Your Trail of Blood in the Snow

Chapter 8 (Montimer)

The night had just descended when he saw a group of human buildings in the distance. He confirmed it when he landed on what seemed to be a huge wall that was almost destroyed. It was a huge house, but not a conventional house; he had seen one of those before. he remembered it differently, a little bigger and inhabited by many bats. They called it "Laboratory", a name that came from many years before he was born, but he did not know where it came from. He remembered that he went there quite often to stock up on food, but on one occasion – when Larry was already in his custody - he saw a huge box of tea and decided that he would take one to the mouse, and it seemed he liked them very much. Larry's cheerful face over the tea bag had made such an impression on him that his heart skipped a beat, and became more excited when he offered him some of the tea. It had been a long time since then, and he had heard several months ago that that laboratory caught fire and that everyone had to leave. The only thing Montimer regretted about that incident was not being able to bring more tea bags with him, but he didn't need them anymore to see the mouse's smiling face; since they were together, he never stopped smiling at him. His smile captivated and reassured him, and he wanted to see that smile again, those black and shining eyes that shone like two black and reverberating pearls... he was saddened.

The Laboratory was bathed by the moonlight that resembled a long thin cloth that wrapped the place, as if it embraced it. Montimer noticed that on the sides of the building were countless crosses buried in disarray, each one had some kind of indecipherable inscription for him and only some of the crosses were sheathed with cloths of different types and sizes already gnawed by time and weather. This place gave him a chill. To his left a group of much smaller crosses stood, but he ignored them. Farther away there were other buildings or "laboratories" where Larry could be. Some were completely destroyed and of which only the rubble remained, and others were habitable, excellent shelters for a mouse.

Before entering, he flew around to see if he could find anyone but no one was around. It was strange. He contemplated a little on the circumstances. This place and the surroundings were completely uninhabited, not a single hunter, not a single prey, nothing. Generally, animals always sought such places for two reasons: the first was that they were protected from winter; the second was that some of them contained food, a lot of food that could feed a pack of wolves, a family of foxes, a few rabbits, perhaps a medium-sized colony of bats.

He went to the laboratory that was near the entrance. From where he could see from the sky, it was the place that was in the best condition and the largest. It was the first place he would search and he hoped it would be the only one to do so.

He landed.

The main door was closed. Usually, the small animals never used them, because if they were not open even a little it was impossible for them to enter, so Montimer scrapped that idea. He went around the place examining the walls looking for a crack big enough to enter. When he found it he knew that it had been deliberately made, meaning that place was inhabited by someone, or is currently at the moment.

When he entered, he could smell a vague odor, a very particular one. This place was home to bats. Although he didn't know how many, the thought of that made him nervous. If Larry was really there, things could have gotten difficult for him, and by extension for Montimer. Fear began to course through him, furrowing his wings and his back until it reached his temples.

In the main room there were several bookshelves, some moth-eaten chairs and a rickety table that divided the room in two. He flew in to get a better view and noticed that one of the doors on the right was open, and two more were locked. Perhaps there would be another entrance he could take in for the ones that were locked, but for the moment he chose to investigate the one he could enter.

As he flew, he noticed the strange silence that overlay that place, gloomy and sad. He passed through the door and stopped at some tables that were juxtaposed to each other, on the sides. He saw open cupboards, empty flasks and others filled with strange liquids, oddly shaped glassware into which he could fit without difficulty, and some apparatus he had previously seen in the other lab, though he did not know its functionality or purpose. Montimer realized that the place was different from the laboratory he had frequented before. There were not many things that the other one had, but he put those thoughts out of his head. His only objective was to find Larry, and he should not waste time with those meaningless ideas.