User blog:Heronimbus/On the Run: A Loud House Story - Chapter 8

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Lincoln, Clyde, Cristina, and Ronnie Anne had reeled in enough fish for the whole day as they continued their trek to Imperial Grove. They didn't know where they were, but they knew where they were going... if only because of the compass Cristina had brought with her.

"We're moving southeast," she said, reading the compass. "That's the way to Missouri, right?"

"We've been hiking for hours..." Ronnie Anne groaned. "No train in sight... no more cabins... nothing but wilderness..."

"It's still possible to gather fruit."

"Did I ask?"

"Well, I mean... we really should," said Clyde.

So they did. They searched through the forest for different kinds of berries, rinsing them with water buckets -- courtesy of Cristina, of course.

A couple hours later, the kids had sat down on a hill, with a perfect view of the golden sunset just ahead. They set up a fire to cook their fish and placed the chunks on paper plates with the berries.

Lincoln knew he had to ask Cristina. "So... why did you decide to come with us?"

She sighed. "Well, you see... my sister Cecille -- Cici for short -- goes to Imperial Grove University. I was at a slumber party the night before she left the house, and I wanted to tell her goodbye..." She shed a small tear as she went on. "But... I never got the chance..."

"Hey..." Clyde reassured her. "At least you have a sibling."

"Heh, yeah. I still have more siblings back home. George is a rocker, just like Lincoln's sister Luna..."

"Is he friends with Sam Sharp?" asked Lincoln.

"Oh yeah, her!" Cristina remembered. "Yeah, George performs with Sam. He's got a girlfriend named Ruth. ...so uh, then there's Chandler and Lyndsey..."

"Lyndsey Sweetwater?" Lincoln needed confirmation that he was thinking of the right one.

"That's her!"

"Woah... Lyndsey and Lola compete very often... our families are more connected than I thought they were!"

"Huh, I guess so!"

Ronnie Anne chuckled. "Just wait til Lola meets Carl... they'll be goin' cuckoo for each other."

All three of them laughed with each other, but Clyde just looked down at the ground, ashamed.

Lincoln gave him a pat on the back. "Hey man... don't feel left out. Remember when you told me I was like a brother to you?"

Clyde looked up at his best friend, who continued, "That was the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Clyde. I see you as a brother too."

He turned to all his friends. "You're all a family to me."

They all smiled at him, but Lincoln's own smile was slowly falling again.

"My sisters... they're probably still looking for me..."

"Oh yeah..." said Cristina. "Chandler must be real mad that I ran off with you guys."

"Eh, who cares about him?"

"Y'know, Chandler may be a jerk, but he does have a heart."

"Oh, sure..."

Clyde wasn't even paying attention to them. He was staring down the hill at something as the sun descended into the horizon.

"Uh... do you guys see that warehouse down there...?"

"You just now noticed that?" Ronnie Anne questioned him.

"Well, come on," Lincoln suggested. "Let's go check it out."

The kids carefully stepped down from the hill, looking around for anything suspicious. Ronnie Anne clenched her fists, ready to brawl if necessary. There was a small golf cart a short distance away from the warehouse, but no one was using it.

Cristina noticed a man riding a motorcycle into the warehouse from the other side. Then she saw more.

"Guys," she whispered. "I think this is Elijah's warehouse."

Ronnie Anne didn't seem to understand. "Who's Elijah?"

"The leader of that gang who's out to get me," Lincoln answered.

"In that case, we better be careful."

The four of them snuck inside from the back and kept an eye out for Elijah's goons. Lincoln looked around in case there was anything useful in the warehouse.

Sure enough, he found some more food to take with him. Sandwiches in cans... who does that?... potato chips, fruit that hadn't been picked straight off a bush... well, at least not right before eating it.

Lincoln silently, yet quickly grabbed the food and showed it to his friends.

"Jackpot!" said Clyde as he grabbed a bag of barbecue-flavored chips out of Lincoln's arms.

"HEY!" They heard someone yell. "Who took our food?!"

"We better get out of here!" Lincoln yelped.

A group of goons walked out the back door. "There they are! Get 'em!"

The kids started running as the goons chased after them. They quickly jumped into the golf cart and scrambled for the keys; after Ronnie Anne found them on the floor of the cart, she switched it on and hit the gas as hard as she could, driving with the other kids back into the forest.

"Hey, this seems like it could be an easier way to travel." Lincoln noticed.

"Hang on, lame-o!" Ronnie Anne yelled.

The motorcycle goon hopped on his bike and tried to turn it on, but it wouldn't budge. "Dang it... forgot I needed gas... We better call the boss man. He'll know what to do."

The Loud sisters and Chandler just kept on driving. Even at 8:30 PM, they were still restless from Leni's disappearance.

