No Place Like Home

Part 15

Dan decided it best if he was the one keeping a look-out tonight, and no way in Hell was he going to fall asleep.

He was not risking the chance of Phil dying again.

It was pretty un-eventful, until Dan heard thunder from somewhere.

He furrowed his brows and stood up, trying to find where the lightning was coming from, as he saw it wasn't coming from the sky.

He walked around and saw it was striking a tree, quite far away.

It wasn't too close for Dan to feel uncomfortable, but it was close enough for Dan to stumble back.

After about 5 more strikes to the top of the tree, it eventually stopped and everything went silent.
"What the Hell?" he mumbled.

Why hadn't he seen this before? Something in the back of his mind warned him it could be a sign of another danger, so he stood for 5 minutes with his axe in his hand.
It wasn't.

Dan sighed and went to sit back down, making sure to remember to tell Phil tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"... And it was striking that tree, there," Dan said as he pointed to the tree.
"That's odd," Phil said and looked at the tree Dan was pointing at. "It doesn't look burnt. And if it was real lightning, then the entire arena would be up in flames right now."
"Maybe it is real," Dan stated. "And the game-maker just adjusted it, so it doesn't burn anything."

Phil paused before saying, "Maybe we should have a closer look."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Dan grabbed onto Phil's arm as he saw Phil walking away. "Take it easy, sunshine. You had a rough day."
"Yeah, and I feel fine now," Phil said. Dan raised his eyebrow and gave a stare.
"I'm not convinced," Dan replied.

Phil rolled his bright eyes, "Look, Dan. I'll admit it, I felt a little rough last night, but I had a long rest, had something to drink, and I'm okay now. And besides, we'll have plenty of time to rest and take care of ourselves when we're out of this Hell-hole. But this could mean something, Dan. This could help us get out of here, both of us. Together."

Dan stared at him, "How?"
Phil sighed and walked forwards, then paused and pointed at the tree, "If lightning, real lightning, strikes that tree every night, then all we need is a coil of wire and an arrow, and this whole arena could be blown to pieces."

Dan raised his eyebrows, "And that's a good thing?"
Phil rolled his eyes again, "Sit down, I have a plan..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dan nodded, "Sounds like a good plan, but areyou sure it's wise? We could be in trouble when we get back then."

"Trouble can be dealt with," Phil replied. "Death can't. And besides, I held upmy end of the deal, and you promised we'd get out of here. Alive."

Dan sighed, "Okay, I trust you."
Phil gave a dazzling, movie-star smile, "Good, now let's go."