Well, I like the prompt, but I'm concerned... who is the hunter and who is the prey? And are there more than one of each, in fact? So many questions....
Hunter and prey The woods were not helpful, or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that whoever built the lean-to had been clever. It was impossible to find anywhere that the lean-to couldn't see that could also see some way into the cave, at least on this side of the river. We contemplated crossing the river, but not only was that not easy, but we'd also have problems if we suddenly realised we needed to be on the side with the jetty, the lean-to and the gold. "We take the lean-to," said Ben at last. "It's not occupied at the moment, and we'll just have to tie up anyone who comes in." "They might not be back today anyway," said Jimmy. "They could have left this morning and not be coming back for a couple of days." "There's the devil's ballroom full of maybes and might-bes in these sentences," I grumbled, but they were right. Setting up where we could be seen would be both stupid and suspicious: we could hardly claim we'd missed seeing the lean-to, and with a couple of days of stubble Ben and I didn't look like the kind of guys who'd kindly pass it up and camp outside. But it was getting darker and if we didn't do something soon we'd be messing around in the dark. "Fine, let's get inside. If anyone catches us we can always say we found the chupacapra tracks and got worried." "And then tie them up," added Ben. The door the lean-to was wedged shut but there was no lock and Jimmy hauled it open with ease. Inside was a single room, not much bigger than the shack we'd been sharing in Elizabethtown. There was a pot on the floor off to one side, a couple of wooden-slat boxes with some old vegetables in, and a flitch of bacon tied to the roof by a bit of string. "Bacon," said Ben, looking pleased. "And we have the eggs as well!" There was a clang to my side, and Jimmy stepped back, rubbing his head and pointing at something black also hanging from the roof, barely visible in the darkness. "Found the frying pan," he said. There was a single filthy mattress as well; stuffed with straw and whatever insects were local to these parts. We all looked at it and decided that the floor was plenty good enough for us. Then I filled the pot with water and we set Jimmy to frying things to eat, and Ben and I looked out at the river where the water was oddly luminescent in the darkness, the wave tips glittering with a pale blue light like you sometimes got at sea. "Into the cave tomorrow?" asked Ben. I nodded, then realised he might not see that even in the light from the fire. "Yep. Let's hope there's not that much further to go now, otherwise we really are going to have to try and steal a boat." "Or give up," said Ben. Jimmy's head shot round, and the startled look on his face was the perfect punchline to tip us into gales of laughter. We all woke up sometime in the middle of the night. The moon was shining in through the only window in the lean-to, and luckily we'd all managed to sleep with our heads away from that patch of floor, but that wasn't what woke us. The grunting, snuffling noise like a hungry pig had done that. I lay still listening to it as something large moved around outside, sniffing and snuffling worse than Ben with a cold. Then there was a scratching sound against the back of the lean-to, something heavy and hard scraping down the wood. This repeated a couple of times, then there was silence.
Greg - well, the tension sure shot up a few notches at the end there. I think, like the boys, I both want to know and don't want to know what's lurking around outside.
2 comments:
Well, I like the prompt, but I'm concerned... who is the hunter and who is the prey? And are there more than one of each, in fact? So many questions....
Hunter and prey
The woods were not helpful, or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that whoever built the lean-to had been clever. It was impossible to find anywhere that the lean-to couldn't see that could also see some way into the cave, at least on this side of the river. We contemplated crossing the river, but not only was that not easy, but we'd also have problems if we suddenly realised we needed to be on the side with the jetty, the lean-to and the gold.
"We take the lean-to," said Ben at last. "It's not occupied at the moment, and we'll just have to tie up anyone who comes in."
"They might not be back today anyway," said Jimmy. "They could have left this morning and not be coming back for a couple of days."
"There's the devil's ballroom full of maybes and might-bes in these sentences," I grumbled, but they were right. Setting up where we could be seen would be both stupid and suspicious: we could hardly claim we'd missed seeing the lean-to, and with a couple of days of stubble Ben and I didn't look like the kind of guys who'd kindly pass it up and camp outside. But it was getting darker and if we didn't do something soon we'd be messing around in the dark. "Fine, let's get inside. If anyone catches us we can always say we found the chupacapra tracks and got worried."
"And then tie them up," added Ben.
The door the lean-to was wedged shut but there was no lock and Jimmy hauled it open with ease. Inside was a single room, not much bigger than the shack we'd been sharing in Elizabethtown. There was a pot on the floor off to one side, a couple of wooden-slat boxes with some old vegetables in, and a flitch of bacon tied to the roof by a bit of string.
"Bacon," said Ben, looking pleased. "And we have the eggs as well!"
There was a clang to my side, and Jimmy stepped back, rubbing his head and pointing at something black also hanging from the roof, barely visible in the darkness. "Found the frying pan," he said.
There was a single filthy mattress as well; stuffed with straw and whatever insects were local to these parts. We all looked at it and decided that the floor was plenty good enough for us. Then I filled the pot with water and we set Jimmy to frying things to eat, and Ben and I looked out at the river where the water was oddly luminescent in the darkness, the wave tips glittering with a pale blue light like you sometimes got at sea.
"Into the cave tomorrow?" asked Ben. I nodded, then realised he might not see that even in the light from the fire.
"Yep. Let's hope there's not that much further to go now, otherwise we really are going to have to try and steal a boat."
"Or give up," said Ben. Jimmy's head shot round, and the startled look on his face was the perfect punchline to tip us into gales of laughter.
We all woke up sometime in the middle of the night. The moon was shining in through the only window in the lean-to, and luckily we'd all managed to sleep with our heads away from that patch of floor, but that wasn't what woke us. The grunting, snuffling noise like a hungry pig had done that. I lay still listening to it as something large moved around outside, sniffing and snuffling worse than Ben with a cold. Then there was a scratching sound against the back of the lean-to, something heavy and hard scraping down the wood. This repeated a couple of times, then there was silence.
Greg - well, the tension sure shot up a few notches at the end there. I think, like the boys, I both want to know and don't want to know what's lurking around outside.
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