The Horsemen (NaNoWriMo 2017)

Chapter Two - Famine

Jeoffrey hid under a blanket in his house. "I'm going to be murdered."

"Come on, brah. You'll be fine."

"I'm going to be fucking murdered. He knows where we live, he knows who I am..." He was about five seconds away from crying and rocking back and forth and curling up in a ball in the corner.

Brian slapped him on the back. "You'll be fine, m'dude." He stood up and reached into the mailbox and open the newspaper. "There'll be some good news in here." Brian leafed through the paper, Alan reading over his shoulder. Jeoffrey shielded his eyes.

"Oh, fuck," Brian said as he turned the newspaper around.

There it was. That was what he'd been waiting for.

"We're going to be blamed for this, aren't we?" Brian groaned.

GAIA STONE STOLEN FROM CASTLE

"Yep!" said Alan.

Jeoffrey just stared into space and smiled and nodded, because he was the one who was going to cop the most shit for this. Because he was Jeoffrey.

Fucking Jeoffrey, Jeoffrey thought to himself.

And, in this case, 'copping shit' would mean getting murdered.

"Alright, it's been nice knowing you both, but I think it is time for me to fake my death and go live somewhere far, far away." Jeoffrey stood up and wrapped the blanket around himself.

"Brah! You serious?" Alan asked.

"Yep. One hundred percent. I'm leaving, I'm running away, I'm-"

"I'm coming with you," said Brian.

"Saaaaaame," said Alan. "We're friends, brah. We're good friends. If you're running, we're running too."

"It's not like I want to leave." Jeoffrey dropped the blanket. "You guys stay here and wait for either my death, or my return."

"Wow, negative much," Brian said. "Wait. What if we find the stone and bring it back? Everyone thinks we did it anyway, so maybe if we return it..."

Jeoffrey shoved clothes into a bag. "Well. You can do that. I'm just going to run. I don't feel like dying."

Brian copied Jeoffrey. "I'm coming with you."

There was no escape from their dumbassery. Jeoffrey sighed. He didn't really have a choice, then, did he?

Alan slung a bag over his shoulder. "Yeah the boys."

Jeoffrey, Alan, and Brian fled their town in the early morning to do what they thought was going to be a normal few years on the run. An average, boring, fugitive-icy.

They were to soon find out they were very, very, very, very wrong.

After several days of walking and taking several midnight horse rides, Jeoffrey and co. stumbled across a cave in the middle of fucking nowhere. It didn't look like anyone was living there, because it was, as previously stated, in the middle of fucking nowhere.

Jeoffrey dumped his bag on the floor and sat against the wall. Finally somewhere they could rest. Properly. He'd slept a few times in the past few days, but also, he hadn't slept well, and he had slept in fear of being found.

Outside the cave was a forest sort of thing, with trees and leaves and grass. They were somewhere in the mountains somewhere, but honestly, he barely remembered half the journey there.