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CHAPTER SIX - The Results

Julia was staring out the window of their little rented unit in absolute boredom. Her prim aunt Constance was knitting, something which she always nagged Julia to take up. As Julia stared out the window, she saw that weird guy Link she had met a few days ago. He was walking with a girl, and they were laughing and yelling like they were having the time of their lives. Julia felt a pang of envy inside, and wanted to be out there, free, with them. Just at that moment, Constance stood up and went into her bedroom. Julia saw this as her chance. She stood up and grabbed the front door key off the coffee table. She slipped it into the lock, opened the door… and she was free!

Trying to look casual, she hurried after Link and the girl, and when she was close enough yelled out, "Hey! Link!"
Link turned around in surprise, and didn't notice the man in the dark suit duck behind a bush.
"Hi Julia!" he said happily when he saw who it was.
"What are you up to?" Julia asked.
"Nothing much," Zelda butted in. She didn't want anyone to know about what they had just done. Link saw Julia give Zelda a strange look.
"Julia, this is my friend Zelda," he introduced.
"Oh I remember you!" said Julia. "You're that chick from Macca's." Zelda nodded, not wanting to be reminded of the other night, even though her parents had been completely supportive.
"Anyway," Zelda added. "We were just leaving." She didn't like the look of Julia very much.
"Oh yeah," Link said taking the hint. "Bye."
"Yeah. Bye." Julia tried to hide her anger at being blown off like that. Link and Zelda walked off down the street and turned the corner. A few minutes later, another guy in a black suit walked past. Julia didn't want to go home, so she decided to follow Link. Maybe she would find out a bit more about him. She didn't have anything better to do. Keeping them just in sight, Julia followed them down several streets and into an unfamiliar neighborhood, where the houses were all huge and snobs and rich people lived. Julia saw the house that Link and Zelda went into, and stood outside it for a while, wondering if it was his house or not. After a while, she noticed something funny. A man in a black suit climbed over a fence and into the front yard. He hid behind a bush, and Julia crept forwards until she could see him again. The man was setting up some sort of sophisticated weapon that had a telescopic view and a laser sight. He pointed it into one of the windows and took aim at the people he saw inside. Julia gasped, not wanting to believe what she saw.

Ric was feeling pleased with himself and knew that the master would reward him well for this job he was about to do. He crouched behind a bush and attached the last item to his gun, which was a silencer. Then he looked through the telescope at the two people who were eating in the front room. The boy he saw didn't look very dangerous. However, if the master wanted him dead it must be for a good reason. Ric wondered if he should kill the girl as well, but decided not to. She looked like she'd probably die from the fright that she was about to get. He pointed the laser aim directly onto the boy's head and squeezed the trigger.

Zelda was trying to teach Link how to play a board game, but he was having trouble getting the hang of it. When the doorbell rang, Zelda was glad to have an excuse to get up, because her parents weren't home. Link followed her. Zelda opened the door. Standing on the porch was that girl Julia that she had met earlier. Julia was holding onto a man who was either dead or unconscious. Zelda didn't want to find out which.
"Go away," she said. Julia ignored her.
"Link!" she said. "Let me in!"
"Go on," Link urged Zelda. Reluctantly, she opened the door. Link helped Julia haul the body inside. He noticed that there was a huge cut in his head, like he'd been bashed over the head with something hard.
"What the..." Zelda exclaimed in shock.
"Who is this?" Julia asked him directly.
"I don't know. I've never seen him before ever," Link answered truthfully.
"Do you know him?" Julia asked Zelda. She shook her head.
"I don't think I killed him," Julia said, "So we'd better tie him up or something." Zelda went over to one of the shelves and found two pairs of old-fashioned shackles. She clipped one pair around the man's feet and the other around his wrists. Then she turned to Julia.
"Why have you just brought a man you tried to kill in here? I hope you're not trying to leave the evidence here, you murderer! Are you going to kill us too, hey?"
"I'm not a murderer, he is," Julia said, and searched through the man's pockets, pulling out a wallet. She read out the items she found in there.
"Ricardo Anston, born April the second nineteen sixty three. Licensed as a professional crowd controller and personal security agent. Lives at Lake Hylia Resort." Then she stopped and looked at Link.
"Who are you Link? Why would someone like this want you dead?"
"Dead?!?" Link thought for a moment. He didn't know the man lying on the floor or why he would want to kill him. But then he remembered somebody he knew who would want to kill him.
"Ganondorf!"
"Shut up Link," Zelda said rudely, who still didn't like Julia and she didn't want her to know Link's real identity.
"Ganondorf? You mean the election guy? What about him?" Julia asked.
There was another knock on the door. Zelda went to answer it, and Julia and Link heard her exclaim "Paul! You're finally back!"
"Zelda!" exclaimed a male voice. There followed some loud and sickening kissing noises.
"I've missed you so much!" Zelda went back into the lounge room, followed by a boy who was about Link's height, but much skinnier and with curly black hair and darker skin. Julia thought he looked kind of pathetic, but she didn't say anything. The boy eyed Julia and Link with suspicion.
"This is my boyfriend Paul!" Zelda introduced, "And Paul, this is Link, and this is Julie."
"Julia," Julia corrected.
"Hi," Paul said.
"Paul's been on holidays," explained Zelda.
"Oh that's nice," said Julia, faking politeness. "Where did you go?"
"Marentos," Paul replied. Link had never heard of that place before.
Zelda felt a bit uncomfortable because Paul didn't know Link had been staying in her house. She decided that if he asked, she'd say he was a cousin, or maybe a family friend. She turned on the TV to break the silence.
"There's only half an hour until the news comes on," said Zelda. Link felt his stomach twist into knots.
"Ah yes the election, "said Paul. "I had to vote by post." Julia was surprised because he didn't look old enough to vote.
"Who did you vote for?" asked Zelda.
"Reed," Paul replied.
"Of Zora? That's okay, I'm going for her!"
Paul kissed Zelda, and both Julia and Link felt sick. They hated people who were all lovey-dovey all the time, especially in public.

