CH2g

-----

JULY 10TH, 2011

Ratta-tat-tat!!

Seline dove down as bullets came flying towards her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T SHOOT AT HER!!"

The tiny creature from the little makeshift hollow had taken out two tommy guns and opened fire at Seline without warning. Seline was on the ground again, burning in the desert sand like an egg in a skillet. What'd she do this time to get shot at?! She covered her head.

"Why'd you do that?! She won't hurt you!" Jed was yelling at the little woman.

"You are a funny little gou-gou! I don't want to kill her you silly! Just give a friendly hello!"

Seline peeked over the cliff side in utter fear. "That's not how you greet somebody!!" she yelled, watching bullets dislodge and fall from the rocky cliff down into the shaded sand below. Jed and the woman who tried to kill her were down there still staring back up at her. "I've been through too much for this bullshit!"

"Feisty!" shouted the little rat-woman back at Seline. She held her hand to the side of her face and whispered to Jed from the few feet away from him that she was, "'you two together? She has anger issues…"

Seline, hearing the blasphemous things they were saying, retaliated. "Can somebody please help me get down there? My leg is broken and I'm gonna need stitches! I need to see a doctor!" or at least she tried to change the subject. She did not want anybody thinking she was 'with' Jed.

"Clearly!"

Seline grumbled at how yet another person was making her every sentence out to be a joke.

"I get you a ladder! Don't bust a blood vessel!" the tiny woman threw her guns back into the hollow, and within seconds, a large silver ladder started to inch out of the entrance. Seline watched as about twenty feet of metal steps clanked down into the dirt. She was surprised at how much space that meant was down there. The little woman scurried out of the hollow on all four of her petite pink feet after it. Seline watched in curiosity. Even though it was awfully hot, the woman was dressed in a tan leather jacket and plaid flannel pants. It was peculiar how anything would even fit a person of such size and shape. "Hm…" the tiny rat-woman put her hand to her chin and calculated the length of the ladder, then looked back at the Jeep she'd tethered Jed to. "YOU. Trespasser. You are fully aware of consequences of trespassing on my property, yes?"

"…Yes?" Jed answered in confusion. He seemed about as 'aware' of the entire situation as a blind man watching a silent movie.

"Good! I untie you and you get your lady friend. Then you leave!"

Jed grinned at such an offer. "Okay!"

She scurried on her tiny rat feet over to Jed and climbed up onto him to untie his leash from the Jeep. Jed stood up and dusted himself off. As he was about to fetch the ladder, he heard the sound of one of those tommy guns being cocked and aimed. He looked down. There was one aimed directly at him. "Don't try anything stupid!" squeaked the tiny woman at him. Her large black abysmal eyes were staring right into his soul. She poked him in the stomach with her gun. "Go on!" So much for saying Seline had anger issues…

Jed put his hands up to assure her he was not going to do anything to her or her property. He paced cautiously over to the ladder and picked it up, hauling it over his shoulder. "You know this isn't tall enough to reach all the way up there, right?" he asked the hostile little woman.

"You can use Jeep for boost, then you leave," she threatened.

"Yes ma'am!" Jed bounded over to the Jeep and gently placed the blunt plastic end of the ladder on the hood. It gave only a little less than a five foot advantage of height, but Jed knew how to improvise. He looked up at Seline. She swung her legs over the edge and gave him an look of apathy and disregard. He then looked back at the woman whose ladder he was borrowing. She was giving him the typical "I'm waiting" look. Jed figured she wouldn't mind if his weight made the ladder scratch up her Jeep. She offered him its use anyways! The top end of the ladder clanked against the cliff side, dislodging a few more bullets and unsettling red, chalky dust. Jed stepped onto the ladder. Since it was too short to reach all the way up to Seline, when he got to the last step he stood on the tips of his large canine feet, stretched upward and grabbed onto a short ledge.

"Are you kidding me?" Seline asked, raising her eyebrow at what she knew Jed was planning to do.

"What? I owe you!" Jed dragged himself awkwardly up the side of the cliff. He was smiling obnoxiously up at her, his hopes high that she'd maybe, if only, offer some sort of smile back. Seline just rolled her eyes. "Aw c'mon! I didn't hurt you on purpose!" He threw his arms over the top of the ledge and pushed himself over with his feet. He flopped onto the sand next to Seline and looked up at her. "Lemme see. Please?"

Seline pulled the jacket he'd given her up over the deep scratches he'd also given to her. "No," she coldly responded. "Don't tell me you're gonna jump down…?"

"Yup!" He scooped her up off of the ground and cast a very fake 'charming' smile at her. She gasped and clung tightly to his shirt.

"Jed, don't! That's a fifty foot drop!"

Too late.