THE SW CASINO
By Minimizer
Chapter 123
Of course, we literally weren't out of the woods yet. As we sped away on the current, I heard Gary and Victor arguing behind us. I think one of them said something about how they must be off the track, that there's no way we could've gotten this far. That's all I could make out.
Lori and I watched, afraid that they might come after us, but a couple of minutes later that became moot. The stream wound into a grove of trees that blocked off our view, and then it seemed to narrow somewhat. The rocks we'd seen earlier gave way to a smooth, well-worn passage through the forest, and the current's pace quickened noticeably. It also seemed like we were going downwards faster than before, though that could've just been my imagination.
Like I said before, it was cold--damn cold! Holding onto the branch, I was partially out of the water, but it didn't seem to make any difference. My body heat was being sucked down and away, and I found my teeth starting to chatter. This is how hypothermia starts, I thought.
"Are you all right?" I called out to Lori, who was now just a shadow behind me in the stream.
"Y-yeah," she replied. "I think I'm g-gonna freeze to death, though! Have you ever f-felt w-water this c-c-cold?"
"No, and just keep kicking," I told her. "You have to keep your blood flowing. And keep an eye out for anyone who might've already succumbed."
We rotated our branches around and watched the opposite banks, just in case anyone had tried to swim over to get out of the water. We didn't see anyone, but I did get a shock. Just ahead, I saw an immense shape standing next to the river, staring at us with huge, dark eyes. It was a deer, towering over us, completely unconcerned at our presence. As we floated by, it bent down and lapped at the water, no more than a couple of body-lengths away from me. Either it hadn't caught the scent of humans yet, I thought, or we were simply so small it didn't see us as a threat.
As we drifted on, I became aware of a shape in the water ahead. It was another branch like ours. "Leanne!" I called out to it. "Is that you?"
"Y-yeah," she sputtered in reply, and her voice was very weak. "I-I'm so c-c-cold," she managed.
I kicked my way over there as best I could, for swimming in a pair of boots isn't the easiest thing in the world. Still, they were keeping my feet somewhat warm, if nothing else. As soon as I got to Leanne, I saw she was in a bad way. Her arms were slumped over the branch, her head lolling to one side, and her breathing was sharp and ragged. She hadn't had enough time to get over the shock she'd experienced earlier, and now, if I didn't get her out of this water, I was convinced she'd go hypothermic for sure. "Come on, Leanne," I told her, prodding her slightly. "Kick with your legs. Keep your circulation up!"
"W-what's the use?" she mumbled. "W-we're all g-gonna d-die out here anyway."
"No we aren't," I replied firmly. "Listen, the hard part's over. We're away from the owners now. Just hang on, and we'll get you someplace warm and safe."
She didn't answer. Instead, her eyelids fluttered and she started to roll off the branch into the water. "Oh, no!" I shouted. "Lori, help me, she's going under!"
We both swam over and grabbed hold before she could turn over and start drowning. Fortunately, as I've already mentioned, we're pretty buoyant at this size, so keeping her afloat was easy. It was keeping her from freezing to death that was hard. We tried waking her up, but she was completely unconscious by this point, so the best we could do was lay her arms over the branch and then paddle along next to her.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before we heard voices shouting ahead of us. I looked out through the gloom and saw shapes along the right-hand side of the river, waving. The stream seemed to widen at this point and slow down, and it was also shallower, so that as we approached we started kicking at rocks on the bottom. A little bit more and we were walking, and we left the branch behind as we dragged poor Leanne onto the shore.
All the other girls were there, and they were all shivering simultaneously, as though we were one big, extremely cold creature. Amber and Rebecca were wandering around, telling everyone to keep moving and walk it off, and most of the women were busy knocking blobs of moisture off their bodies as they moved. Four or five, though, were stretched out on the ground, and Claire and a few others were working to keep them as warm as possible. One of these was Marcy, and Heather was wrapping torn leaves around her shivering body.
"I hope this is as far as we have to go tonight," Claire said as I walked past, hunting for something to cover Leanne with. "Most of these women can't take another step. We're all exhausted."
"I don't know," said Lori. "We might have to get away from the river just a bit. The owners will probably search for us this way."
"We've got some time," Rebecca said. "They'll have trouble getting through those woods we just passed. Also, the water's washed away most of our scent for now, so as long as no one's bleeding, we should be OK. I'd like to find shelter, though, just so they can't spot us."
By now Lori and I were busily covering Leanne with some dry brush we'd scavenged. "I'm too cold to just stand here," I said. "You want to do some scouting, Lori?"
"Sure," she agreed. "Anything to keep moving."
"I'll come with you," said Rebecca, and we headed off.
We had landed on a rocky outcropping that sat up right on the edge of a cluster of trees, so naturally that's where we headed. As we went, I said, "Okay, Rebecca, why'd you pick this side of the river? This is the side with the Compound, isn't it?"
"Well," she replied, "mostly it was just a safe and easy place to land. But think about it--the owners will expect we'll want to get as far away as possible. They'll search the far side for our scent, and won't find it, will they?"
I chuckled at that. It was true enough, all right--they'd never expect us to actually get closer to that place again. "Good call," I told her as we moved deeper into the trees, carefully looking around and listening for sounds of danger. Nothing seemed to be moving except us, however. "Here's another one for you," I went on. "Have you and Amber thought more about what happens next? I mean, what are we going to eat?"
"Well, we're going to have to do some foraging," Rebecca replied. "That's one reason I came with you. There ought to be some plants we can find along this riverbank. Failing that, we'll have to eat insects. Sorry about that, but I'm sure you wouldn't rather starve, now would you?"
"No," Lori replied. "But--eat a bug? Eww!"
Rebecca laughed. "You'll eat them," she said, "when you get hungry enough. Besides, they don't taste all that bad."
"They don't?" Lori asked, incredulous. "You've eaten bugs before?"
"Sure, lots of times," said Rebecca. "In order to be a park ranger, you have to take a survival course, you know. Hey--look here, these ought to be safe enough to eat." She pointed at a large set of bushes directly ahead, with round, dark red berries set in the center of their leaves. "These are wild raspberries," she told us. "They'll be sour, probably, but edible enough. If we can find someplace to hide around here, this'll be the perfect spot."
"You're not the only one who thinks that," said Lori, pointing at the ground. "Look at this."
I glanced down, but all I saw was a couple of depressions in the soft undergrowth. Rebecca, though, knelt next to what Lori was indicating and pulled the detritus away, revealing the soft dirt underneath. There was a footprint there, clearly visible, and it was made by some kind of creature much larger than we were. "What kind of prints are these?" I asked.
"I've no idea," said Rebecca. "I don't know everything about the outdoors, you know. This could be just about any large mammal. It's got claws, though, I can see that."
"Maybe it's the badger," Lori suggested. "What if it lives around here somewhere?"
Rebecca shook her head. "We're too far away from there," she told us. "It wouldn't range too far from its burrow. And badgers don't like each other much. They're solitary. If another one was in the area, even this far out, they'd be sure to fight."
"Well, you may be right," I said, "but something's certainly living around here." I pointed ahead of where we were standing. Along the edge of one of the little hills sat a large, black hole in the ground. And there was something down there, something big!