Page 53 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“Oh putain!”Julie suddenly screamed, jumping backwards.
Zoe stopped in her tracks. She peered into the darkness in confusion as Julie hurried backwards towards her.
“What was that?” Julie asked her fearfully.
“What was what?”
“Didn’t you see it?”
“Oh come on. That’s not funny.” Zoe rolled her eyes. Julie could be so childish sometimes.
“I’m not joking. There was something big that just ran past me.” Julie put her arm out in front of Zoe as if to shield her from some imminent danger.
Zoe’s breath quickened as she realised that Julie was being serious.. “Really? What did it look like?”
“I didn’t get a good look, it was fast. Some sort of animal or something. Maybe a boar? Oh I hope not, they can be really aggressive.”
There was still at least a hundred metres between them and the yard of the house. None of the other bridesmaids were in sight. Zoe didn’t like this. Being attacked by Ardennes wildlife was the last thing she needed right now. Her pulse was thudding and she couldn’t tell if it was because she didn’t want a territorial boar to rush at her or because Julie had shifted and now her entire body was in front of Zoe to protect her. Zoe could feel her warmth and wondered how Julie felt about her breath on her neck.
“Maybe it ran away?” Zoe asked.
Julie turned around to answer but before she could, a rustling noise came from their right.
“Oh god, stand still.” Julie grabbed Zoe by the arms. “I think they have night vision. Maybe we should just leg it back to the house?”
“We can’t both stand still and run,” Zoe pointed out. “Can we just wait a little bit? Maybe it’ll leave on its own.” Zoe was nervous and Julie’s panic wasn’t helping, but somehow, being held like this by Julie made her feel so safe, so protected, that she couldn’t really be scared. She tried to picture Tom holding her like this if they were attacked by wild animals, but she knew it wouldn’t be the same. Tom would probably just tease her for being scared so he could show off his bravado. She couldn’t really blame him, that’s what attracted her to him in the first place. He never took things too seriously.
There was a loud cracking sound, making Zoe jump. It sounded close, somewhere in the bushes next to them.
“Julie, I’m scared.” Zoe clung to her linen shirt.
Julie took a deep breath and looked into Zoe’s eyes.
“I’m going to go see what it is.”
“What? No!”
“Just get ready to run if it’s a boar.”
“Julie, this is too insane.”
But Julie had already removed her hands from her. She took out her phone and put the torch on. Zoe got ready to run. The air around them stood still for a moment as Julie approached the bushes. Something moved.
“Ah!” Julie exclaimed as she jumped back. She stood for a few seconds with her torch then started laughing. “Zo, you should come.”
Zoe slowly walked towards her friend, not really understanding what was so funny. Julie pointed at where her torch was lighting a gap in the plants.
“Don’t move too fast.” Julie whispered.
Zoe looked inside the bush, half expecting something to jump out at her, but then she saw a black eye. And two long ears.
“We were terrified by a bunny?” Zoe smiled.
“It definitely sounded like a boar.”
“Have you ever seen a boar?”
“Not really.”
