"I hate to be rude but... Will we get revenge against your sister?"
"No it's not rude, we'll DEFINITELY get revenge!"
"So we'll be saving our own butts every time we jump on another tree?"
"I think I got another idea instead of another tree."
"Let's hear it."
After discussing their plan, they immediately move to action. Mercer and Oliver gathered sticks and dried leaves from branches, and rubbed them together to create fire.
They quietly go down the tree where the tiger was lying down patiently waiting for them.
"What's next?" Oliver quietly asked.
"First, let me apologize for this." Mercer stabbed Oliver's foot causing him to scream out loud, scaring the tiger while Mercer starts to wave the fire to the tiger.
The tiger runs away and Mercer helped Oliver run to the opposite direction.
Oliver screams in pain, "OF ALL THINGS YOU DID--"
"Yeah yeah, it was the worst. Stop squirming!" Mercer continues to carry him.
They were walking in the forest for hours, both of them started to realize that they were lost.
"I think we've been walking in circles." Oliver said, "This... Is... The... Worst..."
"Mom's gonna be pissed when she hears about this. I hope she'll pin it on Heather." Mercer noticed a few people behind the trees.
Both of them walked a few steps, then they cried happily when they were back in the open field.
"YESS!! AHH! FIRST AID!" Oliver fell down with tears of joy, people were surprised by their appearance. They were about to come and carry him but they stopped and ran away.
Mercer sighs, "Damn that tiger..."
They turn around and the tiger was only a few steps away from mauling them both. Oliver fortunately saw a pole used in pole vaulting with a few athletes watching them beside it.
"POLE!!!" Oliver yelled at the athletes while pointing at Mercer.
The athletes understood the message and one of them throws a pole at Mercer.
"MERCER!!!" Oliver pulls Mercer just as the tiger was about to jump at him, the pole landed on the tiger's arm. They immediately ran away as soon as the pole hit its target.
Mercer looked at Oliver and sincerely said, "Thank you... You saved me, again."
"Yeah well, you owe me many things now." Oliver gets carried by the athletes. He continues talking, "I saved you from being Mercer the human BBQ, you stabbed my foot, and if it weren't for me again, tiger might've eaten you."
"Ok, I saved you from slipping remember?"
"Minus one, it may be two but at least it's many."
"Fine. Don't rub it in. I'll buy you a sandwich?"
"Nah! I need something to rest for my foot!"
When animal control captured the tiger, they removed the pole and one of them called Mercer, "Hey buddy! Catch!"
Mercer turns around and saw the pole coming at him but it landed on his foot causing him to scream.
"Ouch. You know what, you only owe me one!" Oliver yelled.
In the hospital,
"So I guess I owe you both an apology, the tiger wasn't my purpose but I'm impressed that both of you to escape with only a stabbed foot." Heather awkwardly smiles at them.
Mercer and Oliver wasn't amused.
"Did you guys became friends?" Parker asked.
"I don't know about that." Mercer answered.
Oliver sighs, "Yeah me too."
"So you want to go back to the forest then? Maybe this time we'll bring a grizzly bear to increase difficulty." Esther brings a rope.
"We're definitely friends." They both said in unison.
Esther throws the rope away.
Asher asked Heather, "Please please do not force them to do things like these again. There's news earlier that a Bengal tiger just got out of the zoo this morning and went to the forest. It must've walked miles from the zoo to get here."
"Are there any updates?" Oliver asked.
"Well they said that two guys... You two, were chased by it and the athletes who were training in the open field saved you."
"Oh come on! We're the victims!?"
"I'm not finished, the athletes said that it was your idea who saved both you and my cousin from being an early dinner. And if Mercer did left you behind, he would've been the sole survivor."
"I admit, it was mutual saving. And there's only one thing we have to do for today."
"Yup." Mercer said, "Heather, if you--"
"I got your games from the locked basement." Heather already knew what they want.
"Wait... What's the genre?" Oliver asked.
"In knew that you two won't play each other's games in different genre, so I found a solution! Dad's new steampunk games along with a gaming console!" Heather shows them the game discs.
"Science fantasy, unique choice." Esther complimented.
"Science fantasy?" Mercer wonders what it is since he never heard it before.
"I think we'll work it out." Oliver said, "But where do we play?"
"Video games are not allowed in the library." Esther told them.
"And games have been banned since the, 'incident'." Asher reminded them.
"What about the 'hideout'?" Heather suggested.
Mercer tries to stand and points at Heather, "Never again. It's the most desolate place I can think of. You're asking me to play a game while serving a death sentence. Ow!"
"You're overreacting."
"Because you weren't there! My foot is killing me!!"
"What are they talking about? And stop standing if you know that foot was stabbed!" Oliver asked.
Asher answers, "The hideout is one of the reasons why video games were banned inside the house."
"One of the reasons?"
"Yes, and trust me you do not want to know."
"Well I do." Esther interrupted, "I want to hear all of it, for our next genre."
"I don't want to disturb them." Asher said.
Esther pulls Asher by the hand, "Then tell me without disturbing them."
"I want to hear it too!" Oliver tries to stand up except his foot was holding him back.
Parker sighs, "I don't think you'll go far if that leg of yours doesn't rest, I think you should stop squirming until you're all better.
"Uhh... Fine, but why is it the most desolate place, and a death sentence to you?"
"You two will know eventually, although I won't be the one to tell you." Mercer lies back down on his bed.
As Asher and Esther walk back to the library, Asher decides to tell her the story about the 'hideout',
"Should I tell you the story now or..."
"Go ahead." Esther insisted.
"Ok it was called the Archer Hole hideout but one day, everything changed in a snap. Mercer didn't want us to call it Archer Hole because of what 'he' did, it was..."
Three years ago
"Let's go to the Archer Hole!" Mercer yelled.
Asher was running behind him, "Wait up, it's kinda early don't you think?"
"Ha! The sooner the better!"
"You're excited because of her."
"Well, yes! She's amazing!"
They went to the forest, climbed the tree with the most leaves and branches but inside was a treehouse. The Archer Hole hideout, a place they call a guild for kids.
Mercer enters the hideout, "Is she here? Is she? Is she?"
"Not yet! Goodness sake, it's early in the morning. And I have to endure the annoyance alternately." Said the boy while drinking chocolate milk.
"Huston? Aren't you the same too?" Asher asked.
"Minus the part where you need to say 'Is she here?', or else I'd be joining."
"He always brought me over here, every single day on the same routine."
"You mean 'forced', and that's tough. If I were you, I'd be throwing him pillows."
"Ever since this guild was made, there's never a dull moment for those two."
"Yup, Mercer and Amber. The two of the most annoying yet entertaining guild members in this treehouse."
"Entertaining?"
"That's my opinion about the time they chased out a nerd with a boring science project using rubber chickens."
Asher quietly laughs, "It should've been caught on camera."
"Yeah, by the way have you heard about another guild?"
"There's another?"
"Someone said it was created the same day ours was."
"What it's true. Peace to them?"
"Depends if the kids on the other guild agrees, or else it'll be messy."
"Wait, I almost forgot."
"What?"
"Isn't today, the guild's anniversary?"
"The fourth anniversary!? I almost forgot! It's alright, we'll be just fine."
Mercer starts to jump, "SHE'S HERE!!!"
"MERCER!!!" Amber yelled as she saw Mercer.
"AMBER!!!" Mercer does the same.
"Here we go." Huston and Asher said in unison.