Happy Holidays from Edmond
(Previous)
The
rock around me groaned and I held my breath, waiting for everything to fall
apart. I couldn't breathe for the fear
of it. I watched for cracks while the
sound echoed around us, a deep throbbing that faded slowly.
I
looked at Beth. She smiled.
"Well
good. That worked."
"Worked?"
I repeated. I feared to move still.
"The
explosives sealing off parts of the passages - ah. I suppose I should have warned you about that
first?"
"Might
have been a good idea," Edmond said.
His ears were still back and his fur and tail fluffed out a bit more
than usual. "Can we leave this
overgrown mouse hole now? Before you do
anything else crazy?"
"Yeah,
time to go," she agreed. Beth
looked around the area with a shake of her head, though. "This has been my home for a long time,
you know. I want something better -- but
what if we can't find it? What if his was the best place?"
"I
can't answer that for you," I said and stood. "All I can say is that I know there are
better places out there and I'm going to
get myself back to them. You and your
friends can come along."
She
blinked and then smiled again.
"Yes, I think that would be nice."
They
had no trouble getting out of the 'mouse hole' as Harvey lead the way. They came out in the shadow of a building,
the sun just starting to go down. That
gave us a wide view through and nothing seemed to be moving. My heart dropped a little. I had wanted to
find Maggie, Davis and the others the moment we appeared. I wanted to believe that the others were all
right.
"Quiet
night," Beth said and looked around with some worry. "I don't know if that's good, or if it's
just that everyone smart has taken to cover."
"I
have never been accused of smart. I
suppose you better know that now."
I found myself stretching as though I had been cramped in the
caves. Edmond did the same and his tail
was up and his ears forward. He was a
much happier cat now that we were out in the open. I didn't say anything about the others, but I
hoped Edmond could find them -- and without going off on his own, either. They couldn't be too far, could they?"
"What
now?" Beth asked. She looked
nervously around.
I
guess that mean I was now in charge.
"Edmond? Any idea of where the others might be?"
I finally asked.
"Not
far," he said and seemed to mean those words. "This way."
Edmond
started away. I watched him for a moment
while wondering how I could put so much trust into a cat. I glanced at Beth and she looked at me, one
eyebrow raised. The others were gathered
behind us, waiting.
"Sometimes
you just have to trust the cat," I said with a sigh.
So we
followed him.
The
shadows were already darker. I listened
for the sound of biters and wondered what we'd do if they attacked again. There was my ability to send them flying if
it got dangerous, but I didn't like to rely on that too much. I didn't understand it, and I had seen how it
could fail.
Edmond
was not going very fast. I took that as
a good sign and hoped it didn't mean that he really didn't know where to go. I scanned the horizon a head of him and once
I saw something move, but it wasn't large enough to be the group we wanted to
find. I watched it though. Whatever the creature was, it moved from
shadow to shadow, slinking closer to us.
Not exactly hiding, but not out in the open, either.
"There's
something --" Beth began.
"I've
been watching. It hasn't leapt to attack
us, yet, so I'm not going to go look for trouble."
"Yeah. Good idea," she said. She sounded nervous.
"You've
been out here before and especially at night," I said. "Is there something I should know about
this time?"
"No,
no. Just -- I always stayed close to
home, you know. It was scary enough to
find myself here, but going out there and seeing all the bad things happening
-- I made my safe place and I brought in anyone who helped me." She looked back and shook her head. "But I had never meant to live there
forever. Thank you."
"I
wish I could say we are safe, that I can protect you and everyone --"
"We
have a problem," Edmond said, right on cue. "We have a big problem. I can't find any hint of the others at
all. Nothing. They can't be so far away that I can't find
Maggie, you know. Even if . . . Even if
something happened to her, I could still find her!"
Edmond
sounded panicked. I picked him up,
trying to calm my own fear. "We got
blown quite a ways, Edmond. And who
knows that that wind did out here. It
might still be interfering with what you normally sense.
"Maybe,"
he admitted, his voice muffled as he buried his head in my jacket. "I want to go home."
The
poor guy had never sounded so forlorn before.
"I'll get us there,"I said and made it as much a promise as I
could. "We'll find the door
--"
"Not
without Maggie!" he said. He pulled
his head out so fast that he hit my chin before I could pull back. "We aren't going without Maggie and
Davis!"
"No,
we aren't," I said and that was a better promise. I looked at Beth and smiled. "That doesn't mean I won't send you and
your people through first chance we get, though."
"Thank
you," she said. I could tell she
wasn't certain what she wanted though.
And
the creature was coming closer. Of
course it was. I wasn't even surprised
when it gave a loud roar and rushed at us.
To Be Continued. . .
999 Words
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