Side Thread -- CLOSED

[PNW_Male]

(OOC --- This thread is an introductory conversation between three PCs in another thread. You are free to read if you wish, although it might be more enjoyable to wait until this Side Thread is completed; I will indicate it's completion in the Main Storyline Thread

 

[PNW_Male]

John Taylor meets Finn and Teagan -- Side Thread

John was being very careful as he guided the man down the trail before him. It was difficult enough navigating the undeveloped trail if you had all of your senses and free use of your arms for balance; but to be doing so with a dark hood over your head and your hands tied before you to your waist was nearly impossible. Despite John's attempts to help the man stay balanced, he'd fallen again and again until finally John had been forced to at least remove the bindings to the man's wrists, maintaining control over him with the mad dog-like pole restraint attached to his back, and the promise that if he didn't do as John requested, both he and the girl would be killed.

John had no intention of seriously harming either of the two, let alone killing them. But sometimes a scary threat was more valuable than all the guns in Iraq.

Earlier, at the Portal Site, John had urged the man to identify himself, and then -- after a healthy chuckle at the name he'd given, "Doctor Finn McCool" -- John had rolled the man to his belly and withdrew his wallet, only to find out the man was totally serious.

John had explained to the man that the hood was for his own protection -- "If I show you where you are, I'll have to kill you after", he'd joked -- and that after a short walk, he would remove the hood and explain everything that was going on.

That had been nearly two hours ago, two hours that -- considering the situation -- had felt like ten.

John was actually pleasantly surprised with the way things were going. McCool had insisted on answers about the girl, Teagan, before the walk had begun; but after assurances that no harm was to come to her, or him either, he'd gone relatively quiet for the rest of the long descent to the low lands.

They were just about to the end of the trek when McCool must have begun getting antsy, not necessarily about his safety but primarily about the girl. John was tired, and his head ached from the fall into the chasm earlier, and he wasn't in the mood for any guff.

Before he'd even realized what he'd done, he gave McCool a bit of false advice about the trail ahead and, just as McCool took his next step and found only air, called out, "Remember, it's not the fall that hurts you, but the sudden stop at the bottom."

McCool reacted quickly -- John was actually impressed -- crossing his arms before his face and curling his body protectively into a semi-fetal position. The result was that, six feet later, McCool landed without serious harm in the muddy bog and was able to not only quickly right himself, but strip the hood off his head as well.

John wanted to laugh -- it reminded him so much of the debacle that was his civilian security boot camp experience -- but he suppressed it. It really hadn't been a nice thing to do, and -- now that it was done -- he felt like a real shit.

McCool spit out the mud and muck that had splashed up into the hood, cleared his eyes, and searched, finding John sitting on the edge of the trail above, the shotgun laid across his thighs.

"You did that on feckin' purpose, you great feckin' arsehole!"

Great, another non-English speaker, he thought, recalling his Brit' naturalist lover's constant reminder that American's didn't invent the English language, they'd only mutilated it.

McCool took a moment to glance around -- obviously, and quite expectantly confused -- at his surroundings, then immediately turned back to his primary concern.

"What have you done with Teagan?" Getting no immediately answer he continued, "Where the hell am I...? Why am I here...? And who the hell are you?"

John took a deep breath, released it, and responded to Doctor McCool, "Excellent questions. Excellent questions, one and all."

 

[haremfaery]

Finn woke with a pounding headache and difficulty breathing. He tried to move his hands to his face and found them bound. He couldn't pull them away from his waist. That was went the pain in his body kicked in. He felt like he had been riding a bull and been thrown, and then trampled, then trampled again. He shifted his legs and groaned. It didn't feel like anything was broken. But why the hell was he tied up? And why the burlap hood over his face?

Dear God. Had there been a home invasion? had some sicko come along and knocked him cold? "Teagan!" he yelled again and again. When it seemed clear he would get no answer. He stopped and tried to make a plan. Besides the yelling made his head pound more. He felt a little sick to his stomach.

He wasn't in the barn. There was no barn smell. In fact, it smelled earthy, not barn earthy, but rich green plants earthy. Did someone lock him up in the greenhouse? It was hot and humid. Whoever put him here had removed his coat. He leaned back against whatever was behind him and closed his eyes trying to come up with a plan.

---

"If I show you where you are, I'll have to kill you after." The man had explained.

