The pursuit
 

Skyle jumped up, shaking himself awake. He looked around him, the momentary sense of disorientation replaced with a feeling of fear, this in turn turned into a longing for his real bed…….and the warm arms of Mia.

Lying to his right were SpecialistSubject, B-Wing and Caro-G all still asleep. He watched them for a couple of minutes, leaving them to enjoy their states of relaxation for just a bit longer. Eventually he leaned over and gently shook each one of them. As Skyle’s hand touched Caro’s shoulder she sat straight up. Pulling his arm away from her, twisting it out to the side- in the same movement she pulled a blaster from under her jacket (which had been used to make a pillow) and pointed it straight at his head. She stared for a second or two, but to Skyle it felt like an eternity……,

Skyle: Whoa, Caro, calm down it’s only me, your old friend…Skyle.

He squirmed under her icy glare

Caro: Hmmm, so it is. Sorry man, humph, next time maybe u should just shout to wake me up!

She relaxed, pushing the blaster back under her makeshift pillow.

Skyle: maybe next time I’ll wear my body armour!

Specialist: Ok kids, let’s play nice. Right then, how are our rations holding up? I hope you’ve all got enough for breakfast coz’ there is no way I’m hunting rabbits…..

B-Wing: Be berry berry quiet, I’m hunting wabbits……hahaha.

The four Shadow Force members looked very out of place in their surroundings. They were sat atop a small hill, trees dotted around the landscape. The ground was covered in grass. Apart from the wheel tracks they had left, there was no sign of humans as far as the eye could see. It was the middle of summer; all the trees and flowers were in full bloom. The sight was quite a one, to behold. The word picturesque could have been invented with this place in mind. They sat on their hill eating their shadow rations. Each one of them kept to themselves. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to talk to each other, but sometimes people need to be alone. Skyle sat looking at a picture of Mia. He had never realised just how much he actually liked her, until he had been forced to be away from her. There was a slight twinge in the pit of his stomach every time he thought about her. B-Wing, as usual, was in high spirits. He looked to the west singing a song to himself. He sang too quietly for any of the others to hear, but it was putting a smile on his face. Caro was pacing, looking anxious to get moving. She never liked these long mornings where they sat out in the open, doing nothing. Specialist sat there, his legs in the lotus position. A bandana wrapped around his forehead, flapping in the morning breeze, eyes shut. After about 30 minutes of this specialist slowly got up, moved to where their armour and cyclones sat. The other three did likewise. No one spoke. Each still wrapped in the blanket of self they had created.

Specialist: Ok people, let’s get going.

Skyle: You want me to take point today sir?

Specialist visibly winced at the word sir.

Specialist: Right then, Skyle is taking point today. Ok, Lets move out then people. Keep your eyes pealed for any sign of them.

The bikes rolled out, Skyle zooming off straight away to get a lead on the others. As they rode through the beautiful landscape, with its slow rolling hills and small groups of trees sprinkled here and there. Specialist played through the events of the last 5 days in his head again, attempting to make some sense of them.

It had all started when Fireman and Bob had gone on leave. They had gone down to Earth for some well deserved R&R. Things had been so busy with the launch of the Dark Fire and everyone had been working so hard. After a couple of days of their planet leave, Fireman reported that Bob was missing. He said that it was probably a false alarm, and would search for her. Fireman wasn’t heard from after that either. Two days after Fireman’s disappearance Specialist put together this team to search for them. The thing that was really confusing was that they had found obvious clues to their whereabouts. The place the two had been camping at was fully intact, but about 5 miles to the North of it lay Fireman’s wallet. The part that was playing on Specialist’s mind was that they had found a number of these clues; too obvious to be an accident, but then suddenly 2 days ago they had stopped finding new clues. Why would someone want to be followed and then suddenly stop the trail? It made no sense to him. The same thoughts played over and over in his mind. There seemed no answer to it at all. Suddenly Skyle’s voice crackled in the ear of the riders, breaking the almost daze like state Specialist had been riding in.

Skyle: There is a settlement about 3 miles from your position. I’m sat a short distance outside of it, ill wait for you here. Over.

Caro: Yaaahoooo, maybe the chance of some action. I’ve been itching to find some hard clues, and find ‘em my own special way.

As if to emphasise her point Caro pulled a wheelie and screeched off towards Skyle’s location.

            B-Wing: Hmmm, do you think they will have a seafood restaurant here?

B-Wing also rapidly accelerated, following the trail of Caro.

Finally Specialist thought to himself, maybe I can get some concrete answers from this place.

t.b.c