Posted by PK on November 06, 2001 at 17:41:03:
I have no fucking knickers on, she realised and started to giggle. "You and me both," she told
Carol. She reached out over the fire and snatched her hand back when the hairs on her
forearm singed. What could she say? "She'll be back soon, and then she'll eat you," she said
reassuringly. Have to be honest. "So will I. Hope you don't mind. I know I didn't catch you but
I was invited..."
Carol was dead, she was almost sure of it. She was just meat. A prey animal roasting over a
hunter's fire, like a rabbit. It seemed odd that it had come so soon in her life, but wasn't it
always that way, really? She almost frowned. If she was dead, how would she know it? Her
mind was closing down in stages, it seemed. She wasn't afraid, just puzzled. Back soon, and
she'll eat you, she heard. Well, that was right. She wasn't sure she understood what Amanda
had told her (and was that real?) but she knew beyond reason that she would be avenged, all
debts paid. She dreamed of a Nemesis hunting them down, a Tyger in the smoke. Sorry I
couldn't stay longer, she thought at last. Panic tried to surface again and she drowned it
again in a rush of something else. The heat....
As I stepped through the dawn...
Shadows slipped through the trees.
"How much fuckin' further?" the director groaned. "We've been out here for hours. I thought it
was only a mile..."
"Not hours," the director said patiently. He was getting thoroughly sick of the whinging
bastard. "Half an hour, maybe, give or take." He was getting a little worried himself, but he
wasn't about to say so. He knew a mile through the woods was a lot longer than a mile down
the road and most of this lame bunch hadn't even walked that far in years. And, he had to
admit, he wasn't entirely sure they were going the right way.
"We're lost," one of the tech crew said. "We could be blundering around in here for hours."
The videotech was still nursing his arm, he wasn't sure if it was really broken or just
paralysed but it hurt to move it. "It's getting dark," he said.
"Anybody remember what time it was when that..." The director looked around edgily. "When
she was here? Or what direction she pointed?"
"Sun sets in the West," the computer geek offered. "We just..." Don't have a compass or a
map so that's no bloody use. Oh, right...."Which way was the sunlight coming in relation to
the way she pointed?"
Everybody tried to remember which way the sunlight was coming in relation to which way
Amanda had pointed. Nobody could.
"Suppose she pointed the wrong way? We could be anywhere by now."
"If we keep going the way we are," the director pointed out, "We have to get out eventually."
"Right," the computer geek admitted. "We just keep going with the sun in the same direction
it is now." Like that's easy to do. It wasn't really dark, but the trees and the low angle of the
westering light threw confusing shadows. It was harder to see. Stripy, stripy...
"And if we're heading the wrong way, we could walk straight back into....."
The voice faltered. Into what, nobody wanted to say.
"We could be crossing the whole park when the edge's ten yards away. Did you hear
something?"
Everbody looked around, mostly behind them.
"Hello again," Amanda said, stepping out of the trees directly ahead once again. "Forgot to
mention. That business at the lodge? I was only going to invite you to a party. Jolly little
soiree, roast Carol on paper plates...I mean, I told Belinda that and just forgot I hadn't told
you. Oh, wait a minute, yes, I did: 'Care to join the party?' I said. Of course I was up a tree at
the time and you might not have taken me seriously. People do so rely on image, don't you
find that?" She shook her head sadly. "I should have worn a tie."
"You can't be serious," the director said wearily.
Amanda threw up her hands. "Suit yourself," she said. "You can come back with me or
wander the Wild Wood until the Badger gets you."
"That's you?" the producer asked nervously.
"That's a character from The Wind in the Willows," Amanda said wearily. "Philistines, all of
you. Pearls before swine. No wonder the film industry is floundering."
"Hey, I got it!" the computer geek protested.
Amanda smiled at him. "Hold on to that candle, lest darkness fall."
"What the f..." The director took a breath. "What do you want?"
"Nothing at all. Just offering an open hand. Dinner's on. Care to join us? I mean, wouldn't you
like to see what you've been working for? Watch the wild things feed! See Carol get cut up!
All the good stuff and you're missing it. David Attenborough would kill for a chance like this."
"All right," the director said. No point refusing; if this Fury wanted to catch them she would,
whichever way they went. "Lead on."
"But..."
"Shut up."
"Andy's out on his feet..."
Amanda stepped forward, everybody got out of her way. She picked up the videotech and
slung him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry despite his half hearted protests. She walked
off into the woods. "Do try to keep up," she said and vanished into Shadow.
Back in the clearing she deposited him on the ground near the spit like a cat dragging a rat
home as tribute.
"You're too late," Belinda said. "She's dead."
Amanda nodded. "Probably. Not to worry. We may have guests shortly." She stood up easily
and tickled Carol's soles with the basting brush. "Home is the Hunter," she carolled. "Home
from the Hill...you can go now, it's okay."
The light burst through Carol like a flood, she felt herself coming apart. Wide open, she went
up and out.
Amanda stood perfectly still for a moment. Belinda couldn't breathe for the exact same
length of time. The Huntress breathed in, stretching her arms and looking up, she seemed to
get taller.