Chapter 9
Scrawny rested on the tree branch. He was tired and hungry, as he had been trying to make the jump all day with no luck. It was getting dark now, and all the other sligs had turned in. He looked across the gap at the branch he had been trying to jump to with a nasty scowl. With a honk of fury, he charged at full speed and leaped. But yet again he fell way short, and he landed in the safety net. He howled in fury and clawed at the net in frustration, then broke down and curled up into a ball and wept.
A little while later he felt the net move, as if someone was walking on it. He didn’t bother to look up to see who it was, he no longer cared.
“Hey..” he heard someone say gently. Scrawny finally looked up to see Zig standing beside him, with a sympathic look on his face.
“Hey what?” Scrawny grumbled.
“Why don’ we go get somethin’ ter eat? Yer must be hungry after such a long day…”
“Might as well…” Scrawny said with a sigh, as he stood up…
Later, Scrawny was just staring at this food. He knew he was starving, but he couldn’t bring himself to eat. Zig had noticed.
“If yer don’ eat, yer won’t have the strength ter try again tomorrow.” He said.
“What’s the point?…I’m never going ter der it…” Scrawny whined sadly.
“Never say never. You’ll do it, you’ll see.”
“If I still had both eyes I would be able to!” Scrawny growled, slamming a fist on the table, “It’s dam impossible now!”
“Only if yer let it be…There are other ways ter make the jump then just using pure muscle power. Yer just need ter figure out how.”
Scrawny just snorted, and Zig let loose a long sigh. “I know yer smart, yer told me yerself that yer helped yer friend escape. And if yer ask me…learning how ter move through the trees is a hell of a lot easier then breaking out of one of those factories.”
“Yeah…but if I remember correctly, yer been climbing trees all yer life, even while yer was still employed by the Cartel. Me.. the highest I have climbed till terday was into vent shafts and Spider’s shoulder.”
“Even the mightest buildings start with just one brick.” A rumbling voice said behind him. Scrawny turned around to see Dragadon approaching from behind him. “Even the largest beings start out as just an infant. All great things start out small, for if you try to start to big at first, you will fail.”
“What the frack are yer saying?”
“I’m saying that you should take small steps first. Instead of trying the big jump first, practice with smaller ones. Now, there is a chance that you may never be able to make the big jump, but like Zig said…’There are other ways to make the jump then just using pure muscle power’. Use your head and you will find a way.”
“Drag’s right Nerik…start small first, then move on to the big ones.” Zig said.
Scrawny thought a long while, taking in what they just said. Finally he said, “Alright, I’ll try again. Only this time I’ll try a shorter jump.” He now eagerly ate his food. Dragadon and Zig smiled at each other, happy that they were able to remotifate him…
Spider woke up with a massive headache.
“Did anyone get the number of that cart that just hit me?” he groaned as he righted himself his eyes still closed. He suddenly felt the tip of a spear against his neck and he froze. It was then he opened his eyes and saw that he was surrounded by muds and sligs, all armed with spears or guns. “Oh…frack…”
“I told yer he would turn on his sooner or later!” one of the sligs said.
“We should have finished him off when he while he was still healing!’ another declared.
“Well we have the chance ter fix that now!” a third cried and a small cheer went up among the sligs in the group as they started to advance on him.
“Oh frack frack frack..” Spider muttered as he tried to back away, only to meet up with more spears.
“Hold on!” he heard a familiar voice say. Spider sighed with relief when he saw Bea and Hak push their way through the crowd(well Hak was doing most of the pushing ‘grin’), “I do believe he deserves a chance to explain his side of the story.”
“If yer insist…” one slig said as they lowered their spears, but still kept a tight circle around Spider to keep him from escaping.
“Well Spike? What’s yer story?” Hak asked.
It had taken a few seconds for Spider to realize that Hak was referring to him. “Well first of all…” he started, “my name is Spider…”
see he didn't get knocked out in this one *grin*
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