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xp_logsEn route to Jayresh's camp, the group has the bad luck to run across a Magistrate patrol.
In her small housecat form Catseye was prowling the treetops in the jungle. Though restless, anxious, and incredibly weary from everything that had been going on, she took a moment to pause, stretching out on a tree limb and listening to the breeze in the treetops and the noise of birds, happy to be away from all the other restless, anxious, weary people trying desperately to find a way to free their friends and family and get home. There was pain all around the camp, different kinds, with people feeding off each other, and endless cycle of hurt and sadness and worry and anger. But not out here. Out here there was just nature, the same, basically, as the woods back home, as the savannahs of Africa she'd roamed last year. Just earthy smells, wind, and heat. It comforted her in the fact that it was so predictable.
Until she smelled the people.
Being downwind of the camp, the PeopleSmell surprised her. There weren't supposed to be any other patrols out this way except herself. And being in such close quarters with her fellow campers, Catseye was fairly certain she could now recognize any of their scents from ten miles off, anyway. So who the hell belonged to these strange smells?
She heard the clomp of the uniform boots only a couple seconds after the scents caught her nose, and all of a sudden all her fur was up on the back of her neck. Moving silently through the trees, the catgirl finally saw them with her own eyes. A contingent of six magistrates. Heading towards the camp. Uh oh. Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!
Not wanting to raise any alarms for the magistrates, Catseye had to mentally browbeat herself into continuing her slow, silent progress, though headed back towards the others this time. As she put distance between them and herself, however, she was able to speed up. A flock of birds off in the distance suddenly alighted which helped to mask the sound of her descent from the trees and onto the ground, where she could increase her speed without the added noise of disturbing leaves.
***
“Oh, I recognize that! I think this is the right way,” Meggan insisted. A wrong turn here, a wrong turn there, a very familiar bush with thorns that loomed menacingly to their right, just waiting patiently for someone to trip and fall in. Or catch the leg of someone’s unlucky pants, and leave cloth evidence ready and waiting as to which way they were headed. That plant tilted at the same angle she recognized from earlier. Anybody could have taken the wrong fork in the road in the middle of the path, while talking to somebody else. It was an innocent mistake.
“We only have to circle around that twist over there. We’ll be fine, we can’t be separated by too much time,” she continued encouragingly to the others.
"I cannot believe you got us lost!" Matt grumbled, annoyed. "As if life couldn't get any worse?" Meggan's chipper attitude grated on his nerves. So did all the sounds of the jungle. He wanted some nice quiet. Or even the constant cacophony of New York City. Not some Genoshan jungle!
Molly was distracted. There were flowers growing on the ground! Ones she didn't see at home! Pretty ones. Okay, so every flower was pretty but these were different flowers. As they walked she occasionally bent down to scoop some up and stick them in her hair. She glanced between Matt and Meggan, then glanced around, biting her lip.
"We're lost?"
"You really are, kid," came a man's voice, heavy with the Genosha accent. Out of the trees about fifty feet away, armed men were appearing. They wore the khaki-and-tan uniforms of the Genoshan Magistrates and were eying the three mutants warily. "How about you put your hands on your heads and surrender nice and quiet-like?"
“Right, I don’t think so,” Meggan whispered, furtively casting a fleeting look at the other two. She would be the opposite of quiet. Matt was standing the right way, she could provide directions. “RUN!” she shouted, in a tone she hoped was loud enough to momentarily startle the Genoshans now that they had stalked close enough. If they were half lucky, it would keep them from drawing their guns right away. “This way, this way!” That still sounded like a warning shot frantically fired far above their heads, before the rush of footsteps and shouting followed in their wake. They just wouldn't give up.
Molly jumped and screamed cause the shot was loud, then grabbed Matt's hand as she tried to drag him in the direction that Meggan was running.
"Running away!" she said.
It was kinda like a game of tag, you're it! Except the chasers were bad guys and they were trying to hurt people. Molly didn't like this game of tag. She was doing really good in keeping up with Meggan but then there was a tree branch she didn't see so she tripped, and stumbled a little.
Matt grabbed Molly, swinging her up so that he was carrying her. Even with his blindness, this was faster and the way Molly was screaming and yelling meant that his world lit up beautifully with his sonar. "You're doing good, kid," Matt panted as they sprinted through the jungle. He sounded a lot like Wade right there. Well, that wasn't a bad thing.
First she was falling, then she was not falling! It took Molly a minute to put her stomach back (cause it felt like it fell out or something). The breeze made her hair fall in her eyes cause they were going fast and she brushed her hair out of her face, watching the bad guys over Matt's shoulder.
"They're getting closer!"
"Halt!" The man sounded irritated rather than murderous and more warning shots were fired over their heads, shredding the leaf canopy. "You have nowhere to run! Surrender now and you won't be hurt!"
