The Voyage(ON HOLD)

Chapter 1

Brown eyes fluttered open with a groan escaping the owner’s lips. Cody Burns sat up and winced as pain radiated through his ribs. He wrapped his arms around them and gazed around, biting his lip. ‘Where am I?’ he thought. With a pained gasp, he shakily stood and stumbled until he was leaning against a large deceased tree. He pressed his com-link.

“D-Dad? Dad, can you hear me? Dani? Kade? Graham?! Anyone?!” he exclaimed, only to be met with static. “No…”

Cody sniffled, his brown eyes taking in the vast forest of trees. He turned around and shakily gasped at the never ending ocean that glistened with the sunlight.

“How did I even get here? Last I remember, I was with the bots and ..and we were at a rescue on the docks…” he whispered.

With a giant sigh, he grew determined. “This is no time to be afraid. I’m going to get myself out of this mess.”

He then set off into the forest, desperate to find someone to help him.

“Cody?! Cody Burns, answer me! Answer me please!” cried the voice of Griffin Rock’s own police chief Charlie Burns. “Please son…”

“We’ll find him dad..” Kade, the oldest, whispered.

“Kade’s right, dad. We’ll find him.” Graham said as he placed a hand on their father’s shoulder.

Charlie looked down and silently nodded, deeply troubled by his youngest’s disappearance. A young woman with pixie short dark brown hair embraced him and closed her eyes.

“Oh dad…” she whispered.

Charlie wrapped his arms around his daughter and screwed his eyes shut. His sons gazed at them with sad eyes.

“Dani, take dad upstairs. He needs some rest.” Kade said softly.

The woman, Dani, nodded silently and gently led their father off. Graham and Kade looked at each other before going down to the bunkar.

“Hey guys…” Kade muttered.

“Is the chief alright?” Boulder, a giant green construction  bot asked.

Graham shook his head.

“Afraid not, bud.” he responded.

“Do you really expect him to be? We lost Cody…” Heatwave growled.

The red fire truck bot punched the ground, desperately trying to hide his sorrow, not knowing that he was doing the exact opposite. Chase, a white and blue police bot, sighed heavily.

“We failed.” he said.

“Guys.. stop beating yourself up. It’s not your fault.” Kade sighed. “We all should have watched him better, but with the rescue….”

“Maybe Dani and I could go back out and look for Cody?!” Blades, the orange helicopter bot enthusiastically offered.

Graham sighed. “You can’t. A snow storm is rolling in and it wouldn’t be safe for anyone to go out there.”

Heatwave growled angrily. “And yet Cody is out there by himself….”

“Once everything calms down, we’ll go look for him. Don’t give up Heatwave.”

The two brothers then left, leaving the bots to themselves as they wallowed in sorrow.

Cody panted heavily as he made his way through the now snow covered forest. His normally peach face was pale with pain and exhaustion.

“I.. I have to keep...k-keep going…” he breathed, his blonde hair swaying with the snowy wind.

With a moan, he sunk to the snowy ground and succumbed to unconsciousness, unaware of the yellow snow boots that unknowingly approached him. Bright amber eyes widened in surprise as the owner gasped, catching sight of him. A girl with short dark brown hair, the locks falling to the middle of her neck, rushed and looked him over. Her pale olive-toned hand gently moved Cody’s blonde hair from his face.