Missing

Arthur picked up a stick from the ground and swung it around like a sword before pointing it at Craige. "You want one too?"

"For what?" Craige asked although he already had an idea what Arthur was planning to do with the tree branch.

Arthur swung the branch a couple of times again as if testing its durability. "For self defense. This will somehow lessen our chances of dying in case a zombie shows up."

Craige chuckled when he was suddenly reminded of Zeanne. 'Are they really not blood related?'

He took the stick from Arthur and he tried swinging it himself. "I don't think this stick will be of much help if a zombie did show up."

Arthur took it back from him and led the way towards the deeper part of the forest. "What are you talking about? Anything can be a weapon. I remember seeing one guy use green tape to fend off zombies."

Looking at Arthur with his tree branch reminded Craige of when his character in that game that they were playing was just level one. Thinking about it now, his character did look pathetic while swinging a stick against a boar that was twice its size. "Tape? What did he do with the tape? Did he use it to cover the zombie's mouth?"

"He wrapped it around his arms so that the zombies' teeth couldn't penetrate him easily." Arthur was walking as if he knew perfectly where he was going and Craige didn't know that he would come to regret trusting that confidence.

Arthur suddenly stopped walking and for a moment Craige thought that he found the werewolf mask. But Arthur turned to him with a frown. "I've been meaning to ask you this."

"What?" Craige braced himself because it seemed like Arthur was going to ask him a really serious question. But to his utter surprise, Arthur suddenly dissed his own sister.

"What attracted you to Zee? She's really not that pretty. She sucks in school. And she has a so-so temperament."

Craige thought about it for a while because he never really thought of the reason why he came to like her. And more than that, he never expected Arthur to ask him about it.

"To be completely honest with you, I'm not really sure what attracted me to her. But I just noticed at some point that I keep being drawn to her." Craige chuckled. "Quirks and all, I just like her for who she is. Can you accept that as an answer?"

"Quirks included? Wah." Arthur tilted his head and looked at him with astonishment. "And all these time, I was thinking that you're a normal person. I see that you also have a few screws loose."

"We both know that she's been through a lot and we all have our own ways in dealing with these things." The corner of his lips lifted. "I just want to be there for her when she needs anyone. I want her to be assured that she can come and find me when the going gets tough."

"Understood." Arthur nodded then he slowly smiled mischievously before winking at him. "I also want you to know that when the going gets tough, you can come find me."

Craige just nodded. He wanted to walk in silence but he also had a question nagging him for a while now.

"What happened that time in the garden?" The words were out before he could stop them.

"Huh?"

"You didn't really kiss her, right?"

Arthur blinked at him. "Kiss who?"

"Zee."

Arthur then started laughing out loud. "Did you really think that I'd live to this day if I did anything back then?"

Craige could just frown in puzzlement.

Arthur used the top of the branch to scratch his head. "If I did kiss her, which I didn't, she would've killed me. Or she would have made my own father kill me. That's just how evil the girl you claim to love is."

"Ah." Craige nodded and smiled, finally feeling relieved that nothing really happened back then. Then the realization hit him hard which wiped the smile from his face as they started walking again. 'I'm so pathetic.'

Thirty minutes passed and they still haven't found the werewolf mask. They haven't even spotted a single item or any one else for that matter.

Craige tapped Arthur's shoulder to tell him to stop. "Arthur, we've been walking straight non stop since earlier. We should have seen the fence by now."

"What fence?" Arthur frowned at him and looked around.

"The one that we were repeatedly told not to cross."

Arthur was quiet for a minute and was in deep thought as he tried to recall if he spotted anything like that. But no matter how much he racked his brain, he could not remember seeing any barriers. Except for… "I don't know about a fence, but I did see broken barbed wires earlier."

Craige froze. "Where?"

Arthur pointed towards the direction where they came from. "By the road, about 10 minutes ago."

"You mean we crossed it already?" He was inwardly praying that Arthur would say no.

And Arthur did shake his head. "Crossed what? We didn't cross anything. I just noticed the broken barbed wires on each side of the path that we passed by."

