The S'earph Wars, part II (excerpt from my novel)

Here's part II! It's not as long...

Kili hands me our bottle of water, which we filled at a drinking fountain, and I pour most of its contents into a small tin pot. Setting it on the burner, I fumble for the almost empty box of matches at the bottom of my pack. I open the gas valve, and light it, wondering to myself where we’ll get more matches. Sometimes charities have them. Most of the time, they don’t.

“How many do we have left?” whispers Kili, concern creasing her forehead.

I shrug, “Twenty, maybe twenty-five. We can last for awhile, I guess.”

Kili shakes her head.

Five minutes later, when the only light is the flickering of the stove, I hand Kili a small bowl of gruel.

“Not the most appetizing,” I say apologetically.

“You know I don’t care,” she whispers back, patting me on the shoulder. A shiver runs up my spine. I look into Kili’s face, her brown eyes full of the weight of a grown person’s burden. I’ve never had time to think about personal relationships, in this kind of situation. Kili’s been like a sister to me, but lately…I shake my head.

“What?” asks Kili gently.

“Nothing,” I reply, hoping that she can’t see me blushing in the darkness.

“Uh-huh. Like I believe that,” she whispers sarcastically.

I pretend that I don’t hear her. We’ve never fought before, and I don’t intend to let my personal feelings change that.

*********************

When we’ve finished our oatmeal, I pull a blanket out from the bottom of my pack. Kili does the same, wrapping the ragged fleece around her shoulders.

“I’ll take first watch,” I say quietly.

“Cutter, you don’t have to,” Kili protests.

“I know. But I’m going to, anyway. Get some rest,”

She looks like she’s going to say something else, but nods instead. I can see that she’s immensely tired, and that strengthens my resolve to stay awake. She needs the rest, and so I won’t wake her to takeover watch, even though she’ll be annoyed with me in the morning. I lean forward and turn off the stove. I won’t need it.

I settle back against the cold wall of the warehouse, feeling vaguely disturbed by the vast, abandoned building. Usually this kind of thing doesn’t scare me. Living on the streets of New York City does that to you. But this is different. The broken window and the tracks in the dust indicate that someone, or something big is in here with us. I shiver, suddenly feeling very alone. If something were to happen to Kili and me, no one will know or care. We will just disappear.

“Aren’t you just full of sunshine?” I mutter to myself, annoyed. We’ve been in this kind of situation before, and nothing has happened. This won’t be any different.

With that reassuring thought, I slide further down the wall, feeling exhausted. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. My eyelids droop, and I have trouble keeping them up. What I need is a little nap, and then I can continue the watch, and Kili won’t even know. We’re completely safe here…

CRASH

I jolt upright, scraping the back of my head against the wall. Wincing, I peer into the darkness, trying to locate where the sound came from. It sounded like one of the crates falling over. That was probably it, I decide. The crates are all rotted out, so they probably fall down all of the time. And then I hear the hissing. It’s coming from the opposite side of the room, and it sounds like an animal breathing. I strain my eyes, failing to penetrate the absolute darkness. There’s a scrabbling, like claws on wood, and then a soft chittering. Definitely an animal, and it sounds big. A bear, maybe? The hissing starts again. I’m pretty sure that bears don’t make sounds like that, but then again, I’ve never actually seen one.

The strange noises continue, making me even more nervous. What is this creature doing? Anything from the crates has either disintegrated or rotted. It can’t possibly be trying to eat from them. If it is a bear, maybe it’s smelled us, and is looking for an easy meal. I shudder, hoping that the creature can’t hear me. There’s nothing that I can do. Kili and I are stuck here until this creature decides to leave.

Suddenly, I hear the grinding of wood on wood, followed by another resounding CRASH, as the creature pulls over another crate. This time, it’s enough to wake up Kili. She sits up with a yelp.

“Wasgoinon?” she says sleepily.

I frantically shake my head at her to get her to stop talking.

“What’s wrong, Cutter?” she asks frowning.

That’s when I notice that all of the noises have stopped. Well, not all. The hissing is drawing nearer. Kili notices, and freezes, a look of intense fear creeping over her face.

“What is it?” she mouths.

I shake my head.

We hunker down behind our wall of crates, but I know instinctively that it won’t help. The creature has been throwing them around all night, and it’s not going to let these ones get in its way.

The hissing is only a few feet away now, causing me to shudder. Despite my fear, I still want to know what we’re up against, so I carefully turn my head, peering through a crack in the crates. The darkness is still obscuring most of my view, but I can make out a vague shadow of something large.