Chapter 15 Playing Cat and Mouse

• Looking at Ruth, Lewis seemed to have made up his mind.
• “Ruth, let’s go find Gavin! Perhaps they have weapons that can kill giant snakes,” Lewis said in a single breath.
• Faced with the threat of the giant snake, all he could think about was how to stop the giant snake from tracking them down as soon as possible.
• As for killing the giant snake?
• The idea had never crossed his mind before.
• “Okay. They do have more weapons than us. Gavin even has a rifle!” Ruth nodded her head and said.
• “A Rifle! Hope it works!” Lewis continued solemnly.
• “Lewis, what about the food?” Suzy looked at the meat that was hanging on the rack next to her and asked with a hint of unwillingness to give it up.
• “Don’t bring anything else other than our clothes and necessary supplies! Ruth, lead the way!” he replied gravely.
• “Alright, let’s go!” Ruth nodded her head solemnly.
• Although she did not want to find Gavin and the others, they were left with no choice but to do so.
• Their numbers were no match for all those snakes, and not to mention, the giant snake.
• Fortunately, Ruth had already brought out a few of their bags and this allowed them to take away all their clothes with them.
• Three backpacks altogether!
• Lewis and Ruth each carried a backpack while the remaining one was carried by Erin.
• Lewis gave Ruth an ax so she could open up a path for them while he held a crowbar in his hands.
• On the other hand, Suzy and Leah each held a pocket knife in their hand.
• One of the pocket knives was found by Lewis and Suzy previously while the other knife belonged to Leah.
• Erin was holding a solid wooden stick.
• Besides her, Suzy and Leah were holding wooden sticks in their hands too.
• On one end, the wooden stick had been sharpened. Although it may not have posed much of a threat to the snakes, it could serve as a deterrent.
• Within less than five minutes, they finished packing and hurriedly walked out from the cave.
• The moment they reached the entrance of the cave, the snakes were already not far from the cave.
• After taking a glance, Ruth swiftly turned around and hurried in the opposite direction.
• At noon, Lewis and the others stopped for a quick rest.
• They did not bring much food with them. Water, too, was scarce.
• It was not because they did not want to bring any, but there was not enough time for them to be fully prepared.
• Even though they had been preparing during these few days, they did not expect to escape the place in such a hurry.
• Once they finished the remaining water they had, Lewis and the rest would soon face a water crisis.
• Furthermore, they had to make a detour to reach Gavin’s camp as the paths were blocked by the snakes.
• With that, the original route that would only take one day, because of the snakes, had now become impossible to arrive even within two days.
• “Let’s rest for half an hour, and regain our strengths. Then, we’ll move on!” Lewis instructed solemnly.
• However, what caught him by surprise was that after resting for just ten minutes, they could hear the rustling noises again.
• As they looked toward the direction of the sound, the small trees and grasses in the distance were falling to the sides involuntarily.
• Snake! Huge snake!
• Just as they had thought about this, all of a sudden, in the distance, a snake’s head appeared.
• The snake’s body was the width of a bucket, which was no less than 30 or 40 centimeters in diameter.
• It had eyes the size of an adult palm, which emitted a faint light.
• On top of its head, it had two antler-like horns that were around ten centimeters in length.
• If it was not for its tongue flicking around, Lewis thought he had seen a mythical creature.
• It was also at this moment that he noticed the fangs in its mouth were very frightening.
• Looking at this horrible image, Suzy and the others were on the verge of yelling out loud.
• But at this very moment, Ruth and Lewis were quick enough to cover Suzy and the other’s mouths.
• However, their eyes revealed deep despair.
• Would they have a chance of survival in facing such a huge snake?
• Lewis and Ruth were well aware that their chances of survival were close to none.
• “Let’s go!” Lewis found it difficult to utter these words out.
• He carried the backpack that was on the ground and pulled Suzy and the others as they hurriedly ran forward.
• If we do not run, were we supposed to wait for death then?
• Even though it was impossible to survive for much longer even if they ran, Lewis was certain that death would await them if they did not run.
• He stopped talking; his face turned gloomy.
• However, they did not notice the snake that held its head up high and had eyes filled with a teasing look. As if it had not appeared before, the snake lowered its head again, causing the shrubs and grasses to fall to either side again.
• Run! Don’t stop running! This was the only mental support they had right now to survive.
• After running for two hours and gasping for air, Lewis and the others sat under a huge tree to rest for a moment.
• No one said a word as they breathed heavily and deeply. This was the only way to prove that they were still alive.
• Another ten minutes had passed by and again, rustling noises could be heard from the distance.
• Needless to say, the snakes had chased up to them again.
• By the third time they stopped for a rest, all of them were extremely exhausted.
• The sun had already set and at the edge of the mountain, a red sunset was being reflected.
• The view was beautiful and bleak at the same time.
• During the night, the sky was dark and Lewis could barely identify the path they were supposed to walk on. On the other hand, Suzy and the others were practically blinded by the night.
• Even Ruth’s line of sight was less than two meters.
• “Lewis, w-what should we do?” Ruth said in a trembling voice.
• “Let’s climb up that tree!” Lewis looked around, then pointed toward the other side where a fairly big tree was at.
• They searched for a place that was easy for them to defend but difficult for the snakes to attack. Only then could they block the snakes’ invasion.
• Soon, with each other’s help, Suzy and the others managed to climb to the top of the 4-meter-tall tree.
• “Lewis, hurry up and climb the tree!” Suzy anxiously shouted at Lewis, who was at the bottom of the tree.
• “Ruth, I’ll hand over these three silly girls for you to take care of now! Work hard tonight and guard this tree. You can continue bringing them over to Gavin tomorrow morning. Remember, surviving is the most important thing right now!” Lewis did not care about Suzy and said all these to Ruth.
• “Lewis, you—” Ruth’s expression changed slightly as she shouted.
• “That fellow keeps playing cat and mouse with us. It keeps chasing after us just so it can slowly hunt us down. Tonight, it’s going to kill off a person. So, before the night turns even darker, I’ll need to see for myself how powerful the snake is since it’s so bold,” Lewis said as he pointed the crowbar forward.
• 200 meters away, a huge head suddenly popped up.
• It flicked its forked tongue around while its eyes were full of banter.
• It looked like it was looking at a tiny bug; its eyes were full of disdain.
• So what if you know I’m playing cat and mouse?
• “Lewis, don’t…” Suzy suddenly cried out as she saw Lewis put down the backpack and walk forward with the crowbar in his hands.