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    The Burrow
    The Burrow
    The Burrow
    Ebook53 pages45 minutes

    The Burrow

    By Wayne Mansfield

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    About this ebook

    Adama lives in a time long before recorded history, when the small population of human beings exist at one with nature. Intelligent, they still retain something of the wild animal.

    The climate is tropical summer, punctuated by a short rainy season that isn’t only a time of constant heavy rain, but also when the Grim appear. These creatures are the reason humans build burrows, to hibernate in during the rainy season. But the Grim have begun to detect these underground burrows and root out their inhabitants.

    When Adama meets Graf, a traveller from the north, they share a quick sexual encounter before Graf continues on his way. However, the rains have come early this year, and with the threat of the Grim, Graf turns back. They share Adama’s burrow, but even securely tucked away, there are dangers.

    Who, or what, is banging on the entrance to their burrow? Will Adama and Graf survive to explore their burgeoning friendship?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJMS Books LLC
    Release dateSep 16, 2017
    ISBN9781634864572
    The Burrow
    Author

    Wayne Mansfield

    Wayne Mansfield is a Western Australian writer. He has been writing for nine years and has been published in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Additionally, he wrote a monthly erotic story for the German publications Macho and Dreamboys for two years. His novellas and stories usually have a horror, futuristic, or fantasy theme, although he does write contemporary stories such as The Hiding Place, which received Honorable Mention in the 2013 Rainbow Awards.

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      Book preview

      The Burrow - Wayne Mansfield

      4

      Chapter 1

      A long, long time ago, in a land forgotten before history began, the world was a vastly different place. Twin moons gazed down upon a planet of vast green forests and immense blue oceans. The few humans that inhabited the planet lived in isolated groups, in makeshift shelters, or in caves or trees. A few of their number led solitary lives, roaming the wilderness and quite content to do so.

      They were intelligent beings, though still in touch with their primal urges and animal desires. They existed in harmony with nature, with no thought to alter or tame the environment as later civilisations would do. As a consequence, agriculture and farming were concepts that had never occurred to even the most forward-thinking of individuals. The land was bountiful and provided everything needed to survive and thrive.

      Living simply meant they had no need for clothing, certainly not for reasons of modesty. The naked form was considered a thing of beauty, a thing to be admired and appreciated. Although for practical reasons, a cloak of deer skin was occasionally required for the period approaching the rainy season. The remainder of the time, the weather was hot enough to remain naked. Any type of cover would not only be uncomfortable in the tropical temperatures, but also a hindrance when it came to hunting, and other such strenuous activities.

      There were two distinct seasons. A long, tropical summer followed by a brief period of transitional weather, marked by increased humidity, cooler nights, and sudden rainstorms. A relatively short rainy season would follow. During this brief respite from the constant heat, the land would be drenched. Streams and rivers would break their banks, and the lowlands would be flooded. Where there had once been sweeping plains of grass, there would be lakes, and lurking within, a terror known as the Grim.

      Adama had never seen one himself, but he’d been told they rose up from the water to heights of eight or nine feet. Their green-black bodies were covered in algae, and slime oozed from their slender forms. They had no eyes or teeth, just watery, black cavities. Should some hapless man, woman, or child encounter one of these monsters from the netherworld, the Grim would draw the life force, the very spiritual essence, from them, inhaling it and growing stronger because of it. Such was their hunger that anyone coming across the withered remains of one of their victims might mistake it for no more than a collection of old sticks.

      As a solution to the presence of the Grim during the rainy season, humans had taken to hibernating. They dug burrows in the earth, lined them with rocks or wood, then waterproofed them using a combination of mud, sand, and straw. A laborious undertaking, but once it had been constructed, it would last many summers. The burrow was then filled with dry grass, animal skins, and any other materials they could find that would keep away the chill of winter. While rain poured almost constantly from skies of grey cloud, the human population entered a period of deep sleep, aided by the mild toxins found in the leaves of the macan tree.

      When chewed, the leaves induced a state not dissimilar to death. The proteins contained within a single leaf were enough to slow the heart to an undetectable pace, and reduce brain activity to a point where the person was incapable of doing anything but remain breathing. It was customary to take a supply of leaves into the burrow, for often a person would wake up early, and without food or water, nor a place to purge (a term used to mean emptying the bowels and the bladder), a person wouldn’t be able to survive in their burrow for long without having

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