The Insider System

Chapter 22: Lake The Early Bird

After Lake arrived back in town he only stayed up long enough to tell Sam and Wallace about his first day and eat some cornbread. He hadn\'t gotten a lot of sleep the night before so he was pretty tired.

Feeling his body being shook Lake knew it was time to get up to hunt. Opening his eyes Lake saw Wallace and knew what was about to happen "Hey Lake, I was wondering if you had the chance to think of something for the corn festival?"

Lake could tell this wasn\'t a question. Putting his brain to work Lake said, " What about a corn cook off." Wallace started shaking him again and said, " We already do that, what the hell do you think corn festivals are about!?"

Thinking of a new idea, Lake wanted something that would keep Wallace busy for a while, "What about a corn shucking golem that people can race against." Lake saw Wallace\'s eyes turn red and he thought it meant he was mad. "Genius!" Shouted Wallace then ran out of the room.

As Lake watched Wallace leave he saw Sam in the doorway laughing, "Hey Sam is there any breakfast? I need to get going." Sam walked into the room already carrying some cornbread. Lake thanked him and hit the road.

He wanted to be early so he could ask Stan if he could get a knife out of the shed. When he got there he saw Kyle and Mary had beaten him. "Here you go Lake, this was mine back when I was still a hunter."

Mary handed a Knife to Lake but when he held the handle he felt something; startled he almost dropped it. "Sorry, I should have warned you it\'s enchanted." Just like a grandma to give something to you and then apologize. "Thank you. I was just about to ask Stan if I could take one of the old ones in the shed. So what does it do?"

Mary smiled and said, " The blade is enchanted for sharpness and durability." Lake thought this sounded pretty good for something he didn\'t pay for. "I appreciate it. If you ever need help just tell me and I\'ll do it." This was an easy promise to make because Lake was going to leave soon, so he doubted anything major would happen within that time.

After a few minutes Dan and Jeff showed up so they all filled their water flasks and hoped in the cart, and in no time they were speeding towards the gate. Lake felt they were a little early, and he was right they ended up waiting close to 20 minutes for the gate to open.

For some reason the guards did not check the back today. "Why didn\'t they check us?" Dan shrugged but Kyle said, "Either they caught him or the guards didn\'t feel like it." Lake felt Kyle was right because what else could it be, and lazy guards was something Lake liked to see.

Ten minutes Later they arrived at the forest. "Hey Lake, are you going to stay with us again today?" Lake thought about it for a second before he said, "No not today, I feel like I should go deeper today. But I\'ll come see you at the spot you showed me yesterday in a few hours."

After finishing his goodbyes, Lake walked into the forest alone, and just like yesterday he could hear lots of small animals moving around but he couldn\'t see them. "I\'m looking for something bigger anyway." Pushing deeper into the forest ,Lake stopped only when he found a small pond. He only stopped because there were people here.

Lake guessed these were people that lived in town because they had been the first cart through the gate today as well. Seeing all the old people fishing Lake marked the pond and moved on. He already spent enough time with old people he wasn\'t looking to start a retirement home. But it wasn\'t a bad idea; He doubted anyone in this world had thought of it yet. If he could make it corn based he would have another idea for Wallace.

Stepping into a new part of the forest, Lake could tell it was much quieter than anywhere he had been before and wasn\'t sure if that meant it was safer or more dangerous. Focusing on his ears, Lake could hear something but it was faint. Turning to look in the direction of the noise. Lake saw someone in a tree with a bow drawn in his direction.

It seemed he had unknowingly stepped into someone\'s hunting area. Lake was at a disadvantage since they had a ranged weapon. "Leave, your scaring away all the prey in this area by stomping around." Lake had to agree, he didn\'t try to move silently at all.

He was really just looking around right now. Without saying anything he backed away. He wasn\'t really interested in playing any games with this person. Lake preferred to play long games much longer than how long it would take for the arrow to pierce his heart. And he was fine with leaving because he had marked this person. With this he had his first target, Lake smiled he couldn\'t wait to steal everything this person owned.