Joices: DevestationZhaddi (Chapter5,6)

JOICES


Chapter 5:
High School

Joe and Brian had been living normal lives for the next two weeks, resetting the watch before five o’clock as much as possible. They only had minor easy-to-survive attacks with only one or two Joices.
So, that morning, at 7:30, Joe had school that day.
“Joe, get up!” Brian called into Joe’s bedroom. “Joe, you have school today! It starts in half an hour!”
Joe lazily looked up at Brian and rubbed his eyes. “Come on, Brian,” Joe said tiredly. “Just because you’re pretending to be my guardian doesn’t mean you are my guardian. Who cares if I’m late?”
“If you go to school late every day, I’m going to get the call. And they’ll get suspicious after a while.”
“If they call you about me being late, just tell them if they really want me to show up on time, they should change their hours so I can get more sleep,” Joe replied. “I’ve always wanted to tell my old school that. I was never good at showing up on time.”
“Look, let’s compromise,” suggested Brian. “You can sleep in every now and then, but not every day, okay?”
“Deal,” agreed Joe. “I’ll be out when I’m ready.” Then he pulled the covers over his head and tried to fall back asleep. Brian shut Joe’s door and went downstairs.
Joe had a satisfying sleep and woke up at 8:20, twenty minutes after his school started. He quickly got up, got dressed, and hurried downstairs.
“You’re going to make an excellent first-impression,” said Brian, smiling. “The school’s going to think you’re an angel.”
“I am an angel,” joked Joe, biting into a bagel. “An angel sent down to Earth to destroy the Joices.” Brian chuckled at Joe’s statement. “Why aren’t you at school?” Joe inquired, looking at Brian suspiciously.
“I quit school,” answered Brian. “I’m working at this warehouse where I have to move a bunch of heavy boxes. That’s why my mom said I should leave, she said if I don’t go to school I have to make it out on my own.”
“You’re a lucky guy,” replied Joe. “For getting the job.”
“Yeah, it pays fifteen dollars an hour, which is really good,” stated Brian. “I’ve been working there for two years. I started out getting paid ten dollars an hour, which is still really good.”
“I used to have a paper-route,” said Joe. “But the pay sucks for the amount of houses I had to deliver to. I had to travel all around town because the houses were on assorted streets. I quit after a month.”
Joe finished his bagel, grabbed five bucks, and headed for school. His school was about a twenty-minute walk, and he got there around 8:45. He picked all his courses the week before and received a schedule, which he had held in his hand as he entered the big building and wandered the halls in search of his first class.
As soon as he entered, the teacher glared at him and said, “I’m guessing you’re Joe Sage.”
Joe nodded. “And I’m guessing I’m very late,” he replied.
“Just take a seat,” she replied. “My name’s Mrs. Talford.”
Joe waved and took a seat at the back. He knew that school wasn’t the most important thing on his mind right now, so he wanted to sit away from the teacher so he could focus on Joices.
He took out his binder, which had plenty of sheets of paper in it, and put it on his desk. The teacher started talking about what the course (Geography) was going to be like. Joe zoned out of what she was talking about, took out a sheet of paper, and began scribbling notes about Joices. He wrote theories of what he guesses they’re doing and where they came from, he wrote a bunch of ideas about how he and Brian are connected, and he wrote a bunch of other things concerning the Joices and tried to piece together the puzzle. Since he was sitting at the back, he knew he could get away with this having the teacher think he’s taking notes about what she is talking about.
“Hey, Sage,” whispered another guy from the back. “You the guy the news was talking about?”
Joe shrugged. “Maybe,” he replied, uncertain.
The kid glared at him. “Well have you been attacked by Joices?” he asked.
“Yeah,” replied Joe. “Lots of times.” A couple of kids started laughing.
“Hey, my name’s Ryan,” replied the kid. “I was really the first one to be attacked.” Then he chuckled to himself.
“Enough talking!” the teacher barked.
“She’s not a bright one,” Ryan stated. “She doesn’t even recognize your name.”
“I said no more talking!” Mrs. Talford snapped at Ryan. “Do you want to go to the office again?”
“Why not?” Ryan asked. “I’ll be in there more than I’ll be in class. I might as well.” More kids chuckled.
