Alternate

Chapter 7

The smoke from the fire rose straight up in a light grey column. There was hardly any wind and the sky was cloudless, leaving the full beauty of the setting sun to be seen. The small clearing the three men found themselves in was the very same they had come under attack from the strange lizard monster.

"This place gives me the creeps," muttered John as he huddled by the fire and turned the rabbit they had managed to snare. He hadn't complained about finding many of his items still there and in working order, though the clean picked bones of the fallen Shredgasp had dampened some of the enthusiasm. Clearing the bones so they could set up camp had not been a pleasant task.

"How long are we going to stay here anyway?" asked Seth. He sat opposite to John, lazily whittling away at a piece of wood with his knife. He didn't seem to be making anything out of it, but rather simply enjoying the act of shaving off thin slices of wood.

They had been there for two days now. Carl had insisted they do a thorough search of the area and that they had done. Nothing had been found, besides the dead monsters they'd left behind and some footsteps from various animals that had passed through the area.

"We'll head out tomorrow," said Carl. He sat between the two men, resting comfortably against a large log he'd dragged there for a seat. "It seems there are no clues here."

"So where do we go from here? We have no idea where Rand has gone," asked John. Searching the vast wilderness did not sound appealing. There were dangers there that would see them dead before getting any sign of Rand and his mystery woman.

"I'm open to suggestions," said Carl and gave both men a look. "I honestly don't have any better ideas than just going around and trying to find signs of him."

They still had their horses, though most of the time riding was out of the question because of the terrain. They helped carry a lot of supplies, but hastening their pace was not among their benefits any more.

The sound of an owl's call sounded from the forest. A few other birds responded to it, but most had already retired for the night. There were insects buzzing around still and occasionally there was a rustle as some small animal made its way through the undergrowth.

"Maybe we should have approached this differently," said John after a moment of silence.

"What do you mean?" asked Seth.

"Maybe we should have done something to draw Rand to us," said John as he turned the rabbit once more. It was starting to have a nice golden brown colour. It wouldn't be long until it was ready to be eaten.

"Like what?" asked Carl.

"I don't know. Maybe we could have faked going Dark. Get the word out about it. Rand would have eventually heard about it and come looking for us."

"Along with all the bounty hunters in the world," said Seth in a grim voice. "I doubt we would have lived long enough for him to find us."

"Faking going Dark would have been too dangerous, I agree, but the idea behind it is solid," said Carl and leaned in closer to the fire. "There are other things we could have done to draw Rand to us. Maybe we can still do that if we find nothing in these woods."

"Yeah, and maybe when we get back Vincent will throw us a party with booze, blackjack and hookers," said Seth sarcastically.

"You got better ideas, huh?" demanded John.

Seth shrugged and went back to carving the piece of wood.

"We'll just see what happens. Spend a few days looking in the woods. If we don't get anything, we'll figure something else out," said Carl, calming the situation. It was always the same with Seth and John. The two rarely had a conversation that didn't end up with them opposing each other. At least it kept things interesting, though at times Carl wished they could get along better.