The Ride - Chapter 19 A Warrior's Surprise

[OMR]

Glen’s first thought that was it was a dog cat. He lay there very still and steeled himself waiting for that mouthful of sharp teeth to sink itself into his neck and body. But then, although it was nearly dark, he noticed that the silhouette of the animal against the darkening sky was more like a man with a huge head… with feathers. What the hell! Glen suddenly realized it was a warrior crouching down in front of him looking directly into his eyes… not a dog kitty.

Glen didn’t know whether to feel relief or sheer terror. So he felt neither. Just curiosity as to why the warrior had not killed him as he lay sleeping. He could now feel the point of something sharp against his bare chest. It had to be one of those long sharp curved knives… the same ones that had taken Sandy’s life in the car earlier in the day. That now seemed so long ago and far away. The other’s eyes never blinked? What was he waiting for?

Glen was afraid to make any sudden movements but he had to do something. He slowly brought his hands up in front of his face and turned them outward. He hoped the warrior would recognize the universal sign for surrender. The point of the blade pressed a little firmer into his chest. He brought his hands down and the point was slightly released. Glen realized he had been holding his breath and his heart was now hammering in his throat. He let out a long shaky breath. Although the yellow eyes never left him, the warrior seemed to relax as well. Hope sprung into Glenn’s eyes.

He could just make out the outline of the warrior’s face in the gathering darkness. He seemed a bit smaller than the rest. Perhaps he was just a kid making his “bones”. There would be great calibration in the tribe tonight as the young warrior would bring back his first kill. Glenn would after all wind up as a trophy skull on a bike. But the killing stroke never came and the longer it didn’t the better Glen’s chances.

It was then that Glen wondered why the warrior’s eyes were visible in the dark… in fact they downright glowed. A cold chill ran down Glen’s back. What kind of people were these warriors? He certainly didn’t know much about them other than they had tried to kill him from their first meeting. Sandy could attest to that… if she were alive.

The warrior suddenly stood up and took several steps back and motioned for Glen to stand up. Although he could hardly see the other, Glen somehow knew that the warrior could see much better in the dark than he could. That didn’t make Glen feel any better. He stood slowly up very stiffly. He could feel the cool air on his back blowing off the creek in back of him. Since he had no shirt on, he was starting to get cold and he was starting to shiver. He needed to get a jacket out of his pack that was lying next to the bike. But any movement in that direction would probably be met with a sharp pointed knife to the stomach. Maybe this will work, Glen thought as he brought his arms up, hugged himself, shivered and pointed to the pack. He could swear he saw the helmeted head cock questioningly at him in the dark. Maybe there was hope after all.

The warrior motioned for Glen to step back, advanced on the pack and poked it with the long blade. His quick movements reminded Glen of a cat’s movements…very fast and deliberate. The warrior pulled the pack towards him and quickly opened it and dumped the contents on the ground. Glen could hardly see anything and tried the old trick of looking off to the side instead of directly at something in the dark. It somewhat worked as he could make out a little better the pile of items on the ground. The warrior seemed to have no trouble and quickly separated the clothes from everything else. He lifted Glen’s jacket with the blade and poked it at Glen. Relief flooded into Glen as he began to realize that the warrior did not intend to kill him…. just yet.

Glen gratefully slipped the jacket on and enjoyed the simple pleasure of warmth against his cold skin. Glen sensed that the warrior had moved further away from him, yet he could not see anything in the dark. Glen took a step forward and suddenly from several yards away the yellow eyes stared directly at him again. Glen decided to sit down and make no further movements for the time being. The yellow eyes turned away intent on something else. That something else turned out to be a small fire. The warrior was making sparks with some type of mechanism which soon erupted into flames. Glen could now easily see the warrior as he laid stick after stick on the fire and soon had made a good bed of coals and heat. The warrior motioned Glen to come nearer to the fire.

As Glen started towards the fire, he passed by the pile of things the warrior had pulled out of Glen’s pack and lying there next to a food package was the brown plastic Boy Scout flashlight with a clip and compass built into the handle. Glen suddenly tripped, stumbled and fell head first into the pile of his things. The warrior had jumped up quick as a cat and had the long knife pointed directly at Glen. Glenn looked up and gave his best sheepish expression. He rolled over and crawled the remaining 6 feet to the fire opposite the warrior who had lowered the knife and resumed putting sticks on the fire. The brown plastic Boy Scout flashlight with a clip and compass built into the handle was nestled safely inside his jacket. He didn’t know what he was going to do but things were definitely looking up.

