Chapter 7

  196:11:17

  Wes made great time getting back to the mountain’s base. He looked up and vaguely remembered how he descended the mountain. He was dead tired but he knew it would be better to rest near the top of the mountain so that the trek down could begin when he was well rested.

  By the time he was near the summit, his legs were shaking and trembling. He had stopped only twice on the way back and drank water from the river as he had become thirsty beyond belief. His legs were near giving out after the long journey and trek back to the mountain and up it. When he pulled himself onto the top shelf of the mountain he collapsed and took in his real true worry. The Glow coming through the clouds had truly dimmed. He suspected that the star was beginning to dip to one side. He suspected it was going off to the gorge side as it was a bit brighter on that side.

  189:29:01

  Wes took in his timer but found that he could not care anymore about the time. He was so tired that the wind whipping up around him at the top was of little concern to him. He faded off to sleep while hearing the occasional thud in the direction he would have to head when waking.

  176:10:36

  As Wes took in his dwindling timer he looked out to the side of the mountain he had yet to travel and decided to stick with the same game plan. He would stick to the waterside and avoid all he could. He figured he made it to the ocean on the other side while being cautious in about 50 of these hours. When he was walking back after knowing that there was no danger it had taken him 22 hours. So he suspected even if he went at a crawl he would make it there with time to spare. He just had to avoid the noise and he would be okay.

  Walking down the small path that zigzagged this side of the mountain was refreshing after the day before’s ascent. Wes tried to take in all that he could in the now-fading light. The glow had dimmed considerably. The shadows of the trees seemed to have shadows themselves. The once bright blue water off to his right had turned to a darker shade that was starting to resemble the inky blackness of the Black Sea.

  The pathway met the ground in the direction of the gorge. He had to traverse back along the mountain while keeping an eye on the treeline. He knew that something or more likely multiple somethings resided in those dense woodlands. Not wanting to meet that something he used the fading to glow as best he could. He tried to stick to the shadow of the mountain. His pace was slow and methodical. He would take a step and stop to assess. He tried his best not to jostle the man's little stones around him that would give away his position. It took 2 hours of the timer before he tasted the wet air on his tongue again. The trees oozed shadows off to his left. He felt that his heart's rapid beating was just as likely to give him away to the inhabitants of this side as his misjudging one of his footfalls and jostling a stone or two.

  When the slapping of water became clear to his ears he decided to veer off toward the trees. Being exposed on more than one side was not a good idea. He crept to the trees even slower than he had traversed the wall. He was so close to the ground in a crouch. Doing his best to imitate a random stone. He hunched his back and dipped his head in line with his crunched spine.

  BE THE STONE. I AM THE STONE. NO SQUISHY PERSON HERE.

  He chanted his mantra over and over again in his head while inspecting the treeline for any movement. When he got to within 20 feet of the treeline he heard one of those loud booms off in the distance. He picked himself up and tried to run in a dead sprint but his legs were not cooperating after spending so long in a crouch. His face planted into the dirt below. He came to a sliding halt no more than 6 feet from where he started. He rolled over onto his back and looked side to side and saw that nothing had shot out after him. Wes laughed to himself after going over what had just happened. If he took half a beat longer to analyze he would have come to the conclusion that the loud boom had come from a way off.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Rolling himself over after giving his legs a moment to flex out, he felt better now that he had his feet under him again. He claimed the rest of the distance between him and the treeline in short order. Looking at his time he said to himself, still all good on time.

  172:55:22

  As Wes took in the darkness of the woods while being in it he decided not to go more than 20 feet from the clearing. He felt that if he went any further he would lose track of the clearing and be lost in eternal darkness.

  When Wes would come across any tree in his way he opted to go around the right side to keep the mountain firmly in his view. But more importantly, it kept him from moving deeper into the forest without knowing it. Ever so often he would readjust and move 10 feet as he became too close to the clearing.