Joe recognized this kid’s type right away. He was the big bully smart-ass class clown guy. Ryan was bigger than Joe, and most of the other kids. “Stop talking back,” Joe whispered to him. “You’ll get into trouble.”
“Do you think I care about getting into trouble?” Ryan asked. “Who do you think you are, my father? Damn nerd, get outta here!”
“If you get into trouble, my plan won’t work!” Joe whispered harshly. “I especially need your type for my plan.”
“You’re ‘plan’?” Ryan replied in a voice louder than necessary. “This kid’s a loser!”
“That’s enough, both of you!” the teacher demanded.
“Don’t call me a loser you big dumbass!” Joe replied. “I’ve been through a lot more than you have! If a Joice even attacked you, you’d start crying and call for your mommy!”
“Don’t run your mouth at me!” yelled Ryan, getting up. “I’ll smash it off!”
“SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!” Mrs. Talford bellowed. “Enough already! You’ve disrupted this class far enough! This is the first day of school and I’ve already had to yell! Sit down immediately!”
“Yeah, whatever floats your boat,” Ryan said, sitting down noisily. Then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’ll see you after class,” he said, staring at Joe.
Joe was two steps out of the classroom after class when Ryan smashed him into a locker from behind. A huge crowd formed around them chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Joe swung around and pushed Ryan back unsuccessfully. “Don’t touch me!” he yelled.
“Or what?” Ryan replied. He pinned Joe against the locker with his left hand and pounded Joe three times in the face with his right hand. Then he threw Joe to the ground. Joe felt his nose and realized it was bleeding. He slowly got back up.
“Is that all you got?” asked Joe, staring at him without a hint of fear in his eyes. “You fight like the little sister I never had.”
Ryan threw another punch but Joe ducked. “You’re slower than a slug!” Joe yelled playfully.
“How’s this for a slug!” Ryan shouted as he swung another fist, but Joe hopped out of the way.
“You know, Joices are about five times faster than your fist!” Joe yelled. “They’re a lot harder to defend from than you are!”
Ryan jumped at Joe to take him down, but somehow Joe landed on top of Ryan and was gripping his throat.
“Yes, I am Joe Sage!” Joe spat at him. “And I’m the one who was mentioned on TV! Believe it, or not!” Then he head butt Ryan in the face, making Ryan’s nose bleed, and jumped onto his feet. Ryan grabbed his face and throat and rolled over, moaning. Joe glared at the crowd and walked away, pleased with himself.
His luck for making friends wasn’t getting any better. He seemed to be shunned from everyone else, as if he was some strange kid who had a problem with Joices. On his third day of school, things were getting out of order.
Joe was walking down the hall after school, when three kids his size cut him off to speak to him.
“Why do you think you’re such a big shot?” asked Steve (one of the kids). “You show lip to everyone, who do you think you are?”
“I’m Joe Sage,” Joe replied. “The one who was attacked many times by Joices. I’ve been through way more encounters than you have, so I have a right to say whatever I want to.”
“Not to people who could kill you!” Steve snapped harshly. “Now shut your mouth from now on!”
“Listen buddy, you can’t tell me what to do!” Joe yelled at him. “When a Joice kills your parents, severely wounds you a dozen times, and smashes you through a window, then we can talk.”
“I don’t care what the hell Joices have done to you in the past, and I’m getting sick of your attitude!”
“Just back off,” Joe replied, shoving Steve out of his way so he could pass. He was filling up with massive rage, and just felt like hurting someone bad. “I’ve had enough of you people.”
Steve shoved Joe from behind and Joe turned around and just walloped Steve right in the mouth. Steve’s head shot backwards in surprise as he stumbled into his two friends.
“Oh now it’s on!” he warned, blood coming from his mouth. He started throwing punches at Joe, and Joe started throwing punches back. After a while, Joe started to throw all the punches, and hit Steve on every one. After ten hits Steve was in tears and backed off. His face was a mess, and he ran away with his friends.
Joe was steaming with anger. “He’s such a grade nine,” Joe mocked sarcastically. “What a cry baby!” Then he rubbed his knuckles and walked home.
The next day Steve wasn’t at school, and Joe overheard Steve’s friends saying he was in the hospital to get stitches. Nobody went near Joe that day or mouthed off a single word to him. Joe was pretty surprised. He never fought in his life before the fight with Ryan. Ryan was an easy fight because he was slow, and Joe only beat Steve because he was very angry at the time and lost control.
