Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (dark books to read TXT) 📗

it down under his weight. It was the only way back down, aside from a sixty-foot fall from the side.

"So, you saw I was here and decided to follow me?" David asked, trying to sound confident as he forced a slow, natural breath.

"Nah, man." Vance smiled even bigger as he rocked his head side to side. "I came here for revenge." The odor of beer accompanied his words.

David watched Vance reach behind and pull out a shiny, silver colored gun. Aiming it downward, he popped the cylinder out the side, revealing each fully loaded chamber before he effortlessly spun it and slapped it back in place like second nature. David's heart pounded into his throat. There was no longer any need to hold his composure, he thought to himself.

David's thoughts raced as he watched Vance crouch down to reach into his bag. What the hell is he going to pull out now? A grenade? He struggled to find the right words. "Vance. I think you're taking this way too far, man."

"The hell I am," Vance said as he continued to reach around in his bag. "Nobody eats my best quarterback and gets away with it." He pulled out a beer and handed it to David. "How goes the hunt so far?"

David's heart still pounded in his head as the tension left his body only to be replaced with something else. "That wasn't funny." Vance's laughter confirmed his intentions. "You did that on purpose," David said as he shot narrowed eyes in Vance's direction.

"Why so jumpy? Drink it or I will," Vance insisted.

"Nah." David waved his hand to casually dismiss him. "Quit last year."

"Come on," Vance shoved it in his direction. "Pussy."

"No," David said firmly. "Never again."

"Your loss," Vance said followed by a huge swig, that killed a third of the bottle in an instant.

David thought for a minute, unsure exactly where to start. "After what happened to the other camera traps, I thought this would be a good place to- Hey, be careful with that," David said as Vance poked around at his perfectly mounted scope.

"Chill. I'm just taking a look."

David's frustration rose with the temperature that seemed to be amplified by the constant buzz of cicadas. It was like being in a noisy oven. "You messed it up," David said. "Thanks a lot."

"It needs to be over here," Vance said. "Where the meadow dips. Path of least resistance."

"But now it's all blurry," Vance said while fumbling around with the scope. "What the hell?"

"It took me five minutes just to adjust it last time and you just ruined it," David said, shaking his head.

Vance smiled. "You're such a dork, sometimes."

David took a few minutes to adjust the focus on his scope while he tried to block out Vance's loud rambling. But the desert in his mouth wouldn't let him concentrate on anything else. "Feel like hiking back to the lake when I get this fixed?" David asked, clearing his parched throat. "Maybe the drink machines are working."

"Better not," Vance said. "We're being tailed."

"What are you talking about?"

"Benning, I think," he said nonchalantly waving his palm. "Rolled up on my truck right when I cut trail and ducked in the brush."

"Oh, by the way..." David said. "We're being followed by the cops. Just thought I'd let you know," David shook his head after smacking the hot metal railing that surrounded them, just out of the canopy's shadow.

Vance smiled and looked back at him for a minute before finally shrugging his shoulders. "We can go check out the game trail and I can catch a ride back with you in your mommy-mobile."

David finished setting up the camera on the telescope lens. "You're heading down first," David said. "Last thing I need is your heavy, half drunk ass falling from above."

David looked to his right on the way down the ladder. Step by step, he watched the town sink below dark green treetops as he got about halfway. To his left the cliffs were still visible, looming as a foreboding reminder of what he saw, of the night they were stranded, and of when they used to hangout. It stood the same, reluctant of everything that had happened, a testament to the absolute nature of the world and of the way that nature doesn't care how fast things can go from normal to upside down in a pool of blood. Nature just remains to continue on.

Back on the ground, David felt the light of the sun bearing down on the side of his face while he waited for Vance to throw on his pack. "If we take the direct approach," David said. "It's a lot of uphill before we get over the top and head down the ridge." He then turned opposite to point downhill. "Or we could head down, back to my car, grab something to drink and just drive over there."

"You're such a puss," Vance said. "There's a creek up this way. Runs straight down from the cliffs. Anything heading up that way from the pastures would probably stick close to it."

As David tried to think of a counterargument, Vance slung his pack onto both shoulders and started marching without looking back.

David shook his head in the overwhelming heat as he looked at the ground. "It's no use." His feet felt heavy as he marched to follow. The ice-cold trickle of a mountain spring creek rushed through his mind with such vividness, he could feel its frigid sensation in his throat as the sweltering air propelled David to follow Vance up the steep hill.

"A lot harder than sitting around at your computer with the air conditioner, huh?” Vance asked without a glance back.

"Help me edit my videos some time and we'll revisit that," David said, pushing himself even harder, straightening his legs into each step with renewed vigor.

"Don't be scared to shout if you need a break," Vance said. "It's okay to be a wimp."

His words just drove David's determination to new levels as he huffed the hot, dense air to catch his breath, looking up at Vance