CHAPTER 0 – PART V

I say town...

It's actually just a large, spread out, village. The first bit I encounter is only a few old wooden houses clinging to the side of the road, the trees sloping up behind them, the river gushing by in front. They look like they've seen better days, but at least they're a sign of civilisation, the first I've come across in what feels like a couple of hours worth of walking. Unfortunately, they seem abandoned, so after rooting around outside and calling out a few times, with no responses from within, I keep moving.

I can already see more buildings ahead on what lookslike a bend in the river. The flow of water moving away from the mountain, listing out towards the left and behind the last outcrop of trees. I assume it's just following the incline and coursing deeper into the valley. I could really do with some water. I hope there's a drinking fountain or something, or better yet, my parents get their butts in gear and come up the road in the car, then we can go for breakfast, lunch, dinner... how many meals do they own me now? Somewhere better sell shaved ice! I am sweating!

Lost in my daydreams of sweets, soda, and several main courses... I close the distance between the houses on the outskirts, back up the road, and the village proper further down.

Stumbling into the corner of the first building, a kind of squat broad barn, I find myself dazed from no longer being in motion. I take a minute to gather myself and luxuriate in the shadows, leaning against the wooden support pillar, letting my back stick to it through my slightly sweaty top. It conducts away a pleasant amount of my built up body heat and I heave an exaggerated sigh of contentment. It's almost heavenly. I tilt my head up, squinting into the clear blue sky. The sun is hidden behind the overhang of the roof, threatening to breach the lip of the eaves as time creeps toward midday. After a few long moments spent basking in the shade like a lizard on a rock, the first stalks of light pierce my little oasis.

"Tck!" I click my tongue, but there's little malice in it, even with my reverie cut short.

Folding my jacket around the crook of my elbow, I push off from the wall and wander onto what passes for a main road. I scan the facades around me for a cafe sign or something. I might not be able to buy anything at the moment, but I should be able to get some free tap water while sitting in a nice AC cooled booth out of the sun, and if the menu looks good then I can maybe order something now and have my parents pay when they drive by. This place literally only has one road going through it, no matter where I end up sitting, I'll see them through the window and will be able to run out and stop them. They'll have to pass through this way to go back to the holiday home, so it's all good at this point. I mean, I might even be able to ask if anyone has seen them.

Unfortunately, nothing stands out as a cafe, no seats outside or those A-frame standing signs, not even an obvious business name. I guess these must be local offices or more roadside houses and go to walk a bit further down the road, when I remember I have my phone on me and check for signal.

The cracked screen makes trying to see anything in the glare nearly impossible, so I duck into a doorway to get it in some shadow so I can make out the icons or up the display brightness. As soon as I see there's still no bars, it takes all of my will not to throw my phone into traffic or stomp on it on the spot. I am so angry that my breath feels hotter in my lungs and my head thunders with the pressure increase in my blood. I grip the phone, grit my teeth, clench my jaw, and feel every other muscle in my body tense up.

Logically, I know that even a small town – I mean village – like this should have coverage. Nowhere is that remote and out of range any more. So, it could be a network issue, like the nearest antenna is being repaired today, or I'm really unlucky and my phone is actually bricked, but I am way too irritated to troubleshoot a connectivity issue or check for hardware malfunctions right now. God, my blood sugar must be super low. I'm not used to this level of aggression at all. I'm glad no one's about, otherwise I think I'd actually pick a fight. Imagine trying to get served for food at the moment and being snippy with a cute countryside waitress. I don't want to give them a bad impression of out of towners. Man, I just want to go home and have a bath, get changed, and eat a good meal. Hell, I'd settle for preheated convenience store food, or a cold sandwich, or...

"...the hell is thisplace?!."

Words completely fail me.

I've rage power walked about half the length of the highstreet while grumbling to myself and still not found a cafe, diner, or store. I haven't even seen a car go by. I HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN ONE PARKED!

"We really are in the boonies..."

My brain is blank at how rural we must be for there to be literally nothing out here. I'm kind of glad I'm staying angry and using that as fuel to keep going, rather than panicking like I was yesterday. I'd be so embarrassed if I got anxious out here and cried or something, even if there's no one around to see me. Wait, no, there's someone.