“Man, your plan’s falling apart,” stated Brian. “Joices are attacking more often as we reset the watch and you’re not making any friends.”
“It’s because none of them believe me,” replied Joe. Then, he smiled. “Wait a second. I have an idea. Don’t reset the watch this time.”
“Why not?” asked Brian.
“I have a plan,” answered Joe. “If we don’t reset the watch tomorrow, the Joices will most likely attack harshly during the day.”
“And why do you want them to?”
“Because if I’m at school when they attack, than the kids will become desperate for an idea, and I’ll tell them about the plan I had a couple of days ago.”
“The plan about you gathering survivors to take shelter together?” asked Brian. “Fort Sage?”
“Exactly!” said Joe. “When I wanted to tell everyone about the Joice-Detector Watch, I needed to wait for more Joice attacks. And oh boy did it work.”
“All right, then,” agreed Brian. “We shall use this plan.”
The next day was Friday, Joe’s fifth day of school. They hadn’t reset the watch since the conversation they had. When Joe got to school, all was normal as every other day.
“Do you have any gum?” some kid whispered to Joe.
“I’d be more concerned about Joices than gum if I were you,” Joe warned the kid.
“What’s with you and Joices?” he asked. “You’re always going on about them.”
“Because they’re a threat!” Joe whispered harshly. “Don’t you have any idea how dangerous they are?”
“Actually I couldn’t care less,” the kid replied. “They’ll never attack this school.”
Joe suddenly had a vision of a bunch of Joices breaking the classroom door off its hinges.
Joe immediately got to his feet. “Everyone be prepared!” Joe yelled. “Take cover! Joices are about to attack!”
The kids started laughing. “Sit down, Mr. Sage, before I send you to the office!” the teacher barked.
“I’m warning you people!” Joe shouted. “Joices are very dangerous and they’re approaching this classroom as we speak!”
“That’s enough disrupting!” the teacher yelled back. “How would you know anyway?”
“Just trust me!” Joe roared. His eyes darted around the classroom in search for something to protect him. Suddenly, all at once, several kids’ Joice detectors went off. What’s up? What’s up?
“CODE RED!” the principal yelled into the P.A. system. “I REPEAT: CODE RED! JOICES ARE IN THE BUILDING!”
“Do you fools believe me now?” Joe yelled at them.
“Children, hide!” Mrs. Talford instructed. “Everyone into the closets!”
“No!” argued Joe. “Everyone under your desks with your bags in front of you!”
“You will listen to my instructions!” Mrs. Talford demanded. “I’m the teacher, I know better!”
“I know Joices!” Joe shouted. “Listen to me! I’m Joe Sage! I was attacked many times and obviously I’ve survived!”
Bernom, bom, bom. Bernom, bom, bom.
“OH NO!” Joe hollered in a shrill voice. BOOM! The class was instantly in a panic as they heard the huge knock on the door, and they were rushing to get into the closets.
“You guys will be sitting ducks in there!” warned Joe as he followed his own instructions and went under his desk with his backpack.
Three or four kids followed Joe’s instructions. “He is Joe Sage,” they stated. But many kids were in the closets bumping around, and the door was suddenly knocked over.
Screams sounded through the classroom as Joe tried not to be noticed by the Joices. He succeeded, since the Joices all went straight for the closets. They tore through the closets with ease and caused a major bloodbath.
“They’re getting stronger,” Joe whispered to himself. Every single person who was in the closets died. The only people who survived were the ones that followed Joe’s orders. The Joices left through the window after brutally mutilating and eating the kids in the closets. Blood and guts and organs were all over the floors and walls near the closets, and a few kids puked at the sight. Joe gulped.
“Now I won’t have as many people in Fort Sage,” Joe muttered to himself. “If only they followed my directions.” Joe heard the others finish their quiet prayers.
They got out from under their desks. Joe counted five of them. “Thank you so much,” said one gratefully. “I’m very glad you were here.”
“Yeah,” agreed another person. “If you weren’t here and we all obeyed are stupid teacher’s orders, we’d be as dead as those morons in the closets.”
“I tried to tell them,” said Joe. “The idiots didn’t listen.”
“I’m Fred,” said one guy.
“I’m Sue,” said the girl.
“I’m John,” said another guy.
“I’m Todd,” said another.
