Disclaimer: You know I own nothing from lotr so why ask?
Ch 7 The search begins
The next morning Bob and Ned woke early to find Fred sat up on the couch looking at a piece of paper, when they came out of the bedroom she put it away and looked up. She smiled but it wasn't hard to see the tiredness in her eye. Neither Bob nor Ned mentioned it though.
"When do we leave?" Fred asked.
"As soon as we're ready. We should eat something first then pack a few supplies just in case then we go." When Ned was saying this she noticed Fred pale slightly.
"We're considering staying the night?" She asked trying to hide the shaking in her voice.
"Hopefully not but there's always the possibility, we can't leave those woods without Gollum or without knowing that he is definitely not there."
"Right." Fred took a deep breath and stood up. She was walking to the kitchen when Bob stopped her.
She whispered, "Fred if you don't want to do this, just say. We can take you back to the hospital, you'll be safe."
Bob smiled gratefully and wished she could accept the offer. "What you said last night was right. We can't just destroy everything we've worked for. If Gollum is out there we have to find him." She walked away from Bob and went into the kitchen. "So, what does everybody want for breakfast?" She noticed the reluctant glances. "Unless you want Ned to cook again?" Bob laughed.
"What is that meant to mean? I'm a brilliant cook." She protested but the laughter in her voice betrayed her false anger.
"Yeah, as long as you like everything char-grilled." Both Bob and Fred laughed at this and the angry look on Ned's face.
It was good to hear their friend laughing again and returning to her normal happy self but Bob couldn't help but think that this was false. There was something so forced about her behaviour but she couldn't figure out why, she had been through a lot but there was something else. Maybe it was something to do with David or the search she didn't want to have anything to do with. Bob decided not to ask Fred about it knowing she would just brush it off. She smiled as she heard Ned and Fred arguing about who was the best cook.
**
After almost an hour putting off the inevitable they left. Fred had made them some supplies and Bob had been out and somehow got them a car, although no one asked how she had managed to get the car. They hated to think. Fred grabbed her coat as they left knowing it would be a long day and it would be cold, if not weather-wise them some other penetrating coldness that she couldn't get rid of.
They started off in the car with Bob driving, they knew exactly where they were heading, they didn't like the thought of what they were doing but knowing they had to do it. Fred was sitting quietly looking out the window but there was nothing that she could do to prevent those awful memories coming back to her. It had been the same that night, every time she closed her eyes she saw the dungeons of Orthanc, she felt the never ending torture she had suffered, no matter how much she tried to put it out of her mind it wouldn't go away. Just the thought that there was the possibility she might be taken back there was enough to make her shake.
Ned looked around to the back seat and saw Fred sleeping soundly even though the noise of the traffic was loud. She turned back and looked at Bob and motioned to the back seat mouthing 'she's sleeping'. Bob nodded and returned her concentration to the road.
They went on for nearly twenty minutes before Fred woke up and looked around. Ned noticed she was awake and smiled when she turned around.
"Are you alright Fred?" She asked still smiling but slightly concerned at Fred's pale and slightly distressed face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't get much sleep last night." She returned the smiled although it was much weaker than Ned's.
"Me neither the way Bob snores."
"That is so not true." Bob protested. Both Fred and Ned laughed at her anger.
"So, where are we?" Fred asked looking out the window for any signs.
"I don't know exactly but we're about five or ten minutes away." Ned said looking out the windscreen. "Don't worry I know exactly where I'm going."
"Yeah, right. Ned you can't find your way around school sometimes." Bob laughed as they pulled into the turning that entered the New Forest.
Fred looked up at the forest green signs remembering when they had first came here with Bob's sister. The beginning of a nightmare. Ned and Bob were also uneasy and knew that this was not going to be easy. It didn't take them long to get to where they had arrived before. Bob parked the car and they got out, stretching their legs and looking around. Fred stayed close to the other two as they walked into the open plane that was settled in the middle of the forest, she had no intention of letting them out of her sight. They noticed that she stayed close but didn't mention it.
