vines, and barely a fire lighting up the small indent of the rock we previously took shelter next to. I never understood them, always trying to show off and be the best. We already knew the best, Me, at least I think. Ever since the incident, I've been so unsure of myself, so confused. That's a conversation for another time though. Right now, I just need to vent about Zach and Richie's stupidity.
The last thing I ever expected to come back to was to find Richie had a huge gash across his chest and, because that wasn't a shock enough, to find out that Zach caused it. Honestly, I accomplished more than Richie in Zach did in half the time. Of course, my incredible memory helps.
I heard Jenna from a mile away. Don't tell her I said this, but let's just say she has a very loud personality. I could hear her screaming at Mitchell, even through the trees and several yards away. Every now and again, I could see Zach's snares hidden in the brush. I made a mental note of where they were. You definitely didn't want to get caught in one of Zach's traps. Luckily, Zach wasn't into pranks otherwise, we'd all be dead, or at least seriously injured. Some would explode at your feet, or launch a pack of hungry animals at you, or just simply hold you 2 stories in the air while you dangled upside down. Either way, don't get caught by Zach.
After a little more walking, I ran into a small snag, well, a huge snag but a small problem. A huge downed tree blocked my path. I couldn't go around be Jenna and Mitchell were on the other side of the log. How do I know? First, Jenna was clearly yelling. Not screaming like she normally does, but just yelling which is like whispering to her. Normally, I could easily vault over it, maybe even through a few flips in for style, but getting captured by Jenna was not on my to do list. Also, Jenna takes games a little to seriously and interrogation is not fun, especially by her.
A tall tree rustled in the wind next to me, its huge branches expanding outwards. I could hear Jenna, but I also needed to see them. It would do nothing to attack without knowing exactly where they were. I careful climbed up the tree, searching for knots and footholds in the bark. Lucky me, I found an electrified net with one of the knots. I grabbed it and stuffed it in my jean shorts, hopefully it wouldn't randomly turn on and shock me like my phone. Just fragile glass screens breaking so easily. What's the point of having headphones if you can't dance without your phone shattering! Right before the intersection of the tree and its branches, a 2 feet gap between my food hold and the intersection stopped me in my tracks.
"Crap!" I yelled, not loud enough for Jenna and Mitchell to hear, but loud enough to make my point.
At this point, I realized why Richie decided to send me out here for recon. I went back to my Swan Lake performance a few year ago. I swung my leg out from under me, over my head as if I was doing a table, only several feet in the air off the side of a tree. I took about 3 more flips for me to make to the intersection, landing flawlessly with a small flick of my wrists. Like I said, style points. I edged myself onto a large tree branch overlooking the small meadow. I hid back on the branch a bit so I could still be hidden within the thick leaves. Just as I peered into the field, I saw Mitchell sprint off into the woods, running beneath me. If I was ready, there was no doubt I could've dropped my net on him. He quickly sprinted by, back the way I came, most likely going to spy on Zach and Richie. I mean, it is our job after all.
Jenna was walking around the grounds, circling the flag slowly while peering into the forest.
She was mumbling something, "Gonna kick his ass.... little twat...".
I have a strange suspicion that she was talking about Richie. I carefully back down from the tree, sinking into the foliage. Jenna was right below me now, quietly talking to herself. I had to stop moving or else there was doubt I'd be caught; the branch was bending and shaking under my weight. Jenna began to walk back to the flag, still talking to herself about the most random things, fights she's planning, people to track down, the best way to get Richie back, just normal violent spy things. I released a heavy breath that I was holding in. Relief swept over me. Now, I'm not superstitious in the slightest, but it was at this point I jinxed myself. I small move backwards, and the branch began to shake violently. Oh no you don't! I swear if you break, I will crack your trunk in half with a flying split straight down the center of you. Apparently, silent promises have no effect on nature because the branch continued to shake and crack. At this point I was terrified, not from falling (I do that all the time; clumsy Astrid), instead, the chance of Jenna finding me could probably kill me. Jenna and I are normally on okay terms. More like you stay away from me and I'll do the same to you, but hey, I'm still alive! Luckily, Jenna did not turn around or else a shivering tree would no doubt get me caught. I looked back at the base of the branch which had white bark now exposed, slowly sank closer and closer to the ground as gravity pulled it to the floor.