“And I’m Gary,” said the last guy.
“As you all know I’m Joe Sage,” replied Joe. “Nice to meet you all.”
“How many Joice attacks have you survived?” asked Sue.
“I’ve actually lost count,” answered Joe. “Let’s see, there was the one when my mom died, they attacked the Police Department, my foster parents died, they attacked me and Brian in the mall, they attacked me and Brian at his house-“
“Who’s Brian?” interrupted Gary. “I didn’t hear of him on the news.”
“He’s my best friend,” answered Joe. “He’s sixteen and owns his own house. I live with him kind of.”
“You don’t have any parents?” asked Sue with a look of concern.
“I can handle myself,” replied Joe.
“You must be a brave one,” said Todd. “Brave and able to think straight in a desperate time.”
“You guys are brave,” replied Joe. “You risked your life to obey my orders by yourselves when lots of people did something else. You guys didn’t have a clue whether the Joices would go for six people under desks, or twenty people all clustered together trapped in a closet.”
“Now that I hear you say it, Mrs. Talford’s idea sounds really stupid,” commented Gary.
“And after what happened we know it was stupid,” laughed John.
“That scared the crap outta me,” said Fred. “Seeing all the blood and all the dead bodies, I thought I was gonna die.”
“Joe had to deal with that every time he was attacked,” said Sue. “I think he’s the bravest one here.”
“Well we wouldn’t know that,” replied Joe. “Any one of you could be like me if you were attacked as many times. You guys are already different from the others. You guys were smart. Now let’s go search the other classrooms for survivors.”
“Got it,” said Gary.
“Oh, and be on your guard,” warned Joe. “There’s nothing saying that there aren’t any more Joices left in the school. They could be anywhere, so keep a good eye out.”
They left the classroom to search for survivors, but only found one survivor in the whole school: a boy in grade ten named Dave.
Joe led them all to Brian’s house. Dave was attacked by Joices before, as he says. He seemed like a resourceful person to Joe, and Joe knew he must be a brave and smart person because he survived the attacks.
“These are all the survivors?” asked Brian in disbelief. “Your plan really backfired!”
“My plan had nothing to do with it,” replied Joe. “The people at that school are retarded. All except for these six, anyway.”
Brian sighed. “All right,” he said. “Joe, we shall now reset the watch regularly to give us some slack for a while so we can carry out our plan.”
“What plan?” asked Sue.
“How does resetting a watch give you slack?” asked John.
“Listen up,” said Joe. “We are going to find or build a hideout and make our own weapons to wait out the Joice attacks and try to figure out this mess. My watch is a very special one, resetting it before five o’clock somehow keeps the Joices from attacking as much.”
“Why only yours?” asked Todd curiously.
“I don’t know,” answered Joe.
“How are we gonna just wait out Joice attacks?” questioned Dave. “Joices aren’t going to go away automatically.”
“I know that, Dave,” replied Joe. “What I meant by ‘wait them out’ is to survive together in a place that’s easier to survive in so we can figure out how to stop the Joices.”
“So we’re gonna live in a fort?” asked Todd. “The eight of us are gonna live together, strive, survive, and think things over?”
“It’s the best plan we have so far,” said Joe. “Unless any of you came up with something better.” He looked around the room at the others’ faces. Nobody seemed to have a better plan.
“I guess we’re gonna have to do this,” said Dave. “Until we think of something. And we need the hideout because houses are hard to survive in.”
“Me and Brian know that from personal experiences,” agreed Joe. “That’s why we need to find or build a fort. So we can defend ourselves. How much money do you guys have?”
“I have six hundred in the bank,” said Dave. “I have a job”
“Eighty in my wallet,” said Todd. “Two hundred in the bank.”
“I have a purse with four hundred and sixty dollars of babysitting money,” said Sue. “I’ve been saving for a very long time.”
“Fifty-two bucks in the bank,” said John. “Fifty cents in my wallet. I like to spend a lot. I get paid next Monday seventy bucks.”
“I have a hundred and twenty in my wallet,” said Fred. “I don’t have a job.”
“I have twenty bucks,” said Gary. “I don’t have a job either.”
“I have sixty,” said Joe. “Got all my money from last Christmas.”
“And I have eight hundred dollars in the bank,” said Brian proudly. “Plus the money from my job in the other account. I don’t know how much is there, but I have two hundred in my wallet.”