The fire felt good and quickly took the chill out of Glen’s body. He felt the familiar pangs of hunger starting to make their presence known. Glen made eating motions with his hands and gestured towards the pile of food and supplies. The warrior’s helmet cocked again and Glen took that for a yes and crawled back over and picked up two food packs and tossed one to the warrior. Glen was amazed at how fast the warrior had snatched it out of the air, had the wrapper off and was eating before Glen could crawl back to his place beside the fire. He certainly was fast. Glen tried to look closely at the features of the warrior but the helmet and feathers kept the warrior’s face in the shadows and distorted them. He had so many questions to ask, yet every time he did, the warrior put his gloved hand up to stop him. It was starting to be down right frustrating. The yellow eyes continued to stare at him and then suddenly looked slightly off to his left back up the hill. The eyes narrowed and quick as that cat the blade was in the warrior’s hand again and pointed at Glen.

Glen started to rise but was stopped by a low growl behind him. The hair went up on the back of his neck as he slowly turned and looked into the biggest pair of yellow eyes that were 15 feet across the clearing. Time again seemed to elongate. Glen could feel the sweat start to drip from under his arm pits. He noticed a small red spider with 12 legs crawling up his sleeve. Something flew overhead and made small squeaking sounds. He could hear the crack and pop of the wood burning in the fire… all this over the growling that was increasing in intensity. All this took place in perhaps 2 to 3 seconds and then all hell broke loose as the dog-cat from hell charged into the clearing directly at Glen. He took a half step back and stumbled over something and fell heavily on his backside.

That probably saved his life. He could feel the hot breath of the beast as it sailed over him. The animal has been surprised by Glen’s sudden fall and couldn’t turn in time to sink that mouthful of teeth into Glen’s body. Trying to turn in mid air, the animal’s momentum had carried him over Glen and into the fire. Glen could see out of the corner of his eye the warrior instead of retreating had launched himself at the beast with the long knife out in front of him. The dog-cat twisted and lashed out at the warrior, catching him on his side, knocking the long knife to the ground in front of Glen. The warrior grunted yet kept slashing at the animal with a small knife that suddenly appeared in his other hand. Blood spatters appeared on the warrior’s armor. Glen couldn’t tell if it was the warrior’s or the animal's. Glen spun on the ground and in one motion grabbed the long knife and plunged it into the back of the howling beast. The mouthful of teeth came around to bite his attacker. Then Glen did what every fiber in his body said not to do. He stepped inside the animal’s reach and drove the blade deep into its chest. The dog-cat’s breath was hot on the side of Glen’s exposed neck and he would have been a dead man if the warrior hadn’t at that moment brought a huge rock crashing down on the beast’s head. Sinking back, the light slowly went out of the dog-cat’s glowing yellow eyes.

Glen stared intently down at the animal, expecting it to somehow jump up and resume the fight. Pulling the long knife out of the dog-cat, Glen turned back towards the warrior not quite knowing what to expect. Only the warrior wasn’t on his feet. He was lying on his side about 2 yards away … very still. Glen didn’t know whether to feel relief or concern. Glen stumbled over and carefully turned the warrior over onto his back. He didn’t remember him being this small and light. He rose and walked over to his water sack lying next to his bike, picked it up and carried it back to the fallen warrior. Cradling his head and body, Glen slowly removed the slashed helmet. A riot of long golden hair spilled out and Glen was shocked to see that the warrior man was a woman.

...a warrior woman that was the spitting image of Sandy

[bighit8]

Damn gregg, you have a way of making me want more.

[OMR]

Originally Posted by bighit8

Damn gregg, you have a way of making me want more.

I'm afraid we are fast coming to the end of the trail ... I don't think you're going to see this coming either!

[bighit8]

I may follow your footsteps and do some writing of my own. A little history, but every paper or project I had in college I got 100%.Straight A's in English my whole life.Not to toot my own horn, but I guess Im good at it. In High school I was offered a scholarship for a paper I wrote but had to compete against two county's ( Pierce and King county Washington) I lived in, and being young and dumb I never pursed it.Time to Brain storm.

[genusmtbkr5]

Good stuff Gregg. Can't even begin to imagine how this will turn out in the end.

[OMR]

Originally Posted by bighit8

I may follow your footsteps and do some writing of my own. A little history, but every paper or project I had in college I got 100%.Straight A's in English my whole life.Not to toot my own horn, but I guess Im good at it. In High school I was offered a scholarship for a paper I wrote but had to compete against two county's ( Pierce and King county Washington) I lived in, and being young and dumb I never pursed it.Time to Brain storm.

It's like mountain biking... turn one person on to it and it makes your day!

Good luck grasshopper .... you may have a ride of your own to do...

[onlyontwo]

Gregg, I live for these at work...helps the slow time go by. Great work as usual. Keep it up...I will be sad when the ride is over.

Cheers,
Andy