ASHES_A novella of horror, gore and cannibalism by Matt Shaw

Author:Matt Shaw [Shaw, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

The sun was beating down hard and the heat - especially the humidity - was starting to get to Stuart and the girls, despite the bush and trees offering some shade at least. With the exception of the occasional bird singing to a mate, somewhere in the distance, the woodlands had grown quiet. Jack had grown quiet.

Holly wiped a single tear from her cheek, with the back of her hand, as it spilled from her eye. Slowly she’d been coming to terms with what had happened. Slowly. She was still upset - and would be for a long, long time - but the tears had calmed a little. Corinna was in much the same state, although her tears had initially been more about losing her own life than the life of a man she didn’t really like. All three were watching all around them for signs of movement within the bushes and trees. There was none.

A few more minutes slowly went by before Stuart crawled from the hide-y hole. Holly grabbed his arm as he neared the clearing.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“We can’t stay here forever,” he replied as he pulled himself free. He stood up tall in the middle of the clearing and stretched. His back clicked into place as he continued looking around. Despite how it could have looked to Holly and Corinna, he was scared. His eyes darted from bush to bush, taking in all of his surroundings, worried that - at any moment - an arrow was going to fly towards him.

There was a small temptation to call out to anyone in the near vicinity. Whilst he didn’t want to make them aware of his presence, neither did he want them suddenly catching him by surprise. At least if he called out they’d answer and he’d know they were there. He refrained from saying anything. He just stood there, silent. Watching. Waiting. The girls didn’t move. They stayed hidden in the bush, also watching. Their hearts beating hard in the back of their throats. They too were expecting a sudden arrow to slice the air, just as had happened to Jack. Stuart turned back to them and waved them from their hiding place. They both hesitated a moment, still unsure if it really was as safe as it seemed to be. Holly was first to crawl out on her hands and knees. Corinna was close behind.

“We have a choice,” Stuart said, “we can either go back the way we came and hope they’ve gone or we can carry on into the woods and hope we find another clear path down to the beach? We’re in this together so it has to be a joint decision.” They all stood there a moment, neither one of them wishing to commit to something which could lead the others into trouble. “I’m going to need an answer. I can’t make the decision for us… It needs to be a group thing.”

Corinna looked back over her shoulder, deeper into the woods.

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