THE DESTINED HERO: A Stranger's Chronicle.

Chapter 3. Master Hess.

The old man led them to a cabin still within the jungle, not too far from where he saw them. "In there, you can stay here till the sun is up, then we'll talk."

They all looked at each other, making eye contact. Though they didn't trust the old man, he was all they had at the moment, so his offer was accepted.

"There are some clothes in there, you'll have to change in order to blend in." The old man added as they were about going in.

"Thank you sir." Toby said, as he shut the entrance behind them.

"I don't like it here? Seems like we've walked into another trap." Lillie commented as she looked around.

"We don't have a choice, Lillie." Larry replied.

"I do, and I'm done listening to any of you. You said there's a town nearby, that's where I'm going, you all can come with me or wait here for that old man to be back with the rest of them."

"Lillie wait," Stephanie stopped her from opening the door.

"Get out of my way Steph," Lillie eyed her.

"It's okay Stephanie, let her go." Larry wasn't willing to force her, after all, he didn't ask them to take instructions from him.

"But what if she gets caught and leads them to us."

"That's if the old man doesn't lead them here first." Lillie's mind was made up, she was confident that she'll make it into town on her own.

"We will let you go, but first you have to promise us that you wouldn't lead them here if you're caught." Toby looked into her eyes as he awaits a response.

They were all looking at her, hoping to get her word on that matter, so in order to get moving she said reluctantly. "Fine. I promise. Now will you move?"

Stephanie slowly excuses her out of the cabin since the decision wasn't hers alone to make.

After Lillie left, it took only a minute before Christie followed her. They've been friends with each other even before the crash, and she wasn't ready to part ways now, to stick with people she only met after the crash.

"No Christie," Stephanie tried to call her back. She didn't like that the girls were leaving her alone with Larry and Toby.

"We'd better take the old man's advice," Larry was not going to dwell on Lillie and Christie's departure, after all he barely knew any of them.

His close friends had died in the crash and during the slaughter of the other survivors.

The clothes box wasn't hard to find in the cabin, and as soon as he found one that fit, he changed into them. Toby and Stephanie had to follow his lead, because if it wasn't for him, they'd still be locked up in that cage.

"So tell me, what was it you spoke about back then in the cage? The voice?" Stephanie asked as they sat patiently waiting for dawn. She didn't stop thinking about those words and was eager to know more.

"It's nothing to worry about." Larry still could not explain it. It was different from the normal inner voice. Even after their capture, he has heard from it several times, all words that he could not understand.

"Of course it is. We almost fought each other because of it." Toby insisted. Though he forgot about it, since the topic was brought up again, he picked interest.

Larry looked at both Toby and Stephanie for a moment, seeing that they would not drop the subject unless they're given a response, he said.

"Actually it's nothing other than this stupid voice which I keep hearing in my head. It started right after the crash. It warned me to abandon the crash scene while you were trying to fix the radio. For a moment I thought you were the one playing planks on me until Marcus and his men surrounded us."

"So what else did it tell you?" Stephanie found it very exciting and convincing.

"Nothing useful, other than which direction to take after we came out of the gates."

"Oh no, dude, you should have said something to us earlier, Lillie and Christie have no idea where they're going." Toby got worried.

"The choice to stay was theirs not mine and there was no time to say anything. For all I know, the words I hear mean nothing and it was solely my decision to follow them or not."

"Still those words have brought us this far. We should go after them."

"You're free to go, as for me I'm not leaving this cabin till sunrise." Larry changed from a sitting posture, lying on the ground as he felt the need to rest.

Toby and Stephanie look each other in the eye, their hearts wanting to go after the other girls and bring them back but considering what Larry had just told them and his unwillingness to go after them, they decided it was best they stay with him. Never can tell what the voice had told him would happen if they should leave the cabin that night. They seem to have higher regards for the voice more than Larry who it spoke to.

Soon the sun was up and they were woken by the noise made as the old returned to the cabin. How he unlocked the door which shut from the inside was a wonder to them but due to fear, none had the courage to ask for an explanation.

Next he dropped some practice weapons on the ground, saying, "Pick one, each of you."

Still curious, they didn't act at once but kept staring at him, everything about him was weird, worthy of questioning.

While they stared, he noticed they weren't complete. "Where are your friends?"

"They left, they couldn't stay." Larry answered.

"What! Why didn't you stop them?" He referred directly to Larry, looking disappointed.

"They're not my responsibility."

"What do you know about responsibility? Do you even know why you're here? What is expected of you?" The old man was obviously mad at him with no sign of hiding it. Then to Stephanie and Toby, he said, "Why didn't you do something?"

"We tried our best sir," They both chorused, still in shock at the old man's awkwardness.

"Well your best wasn't good enough." He walks towards the door and then paused, looking at them. "By the way, it's master Hess, not sir." After that he exited the cabin.

"Master?" Toby and Stephanie were now able to show their curiosity as they looked at Larry, hoping he knew the reason behind Hess' reactions.

"Don't give me that look as if I know what's going on." Larry clarified that he was as confused and ignorant as they were on that matter.

"You don't have all day, so stop mumbling and get out here, you have a lot to learn." Andrew Hess shouted from outside the cabin as if he knew what they would be doing.

When they came out with the practice weapons in their hands just as he had instructed, Larry asked before he would tell them what to do.

"Okay, it's time you tell us what is going on? Where are we? Who do you think we are? Who are you? And lastly, how do we get back home?"

"The only thing you need to know right now is that you're never going home. So put away every thought of your past and accept the present."

"That's bullshit," Stephanie dropped the weapon she was holding.

"Call it whatever you want, but trust me, you won't last long in this world without the basic fighting skill, so you have to pay attention to everything I am going to teach you, more especially you, Larry Parker."

"Wait, how did you know my name?"

"Can you focus please?"

"No," Larry dropped his weapon too. "Not unless you tell us what you are?"

Seeing that Larry had dropped his weapon with no intention to pick it up again, he said. "Well, it will not be said that I didn't try to play my part."

"You part in what exactly?"

He ignored Larry's question and turned around.

"Wait, I want to learn. Teach me." Toby said. He was the only one still holding onto the weapon. Though he didn't like what he was hearing about being stuck in that world, he noticed that the earlier he accepted it, the better for him, and like Andrew had said, they wouldn't last without the ability to fight.

"I'm sorry, but you don't share the same destiny with Larry. I wish you were chosen in his stead." Andrew Hass walked away without looking back.