Things That Go 'Bump' In The Night

Sometimes dreams are better than real life.  At first, Chade hadn’t wanted to wake up.  In his dreams, there had been laughter and hope.  It didn’t take long for Ricin to wake him though, back to a world of danger with the hope much harder to cling to.  Chade liked Ricin being in the lead, since his brother had a poor peripheral vision it made things safer for Chade to pay attention to the rear.

There had been an urge in Chade to play on this beach terrain that felt strange to his paws.  Playing on ice and watching their sister die had taught them the danger of playing on uncertain terrain.  He walked with his brother, senses alert for any dangers.  Their parents had been wary of the fireflies and that was enough for Chade to leave them well alone.  It was a seemingly odd threat, the little bugs versus all the more dangerous predators with fangs that stood far above them but Chade would not question there is a threat.

Stay there? Yah Right.  Chade sat down as if to show an agreeance to this idea but once Ry stepped in Chade moved to follow.  A soft deep sound from somewhere nearby startled the blue pup and he spun around, breathing deeply, hackles raised up with every nerve on edge.  Between beach and cave, there were some trees a predator could hide behind.  There were the strange mushrooms that had been around the cost and crystals attached to trees.  

Chade looked towards the cave entrance concerned for his brother but dashed off quickly to the tree line, grabbing some dead branches on the ground with dried up crackly leaves and back to the cave entrance, dumping them on the ground.  He repeated the procedure another time then started kicking dirt and gravel as he tried to cover up the branches to at least some degree.  It was his best idea for a hopeful alarm system if something came up behind him.  Not facing the cave entrance he’d potentially kick some of the dirt straight on Ricin if he was near his pile of sticks.

Glancing around as his brother spoke up he got a sheepish glance whether the dirt hit his brother or just close to.  “Hopefully anything big comes in they’ll stop on the branches and make noise to warn us.”  The setup would probably have had an adult rolling their eyes but to some pups with limited experience, it was a good first effort.  If something came in after them the two boys could be trapped.

Chade moved to enter the cave, “Yah, Ry, I haven’t forgotten about eating funny stuff.”  The mushrooms and crystals were also abnormal things, he knew that from parents talking though they had never seen the effects.  Maybe their one sibling had died from these mushrooms but it could have been any plant that turned out to be what had killed him.

There was no running and bounding into a strange place, despite Ricin having checked it out Chade still walked in cautiously.  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his brother, it was simply now natural to be on his guard.  Carelessness got wolves killed.  The boy could smell the rats and he felt the saliva flowing in his jaws.  The cave was crazy bright with an odd glow which was aww inspiring.  The pool farther back practically sparkled and he saw a splash here and there from fish locked into a smaller pool.  Rats and fish meant food!

“Alright,” the boy said, brow furrowing thinking what else they should do.  “Let's uh, let's see if any signs of others.  You know, scat, fur and stuff that might be older so we don’t smell it but a sign others might come here or not.”  It was too good to be true, a place with ample food and cover from the elements.  There was no such thing as a place that was safe.  “Then,” his eyes turned towards the pool, a slow grin growing on his face, “Then I’ll get us food!”  His own stomach gurgled in a reminder it had been a while since he’d eaten anything other than some larger bugs.  Get hungry enough and you get less picky about what you’ll eat.

Word Count 1281