Shelly navigated the streets of the town with immense ease, with Colt right on her tail. The girl was barely even looking where she was going, turning this way and that as she thought of new shortcuts for how to get to wherever she was taking him.
Then Colt thought: where was she taking him?
"You really don't know where you're going, do you?" she asked, as if reading his mind. She looked back at him but didn't stop moving.
"Well I sure don't know where I am now," Colt replied. "I mean, with how much we've turned, how are we not just going in circles at this point?"
"Because I know my way around, that's how." Then she finally came to a stop and looked at him. "How were you planning on getting to the base in the first place?"
Colt rummaged his pants pockets, then came up with the map from before. He unfolded it and flattened it out, then showed it to her. "Map," he said simply.
"Yeah I can see that." She studied his face. "You're new here, aren't you?"
Colt stared back, not saying anything for a moment. Telling Shelly the wrong thing could blow his entire cover.
"You could say that," he said, then, "I got transferred here."
"Oh, from where?"
"Uh," Colt said, "Turtle Bay."
Shelly continued walking. "Hmm, never heard of that one."
Colt kept following her, having to start an awkward jog to catch up. "No, I wouldn't expect you to. Not many people know about it."
Because it doesn't exist, he said to himself.
"So, how long will you be here?"
"I'm not really sure," Colt replied. "Not long, I don't think."
"That's too bad," Shelly said.
Colt caught her eye. "How come?"
Shelly cleared her throat. "For you, I mean. Too bad that you won't get to experience this town for long."
"Oh, right."
They fell silent for a couple minutes until Shelly came to a stop again. Colt noticed that they still weren't out of town yet, so he wondered what they were doing now. Had Shelly put 2 and 2 together and found out that he must not be a member of the Authority around here?
"What's wrong?" Colt asked.
Shelly frowned. "I was just thinking..."
Uh oh, Colt thought.
"...if you didn't know where you were going when you left for the Authority base..."
Here it comes.
"...is there any chance that you even brought the proper supplies?"
Whew, that's a relief.
Shelly looked at him. "Like, did you even bring any food?"
Colt's heart dropped for the second time in the past minute. He'd completely forgotten to bring food or water on his trip.
"Well, about that..." he started.
"You know it's a multiple day journey on foot, right?"
"Yeah. We might be getting a little hungry."
Shelly took a deep breath, which Colt appreciated because he was pretty sure it was so she didn't strangle him.
"It's probably fine," Colt decided. "We'll live off the land. There's got to be something to eat anywhere we end up."
Shelly raised her eyebrows. "Well you're welcome to take that route. But I'm going to grab some supplies."
"Supplies? From where?"
"From my house, idiot. Just stay here and try not to piss anyone off."
Easier said than done. Colt was about to protest that he didn't even know where he was, but by then the girl was already gone. Colt considered following her but figured he'd get even more lost doing that.
All alone now, Colt sat the barrel of fish down and looked around. He looked to be standing in one of Goldtown's side streets. He was in between the backsides of two rows of local shop buildings. From the back the shops all looked the same, as if they had all been built together at the same time. He could still hear the sounds of business that the town was infested with, though it seemed further away.
Colt sat down on top of the fish barrel. It felt nice to sit and relax a little after walking for so long. He'd been able to tell by the busyness of the town that it was midday already. That meant that half the day was over already, and he hadn't made too much progress. He'd expected to be out of the town area by now, at the very least.
Colt also hadn't expected to have gained a companion. At first he had thought that the presence of Shelly on his journey would weigh him down, but now he wasn't so sure. The girl seemed to know her way around town (even if she hadn't managed to get them out of it yet) and now she was headed to get them food and other necessities for the trip to the base. She was a major pain in the butt, but she had already proved to be helpful. Maybe he'd wait and give her a chance. He figured he could always lose her once they got to the forest. Being able to catch him in a town she was familiar with was one thing, but the island's forest was a whole different game. It was neutral territory, which greatly improved Colt's chances of getting away, if it came to that.
Colt took another look around himself, then pulled the map of the island out of his pocket. He traced his finger through the lines that depicted the pathways of the town. He tried to use landmarks to narrow down where he actually was, but that proved difficult with no real landmarks around him. All he could see was buildings that looked exactly the same everywhere. He was lost.
"Hey!"
At the sound of the voice Colt jumped off the barrel and stood at attention. He focused his attention to the end of the street where he heard the voice, and his heart dropped when the voice's owner turned the corner.
It was an Authority officer. He was extremely short and plump, and had a face that was all scrunched up and red-looking. Colt got the feeling he should recognize the person, but he couldn't imagine where from. He didn't often associate with the Authority, so there weren't many Authority personnel he knew. He didn't know any, in fact. So who was this guy?
"I'm Senior Officer Donald Garfield," the man answered, before Colt could even ask.
"Cool," Colt replied as he shuffled to the right and hid his lower half (including his suspicious-looking cutlass) behind the giant fish barrel.
