Griffin Rock's Secret: A Cody Burns Fanfiction

Chapter 8

A/N: this was a longer chapter than I was initially expecting, but I feel like this story is finally becoming interesting for all you readers. 1391 words :)

Morning couldn't come slower for the Burns family. By the time the first ray of sunlight hit the floor, the family had grabbed provisions, their com links and phones and headed out. All four bots were anxious to find the boy who had been the first human to click with them on Earth. As Graham and Boulder headed toward Doc Green's lab, the others went to search the forest again. Dani and Blades would head northeast, Kade and Heatwave headed south. Chief and Chase planned to search the campsite again, then head west. They all made sure to contact the others at certain times.

As Chase walked behind Chief Burns, he couldn't help but feel as if there was something off about the forest around them. Everything looked right, the trees were healthy and tall, and ground was covered in spatters of green foliage, and the sky was quite visible through the tree leaves. The campsite had no clues like last time, other than that another tent was set up, the inhabitants blissfully sleeping in the early morning.

Chief was focused on calling his son's name and looking under bushes and thick plant leaves for any traces of his son. The rain had left the ground very muddy, and the forest smelled wet and fresh. If Cody or the kidnapper were out in the forest, the mud could help them find their tracks. The downside to the mud was that they also left tracks, which could alert the kidnapper of their presence first. If they were still on Griffin Rock.

The late afternoon was approaching as Chief walked under a low hanging tree branch, and he called out Cody's name again. However, this time, there was another sound that followed after it. A distant scream that sent the hairs on Chief Burns neck and arms prickling upward. He recognized that scream.

"Cody!" He yelled, sprinting toward the sound as Chase notified the others.

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The morning couldn't come slower. Cody had spent the rest of the night huddled in a corner of the makshift tent, forcing his eyes to stay open, hugging his knees to himself. As the rain passes, and sunlight began to filter in through the leaves of the thick canopy outside, Cody's stomach growled in displeasure. He was very hungry, and figured that it should be okay to at least step outside of his tent for a few minutes.

As he stretched his body, Cody couldn't help but feel as if he had stepped into some sort of magic forest. The trees were wet with dew, and they shimmered with the faint gossamer webs that decorated their bark. The sunlight fell down in rays across the wet, green forest floor, and Cody breathed in the fresh air. He was mostly dry, a bit damp on the back, but otherwise alright. Something weighed down in his jacket pocket, and he pulled out his phone.

He gasped in surprise as the idea that he could find his way out exploded in his mind. He turned on the phone, and his excitement turned into disappointment as he realized that he had no internet connection, and his battery was only at 10%. He powered down the phone to conserve battery, then listened for the sound of the stream. He turned to his left and headed that way, making sure to try and mark his way using sticks or stones on the ground to form arrows that pointed towards the sound of the stream.

As the morning grew brighter, and the mist fell away, Cody realized that in certain parts of the thicker forest the mist wasn't dispersing. At one point, as Cody turned a corner and the sounds of the stream grew louder, he thought he caught a glimpse of something leaping across a gully to his right. However, when he turned to try and see what it was, there was nothing but a squirrel sitting on a rock on the edge of the gully.

Cody turned another corner, and there was the stream. Trees framed the sky and water bed, the sun had a clear path to hit the water, and Cody felt a sense of calm wash over him. Water raced through the stream bed, which widened into a small river that, in the distance, Cody could hear a waterfall downstream. He still couldn't figure out where he was, but he knew that if he followed the stream uphill, he would end up at Mount Griffin. He turned left to follow the stream and froze his his tracks.

The creature was bent over the stream, lapping up water with its tongue. Here, with the sunlight shining onto it, Cody could see just how big it was. It was supporting a paw on a rock in the water, but Cody could only see the stone under the water. The fur was all white, with dark grey streaks here and there, matted across the body. The body was long and muscular, and he watched as the barrel like chest heaved up and down as the creature drank. It had a pair of horns like a bull protruding from its head, curving down and forward to frame it's face, and it's tail almost reminded Cody of a lions except it was covered in hanging, matted white fur.

Its face was so lion like that Cody had to remind himself that this thing had horns that could skewer him like a kebab. Its ears were pointed like a cat's, and twitched as it drank with its huge pink tongue. Its claws were huge, bigger than Cody's hand, and they dug into the ground as the creature lunged forward to snatch a fish from the stream. The fish's silver scales shone in the sunlight, then vanished as the creature snapped up its meal, two long fangs protruding from its mouth of sharp teeth.

Cody slowly backed up, hoping that he could head back to the path that he had made to get to the stream and find another way to get to Mount Griffin. He was just about to get into the trees when the sound of a branch breaking behind him cause him to freeze. The creature's head snapped up, ears perked up and alert, eyes staring directly at the spot in front of where Cody was.

A gloved hand covered Cody's mouth, and he was pulled into a hidden door disguised as stone as the creature came closer. The door shut and the gloved hand was removed from his mouth. However, a blue force field surrounded the boy, causing him to float in the center. A man dressed in safari clothes, holding what looked to be like a giant tranquilizer gun, was standing next to a tiki face robot who was maintaining the force field.

"Who are you?" Cody asked from the force field bubble, trying to get a sense of balance from floating. The man looked at Cody before walking up to the bubble, gun in hand.

"I'm Quint Quarry, and I'm here to take that thing to my island." The man said, a thick accent layering his words. Cody looked at him.

"I've heard of you," Cody said, trying not to flip over in the bubble. "You're the guy who takes animals and hunts them for fun on a private island! But, you're not supposed to be here. You were banned from Griffin Rock."

"You bet I was. But with this thing here, there ain't no way I'm letting anyone keep me away from it." The hunter snarled at the boy as the words left his mouth. Cody tried to back up, but he had no friction or gravity to aid him, so he simply spun upside-down. Quarry laughed, and snapped his fingers. The tiki face robot headed towards the door, Cody in tow. Three other tiki face robots came from the shadows, one of them carrying a long rope cord, wrapped up and tied neatly.

"Now, I'm going to catch that creature. And you're coming with me. I needed some bait anyway."