They were soon walking through the forest and it hadn't escaped their notice that it was getting thicker and thicker and they were getting tenser and tenser. They were keeping a close eye on the thick trees. Bob and Fred were almost expecting a Ring Wraith to suddenly jump out of the bushes and take them away but they knew that they were safe from Wraiths now. Still they walked cautiously making sure they kept a look out for Gollum knowing how slippery he was and not wanting him to get past them. This was going to be harder than they thought.
Bob and Ned knew that they couldn't do this in a day and were dreading telling Fred that they would once again have to spend the night in the place that ruined their lives and killed one of them. They decided to leave it for now just in case they were lucky.
As they got further and further into the forest they got more uneasy, the memories of what had happened in that place were so near. They all stuck close together remembering what happened last time they got separated. Ned was leading, slowly making her way through the trees making sure the path was relatively clear for the other two. Bob came next; she was trying to get through the forest whilst also keeping an eye on Fred who was also sticking close. Fred was constantly looking around her, every sound from the forest she heard she would try and locate it. She jumped whenever a bird flew from the trees or a squirrel darted across her path.
None on them liked this at all. They wanted to be back in that flat and away from these woods but they knew that they had to make sure that Gollum wasn't there and that he wasn't going to cause any trouble.
"So what do we do if we find Gollum Ned?" Fred asked trying to break the silence that was so oppressive in the forest.
Ned looked back, "I hadn't thought of that. We lead him before I suppose we can do it again." She said.
"Great. Lead him with what, the invisible rope you're carrying?"
"Fred does have a point there." Bob said smiling at Fred.
"No, I brought some rope with me, just in case."
"What if he's not here? How are we going to know whether or not he was taken back to Middle Earth? Just because he's not in this little section doesn't mean he's not somewhere in the forest. We might miss him." Fred looked anxiously around.
"Well, we're just going to have to look in the places he's most likely to be. Like near rivers and ponds, he likes fish remember?"
"But we don't have a map of the forest, how are we going to know." Fred stopped suddenly when it dawned on her. "We're not staying here are we? Ned?"
"We might have to."
"But you said that we probably wouldn't have to." Fred was getting more and more nervous.
"I know, I'm sorry Fred but we might not have a choice."
"So you thought you'd trick me into coming. That's thoughtful of you. I wouldn't want to miss out on this adventure."
"Fred are you being sarcastic?" Ned asked.
"Come on Ned, don't tell me you've been underground so long that you've forgotten what sarcasm is."
"Look Fred, none of us want to be out here okay. We all want to be at home with our feet up eating chocolate but that's not going to happen until we find Gollum. Understand?" Fred was slightly taken aback by Ned's outburst but she didn't say anything else and kept quiet as they walked through the forest trying to keep quiet as well as looking for Gollum.
There was nothing to indicate that Gollum was anywhere near this place, no signs that he had ever slept there. They looked at the nearest pool hoping to find some kind of sign like a half-eaten fish or marks that looked like they could have come from Gollum. Still nothing. It was as if he had never been there and yet they knew he had.
"He could be anywhere in the forest by now. This place is pretty big. Besides he wouldn't stay in the same place for too long. Maybe he doesn't know that the Wraiths have gone back to Middle Earth, he would try and hide from them. Perhaps we should be looking somewhere where we know he could hide." Fred suggested timidly.
"Like." Ned asked a little more impatiently than was necessary.
"Like say, Frank's hut. The Ranger's hut. He'd want to find somewhere with shelter and food right? A hut would be that." Fred was startled when Bob and Ned stopped suddenly almost causing her to fall into them.
"Frank's hut?" Ned asked again making sure it was true. Fred did have a point. Gollum wasn't stupid, he'd want to be out of sight and a hut was the perfect way of doing it. "You want us to go back to that place? That's like us sending you back to Isengard Fred. You wouldn't like it would you? That man killed me." Ned shouted unexpectedly.
"You have no idea what you're talking about Ned. You know I'm right about Gollum. If I have to come back into these woods then you can go back into that hut. It was you who said that we couldn't leave until we found Gollum so I think shelter is the best place to look. We might even find shelter ourselves. And I would go back to Isengard in a second if I got the chance to see..." Fred stopped herself before she said the name.
Ned stood still for a moment thinking about what Fred had just said.
