Before Tai and Cody met, the two white 15-passenger vans stopped at a roadside park outside of Keystone. The ropes around Mimi and Kari's appendages were untied. "Hullo, Kari," said Mimi. "So you've come along too?" "Don't talk to each other!" commanded Liposuction Victim #1. The Liposuction Victims had gotten into another fight with the Plastic Surgery Victims about ... something. Then, all the Plastic Surgery Victims got into one of the 15-passenger vans and drove off. Soon, they came back. "Had to make sure orders were carried out," said Plastic Surgery Victim #29. "God, this belt is cutting into my skin," whispered Kari. She unbuckled it and tossed it onto the gound. "Stupid, low-cut jeans." She looked up when she heard a growl. Well, the growl of an automobile, or several ... of some kind. They were motorcycles. No, crotchrockets. Kari was doubtful. They didn't look like Plastic Surgery Victims ... And then there were gunshots. Plenty of them. Kari had thought she'd grown used to the loud decibals, but apparantly, she had not. Mimi dragged Kari under the picnic table. "We have to get out of here," she whispered. "There's a forest back there ..." A Plastic Surgery Victim was under the table. He started rubbing their backs. "Where is it?" The Tongue Ring, thought Kari. He thinks we have it! "It's not that easy to find," she said. "Find what?" He stopped touching them. Kari didn't answer him. She started to laugh. An infectious laugh. Like a cackle. "Nothing, precious." He grabbed them and ran to the forest, dragging them like tater sacks. Then a bullet pierced his head. Blood spurted onto Kari and Mimi, and the Plastic Surgery Victim fell on his face in the snow. "Look!" said Mimi. "The forest's close. Run!" They two girls ran as hard and fast as they could, in the knee-deep snow, in broad daylight. "Why don't they see us?" wondered Kari. "Who cares? Run!" They stopped when they were under cover of the woods, and started walking. "Where are we?" asked Kari. "The Black Hills," said Mimi. "Look at the beards on these trees!" "Trees don't have beards, pothead." "Well, I know I do," said a deep voice. "Who said that?" asked Kari. "Me. Up here." Both girls looked up, but all they could see was trees. "Mimi," whispered Kari. "Does that tree have eyes?" Mimi spoke to the tree. "And you're a ... ?" "Um ... a tree. Haven't you seen a tree before?" A pair of green eyes was now visible. "Yes!" Mimi grew indignant. "Just ... not talking trees." "What's you name?" asked Kari. "Trees don't have names," said Mimi. "Just call me Tree," said ... Tree. He reached down two long arms and picked up the girls with his twiggy fingers. "You poked me!" said Mimi, rubbing her hand. "How is Joe?" asked Tree. "Did you know him?" Kari tried to rearrange herself in his hand, but every place was poky. "What? Sure I know him." Tree's trunk seemed to split in two and his legs kind of walked. I suppose it would be hard to walk when you can't bend. "Why do you speak of Joe in the past tense?" "Because he died," said Mimi. Tree did not speak, but continued walking. "OK, whatever," he said at last. "You can rest and have lunch at my house." "Hey, you're getting bark all over me!" exclaimed a disgusted Mimi. "That's generally what trees are made of," said Tree. The Orange Grand Am was entering Denver. Kat was starting to panic. "Now how do we find the way?" "CAC will show you," said CAC. "We are looking for 70. Past 76. Past 36." They found it pretty soon and headed east on I-70. The road was pretty uneventful for a couple hours. "Turn here," said CAC, pointing to the Glenwood Springs exit. "A little early to go camping," mentioned Sora. "Maybe we can go to Hot Springs!" said Kat. "No!" said CAC from the backseat. "Don't follow the tourist attractions, or little girls will be lost and become an attraction themselves." "Are you saying we're ugly?" asked Sora, angrily. "No, no. Pretty girls." CAC slunk back into his seat, smiling warily. "What do you need help with?" Cody was still glaring at the passengers in the Aviator. "Well," said Tai," we're following two 15-passenger vans full of Plastic Surgery Victims and Liposuction Victims. Have you seen them?" Cody smirked and looked back at his friends. "Yeah, we've seen 'em. Killed 'em too.Your fancy shmancy knock-off of an SUV was just too slow, I guess." "What about our friends?" asked Matt. "All we saw were Plastic Surgery Victims and Liposuction Victims," said Cody, putting his helmet back on. "But then again, I don't know what kind of people you're friends with, so ..." He shrugged. "They're buried in the falling snow if you'd like to go search." He got back on his crotchrocket. "You didn't tell me what you were doing in Wyoming." Tai sighed. "Fine. I confess. It is my intention to commandeer this ship, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, and plunder for our ... uh ... ourselves." "I said no lies!" "No, you didn't." "Enough with the movie cameos!" cried Matt. "We're sick of it!" "I'm rather enjoying it," said TK. He turned to Cody. "Are you in cahoots with Card Sharp?" "No. Never have and never will be. He wanted to take some of our Ferraris a couple of years back, but we wouldn't let Him. So He had to settle for some pre-owned Mustangs. But right now, we're concerned with Ken. He used to be a great Nerd." He spoke to some people in his group. Then he turned back to Tai. "We have two crotchrockets for you. Their previous riders fell off them." "How were they taking them with them?" asked Matt. "How are we going to ride them?" asked TK. "It's winter, and we have an Aviator." Tai got out and opened the trunk. He folded down the backseat and shoved TK's middle seat forward. "I suppose they'll fit." Two of Cody's guys put the crotchrockets in the back and closed the trunk. "Bye," said Cody, and he and his gang drove off. Tai got back in the Aviator. "Let's go find those girls." They drove down the road until they saw a white 15-passenger van on its side at a roadside park. Some of the snow was stained red. "I sure hope nobody sees us here with all these dead bodies," said Matt, getting