Stupid spacial physics nearly getting me killed! With one last final shudder, the branch came unloose and fell to the ground. It took all my will to not scream as I fell 2 stories into the open meadow. I don't know how, and I'm not going to question it, she didn't hear it, but Jenna was still rambling on walking towards the flag. My brain told me to get up and hide but my body decided otherwise. I groaned and rolled around in the grass. After what felt like hours, which probably meant a few seconds passed, I rolled of my back, picked twigs and leaves off myself, and crawled back into the brush. I tried to walk a few times but that never worked, my legs felt like complete jelly. Every time I tried to get up, I would struggle to stand, wobble a few steps, and fall flat on my face. I was nearly into the brush when Jenna turned around. Fear struck my heart: I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't even think. She wasn't screaming though, she didn't sprint towards me in her stance ready to nearly beat me to death. She was just there looking at the ground. She suddenly began to shake and move. Did she just stink herself with a taser or something? When she turned in a circle, I saw the white cord coming out of her suit, winding across her neck, up to her ear. She was wearing headphones?! She had the audacity to wear headphones! Since when did this happen?!
Taking advantage of the situation, I crawled back into the brush. I sprinted deep into the woods again. Suddenly a loud boom! rocked the woods. Did Jenna throw a bomb at me? I'm fairly sure she didn't see me, but regardless I kept moving. Don't think about it Astrid! Not another one! I slipped out of reality, falling into another one of my daydreams. Luckily, I've been pretty good about hiding them. The last one was the day Headmistress picked me up from the Library. Books are always so relaxing. Being able to go anywhere in the world is a power I'd treasure. But instead I got the ability to remember the worst day of my life!
I felt myself stumble into a tree, breathing heavily. Don't slip Astrid, don't do it. I feel deeper and deeper, fully falling into a daydream.
Ariel's voice echoed around me, "Which way?".
We were sprinting down hallways while alarms blared behind us. Guards weren't far behind, sprinting down corridors with their boots echoing.
"Right!" I screamed.
I had memorized the schismatics of the bank, every exit point and turn. A flawless plan really, of course I planned it. However, that also meant I planned my best friend's death. We turned right, left, straight, following my mental map of the underground tunnels of the National Bank. Large gates slammed down behind us, iron bars blocking any chance of us turn back. Guards turn the corner I front of us and we ran down the opposite direction.
"Shoot them! Recover the money!" an officer screamed.
Bullets whizzed by us, breaking off pieces of the wall. We came to the final fork in the road. I remembered this from the map.
"Which way now?" Ariel asked calmly, well as calmly as you could be in a bank heist.
"Umm." I said hesitantly.
"What do you mean um?! Which way!" she yelled.
The guards were getting dangerous close now. Gladly, they had the aim of Stormtroopers.
"I don't remember!" I yelled back.
"What do you mean you don't remember? You remember everything!" she yelled back.
She was right I remember everything, except the path to safety. I can’t remember how to safe my best friend but I remember the bullet piercing her jacket, throwing her against the wall. "You are the best robbers in the US, you don't need bulletproof vests" Izzy's words rang in my ear. I came out of my dream just as Ariel fell to the floor, her face stricken with surprise as she died, shot through the heart, just like me.
I was still leaning on the same tree, sweating and breathing heavily. You need to keep moving, I said in my head.
"Damn right I do." I said as I jogged back to Richie and Zach.
By the way, no one finds out about our little tree adventure there. When I say no one, I mean NO ONE! Of course, I thought my mission was a disaster until I got back to camp and saw Richie. Gotta love my job. I'm going to need a good book after this.