Chapter Text
Tommy ran through the thick brush, dodging trees and veering around dense bushes. He stumbled slightly his foot catching on a tree root. His stomach dropped and for a split second he thought he might fall, he flung his arms out, windmilling wildly until he managed to right himself. But before he could catch his breath, he heard footsteps thundering through the brush behind him.
Shit, he thought as the footsteps got closer.
He could see the river shining in the distance, he knew if he made it there he would be safe. He pulled his leg free from the tree root, he took off again sprinting through the familiar territory. The forest was a blur of greens and browns rushing past him in a mind-muddling blur. He imagined the town cavalry bearing down on him, he felt as though they were mere inches away ready to grab him and throw him in chains.
He shook his head to get rid of those unwanted thoughts, and focus on the problem at hand he told himself as he reached the embankment. He skidded to a halt in front of it the loose dirt tumbling over the edge like tiny asteroids they splashed into the river below with quiet plunking sounds. Tommy swallowed risking a look behind him. A distant plume of dust had filled the air. He rolled his eyes and braced himself for the jump into the icy water below.
Splash.
He was submerged for a second before he burst through the surface and started swimming to the other side of the river. The current tugged at him, threatening to pull him under but he continued pushing on determined to make it to safety, it wasn't far and he'd done stuff like this thousands of times in the past. He heaved himself out of the river and onto the bank looking back triumphantly at the other side.
The town cavalry had gathered on the far bank and they glared down at him. He was safe and there was nothing they could do about it there was no way they would risk the waters, not with their armour and body mods. Town militia was always covered in glinting metal and most of the time had had so many modifications done they looked more robot than a human which was good for Tommy who could always trust any body of water as his escape route.
He stood up, making a show of brushing off the mud that covered his clothes. The lead robo-guy was saying something, but the river was far too loud for him to hear it, another upside of escaping this way. Tommy exaggeratedly put a hand behind his pretending to listen intently. he couldn't help but cackle in glee as the anger on the robo-cop's face turned into a fierce look of rage. He clambered up the bank and turned to look at them one more time. He flipped them off before running, laughing into the thick foliage.
That was fun he thought to himself as he headed for his campsite, rummaging through his backpack, idly going through the supplies he'd stolen from the town. It wasn't anything much just some packs of food, a couple of flasks of water and assorted potions. Just the essentials, plus a couple of snacks, he was still a teenager after all who could blame him? He smiled, today had been a good day. He couldn't wait to get home and to kick back and relax, well as much as he could. Given he lived in the middle of the forest.
He brushed aside some of the leaves that were in his way whistling to himself as he strolled into the clearing, sighing in relief as he saw the familiar layout of his campsite.
Except...
Someone was going through his stuff!
"What the fuck?!! What are you doing?" he yelled storming into the clearing.
The man looked up surprised as though he wasn't expecting anyone to come back to a clearly inhabited campsite. He was wearing a long brown trench coat over a tattered yellow jumper, both were muddied and torn. He had fluffy brown hair and wide brown eyes behind cracked round glasses. And, annoyingly, he was much taller than Tommy.
The stranger immediately dropped the bag he was holding and Tommy winced at the sound of metal and glass clattering to the ground. That was definetly his supply of potions that he'd spent months collecting, he swore quietly. He hated intruders, they were so annoying, encounters like this always ended in his stuff getting broken and him inevitably shooting at them. Well not always sometimes they took off when he started yelling at them. But Tommy thought that shooting at someone going through your stuff was perfectly reasonable, after all, in an economy like this, you couldn't let people take advantage of you and more often than not that's what happened.
"Who the hell are you and what the fuck are you doing in my camp?" he demanded reaching for the old gun that sat at his hip, it wouldn't kill the guy, of course, it was merely a stun gun, unfortunately.
"Woah, Woah, Woah," the man threw up his hands, but in an almost casual way. Tommy tilted his head to the side how in the heck is this guy so calm he thought. "I was just passing through the area and I stumbled across this...home of yours and thought I'd check it out," he said.
"Liar, you were going through my stuff," Tommy said waving the gun at him.
"Like I said I didn't realize anyone lived here it's not exactly...nice," he said.
What is with this guy, Tommy thought, who does he think he is? Tramping through here, taking my stuff-
"Are you done?" the man said, interrupting him.
"What?"
"You were monologuing?"
"What?"
"Talking to yourself," he said slowly like he thought Tommy was stupid...was he doing it again?
"Yep,"
"Shut up!" Tommy said marching forward and pointing the gun right in the man's face, though now he was up close he was starting to regret this course of action, this guy was actually quite tall and storming up to him, gun or not, might not have been the best decision.
"I'm Wilbur by the way," he said putting his hand out, Tommy stared at him then down at his outstretched hand then back at him, "ok," the gu- Wilbur said pulling his hand away and wiping it on his coat even though Tommy hadn't even touched it, "I'm just going to get going have a good day-"
"Wait you can't just- what did you take?" Tommy demanded. Wilbur turned to look at him rolling his eyes and sighing like he had better things to do than being interrogated by a teenager.
"Nothing, see," he held up his hands to show that they were empty.
"Empty your pockets," Tommy said.
"What?"
"Empty your pockets...bitch," he repeated gesturing with the gun.
"I'm not going to do that,"
"Why not? If you had nothing to hide you would empty your pockets," Tommy said, he grinned the look on Wilbur's face was priceless. A mixture of annoyance and surprise that made him look ridiculous.
"Ok, ok fine, but just because you managed to put together a cohesive thought," he said pulling things out of his pockets.
"Hey!"
"Oh shut up, gremlin child,"
"Wh- t-...you s-," Tommy stuttered, lost for words. He shut his mouth with a snap watching as his things tumbled to the ground with a clatter. When Wilbur was done he straightened, "Can I go now?" he said. Tommy looked at the stuff on the ground he couldn't be sure that that was everything. He would have to check all his stuff to make sure. So making a split-second decision he would absolutely not regret later, he shot Wilbur in the chest.