Meanwhile with Red
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Eventually, after running through the forest to find the general again for hours, Red found two other Infiltrators, Subjects 0206 and 1204, still searching for "Subject 1116." There was a feeling deep inside of her, which she did not want to accept, that the general would hurt her like Blue said. This thought then changed her mind so she went up to the other two colleagues.
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One of the Infiltrators turned their head quickly as they heard someone running behind them, thinking it would be the fugitive he and his partner were searching for.
"I think I heard 1116!- wait, it's 0822... false alarm."
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0206 turned around, looking spooked by the sudden call out, relieved the person running was just their red haired girl they worked with.
"Phew... honestly, I'm more glad it's just her, that 1116 guy sounds scary."
1204 gave a stern glare at his partner due to the sign of weakness in his words.
"What?! We were informed it has a knife, we just have guns. Although now I'm curious, why is she not with the general anymore...?"
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"Hell if I know,"
The more serious Infiltrator said sarcastically while looking at the girl coming towards them, annoyed by her interference in finding the escapee. She looked to be in a hurry to the both of them. As she got close enough for conversation the man spoke to her to try getting some clarification on her whereabouts.
"Hey, what's with the rush to us, weren't you searching with the general?"
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Out of breath, she came to a stop after reaching the two other Infiltrators and spoke with stops in between her words so she could catch her breath.
"He let me search by myself... plus I prefer doing things on my own; he got annoyed by my constant pestering to go alone."
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"You didn't answer what the rush is for, 0822. Did you see 1116?"
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1204's questioning had sent chills down her spine as she tried quickly thinking of a way out of this situation.
"Maybe, I'm not sure. I could have been hearing things, but you guys could go back there and look for yourself."
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"You could have died searching by yourself! We were ordered to stick with a partner, you got lucky getting the general!" The extremely annoying Infiltrator said.
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Red didn't appreciate his words; she had found a new spark in her that allowed her to be courageous enough to stand up for herself.
"I'm fine by myself, I can fight. Buttt I guess I'll help you guys with searching. You'd probably need more help if you think he'll be a hassle to hold down."
She hated saying that, but it's worth it in hopes to get these two distracted from finding Blue.
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The more professional man spoke again, sounding to be in agreement with the girl.
"Yeah... we need to stick together and find that nasty, insane freak."
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Now the other man had finally agreed while Red didn't comment on his words, all she did was stare and keep a straight face as Hemlock pushes their Subjects to do as they say. Was she really able to stand up for herself and the ones who don't deserve the hate they get? It was diminishing hearing what Blue is called when she just had seen how he is up close. Even if most of the time it was him with a gun shell in his side she still felt something, but she didn't understand what her own feelings for him were. It was scary, and Red knew how dangerous some thoughts could be in Hemlock, even if she's just thinking about those feelings of hers.
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The three Infiltrators now walked together through the forest, two of them keeping a keen eye out for the Subject while Red desperately looked around for Blue. She had to make sure to find him before they did so he could be warned of the danger beforehand. There was no sign of him at all as they kept walking and Red began to worry that Blue would be found by other Infiltrators still looking for him.
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The forest was dimly lit by the cracks where the trees did not shade with their leaves, this meant Blue would be more noticeable in these circumstances. Reds nerves rose but she had to keep a content, serious look on her face to avoid being questioned by either one of her partners.
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A couple minutes later
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"Ugh... we've been at this forever, man, can we stop for now?? I'm getting hungry."
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"It's been about 6 hours now,"
He paused before turning to 0206 and making him halt, causing Red to stop in unison while watching the taller man getting pushed to the edge by the smaller one.
"and no, we're not stopping. I don't understand how you still have a job as an Infiltrator when all you do is whine. We're "humans," now "act" like one; wouldn't want the general to see you behaving this way, right?"
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Red saw 0206 silence himself, unable to stand up for himself, and how 1204 stated that not crying is human. It was all too messed up what humanity has become in the Southern Nation. This led her to start slowly piecing together how Hemlock has changed humans for the worse, and how she's fallen for it...
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She'd begun to get lost in the tormenting thought of how she's been believing Hemlocks lies all along. Red yearned to be with Blue and see his eyes once again as he was well more informed and self aware of all of the horrible things the government has done to its victims. They'd deprive them of their humanity and individuality, trying to force them to become perfect "saints." The detrimental list of what's bad and what's "good" as a resident of Hemlock goes on forever, and there were an awful amount of faults within it.
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Looking to the left of her, Red's heart dropped as she noticed the blue hair of his glimmering ever so slightly due to the sparse, small patches of light shining down on him in random areas. In Red's eyes, she only could think the worst; he looked dead, his body palish as he had laid there, mangled on the ground. She'd notice how the shirt he wore gained more tears but worse as they were gash-like in size. Her heart frozen in terror on what happened, not realising how long she'd been staring at his body, a tear or two fell from her eyes.
