The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 35: Starving

Part 1/2

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Bob slammed a hammer onto a piece of metal lay on top of an anvil, which lay on his makeshift smithy. He was making crossbows for Alan and him. Alan was looking around his house with a timidness that couldn’t be described, bouncing up and down at the sight of all the contraptions and things inside of his small little house.

“It’s very machine-y in here,” Alan noted, looking at the mortar and pestle on the ground.

“Yeah, it is, you’ll get used to it in no time,” Bob replied.

“How’d you even know how to make any of this stuff?” Alan asked, picking up a torch hanging on the wall, “I thought you were just the tennis coach?”

“I was,” Bob explained, “Here on this island there are large beacons which allow you to… earn some rewards.”

“Like loot crates?”

“Yeah, loot crates.”

“That’s pretty cool. But I’ve never seen one before. Not even on the way here…” Alan replied.

“Maybe you’re not looking in the right spots,” Bob said as he wiped some sweat from his forehead, “The farther up north you go, the more beacons you find-”

“How do you know that?” Alan asked with a raised brow. Bob looked back at Alan and stared at the features of his face intensely. He looked so much like Agent Apex. The resemblance was almost uncanny.

But Alan had a much different structure compared to Agent Apex. They could not have been the same.

A few minutes of molding and pounding later, and Bob had managed to create two compact crossbows along with a stack of arrows dipped with a knock out poison. He also had a stone pillar slung around his shoulder for some reason.

“What’s the pillar for?” Alan asked.

“You’ll see soon enough,” Bob replied. He gave a crossbow to Alan along with a stash of tranquiliser arrows, which he placed in his pocket.

“Come on, let’s go find a T-Rex.”

Bob and Alan exited the home, and Bob began to walk along the river’s black sands. Alan looked to the right and looked on in awe at the redwood forests. The trees looked so huge. Something about the place was mystifying to Alan.

“Looks pretty cool up close, huh?” Bob asked.

“Yeah, yeah it does,” Alan said, “I wanna go in there sometime soon. I bet there’s so many cool things in there we can tame!”

Bob chuckled a little at Alan’s naivety.

“Oh trust me there’s a lot of dangerous critters in that forest. We’re not going in there anytime soon. Not until we’re prepared.”

Alan kept on looking at the forest. He could see big bears walking along the river. There were small sauropods with long necks that slanted horizontally. There was even a beehive hung on one of the trees.

He tore his eyes away from the forest and to Bob, who was loading an arrow into his crossbow.

“How do you even tame things? Like, what does that mean?” Alan asked, “I didn’t know you could even do that. I thought they were just there to eat you! Not even she- not even SHE knows you can do that.”

Bob raised his thick, bushy eyebrow.

“Who’s SHE?”

“Well, you know, that mean lady that ordered me to come all the way up here? THAT’S the one,” Alan said with a shudder, “Queen June… Brrr, her power gives me chills just thinking about it.”

“Her power? What is it?”

“Fire,” Alan replied with a darkness in his eyes, “Her power is fire. She can summon fire within the palm of her hand and make her enemies burn. In. Hell.”

“FIRE?!” Bob thought sweatily, “That’s- interesting.”

“Scary,” Bob replied.

This wasn’t good.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, step by step. Thunderous footsteps echoed from the forest beyond the black sands, and Alan paused in his tracks, looking with shrunken pupils.

“What was that?!” Alan asked with fear in his voice.

“It might be what we’re looking for,” Bob said with a sly smile. He held his crossbow up boisterously, “Weapons up.”