The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 23.5: Time Paradox

Part 8/11

Neddy was getting really worried for Ben and the orange-haired girl.

One minute he was having a dance battle with Ruby (which he very clearly won), and the next men and women carrying guns barged in chasing the two down. Neddy didn’t stick around to find out why they were there, but it was pretty obvious what was going on. The two were being arrested.

And now, Neddy and his allies were being brought to the town square, for some unknown reason by the woman with the gun.

“Something’s wrong, I can feel it,” Aurora said as she looked around worriedly.

“You can’t feel anything wrong,” Samuel butted in, “That’s not how it works.”

“You should feel something wrong,” someone said. They turned around to see an interesting looking fellow with aging hair and an aging body facing them.

“What do you mean by that, old man?” Neddy asked.

“They only round up the citizens for one thing,” the man explained, “A hanging. A hanging for the most serious crimes, like murder or worse.”

“But Ben and Sunny aren’t even evil! They’re normal people who barely just graduated,” Ruby protested.

“Yeah, well ever since that rat Michael and his brothers came into power following their parents’ passing, I could anticipate things going downhill. He’s probably on an ego trip, using his power to execute those he despises.”

“Who the heck is that-” Neddy was cut off by the man.

“Listen,” the man said, crouching down to look them in the eye, “I know you four don’t belong here. I would’ve known if there were more people coming to Tortuga. Once they find out you aren’t one of us they’ll kill you too. You need to escape as fast as you can.”

“We can’t do that,” Samuel said, “We need Ben and the orange-haired girl for… reasons. We can’t abandon them now. I figured, those two know more about this place than any of us. Why else would they get in trouble so easily?”

The man sighed, then began to retreat into the crowd.

“Whatever you say, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…”

Samuel nodded toward Ruby and Neddy.

“You two should find a hiding place. Those people with the guns will probably all be here at once, no one will patrol the streets. If all of us get caught then that won’t be good, me and Aurora will stay behind and find a way to get those two out of their situation.”

Neddy opened his mouth to protest, but Ruby stopped him.

“We can’t argue about it now. Let’s just listen and leave, we can go to that boat house, I don’t think the ones with guns want to investigate a house with a freakin’ crocodile in it!”

Wordlessly, the two quickly fled the scene, leaving Samuel and Aurora to sort the problem out on their own.