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Red's moment of shock was interrupted by the annoying voice of the whiny Infiltrator
"EWWWW, why is there vomit in the forest??"
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"And OF COURSE you just HAD to step IN IT. Oh my Hemlock... WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS!?"
This was an awkward moment all over; the body laying in front of Red while some feet behind her were two Infiltrators bickering with each other like a married couple. In these times, saying that is considered one of the worst things to assume about two people, especially of the same sex.
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"Can you two just stop bickering like a married couple?! "
She was pissed, her mind overloaded with thoughts as Blue's body laid behind her, covered by grass sprouting from the ground.
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"Fuck did you just say we're acting like?"
1204 became so pissed his face turned red as he huffed from afar
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Red replied with fake confusion ridden in her voice.
"Umm... What do you mean? I didn't say anythingggg."
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"UGH... let's just leave 0822 here, we can look around somewhere else far away from her."
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"Well I'm fine with that... I never really liked her anyways. We should check in with the others on where we haven't looked, y'know?"
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Red shrugged off 0206's words about her while watching the other nod in agreement before they both walked away in a different direction of the woods. She was extremely glad with both of them leaving, this meant she'd be able to check on Blue— hoping to find out that he's alive...
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In a blink of an eye she was down by his side, inspecting Blue to figure out if he's breathing or not. And to her small amount of luck, he was breathing shallowly; slow and sounding as if it was a struggle for his body to breathe at all. Red's mind was unable to focus so she deliberately tried shaking him awake, but he wouldn't budge. This made her panic again, but she was able to catch herself. She was good at doing that, pushing away the strong emotions she had due to the lasting effect of the rules Hemlock forced upon everyone.
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In a matter of seconds she thought of the next best thing, ripping out a sheet of paper from her journal of notes and such for her job, and immediately began to write a note to Blue.
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On it she wrote:
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It's me, Red, who left this note. I hope you wake up soon. I tried waking you, but it failed so I felt this was the second best option for me to do.
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Your shirt looked to be more damaged than it was five hours ago so I'll find a shirt out of a shipment surplus that I think you'll like. I'll put it in the spot we'll send messages to which would be near The Carolinas Capitol. You should have it copied down in your journal where the Capitol is located. Look for a box near the place, I'll draw a red X on for identification.
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Infiltrators have a tracking device that they have to wear, I'm guessing you didn't know that, so I have to be very careful. Though, possibly a meet could occur anywhere on accident, which could lead to problems. Please be safe, and whatever caused you to... faint? Well whatever it is, don't do it again. Please.
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Red stared at the paper before ripping it out and laying it on Blue's chest, then setting off to find the shipment she mentioned in her note. She was planning to get him some clothes as well as food too so he can survive at his fullest. There was a feeling of worry as she left him there alone but she believed he's strong enough to fend for himself, at least she hoped that's true for Blue. After all, he hopefully didsurvive getting a bullet shot into the side of his chest by the general.
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Around 5 hours later with Blue
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Slowly he woke up from passing out earlier, struggling to breathe while freaking out a whole lot due to the effect of throwing up still present. There was an increase of sweat dripping down his face more than 6 hours ago when he'd awoken from the first time he collapsed from the pain.
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Blue looked around, his head hurting like hell and his throat even worse as it tightened up, and struggled to breathe normally. But then, as his right hand moved near his pelvic area, he felt a paper and picked it up to look at it with extreme confusion as to why it happened to be lying on him. He only assumed the worst, that someone out to kill him had found him and left a piece of paper on Blue to get him distracted and get the perfect shot to his head.
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But that was not the case; Blue was most definitely surprised to read that it was left by the girl he had all eyes on, Red. It had already been made clear how much he wants to protect her, so he focused on the words she'd written. When he reached the part where she told of the tracking device he wondered how hard it would be to destroy it. It could put her in even more danger too, which he would hate to do to Red.
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Blue wondered how long he's been passed out on the ground between the time that Red left the note and then now. Possibly she could have already left what she's giving him at the spot near the Capitol of the Carolines. After contemplating his thoughts, he read the rest of the note and stared at the words she wrote at the end of it. His mind hurt, Red truly wanted him to stop and this aching feeling scrambled his thoughts. Blue didn't want to give up the venomous substance, but he didn't want to give up on her either.
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He quickly pushed himself up with a struggle before stuffing the note in his pocket, crumpling up as he did so, and ran in a direction in which he didn't know where it would take him. Even if Blue looked at the map, he couldn't form a coherent thought on how to tell where he is by all the trees around him. Blue knew he needed to understand the forest so he knows exactly where he is at all times to make reading the map easier.
