Char was cursing her own temper as she stomped through the woods. Yet one more time she had spouted off before thinking through all of the repercussions. Yes, her date had turned out to be a giant jackass, yes he had too much to drink to safely drive home, but the smart thing would have been to call for a cab and not try to walk back to town on her own. And she definitely should have stuck to the road instead of trying to find a shortcut back to the main highway.
She sat down on a fallen log and tried to figure out which way to go next. When they had taken the exit from the main highway to get to Templeton's how far had they gone? It didn't seem like that far but at that point Hank had still been sober and still been decent company. Could they have gone a few miles instead of the quick jot over that she had thought? And how deep were these woods anyway? She checked the connection on her phone and saw the E. Well no way to use a map right now, 70% battery life so she thought she was fine using the flashlight app for awhile longer. Maybe turning back the way she went would be the best bet. But which way was that now?
Okay, Char, don't panic. Start thinking things through. If you just stay put for the night someone will come looking for you tomorrow. Her roommate knew she had a date with Hank so they will ask him where they went. Will he admit that walking home was a better idea to her than spending one more minute in his company? He would have to, right? Just then she heard leaves crunching, someone else was out here. Her first thought was relief, someone was looking for her already. But then she realized if they were looking for her they would have been calling her name, and she would have seen the beams from their flashlights as they searched.
Char switched off the light on her phone and tried to calm her breathing and the shuffling got closer and closer. She could hear him breathing now. Noisy thick breaths. Her heart pounding in her chest so hard she knew who ever was out there must be able to hear it.
Then the pig snuffled past her and she laughed with relief. A baby pig! She had been terrified of some farmer's pig that had gotten loose. Her laugh made the poor little thing squeal with fright and take off at a dead run. Char ran after the pig thinking he would run toward the farm he must have escaped from. For a little guy he was incredibly fast and she soon lost sight of him.
Great, once again acting without thinking things through. Now she was deeper in the woods with absolutely no clue which way was out. Then she heard the pig squealing again. She followed the sound carefully trying to pay attention this time to which way she was going.
As she got closer to the squeals they became more frantic, she thought he must see me coming and is backed in a corner someplace, poor baby. She turned back on her flashlight and did a quick sweep of the area. She was looking down towards the tangled tree roots when movement to her left caught her eye. As she turned to look she couldn't make her brain make sense of what she was seeing. The piglet was up in the air. Floating. Squealing, screaming....the hair on the back of her neck stood up....
The pig was caught in the biggest web she had ever seen...and it's owner was slowly turning all eight of its giant eyes to look at Char....
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