Settling in on that first night wasn’t an easy task. Murphy whined and barked at noises outside the cabin while Randy hissed at Rosemarie to keep him quiet. At some point, he decided to go outside and stay on guard. The rest of the group tried to get some sleep. But between sleeping on the ground, the heat, and the nervous pup, it was difficult.
Rosemarie had to get up to use the outhouse and discovered that her fear of spiders increased with the dark. On her way back, she heard rustling in the woods and high tailed it back inside.
Probably a raccoon. Right? Not a zombie like Randy said, she thought.
No one got much sleep, except Alex. She could sleep through just about anything. Oh, and Randy, who went to sleep some time in the wee hours of the morning. He was still asleep when Georgi got up to find them some breakfast. She pulled out a bag of apples from their food supply and handed them around.
“I would like to get my car off the side of the road,” Rosemarie said. “Do you think your uncle would have some gas?”
“I don’t know,” said Georgi. “I thought I might have seen a gas station back when we turned onto Goodwater. We could buy some there if he doesn’t.”
The muffled voice of Randy came from inside the tent, “The gas stations won’t be working.”
“What the-,” Rosemarie spun around.
“If all hell has broken loose, like you think, that doesn’t mean the power grid is down. We are close to a hydroelectric power station,” said Georgi.
“Well, whatever..." he grumbled. "We need to get the stuff anyway. If we have to leave the car again, we have to leave it.”
“Momma!” Alex came running into the cabin. “Big footprints by the outhouse!”
“They’ve found us!” Randy jumped out of the tent with his gun drawn.
"Take it easy, killer!" Rosemarie yelled after him as he ran out the cabin.
“It is probably a black bear,” said Georgi called after him. “They aren’t that dangerous if you leave them alone. Most likely it was just hungry and smelled our food.”
“That guy-” Rosemarie said, but stopped as soon as she saw Alex's wide eyes.
Randy came back inside. “It was a bear.”
“Yeah, we figured,” she said rolling her eyes. “Don’t look so disappointed.”
“We can put the food in the loft for the time being,” Georgi said.
“Can I make a suggestion?” asked Randy.
“What is it?" she asked crisply.
“Hang the food from a tree and the bear can’t get it. It also won’t have a reason to try to get into the cabin,” said Randy.
Okay, so not all his suggestions were terrible, just annoying.
While Randy hung the food from trees, the girls finished unloading the car’s trunk. They needed the room for gas cans and anything else they might buy at the gas station.
Then they piled into the car.
"Where's Randy?" Rosemarie asked.
They saw him pacing up and down the side of the cabin.
“Um, Georgi, what is he doing?”
“I have no idea,” Georgi said, rolling down her window down.
“What are you doing?” she called.
“Waiting for you,” he said as he looked up. Then he giggled a strange giggle.
“We’re ready,” she growled.
No comments:
Post a Comment