Swamped! by Ken Wells

Author:Ken Wells
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2022-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

“TAKE A LOOK at this guy.”

In the daytime, with dry weather and no rush, the treacherous log bridge back to the clearing hadn’t been quite so treacherous.

As they reached the other side, Jack pointed out a shiny, blue-black snake, maybe three feet long, that crawled languidly across the trail in front of them.

He stepped in its path, blocking it with his sneaker. Instead of bolting, the snake stopped, looking up at them like it was curious.

“Check it out.” He stooped and gently grabbed the snake behind the head, lifting it to show Olivia its underbelly.

“A mud snake,” he said. “Harmless, totally gentle. And look at the coloration.”

The underbelly of the snake was a checkerboard of blacks and fire-engine red.

“It’s like someone painted it,” Olivia said, keeping her distance.

Jack gently lowered the snake to the ground.

“People tell weird stories about the mud snake. Like it bites its tail and rolls itself into a hoop and then comes after people, trying to bite them. I have no idea where they come from. The old Cajuns had some weird superstitions.”

“You think?” Olivia asked, grinning.

They kept hiking, stopping only long enough to gaze at Jack’s upside-down snapping turtle, still fitfully batting the air with its webbed feet.

“I feel bad for it,” said Olivia.

“So do I,” Jack replied. “I’d rather order takeout but, you know, I haven’t run across any restaurants. Survival is tough business.”

Olivia nodded. “Yeah, I get it. I just don’t like it.”

Before long, with temperatures rising and no breeze to cool them, they reached the dreaded palmetto brake, covered in sweat. The warmth of the day had brought out the deer flies.

“Ow!” Olivia said, swatting one away from her leg and examining the large welt. “Why do these hurt so much?”

“Yeah, they never quit. Those green heads are the worst. They’re like vampires. That day when you saved me from the bog, I thought they were going to sting me to death. Here, just follow me and keep moving. I’ll try to find the path I made earlier.” He looked around, searching for broken palmetto fronds.

“There,” he said, catching sight of one. “This way.”

They found the path and bulldozed their way through, Jack muttering under his breath when fronds wouldn’t bend to his will. They emerged drenched sweatier than ever and picked up the trail again. In another ten minutes of walking, their clearing appeared, but something was different.

“Damn,” Jack said, stopping in his tracks. “That’s incredible.”

The large cypress to which they’d tethered their makeshift tent was still standing, but a giant branch—at least a third of the tree—lay in a splintered mess on the ground.

“Lightning from our storm,” said Jack, pointing to a jagged, charred scar two-thirds of the way up on the tree trunk. “It’s a good thing we weren’t here. We would have been right under it.”

“So . . . where’s the lean-to?” Olivia asked. “And the life jackets?”

Jack shook his head. “Buried under the rubble, I guess. Come on, let’s see what we can salvage.”

An exhausting half-hour

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.