I hadn't really been paying attention while walking through the village, I was too focused on finding somewhere to sit and eat, but I'm pretty sure I saw people down side alleys or through windows getting on with stuff. I could just be filling in the blanks in my memory, but I do know I've not seen anyone else out and about on the street itself. The person across the road just come round the bend at the end of the far end, where the buildings stop suddenly. I can make out a fence along the roadside, like the kind you see at the edge of a cliff to stop traffic from going over. I assume the road carries on behind the curve in the landscape. I don't see anything beyond that, other than a slightly distanced continuation of the valley, so the road must double back on itself.

Anyway, if that person's come from over there, the rest of the village might be where touristy stuff is, and around here is still residential. That makes sense, this bits all clustered about the bulge in the riverbank, the last bit of straight road coming out of the woods, so yeah... off we go.

I jog down the last of the high street. The road slithers between the river and the mountain, snaking off to the right behind the outcrop, before opening up into the valley wholesale. It's a narrow plateau, some small and seemingly uncared for fields stretch away from the fence, the river having been slightly diverted, with small channels cut into it for hydrating the crops, but there's nothing growing except weeds as far as I can tell. I mean, I have no idea what most plants are meant to look like during the growing season, but you drive past enough farmland and you get the idea that they should be green and lush and regularly spaced. Not so rough and possibly overgrown?

Whatever. I shake my head to clear my boredom derived thoughts about agriculture, and walk briskly along the raised embankment.

The person I'd spotted earlier had already gone into one of the buildings on the other side of the road by the time I was any closer to them, and I couldn't be bothered crossing to check if it was a house or not. It'd be weird if some random kid just knocked on your door for directions, right? At least I know where someone is if there really is nothing around here. I can ask to use a landline phone to call my parents or something. The broken phone, no signal angle makes more sense these days...

Anyway, after the break in the buildings to accommodate the undulations of the hillside, the village continues. There are side streets now, other buildings set back from the main road with alleyways in between. I might actually have to call this place a small town, not just a village. It's gotten pretty damn hot in the direct sun too, but I'm distracted from the heat for a second as I realise the buildings look off. Not damaged or deserted or out of place in any way, just a little... I don't know? I can't put my finger on it. I can barely put my eyes on them. Their outlines dancing in the near midday sun like a mirage. A MIRAGE, THAT'S IT! The heat is doing that funky thing with the air where it evaporates all the moisture and you can see waves on every surface. I know I'm thirsty and hungry, but to take that long to realise. My brain must be completely fried. Head empty. Just like my belly.

I chuckle to myself, holding my jacket over my head again like when kids try to catch the wind on a gusty day, letting themselves be flung about the playground like heavy little kites. I'm not hoping to be taken off my feet or slowed down in my progress, I just don't want to get sunburn on my neck or the top of my head. Now that I'm out of the woods, the number of insects has thinned, though I can still hear them hovering and humming along the irrigation ditches in the fields to my left. The occasional swarm of flies buzzing around a... something on the roadside.

My jacket is actually providing some cooling shade this time, like the whole parasol idea I'd tried with it earlier. It's a bit more tiring on my arms, holding them up above my head, but locking your elbows and letting them lean back as far as they'll go keeps them up straight with minimal effort at least. AND NO MOSQUITOS BEING FUNNELLED INTO MY FACE!!! I suppose they actually agreed to my little bargain earlier about letting them make a feast of me when I get back to holiday home, having already feasted myself by then. That's probably the one. Greedy little blood suckers. I laugh and sigh to myself as I finish crossing the field and make my way towards the first buildings on this side of town.

Looking down the high street ahead of me, and back round the way I'd come, I can actually make out the heat haze wiggling along the entire length like the ripples and waves of a floating stream cascading between the buildings. It's actually kinda neat, but it just reminds me how thirsty I am.

"I can't wait for that soda!"

