Ok guys, I grimace when I think of how long that took me. XD Sorry! I had so much going and this week and maybe I was procrastinating a little? Or a lot….Ā
Anyways, today I decided I was just going to sit down and do it, and I finished it in one sitting. XD It’s not perfect, since it’d be impossible to make it all make total sense without rewriting whole big parts of the story… But that can be expected with a committee story. And I think it turned out really good! Quite different than I expected, but totally awesome!! š šĀ
One thing I failed to do is come up with a name… If any of you think of something, I’d love to hear it!!
And, without farther ado….. Here it is!!
Written by Rosy, Parker, Amie, Liberty, Rosalyn, Elle, Clay, Kyra and Pearl!
Maybe I shouldnāt have ever tried coming home this way, Nick thought, peering around another alleyway. He prodded on, unaware of the real danger he was in. As his eyes took in the dark, foreboding neighborhood, he wished he was back on his normal route towards home. At the beginning it had just seemed like another adventure to him,Ā but now it was nearing sunset, and, even though he wouldnāt admit it to himself, he was lost.
Suddenly, an earsplitting scream pierced the air. Nick whipped around, but was not prepared for what he saw.
Instead of a person as he had expected, a large metal robot stood behind him, its huge metal claws lunging for him. Lunging for his throat.
Not knowing exactly what to do, Nick dropped to the ground, and the robot flew over him. He jumped to his feet and started running the other direction. Why would a robot be after him? Who had sent it?
A horrendous metallic sound from not far behind made Nick turn around in a hurry. To his surprise and initial relief, the robot lay on the ground in three pieces, smoke rising from the wreckage. The cruel claw lay a few feet away by itself, where it had been hurled in the unexpected crash. But all Nick could notice was the small, green slip of paper now exposed by the cracked open machine.
Slowly, Nick walked over, grasped the paper and pulled it close so he could see the small, messy handwriting written on it.
āCome and save me! Please! Iām in trouble.ā
There was no name at the end. He was confused. Who needed rescued? Why would the note be in a ā¦ robot? And he still didnāt know where that robot came from.
Before he could do anything else, a scrawny guy came around the corner. He wore a huge grin on his face and before Nick could react, the stranger had bear-hugged him.
It took a while for Nick to process who this scrawny man in question was, but when the reality hit him, it hit him hard. This wiry, short man was his brother, who was six years older than Nick, at age 26. It had been a long time since Nick, and Dave, his brother, had seen each other, mostly because of their rocky childhood and the different paths the two had taken.
David, a small boy with a genius brain, had always been ostracized and eventually abused in their family of four. It wasnāt long before he had moved on to university when Nick, a tall, popular football player, was twelve. These eight years of separation had really taken their toll, and the brothersā reunion was slightly awkward, but mostly wonderful.
But it didnāt take too long for this reunion to grind to a halt, when another ear-splitting scream rang out in the alley.
āHelp, save me!ā the young girl yelled before a robot that was holding her put its ugly claw up to her mouth.
Dave could sense that the past would have to be temporarily forgotten in light of this larger problem. The brothers shared a wordless glanceāthey knew they had to save this girl.
The two young men sprinted toward this metallic beast, and Nick utilized the best of his football techniques to tackle the robot and grab the girl. David rushed in and disarmed the robot, while Nick held it down, and the girl hid.
Now it was up to the three of them to find the robotās operator, the girlās home, and the police.
āWhere do you live?ā Nick asked, taking charge without a momentās hesitation.
The girlās green eyes bulged in fear and she made a coughing noise as she pointed to her mouth and shook her head vigorously.
āWhat is it?ā Dave asked, tapping his boot on the ground. Heād never had patience for small children, as Nick well remembered. āRobot got your tongue?ā
The girl nodded emphatically, pointed and shook her head even more vigorously, topping the act off with a strangled, choking noise as if prevented from speaking.
Why couldnāt she speak? Nick didnāt like the sick feeling he was getting in his stomach.
āCan you speak?ā He watched her closely, studying the way she kept choking, as if she was trying to talk.
āWait,ā Dave touched Nickās arm. āI think sheās dumb.ā
āSeriously, thatās not very nice to- oh!ā Nick looked at the girl, sympathy rising quickly as tears started sliding down her cheeks. āHey. Hey, donāt go crying like that. Everythingās going to be alright,ā He bent down next to her and patted her shoulder. āLetās get you out of here, okay?ā
But something told him things werenāt going to be okay. At least, not until things got sorted out.
