Dry - 12

He was completely turned around. Where he'd buried Uncle Bill could have been the next block over or a mile away.

 

He had to get back to those woods.

 

It shouldn't be difficult to find the tree that had been chopped down. He could orient himself and work his way back to the yard where Uncle Bill was.

 

Monster splashed some more vodka on his face, but his head felt only hotter. If this weirdness were wearing off, shouldn't he need booze less? He tugged on the sack and felt a few threads pop around his neck.

 

He cleared his throat. "Th' rain 'n Spain…" His voice was still more gruff than usual, but it was sounding more and more like it was supposed to by the minute.

 

Finding the woods was easy. Finding where he came in the first time wasn't. Monster was a city boy and had no conception of how large even a small wood could be. Every tree was the same. What were these, pine trees? And it was dark outside, once he was in the woods, he was really in the woods.

 

Luckily the moon was full and the sky clear. The fall leaves were incredibly loud, crunching underfoot. He stumbled over something and the bottle and shovel went flying as he tried in vain to keep from falling.

 

Monster searched for the items he'd lost, but was only able to find the bottle. Great. He started thinking about things other than costumed freaks that might try to get him. Monster poured the rest of the vodka over his head and scrabbled to his feet, turning the empty bottle upside down, holding the neck in his fist. If a bear tried to rape him it was gonna get a skull full glass first.

 

What had he tripped over? Monster turned. At first he couldn't make it out, but he drew closer and realized it was a felled tree. Was it his tree? He had to hope. Monster followed the length of the tree until he came to the tree top. Wrong way. He turned around and walked alongside until reaching the bottom.

 

He looked up. Monster had no real frame of reference. This was the edge of the wood, but he didn't know which way that was. He could easily walk in the wrong direction and be lost again.

 

There were voices nearby. Monster heard the barking bloodhounds again. A moment later he could see the torches. But they didn't seem to be coming for him.

 

He crept to the edge of the woods on his hands and knees. When he saw what they were doing he knew he had to stop them.