"She does have a point. I don't like it there either but we can't just skip it. Gollum might be there and if he is that gives us the advantage, we know that place. I think we should head there. I certainly like the thought of staying indoors tonight rather than out in the woods."
"Fine but if we find a dead body in there."
"I seriously doubt the police wouldn't have found his body. I didn't exactly hide it well did I? It'll be fine."
"Okay. If you say so oh great one." Ned said as she walked off in the direction they knew the hut to be in.
Bob looked at Fred who shrugged her shoulders and motioned for them to follow Ned. Bob did so but shot angry glances at her as she went.
"You don't think there'll be like a police guard there or anything do you?" Fred asked whilst they were walking.
"I don't think there's any need. As far as I know Frank lived on his own with only a knife as a weapon. There would be no need for them to guard the house anyway. If there is we just move on. Gollum wouldn't stay in the house with a guard." Bob answered.
"How do we know they haven't already caught him?" Fred asked.
"Think about it. The discovery of a creature like that, one known from the movies. They would have taken him away to some lab to be tested. I don't think Gollum would have allowed himself to be captured anyway. It certainly couldn't be kept quiet no matter what." Bob was impressed at her own answer.
"I suppose. Maybe they took him to Area 51 or something." Fred laughed.
"You can imagine." Bob joined in. Ned stayed quiet though listening to what the other two were saying. She wished she could share their light- heartedness but there was something about these woods that made her cold and wary. She didn't know what it was and she wasn't rushing to find out but there was definitely something. Something she couldn't describe. Like it wasn't real. It was fake, like she was in a dream or something.
"Are you alright Ned?" Fred asked from the back. Ned turned around and realised she'd stopped, she looked blankly at Fred and turned back around and started walking again.
"Fine." She mumbled as she walked. This time it was Bob who shrugged and walked on.
They didn't understand what was wrong with Ned; maybe it was just that she'd been under ground for so long that she had forgotten what it was like on the outside. Having said that she might just have been anxious to be in the forest after all, they all were, especially Fred who was constantly on the look out for something that might be a Wraith. Bob had told her before she had entered the forest that there was no way a Wraith could have stayed behind and that they were all back in Middle Earth. Fred had said very little but just commented that Gollum had managed to stay so why couldn't a Wraith? She did have a point but Bob argued that it would have been found and was not in the forest any more.
Fred had been obviously anxious when they had come to the forest but Ned had been calm about it, she hadn't even mentioned Frank even though it had been at the front of her mind for some time. She hadn't been looking forward to searching for Gollum but the thought of being outside in the open and not trapped in that flat was a good thing, she felt surprisingly claustrophobic since she had come back and she was pleased to be in the open.
Now they wanted to go to the place that killed her and they had no idea what it would feel like. She knew that their logic was correct and that Gollum might be there but still she was apprehensive about going into that hut again. It had been bad enough the first time but to go back would undoubtedly be worse.
They walked silently not wanting to disturb each other's thoughts but also not wanting to disturb anything in the forest. There was still something eerie about it even though they knew they were fairly safe and that what happened last time couldn't happen again they were still on edge. Fred never let her eyes come off the forest, Ned was making sure that the path was clear and that there was no danger and Bob was thinking about what was wrong with Ned, she had been thinking about it ever since they had dug her up. The strange reaction they had got when she had first seen them. Almost like she was frightened, she remembered thinking that she looked like she had seen a ghost.
Bob tried to take her mind off it and convince herself that she was just being paranoid yet she couldn't get rid of that feeling that had haunted her since she had come back from Middle Earth. Something was wrong and she had no idea what. It was frustrating but she knew that she wouldn't find it out by just thinking about it.
As they drew closer to the hut there was something in the air that told them to be careful and it wasn't just Bob that felt it. The others did too. Ned was the first to notice something different.
"Listen." She whispered as she stopped making the others also stand still.
They listened carefully trying to figure out why Ned was so concerned about sound. They couldn't hear anything although Fred was sure that any second they would hear the loud whistle of a Wraith calling to it's master. She shook her head to get rid of the thought and returned to listening to the real sound, which she still couldn't hear.
"Listen to what Ned? I don't hear anything." Fred said quietly just in case she missed something.
