Robert

Chapter Four: Harry

Harry climbed on the rock. The woods were quiet, calm, the world seemed frozen. He took a breath and savoured the sight.

Trevor sat nearby sharpening a stick into a stake. He looked as if he was getting ready to hunt vampires even if it was broad daylight.

Jessica was picking flowers and giving occasional glances at Trevor. She did that sometimes. Most of the time really. Harry shrugged.

Rob was trampling around in the bushes muttering to himself. His hair had grown longer in the past week. From his usually short cut hair, his bangs covered his forehead now.

Wierd.

"Maybe the cave is somewhere else, Rob," Jessica said, picking the last of her flowers. Her bouquet was a splash of colour. She smelled them with a smile.

Rob shook his head. "It's around here somewhere. I could have sworn..."

"OK, run me through this again," Harry said jumping off the rock. "You were running through this here thicket, and you fell into a cave?"

Rob nodded running his fingers through his hair.

"Then you thought there was an animal in there trying to get out?" Harry said.

"Yeah. It was huge. I thought it was a bear or something."

"And said animal bit you but supposedly didn't leave a scar?"

There was an akward silence.

"When you say it like that..." Rob muttered. "But there was blood on my shirt. You all saw it."

"Let's assume you acquired super human healing along with the ability to walk on walls. So while in the cave you found wierd drawings, like alien from outer space drawings, yes?" Harry said inspecting his nails.

"Yes," Rob said.

Harry looked at Trevor and Jessica. "OK, am I the only one who thinks this guy has no idea what happened that night?"

"He can do some pretty wierd stuff so it makes sense if wierd stuff caused it," Jessica said. "Am I right?"

Trevor nodded. Harry was struck with the sudden impression that Trevor was very cool, sitting there holding his wooden stake in his biker jacket. He looked like a movie star. He felt a pang of jealousy.

"Ok," Harry said, snapping back to reality. "I just wanted to make sure we are all on the same page, because I think this is crazy."

Jessica sighed.

"I know what I saw," said Robert.

Harry jumped off the rock. "So where is the damn cave, Rob," he said. "Is it under the tree," he said trampling through the bushes. "Maybe its inside the tree. I'm telling you guys, this guy got his ass abducted by aliens. He ain't no werewolf."

Harry turned to his friends. "Think about it. What other logical explanation is there?"

Trevor stood up and started search the bushes, stake in hand.

"You ain't gonna find anything there mate. I already searched that place." Harry said

Trevor didn't look up. He continued for a few more seconds then he pulled back a bush uncovering a half open cave mouth.

"Haa," said Rob. "Told you it wasn't a dream, Harry."

Harry flushed. He glanced at Jessica. She wasn't looking at him, she was looking at Trevor with that funny look. His heart sank a meter. Damn it, he should have been the one to find that cave. How did he miss it.

He started to say something smart but Jess stood up. "Are we just gonna sit here or are we gonna check it out?" she said, walking towards Trevor.

Harry followed. The mouth of the cave was small, maybe wide enough for two children to enter at the same time but they'd have to crawl in. It sank into the earth as if it was a portal to hell. Harry couldn't see anything beyond the first meter inside the cave. It smelled like damp soil and... something else. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but a memory was nudging at his mind.

Rob went in first. He crawled in slowly to avoid losing his balance in the darkness that lay heavily in the cave.
Trevor followed, then Jessica and finally him. This made him feel uncomfortable too. He didn't want Jess to think he was a coward, especially what happened last time they  were together alone.

He flushed at the embarrassment. Nevermind that, he decided to focus on the now.

The cave eventually grew large enough for them to stand. The smell grew stronger and so did the memory nudging at his mind. They lit their flash lights. The cave was littered with animal bones. Harry noticed the spinal column of a rabbit. The rest belonged to small animals like rats.

"A small preditor probably lived here," he said. "But where did it go? They tend to make permanent homes and there aren't any bats to annoy it."

"Mabye it left to hunt," Jessica said.

"Nah, it's day time. They only hunt in the dark. These bones are fresh so something was definitely here," Harry said.

"Now you see I didn't imagine shit up?" said Rob.

Harry didn't reply.

Instead he ran his hand along the caves walls. There was something definitely etched onto them. He dug into his pockets and fished out a pack of matches. It took him several tries to light one and when he did the orange glow seemed to fill the cave like a miniature sun.

By reflex Harry pulled out a cigarete and began to light it but stopped when he saw the look on Jessics face. He shrugged and stowed it in his back pocket.

He examined the markings. They were old, that was for sure, chipped in most places almost unintelligible. The others bunched around him, eyes sweltering from the wiffs of smoke produced by the match stick.

"The look like hieroglyphics," Jess said. "My cousin was an archaeologist. She used to spend most of her time pouring into this stuff and I picked up a thing or two."

"I thought all hieroglyphics were Egyptian," Robb said.

"Nah, it's any type of written language than uses pictures as words. But these look nothing like the Egyptian ones. They seem more .... I don't know crude."

"What does crude mean?" Robb whispered.

"Poorly made," Harry said. "They look like they're a cross breed of Celtic and Dahyome drawings. Like the ones on that video game you like, Robb. Kings of what not."

"Kings of the Cornwall?"

"That's the one,"  Harry said. "Looks like they are telling a story."

"About?" Jess said.

"I don't know. I can't read them."

"There's blood here, guys," Robb said.

They all edged to the side of the wall Robb was pointing at. It was barely distinguishable but sure enough there it was. Blood smeared on the wall to make crude patterns.

"An animal couldn't have made that," Jessica said.

Harry struck another match stick and edges closer. There was a hand print, or atleast he thought it was. The fingers were too long and the palm too slender. The fingers even narrowed into claws.

He reached out and touched the smear.

Slick.

That means fresh.

The thing that made this was here a few hours ago. What if it was here right now. They had no way of knowing. He remembered the story his brother used to tell him when he was younger. About a child who got trapped in a cave with a rabid dog and the dog mauled him to his death, feeding on his flesh whilst he was still alive.

Suddenly the cave became too crowded and his breath caught in his chest. He gagged.

"Leave. Need to leave," he whizzed.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Jessica said gripping his hand.

"You need to leave now," a voice said.