Cyrus Noble Chapter 8

Once we left the dam, we just just started wandering. We travelled for three days towards nowhere. We were settling down for camp at the end of the third day. Jazz said, "This isn't working, Cyrus." I spun around from the finished tent and said, "What? We just got everything set up." She rolled her eyes. "Not what I meant. We can't just wander around across wherever we are and just hope we find a cave or something. Winter will be here before we know it. We need to find a town, get a map, and find some decent shelter of some sort." I thought about this. She was right. As usual. I said, "Arsenal, do you know what's the closest town here?" Arsenal straightened and stared out into the air in front of him. He droned in an electronic buzz, "Public satellite cameras show that closest town is Orlandoville. Due East by half a mile." He pointed to the woods next to him. It wasn't dark yet. Still light. I said, "Viktor, you're in charge. Jazz, you're with me." Megan perked up. "Where are you guys going?" I said, "We're just going into a nearby town and getting a map. We should be back by dark. If we aren't back before morning, then just go on without us." Great. That's leaving off on a cheery note. I said, "But that's very unlikely to happen. Right Jazz?" She looked at me like, "What?" I sighed. "C'mon Jazz. Let's go." We started walking in the direction Arsenal told us. Neither of us talked much. To be honest, I didn't know what to say. We both seemed too different. I didn't see anything to talk about. Plus, she wasn't exactly trying to start up conversation so...... We made it to the town. When it came into view, Jazz said, "Try not to kill anything." I wasn't laughing. "No promises." I responded. I didn't think that we would be getting hungry while we were out. We left our camping stuff back with the others. When Jazz mentioned this, I did a mental face palm. "Crap. I forgot. What are we going to do?" Jazz looked around and bit her lip. "We could.....pocket some money." As she said it, I noticed a purse on a bench. Nobody was standing by it. I walked by and picked it up while walking into an alley; knowing Jazz was close behind me. I opened it up and started to dig around. Jazz said, "Cyrus, I'm not to sure about this." I ignored her. "It's fine." I said, "If money was so unimportant that the lady would leave it, then we deserve it more than she does." She bit her lip some more. "I guess." That's when I heard a lady going around outside of the alley. "Has anyone seen my purse? I left it here just a second ago. Please? Has anyone seen it? I left everything I had in that purse!" Jazz and I made eye contact. Before I could say anything she grabbed the purse and left the alley. I made a silent curse. I just found the wallet in that thing too. She walked out and looked around. She walked off to her right and said, "Excuse me mam, is this what your looking for?" I could hear the excitement in the woman's voice. "Oh, yes! Thank you so much. Here, you deserve this." "Oh. Uh. Thank you. It was no problem, really." She walked back into the alley and flashed the ten dollars she had in her hands in my face. "Let's just get something to eat, get a map, and get outta here."