If you're sending a search party out for yesterday's rabbit, I think you should start by asking the previous day's tiger if they know anything about it....
Search Party The hillside was covered in yellowed, frozen grass; autumn had been short and fast and the first frosts had trapped the hillside in its dying glory. It rose up above the town of Fennarch protecting it from the sea-winds from one side at least; the winds lost much of their force as they curled around the hill and prowled through the town nonetheless. Ice crunched under booted feet and exploded into tiny white asterisms as the grass shook free, unbending and whipping about ankles. First a woman went past, then a man followed her, and ten seconds later the scramble of a small child followed both of them. They worked their way laboriously across the hill-face, stopping at gullies to check their depths by playing LED-torches over them, and pulling back large clumps and tufts of grass to make sure no-one was beneath or behind them. On when they were satisfied that they'd covered the entire face of the hill as this level did they climb further up, their progress slowed slightly by the need to make sure that their footing was secure, and getting their child up between them. "It's getting colder, Jane," said the man. He pointed upwards at the sky, where grey clouds had blocked the sun all day. "And that's more snow on the way." "Then we'd better find him!" Jane's voice was tight with tension. "He's eight, Michael, it's not like he's got a lot of chance of survival out here. If he were older...." "He'd probably have made a fire and we'd find him easily," said Michael. He sighed. "I wonder what they're teaching their kids these days, you know? Why would you neglect survival skills? Is it really better to die of exposure tha--" "Look!" Jane's breath puffed out in a huge white cloud. "That's a footprint!" "Can't be," said Michael without looking. She punched him, wobbling slightly to catch her balance after that. "Fine, where? Oh crap, you're right. He must have stopped to take a piss." "Not in front of Stephen!" "Bodily function," said Michael shortly and said nothing more.
They moved on, moving slightly faster now and reassured that they were going the right way. Instead of moving across the hillside to cover all the ground, Jane now chose the more obvious paths, constantly scanning the ground for signs of the missing child. "How many search parties?" she asked. "I think we're getting close, I can smell something. I think." "Four," said Michael. "But we've not seen them for a half-hour now. We're probably the only ones close here." Jane edged around a large bush that seemed to block the way to her left, and then held back stiff, prickly branches for Stephen to scramble through. Michael had to manage the bush by himself. On the other side they found a natural cave: an overhang of rock and soil that animals had burrowed under until it was large enough to conceal a small boy with a pale face, asleep with his head pillowed on a burlap sack, his breathing ragged and uneven. At the entrance to the cave was a pool of yellow vomit next to the frozen and bloody corpse of a rabbit." "Found him," said Jane. She sounded relieved. "Still alive too. Looks like he might have chased off whatever was living here." "Rabbit's frozen," said Michael, "he's not chased it off, it left already. It might come back though." The child opened its eyes and took a second to focus, coming only slowly from cold-induced sleep. "Who-?" "We're here for you," said Jane. She took the hand of her son and pushed him towards the lost child. "This is Stephen." Stephen walked up to the lost child, holding his arms out for a hug. Jane kept hold of his scarf, which slid from his smooth, egg-shaped featureless head and dangled from her hand, and she and Michael, fully featured Ilmatu, watched with pride as their son obtained his eyes.
Ah, god dammnit, you got me with this one. You bastard. I did not see that coming at all, though I was starting to suspect near the end that I'd been led astray.
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If you're sending a search party out for yesterday's rabbit, I think you should start by asking the previous day's tiger if they know anything about it....
Search Party
The hillside was covered in yellowed, frozen grass; autumn had been short and fast and the first frosts had trapped the hillside in its dying glory. It rose up above the town of Fennarch protecting it from the sea-winds from one side at least; the winds lost much of their force as they curled around the hill and prowled through the town nonetheless. Ice crunched under booted feet and exploded into tiny white asterisms as the grass shook free, unbending and whipping about ankles. First a woman went past, then a man followed her, and ten seconds later the scramble of a small child followed both of them. They worked their way laboriously across the hill-face, stopping at gullies to check their depths by playing LED-torches over them, and pulling back large clumps and tufts of grass to make sure no-one was beneath or behind them. On when they were satisfied that they'd covered the entire face of the hill as this level did they climb further up, their progress slowed slightly by the need to make sure that their footing was secure, and getting their child up between them.
"It's getting colder, Jane," said the man. He pointed upwards at the sky, where grey clouds had blocked the sun all day. "And that's more snow on the way."
"Then we'd better find him!" Jane's voice was tight with tension. "He's eight, Michael, it's not like he's got a lot of chance of survival out here. If he were older...."
"He'd probably have made a fire and we'd find him easily," said Michael. He sighed. "I wonder what they're teaching their kids these days, you know? Why would you neglect survival skills? Is it really better to die of exposure tha--"
"Look!" Jane's breath puffed out in a huge white cloud. "That's a footprint!"
"Can't be," said Michael without looking. She punched him, wobbling slightly to catch her balance after that. "Fine, where? Oh crap, you're right. He must have stopped to take a piss."
"Not in front of Stephen!"
"Bodily function," said Michael shortly and said nothing more.
They moved on, moving slightly faster now and reassured that they were going the right way. Instead of moving across the hillside to cover all the ground, Jane now chose the more obvious paths, constantly scanning the ground for signs of the missing child.
"How many search parties?" she asked. "I think we're getting close, I can smell something. I think."
"Four," said Michael. "But we've not seen them for a half-hour now. We're probably the only ones close here."
Jane edged around a large bush that seemed to block the way to her left, and then held back stiff, prickly branches for Stephen to scramble through. Michael had to manage the bush by himself. On the other side they found a natural cave: an overhang of rock and soil that animals had burrowed under until it was large enough to conceal a small boy with a pale face, asleep with his head pillowed on a burlap sack, his breathing ragged and uneven. At the entrance to the cave was a pool of yellow vomit next to the frozen and bloody corpse of a rabbit."
"Found him," said Jane. She sounded relieved. "Still alive too. Looks like he might have chased off whatever was living here."
"Rabbit's frozen," said Michael, "he's not chased it off, it left already. It might come back though."
The child opened its eyes and took a second to focus, coming only slowly from cold-induced sleep. "Who-?"
"We're here for you," said Jane. She took the hand of her son and pushed him towards the lost child. "This is Stephen."
Stephen walked up to the lost child, holding his arms out for a hug. Jane kept hold of his scarf, which slid from his smooth, egg-shaped featureless head and dangled from her hand, and she and Michael, fully featured Ilmatu, watched with pride as their son obtained his eyes.
Greg - nah, that's okay.
Ah, god dammnit, you got me with this one. You bastard. I did not see that coming at all, though I was starting to suspect near the end that I'd been led astray.
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