The Lakeshire Hunt

CHAPTER 14: Michael to the Rescue

On the other hand, Michel and Cassidy followed the riverbank to the left. At first, they hid behind a huge boulder, fronting the river. “Uhhhm…Mike?” Cassidy slowly called out. Holding her g*n closely to her chest, Cassidy tried the best she can to be brave. She has always had this feeling of being a burden to the team as she is, in her belief, the weakest amongst the members, Thus, everytime she is given a task, especially the challenging ones, she tried to act brave. “Yeah? Are you ok?” Michael responded. Michael on the other hand, has always been very poor in hiding his feelings, especially towards Cassidy. Wow. He is so obvious. He’s not even shy about it. He doesn’t care what we think or what others may think. In fact, he already acts as if they are a couple, even though he had never courted Cassidy and Cassidy has not been showing any response to his feelings. He just really loves Cassidy so much, he wants to keep her comfortable and safe. “Uhh… yeah, I’m all good…I just think, we need to find another place to stay...cuz I think the opposing members will be able to easily spot us here.” Cassidy suggested. “Oh! Right! Yeah…good thinking Cass…uhm let’s climb up that tree.” Michael responded. Michael pointed at a really tall tree. It’ll take about a few minutes to get to the top. “Ohhhh…wow. That is one massive tree…and uhhh…I am so sorry…but I uhhh…” Cassidy hesitated. She was looking like she was still thinking about what to say, still holding her g*n tightly close to her. “What?” Michael curiously asked. “Are you scared of heights?” He added, looking at Cassidy straight to the eyes. Cassidy shyly nodded. “That and more…uhhmmm…” She added. “What do you mean more?” Michael wondered. Cassidy walked closed to Michael and whispered to his left ear. “I can’t climb trees…”. “You can’t what?” Michael coughed. Michael thought it was really funny. I would think so too like come on. How old are we? Hahaha. But since, he likes Cassidy so much, he tried to hold his laughter, pretending to cough instead of laughing. He’s afraid he’d upset her and she wouldn’t talk to him anymore. “Alright…well, let’s just stay here. Don’t worry, I’ve got your back…and I won’t let anything happen to you.” He assured her, having this serious look on his face. They stared at each other’s eyes. Cassidy stared at Michael’s eyes coldly, you know…as if with no malice. I bet this girl had never liked anyone yet. I mean, how can she not notice that Michael has a thing for her. Michael on the other hand looked at her as if she’s the only precious thing in the world. Then he suddenly remembered that she couldn’t climb a tree. He suddenly smirked and looked like he is just about to laugh out loud. “Excuse me...” He coughed. He stood and left Cassidy by the boulder. She still looked directly at Michael as he stood and left. He stopped by the riverbank and started talking to himself. You know…when a crazy person suddenly stops and starts pointing at things and saying things. Michael looks exactly like that, minus the pointing part. He looks more of like getting mad at himself with the hand gestures and all. “Pull yourself together Mike. You’ll upset her. Just keep it cool.” He told himself. He definitely took some time to self-reflect. He didn’t even notice someone stakling them from nearby. He hid from behind the trees looking rather delighted to see Cassidy all by herself. I can tell he’s a he because of how his silhouette looks. He had this scary grin on his face. He moved from one tree to another, as if he couldn’t wait to strike. Cassidy just squatted low from behind the boulders and tried the best she can to look around confidently. She takes her job pretty seriously. She looked at movements from bushes and trees but she can only sense the wind. It’s definitely difficult to catch anyone at this hour as it gets pretty windy when it gets darker. She had this scary look on her face when she started to hear rustles from behind her, there’s one in front and by her sides. She feels like it’s everywhere. She pointed her paintball g*n at the bushes nearby then the rustle sounds started to move behind her. She tried to follow the rustling sounds and points her g*n to the direction of the sound. As she got so confused, she stood on her feet and started to listen closely to the rustling sound and aims her g*n at it nervously. Michael was just a few kilometers away but she never called for help, but she believes that he’ll be her 2nd captive, so she tried the best she can and focused to getting the person. “You can do this Cass, this is your chance.” She encouraged herself. She is fairly much determined to prove herself worthy of her team’s trust.

