Freedom III
You can’t help being incredibly curious, and now that your lives aren’t in any immediate danger through the madness of the cave, you suck in a slow breath, then let it out. You figure it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to inquire, and if Erin or Maggie don’t know, then hey, you still tried to ask them about it.
“I don’t mean to keep throwing out question after question,” you say, glancing between the two women. “But, there IS one thing I’ve thought on. Is it only us three that are here?” You frown. “Or are there other people I don’t know of?”
Maggie and Erin share a look.
“That’s… a good point,” Erin says. “I’m not sure how many others are around, truth be told. Before I ran into you, mate, I think I might’ve spotted one or two people? I haven’t really interacted with many folks beyond you and this stinky bitch,” she points at Maggie, who scoffs, “so your guess is as good as mine.”
“I’ve seen some others like us,” Maggie replies. “Not a lot, but, I’ve seen ‘em.”
“Really?” you say. “How many?”
“Over the course of the time I’ve been in this costume,” Maggie says, gesturing down to herself, “I’ve come across a few crocodiles to the East over there,” she points, “I’ve spotted at least one person in a lizard attire - not sure what sort, though - and I’ve run into a few other dingoes like myself. I was hanging around with those dingoes before I started to… um, well, you remember.”
You’re a little surprised to hear this, but, you’re intrigued, too, since you haven’t seen any other animal-hybrids. Erin seems equally surprised, too.
“I thought I’d heard more than one dingo earlier,” Erin remarks. She’s eyeing Maggie with a confused expression. “But then it was just you chasing our asses into that stupid cave, so, I assumed I’d maybe misheard instead.”
“Nah, there are others,” Maggie says. “None of them were interested in chasing you two when we caught your scent. And when I came out to, well, find something to eat…” She shrugs. “They were already gone, off that way.”
She gestures randomly to her left.
“And before either of you ask, I only kind of knew them,” Maggie adds. Her lips purse. “There were three of them. Two guys and another gal. Didn’t get their names, but, we chatted for a little about being a predator.” She gives another shrug. “It’s funny you bring it up, though. To my knowledge, this sort of thing where multiple people get together… it seems a little rare for some reason.”
“Could be the area we’re in?” you offer. “You said yourself it’s big, so, maybe it’s so big, that’s why we don’t see a lot of them? Or maybe it’s based on the animal costume the person ends up in, and people ended up choosing costumes that took them to other domains?”
“Maybe,” Maggie says. She considers this. “This whole outback styled location doesn’t offer a WHOLE lot unless you’re a specific breed of creature, I’d imagine. Like, for example, the crocs I mentioned were over by a thick river far to the East, mostly just chilling in the water. Don’t think they cared one way or the other since they hardly batted an eye when I came over to ‘em.”
“What were the dingoes up to?” Erin asks.
“Prowling around for food mostly,” Maggie replies. “This, I dunno, domain or biome, or whatever you wanna call it? It’s huge as fucking balls, so, there’s plenty of ground to cover. But I get the sense they were also just entertaining themselves by exploring, instead of sitting around on their arses. We’re a little more, shall we say, ‘mobile’ compared to a ‘roo or to a crocodile.”
You nod along since that makes sense. Though again, that does bring up…
“Are there any normal animals here?” you ask.
Maggie blinks a few times. “I… I think so.”
You furrow your brow. “You… think so?”
She rubs the back of her neck. “On the one hand, yes, I’ve seen birds flying around and heard the little buggers squawking in the thicker wooded areas, there’s plenty of bugs and shite if you look hard enough, and I mentioned eating, remember?” She chuckles. “Fish. There’s fish in the rivers, and in a few of the lakes. But, on the other thing? I haven’t seen anything else in terms of real world animals. No actual dingoes, no actual crocodiles, and so on.”
“They’re around, but, they’re not easy to come by,” Erin says. “I’ve seen some actual larger animals, including other ‘roos and joeys.” She nods to the side. “My best guess is they kind of stay away from us, since they know, somehow, that we’re not naturally like them. ‘Course, HOW they got here is anyone’s guess.”
“I told you, it’s better not to think about it for too long,” Maggie mutters.
You ponder this in silence - since again, dwelling on that sort of subject would definitely bring about a lot of questions around this strange world you’re in.
‘If Maggie can eat fish and survive, then, they must be real,’ you think. Your lips twitch. ‘But… how are they here? If this isn’t real Australia, yet the animals and the plants are all real… eesh, that’s going to give me a headache.’
You shake it off. Maggie’s right - it’s better to not think on it too hard, because it WILL make your head hurt. It’s too much logic and too many questions.
Instead, you let all those thoughts drift away, and you simply suck in a quiet breath and relax. You’ve gotten some clarity on things you wondered about, and honestly, you don’t feel a need to keep throwing out random questions.
‘What a weird place,’ you muse. ‘But, I’m glad I ended up going through that door.’
Either way, you close your eyes and relax. Erin and Maggie fall quiet, too, and you can hear them rustle slightly, but otherwise, there are no noises around. It’s peaceful, and content, and above all else, it feels genuinely soothing.
You breathe in, slow and steady. Slow and steady… again and again.
Eventually, as the quiet surrounding you overtakes your body and your limbs ease to the fullest, you feel yourself drifting into slumber. It’s a pleasant, dreamless sleep - you have no fear, no sense of urgency or worry, and nothing happens until after your eyes reopen to the sight of a brighter sky overhead.
‘Wha…?’ you think.
You blink a few times and rub your eyes.
It takes a moment, but, when you finish, and when your eyes readjust, you see that the sun is out, and that the sky has more clouds covering it. Gone are the stars and the moon, and you immediately wonder how long you were asleep.
‘Whoa,’ you think. ‘I guess we CAN fall asleep in these costumes.’
You pick yourself up and stretch, yawning a little to yourself. You glance over to see Erin is sleeping still, but Maggie is gone. You don’t think much of it, since you figure she’s doing her own thing - although, after a few minutes of peaceful silence trickle by, you begin to ponder where she could’ve gone.
‘I figured she would stick around,’ you muse, and your eyes fall onto Erin’s softly snoring form. ‘Seems like things between her and Erin were getting better then they used to be, if my understanding is right. And yet…’
You notice then that there are some footprints on the ground from where Maggie moved - they kind of give you an idea of where she likely went when she decided to get up, whenever that was. That gives you an option, at the very least: you can stay put, or, you can choose to follow after Maggie, if only to see where she is and that she’s alright.
‘Erin should be fine if I decide to go and investigate…’ you think, but, you take a moment to weigh the two options.
Do you stay and wait? Or do you go see where Maggie’s gone?
Written by Hollowpages on 30 January 2021
The end (for now)