Read Online Back To Our Beginning by C. L. Scholey - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: C. L. Scholey
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dozens of bodies and body parts. Animals were few and far between. What actually existed out there?
The fire spit and popped then calmed. Tansy also calmed, she knew they’d once again be on the move in the morning. If she were going to be able to carry Michaela, she’d need to be rested. Tansy curled around the child. Her eyes watered at the small amount of smoke within the cave. They were warm with the heat the fire cast and their combined body heat. She slept.
* * * *
He knew it was a tiger. When he’d first seen it and blinked hard, it was still there. How it got there was a different matter altogether, and if he didn’t do something and fast, he was about to become six foot three and a half inches and two hundred and forty-five pounds of raw hamburger. The menacing tiger licked its lips as if in affirmation to his disturbing thought.
Think, Aidan, his mind screamed. I am thinking, his brain screamed back. He had found a small town after escaping the tornado and the elephants...the elephants he didn’t want to contemplate. On some level, he was positive he was in hell, zoo hell, but hell nonetheless.
Aidan backed up, never breaking eye contact with the tiger. Creeping with one hand behind, feeling the way, not wanting to trip. The tiger roared and goose bumps rose on his flesh, his jet-black hair had grown in longer, but he swore it stood on end. He stopped dead in his tracks as the tiger gathered itself, readying to pounce. Aidan’s hands came up to fend off the inevitable. As the tiger lunged, Aidan dropped to the ground and heard an explosion. His breath was knocked out of him and he thought he might have passed out when he felt the heavy weight of the tiger being yanked off him.
“Well, don’t just lie there, buddy; give me some help,” came an irritated groan.
Aidan didn’t think twice, he shoved and pushed to get the hulking beast off and soon the other man had him clasped under his arms and pulled. As his legs were freed, both men fell backwards into a heap. Lying there half on and half off the other man, Aidan looked back and gratefully offered him his hand.
“Thanks.”
The man grasped the outstretched hand, gave it a firm shake, and shoved Aidan off him while also yanking him to his feet in one fluent motion.
Slightly shorter, but of a more burly build, Aidan assessed the man. He was older than Aidan, had longish dark blond hair, hazel eyes, and a large rifle. So the posse has arrived.
“I’m Ethan,” said the man. He held out his hand while cradling the rifle in his other.
“Mine’s Aidan,” he replied, and clutched back at the first live human being he’d seen.
“Have you eaten lately?” Ethan asked.
“Some.”
The man offered him a friendly smile, displaying white even teeth and gestured Aidan to come with him.
“Follow me; I need to get back to my wife, Sarah, and my son. I hadn’t expected to be gone this long and I’m hesitant to leave them alone to begin with,” Ethan said and began to move away at a fast pace.
Aidan followed closely on his heels; no, he wasn’t going to let this one get away. They traveled out of town toward a muddy dirt path that might have once been a road. The storms had tossed sticks, logs and branches haphazardly over it. The day was overcast, the sky quiet. It was eerie. A densely wooded area but there were no squirrels playing, no birds singing, the lack of noise had a foreboding quality.
“Ethan?” Aidan began. “Could I ask you a question?” without waiting for a response Aidan forged ahead. “Are we dead?”
“Where’ve you been, on another planet?” Ethan responded with a confused grin.
Aidan cringed, another planet for sure. Jail was like nothing he ever experienced. Solitary confinement would be more amply named solitary hell. He’d been placed there for fighting and saving another’s life, and it caused a great rage within him. It didn’t matter the guard argued it was for his own safety. Aidan couldn’t stand being
The fire spit and popped then calmed. Tansy also calmed, she knew they’d once again be on the move in the morning. If she were going to be able to carry Michaela, she’d need to be rested. Tansy curled around the child. Her eyes watered at the small amount of smoke within the cave. They were warm with the heat the fire cast and their combined body heat. She slept.
* * * *
He knew it was a tiger. When he’d first seen it and blinked hard, it was still there. How it got there was a different matter altogether, and if he didn’t do something and fast, he was about to become six foot three and a half inches and two hundred and forty-five pounds of raw hamburger. The menacing tiger licked its lips as if in affirmation to his disturbing thought.
Think, Aidan, his mind screamed. I am thinking, his brain screamed back. He had found a small town after escaping the tornado and the elephants...the elephants he didn’t want to contemplate. On some level, he was positive he was in hell, zoo hell, but hell nonetheless.
Aidan backed up, never breaking eye contact with the tiger. Creeping with one hand behind, feeling the way, not wanting to trip. The tiger roared and goose bumps rose on his flesh, his jet-black hair had grown in longer, but he swore it stood on end. He stopped dead in his tracks as the tiger gathered itself, readying to pounce. Aidan’s hands came up to fend off the inevitable. As the tiger lunged, Aidan dropped to the ground and heard an explosion. His breath was knocked out of him and he thought he might have passed out when he felt the heavy weight of the tiger being yanked off him.
“Well, don’t just lie there, buddy; give me some help,” came an irritated groan.
Aidan didn’t think twice, he shoved and pushed to get the hulking beast off and soon the other man had him clasped under his arms and pulled. As his legs were freed, both men fell backwards into a heap. Lying there half on and half off the other man, Aidan looked back and gratefully offered him his hand.
“Thanks.”
The man grasped the outstretched hand, gave it a firm shake, and shoved Aidan off him while also yanking him to his feet in one fluent motion.
Slightly shorter, but of a more burly build, Aidan assessed the man. He was older than Aidan, had longish dark blond hair, hazel eyes, and a large rifle. So the posse has arrived.
“I’m Ethan,” said the man. He held out his hand while cradling the rifle in his other.
“Mine’s Aidan,” he replied, and clutched back at the first live human being he’d seen.
“Have you eaten lately?” Ethan asked.
“Some.”
The man offered him a friendly smile, displaying white even teeth and gestured Aidan to come with him.
“Follow me; I need to get back to my wife, Sarah, and my son. I hadn’t expected to be gone this long and I’m hesitant to leave them alone to begin with,” Ethan said and began to move away at a fast pace.
Aidan followed closely on his heels; no, he wasn’t going to let this one get away. They traveled out of town toward a muddy dirt path that might have once been a road. The storms had tossed sticks, logs and branches haphazardly over it. The day was overcast, the sky quiet. It was eerie. A densely wooded area but there were no squirrels playing, no birds singing, the lack of noise had a foreboding quality.
“Ethan?” Aidan began. “Could I ask you a question?” without waiting for a response Aidan forged ahead. “Are we dead?”
“Where’ve you been, on another planet?” Ethan responded with a confused grin.
Aidan cringed, another planet for sure. Jail was like nothing he ever experienced. Solitary confinement would be more amply named solitary hell. He’d been placed there for fighting and saving another’s life, and it caused a great rage within him. It didn’t matter the guard argued it was for his own safety. Aidan couldn’t stand being
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