Geno's Adventure: Chapters 7 To 9

Chapter 7: Alpha Me, Alpha You

         “So how do you imagine those guys found us?” Geno asked Zero.

         “Well, like you said, they couldn’t very well have just sat there all day. Maybe they’re monitoring the forest? This is Alpha territory, after all.”

         “Yeah, I’m just surprised it isn’t called Alpha Forest,” Geno said and let out a chuckle.

         The three traveled onward for a bit, looking for anything suspicious on the trees, killing many an owl in the process. Each time warranted an, “It’s eyes were red, like a camera, I swear,” from Geno. After around 30 minutes of this, the three began to grow weary of their trek.

         “Man this is a long road. How the big is this forest?”

         They suddenly came to a sign.


         Alpha Forest

         You’re not even close to the bar.


         Geno stared blankly for a moment.

         Witnessing this, Zero decided to talk to Torvald instead. However rewarding that may be.

         “So, Torvald, any thoughts as to how the Alphas are watching us?”

         “I think the owls are cameras.”

         Geno finally spoke up, to no one in particular. “…Did that sign say what I think it said?” He was promptly ignored.

         “But Geno thought the owls were cameras. You don’t have any thoughts of your own?”

         “Well, the squirrels look pretty shifty, too, if you ask me.”

         Geno continued his muttering. “…No, seriously. Is this Alpha Forest?”

         “Squirrels? I don’t think the Alphas lack creativity to that extent. The squirrel-cam doesn’t sound like the greatest idea in the world, to me.”

         “What are you thinking, then? Trees? Get real.”

         Geno’s babbling continued. “…That sign looked kind of official. It couldn’t be true, could it?”

         “No, I mean, like, something other than cameras. Spies? Maybe the Alphas got to one of us.”

         “Got to one of us? Yeah, one just got to us a little bit ago. I threw Geno at him. Don’t you remember? I had lots of fun, aside from getting beaten up.”

         Geno rambled on. “If this is Alpha Forest, I swear to God, I’m going to kill myself. I can’t take any more Alpha things.”

         “No, I mean, like, maybe the Alphas turned one of us into one of them.”

         “…But if they did that, wouldn’t we have to fight ourself?”

         Geno checked the tag of his shirt on a hunch. “OH MY GOD. MY SHIRT IS ‘ALPHA BRAND’. I AM WEARING ALPHA-CLOTHING. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS.”

         “Ourself? Why would we do that?”

         “If we’re part of this group, and also an Alpha, we’d be our own enemy. The logic is clear.”

         Geno began banging his head against a tree, getting a word out on every slam. “WHY-WON’T-IT-STOP-I-HATE-THE-WORD-‘ALPHA’!”

         “No, I’m thinking one of us might be a spy. Like, maybe one of us is reporting our location to the Alphas somehow.”

         “…You lost me.”

         Geno stopped banging his head on the tree, and looked up for a moment. “OH MY GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. THIS TREE SAYS ‘ALPHA TREE’ ON IT. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!”

         “What I’m saying is… What was that noise?”

         “You were saying that the whole time?”

         Geno began screaming incoherently.

         “GENO. SHUT THE HELL UP.”

         “DON’T YOU MEAN SHUT THE ALPHA UP?!”

         “QUIET.” Zero put his hand up to his ear, and attempted to listen closely to the forest for a moment, while Geno was quiet, presumably checking the ground for the word ‘Alpha’.

         “…What’re you doing?” Torvald whispered to Zero.

         “I think-“

         Zero’s turban flew off his head and stuck to a nearby tree.

         “...Not again…”

Chapter 8: Week Two

         Geno, still rather on edge from his recent meltdown, shot a glance in the direction the arrow came from. “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” he screamed as he ran into the darkness.

         “…So,” Zero said to Torvald while placing his turban back on his head. “Think they’ll kill him?”

         “I dunno. He was pretty tweaked out, there. Maybe he’ll have that thing that parents get when their kids get in danger. Y’know, the...e...penis...phreen... response.”

         “…I believe you mean the ‘epinephrine’ response. But however hopped up he may be, we have no idea how many of them there are. There could be twenty of them, just sitting there, waiting for us to come through. And don’t forget that they have crossbows, apparently.”


         A short exchange could be heard in the distance.

         “C’MERE, YA BASTARDS. I’LL TEACH YOU TO NAME EVERYTHING ‘ALHPA’!”

         “AIIIEEEE!! NOT THE FACE, NOT THE FAAAACE!!!”

         “IT’S BETTER THAN YOU DESERVE, ASSBASKETS!”

         “OH MY GOD HE’S GOT A CROSSBOW! RUUUUUUUN!!”

         “YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT. DON’T LET ME CATCH YOU AROUND HERE AGAIN.”

         And then silence.


         “…Wow. Sounded like he really kicked their asses.”

         “You could say that,” Zero replied.

         Geno walked out of the forest, breathing heavily, the crazed look gone from his eyes.

         “Hey, guys. What’s goin’ on?”

         “Uh… Not much, buddy… How you feeling?”

         “Not bad, why?”

         “Um… No reason… So how many Alphas were there?”

         “Alphas?”

         “Yeah… The guys you just killed?”

         “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Maybe you have a brain tumor?”

         “Uh. Okay. Let’s just continue on…”

         “Fine with me.”

         As the three walked, Zero and Torvald whispered about what just happened.