"We literally can't find Leni anywhere!" Lori exclaimed.

"I can't believe we were stupid enough to leave her behind..." Lana whined.

"Oh, calm down, dudes," Luna tried to comfort her sisters. "Leni probably just got lost. She'll catch up to us... somehow..."

"Knowing her, there's at most a 24% chance she will," said Lisa, blankly.

"Sssshhhhh." Lynn put her finger over Lisa's mouth. "We can't distress the little kids."

"I'm a little kid."

"Oh. Right."

Lori saw a restaurant just off the road. "Well, we haven't eaten lunch today... so let's pull in here and get something."

As they pulled in, they got a good look at the sign.

ONOFREDO'S SUBS & SWEETS

"...that name gives me a strange feeling," said Lisa.

They got out of Vanzilla and walked through the doors of Oney Bakes, and the man in overalls at the counter gave them an apathetic look. His nametag read "Marco".

"Welcome to Onofredo's, may I take your order?" he asked

"Yeah!" Lynn laughed, pointing at his overalls. "Your lame outfit! Ha!"

"This from the girl who sings the John Cena theme in the shower," Lori mocked her.

"Touché."

Lori turned and faced her sisters and Chandler. "You guys have any spare cash?"

Chandler pulled out the insides of his pockets, letting them know he had no money on him.

"OK... anyone else?"

The sisters pulled out their money, and Lori sighed, knowing what she had to do. "Take a little bit and give it to Chandler, please."

"Alright," said Marco. "Now may I take your order?"

"Deluxe 12-inch Greek sandwich, please," Lori requested.

Luna smirked. "Tuna. Lots of it."

"Anything spicy," said Lynn.

"Give me the darkest meat you have," Lucy demanded bluntly.

"Fancy everything!" Lola grinned.

"Can I get a sub with no veggies?" asked Lana.

"Can I get a sub with only veggies?" asked Lisa.

"I'm holding out for a hero til the end of the night!" Luan chuckled at her pun.

Marco gave her a weird look. "Yeah, but... what kind of hero?"

"Oooooohhh...." Luan looked down at the ground in embarassment. "Well... a ham and provolone sandwich would be nice."

Marco turned to Chandler, who was distracted by his game.

He finally looked up. "Oh, uh... beef and cheddar battleship sandwich for me."

"Alright..." Marco wrote down all the orders on his notepad. "That'll be $78."

The kids held out their cash, and he took it and started preparing their sandwiches.

However, something about the way he was setting them up irked them.

"I can't eat that much cheese," Luan retorted.

"Not dark enough!" Lucy yelled.

"The fruit of the solanum lycopersicum plant is not a vegetable," Lisa explained.

Marco scrambled to get everything right, sweating and balancing the sandwich supplies with both arms. But it didn't exactly help when he ended up dropping the can of dijon mustard for Lola's sandwich, shattering it before her very eyes.

Then everything else fell too.

"NO!" Marco screamed. "I'm so freakin' dead!!" He leaned against the counter, sobbing openly. "I just wanna go home and see my family..."

The manager, Onofredo himself, came out of his office and tried to reassure his employee. "Hey... what's goin' on, Marco? ...It's OK, we have more supplies..."

Even with her usual aggressiveness and greed, Lola felt bad for Marco in a sense. After all... who knew where Lincoln was at this point?

She reached into her purse and pulled out a Princess Pie -- a gooey marshmallow pastry coated with strawberry yogurt. She had brought a package of six with her, and this was her last one. She got up on a stool and got Marco's attention, handing him the pie.

"A... a Princess Pie?" he asked. "I used to love these when I was little..."

"You can have it," Lola told him. "If there's anything I've learned over the last six or seven years, there's nothing more important than a taste of home."

"Gee... thanks, kid."

A while later, the kids finished up their subs as Marco gobbled on his Princess Pie, with a glass of milk to wash it down.

"Hey Onofredo," Lori began. "Do you mind if we sleep in our van in front of your restaurant? We're really tired and I can't focus on driving."

"Oh, sure!" Onofredo smiled. "Just come talk to us if you need help, OK?"

"Thank you, sir. Have a good night! And Marco... I hope you get to visit your family soon."

"Thanks, ma'am." Marco mumbled with his mouth full of Princess Pie bits.

The Louds and Chandler walked out the door and hopped into Vanzilla, stuffed from their meal. Before she fell asleep, Lori checked her phone for the last time that night. She had received a text from Carol Pingrey.

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Lori turned off her phone and dropped it in her lap, drifting off to sleep.

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Lori woke up as quickly as she had fallen asleep. She looked around for her phone, and found it still in her lap.

She turned on the ignition in Vanzilla. She was not going back to sleep tonight.