When Given a Lemon

Part 6

“If it could scamper off then I shouldn't be too worried about whatever it is,” Lemon countered, “and you shouldn't be so scared of it.”

“But what if it has rabies?”

“Then it would have tried to bite you.”

Deciding I was done searching this area, I gathered up my unused net and cutting tools then slowly pulled the sled with me away from Lemon and the bushes the face had appeared in. I could hear Lemon snickering at me as I gained more distance, but soon enough the bastard followed me.

Then, “whoah!!?” followed by a crashing and cracking of many branches. I flipped around to see Lemon sitting in bramble bushes with a look of surprise.

“What on earth hap–” a buzzing whoosh blew by me and I whirled to the side to dodge whatever it was, turning to see a large creature hovering just above us! I was now mirroring Lemon's look of surprise. It appeared to be what you would imagine the offspring of a bumblebee and a giant soot ball to look like with buzzing transparent wings flapping too fast to really see so much as hear. It was about as big as my head and almost perfectly round.

“What the fuck?” I was too stunned to manage anything beyond that. It buzzed back at me, but if it was trying to communicate something to me I was unable to grasp its meaning. That might just be the sound it makes from flying and has nothing to do with communicating. I hoped that it's interest would also have nothing to do with me, but I'm not a very lucky person these days and it quickly decided that it was going to hammer this fact in by diving toward me! I screamed, naturally, when at the last second a little stinger flipped out of a hidden pouch and Lemon yanked my leg, pulling me off my feet and sending me crashing to the forest floor.

“What the fuck?!” I repeated, this time with a mouth full of iron and a throbbing sensation just above my right ear. My expletives weren't aimed at Lemon though they had been the cause of my injuries, they had also likely saved me from much worse ones! We both jumped up and dashed around the back of a large tree with the flying buzzball in our wake.

Completely abandoning the load full of plant cuttings, we made a mad dash back toward camp. If that thing flew straight it easily would have been able to outpace us but it seemed to weave about as it flew toward us, even in pursuit, keeping it at a small distance. Once our encampment was within view I yelled to the nearest guard that I was being chased by an angry bird – even in my panic I couldn't bring myself to call it a monster– and for them to shoot it down or chase it away. Anything to get it away from me!

The guard looked on in confusion until the buzzball zipped into view. Instead of assisting me by knocking the damn thing out of the air, they stared at it incredulously.

“Shoot it!” I screamed, realizing that without trees it was quickly making up the distance, hopping across low lying bushes. “Hurry! Shoot the damn thing!” Lemon and I didn't slow our pace, flying into the heart of the camp with that thing after us and shocking everyone that had the chance or misfortune to be there to witness it. Finally someone grabbed a piece of unburnt firewood and smacked the thing out of the air. It buzzed and twitched a bit as a piece of tarp was thrown over it and held in place until a more suitable form of confinement could be sought out.

Stumbling to my knees, I finally had a chance to catch my breath. I almost had a heart attack from all this! Next to me Lemon sat in the dusty snow, already looking calm now that they weren't being chased.

“Just what the hell is that thing?” The soldier that had hit it with the wood asked, peering over the shoulder of the man holding it down with the tarp. She looked back over to us, hoping for enlightenment.

“No idea,” I offered. “It just popped out of nowhere while we were foraging.” Lemon nodded in agreement.

Another soldier that had run off to find something to put the thing into while we tried to figure out what it even was, returned with the captain, a lieutenant carrying a weaved basket following closely. It took some shuffling, but soon enough the buzzing creature was inside the weaved basket. It was a loose weave, making the creature fairly visible for us to see.

“Ah ha!” The captain exclaimed once he had a good look. Turning his sharp gaze at me he pumped his fist in the air, “this is it!”

“What is?” Someone asked, the group quickly doubling in size around us.

“What's your name soldier?”

“Me?” Oh no, it's never good when they ask that! “Keenah, sir.”

“Keenah, you have managed to track down what we've spent days hunting for!” He lifted the basket, setting off the buzzball to crash erratically into the sides of its soft cage. “Where did you come across this? Quick! At once you must lead us back to that spot!  You are now our lead hunter!”

His eyes aglow, he yanked me forward with the basket in his other hand, all but dragging me back into the woods. All this time I had spent doing small chores in and out of camp to avoid being part of the hunting party, and next thing I am made into their lead hunter?! Unable to express how I feel about any of this without facing the wrath of this gnarled captain, we quickly retraced our path.

A short time later we arrived back to the area we had been foraging in. If it weren't for Lemon, I never would have found it and the captain would have probably buried me somewhere in the woods when he ran out of patience.

Once there, several of the soldiers fanned out and slowly climbed through the dense forest in the direction I had pointed. I'm glad the captain isn't making me climb through there with everyone else, too absorbed in what might be found, and I use this chance to sneak off toward my abandoned cart. I wonder if they would notice if I just started pushing this down the hill toward camp or if the captain would insist that the lead hunter had to be present during the hunt. I've never had an interest in hunting, especially not flying buzzballs with stingers!

As if to ensure I had no way of escaping, Lemon came to stand next to the cart and rested their knee onto the front of it, effectively blocking my path.

I wanted to say that wasn't necessary, but couldn't chance the captain noticing me. This is the last place I wanted to be though and even if that thing that chased us was the actual monster we were out here to deal with– wait, if we already caught it, why are we back out here?

Oh no. There's more. I shouldn't even be surprised! It looked kind of, sort of like a bee, and bees live in large colonies, so that shouldn't be an unheard of expectation for this one either. A heavy thrum of buzzing suddenly lit up the air. All of us glanced about in surprise, expecting them to appear from anywhere at any given moment now. 

Even Lemon looked serious for once, standing at the ready, a knife the length of their forearm drawn.

A call of surprise sounded in the distance ahead and the captain's eyes burned with excitement as they proclaimed with their arms out,

“There's upon us!”