Rescue Mission

Armani sat up in bed and stretched. He was hungry and thirsty. His socks had fallen off while he slept, but he didn’t care. They didn’t have the air conditioning on yet, and the hot North Carolina weather kept the floors warm.

When he opened the door to the bedroom he noticed it was very quiet. He walked down the hallway and knocked on Abby’s bedroom door. When she didn’t answer he opened it a little. She wasn’t there. He closed the door and walked into the kitchen.

There was a plate on the table. Pancakes and bacon. He sat down to eat, confused. Where was everyone? No one would leave him alone in the house. Especially not while he was sleeping. They must be outside. He started eating as fast as he could, so he could go out and play too.

When he reached for his drink his hand bumped a cell phone. Had that been there before? He didn’t remember seeing it when he sat down. A message on the screen said, “PRESS PLAY”. Armani picked it up and turned it over. It was a red phone. One he had never seen before. He knew it didn’t belong to Abby, Nana, or Popop. So where did it come from? He pressed play.

When the screen loaded he saw men marching in place. He looked closer. They were the small green army men that he sometimes liked to play with. Toys. Maybe this was a new movie he hadn’t seen before. He kept watching.

The army men were marching around something. The camera zoomed out and he saw the fort he built with his brother—but it couldn’t be. Toys weren’t alive in real life. It couldn’t be their fort. That didn’t make sense.

The video continued to play. Whoever was holding it moved the camera around to show him everything. There were tiny green army men everywhere. They almost looked like grass moving in the wind. It was strange to see them alive. It was even stranger to see them taking over his fort.

The camera flipped around and there was his family. Nana, Popop, Aiden, and Abby were all being guarded by the toy men. What were they doing? Why were they just sitting there? Then he saw that their hands and feet were tied. They had been kidnapped!

A shiny green plastic face was suddenly in front of the camera. The toy soldier said, “They’re our family, now,” and stopped the video.

“Oh no!” Armani shouted.

He stood and went to get dressed for a rescue mission. Halfway to his room, he turned back around to clean up his breakfast, so Nana didn’t have to do it later. The last thing he wanted was for her to clean anything after being kidnapped.

When he got to his room he went through his clothes. He didn’t have much camouflage, but Aiden did. He borrowed a shirt from his brother. It was too big, but he didn’t have a choice. He needed to be hard to see in the woods, so he could sneak up and scope things out. He didn’t think Aiden would mind. Armani was about to save him, after all.

When he was ready, he ran back down the hallway. As he was unlocking the front door he heard a funny noise. He listened. It was coming from the bathroom. He turned and tip-toed up the hall. When he got to the door he heard whining. He recognized the sound and went inside.

Gigi, their sweet family Pitbull, was trapped in a net. Armani hurried over to her. Her tail started to wag. She was happy to see him. To be rescued. Armani pulled at the net, but he couldn’t get it off. The knots were too tight.

“Hang on, Gi! I’ll be right back,” he said. He sprinted into the kitchen and found the junk drawer. It had all kinds of things in it.  He saw marbles, paperclips, rubber bands, markers, chopsticks, and a whole bunch of other stuff he didn’t need. When he finally found the scissors he grabbed them and started to run back to Gigi. Then he remembered that running with scissors wasn’t safe, and tried to walk quickly instead.

When he got to the bathroom he cut Gigi loose. She was so glad to be free that she licked Armani’s face all over. He giggled and wiped away the slobber.

“You’re ok, now,” he said in his light Southern accent. “What happened to you? How’d ya get under that net?”  

Gigi went over to the bathtub for a moment. When she came back, she had something in her mouth. Armani held out his hands and she spit two pieces of a toy soldier into them. The army men got to her too!

“Let’s go,” he said. She barked like it was a good idea, and the two of them ran out of the house together.

Armani picked up his bow and arrows on his way into the woods. He decided to take Aiden’s too. He would free Aiden first and together they could rescue everyone else.

When he got close to where he and his brother had built the fort, he hid behind a big tree. He didn’t have to listen too hard to hear the soldiers. They did a lot of marching.

He leaned around the tree to see what was going on, but they were too far away. Moving closer would give away his position, so he took out his camera instead. The zoom feature was just enough to get a good look at things.

He saw Abby, Aiden, Nana, and Popop sitting together. Their hands and feet were tied up, so they couldn't move. It was good that they were in one spot, though. That would make the rescue mission easier.

