They had been walking through the night and were tired, not only from the lack of sleep, but from the mental fatigue. Hopping from shadow to shadow had taken its toll and the two of them were ready to rest their eyes.
They had followed the gorge for the last few hours and as they rounded the bend they saw the entrance to the cave. James stopped turned to Tom and lowered his hand gently to the floor. Understanding the instruction Tom sank to the ground and crawled on his belly to the rock that James was using for cover.
James pointed at his eyes with a forked fore and middle finger and then pointed at the cave. At the entrance stood a fridge, some chairs stacked on top of each other, what looked like an electricity cable running to the apex of the roof and a beautifully tiled floor.
Tom shook his head and they shrank to the the ground and onto their backs staring up at the stars in the sky.
‘No way’ Tom said
‘I am shattered mate, I can’t keep going and the sun will come up soon, then what?’
‘It’s too dangerous, look at it people live there, it’s not like some abandoned goat shelter, people look like they have made a home there.’
‘Well what do you suggest then? We just keep walking until the sun comes up and we collapse on the road!’
‘James’ Tom said sternly ‘I am not trying to be shitty I am as tired as you are, but you heard what they said about bandits on this road, that, over there looks like bandit territory.’
‘Remember that sign we saw yesterday, with the shot gun holes in it.’ James rocked his head sideways in agreement, ‘well I for one don’t want to be used for target practice.’
James sighed and the pair turned from their eyes from sky back down to the cave.
‘Okay, well I am gonna sleep here then, I can’t go on anymore, you can take first watch.’
There was a loud crack like a stick being broken, then the sound of rocks falling towards them. James and Tom both sat up straight fatigue vanishing in an instance.
‘Were you asleep?’ James blurted out
‘No… yea… I don’t know.’ Tom replied panicking
‘For F*** Sake!’
More stones tumbled towards them and then a deep voice from above. What was shouted they could not comprehend, but they didn’t wait for the translation. The two boys leapt up and bolted down the mountain side. Slipping and sliding, hopping, jumping and falling they scrambled towards the cave. A shot rang out behind them.
‘Which way?’ Tom called out.
‘The cave’ James replied
Crack! another shot rang out
‘No way, the gorge, go downstream. We gotta get to the river. Go go go…’
Life From the Dirt 