Uni's Unicorn

Chapter 4 - Taken

After a few minutes, Carol needed to pose the question foremost in her mind, "You said your father and your brother flew away on a pegacorn, Uni. Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I saw them. It was huge. A unicorn..."

"Pegacorn."

"I'm going to keep calling it a unicorn because it is, but with wings," Uni said stubbornly, "it's a unicorn with wings..."

"Pegacorn."

"Unicorn."

"Pegacorn."

"Unicorn."

Carol, eighteen months older than Uni, gave in with a "Phuuh!" sound, and asked, "Do you know where they went on it?"

"I've no idea. I should tell my mother, now the bullies have got the picture I drew with Dad and Ty on it.  Please, come with me, I need your support..."

"You said that your father made the unicorn. How did he... make it?"

"You've heard of genetic engineering? —Course, you have."

"Yes, it's what people have been doing to plants forever, like to make them pest free."

"I've heard of it too," Jilly said, adding, "I read about it, and my dad talks about it sometimes. They make things bigger and he said that there is a new plum that isn't just a plum, it's been crossed with apricots and peaches." 

"I know about that," Carol agreed. "It's called a peachcot. So, Uni, your father figured out how to make a winged horse with a horn?" Her tone sounded demanding, disbelieving. "He made it from nothing? It sounds like a lot of bull to me; it's been banned, anyway. Too many people've died because of crossing species..."

"My mum will believe he'd do it," Uni's voice flowed with defensive tones. "And anyway, I saw it."

"I'm thirsty," Carol said. Feeling around in her school bag, she pulled out a water bottle.

Touching a hand to her forehead, Jilly whined, "My head hurts. It's got a bump, a big one..."

"There's a small bottle of arnica in the trunk. It's good for bruises. I'll get it for you," Uni said, crawling away, then rising to stand, she stepped over to the trunk. "It must be here somewhere. It's hard to find it. The trunk's in the dark." Lifting out the second torch, she turned it on and searched for the bottle. "Here it is."

When Uni patted arnica on the bump, Jilly complained, "It aches. I should go home. I want to lie down."

"Get comfortable in the cushions. You can rest here. I don't want to go home until school's over. Well over. The boys will be out there..."

Jilly wriggled among the cushions and snuggled down, closing her eyes, murmuring, "It still hurts, but not as much."

Uni arranged some cushions behind her back to prop herself against the rocky wall with comfort.

"I'm going for a walk. I won't go far," Carol announced, "I need to pee." She crawled from the cave, complaining when the clay floor changed to rock near the entrance.

Over ten minutes passed and she hadn't returned.

"We should look for Carol," Uni suggested.

"No, I'm resting," Jilly mumbled, "I'm almost asleep... sleeping... want to... sleep..."

"What if those bigger boys somehow followed us and have Carol and are just waiting for us?" Uni said, her imagination running wild. She laughed, saying, "Perhaps they followed the bee."

Uni waited a little longer before she took the torch back to the trunk, positioning it on the lid and pointing it towards the opening.  She crawled out to push her head through the vines, preparing to stand and call Jilly's name.

A hood with eyes stared in at her. With hands inside the cave, a man grasped her, the gloved hand clamping over her mouth, muffling her scream, the other holding her upper arm tightly, too tight, seeming to wrench it from its socket. She struggled, trying to bite the hand, but it had a piece of soft fabric in it. A sour taste filled her nose and throat. Immobilized, she tried to pull away but found she couldn't. As if in slow-motion, she felt she had lost the use of her limbs. She closed her eyes...

None of the girls had imagined the bumblebee not being what it seemed, or that someone... more than one, had been monitoring them, waiting. And they were not boys from their school...