The Woodlands (#1 THE WOODLANDS SERIES) (COMPLETE)

35. YELLOW EYES

Sometime in the night, I felt a strong chill. I shuffled around in my sleeping bag, thinking I had rolled to far from the fire. Joseph stirred but did not wake. He muttered something and put his hand on my waist. I looked to the center and saw nothing but the spotted orange glow that clung to ash. The fire was out. I heard scratching, or something being dragged across the other side of the campsite. I breathed in slowly, trying not to make any noise. As I exhaled, a glowing light just past the fire froze, yellow eyes shining in the moonlight. I jabbed Joseph sharply in the ribs. He made a startled, snorting noise as he awoke and, whatever it was, became smaller as it retreated but didn’t disappear.

“Joseph,” I whispered, “there’s a yellow-eyed thing out there.” I pointed to the eyes, grabbing his head and aiming it in the creature’s direction. “The fire, Careen said it scared them.” Joseph’s body went rigid and he jumped out of the sleeping bag like a spring.

We woke the others and together we stoked the coals, throwing kindling and logs on until it was roaring, our skin looking golden in the flames. Behind the statue of the man with the outstretched hand, I saw the flick of a long tail and black and white stripes. I heard scuffling. I drew breath in slowly, weighing up the threat. My eyes searched the darkness anxiously and found several pairs of yellow eyes floating like a disturbing set of stringed lights about fifty meters from where we were.

“Can you see that?” I pointed in their direction.

Joseph nodded, jaw tight, looking unnaturally magnificent in his shredded shirt. The fire glazed his skin gold, his muscles tensed and ready to fight.

The eyes were joining with other eyes, forming a semi-circle, closing in slowly from the western side of our campsite, like a ring of candles, flickering as they blinked. Apella panicked and darted behind Alexei, the whip of her grey shirt the only evidence she was there. I watched her in disgust, the desire to throw her to them was hard to suppress. We burned everything in sight, watching the flames climb higher and higher. Our faces and hands charred red from the heat but we couldn’t step back. Deshi and Joseph armed themselves with the knives. I waited to see Careen striding forward, spear in hand, but she wasn’t there. I gulped, horrific visions of her torn-up body sprawled somewhere clawed at my mind. Where the hell was she?

The eyes stalled at the sight of the fire, there was a faint cry like a ‘whoop’ and then a chorus of whoops filtered through the air above our heads. Slowly the eyes edged away from sight. Whatever they were, there were at least thirty of them and my guess was there were probably more. Joseph’s hand curled over my shoulder and I set my head down on it. “We can’t stay here,” I whispered, feeling the panic ease with his touch. He squeezed his hand and nodded, eyes distant.

*****

As the grey morning approached, we were shocked to discover how close they had come while we were sleeping. All around us were the remnants of our belongings, things dropped as they were dragged off into the night. These elusive creatures seemed intelligent and organized. Unlike the wolves, they hadn’t just destroyed things; they had taken items of interest and discarded others.

I was just about to start searching for the grisly remains of Careen, when I heard a loud thump and she came strolling out of the wooded area to the east of our campsite, eyes bright. Her attitude was casual, unfettered, and she was surprised that we were angry at her, or even that we worried about her safety.

She admitted she had seen the creatures approaching and had jumped up into the closest tree, spending the night there.

“Thanks a lot for the warning,” I said, glaring at her.