  When the black dirt of the clearing before the water came into view Wes was so mesmerized by the water's characteristics in the fading light that he did not take notice of the movement off to the left along the water's edge. Wes went to move in much of the same manner as he had been; he finally noticed what had eluded him. It was a large animal of some kind. It had hair so thick he could not make out its face. He suspected it was the side leaning over into the water drinking. Wes stood with a grin on his face as he watched the creature. For some reason, he felt a sense of pride at getting to witness this.

  After a time the uniqueness of what he witnessed wore off and he was going through how he was going to navigate this stretch of trees. When a massive being left the treeline no more than 100 feet from where he was he gasped sharply. He slammed his hands to his mouth and cringed. A massive humanoid figure ran at the drinking four-legged creature in silence. It covered the distance to the hairy animal in no more than 3 seconds. It slammed down on the hairy creature's back with its front appendage. The creature ceased all movement from that one hit. Half of its body now hung in the water as the humanoid being that stood over 20 feet hunched over started to eat its hindquarters. Hair and all were getting chewed through its maw. The Large creature had two arms on its left and one on its right. Its legs were bowed out and its back offered a permanent hunch.

  Wes’s back now offered a hunch from his deep crouch. He slunk into the closest tree as he heard the crunching of bone ring over the 200 or so feet to where he was. He shuddered at each snap and pop that crashed into his eardrums. The humanoid was now sitting on its bottom.

  It was this time that he noticed that this being was wearing a type of loincloth that covered its genitals. He went over all the things he could still remember from his education. The loincloth would mean that it has some form of conscience. Unless someone was out here taking care of this thing. If it is alone, then that would be one thing, but the fact that it tries to hide its privates would mean that it has some type of thought on why it would do so. What I need to know is does it kill indiscrimately? I do not want to test it now but that would be a key bit of information.

  Wes had been still while pressed up against the base of a tree, so when another of these massive humanoids passed no more than 10 feet from him into the clearing he nearly had a heart attack. He didn’t hear it moving at all as it passed him. This second humanoid had two arms on its right side only. No left arm. It slunk its way over to the one that was eating. No aggression could be seen from either of them. As the all righty saddled up to the first one he could see that it was waiting until the first was satisfied with its fill of the meal. The first took in the new arrival and dragged the rest of the deceased animal out of the water and ripped off a last piece of flesh before turning back to the tree line with the hunk of flesh in his mouth. The second dug in immediately, and he ate as crudely as the first.

  Wes did his best to calm his mind and steady his heartbeat but his brain went wild as the fear ran wild. He was frozen in fear, considering returning to the other side and taking his chances on accepting the completion of the quest on the uninhabited side. He had barely begun his journey along the river’s edge. Just one of these things could end his life. The eerie part was that he thought he would die before he even knew it.

  These things moved so quietly that he would be dead before he even registered the danger. They were also fast enough that he could not outrun them. A minute turned into an hour. An hour turned into two. Two turned into three before his mind started to calm. The fear had swept through pretty strongly but the whole time he was hiding he was thinking of what he could do given the circumstances.

  169:46:04

  There was only one choice in his mind. It was such a long shot of success. The fact that he was willing to bet his life on it at all made him think that he had lost his grip on reality. The second humanoid had loitered for a time before joining the first in the forest as well. That was an hour back now and he felt comfortable enough to head back to the mountain. It grew darker with every passing minute. So even though he was no longer in a hurry he still wanted to put his plan into action while there was still some light out. He estimated it would go all together in the next 20 hours or so. He doubted a moon’s light would penetrate the clouds.

  If all went well this would be his last time backtracking. He tried to follow his previous path as best as he could. Wes kept looking over his shoulder expecting to see one of those large humanoids at any moment.

  After several hours of slow methodical progress, he made his way back to the base of the mountain. He continued walking over to the river's edge but this time he stayed close to the stone mountain. He took his time on every step. An eternity later he found himself at the water's edge looking down at it. It was so black now in the shadow of the mountain. The water seemed to pour from its base as well. The current took it to the Sea. He steadied his heart and began moving along the water’s edge. Thinking the whole time. This has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever done.