Two men remained awake in the copse of trees after Michael and Stephen took their leave: Adam Detweiler, a man who – to his continuing chagrin – was not known to anybody outside the confines of his head as “the Rottweiler”, and Percival Lee, who was simply satisfied with being known as “Lee.”
Unlike the departed pair, they were both experienced lookouts who took their task very seriously. They were very certain that, apart from that aforementioned pair, nobody had either entered or left the shelter of the camp since the group of sixteen men and women had arrived.
That certainty did not necessarily bring with it comfort, especially when Detweiler did a quick sweep with his pen flashlight and noticed…
“We’ve got eleven people on the ground, and us. Who the hell’s missing?”
“Bornheim took the new guy and left a while ago,” Lee said.
“I saw that,” Detweiler said. “Michael fricking’ Bornheim. Guy’s a joke.”
“At least he’s always got something to read,” Lee pointed out.
“Listen, buddy: there’s book smarts and then there’s street smarts,” Adam said. “Which do you think is going to matter more when you’re living on the street?”
“I don’t know,” Lee said. “Before I hooked up with tribe, I spent as much time in the public library as I did on the streets.”
“Smartass,” Adam said. “Check around, see if somebody rolled out of their sleeping bag or something, or try to figure out who our missing person is.”
“Missing people are,” Lee corrected, moving his own light in quick darting motions from sleeping form to sleeping form. “I only count ten people.”
“What the hell?” Adam said.
“Maybe you should brush up your book smarts?” Lee suggested.
“Hey, get that light out of my face!” a woman complained.
“Ugh, what’s happening now?” somebody else said sleepily. “Are we moving again?”
“People, we have a situation,” Adam said. “A couple people are unaccounted for.”
“Three people,” Lee said quietly, counting. “Someone else is gone now.”
8 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
Great job as ever AE now to wait as you update the rest of my virtual crack . . .
*hits yet another end-wall, sits, and pokes at it* D:
Please note, this is now part of my refresh monkey routine: I check MU (sometimes checking comment updates), and then I come here for my next fix.
You are totally hearted.
Please, miss, I want some more?
People are disappearing! Argghhhh! Being sucked into another dimension perhaps? going where the missing socks from the laundry go?
Sorry, I’ve been reading Wallflower too much.
“Adam Detweiler, a man who – to his continuing chagrin – was not known to anybody outside the confines of his head as ‘the Rottweiler’….”
This seems to say he wants to be know as “the Rottweiler.” Is that correct?
Wonderful series. I still have trouble believing that each chapter is half-the-beast long. Nothing about it seems out of pace or forced at all. I wish I could rite real good like yoo.
And if the last line of my previous comment seems to denigrate Alexandra Erin, then my point is confirmed. I was attempting to mock my own writing skill.
“Michael fricking’ Bornheim”
there needs be no apostrophe after fricking, unless you meant to leave off the ‘g’.
Hehe…. “DETWEILERRRR!”
I always loved Recess, and in addition to writing/having written a really awesome story/series here, you just brought those memories flooding back. Thanks. You’re awesome.