"Did it not occur to you that the fence might have been broken and that's why the path was open?" For some strange reason, laughter started bubbling in his chest.

"Ah." Arthur shrugged and started walking back.

If this was Brian, he would have sworn at him by now.

But this was Arthur.

'This is Arthur.'

Ten minutes before the time was up, Craige came back to the base with Arthur wearing the werewolf mask that they found just a few steps towards the east from the entrance of the forest.

"ROAR!!!" Arthur jumped on Katherine who greeted him with an elbow to his stomach. "OW!"

"This is not the time to mess around, Paige. Zeanne and Joshua are missing. We've asked every team that came back but nobody has seen them since earlier." Katherine snapped at Arthur.

Both Arthur and Craige reached for their phones at the same time then they looked at each other. It was Arthur who spoke first. "I'm calling Joshua."

Craige nodded and dialled Zeanne's number despite Katherine telling them that they already tried calling both.

"Shit!" Arthur cursed when the dial tone rang from the speaker of his phone.

On the other hand, Zeanne's phone was ringing.

'Thank God.' Craige waited.

And waited.

Then… "The number you have dialled is either unattended or out of coverage area. Please try to call later."

"It's ringing, right?" Arthur asked him.

He nodded. "But she's not answering."

"She probably left it in her room or somewhere. Try contacting her through telepathy, I heard that people who like each other can do that." Arthur tried calling Joshua again.

Craige decided to let that comment pass because there's a more urgent matter at hand other than staying low key with his feelings for Zee. "But his phone is switched off. Should we go back and look for them? We can split up so that we can cover more ground."

"I can't." Arthur answered him gravely.

"Why?"

Before Arthur could answer, Katherine cut him to it by revealing the secret that he didn't want Craige to find out. "He doesn't have a sense of direction. It's highly probable that you'll be able to find Zeanne and Joshua before this guy makes it back here. If he makes it back."

Craige turned to Arthur in disbelief. "Was that why you just kept going straight earlier?"

"We didn't get lost, did we?" Arthur tried to reason but deep inside he was feeling small. Then he looked at the stick that he was carrying. "I have an idea. Let's go."

"Don't tell me you'll try to navigate your way back by marking the ground?" Katherine's question made every strand of hair on his neck and arms stand up.

Arthur hastily shook his head in denial. 'How did she know? Can she read minds?'

But to everyone's surprise, Katherine suddenly took the stick from him and broke it in two. "If you badly want to look for her yourself, then take me with you. I'm a better navigator than this thing."

"Did you really have to do that?" Arthur felt broken-hearted as he looked at his precious tree branch brutally discarded on the ground. He already felt a strong attachment to it, despite the fact that they've only been together for less than an hour. He picked the pieces up and tucked them under his arm. "But shouldn't we tell Teacher Beshy first?"

"We already did. She went to contact the manager of the place when you arrived." Katherine waved at someone from behind them and Craige turned to see Mia and Trixie running towards them. "Any news?"

Trixie shook her head. "Nada. Kenji flew the drone but his camera couldn't really catch anything. This forest is a lot thicker than we thought."

Craige looked at Katherine and Arthur, feeling slightly impatient. "Shall we go then?"

They nodded but before they could leave, Mia caught Katherine by the arm. "You're going?"

"Yeah." Katherine patted Mia's arm. "I have to."

Mia shook her head and hugged Katherine. "No! What if that doll takes you too?!"

"Dear God, Mia! Can you please stop with this rubbish? It's just a doll!" Trixie exclaimed in exasperation because Mia has been whining about the cursed doll since earlier.

But Mia was not backing down. "We don't know that! Zee and Josh disappeared as soon as they went to find that bloody thing! What if it's the real deal?! What if---"

"Mia, will you calm down?!" Katherine finally snapped which made Mia flinch in surprise. "Satan's doll or not, Zee is out there needing our help. We have to at least try looking for them. We will keep in touch with you and you have to also keep us posted in case they come back. Do you understand?"

Mia nodded and sniffed as she tried to hold back her tears. Then she gave Katherine and Craige the transceivers that she got from the management office earlier. "Be safe okay?"

"I promise."