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To his luck there were no Infiltrator's, or even the general, in his random path he embarked on. But after running for however long, maybe 10 to 20 minutes, he started to notice the city buildings appearing as he regained consciousness on where he is now.
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"Shit... I need to know how to get around more. Where the hell is the Carolinas Capitol... ughhh..."
Groaning in annoyance, he took a deep breath in through his nose and oddly enough there was the reappearance of the intoxicating smell. His priorities for listening to Red's words to not take what made him pass out left his head as all on his mind was getting ahold of more. Blue didn't care that he still had two left; he wanted more more MOREMOREMORE.
"Hmm... I think that can wait~"
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Blank minded, he followed the smell which eventually led him to a bridge that many cars passed every second which made him stop. To the left of the small cross bridge was a wanted poster and Blue was quick to notice that it's him on it. This reminded him of the dangers of being in the city, especially alone when he could possibly have Red with him. He couldn't turn back from the venomous smell that's just across this bridge, and so he began to slowly walk to the other side of it. And oddly while doing so he started to glide his hand across the metal fence-like part of the bridge, his fingers going up and down due to the many holes in it.
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Stopping midway once again, he thought and he thought until he couldn't anymore and started to get frustrated with everything. This caused the bullet inflicted wound to sting, its immense pain coming back. He couldn't take this back and forth agony, sitting against the opposite side of the bridge, and decided that he'll consume one of the two vials he already had. 'Gosh... this better fucking work.' Blue thought while staring at the vial before drinking all of it in a second, he desperately wanted to overhaul this world to be the perfect safe haven for him and Red. A world where they could do whatever they wanted, together.
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He wanted to believe so badly that this venom would "soon" help him reach that world, failing to realise the truth of how the substance was destroying that already small chance of success. And that showed through the pain surging through his body until he couldn't bear to sit still so then he quickly stood up before taking the crumpled paper out of his pocket. Looking at the note reminded him of how Red cared for his wellbeing and that he shouldn't take what's been causing him to pass out.
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He was infuriated at himself for being addicted to the liquid that was like a 10x stronger Vyvanse dose. Though his love for Red started to become more "venomous," he wanted to see her look at him and be able to tell that he's left behind his addiction to the very thing that would have killed him if not for the Tree. But that won't happen if he doesn't trudge through the pain of quitting it.
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He fought with himself through jumping around like crazy, pulling at the skin of his face, kicking the lower cement walls of the bridge to inflict pain upon himself, and shaking his head like a mad man all in effort to sway his mind away from the drug. And he continued to do so for a bit, then later he bent down and went back into a fetal position, holding himself close like he did back by the Tree.
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Then suddenly his mind changed into a dream-like state as he sat there alone, huddled up against himself while time felt as if it didn't exist; Blue was unable to hear any cars driving down the road below this bridge. He felt insanely disconnected from reality and himself- but Red's words reoccurred in his mind over and over again, slowly bringing himself to listen to what she'd written. Finally Blue knew what he had to do: climb out of the ruins that Hemlock made him fall into, and follow his true purpose without the faults which occurred due to the effects of the liquid and even his Vyvanse.
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The innocence of what he once had about Hemlock's rules he buried completely now and from now on will never follow them, he would rather fulfill the purpose given to him by the Tree than the words of propaganda said by the Industries of Hemlock. There was propaganda for everything; the "ever rising need for medication" was a lie, meds have been poisoned with dangerous chemicals that'll lead to death even if taking the correct dose. And only the higher ups knew of this information, this meant that every resident of Hemlock is unknowingly killing themselves.
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Blue didn't know this information, for he's not a Deceiver, yet knew he would have to take the burden of quitting his short lived addiction to the venomous substance along with Vyvanse to focus on making himself better for Red, but also for his own personal wellbeing. So now he sat there, contemplating his thoughts and where to go from here to end Hemlock's tyranny across the Southern Nation.
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From across the other side of the bridge, where Blue was heading towards due to the smell of the drug emitting from somewhere over there, were the two Infiltrators that Red had last been with.
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1204 and 0206 were chatting with each other about him, the fugitive, and how no one has found anything yet on the renegades whereabouts.
"Man, five more hours later and nothing! The deceivers never give us a break, not to mention the people in the Intelligence Department. What a bunch of snobs they are, saying that we're slow with getting information. Don't you hate it too, man?!"
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1204 looked unsure with his answer, speaking dishonestly of his true feelings about how things are. "... no, not really. I mean honestly we should have found something, anythingof that Blue haired fuck by now."
The man scoffed while looking away from the bridge.
"The only thing we got is the general spotting him with 0822 but she got away from him it looked like, although the boss did lose his right ey—."