“You have a lot of money,” said Dave, impressed.
“I have a high paying job,” said Brian. “Plus the eight hundred is from my parents. They gave it to me when I moved out.”
“Okay,” said Joe. “Together we have two thousand, five hundred and ninety-two dollars and fifty cents. But that’s not counting Brian’s unknown amount from his job and the seventy bucks that John will get.”
“That’s a lot of money,” commented Sue.
“Yes, which is good,” replied Joe. “We can put that money towards food and supplies.”
“It’s a plan,” said Brian.





Chapter 6:
Fort Sage

Their plan was decided. They found a warehouse to stay in because it was perfect for their hideout. It was small and only had one window and had a bunch of boxes with wood in them.
“We can use this wood,” Joe told them. “We can build things with it: weapons, shields, hinges, all sorts of things. This’ll save us a lot of money.”
“Yeah,” agreed Brian. “We’ll need to nail wood over that window, and wood over the door. We’ll build this hinge thing so we can lock and unlock the door whenever so we can come in and out.”
“This is a good plan,” said Dave.
“Money’s our only problem,” said Todd. “We’ll run out for sure.”
“We have over two and a half thousand,” disagreed Joe. “Plus, we’ll steal as much as we can to save money. It won’t be too difficult, with help from the Joices.” A couple of the kids chuckled.
So they got to work and began building weapons, boarding the window, and building a latch on the door and boarding it up as well. As Joe reduced the attacks by resetting his watch regularly and the crew kept the Joices from killing them with the helpful boards, they were able to survive quite well.
“We need more food,” said Brian. “I brought a large supply from my house, but it’s running out very fast.”
“Oh man,” complained Todd. “We don’t have to go outside, do we?”
“Don’t worry,” said Brian. “Only Joe and I have to go.”
“I’m coming too,” insisted Dave. “I need all the action I can get.”
“All right,” agreed Joe. “You guys take care of yourselves for a while as we go find a convenience store and conveniently take lots of food.”
“What do you mean by ‘conveniently’?” asked Brian. Joe winked at him. Dave shook his head, and they were off. They turned the latch and let themselves out and the others closed it behind them.
They headed down the dark street with some staffs with nails in them in search for a convenience store.
“This is highly dangerous,” Joe warned. “But I haven’t sensed anything yet.”
“If you’re so scared of them you shouldn’t have come along,” Dave remarked.
“Listen buddy!” demanded Joe. “I’m the one who lost my mother and foster parents to these Joices! I’ve probably been attacked by them more times than you’ve crapped in a toilet!”
“I’m simply saying that you shouldn’t challenge-“
“It’s not a challenge!” Joe shouted. “At least no more for me than it is for you! I’ve dealt with Joices many times and I’m not ‘challenging’ anything!”
“Guys it’s now time to focus,” Brian stated. “There’s a convenience store over there.”
They headed for the convenience store and entered it. There was a small man standing behind the counter looking terrified.
“The Joices!” he stuttered in a shocked voice. “Th-they’re out there! They’ll get me! And they’ll get you too!”
“Calm down, sir,” said Dave. “You’re gonna be fine. We have a hideout somewhere and we’re doing really good to survive.”
“Sir, we want you to come with us and take all your non-perishables along,” said Brian.
“And some Jos-Louis,” added Joe. “They taste good.”
They loaded up a bunch of food in wagons and pulled it to the warehouse. The storeowner was really freaking out on the way there.
“We’re gonna die out here!” he warned. “I should’ve stayed in my store!”
“Well if that’s your attitude, you shouldn’t look up,” Dave remarked with a smile.
The storeowner slowly looked up and screamed, seeing thousands of Joices flapping in the sky high above. “We’re dead!” he screamed. “We’re all dead!”
“Would you shut up?” Joe questioned harshly. “We’re gonna be fine, calm down.” But suddenly, Joe visioned a bunch of Joices swooping down towards them. “On second thought, we should hurry up,” Joe said nervously. “Joices are kind of on their way here.”
“What?” exclaimed the storeowner. “How would you know that?”
“Trust him,” said Brian. “He knows.” They quickened their pace and hurried towards the warehouse.
What’s up? What’s up?
