FicWad

this chapter has a lot of italics so instead of writing out that its supposed to be italics I'll write I and IE when it ends

The team took a right turn and headed to a grassy hill they could see in the distance. They hiked until they reached said hill.

When they arrived at the summit Joe looked at the scenery laid before him and asked Zora, “This good?”

After a pause she nodded.

Dilton sat down and crossed his legs. He placed his laptop on his lap and opened it. His fingers attacked the keyboard, clacking away. A few minutes later he dug in his pockets and pulled out his cell phone.

“Hi, yes. Take a left turn then keep walking straight. That’s right. K. Bye.” He hung up his cell and closed his laptop. For now. “The rest of the team’s on the way,” he said addressing the eight Xonars.

“That easy, eh?” Jake asked.

“Yup. I can track them from my cell phone but it’s hard to give directions and talk on the cell phone at the same time so I tracked them on my laptop.”

Jake nodded.

Cal walked over to where Zora was lying on her stomach and lay down beside her. She heard him approach and turned her head toward him.

I What are you seeing?

Not much. A few people wander around every once in awhile. Zora turned to her side and propped herself up on her elbow so she was facing Cal.

The layout of the city is pretty basic. I’m guessing that the huge building over looking everything is where the leader lives. It would be great if we could avoid the rest of the city and just attack that but the way it’s set up I don’t think we can do that.

Any ideas of how to win this battle?

Well there seems to be the least amount of activity in the west so we should probably attack from there. Richard still has his uniform right?

Yeah.

Well that should help some. He could do some undercover work. He may be able to get into places that we won’t be able to.IE

Cal nodded then they looked back at the buildings laid before them.

Lara walked up to where Joe was sitting and looked down at him. “What now? You’re weapon less.”

Joe picked at the grass for a minute then looked up at her. “Yeah, I’m not sure. I’ll figure something out though.”

“Let me see your gun.”

Joe smiled. “Ok.” He shifted so he could grab his weapon. He handed it to her as she took it and sat next to him.

Lara sat with her legs crossed and fiddled with the gun. The gun made a click and she gave a small laugh followed by a smirk.

“There’s tons of ammo left. It was just blocked, see?” Lara showed Joe the gun and flipped a lever making a clicking sound. “You just have to flip this and it’s unblocked.

Joe shrugged. “I know. I flipped the switch. It acts like a kind of safety. I figured that if you guys thought I didn’t have any bullets left then you might find another way to fight. As a team.”

Lara punched him in the shoulder.

Joe moved a bit with the punch. “Hey!”

“You know you could’ve mentioned something before we were in danger.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he rhetorically asked. “Plus, I don’t think that would have been as effective.

Lara rolled her eyes, stood up and walked away from Joe toward where Dilton was sitting with his laptop out again.

She crouched down, sitting on her haunches and inquired, “What’s happenin’”

“Just waiting,” Dilton replied. “The rest of the team’s on the way. If you want you can watch over there for them. They should almost be visible by now,” he added pointing to a spot on the east side of the hill.

Alex looked over to where Lara was sitting alone. She seemed to be concentrating on something that wasn’t immensely obvious.

“I wonder what she’s doing,” he mentioned to Scout who was sitting next to him.

Scout looked up from the rocks she was playing with and let out a faint ‘huh?’ She saw that Alex had wandered off toward Lara and got up to follow him.

Alex looked at Lara’s eyes then followed their focused glare to what appeared to be a random spot on the horizon. “What are you looking at?”

Scout had arrived in time to hear the answer but left her arrival unannounced.

“Richard, Gordon and anybody they found should be coming from this direction,” Lara answered. She squinted her eyes and added, “I think I see them.”

“Do they know where they’re going?” Scout wondered.

Alex looked back at her. “I highly doubt it. I’m going to go meet them.”

“I’m coming with you,” Scout announced.

“If you can keep up!”

They were gone before Lara could say anything. Instead she yelled, “Just don’t get yourselves killed!”

Alex sprinted down the side of the hill with Scout on his heels. Scout ran up beside him sticking out her tongue as she ran past him.

“Hey!” Alex shouted picking up his pace.

Scout reached the bottom of the hill before Alex and turned around to watch him sprint down the rest of the way.