In her small housecat form Catseye was prowling the treetops in the jungle. Though restless, anxious, and incredibly weary from everything that had been going on, she took a moment to pause, stretching out on a tree limb and listening to the breeze in the treetops and the noise of birds, happy to be away from all the other restless, anxious, weary people trying desperately to find a way to free their friends and family and get home. There was pain all around the camp, different kinds, with people feeding off each other, and endless cycle of hurt and sadness and worry and anger. But not out here. Out here there was just nature, the same, basically, as the woods back home, as the savannahs of Africa she'd roamed last year. Just earthy smells, wind, and heat. It comforted her in the fact that it was so predictable.
Until she smelled the people.
Being downwind of the camp, the PeopleSmell surprised her. There weren't supposed to be any other patrols out this way except herself. And being in such close quarters with her fellow campers, Catseye was fairly certain she could now recognize any of their scents from ten miles off, anyway. So who the hell belonged to these strange smells?
She heard the clomp of the uniform boots only a couple seconds after the scents caught her nose, and all of a sudden all her fur was up on the back of her neck. Moving silently through the trees, the catgirl finally saw them with her own eyes. A contingent of six magistrates. Heading towards the camp. Uh oh. Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!
Not wanting to raise any alarms for the magistrates, Catseye had to mentally browbeat herself into continuing her slow, silent progress, though headed back towards the others this time. As she put distance between them and herself, however, she was able to speed up. A flock of birds off in the distance suddenly alighted which helped to mask the sound of her descent from the trees and onto the ground, where she could increase her speed without the added noise of disturbing leaves.
***
“Oh, I recognize that! I think this is the right way,” Meggan insisted. A wrong turn here, a wrong turn there, a very familiar bush with thorns that loomed menacingly to their right, just waiting patiently for someone to trip and fall in. Or catch the leg of someone’s unlucky pants, and leave cloth evidence ready and waiting as to which way they were headed. That plant tilted at the same angle she recognized from earlier. Anybody could have taken the wrong fork in the road in the middle of the path, while talking to somebody else. It was an innocent mistake.
“We only have to circle around that twist over there. We’ll be fine, we can’t be separated by too much time,” she continued encouragingly to the others.
"I cannot believe you got us lost!" Matt grumbled, annoyed. "As if life couldn't get any worse?" Meggan's chipper attitude grated on his nerves. So did all the sounds of the jungle. He wanted some nice quiet. Or even the constant cacophony of New York City. Not some Genoshan jungle!
Molly was distracted. There were flowers growing on the ground! Ones she didn't see at home! Pretty ones. Okay, so every flower was pretty but these were different flowers. As they walked she occasionally bent down to scoop some up and stick them in her hair. She glanced between Matt and Meggan, then glanced around, biting her lip.
"We're lost?"
"You really are, kid," came a man's voice, heavy with the Genosha accent. Out of the trees about fifty feet away, armed men were appearing. They wore the khaki-and-tan uniforms of the Genoshan Magistrates and were eying the three mutants warily. "How about you put your hands on your heads and surrender nice and quiet-like?"
“Right, I don’t think so,” Meggan whispered, furtively casting a fleeting look at the other two. She would be the opposite of quiet. Matt was standing the right way, she could provide directions. “RUN!” she shouted, in a tone she hoped was loud enough to momentarily startle the Genoshans now that they had stalked close enough. If they were half lucky, it would keep them from drawing their guns right away. “This way, this way!” That still sounded like a warning shot frantically fired far above their heads, before the rush of footsteps and shouting followed in their wake. They just wouldn't give up.
Molly jumped and screamed cause the shot was loud, then grabbed Matt's hand as she tried to drag him in the direction that Meggan was running.
"Running away!" she said.
It was kinda like a game of tag, you're it! Except the chasers were bad guys and they were trying to hurt people. Molly didn't like this game of tag. She was doing really good in keeping up with Meggan but then there was a tree branch she didn't see so she tripped, and stumbled a little.
Matt grabbed Molly, swinging her up so that he was carrying her. Even with his blindness, this was faster and the way Molly was screaming and yelling meant that his world lit up beautifully with his sonar. "You're doing good, kid," Matt panted as they sprinted through the jungle. He sounded a lot like Wade right there. Well, that wasn't a bad thing.
First she was falling, then she was not falling! It took Molly a minute to put her stomach back (cause it felt like it fell out or something). The breeze made her hair fall in her eyes cause they were going fast and she brushed her hair out of her face, watching the bad guys over Matt's shoulder.
"They're getting closer!"
"Halt!" The man sounded irritated rather than murderous and more warning shots were fired over their heads, shredding the leaf canopy. "You have nowhere to run! Surrender now and you won't be hurt!"