“That can’t be good!” the storeowner whined. “Why did I ever agree to join you people? I was damn well safer in my store! If I stayed in my shop instead of venturing around with you youngsters, I would have had a chance to stay alive!”
“Stop gabbing about with your complaining!” Brian shouted. “In a time of danger, panicking is the worst thing to do!”
Bernom, bom, bom. Bernom, bom, bom.
Then the man screamed, turned, and ran towards his store. “Where’s he going?” asked Brian.
“Leave him,” muttered Joe. “He’ll mislead the Joices.”
The Joices swooped down, half going for the storeowner, and half going for the others. The storeowner was caught quickly and eaten brutally. Taking him apart piece by piece, the Joices carried away his body parts.
But only Joe saw the attack, the others were concentrating on heaving the wagons towards the warehouse. Joe ran ahead and kicked at the door.
“It’s us!” Joe bellowed at the door. “Open! Joices are coming!” The door quickly opened and they threw the wagons at the door as they jumped inside and slid into the warehouse. Joe dived to the ground as a couple Joices flew right over him. He rolled to the side as a couple more dived to bite him but bit a mouthful of grass. The door was slammed shut, leaving Joe outside with Joices after him. He jumped to his feet and swung his stick at a Joice, puncturing its head with the nails. He swung again, smacking another Joice in the head with the back of the staff. In the same movement, he stuck the stick in the ground, jumped, and kicked a Joice. The Joice flew backwards; right into the jaws of another and made a couple Joices screw up their flight and swerve into the wall and ground. He landed on his feet and took another quick swing. He hit two, but three curved under. One got his stomach, one got his left thigh, and one got his left bicep. He fell to the ground in pain, dropping his staff, just as the door swung back open. A staff knocked off the three Joices in three whacks, and Joe was lifted from the ground and thrown into the warehouse with strong arms.
Bandages were being wrapped around him as he sat up. He saw that Dave’s nose was bleeding and he had an angry look on his face.
“What the hell were you thinking you dumbass?” Brian shouted at Dave. “He could’ve been killed! How would you like it if we left you out there to die?!”
“It’s not my fault he can’t handle a few Joices,” Dave said fiercely.
Brian got up and shoved Dave. “How about we throw you outside and see if you survive those Joices?” Brian shouted. “You won’t even last half the time that Joe was out there!”
“What happened?” asked Joe.
“This moron shut the door on you!” Brian answered. “He said he couldn’t risk the Joices being in here! I had to knock him in the nose so I could open the door!”
“Why are you saying I can’t handle Joices when you were too scared to let them in?” Joe questioned Dave. “You’re either a wimp, or you have something against me!”
Dave walked to Joe. “Why don’t you shut your mouth, okay?” Dave said.
“Who’s gonna make him?” asked Brian, grabbing Dave by the shirt and pulling him towards him. “I’m really sick of you. How about an apology rather than threatening?”
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Dave replied stubbornly, pushing himself away from Brian.
“Oh my gosh, are you stupid?!” Brian exclaimed. “You just locked him outside with Joices and you have nothing to apologize for?”
“Fine,” Dave said reluctantly. He looked at Joe. “Joe, I’m sorry. Maybe I am a coward.”
“There,” said Brian. “That’s all I wanted to hear.” He turned away and looked around. “We need weapons. And I don’t mean staffs or boards, I mean guns.”
“Where are we going to get guns?” asked Todd. “We can’t have guns.”
“We can take some,” said Brian. “Steal, or something. Maybe we can get the army involved.”
“What’ll that do?” questioned Dave.
“The army will most likely be unsuccessful and will all die against the Joices,” explained Brian. “Then we can go and collect weapons from the dead army.”
“The army won’t fail,” disagreed Dave. “They’re an army!”
“If you haven’t noticed, Chip city has its own individual army, and they suck!” Brian stated.
“They have tanks!” argued Dave. “Joices will get murdered!”
“Tanks are too slow!” argued Brian. “And they only have about two tanks anyway. Two tanks, a couple jeeps, a couple men, against like three thousand Joices!”
“Whatever,” replied Dave stubbornly.
Brian took out his cell-phone and dialed 9-1-1. “We have an emergency!” he shouted frantically. “There are Joices attacking like crazy! We have barricaded ourselves in a warehouse and Joices are going crazy and trying to kill us! The address is 94 Livestone Drive in your city! We need the army! WE NEED THE ARMY!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Then he hung up.
