The Spectacular

Chapter Six - Escape is For the Movies

Getting out of the forest was much harder than it looked.

Simian sidestepped the overgrown flora and fauna, following the picketed signs the Wildlife Service had placed along the trails. Dirt gathered in his toenails and he was pretty sure he'd squashed a slug or two. He still had found no shoes. Not even in the small cabin Violet had instructed him to stay in.

The rustic house was used either by rangers or tourists, Simian couldn't tell. It was fashioned after a safari treehouse complete with wood paneling and plain sisal light fixtures. Inside, it was furnished with a simple bed and an eco-bathroom.

Everything was dusty and untouched. 

Tiny spiders of different species crawled into tight hiding nooks as he entered the cabin. He'd tried to sleep but the thought of sleepwalking to another location frightened him. 

Simian stared at the dusty ceiling as night drew day, wrestling with his mental state.

He'd been sleepwalking? How often? How recent?... How long?

The hoots and hollers of wild animals pierced the silence. They were the least of his worries. His Gran always said she'd lived her entire life alongside animals, each minding their own. An ancient mindset passed down from ancestors his mother never taught him about. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you.

He thought of Gran waking up to find his empty bed, imagining her wisdom tinged face lined with worry. She would call his mother. No, he thought as he left the cabin. He'd done enough.  

He descended the rickety stairs to the landing. Log furniture strewn beside the steps, sat abandoned to the elements. A makeshift wooden table rested between the chairs, housed large sleeping moths, and at the bottom of it, cheap vodka bottles.

Simian investigated his environment. No one was around the cabin. Was it him? he pondered. He stretched out his lanky frame, releasing the tension he'd built overnight. He wouldn't feel this great if he'd drunk the night before but... he had been sleepwalking. 

Heavens knows what he'd done during.

The discarded bottles were clear, Simian noted, but they gave no sign of life nearby. It could have been a couple of kids for all he knew. He looked around him. The morning mist settled on thickets of flora and fauna. 

There was no help to be found here.

He started on the trail ahead of him, jumping over a train of fire ants. 

This was not going to be easy.

Daylight swept through the forest, drying the earth beneath Simian's feet. A grassy glade came into view as the canopy let up.

A welcome office came into view a few meters ahead of him. 

Simian slipped behind a large evergreen tree. He was sure getting caught without proper cause in a protected area was a crime. From the large windows, a ranger armed with a rifle on his back flit in and out of his vision behind the office windows busying himself with some task.

The ranger turned his back. Without a second to lose, Simian dashed across the glade, glad he was shoeless for the first time. 

He ran straight through, past the well-kept pathway snaking its way up to the forest. 

"Hey!" 

Simian tripped, shocked by the anger in the voice calling out to him.

He tumbled down the path, scraping his arms.

The rush of boots. Simian peeked up. 

Rangers.

Adrenaline pulsed through his veins, he leaped to his feet, ignoring the rip in his jeans and bloodied knees. 

He heard a gun click.

Simian barrelled down the pathway. The gate was within his reach. 

The first shot rang in the air. Simian hunched. There was no possible way he would make it without getting shot. He ducked left, running into a gathering of trees with paltry cover. 

The second shot rang out.

Simian zig-zagged through the trees, remembering his video games. It was strange how things you once thought unnecessary turned out to be the opposite.  

The third shot whizzed past his ear.

Simian's scrambled mind steadied.

Wherever the road led him, he was sure he would find his way out. It was definite, he was not going to get home or to the square in time.

*It was fun writing this action-packed chapter. Take note of the forest, it is going to play a huge role in the near future.*

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