Page 84 of Storm over the Caribbean
But that only applied to trees that werestill standing.
I lunged towards the fallen tree, held up at a near thirty-degree angle by the branches of its compatriots. Hands grabbing onto leaves and twigs, I scrambled up the splintered trunk, my feet slipping on the wet wood. From behind me came another angry screech—much, much closer this time.
Faster, Lilly! Faster!
Again, I hurled myself forward, trying desperately to get higher, to get farther away, before—
Thud!
With a thunderous crash, the raging pig rammed into the base of the tree beneath me. The whole thing shook, and I barely managed to cling on for life. And itwasmy life on the line here, no doubt about it. And not just mine, either. If I fell right here,right now, I and my unborn child would be trampled beneath the hooves of a pissed-off mama. Now, wasn’t that ironic?
Somehow, I couldn’t really appreciate the irony.
“Ooink! Ooooiink!”
Again, the beast smashed into the tree. Once again, I nearly slipped off the wood and fell. Only a single hand wrapped around a branch prevented me from becoming pig food. Growling, I slid my legs around the trunk and clung on in desperation while the attack continued relentlessly.
Thud!
Thud!
Crash!
Until suddenly…silence.
I glanced down, just to check if Mr Rikkard Ambrose had made a sudden appearance. But no. The wild boar had simply decided there were better ways to get and gut me than ramming her head repeatedly against a tree.
The mama pig snorted. Her breath wafted over the tree’s splintered stump like a fine mist. Then she raised a front hoof and slowly, carefully, placed it onto the main part of the tree.
Oh no, you don’t!
Clenching my legs more tightly around the trunk, I let go of one of the branches—only to reach out another, half-rotten one.
Crack!
The branch broke easily under my grip. Twisting around as far as I could, I took aim and…
Thump!
The branch hit the pig right on the head, and it jumped back with a startled squeak.
“Ha, take that, you furry beast! And you know what? You should go to the dentist! Your teeth are ugly!”
“Oooink!”
“Up yours, too!”
Once again, the pig moved towards the tree and raised one leg. I looked around desperately trying to find another rotten branch, to find anything I could use as a weapon. But there was nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the pig place its front hoof onto the tree.
No, no, no, no!
The pig moved forward—
—and slipped off the wet bark.
“Oooink!”