“Nice performance,” commented Todd. “You think they bought it?”
“Of course they bought it,” said Brian. “Everyone knows how dangerous Joices are by now.”
“You’re an idiot!” Dave replied. “You’re gonna sacrifice the brave army just so you can get some weapons?”
“I never liked the army!” Brian stated. “They kill people if they don’t pay their taxes! The army deserves what they’re going to get.”
“How do we know that the army will be attacked by a lot of Joices, when we were only attacked by small amounts?” asked Todd curiously.
“They attack in bigger groups for larger threats,” answered Joe. “A group of people requires a maximum of twenty to them. An army would probably require over a thousand. And by what Brian says, anything over a thousand Joices could wipe out the army easily.”
“Dave, if you took a look at the sky, you’d see thousands, maybe millions, of Joices flapping about!” Brian explained loudly.
“I know that, genius!” Dave replied rudely. “I probably know more about Joices than any of you do!”
Joe started laughing after Dave said that statement. He laughed in a strange, unusual voice. After a few moments of the laughter, he looked oddly at Dave. “You know nothing,” he spat in a low voice. “After five thousand attacks on you from Joices, you’ll probably still know nothing. You may have some knowledge about them, but you don’t have the right attitude. Not at all. May I ask, how did you survive the attack at school?”
“I don’t have to tell you,” Dave snorted. “My plan was far more superior than yours was, I’m sure.”
“Plans for surviving aren’t superior,” Joe replied. “That’s why you don’t have the right attitude. You’re too arrogant! You think everything’s easy with Joices!” Joe paused and stared at Dave in thought. “Someone should keep an eye on him at night,” Joe said. “Something’s not right with him.”
Dave paused for a while too, as if he was in thought. “You know what?” he questioned fiercely. “I’m getting quite sick of this place!”
“Hello!” boomed a voice in a megaphone from outside. “Is anyone out there? If anyone can here me, answer immediately!”
Joe suddenly had a vision of a huge swarm of Joices spiraling down upon the army like a tornado spiraling down from the clouds. “Your plan’s going to work,” Joe told Brian. “The Joices are on their way.”
“We spot a warehouse!” the megaphone person shouted. “Are there any survivors in there?”
What’s up? What’s up?
“We are going to enter the warehouse!”
“I’m going outside,” Joe told his friends. He opened the latch of the door and shut it behind him. “It’s only me!” He shouted at the approaching army. “There are other survivors down the road that seriously need some help! Joices won’t leave them alone, and they’re very wounded!”
“We’re on our way there!” the booming voice replied.
Bernom, bom, bom. Bernom, bom, bom.
“Do you have music on?” the voice asked.
“NO!” Joe shouted in fear. “Hurry! That sound means Joices are coming any second! Judging by the volume, there’s gonna be a lot! They’re coming! You must hurry!”
Joe looked up and saw his vision coming true. He faked a scream and ran into the warehouse. “I’m pretty sure they bought that,” Joe told everyone. He peeked outside to see the attack.
He saw the Joices come down evilly and savagely. Bullets were firing hurriedly at the Joices, but most of the Joices were moving too fast to be hit, and came down like raindrops, going right for the throats of the soldiers. Blood was everywhere, mostly from the soldiers and some from the Joices. A tank was firing canons, but the Joices were way too fast to be hit. They swarmed around the tanks and devoured the men inside. Soldiers were slowly falling apart and brutally being slaughtered away.
Brian pulled Joe into the warehouse and locked the door. “If they see you they’ll swarm over here in two seconds,” Brian warned.
Now only the sounds of the battle were heard. Screams, roars, gunshots, and flapping were all the sounds coming from the battle. Joe gulped at the terrifying and horrible noises. Soon, the screams and gunshots stopped. The flapping died down and was quiet. The roars stopped. Joe brought his watch closer to his face and reset it.
“That’ll make it more likely that the Joices won’t bother us while we collect,” said Joe, explaining why he reset his watch.
They left the warehouse and quickly and quietly stuffed a bunch of weaponry into their backpacks. They slung ammo over their shoulders and stuffed their pockets. Brian slowly drove the blood-filled tank to the entrance of the warehouse to block the lower half of the door better. They brought the guns inside and built a little room for an armoury.
“Well,” said Brian. “Now we have weapons. What’s next?”