         “So… What do you suppose that was all about?” Zero began.

         “What?”

         “The whole ‘Geno killed a bunch of guys and doesn’t remember’ thing.”

         “Oh, yeah. I dunno. I guess it’s okay.”

         “Okay? I meant, what do you think is the deal with that?”

         “What, you think he’s lying?”

         “No, I just meant-“ Zero was cut off by Geno.

         “Hey guys, I have a huge headache. Any idea why?”

         “…Uh, nope. No clue.”

         Torvald didn’t quite get it. “Yeah, you probably got hit in the head while-“ Zero quickly put his hand over Torvald’s mouth.

         “What he means to say is that we have no idea!”

         “Oh… Okay.” Geno went back to surveying his surroundings while Zero and Torvald continued whispering.

         “Shut up, you idiot! We can’t tell him about it right now!”

         “Why?”

         “It could be dangerous! We could trigger another outburst!”

         “Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

         Zero decided talking to Torvald was pointless, and decided to work with Geno. “So, how do you think those Alpha guys found us?”

         “I still say it was the owls.”

         “Oh, yeah. Right,” Zero said while rolling his eyes slightly. “You have no other theories, though?”

         “Not especially. I mean, what else could it be?”

         “Well… Hell, I don’t know. I’m too tired to think straight. I haven’t meditated in weeks.”

         “Dude. We’ve been on this adventure for two days. You meditated on the first one.”

         “…Really? It seems like it’s been a lot longer than that.”

         “Yeah, well, it hasn’t.”

         “Oh, yeah, you’re the one to be talking down to me about things that haven’t happened.”

         “What?”

         “Nothing.”

         “…Anyway, all I know if I hope we get to the bar soon. I could use a stiff drink.”

         “You’re 17.”

         “Shut up.”

Chapter 9: Good-Bye, Hello

         The Ministry Of Dog-Finding was still trudging through the Alpha Forest. It had been nearly two hours now, and they were all getting a bit tired of it.

         “Damn am I tired of this,” Geno grumbled.

         “Yeah. It’s been almost two hours, now,” replied Zero.

         Told you.

         “So does anyone have any clues as to how much farther this stupid bar is? It feels like we’ve been going through this forest forever.”

         “Geno, how could we possibly know how far it is?”

         They suddenly noticed a sign nailed to a tree on the side of the road.


         Alpha Bar – 1 mile

         Three City – 1.5 miles


         Zero was stunned for a moment. “… Why did that note have us get a ride to Twotown instead of Three City!? If we had gone to Three City, we only would’ve had to walk through this forest for half a mile, instead of… However far it’s been now!”

         “If we’d gone there, we would’ve passed the bar up and had to come back. Duh.”

         “Your logic astounds me.”

         “I have that effect on people.”

         “But, seriously. If we had just-“ Zero’s turban flew off his head and stuck to a nearby tree. “WHY THE HELL ARE OUR ENEMIES SO UNORIGINAL?!” Just kidding. The arrow actually hit Geno’s arm. “…It’s still an arrow every time. Don’t they have grenades or something?” You would rather them hit you with a grenade? “Good point.” Anyway. Like I said. It hit Geno’s arm.

         “Oh,” Geno said, and paused for a moment. "AAAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHH!!!!! OH MY GOD THERE’S AN ARROW STUCK IN MY ARM! I’M GOING TO DIIIIEEEEE!!!” Geno began running around in circles.

         “Holy hell! Dude, we need to get to a hospital! Torvald, what do we do?!”

         “Just kidding. It hit my robotic arm. I’m fine,” Geno said, laughing hysterically.

         “Real funny, jackass. Now shut up for a minute.” Zero said. He closed his eyes, concentrated deeply, and small swirls of dust appeared around his feet.

         “Dude, he’s totally doing the shield thing again!”

         The wind around Zero stopped. “Way to go, you made me lose my concentration! Why the hell can’t you just learn to shut up?! If I had a dollar for every time you didn’t shut up, I’d have-“

         “You’d have some dollars!” Torvald started laughing. “Man that was a good-“ Torvald suddenly became silent; mouth agape, eyes wide. Zero and Geno looked slightly down, and noticed an arrow sticking out of his chest.

         “…Torvald?” Zero asked.

         Torvald fell to the ground, clutching his chest in pain.

         “Torvald!!” Geno and Zero both yelled, their eyes watery, holding back tears.


         A conversation was heard in the forest.

         “…Uh, the beeping thing stopped working,” they heard in a nasal male voice.

         “What the hell? You bastards better not have broken my necklace!” a female voice followed-up.

         That second voice sounded awfully familiar.


         “Torvald, are you alright?!”

         Torvald coughed for a few seconds, took a few ragged breaths, and slowly stood up, the arrow still sticking out of his chest.

         “Torvald! What happened?!”

         “I’m… Not sure.” Torvald plucked the arrow out of his chest, and then looked into his shirt. He slowly reached inside, and pulled out the remains of the horseshoe necklace, a hole almost completely through it, and frayed wires visible in the hole. “The necklace saved us!”

         “Yes… But I have a feeling it is also what almost killed us.”

         “What?”

         Two figures appeared on the road from within the forest.

         “You did hit it, you moron!” a female, who happened to be not particularly attractive, said, slapping the back of who appeared to be her father’s head.

         “…You!” Torvald yelled. "The necklace lady!"

         Zero sighed. “Is it chapter nine already?”