A few seconds past and just like that a really fast bullet like something that has a feather on it flew right in front of her. Good thing it didn’t hit her. It just past by her very quickly. A few minutes later she felt dizzy. She dropped her g*n and tried to control her body from moving much. She put her hands on the boulder and tried to stay conscious. Everything seemed crooked and wobbly. As she tried to check her body for any paintball hits she notices that she was hit. Not once but twice. One in the neck and the other on her right chest. But it wasn’t a paintball, as she was expecting. She as unsure what it was but it definitely made her so dizzy and drowsy. Then with all her strength she called for Michael. “Michael!!!” A guy, about 5’9” with a dark brown, buzz cut hairdo approached her and grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stand and tying her hands at her back. “It’s payback day, princess…no one’s coming for you.” He arrogantly said. Cassidy panted hysterically and whispered “Mike…” before passing out. Michael completely had no idea what had happened to Cassidy. But he just suddenly paused as if his instincts are telling him that something was wrong. He looked around as he was trying to listen and observe his surroundings. He held his g*n tightly and prepared to aim. Then he suddenly heard Cassidy. The moment he heard Cassidy calling his name, he immediately ran back to where he had left Cassidy. When he got back, he saw the guy, already carrying Cassidy. He immediately aimed at the guy and threatened. “Put her down! Or I swear I’ll kill you.” The guy slowly turned to face Michael, still carrying an unconscious Cassidy in his arms. Michael tries to control his feelings at the sight on Cassidy. “Alright…Calm down there soldier.” The guy said. Trying to get Michael to relax. “We’re just playing a game here…You captured someone from our team…I’ll tell you what…I’ll give you, this sleeping beauty if you release him.” He bargained. “You’re a coward! You’re playing against the rules i***t! You can’t take hostages or bargain for your teammate’s freedom…I’ll tell you what…I won’t tell anyone of this. That way, you won’t embarrass your team…Just let Cassidy go.” Michael negotiated. From a distance, Dan saw everything that had happened and tried to sneak from behind the hostage taker. As soon as he got close enough, he tried to get Michael’s attention. Which of course he was able to do so quickly. Come on, it’s hard not to see Dan immediately…he’s humungous. Michael made eye contact with Dan, who was just right behind the hostage taker. He made hand gestures to show Michael his plan. Surprisingly Michael immediately understood it. These people are just amazing. He didn’t respond to Dan’s gestures to avoid the hostage taker from thinking Michael has other teammates around. “Well, if I can’t negotiate with you. Alright…I’ll stick by the rules…so I’m taking your princess with me.” He firmly said with a smirk on his face. As soon as he was about to leave. Dan immediately jumped from behind him and tackled him. The guy immediately dropped poor Cassidy on the Rocky River bank floor. Michael immediately aimed at the guy and shot him, making him the team’s 2nd capture. Dan immediately performed a wristlock on him to make sure he won’t get away. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” The captive screamed in pain. Dan kept the captive locked in a wristlock position as he cautiously grabbed his rope. As expected he tried to resists but as soon as he realized that he has been shot, he immediately stopped and calmed down. “Oh man! So not fair!” He complained. Michael immediately attended to Cassidy. He checked her for injuries and checked her pulse. “How is she Mike?” Dan asked as he tied the captives’ hands together. He made sure to tie his hands securely as this captive is capable of running away. “Come on! She’s ok! She’s just unconscious.” The captive defended. Michael immediately stood in anger and shouted. “What did you do to her?!” He was so mad he was about to attack the captive. Dan had to restrain him. “What do you think of me? A murderer?! I used a tranquilizer dart at her.” The captive calmly responded. “Alright, that’s it. Let’s go back to camp, it’s getting late.” Dan commanded. He blew his whistle to signal me and Aisha to get back to camp. “That’s the signal. They might’ve already captured another captive.” Aisha excitedly exclaimed as she stood up. I stood up as well and brushed the dead leaves off of my pants and shirt. “Yeah…we better head back.” I added. We both grabbed our guns and immediately crossed the river, pretty much excited to sleep. Michael scooped Cassidy and carried her back to camp as Dan grabbed the captives’ arm, dragging him to walk. They all went back ahead of us.