Alex was watching Scout when his foot struck a protruding stone. He saw the ground coming at him fast and tucked his head to roll. The world spun around him as he tumbled down the hill.

Scout saw Alex coming fast toward her. Right before he crashed into her she stepped to the side and Alex came to a stop next to her.

“Yeah, I’d say I can keep up to you. But can you keep up to me?” Scout chided.

“How’d you get that fast?” Alex asked panting while lying on the ground looking up at her.

“How’d you get that slow?” she replied. Scout then offered a hand to help Alex up.

He accepted it and, brushing himself off, said, “I’ll let you know I’ve won first place at the school track meet for three years straight.”

“I would have never guessed.”

“You never told me how you became such a good runner,” Alex pointed out.

“All those years being chased by adoring fans,” Scout replied with a quirky smile.

“No, really. How are you so fast?” Alex insisted.

“Me and my brothers used to race a lot. We lived on a farm where there was lots of space to run and not much to do besides chores.”

By now they had walked so that they weren’t far from the new found army.

Up on the hill Lara was watching the happenings taking place below. She watched as Alex and Scout approached the group. When the small army noticed the couple they immediately drew their weapons.

“And they get themselves killed,” Lara mumbled rolling her eyes.

“Oh good I can see their weapons!” Cal had walked up beside Lara and was now silently mouthing numbers.

A minute later he left Lara’s side and approached Dilton. Can I borrow that?” he asked motioning toward the laptop sitting on Dilton’s crossed legs.

“Sure,” Dilton replied handing Cal his laptop. “Just be careful, ok?”

Cal nodded then took the portable computer back to where Lara was sitting. He placed the laptop on the ground then knelt in front of it, sitting on his feet. Looking down the hill, quickly he started rapidly typing.

Alex and Scout stood in momentary shock when the small army drew their weapons.

Scout raised her arms and announced, “We come in peace!”

“And we’d like to stay in one piece,” Alex added.

Richard sighed then instructed his men to lower their weapons. “They’re friends.”

Alex looked around then asked, “Where’s Gordon?”

“He’ll catch up with us in a minute. He’s just rounding up a couple more men,” Richard replied.

“Does he know where he’s going?” Scout wondered.

“He always knows where he’s going,” Richard answered.

“Well, the rest of the gang is this way. They’re on top of that hill over there,” Scout told them leading the way.

Lara looked over at Cal who was still busily typing on Dilton’s computer. “What are you doing anyway?”

“I’m working on a plan of attack,” Cal stated simply.

“What do you know about war?” Lara was lying on her side propped up on one elbow.

“I’m a geek, remember? I play a lot of strategy games. This battle’s gonna take a lot of strategy. We’re still out numbered by quite a bit,” he replied without looking up from the laptop screen.

Dilton walked to where Lara and Cal were talking. “How’s it coming?”

“Almost got it figured out,” Cal answered.

Looking over Cal’s shoulder Dilton pointed to the screen. “You may have to adjust some of that. The people down there aren’t all that are coming.” When Cal looked up at him he added, “I just talked to Richard. Gordon’s still coming with the men he found.

“Where from?” Cal wondered.

Dilton shrugged.

“Hey, have you seen Joe and Jake?” Lara asked Dilton.

“Yeah, they’re fooling around on the other side of the hill.”

Lara got up and walked away. She passed Zora meditating and walked to the far end of the hill. Sure enough Jake and Joe had found some sticks and were sword fighting with them.

“What are you guys doing?”

The two boys stopped fighting and looked at Lara.

“Jake wanted help training,” Joe explained.

“Except he sucks so it isn’t really helping,” Jake added grinning.

“Hey! At least I got you off your butt,” Joe retorted. He swung his stick at Jake and Jake blocked it with a loud crack as the sticks met. Then they were back to fighting.

Lara rolled her eyes then walked back to Dilton and Cal.

Suddenly a group of about twenty people materialized on the hill.

Cal looked back at them. “There they are,” he told Dilton.

Dilton looked up then asked, “Where did they com from?”

Cal shrugged then approached the group. “Hey, Gordon.”

“H-hi,” Gordon replied.

