Not That Type of Story

“This storm is quite fierce, isn’t it, Huk? We made it back just in time.” Will sat in his tent with a battery-powered lamp. He had a notebook in front of him and a pen in his hand.

“Ain’t nothing this bridge can’t handle, we’ll be aight.” Huk was lying in his own tent next to Will's.

“I’m writing today's journal, do you want me to add anything else?”

“Yea, add the part where I went to bed and you left me alone.”

Will sucked his teeth. At the top of the page he wrote, Someday 3057." He tapped his pen on his head thoughtfully when he heard a noise outside his tent.

“Huk, did you hear that?” He tried to whisper over the storm. “Huk.” He said louder.

“Huk is sleeping, leave your message after the beep.” Huk replied.

“Seriously Huk, I thought I heard something.”

“I don’t hear anything except you keeping me from my beauty rest. Either write in your little journal and leave me alone or go to sleep.”

Will heard the sound again. He turned the light on his lamp down to half and slowly opened the front of his tent. He made an opening wide enough to stick his fingers through, and flattened it so he could see through. It was almost pitch black outside, but when lightning flashed in the sky, he caught a glimpse.

“Is that a rabbit?” He screwed up his face.

“Huk.” Will said. He repeated this two more times without Huk answering.

Will grabbed his flashlight and turned it on. He unzipped his tent, crawled out and stood up. He searched the area where he had seen the rabbit, but all he saw were run-down, rusted cars on the road reclaimed by nature. He scanned the area left and right with his flashlight to see what he thought he saw.

Then he found it right at the edge where the bridge sheltered them from the storm. The rabbit stopped hopping and looked back at the beam of light before turning and hopping out into the storm.

“Huk, it's a rabbit, Huk!” He said louder now, but still got no answer.

“Damn it.” He cursed loudly and went in the direction the rabbit was hopping.

He pulled the hood of his jacket over his head, for whatever that was worth, then stepped out of the shelter of the bridge into the storm.

Will could barely see a few feet in front of him, the rain hitting him in the face. He walked up a small hill in the direction he saw the rabbit go, and ran into a small garden where he stomped on a lettuce.

“Shit, Huk's gonna kill me for this.” He regretted speaking as his mouth filled with rainwater.

He swung the beam of the flashlight back and forth and caught sight of the rabbit nibbling on a lettuce leaf a few feet in front of him. He walked across the garden toward the rabbit, careful not to step on any more vegetables.

The rabbit began to hop as he approached it and moved farther away from him. It hopped out of the garden and made its way to the edge of a forest in front of him.

“Wait, don’t!” He shouted at the rabbit, with more rainwater running into his mouth.

But the rabbit continued on its way, hopping right into the forest.

Will stopped where he was and then carefully walked backward, pointing his flashlight at the spot where the rabbit hopped into the forest.

When he was near the garden, he turned his flashlight back to the bridge and ran in that direction.

When he arrived back under the shelter of the bridge, he hurried to his tent and climbed back inside. 

After catching his breath, he climbed out of his tent, looked for dry clothes, put them on, and threw the wet things aside. He took a towel and dried the inside of his tent as well, then climbed back inside.

He chuckled excitedly to himself before picking up his notebook and pen and began to write.

I saw a rabbit today, a real rabbit!

••••

“Wake up!” Huk rattled Will's tent. “Get the hell up Will!” Demanded Huk.

Will rubbed his eyes with a groan. “I’m up, I’m up.”

“Meet me in the garden.” Huk walked away.

The realization of last night's events hit Will and he rushed out of his tent. The bright light blinded him a little as his eyes adjusted. He jogged over to the garden where Huk stood.

“What the hell did you do? You danced around out here in the rain and then nibbled some of the lettuce last night?” He pointed to the small garden, which was crisscrossed with footprints.

“Huk, I was trying to wake you up last night and tell you. I chased a rabbit, well I saw one then I followed it. It ate some of the lettuce before it hopped off into the forest.”

Huk looked up at the mention of the forest, his face contorted. Then he turned his attention to Will.

“Will, that doesn’t make sense.” Huk said.

“I know. We’re the only living animals we’ve seen here since the invasion. It’s been over ten years, just you and me, but I swear I’m not making this up, I know what I saw. It was a rabbit.” Will bounced his hand like a rabbit hopping.

“Well even if you saw one, it’s gone now because it hopped into the forest.”

“Or maybe the forest is safe now? I mean, think about it, a rabbit wouldn’t hop into danger, would it?”

“You’re doing that thing again where you talk stupid. Don’t do it, Will. There's nothing in the forest but those things. We stay on our side and leave them alone, and in return they don’t kill us.”

“But the rabbit!”

“Damn that rabbit if—“

A little bunny hopped into the garden right between them.

Will looked slowly at Huk, whose mouth was open.

The bunny hopped over to a lettuce leaf and nibbled on it. As soon as Huk took a step toward it, the bunny scampered toward the woods and was out of sight.

Huk spoke before Will had the chance. “That doesn’t change the fact that we’re still not going into the forest.”

“But don’t you wonder what’s in there? We could be explorers, like in those books you read. What if we are the first people to go out and find wildlife after the invasion? If someone finds my journals after we’re long gone, they’ll read that we pioneered the planet's surviving creatures.”

Will shook his head. “Unintelligent words from an intelligent man. You go ahead and hop your ass in those woods like a rabbit if you want, I won’t stop you. We survived under this bridge long before the invasion and long after by not venturing out. But I'll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to take a trip to the library and get some books. One on how to build a fence, since we may or may not have an animal problem. And another about how to catch a rabbit and cook it.” Huk immediately turned and walked away, not waiting for Will's response.

Will continued to stare in the direction of the forest for a while. After a few minutes, he walked around the garden and came closer than ever to the edge of the forest. He searched with his eyes to see any movement, but he saw nothing. He went to take another step, but put his foot down again in the same place

“Nope, not that stupid.” He said aloud.

He turned and scurried down the hill to his tent. He climbed inside, picked up his notebook and pen, and turned to a new page.

Someday 3058

Me and Huk saw another rabbit today. Just like the one yesterday, it hopped off into the forest. If you’re thinking we gathered our things and followed behind it to explore. Naw… this ain’t that type of story.