Both figures swayed slowly back and forth sluggishly, their long sleeves hanging languorously by their sides as they seemed to be trying to look into the tent without the cumbersome bother of actually venturing inside. Indeed, Roc did feel as if he and his fellow campers were under some sort of observation although, logically, the exterior light would disallow any such scrutiny.

Two more of these shadows became visible upon the back wall; this having been pointed out by Lincoln’s extended finger as he seemed to be solely incapable of speaking for the time being, and with the four other sets of eyes revolving about to witness the new additions to the outer party Roc felt a certain degree of anger begin to replace the built-up fears. To him, it was becoming abundantly clear that this definitely was the work of Wolf and his gang of malefactors who, in light of the recent disturbance at the campfire site, were manufacturing this display solely for the sake of intimidation.

It was, however, the addition of three more of these shadows against the walls, making a total of seven, that caused his fears to again overcome the anger. If it was their mortal enemies out there then they had been able to rally more troops to their cause, leaving Roc, Khan, Gene, Stephanie and Lincoln tragically outnumbered.

Beyond the obvious circumstances, though, Roc could not shake off the sense that something else was horribly wrong. Perhaps just his whole way of thinking was wrong. The shadows were definitely wrong. The light, the circumstance, the feeling in the air - nothing added up to equal anything even loosely corresponding with his deductions and conclusions, and while this was realized his ability to rearrange his thoughts and open up to the possibility of a foreign or unknown element remained elusive.

With the shadowy figures occupying three sides of their tent the only and obvious means of escape was the front which, at the moment, appeared to be unguarded - although that was more than likely subject to change at any moment, he thought. This, however, made Roc lend serious thought to their escape while escape was still an option - although fear and intimidation seemed to be holding himself and his friends in their places at the moment.

There was, of course, the feeling of urgency; that a decision needed to be made and made immediately, and yet none of the outside figures seemed to be in any hurry to invade. Their slowly rocking shadows continued to weave from side to side in unison with one another; their proximity to the tent indecipherable - although whatever their distance it was much too close as far Roc was concerned. Whether they were plotting their means of attack or just trying to scare the bejeebers out of their victims was unknown, although it did buy those inside a little time in order to decide upon their own plan - but their own decision had apparently already been decided for them.

It started again as abruptly as it had only minutes before. The tent was once again whipped about in a frenzy by the violent wind, distorting the shadows upon the walls while overwhelming the ears within with the rapid sounds of the fabric being tested for its ability to hold together under extreme conditions, and it was Khan who was the first to flee in a panic.

Bolting for the front of the tent he left Roc only a moment to cry out the man’s name before Khan disappeared into the blinding outside light with the tent-flap whipping closed behind him to conceal his fate. Stephanie tore out after him and disappeared outside with the closing of the tent flap in exactly the same fashion as Khan, leaving the three remaining men to wonder in absolute fear about not only Stephanie and Khan’s fates but of their own as well.

Roc and Gene exchanged a concerned yet panicked look between each other that conveyed an understanding of destiny before the latter stood and ran out, leaving Roc and Lincoln to decide for themselves their best course of action.

“Gene?” Roc called out. “Steph?”

“Khan?” Lincoln joined in, though each receiving absolutely no reply.

Surely they were in more danger of running up against opposition if they were to follow their friends, since, as frightening as it was inside the tent, at least they had not yet been harmed. Fleeing at this point seemed to be a clear example of jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, and yet if they were to remain they ran the risk of not only not being able to join and possibly help their friends but of laying themselves completely vulnerable to an ambush.

Selected text copyright 2010 by Jeffrey Lynn Stoddard