“Pillows,” said Joe. “We need pillows.”
“Okay, eight pillows for us to sleep on,” agreed Brian. “We should get some mattresses and blankets too.”
“I don’t mean to sleep on,” replied Joe. “I mean protection. We need a lot more than eight.”
“Why would we need pillows to protect us?” asked Dave in confusion.
“That’s why you know nothing about Joices,” Joe told him. “Pillows are very good protection against Joices.”
“Oh yeah,” said Brian. “Remember that time we were under the kitchen table, and we had pillows?”
“Yeah,” said Joe. “That’s why we need pillows. They have never failed me and I’ve used them twice. We need to get the proper pillows, though. We need the types that are on a couch, rather than a bed. They need to be bouncy and thick, you know what I mean?”
They all nodded. “Joe and I will cover this,” said Brian. Dave opened his mouth. “You’re not coming!” Brian interrupted harshly. “You can stay here and hold the fort.”
“It’s better if he doesn’t come,” said Joe. “I don’t trust him.” Suddenly Dave flinched, as if just remembering something.
Joe and Brian left the warehouse in search for a couch store or something. They brought shotguns along, as well as staffs strapped to their backs. Joe’s watch alarm went off, and he reset it quickly.
“What don’t you trust about Dave?” asked Brian. “Other than the fact that he’s a jerk.”
“I’m just getting a feeling that he’s spying on us,” said Joe. “I don’t know, it’s confusing.”
“Who would he be spying on us for?” asked Brian.
“I know you’ll think I’m crazy,” said Joe, “but my senses are somewhat thinking he’s spying for the Joices.”
“That does sound crazy,” replied Brian.
“I know,” agreed Joe. “It sounds crazy to me too.”
After a while of walking, they saw a store with the following advertisement written huge on the front: THE BEST CUSHION PILLOWS, BED PILLOWS, AND COUCH PILLOWS AND OTHER NON-RELATED MERCHANDISE!
“I guess that’s our store,” said Joe. They walked in and saw a man hiding between four pool tables with a blanket on top. Brian pulled off the blanket.
“We’re looking for pillows,” Brian told the man.
“I’m not in the mood for business right now!” the man replied in a frightened voice, similar to the voice the convenience store owner had.
Brian pointed his shotgun at the man’s head. “I don’t really care,” he said calmly. “I want thick bouncy couch pillows. Now.”
The man put up his hands and stepped out of his really poorly made fort. He showed them the section with the perfect pillows they needed. Joe and Brian stuffed the pillows into really big sheets, and had one huge sheet each with about twelve pillows in each sheet. They dragged the sheets behind them over their shoulders as they headed for the door.
“You know, you’re gonna die if a Joice attacks you,” Joe added to the man as he nodded at the man’s fort. Then they left the store and dragged the pillows to the warehouse.
“We brought pillows,” said Brian as he and Joe climbed over the tank and into the warehouse, dropping the sheets of pillows in front of everyone.
“Where’s Dave?” asked Joe, noticing Dave wasn’t there. “You guys shouldn’t let him out of your sight.”
“He left,” said Todd. “About five minutes after you guys left, he left. He said he had enough of our attitudes.”
“What’s that snoop up to?” Joe asked himself quietly.
“We don’t know he’s a snoop,” Brian reminded Joe. “That’s just a theory.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Gary.
“Nothing,” answered Joe. “Just a feeling I have.”
“Well your senses haven’t been wrong yet,” said Todd. “If you sense he’s a spy, he probably is.”
“But for who?” argued Joe. “I kind of sense him being a spy for the Joices, but how can that be?”
“Maybe he’s a Joice in disguise,” said Todd, shrugging his shoulders. “But seriously, he did survive the attack when no one else did, and he doesn’t seem to know much about Joices. Maybe they let him live?”
“And as I said earlier, he was always arrogant,” said Joe. “As if he’d never die by them. He must work for them somehow, it all makes sense!”
“You’re right,” agreed Sue. “They won’t attack him. They let him live and will keep letting him live.”
“But there must be more to it than that,” said Joe thoughtfully. “I wonder what.”
“What do you mean, ‘more to it’?” asked Brian.
“I mean Joices don’t talk, and Joices don’t pick random people for spies,” said Joe. “In fact they don’t pick spies period. Something’s up.”

(Chapter seven is on a separate item)