Afternoon Hike
When two apex predators meet, there’s an implicit understanding of mutual avoidance. They cross paths but don’t interact. Each content to be their own respective kings and queens of their part of the food chain. However, that requires mutual understanding that neither party can overwhelm the other. If there’s even a hint of doubt…the hunt begins.
“You know, I figured I was only humoring you when you asked to go searching for ley lines on our spring break. I thought that was just code for hiking in the Smoky Mountains and getting high, maybe find a cool watering hole before going back to a cabin…not running off trail and camping.”
Ajax was, by all accounts, a pretty boy. His sisterlocks were his trademark around the BSU and he was known for having good style to match. His skin was flawless due to a regimented skin care routine and he did not play about keeping his fingernails trimmed and clean. Not the person you’d expect to want to go camping, hence the complaint.
His best friend, KB, was almost a polar opposite. Not dirty or unkempt but also not concerned with smelling elegant or the types of fabric he wore. He threw on a (clean) t-shirt and pair of shorts almost every day and kept it pushing. His shape up was the only thing he maintained.
They were both, however, fairly tall and fairly strong and fairly capable. And like all young men that are fairly tall, fairly tall, and fairly capable, they felt invincible. Which is why they felt no issues hiking off trail looking for one of KB’s long time obsessions: ley lines.
KB was going on 8 years of interest on this topic and after 3 years in college, all of his friends learned to roll with it. He was obsessed with anecdotes of time and space being different along the lines if you could find them. There was rarely a day where one of their friends didn’t say, “Here you go with that British shit again.”
Ajax thought it was silly but also a little fun to think about. Apparently there was a lot of evidence pointing to a particularly charged ley line in the Smoky’s with big and extinct creatures somehow prowling the trees. He didn’t buy any of it and he wasn’t sure how KB was going to verify anything but…it was at least good brotherly bonding.
KB hummed, “Mm, now how would we find a ley line near a touristy cabin or a bunch of roads? It’s gotta be connected to nature, I told you that.”
Ajax felt his eyes roll into the back of his head. He could hear the birds rustling through the trees and rodents running through the underbrush as they clambered through the forest.
“Sure,” Ajax said. “How will you know when you’ve found it?”
“You’ll see some supernatural shit man, I don’t know. Every just says, you know when you know,” KB replied.
Another eyeroll from Ajax as he swiped bees from his face before pulling his locs into a small ponytail. He looked over at KB to see him incredibly focused on a deer trail…or rather beyond it. The disturbance seemed too large to have been a deer.
“This way,” KB called before heading down it.
As they went, Ajax couldn’t help but feel that the forest was changing around him. The birds were still chirping and the creatures were still rustling but the trees…the trees started to look older. They seemed larger than just a hundred meters ago. It was unsettling as much as it was cool.
KB wasn’t ignorant to the change either. With a whoop he charged and cried, “Come on! We’ve got to be close!”
Ajax was pulled from his musings and tore after his best friend through the brush. He couldn’t help but feel the deeper they went the more they were being watched.
They burst out into a clearing with a watering hole, KB whooping like a madman as he photographed a picture of a giant foot. “Wow! What creature do you think made that?”
Ajax couldn’t help but stare at KB like he was crazy.
“Nigga, one we don’t wanna see. The fuck did you get us into?”
KB just laughed, incredibly secure in his human superiority. “Dude, relax. Predators avoid us. It’s how the food chain works, they respect us as the supreme.”
The look didn’t leave Ajax’s face, “Now that’s some fucking bullshit…”
But before he could finish, KB held up a hand.
“Wait, shh. Do you hear that?”
Ajax shook his head.
KB nodded in excitement and crept closer to Ajax, “Exactly, I think the beast is coming for a drink and all the animals clear out,” he whispered.
“So we need to get the fuck out of here, ASAP!” Ajax whispered back.
KB shook his head, “It’s a watering hole,” he said. “It’s neutral ground.”
Before Ajax could comment on that stupidity, he felt a chill go down his spine and his breath quicken. He turned around to look: nothing. Nothing.
“KB,” was all Ajax could get out as he turned around again to try and find the source of his terror.
KB was oblivious, back to taking pictures and waiting for what he assumed to be a mountain lion tamed by the ley lines. Hadn’t he said that people found creatures that were abnormal or something? Something about time and space?
Waves crashed in Ajax’s ears as the blood rushed around. He could feel his heart hammering as the adrenaline rushed through him.
Who was watching them?
Finally, as if it melted out of the trees, Ajax saw the creature.
The beast.
The monster.
It was tall. That was an understatement. It was large. No, still insufficient.
It was all encompassing, Ajax could stare at anything but the animal. It’s body was massive, muscular, coiled. And the eyes: Ajax had read that humans didn’t like to be stared at. It was an evolutionary response to being hunted or fighting for dominance. It prepped the body for fight-or-flight. Right now, he was frozen, stuck staring at the sunken in, yellow eyes of this reptile that somehow snuck up on them. It didn’t blink.
Without opening its mouth it began to rumble: a deep vibration that rolled through Ajax’s bones and left him breathless.
He let out a sob. He hadn’t realized he had been crying.
KB, the fool, finally turned around at the sound and stopped, “Holy shit,” was all he could say.
Ajax finally found his breath. When had he lost it?
“KB! Run!” he cried before turning around sprinting away. He didn’t wait to see if either him or the T-Rex were following.