“The Manual”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

“Stay down,” I whisper. “It can smell fear.”

“So then why do we have to stay down?” Zach asks with a frown. “If they can smell us, that means that hiding won’t help.”

I glare at him. “Just get down here.”

He rolls his eyes before crouching beside me. “Fine. I still think that it’s stupid, though. I mean, wouldn’t it be better if we just ran?”

I suck in a deep breath. “This creature is one of the fastest on this planet. It would be able to chase us down and then it would trample us before tearing the flesh from our limbs.”

“I really don’t think that that’s true.”

“It is.”

“And how do you know this?”

The creature lets out a loud huff, making me jump. “I read the manual before we disembarked,” I hiss. “Did you not read the manual?”

“Of course not,” Zach says with exasperation. “If you don’t remember, I was kind of busy during the flight.”

“The ship practically drives itself,” I say. “You must’ve had some time to read the manual.”

“The manual is three thousand and twenty-eight pages long!”

I do some quick math in my head. “So it should’ve only taken you twenty minutes.”

Zach sighs in exasperation. “No one’s got that time.”

Final Comments: I’m not really sure what this one was about…

Overall Rating: 😣