What happens at dusk

Finding Nemo

Brooke
Brooke had seen guns before and she'd been in bad situations before but never had she ever felt this kind of rush.
It was like every nerve of her body was electrifyed.
If she hadn't been so damn scared she'd find it an amazing feeling.
Hayley who noticed Mike was still behind ran back and grabbed his hand.
Honestly there was no group feeling occurring in Brooke yet she kept her eye on James and turned her head every now and then to watch behind her.
Well it didn't look well behind her.
Hayley's face looked a tomato and Mike looked like he had drunk two bottles of alcohol.
Oh wait.
He HAD drunk two bottles of alcohol.
Anyway, that in combination with his injury caused his to stumble around like a newborn giraffe on roller skates.
Her ragged breath fearfully left her lungs as she ran.
At first it felt like she was flying. The wind brushed her hair as she jumped over a dead tree. The fear made her light a like a feather.
Unfortunately this free yet bound feeling began to feel heavy as she ran more and more.
The adrenaline was like a fire, usefully and energetic at first but got after a while tiring and heavy.
The warmth crept in every cell of her body. Sweat already covered her back and she felt like she had the flue.
She couldn't run anymore and yet the footsteps of her chaser that echoed through the Forrest kept her going.
But not for long.
She knew that damn well.
She wasn't strong nor was she fast so both fighting and fleeing weren't options.
In this case she had to be smart.
But how?

Let's just say 'ignore it and it will go away' does not count for for being chased by an illegal bird smuggler. Well, there goes plan A.
Luckily for Brooke, before she could make up any more of her useless plans James in front of her stopped.
She turned around to Hayley who had spontaneously turned into a lobster and Mike who was about to puke all over the place.
As James would say: Oh dear.
She was panting so much she couldn't speak properly anymore.
It sounded somewhat like. "Www dd we sssop."
"What?" James asked.
"No, shush. It speak panting Brooke fluently. She's asking why we stopped," Mike announced as he almost fell over.
"Oh. Well, you now there is a GIANT river over there," James shouted.
"Oh dear," Hayley mocked him dryly.
Brooke gulped:"I cant swim."

"What?!" Her three friends asked/yelled.
"I was kind of glued to another person for most of my life you know," she acknowledged.
"In context of swimming I am more handicapped then Dori and Nemo combined!"
"Oh no. That's not only in swimming context, Love," James commented.

The four were startled by the footsteps of their chaser which suddenly sounded very nearby.
"Get on my back," James instructed Brooke. Without hesitation she followed his orders.
The combination of the wind, the rain, the ice cold water and the fear caused Brooke to almost go into shock.
The water was a terrifying gray. It was a threatening pole of swirling water that could drown her any moment.
The steam was horrible.
"Now I know how Alexander Supertramp felt in into the wild when he tried to cross the river in spring," James commented while trying not to drown.
Not that the others were doing better. Mike looked like a dog in a fail video and Hayley made spastic movements trying to stay afloat.
Suddenly Mike went under.
"I can't see him were is he!" James shouted.
Hayley's eyes fell on small orange strain just a few feet away from her.
With all the power she had Hayley pulled him back up. "Hang in there, Nemo," she groaned.
Brooke held on to James tightly almost choking him and trembled like a leaf. She crept whispering:"Just keep Swimming, Just-..."
Hayley noticed her fear and started to hush and comfort her.
That was what got her through the swim.
Not that she did any swimming.

The shouts of evil smugglers sounded, soon followed by a splash.
Immediately after exiting the water they started run again.
Brooke tripped and due to her already ripped jeans, she scraped her knee.
She crawled up again.
A huge relief came to her when Hayley groaned:" I can't anymore."
Her respect for Hayley had grown by the minute during this 'run'. Not only did she ran herself she dragged Mike along with her.
Above that she had gotten her out of the water.
"Let's hide!" She suggested.
They ran to the nearest tree.
Hayley fitted her small frame in the hollow part of the tree.
Mike crashed in a bush near the tree.
Brooke hid behind the tree, in between its large roots. She could see James panicking.
The tension rose as they heard the smuggler get out of the water.
"Get in the tree!" Brooke whisper yelled to James.
"No! My fear of heights!" He whisper yelled back.
"Just do it, damnit!" She nearly screamed.
He finally obeyed and pulled himself up on a branch.

An ice cold voice sounded through the woods:" Hey kids, I don't want any trouble,"
Yeah right, Brooke thought to herself.
"I see you have gone to hiding. Sucks, I love a good chase. You are a bunch a little kids aren't you. Do you want to play hide and seek?" He asked in a high voice.
Brooke wanted to growl but knew she shouldn't make any sounds.
She bit her tongue when her knees started to burn badly. It were just a small flesh wounds but it still hurl like a b*ch. All the skin of her knees had been peeled of and even her elbows had taken a hit.

The smuggler started to move in their direction and Brooke knew she'd be the first to be seen. "Oh were are you," his voice mocked.
Damn, she wanted to punch him in the nose so badly. If it came to it she wasn't going down easy. Five more steps and he would find her.
One...two...three.-
Suddenly she was yanked up by James, just when the smuggler found her hiding spot.
She felt James breath out next to her.
That was close.
An instant later and they would have been caught.
After a while the smuggler finally disappeared of eyesight. Everyone breathed again.
They sat there in silence for about five minutes straight until Hayley got up.
Brooke had begun shivering uncontrollably as the cold generated through her body.
The cold water and the chilly November weather didn't do any good either.
They got home in silence (again) and she claimed the shower.
Praying Mikes mum would wake up to find her bleeding, exhausted and half dead in the shower. Not to forget she'd also be naked.
She slowly slit onto the floor of the shower, the hot water hitting her back.
She was sour in every muscle, even muscles who she didn't know even existed.
When she was finally on the floor she cried.
It was just the stress and the trauma that left her body.
Hot tears mixed with the shower water and the gushing sound dimmed her sobbing.
After about thirty minutes later she was done and got back into the room after dressing herself.
"Why does my bathroom look like someone let the goddess of chaos loose over there?" Mike asked.
"I AM the goddess of chaos," Brooke commented seemingly unaffected by his judgement.
James burst out laughing while Hayley used the opportunity to sneak into the bathroom, clever as she was.

The next morning all four teens were but a shell of what they had been the previous day. Dark bags under there eyes and slow movements.
On the morning table Brooke couldn't help but notice Mike indeed kind of resembled Nemo.
His blond hair, practically orange, the fact that ,although no was wanted to admit it, he was handicapped and he was just about as stubborn as the fish. She giggled at her realisation.

"Good morning!" Kate sounded way to happy and everyone cringed at the loud sound.
"Do I want to know what you guys did yesterday night?" Mikes father, Eric asked.
Kate started to scold them but was interrupted by Eric who said he was the same at that age and then started telling old stories.
Basically every person in the room wanted him to shut up, which Mike then announced to him ... not so subtly.

Come on guys let's pack your bags, Mike said. They went upstairs and Mike quickly grabbed one of his hidden bird books.
"Look at this. This was one of the bird I recognised from yesterday. It's extremely rear and worth millions!" He exclaimed pointing to the picture.
"Uhh Guys, shouldn't we be worried about ourselves. I mean trespassing and obstruct of justice are two heavy felonies. Aren't we going to get arrested?" Brooke asked.
"They'd expose them self's if they did that," Hayley explained.
"Ok guy! Let's make a plan so we can bust their asses!"