"It is, indeed, very cool," agreed the officer. "I'm a forth of a rank away from achieving the role of Lieutenant, and being in control of the entire island!"
"Awesome. Well, good luck man. I'm sure you'll do great."
"Thank you, yes, I think I will do great, and... hang on!"
Colt stopped in his tracks. He had slowly been creeping backwards, and had almost been at the end of the alleyway when the officer had seen what he was doing.
"I came to ask what you're doing here!" the officer spluttered. His face was getting more red by the second, to a shade that Colt had previously thought impossible.
"Just waiting for a friend," Colt replied honestly. "What about you? What brings you to this fine back alley?"
"Investigating a lead," replied Officer Garfield. "Investigating a disturbance of the peace. Apparently two kids were running through town and getting into trouble."
"Oh, how terrible," Colt said sincerely. "I haven't seen anyone like that, officer."
"Senior officer," Garfield corrected instantly. Then he tilted his extremely round-shaped head and stared at Colt, analyzing him.
"Well it's not me, I can assure you that," Colt said. "I have no friends at all, and I definitely don't make trouble."
Garfield didn't look completely convinced. He stood with his hands on his hips, now in the middle of the street. He was still staring at Colt, who was at the end of the alley trying to find a way to get away without drawing suspicion.
"You know what I think is troublesome?" Colt started. "Is the I.A. making their senior officers investigate a couple of kids 'disturbing the peace.' Like, that's got to be way below your pay grade."
Officer Garfield stepped forward some and stuck his hands up, his tightly contracted face relaxing slightly. "Exactly! That's what I've been saying for years now, and no one seems to understand!"
"Hey, I understand you," Colt said. "It's unfair, really, what they're doing to you."
"You know, it is," said Garfield. "I hate to disrespect the Authority, but it's really—"
Garfield froze in his tracks and stopped talking. Colt was confused for a second, but then saw where the officer was looking. He had spotted Colt's cutlass, which was no longer hidden behind the barrel.
"Is that..."
"A souvenir," Colt finished. "Yeah, I got it in town just recently. Looks pretty real, right?"
Garfield's eyes narrowed. "I know where I recognize you from. You're the pirate, that washed up on shore several days ago!"
Then it hit Colt. "Oh yeah," he said. "That's where I know you from too. Small island I guess, huh?"
Garfield walked forward and unsheathed a slim, silver shining sword. It was a straight blade that came to a sharp tip at the end. It looked either unused or cleaned regularly, but Colt wasn't taking any chances that the officer didn't know how to use it.
"You're under arrest for the crime of piracy," Garfield spat.
Colt put his hands. "Okay. No need for the weaponry. I'm turning myself in." He started walking slowly back into the middle of the alleyway.
When Colt got close Garfield raised his sword and pointed at him. "Drop your weapon to the ground. I don't care if it's fake or not."
"It's a cutlass and it's very much real," Colt replied. "And it's growing on me, actually. So I'm not going to give it to you."
With that, Garfield swung at him. Colt ducked under the sword, like the fisherman had taught him, and got out of the officer's reach. He grabbed the fish barrel, from where he'd sat it down and started to run the other way, away from the officer.
"Come back here!" Garfield shouted from behind him.
"No can do, Donny!" Colt yelled back.
"The name... is.... Senior Officer Donald Garfield!"
Colt could hear the officer getting winded behind him. He wasn't surprised, since the man hadn't seemed like he was too very mobile, but neither was Colt with the giant fish barrel. He kept running through the streets until he was forced to come to an abrupt halt when he noticed someone standing on the path right in front of him, hands on their hips.
"What exactly are you doing?"
Shelly was standing before him. There was a brown satchel slung around her neck and resting on her right hip. That meant that her trip to get supplies had been successful.
"I'm... running," Colt said, now winded himself. "Thought that was kinda clear."
"Running? From what?"
Colt's mind went into overdrive to think of something. "I don't know," he came up with. "Some random dude. Happens to be sort of mad at me."
"I'M GONNA... GET YOU... P....PIR...."
The distant shout from Garfield was caught by the wind, not a second too soon.
"See?" Colt said, gesturing behind him.
Shelly hesitated, then gave a reluctant nod and they started running off together.
"You had one job!" she yelled at him as they ran. "One! All you had to do was not piss anyone off!"
"Yeah," Colt replied. "Turns out I'm not the best at that."
They kept running, until Colt asked, "You know where we're going, right?"
Colt couldn't see, but he was sure Shelly was rolling her eyes.
"Of course I do," she replied. "See?"
Sure enough, within the next couple of seconds they had emerged from the town. They slowed down as their view ahead changed from rows of buildings to rows of trees. The paved pathway below their feet had also faded away to nothingness. Now all that was left was a faint path that had been forged from years of trampling feet hitting the same spots of ground.
Colt and Shelly shared a glance.
"You're sure you want to do this?" Colt asked.
Shelly nodded. "Let's go."
Colt sighed, then fixed his eyes upon the endless trees ahead. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."