The Greek Gods and the Apocalypse

Chapter 4 (Edited)

As I run, I process his voice. He's not in pain or scared. He sounds excited. Granted he's young and easily excited, but I bet he's found something important to call out to me like that. As I enter the next group of trees, I skid to a stop next to Sunny. Half a dozen other hunters arrive from different directions. Everyone who was within earshot I imagine.

In the middle of nothing but a thin circle of trees is an old fire pit with bi-pedal footprints everywhere. Sunny leans over to me and says, "Wait till you see this."

On the other side of the firepit, about fifty feet behind the thin line of trees is a small cave. Inside the cave, I can see several signs of human life. A torn piece of material, bones from someone's meal, and a container probably used to drink from at one time. It has a hole in it now.

As I gathered up the container and piece of material to take back Sunny said still very excited, "Come on you haven't seen the best part."

I followed Sunny out of the cave. He quickly began to scale the outside of the cave. I followed him up. On top of the cave directly over the entrance, there were numerous tracks. Tracks I now knew belonged to a giant bird. "Good job Sunny," I said, and I meant it. However, I didn't divulge what made those tracks.

"Let's go home, everyone." We began the walk back to Community as other hunters joined us.

A short time later all the hunters were accounted for, and we continued our journey home. As we walked, I was reminded how Sunny got his name. He was always bright, bouncy, and cheerful. His light blond hair reflected the sun's rays. Like a star that lights up the night sky. You couldn't miss him if you tried. Nor would you ever forget him once you met him.

"Everyone keep your eyes open. Watch for anything out of the ordinary in the sky, as well as, on the ground or in the trees." Everyone watched Vigilantly but no one reported seeing a thing on the way home. I'm sure Sunny's shout-out in the woods had something to do with that. There wouldn't be game for miles and miles. If it was a hunting expedition not a scouting expedition that would have been a problem.

We arrived back at camp to find the rest of the colony was already eating dinner in the pavilion. We had met up with Peter's group as we crossed the lake on our way to the pavilion. All eyes turned on us as we entered together.

Although no one spoke up, they knew it wasn't normal for us all to arrive at dinner together. Normally we trickled in one or two at a time with game in our hands or on our person somewhere. All of the hunters together with no game equals something amiss.

We all took our seats and dug in. I for one was starving. I hadn't eaten since breakfast. I just hadn't been hungry at lunch. From the looks of it, I wasn't the only one.

After dinner, Peter and I went to Shimmer's barracks to report our findings. Peter started the conversation with Shimmer. "Nothing unusual was found by my hunting party."

"That's a relief. Thank you, Peter."

I reported everything my party had discovered. After several minutes of silence, Shimmer sent Peter and me to collect the other sector leaders for a meeting at her barracks in an hour.

Peter and I split up. We only had an hour to notify everyone, and we figured more ground could be covered this way. I needed to notify Shaneel, Russell, Lilly, and Berry of the impromptu meeting. While Peter was notifying Esmerelda, Stephen, and Einstein.

"See you in an hour" I called after Peter.

"Ya, see-ya" he replied.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye. The next thing I knew I was sitting with all the other sector leaders on the benches in front of Shimmer's barracks waiting for Shimmer to call for us. We spent the time quietly talking amongst ourselves.