Wild Fiction

‘Look,’ Genevieve said breaking the silence. ‘A blackberry bush. They’re ripe and ready to eat.’
‘Not so loudly,’ James said in a whisper. ‘We’re not looking for berries. We’re looking for something out-of-place, something unusual.
It was no use. Genevieve was already off the track and up to her chest in the thorny brush. She held her bare arms above her head as she picked the dark fruit and stuffed it in her mouth.
‘Come out of there,’ James said in a hoarse whisper.
Genevieve ignored him and forged deeper into the bush. Her arms and legs protected from the thorns by the jeans and long sleeved khaki work shirt she had put on before they had left. She plucked a few and threw them at James who was looking nervously up and down the track. He caught them and ate them. The tartness bit at the sides of his mouth causing a rush of saliva to his jowls. Suddenly Genevieve screamed and disappeared from view, into the thicket of bush.
James rushed into where he had last seen her before she had vanished. In front of him, there was a gaping hole in the ground. He could hear scuffling below and then heard Genevieve’s voice.
‘Help,’ she shouted from the bottom of the hole. Her voice echoed hollow from the bottom.
‘Are you hurt?’ James shouted.
‘I don’t think so,’ the reply was muffled.
‘How deep are you? I can’t see you.’
‘I don’t know. I forgot to measure it on the way down.’
James smiled. ‘Is it a vertical drop?’
‘No, it’s a steep slide.’
‘Can you climb out?’
The noise of scrambling came from below. ‘No, it’s too steep to climb.’
‘Can you see anything around you? Is there enough light?’
‘There’s hardly any bloody light. I can see objects. Boxes I think. It’s like an underground cavern. I think it’s a cave. No, wait a minute, it’s more like a room. I think it’s a storage room. I don’t like this James.’
‘See if you can find another way out.’
‘I can’t. The only light is coming in from this hole; as soon as I move away from this place it’s too dark to see anything and I start bumping into things.’