out of the Aviator. "I'd kind of like to not go to prison." Tai also got out and stood on the picnic table. "There's fooprints over there," he said. "Of course there's footprints," said TK. Tai jumped off the table. "No, they're smaller. And have shoes on them." "Then they're shoeprints." "Shut up," said Tai. "Look." He picked up a silver belt out of the snow. He followed the shoeprints. They led him to the edge of the forest. "They went into the Black Hills." "Why'd they go in there?" asked TK. "Because it's awesome," said Matt. He walked into the thick of the trees. "I'm not going in there," said TK. Tai grabbed him and pulled him along. "You can show me the Jewel Cave now," said Matt. "Now?" "Later." He stopped and smelled the air. "The air is so close in here." "Because there's trees all around you!" said TK. "Just follow the footprints," said Tai. "Shoeprints." TK studied the snow-covered ground. "What are those prints?" asked Matt. Tai and TK came over to look. Tai cocked his head sideways. "Eh ..." "Gah, I can't see," said TK, shielding his eyes. "The sun is too bright." "That's not the sun," said Matt. "Ken," whispered Tai. He reached for his pockets. "My UZI Submachine Gun! It's in the Aviator!" He pulled out his Superglued Knife. Matt took out his small-caliber handgun. TK whipped out the contraptions on his Swiss Army Knife. The light got closer. Tai threw the Superglued Knife, TK sent the Swiss Army Knife spinning, and Matt tried to fire his gun, but had left the safety on. The Superglued Knife and Swiss Army Knife ricocheted off Ken. "What the?" Tai watched the light fade away, exposing ... "Joe?!" TK looked ready to pass out. Joe spoke up. "Who is this Joe you speak of? When the bridge fell, I hung on and climbed up it, a la 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.' When I got to the top, all my friends had left me. Therefore, I deserve to be called 'Joe the Great Hero.'" "We're not calling you that," said Tai, picking up his Superglued Knife. "Hey, we thought you fell," protested Matt. "Don't I feel loved?" Joe said. "Have you seen Mimi and Kari?" asked TK. "Yep. But please, tell me the tale. Where are the others?" So they told him of Izzy's death, and everything that happened after that. "Interesting," said Joe when they were done. "So it is good that Mimi and Kari came along. They are like the flake of snow that rolls into a snowball. I hope they enjoy it." The three guys gave him a strange look. "Say again?" asked Tai. "Listen here," said Joe. "We have a tremendous advantage. The Card Sharp knows how many were in our group and that a girl had the One Tongue Ring. He figured we'd go to Salt Lake City and get someone powerful enough to take His place. He never even imagined that we'd want to destroy it." "And how do you know that?" asked TK. "Because I'm a Nerd." "So, um, Tree?" asked Kari, trying to break the silence. "Are you married? I mean, Trees do get married, right? Do they have baby trees too? Or are you the only talking tree?" "Yes, yes, yes, and no," replied Tree, still walking his unsteady pace. "But the trees of female persuasion have disappeared. If we can't find them, the trees will die." "Why would they die?" asked Mimi. "Do you know how the birds and the bees work?" asked an annoyed Tree. He stopped and let them down. "Here is my house." Kari looked around. "It looks just like the rest of the forest." "What were you expecting? Buckingham Palace?" Tree fell over to sleep. The ground shook and snow flew out from under him. Mimi and Kari dug their way out of the drifts. Tree lifted a long, twiggy finger. "you'll find some Bacardi O3 in that tree." "Bacardi O3?" asked Kari, going over to the tree Tree pointed to. "I've never tried that before." She took one out and took a drink. "It's kind of flavorless. But ... oddly good." She took a longer drink. Mimi came over to her. "Hey, let me try." She took the bottle away and tried a sip. "Kind of orangey." "Gvie that back," said Kari, reaching for the bottle. "Go get your own." Mimi gave the bottle back and looked up at the trees above her. "Kari, remember the forest in New Hampshire?" "What about it?" "The trees! They could move. That whole forest was strange." "You mean, like the bonfire place." "Yeah. Do you suppose they're like Tree?" "What?" Kari was starting to get confused. "Like the talking Tree?" "Yeah. Oh!" Mimi snapped her fingers. "Maybe those trees in New Hampshire are the 'trees of female persuasion' that Tree talked about." Kari thought about that. "Where do you suppose we are? Like, how far did Tree take us?" "322 Tree Paces," mumbled Tree. Both girls looked at him. "Do you think that's like the metric system?" asked Kari. "No, the metric system is evil." Mimi went and found her own Bacardi O3. "These drinks do warm me up though. I don't suppose it's worth going anywhere. Tree created some deep drifts." Tree grumbled. He opened his eyes and looked sideways at them to see the girls. "Hoom, tell me a bedtime story." "Eh ... what?" asked Mimi. "Or just tell me how you got here. You seem like you came from out east." "Maine, actually." Kari went over to Tree and sat next to him. "Would you like the hear the story?" "I asked for it, didn't I?" Mimi also came over. "Don't talk to it, Kari. Don't encourage it." But she didn't listen, and started telling him about everything that happened since October. She was very careful not to mention anything about the Tongue Ring, and Tree asked no questions. When she began talking about Ken, however, he seemed curious. "I always knew Ken was up to something," Tree said. "He used to live out here, and talked to me all the time. Nerds are like that. But then he relocated to Chicago. Ah-ha!" He lifted a long arm. "We will stop him." He grasped onto a tree branch above him and did the same with his other hand. Then he pulled himself up. When he had finally gotten stood up, he sighed. "I am being too hasty. It is easier to say 'stop' than to do it. Tomorrow." He fell over again. Snow covered Mimi and Kari. |
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| The Two Cities part two |