***************************
As they started on the way to the police station to get help, Dave and his brother talked over why they thought that the girl couldnāt talk. At each try, she shook her head ānoā. As they tried to think of something, anything, she began to frantically gesture, trying to communicate something to them.
In desperation, the girl tore Nickās phone out of itās holster and pointed urgently at him to unlock it.
She pressed the Notes app and hastily began typing.
They made an interesting sight standing on the cracked sidewalk, not far from the forbidding alley in which so much had just happened.
The two bewildered men, slightly on edge, anxiously hovered over the small girl with blond pig tails that were streaked with dirt and bits of debris. She was frantically moved her thumbs over Nickās iPhone as if her life depended on it. The girl couldnāt type fast enough for the worried brothers.
Nick had a knot growing in his stomach as he watched the message take shape, but when he read the entire thing and finally began to understand, a cold shudder passed over him as he grimaced at his brother.
āThe robots were just a ploy,ā she typed. āThey were intended to divert attention from the real problem, the big crime.ā
As the girl had discovered, completely on accident, there was a mastermind at this very moment plotting, perhaps even implementing, a mass destruction of all written knowledge in the city. His specific target was Bibles and anything containing reference to Jesus.
āWell, we certainly arenāt going to let him do that!ā Dave folded his arms tightly over his chest and glared at the ground.
āBut how can we-ā he motioned at the three of them ā-do anything? We could get the police, but more than likely theyād want to do their thing on their own. They wouldnāt want us tagging along to āhelpā.ā
Silence reigned.
A moment later, they heard gun shot and shouts. Curiosity getting the best of him, Dave rushed forward, going to investigate.
āNo!ā Nick tackled him to the ground. He pushed his brotherās shoulder firmly to the ground while Dave wiggled under his weight. āYou canāt just go check things out, you could be killed!
The girl pulled the phone back out, gestured at it, and after having it unlocked again, wrote that # 1 Nick was right. The man didnāt care about who he hurt in the distraction, and # 2, she had already been to the police. They didnāt care one bit about the book scheme, they just wanted to get rid of the robots.The distraction was working.
She stopped, seemed to think for a moment, then typed that she had only after the attack not been able to speak. She pointed to her mouth and indicated that she thought that some type of restrictive device had been put there. She thought again and then said that the robot had been waiting outside the police station, and had followed her, and that it seem that the police had been ignoring it. Could they be in on the crime, or were the robots invisible to them?
David reached into his pocket to get the keychain flashlight that he always kept there, in hopes of finding what was preventing her from speaking. As he did, he felt a piece of paper. In a flash, he remembered. Someone was in trouble. He pulled it out and handed it to Nick.
Nick turned to him and said, āThings are just too dangerous. We just canāt do anything about any of this.ā
āAre you saying that we will leave the police to save the city, even though it seems like the problems are invisible to them?ā David replied.
āThatās right, a few books, even a few people arenāt worth getting killed over. The Bible says that every life was worth it to Jesus to die for. Life is precious. But how about a compromise, letās go back to the house and weāll bring out some technology of our own!ā
When they arrived back at the house, Nick instantly felt something was amiss. Not wanting to frighten the young girl anymore than she already was, he left David to escort her to the kitchen and he poked his head in the living room.
He didnāt know what he was expecting, but it wasnāt this.
Trying unsuccessfully to keep from sounding frantic or worried, he called for David. Because David was already nervous, he spun around, arms flailing. One made solid contact with the girlās back. A small electric device came flying out of her mouth and clattered to the floor. Catching her before she fell to the hard tile, he sat down on the kitchen chair that was nearest him and pulled the girl onto his lap, asking if he had knocked the breath out of her. She weakly answered āyesā out loud!
Nick quickly went to the sink to get her a drink, while David tried to talk to her. After Nick gave the water to the girl, he picked up the device to investigate it. But as he was investigating it, a rock with a note attached came flying through the window! David quickly set the girl down on a chair, and ran to pick up the rock. Then, all of the sudden, he gasped!
āNick, come here, you have to see this!ā He exclaimed breathlessly. Nick came running, sat down next to the girl and impatiently exclaimed, āWell, what does it say?ā
David read the note out loud, it saidā¦
ā94723ā followed by a long string of squiggles.
āCodeā¦ā Nick breathed, reaching for it. He smoothed the grimy strip of paper, a can label, obviously hastily torn for the message.
āCan you make any sense of it?ā
For several long seconds, there was no reply, then Nick looked up. The worry etched in his eyes slowly lit with hope.
