The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back by Christopher Helwink Page A

themselves for memories.
    The Boy in Blue made a beeline passed as many
as he could, without making too much of a scene, and aimed right
for the mill. The twins, still hot on the pursuit, were now
starting to have troubles tracking the Boy in Blue. With the
crowds, the noise of the people, and the distractions all around
them, it would be difficult for anyone to follow.
    “We’re losing him,” Rocket puffed out.
    “He’s heading for the mill,” Wedge responded.
“He’s going to try and lose us in there. Just head for it.”
    Wedge was right. The Boy in Blue ducked into
the entrance of the mill, skipping out on paying his entry fee. The
twins were right behind him, and unfortunately followed suit.
    The inside of Grauer Mill looked nothing like
it did in the late nineteenth century. Though it was still
functional, the mill served as a prop for the tourists that now
occupied its halls.
    Most of the machinery was taken out and those
rooms gutted and replaced with the museum, gift shop, and ticket
counters. What machinery was left, served only one purpose – to
spin the wheel.
    The Boy in Blue headed for the wooden
staircase that ascended up to the second and third floors. He
headed for the third floor.
    “Where? Where?” Rocket asked of his brother
as the two boys entered into the museum.
    “There – the stairs,” Wedge let out and
headed for them. Both boys hurried up the two flights of stairs and
looked around for the Boy in Blue.
    “I don’t seem him,” Rocket said as he looked
around.
    “He must have ducked into one of these rooms.
Let’s split up.”
    The two boys went their separate ways. Wedge
to the right, Rocket to the left. Wedge ducked into various rooms
around the mill, but couldn’t find anything. He would peak into the
rooms first, as if a top agent spy on a secret mission, then fully
enter into the room.
    Rocket was seen just walking right into the
rooms. He didn’t care about how he found the Boy in Blue, he just
wanted to find him. That’s when he radioed back to The
Playground.
    “Do we have any surveillance feeds of this
place?” he asked.
    “We’re still scanning,” Gears replied back in
his ear.
    While the members of SOCKs at The Playground
scanned, Wedge and Rocket continued their pursuit. With only a few
rooms left on the third floor before they met up, Rocket started to
wonder if they picked the wrong floor.
    “Are you sure he went to the third floor?” he
asked of his brother over his communicator.
    “Pretty sure,” Wedge answered back. Rocket
rolled his eyes and went into his last room. It was pretty blank
and just like the other rooms. Fake mannequin farmers doing some
sort of nineteenth century chore surrounded by fake food, fake
lamps, and sometimes – fake animals.
    This particular room looked like the place
where the farmers used to make cider from the apples in the
orchard. Two fake farmers stood at a wooden table, surrounded by
wooden apples, making fake cider.
    There wasn’t too many hiding spots in this
room. Rocket quickly checked behind the door and walked over to the
farmers, he didn’t see anyone.
    Wedge, on the other hand, had a more
difficult time getting into his last room. The room's door was
closed and was marked STAFF ONLY. Wedge walked up to the door and,
to his surprise, found it to be unlocked.
    He swung the door open, but did not enter the
room. The gray metal door, which was different then the other
doors, slide open and came to a stop when it hit the wall. Wedge,
still playing spy, peeked around the corner.
    The room was the grain room. Here, wooden
barrels of wheat were stored that would be used by the staff
members of the mill to show tourists how the farmers in the old
days would smash the grain – using the mills waterwheel.
    The room was dark when Wedge entered the
room, but he could see the outlines of about a dozen wooden barrels
strung around the room. The room was void of any furniture, but
some old machinery was lying about as