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His companion then yelled like his life depended on it.
"SHIT, I THINK THATS HIM OVER THERE!!!"
The shorter one said while pointing towards the left side of the bridge, from their view, where Blue had been sitting while looking at the night sky.
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"Wait wha— dammit, why would you scream then?!"
Said the other in a more hushed but angry tone; he was over the other Infiltrators extreme bluntness.
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Blue heard their banter clear as day which caused him to shoot up from the ground, looking over to see what he least wanted to encounter right now. It didn't feel real due to this dream-like state still present in how he perceives his surroundings. It was as if they were more figments of his imagination, but that thought soon faded away as the two of them started running towards him at a scarily high speed.
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His new found confidence to better himself let him think fast and act quick, going to pull his knife out but, oddly enough, instead he grabbed one of the vials that contained the venom. Blue was surprised that his hand instinctively went for what he was trying to give up, he then froze not knowing what to do, and then was grabbed by the smaller Infiltrator.
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Blue tried to get out of the man's grasp but he was stronger than the weak fugitive, probably due to Infiltrators having a higher up job which allows him to have more food available. And even then it's generally more of a workout for a job compared to being a factory worker like Blue used to be.
"Shoot him already, man!! He's being a pain in the ass!"
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"Yeah yeah, hold him still for crying out loud! You want me to shoot you or what??"
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0206 didn't reply, but Blue had an idea spark in him, and that was making them both drink a vial each of the deadly substance. He leaned back against the one that's been holding Blue's body against his and managed to get his arms free as they both fell to the ground. Then Blue quickly opened the vial and poured the venom down the man's throat, and after that he threw it into the Infiltrator's mouth, causing him to choke on that while the venom did its work.
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1204 watched in horror as he lowered his gun due to the sight of his colleague's translucent blue skin. 0206 stood up, trembling as he did so, and Blue backed up away from him, shocking himself by what the venom should have been doing to himself. But it didn't, as mentioned, because the Tree gave him a sense of immortality and invincibility. The sick man began to look as if he was going to vomit, and just that was about to happen. Blue had his knife in hand and looked back to see the Infiltrator terrified by his partner's sudden sickness. He wasn't sure what to do, but he turned back when he heard the sick Infiltrator throwing up violently.
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1204 couldn't look anymore, but it was too late— his partner was dead. The closest thing he could get to a friend, even though he was annoying a lot of the time, without being told on for having a bond with someone.
"What... WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM, YOU SICK FUCK!?"
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Blue noticed the alive man's vulnerability from the death he witnessed, and even he felt remorse for what he's done. 'Ah shit... I can't have these conflicting thoughts about people out to kill me. I need to get out of here..."
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The man returned to aiming his gun at Blue, beginning to shoot at an extremely fast rate but the "traitor" had an unusual quick instinct to run immediately after seeing the gun pointed at him once again.
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And just like that, Blue was gone from the scene while still having one more vial of venom left in his pocket. He began to hurry back to his hideout, not wanting to encounter any more Infiltrators all while trying to forget he just killed one. He certainly didn't know what would truly happen by drinking the venom, but he tried to remind himself that he's alive and that's all that matters at this moment.
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Blue started to walk slowly, not wanting to get caught by the Infiltrators he noticed a few feet in front of where he crouched to stay undercover by the bushes. Slowly but surely he got closer to his hideout, where he could finally rest safe and sound. Dwelling on the thought of sleep made him accidentally snap a twig, alerting an Infiltrator nearby.
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The Infiltrator ordered out to their partner.
"Hey! I think I found that scumbag 1116."
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He had to get out of there before they could find him, and immediately Blue began to run to where he remembered his hideout to be at. And to his dismay, the Infiltrator solo chased after him and was on his tail. He tried his best to dodge the bullets, but with more of his quick thinking Blue pulled out his knife and last vial of venom.
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Blue then ran towards the Infiltrator, knocking the gun out of his hand, and cut his hand with their clip point knife to have the chance to distract him while Blue poured the venom down the man's throat. Then they fled the scene quick enough for the dead Infiltrator's partner to miss getting a glimpse of him, as if they were never there.
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It was about 8:30 PM and he was finally back at his hideout, quickly opening the door that was greatly hidden like the rest of the small house. They took no time between getting in there, closing and locking the entrance door, and crashing out on the couch to get his needed rest from running as well as Hemlock as a whole.
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As he began to fall asleep, Blue thought of how he'll spend tomorrow, his first full day as a runaway fugitive, disobeying Hemlock in every way possible. But the main thing he wanted to accomplish tomorrow was going to the Capitol of the Carolinas in search of Red's box marked with an X.
ns216.73.216.33da2
and then Add to home screen.