Finally the news started. Link held his breath.

"Welcome to tonight's news. Making headlines tonight, more unexplained attacks throughout Hyrule, a local security guard goes missing at the electoral building, and Hyrule's former most wanted man escapes from jail. But first, the results you have all been waiting for. We cross live to our political reporter Susan Eros."

"Thanks Steve. Well the results are in, and it's time to announce the next President of Hyrule. It was a much closer race than we'd anticipated, with a lot more votes than expected going to the Zora Party. However, the leaders all along, the Gerudo Party, just managed to back off the opposition. Ganondorf Dragmire was elected as the next President at just 50 percent, ahead of Jessica Reed who was at 42."

"NO!" yelled Link.
"How can this be?" asked Zelda.
"Zelly dear, I didn't like the guy much, but it's not the end of the world," Paul said. Link didn't agree with him there.
"What can we do now?" asked Zelda.
"Can we talk about this later?" Link didn't want Paul or Julia to get worried, and from what Zelda had told him about them, they'd probably just think that they were crazy.

Zelda invited everyone, including Julia, to stay for dinner, although she wished she could talk with Link in private. It was the worst possible timing for Paul to arrive home now. They decided to have fish and chips for tea, which made Link happy because he liked fish. He was a little surprised to see Paul approach him.
"Hey there Link, how's it going? I thought we could leave the ladies alone for a while, and we could go and get dinner, how about it?"
"Okay," replied Link. He didn't mind fishing. He followed Paul outside to Paul's car, which was an old, red bomb. When Paul opened the door, Link copied him and sat in the passenger seat. The drive to the fish and chip shop only took about ten minutes. Link was used to seeing cars by now, and they didn't surprise him any more, but he still wasn't used to riding in them. Thankfully, Paul was a slow and safe driver, and Link still felt fine when they arrived. No carsickness today.
"You can wait here if you like," said Paul. "I'll only be a second."
"Okay," agreed Link. Paul slammed the door and went into the fish and chip shop. Link amused himself by sitting in the driver's seat and looking at people through the car's rear view mirror. Across the street, there were several parked cars, all different colours. Link also watched the passers by. He particularly noticed one woman who looked almost like a Gerudo. Of course, Zelda had told him that no actual Gerudos existed anymore, however, there were people who were part Gerudo.

Link noticed a large group of people, all wearing black, approach a black car. They were all men, and they parted and one opened the door to let someone into the car. Link couldn't believe it when he saw it was Ganondorf! The other men got into the car, and it slowly began to pull away from the car park.
"I can't let him get away," said Link, "Now, how does this thing work?" He tried hard to remember what Paul had done. Fortunately, Paul had left the engine running for the air conditioner, and Link moved the weird stick in the middle until it said 'Drive.' He released the handbrake like he'd seen Paul do, and the car began to roll backwards. Link began to get worried, and turned the wheel frantically. Somehow, and to the frustration of other drivers, he managed to get the car straightened out on the road just as it hit the curb. He found that one pedal made the car go, and the other stop, so he slammed down the accelerator and began to follow Ganondorf's car. He soon caught up, and managed to stay behind it, trying to decide what to do next.

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