“Ok, Gi,” he whispered, “this is the plan. I’m gonna run right into the middle of their camp. Scare ‘em good. Then you’re gonna run in behind me and get as many of ‘em as you can. They can’t get us both if we’re movin’ fast. Got it?” She licked him in reply. He thought that was a yes.

He took a deep breath and ran into the fort. Tiny green men scattered. Some went left, some went right, and others started shooting at him. The plastic bullets felt like hard pinches against his skin. Uncomfortable, but not enough to stop him. Armani was strong.

“Armani, behind you!” Aiden yelled.

Armani turned around to see toy tanks rolling in his direction. He thought that their ammo might hurt a lot more. He ran over to his family and dove behind them for cover.

“We want your family to come home with us,” one of the soldiers yelled from somewhere. Armani took out a pair of scissors and started cutting the ropes around Aiden’s wrists. Aiden’s eyebrows went up. He was impressed.

“I want ‘em to come home with me!” Armani yelled back.

“Ready…aim…” a voice said. Armani was working on cutting the rope at Aiden’s ankles. The scissors weren’t very sharp.

“You can’t have them!” Armani shouted. Aiden was free. Armani handed him his bow, and together the boys started taking down tanks.

“Mani! The scissors!” Abby yelled. She had freed her hands and held them out, ready to catch the scissors.

Armani handed them to her and said, "Throwing scissors is dangerous Abby." She laughed. She was proud of him!

Gigi ran through the battlefield and tossed a bunch of tiny green men into the air. Pieces of plastic went flying. Armani kicked the plastic soldiers closest to him. Abby stood to help the boys fight off the enemy while Popop freed Nana. It was on.

“Good job, Mani! Love ya, bud!” Abby said when she joined them.

“Love you too,” he said while he kicked at the enemy. As soon as the words “I love you” left their mouths a whole group of toy soldiers fell over. He bent down to pick one up. It didn’t move. Thinking fast Armani said, “I love my Mama!” More of the toys went still. Aiden was catching on, too.

“I love my mom, too!” Aiden said. More soldiers froze in place.

“I love Abby! I love Nana and Popop!” Armani shouted.

“I love them, too, and I love my Dad!” Aiden yelled.

“I love my whole family!” Abby said.

“Me too!” Aiden and Armani cried out at the same time. Gigi barked in support.

They worked together as they yelled the names of the people that they loved over and over until the fort was completely quiet.  Until no more tiny toy soldiers ran at them. Until the tanks stopped rolling forward. Until Armani felt that they were all safe.

He walked around just to be sure. Aiden did the same. Abby talked with Nana and Popop. She was probably checking to see that they were ok. Popop started stomping on a pile of toy soldiers. Armani laughed.

“So how did they get ya’ll anyway?” Armani asked.

“We all woke up there,” Aiden said.

“Ya’ll are heavy sleepers. I wonder why they didn’t get me.”

“I’m guessing they couldn’t reach the top bunk,” Aiden replied.

“Good thing. You’re welcome for rescuin’ ya!” Armani teased.

“You’ll never let me forget this will you.”

“Nope! Never."

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” yelled a voice close to Armani’s ear. He turned to see who it was. A green army man sat inside a toy airplane, and that airplane flew right into his face.

Armani sat up in bed. He was breathing hard. He looked around and saw that he was home. It was dark in their room, but he could hear Aiden sleeping in the bunk below. What time was it?

He reached up and felt his face. It didn’t hurt. He thought for sure that the airplane landing on his forehead would have left a mark.

His nose picked up the smell of bacon, and he went into the hallway. He was glad to see Nana making pancakes. She smiled at him when she turned around.

“Morning! Pancakes?” she asked.

“Yes, please,” Armani replied. “Nana, did that airplane hurt my face?”

“What airplane?”

“The one that landed on me when I had to rescue you from the soldiers,” he said back. She looked at him, confused.

“Sounds like you had a cool dream!”

“It wasn’t a…wait. It was a dream? Awe, maaaaaan,” he stomped his foot. Armani lowered his head and pulled out a chair to sit at the table. Nana put a plate of pancakes and bacon down in front of him. He sat and started eating.

Aiden appeared in the seat next to him a moment later. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before saying, “Armani, please stop leaving your toys in my bed,” and he tossed a handful of little green army men onto the table.

Armani’s eyes went wide and he said, “IT WASN’T A DREAM!”

THE END.

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Copyright © 2024 by Kate Johnston

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"Rescue Mission" is a Campfire Tales installment, which is a branch of Tales at Twilight specially dedicated to kids. The author always recommends that parents/guardians read these tales before sharing them with their children. Thank you for reading a bit of Friday fun! See you next week.