Chapter 6: Morgan
6
“C’mon guys! Let’s keep it moving.”
Morgan smiled and shook her head as Chris ushered them deeper into the forest. He was like a pint-sized wilderness guide, leading them on an epic quest of breathless discovery. Of course, the creature he seemed so intent on finding didn’t exist, but Morgan had figured that out early on. To be honest, she actually liked being the target of a prank for once. Maybe her friends were finally starting to realize that they didn’t have to walk on eggshells around her anymore. Unfortunately, this whole “snipe hunt” set up they’d gone with was all types of stupid.
Chris had done a good job of selling it at first. But after they put her in the same group as Collin, Johnny, and Robbie to hunt a mythical creature, it wasn’t hard to figure out that something was up. She’d go along with it for now though, dutifully following Chris into the woods along with the other weirdoes. She might even act surprised at whatever he had planned for them. But before it was all said and done, Morgan would be sure to give Chris some sort of sign that she’d known from the start what this really was.
“Hold up!”
Chris halted and held up a closed fist. Morgan rolled her eyes and stopped along with the others. Johnny looked over at her, then smirked and shook his head. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who knew this whole thing was bullshit.
Robbie still seemed totally oblivious, which was normal for him. Collin wasn’t doing so hot, though. They’d only been walking for fifteen or twenty minutes, but he was gasping for air like they’d ran a marathon.
“Suck it up, bruh,” Johnny said, patting Collin hard on the back. “Just think of this as scouting reference material for our sandbox game.”
“Much rather…be coding….instead,” Collin panted.
Chris reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of tinfoil. He tore a sheet off, crumpled it into a pointy hat, and placed it on top of his head. Then he held out the tin roll toward Johnny.
“Before we go any further, everyone needs to make a hat and put it on.”
Morgan watched in disbelief as Johnny took the roll and made a hat for himself before handing it to Robbie, who proceeded to do the same. This might be where she had to draw the line.
“Okay, hold up a sec,” Morgan said, ignoring Collin as tried to pass the roll to her. “You were actually serious about wearing tinfoil on our heads?”
“The snipes are attracted to it,” Chris said. “And yes, I’m aware of how ridiculous it looks, but we need every advantage we can get. If I was joking, would I be doing it, too?”
Oh, he was good. Like, evil sociopath good.
“Fine,” Morgan sighed, grabbing the roll from Collin and tearing off a sheet.
She walked over to Chris and handed him rest the rest of the unused tinfoil. When he took it from her, she leaned in and put her lips next to his ear. Morgan could make peace with wearing the stupid hat, but not without letting him know she was wise to the prank.
“Hey Chris,” she whispered. “When are you going to tell everyone that snipes aren’t—
Before Morgan could finish, the entire sky lit up through the trees, causing everyone to scream. The flash lasted less than a second, but it was so bright that Morgan felt like someone had shined a high-powered flashlight directly into both her eyes. She jumped back from Chris, clutching the tinfoil and causing it crack and crinkle in her hands. Blobs of color floated through her vision. She closed her eyes and rubbed her face with both fists. When she opened them again, the blobs began to scatter and disappear. She looked over at Collin and Robbie, whose hats had somehow remained on their heads as they both continued to gaze skyward. Johnny turned toward her and Chris clicked his tongue before speaking just above a whisper.
“Y’all got any idea what the hell that was?”