ā94723!ā He exclaimed with delight. āThose are the first 5 numbers of the address for the library! That must be where they plan to attack next!ā
āIf thatās trueā said David, ā Then we need to get there fast! But how? The library is like, four miles away!
āWe canāt go there, it wouldnāt be safe. We have seen that this man is ruthless. For all we know, this message is a trap. We canāt get into a dangerous position, or nobody will save the books. Now, do you know what this is?ā David asked.
āWhy of course, itās a remote control quadcopter. How is that going to help?ā Nick replied.
āWell, this isnāt just your run-of-the-mill drone. I have installed a fully rotational arm and live video feed. I will fly it in there through an upper window and lock the door from inside. That will give us time to get some of the slower equipment there. This is going to be a tough flight, and I havenāt even tested the arm yet.ā
āLetās do it!ā Nick said.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a evil looking young man was sitting in a private office at the top story of a skyscraper. Three of the four walls were completely covered with computer monitors, and with graphs and charts giving him the information on how his programs were running. He sat back in his chair and spun around and around, taking in the view before he rolled the chair over to a desk and started typing.
āLetās see here, everything is going fine, except for those two pesky flies, so to speak, that keep destroying my robots. I only have 5 left! And the library is locked. What will I do? Wait, do I catch a small hint of a remote control signal? Computer, enable spectrum analysis!ā
āEnabled.ā
A new graph filed on of the few previously vacant screens.
āLooks like my āfliesā are flying some equipment. Well computer, override signal.
************
āAh, just what we wanted!ā David said.
āYou wanted to crash your drone ?ā Nick replied.
āNo, but our book-destroyer has given us his address. Computer! Active geometrical radio signal trace.ā
The mission had started: mission save the books: code name Pizza Box. Well, that might have been a temporary code name. The plan? Stop the bad guys. But other than that, they had no idea.
David took out a small device from the drawer, about the same size as a drinking glass. āWe need to get this into his building, as close to his floor as possible.ā He said.
āWhat is it?ā Nick asked.
āIt is sort of an electronic bomb. It wonāt explode, rather it will destroy all electronic equipment within about a thousand foot radius. It removes all programming from them, rendering them useless.ā
āWow, that must be complicated to make.ā
āActually, it is the simplest thing in this room. Now, what we need to do is get it in there. I canāt use any remote controlled things because he would pick up on the signal I will go in myself. Once I have it detonated, you get the then-to-be undistracted policemen in to arrest him.ā
āDavid, why are you willing to put your life in danger? You have been warning me about how dangerous this is for a long time, and yet you are intentionally putting yourself in harms way? Why?ā
āJesus died for me, so I am not afraid of death. I know that he died for all people, why should I not die to save so many lives? Besides, I believe that God will protect me.ā
āWell then,ā replied Nick. āLetās go!ā
****************************************
Half an hour later they were at the bottom of the skyscraper. They rushed inside, and found themselves in a very large room, where they soon located the elevator.
David looked at Nick, āHereās the plan. Iāll go upstairs to place the device, and you stay down here in case anything happens.ā
āSounds good,ā Nick replied.
āOh, and if Iām not back in 5 minutes, get the police!ā David added.
Nick gave David a nervous thumbs up, and David strode into the elevator, pushed #12 and was soon just one floor under the young manās office.
āSo, all I have to do is set the device anywhere on this floor, and it should disable his equipment,ā David said quietly to himself.
āAha!ā He thought, āThatās perfect!ā He put it behind a fake tree, and was heading back towards the elevator, when all of a sudden he heard someone shout, āNo!ā. The man had found out what he had done sooner then planned, and now he needed to get outā¦ fast!
He ran towards the elevator, got in, pushed #1, and waited. But nothing happened! It was stuck!
He pushed the button again. Nothing. The man came closer and closer, and he mad mad. Really mad. David tried desperately to make the elevator work, but to no avail. The evil man ran into the elevator, pulled out a gun, and-
*********************************
āBeep, Beep, Beepā
12 year old Nick moved and turned over in bed, and for a second, wondered where he was. It finally dawned on him. Had all this been a dream? It had seemed so real!
As he got up and got ready for the day, he knew one thing. He was going home from school through his normal route today!
Okay, so I hope you guys aren’t too mad at me for the ending….
But, THANK YOU to everyone who participated! I had sooo much fun doing this!!!
In Christ,
Rosy
Can you think of a name for the story? Do you think I should host another committee story sometime? Are you mad at me for writing that ending??? XD
Rosy's Writings 