"Feckin' Grand." Finn muttered. A slight Irish accent appeared when he was extra tired or under stress. "So somehow someone decided I needed to be captured by the Black Ops? Where the hell is Teagan? And her mother?" And her aunt and grandmother and greatgrandmother.

As they walked along, the man prodded Finn when he thought he was going to slow. Finn kept up the questions, mainly about Teagan. The man's reassurances didn't help.

Finally, Finn stopped shot and tried to turn around. "If anything has happened to her, I will personally rip out your heart and feed it to you." He growled. He knew the girl since she was 12 and had a protective streak when it came to her. Especially under these conditions. Finn stopped asking questions after that.

Finn fell a few times. There seemed to be vines and tree roots everywhere. He knew he couldn't be at the farm. He wasn't in the orchard or on one of their trails either. He was covered in muck and feeling more and more angry.

The final straw was when the man let him drop down into a bog. He tore the hood from his face. he was seething. "You did that on feckin' purpose, you great feckin' arsehole!"

He looked around. Was he in a jungle?

"What have you done with Teagan?" Finn was going to make it his personal goal in life to make this man pay, and pay dearly, if anything had happened to that girl.

"Where the hell am I? Why am I here? And who the hell are you?"

If the man wanted him dead, he would have been dead already so Finn didn't feel as if he had to be polite. After all, he was the one held captive and covered in mud.

 

[PNW_Male]

Every day, usually many times a day, John had contemplated what the hell he was going to say to people when they came through the portal, when they demanded to know what had just happened to them, where they were, what they were supposed to do next. John had part of that answer, the part about what had gotten them here, but beyond that, there wasn't really much too concrete to tell them.

The first question he had to answer for himself was did he tell them about the Portal? The simple answer there, obviously, was hell no!

John didn't want to deceive victims of this very unnatural phenomenon; after all, he was one as well.

But he had the advantage here of being the only one who knew about the Portal. Anyone else coming through might simply think they'd been kidnapped. He was going to work with that for now and, when the time came, go with the truth -- or, at least, something close to it.

"So, Doctor McCool," John began, dredging up the story he'd been working on for the past few weeks and choosing his words carefully, to make the story he was going to tell sound at least plausible. "You ever watch 'Survivor'?"

 

[haremfaery]

"Survivor? That stupid reality show? What does that have to do with you typing me up and hoodwinking me?" Finn said.

The guy was sitting there so calmly. Finn wanted to punch him. He worked his hands against the rope.

 

[PNW_Male]

Survivor ... yeah, sounds feasible

John shifted his position; this was going to take a while.

"Well, it goes something like this. We've been dumped here ... by who -- or is that whom? -- I have absolutely no fucking idea, Doc. All I know is this ... I was at work, making my rounds, someone hit me with a taser..." He made a gesture toward the land about them "... and I woke up here." That's about it.

The look on McCool's face made it clear that he didn't believe a frickin' word John was saying.

Okay ... so step two!

John reached up quickly to his chest, ripped the big Special Forces knife he'd inherited from his Viet Nam war Vet' father, and threw it -- to the ground where it sunk up to its hilt in the mud.

"Go ahead, Doc. Cut yourself loose. Just--" John casually laid his throwing hand back down upon the stock of the 12 gauge shotgun "--do me a favor and give the knife back ... nice like."

 

[haremfaery]

"Whom." Finn muttered. "Call me Finn." At least that was better than making him sound like one of the seven dwarves.

"A taser?" Yeah, right. And my mother is the Queen of Sheba. "I was working on a horse in a barn. No way anyone came in and tased me--us."

Finn cursed himself for jumping when the guy threw the knife. he just wanted to pop the guy. "Fine." he carefully picked up the knife and cut himself free. he thought about throwing the knife back at the ass, but he decided there was a reason for the saying 'Never bring a knife to a gun fight.' He stood up and handed the knife hilt first to the man. "Now. Where's Teagan?"

 

[PNW_Male]

"Slow down, Doc ... I mean, Finn." John wiped the muddy knife across the dry grass, then sheathed the knife. "We need ... let's call them ground rules, okay?"

John stood and slung the shotgun, an attempt to make McCool feel a little more at ease -- as if handing a big knife to a stranger John had, essentially, taken hostage, force marched, then dumped into muddy hole shouldn't have already comforted him a little.

"First rule ... I'm not the bad guy." John waited for a reaction but got nothing but a cool expression. Does he believe me? Or what me to thing he believes me?

NOT DONE GOTTA GET OFF INTERNET