I trot along the main road, with my coat above my head, and close my eyes to the blazing summer sun and it's obscene heat rays. I probably look like some amateur marathon runner pretending to make their way over the finish line. I laugh to myself and start to grin. There's still been no road traffic, but there were a few people on the street as I came round the bend, so I'm sure my parents must be around here somewhere. I'll definitely hear the car if nothing else. God, I can't wait for something to eat. I probably reek now though. Oh, who cares? Not my problem! It's all my parents fault! They left me in that re-enactment place without our luggage, what else do they expect. I'll threaten them with a call to social services, tell them I've been abandoned, claim neglect... they'll totally buy me whatever the hell I want then. I bet I could get a new phone out of it too for them not being careful, giving me too many travel meds, and causing it to get smashed out of...

I get knocked on my ass, hard.

Spinning slightly as I tumble to the ground.

Sprawling onto the road, over the curb, into the gutter.

I don't get my arms down in time to stop the fall and just have to roll myself up a bit instead.

It takes a moment to come to my senses and work out what happened. I pull the jacket from off my head, as it, fortunately, got caught in the way of the road rushing up while my arms came down to protect me. I blink, dazed and disorientated, at the silhouette of a giant. I realise that I must have bumped into a country strong farm hand, bounced off him onto my butt, made a complete idiot of myself in front of the first local I've actually met, and am probably about to get laughed at in public. Could this holiday get any worse?

He leans at the waist toward me and I assume he's going to help me up. I put out my hand and he pauses. We both sort of freeze for a second, realising the other has a completely different take on the situation, and he's the first to recover.

My hand stings and launches away from me.

I feel a very real crunch in one of my knuckles as he sharply straightens up and lets out a lightening kick. He must be wearing steel cap work boots, because my finger is already swelling. The aggression I'd used as fuel earlier is nowhere to be found. I am back to absolute terror. Fight or flight very much choosing to get me the hell out of there, knowing full well on an instinctive level that this man means to kick my ass, and I am no match for even defending myself, let alone beating him. I roll onto my side and try to scrabble to my feet. He boots me from behind, sending me flying across the street, nearly skidding on my heels like I'm on ice. Thankfully I regain my balance and bolt.

I don't look back.

I don't look where I'm going.

I just run.

Blind.

Panting.

Just hoping he's too heavy to keep up, regardless of how strong he is.

My heart hammering in my chest. Pulse deafening my ears.

My tongue dry in my mouth and sticking to the roof.

My breath ragged and searingly hot.

I can feel the sweat pouring out of me, stinging my forehead.

My jacket has somehow stayed wrapped around my arm, flapping about with every swing, threatening to trip me every time it whips against my leg.

Eventually, after sprinting down a side street and then ducking in and out of alleyways, my hearing returns and I can't make out any foot falls behind me, though I can still hear some distant shouting. I can't for the life of me work out what's being said. It must be echoing or getting muffled because of the surroundings or just slurred with rage. I decide to stick to the side roads a bit longer, heading up hill to try and see down into the main strip, but mostly to stay away from that psycho and not make myself an easy target in the open.

I round a corner and nearly bump into another person, but I'm so keyed up that I spring out of the way and flatten myself against the wall to let them past.

Them...

THEM!!!

WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?!.

I scream almost in the thing's face and run off down the street. I'm so exhausted from the chase earlier that I only make it the length of the building before huffing and puffing to a stop at the opposite corner. A stitch lancing my side. I slowly look back over my shoulder. The thing is stood exactly where it was when I screamed, staring at me in... shock? They're shocked? THEY'RE SCARED OF ME?!.

We stand there for a long moment, our eyes locked. The shock of seeing some fantasy creature in the flesh still fresh, but curiosity getting the better of me. A major part of it is that this beast girl is looking at me like I'm the monster. She is kind of cute though. Wait, no, hold up... we're not going there. Plus, there's no way to know the age and ethics on this kind of thing. Anyway, why is she scared of me? While my expression changes from one of fear to consideration, hers stays exactly the same. She is terrified of me.

I offer a smile and a little wave, then take a step towards her. Before I can follow up with a friendly "Hello", she shrieks!