Stitch's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The hum grew loud behind them. Stitch pulled Lilo through the trees, but the sound tracked them like a hound. He still clutched the plush duck and the foil against his chest. The foil pulsed hot in his fist. That was why they could not lose the hunters. The beacon still called them, screaming his location with every step. He skidded to a stop under a low branch. "They're right on us," Lilo said. She was out of breath. "The signal. It's the foil." Stitch stared at the silver scrap. His cousin had hidden it to help him. Now it worked against him. The numbers glowed. He wanted to crush it, but the coordinates were his only trail. Crush it and he saved his life. Crush it and he lost his cousin for good. The treeline broke ahead. Through the leaves, Stitch saw them land. A ship touched down in the clearing, dark and squat. A ramp dropped. Figures stepped out, tall and armored, scanning the trees. One held a device that beeped in time with the foil's pulse. Stitch made his choice. He would not throw away the trail. But he could move it. He grabbed a flat stone and slapped the foil against it. Then he wound back his arm. Every muscle in his four-armed body coiled. "Stitch, what are you doing?" Lilo whispered. "Fooling them." He hurled the stone hard, far across the clearing, past the enemy ship. The foil sailed with it and clattered into the brush on the far side. The device in the hunter's hand swung toward the sound. The figures turned as one and ran toward the false signal. Their boots pounded away from the treeline. Stitch and Lilo pressed flat against the bark and did not breathe. But Stitch had thrown away his only map. His stomach dropped. The coordinates were gone, chasing after the enemy. He had saved them and lost the trail in the same throw. Lilo tugged his arm. She was smiling. "You memorized them. I saw you reading them back at the ship. Say them." Stitch closed his eyes. The glowing numbers floated up in his mind, clear as when he first found them. He whispered them, one by one. Lilo nodded at each. "Got it," she said. "Both of us now. They can't take it from your head." Across the clearing, the hunters reached the brush and found only a rock. Their leader shouted. They spread out, hunting a signal that no longer moved. Stitch pulled Lilo the other way, deeper into the trees, quiet now and free of the beacon. They had escaped. The trail lived only in two heads, and one broken duck rode against Stitch's chest. But the hunters knew this forest now. And they would not stop until they found where those numbers led.