The Sound of Silence: Fire in the Dark, Fanfiction Book #2

Chapter Five

"Then we clean it up," Sasha remarked. He asked, "Does it have running water?"

"No," Leon answered. "Which tells me the water source they rely on is the lake that's out here. We're going to have to be careful. Least one of us get sick it's going to be hours away before we get to a proper hospital."

"Her name is Snuggles and she's recently had two kittens." Zemira chirped, standing. The stray twined around her legs, and even from where he was standing, he could hear the cat purring up a storm. "My grandmother is quite the cat lover."

Leon groaned. He asked, "What, now mama has two kittens inside?"

He sighed and raised his hands. He declared, "All right, fine, we're spending the night in a creepy cabin that smells like cat and has no running hot water."

Sasha chuckled and followed after Leon. He told him, "Let's clear a space for now. Then we can do more when there's more light tomorrow morning."

"Ugh," Leon grimaced. He regretted that he did NOT bring his sleeping bag. Something about dirty mattresses...no, just no man. No!

"Kennfield!" Sasha called from inside. "You helping me or do you owe me another drink?"

...rat bastard. He hung his head and trotted after Sasha. The pair began to clear out a section of the front of the house, somewhere close to the door if they needed to bolt. As they cleaned, Leon found an old pot and a pan, and found that the stove was in fact an old black iron chimney, the double burned types that required cut logs.

Well...where was an axe then? He searched carefully, then found one rather very nice axe and even a sister hatchet to go with it. He huffed.

"Great, I got to play Santa Claus, now I'm the Woodsman in Red Riding Hood..."

"Wouldn't that make me little Red then?" Zemira asked, following.... Snuggles.... Inside, and watching as the cat disappeared into a crevice and out to the back, probably to feed her kittens. "I'm the redhead, after all."

Leon bobbled his head. Maybe, it did make sense after all. He then told Zemira, "I'll find us some logs to cut and get that stove going. It feels like it's going to drop, and if it does, we need to be warm."

"Leon," Sasha called. Leon turned, finding a large coat being thrown at him. It was a rather nice coat, thickly insulated with sheepskin and woven wool. It was grey too...

He smiled and tried it on, then nodded. It didn't smell at least, and it was good and warm.

"Thanks!" He called out to Sasha. He gathered his hatchet and his axe and stepped out of the house. He peered to his right where the treeline was, just as snow was beginning to fall. He grumbled a little under his breath, but with his flashlight in his mouth and two very sharp weapons, he marched to the treeline, a clear 100 plus yards from the cabin itself.

He approached the treeline with care, stopping long enough to take the flashlight out of his mouth. He skimmed the brush and bramble, then chopped away at whatever dead bushes stood in his way. At least it was kindling to start with. He broke the branches one by one, then with a box of matches, tucked away in that same coat, he lit a small fire for himself.

"Right then..." he sighed and picked up branches as he went, tossing them in the bonfire. It was getting much warmer, and easier to see. He found a decently sized pine, not overly big but not too thin either. He started chopping away, trying his best to make quick work.

While Leon hacked and got wood together, Zemira and Sasha spent more time poking about the rooms, finding any usable items they could, as well as the two kittens and their Mommy, curled up on a moth-eaten blanket.

"You know." Zemira noted to Sasha. "This is where people die in horror movies."

Sasha turned to Zemira. He asked, "Oh? And what makes you say that?"

"Dark night, creepy cabin, middle of nowhere, there's like, five horror tropes before you walk in the front door." Zemira noted. "Cliche ones, to be sure, but ones all the same."

Sasha considered their surroundings carefully. Being a native of the Slav Republic, he had seen his share of woodland scenery, even those at night. Considering that they were only using flashlights as their only source of light as well, it didn't help matters at all.

He hummed.

"I will take that American thought into consideration," he noted, "Though JD would have been more the American Movies type..."

"You do have to admit, this IS a little on the creepy side." Zemira noted. "And if you don't mind my asking, who is JD?"

"Was," Sasha corrected her. "JD was another freedom fighter like myself. He was a fanatic of American merchandise and hood food." He chuckled, admitting, "Even though we had Leon as our hostage he was a big fan of him." He turned to Zemira. "He made a good impact on JD even at his final hours."

Zemira snickered. "I think Leon just has that effect on people..... Even if he doesn't realize it."

Sasha chuckled and remarked, "He leaves plenty of impressions. Either he's an asshole or the hero who doesn't want to be the asshole..."

"It's plausible he's both. Speaking of..." Zemira glanced to the door. "He's been gone for quite a while now....." Sasha nodded. "I agree. I'd say let's go and see if he's all right but I don't think it'd be a good idea. " 

Zemira nodded slowly. "That's also how people die in horror movies. If he's not back soon, we may have to go search for him..."

Sasha frowned and glanced outside of the cabin. He watched the flickering flashlight as a warm orange danced at the treeline. However, he could see at the corner of the his eye some abnormal shape prowling its way over to Leon. He frowned.

Oh...oh shit!

He turned to Zemira. "Do we have a flash gun?"

Zemira felt around the house. She told him, "I don't know. Why?"

"Leon is about to have company!"