The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 58: Moonflight

Part 1/3

Gary mounted his newly tamed Sabertooth, Lynx, hauling a dead Stegosaurus corpse with a piece of rope. He let out a sigh as he cracked his knuckles and hooked his pistol on his belt. Just another average night for the master gamer. And the full moon was out tonight too, which was always a plus.

It had been a few days since Samuel and his crew left for their scouting mission, along with Chris. They hadn’t returned, nor was there any sign of them being safe. Then again it wasn’t like they had walkie-talkies or anything, but still, it made him a little worried. Mostly about Chris.

“That guy might get himself hurt out there,” Gary thought to himself as Lynx began to find their way back home, “Especially if he’s alone. I really hope he’s safe…”

As for the other group, Gary was not too concerned about them. Samuel seemed very crazy, Aurora was just a little emo girl, and Ruby and Neddy were pretty normal people with nothing crazy going on for them. Out of those four, Gary was most concerned about Neddy and Ruby. They seemed like good people. And Neddy was a big fan of Gary too (he even asked for his signature!).

As for their plan to find Tiffany? Bonkers. Tiffany left for her own reasons and if she wanted to leave that was that. No one could stop her or bring her back. Besides they were doing just fine on their own without her or her book, what more could it do bringing her back?

Gary entered through the front gates of the Book Club’s camp, but things seemed a lot quieter today. There wasn’t much activity going on, and it was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Gary could have sworn a tumbleweed passed by.

“It’s like a ghost town in here,” Gary muttered to himself. He gave Lynx a quick pet, then afterwards the two pushed the corpse toward the campfire area to prepare it.

As they reached the area, he saw Skyler sitting on one of the logs. She had her head buried in her hands, and she was heaving up and down, her white silvery hair rising up as she sobbed. A hiccup echoed, and she continued to weep.

Gary wasn’t too sure what to say. He reached his hand out to comfort her when someone grabbed his wrist. Gary turned to the left to see Sunny standing there with an unapologetic look on her face.

“Leave her alone,” Sunny whispered, “She just needs time by herself.”

Gary dropped his hand, and Sunny let go. She nodded her head toward the other side of the camp, “Everyone’s eating over at the other side of camp. We’re having potato soup.”

“Wow, so yummy,” Gary said while rolling his eyes. Sunny biffed Gary on the arm.

“I made it, you know,” Sunny sneered, “Don’t give me that attitude.”

“Sorry, SORRY,” Gary apologized. He gave her a grin back in apology, “Let’s go eat your delicious dinner now.”

The two made their way to the other side of the camp, where everyone was conversing and talking like good times. Everyone held crudely made wooden bowls filled to the brim with a hearty soup, and a baby Phiomia was roaming around trying to get scraps. As it made its way to Paige, Paige looked at it with disgust and began to nudge it away with her boot. Sunny gave an annoyed look at Paige and began to walk toward her.

“Paige! Quit that!”

Gary sighed and chuckled to himself. He looked around and saw a pot that was filled with boiling soup. He grabbed himself a bowl and poured himself some for himself. As he settled on the grass with everyone else, he spotted Ben leaning against the wall of a hut nearby. Ben always leaned against something, for some reason.

“I haven’t seen him in a while,” Gary thought as he took a sip of his soup. As it entered his mouth he could taste potatoes. At least Sunny actually made it taste like the original ingredients this time around.

Ever since that day those two went out to tame the Kaprosuchus, he had been acting very moody. He had refused to come on the expedition to the obelisk, and after that he refused to go out or do anything else. Some days Gary wouldn’t even spot Ben outside of his hut. It was a bit odd, actually. He was always talking to someone.

One time, Gary was getting dinner for Ben, but when he entered his hut, Ben instantly shooed him away.

“What are you doing in my hut? GET OUT OF HERE,” Ben had roared. He was sitting on the ground and clutching a flower to his chest.

“I was just delivering dinner man-”

“Don’t care. Out. Now.”

But now he seemed a lot better. He no longer had those bags under his eyes, and he had a bright smile on his face. He seemed to be already finished with his soup, and was staring off into the forest beyond the spiked walls, planning something.