Dilton walked up behind Cal. “How’d you get here?”

“W-we ap-peared h-here.”

“What do you mean?” Dilton asked sceptically.

“F-for as l-long as I-I can r-remember w-we c-could j-just d-disappear from o-one p-place and ap-pear in a-nother in an i-instant,” Gordan explained.

“Cool!” Call exclaimed. “So, what weapons do you guys have?”

Gordon opened his mouth for a second then looked back at his men, looked at Cal, shrugged.

“Stealth?” Cal suggested.

“I-I g-guess,” Gordon replied looking around with shifty eyes.

Cal suddenly pulled a one- eighty then promptly walked back to Dilton’s computer with his hands behind his back. Obviously to re-do his battle plan with his sudden idea. Although, his action left Gordon’s crew wondering. Dilton stayed behind to talk with them for a bit.

Lara, bored since nothing exciting happened after Richard’s gang lowered their weapons, wandered back over to where the boys were on the other side of the hill. She once again passed Zora who was now lying on her back with her hands behind her head watching the clouds roll by.

When the boys came into her view she saw Jake and Joe arm wrestling with their right arms but as she approached they snapped apart into rapid push-ups. Lara pulled up to them and, without even rolling her eyes because she was completely confused, curiously asked, “Uh… what are you guys doing?”

In between puffs of breath Jake replied, “You think we’re this strong by sitting around waiting for an inevitable war to start?” Then after a push-up, “Although the last part doesn’t happen that often but you know what I mean.”

After a pause from Lara, “Uh, sure.” She blinked twice then mentioned, “You guys should save your energy for the fight.”

“Nah,” Joe replied. Then as he and Jake snapped into a left handed arm wrestle he added through clenched teeth, “I’ve got a big gun and he’s got a big sword, we’ll be fine.” As the arm wrestle came to an end in Joe’s favour he finished off with a grunt, “Besides…” He turned over onto his seat and leaned on his elbows with his feet crossed out in front of him. Panting, Joe finished his sentence, “If Cal gets his way I doubt we’ll have much part in this war.”

Lara raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“He doesn’t really have much care for violence, remember?” Joe replied.

Jake, sitting beside Joe with his elbows rested on his knees and his ankles crossed, added, “Plus, I just saw Gordon and his crew suddenly appear on the hill over there.” He pointed to a spot in the middle of the hill then continued, “I’m guessin’ he’s goin’ for a stealth approach.”

Lara shrugged and said, “Makes sense.” Then she turned and walked away leaving them to discuss what to do next.

Lara headed back to her side of the hill to see what Cal was doing for his battle plan. Also to see what was happening to Alex and Scout.

Zora sighed and thought to herself, I What a nice day. IE

As she was looking up at the clouds she saw two large backlit silhouettes loom over her then lay down on either side of her.

Zora glanced to her right to see Joe lying on his back with his fingers interlocked behind his head. She then looked to her left where Jake was propped up on an elbow facing her.

“Hey, runt. Watcha doin’?”

She glared at him then thought, I What does it look like I’m doing? IE

“Lying here bored out of your mind?” Jake suggested. He was talking out loud so Joe could hear at least half of their conversation.

Joe, smarter than he looks and therefore understanding the statement, added, “Or possibly so bored that you took to staring at unmoving clouds?”

Zora glared at Joe then turned to Jake. I I’m trying to relax! IE

Although it was a thought Jake knew that her voice rose with that sentence.

“You seem to be having troubles with that,” he replied.

Zora would have groaned and walked away but she’s mute so she just walked away.

“What’s wrong with her?” Joe inquired.

“She’s trying to relax,” Jake replied in a mocking tone.

Zora walked over to where Cal and Lara were positioned. Lara playing with some clover and Cal sitting with his fingers twiddling over the keyboard on Dilton’s computer. She looked over Cal’s shoulder and read what he was typing. As she read her eyebrows slowly rose. After she finished reading she nodded in agreement and sat down next to Cal.

“When are we going to do something?” Lara suddenly snapped impatiently. “I’m bored. Out. Of. My. Mind!”

Zora jumped slightly but Cal simply replied, “Soon, soon.”

“Auggh!” She jumped up and went to throw a rock at something.