"Exactly. No birds. No noises you'd expect to hear in a forest. It's silent. When was the last time you heard silence in a forest like this?" She looked around and found that even the trees seemed to stand still and didn't wave in the wind.
"She's right. There's nothing." Bob said also looking around. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."
The others looked around them as well half expecting something to jump out at them and take them away. Nothing happened though. No sound. Just that deafening silence. They walked on slowly and as quietly as they could. Still the only sounds were their footsteps on the forest floor. They kept looking in the bushes making sure that nothing was there. The sunlight that filtered through the trees was also making the forest even more spectacular as well as adding to that eerie feeling.
"Ned, there's something wrong with that hut. I know it. I thought I felt something wrong before but now I'm sure. We should be careful." Ned nodded and walked even more slowly along the path that they had walked last time they had encountered the hut.
They came to the small hill that Ned had fallen down last time, just before they had met Frank. Ned crouched low trying to see the hut through the trees that shrouded it. Bob and Fred did the same. They all saw the hut and the sight of it sent a shiver down Bob's spine. Now she was certain that there was something wrong there. It was then that Fred pointed out the smoke coming from the chimney. Someone was in there.
Ned stood up and looked over the top of the small hedge that surrounded the hut and hid the bank. She looked towards the windows but although there was a faint light coming from inside she couldn't see, the sun must have been reflecting off them not allowing her to see inside.
"Maybe we should just leave. There's something very wrong here. I think we're in danger." Bob said as she stood up rubbing her head trying to get the warning to stop pounding on her head.
"We came all this way we can't go back now without finding out what's inside."
"I can. Come on please can we go?" Fred asked turning to leave.
"No. You were right. Gollum might be in here. Anyway Frank's dead so it can't possibly be him. Perhaps Gollum has built a fire. The least we can do is creep up and look in the window. What's the worst that could happen?"
"When someone says that something bad usually does happen." Fred said eager to get away.
"Come on aren't you in the least bit curious?" Ned said smiling for the first time.
"No." Bob and Fred said at the same time.
"Well I am so lets go and get this over and done with." Ned said as she walked in the opposite direction to that which Bob and Fred wanted to go in. They looked at each other. Fred sighed and followed Bob into the woods as Ned led the way.
They crept up to the hut making no noise and keeping low in case someone should come out. They tried to keep near some kind of shelter making sure they could run away easily if they had to. They didn't want to be there and yet they were strangely curious as to who was inside the hut. The feeling that something was wrong was still with Bob but it was faded slightly and was almost drowned out by a cry for help. She couldn't see who it was and she didn't want to make any noise by telling the other two what she felt so she kept quiet pleased that the pounding had stopped slightly.
Ned looked around her making sure no one was coming from the hut, she suddenly moved out into the open, still keeping low and ran towards the hut. Fred and Bob looked at her and shook their heads as they followed her in much the same way. They all stopped at the hut and looked in the window. There was nothing that they could see. Someone was obviously inside because they could see the light of flames dancing on the wooden walls.
There were towels on the floor and a set of clothes laying next to the fire but they couldn't see who was inside. Bob and Fred wanted to turn back and Bob was about to tell Ned but before she could she felt a pain in her head and she put her back to the hut and slid to the floor. Fred was instantly at her side asking her what was wrong. Bob shook her head and pointed to the hut telling them that whatever was causing this was inside.
"Frank?" Ned mouthed making sure she didn't make a sound. She was relieved when Bob shook her head and stood up helped by Fred.
"Something else." She whispered. "Something.something wrong." Was all she could say.
Ned nodded and they walked around to the front door. They were walking quickly mostly hurried by Bob who seemed to be suddenly very eager to get inside the hut. They reached the front door and Ned checked and saw it had a padlock on it. Probably put there by police.
Ned slammed into the door so it broke when she hit it. She crashed through and stopped when she saw the figure huddled in the corner shaking and moving even further backwards at her dramatic entrance. Bob and Fred followed her and looked towards the figure. Fred's face changed from frightened to completely surprised and saddened when she realised who the figure was. She went deathly pale and almost collapsed.
"Oh my God. David." She said as she rushed towards him.
Ch 7 The search begins
The next morning Bob and Ned woke early to find Fred sat up on the couch looking at a piece of paper, when they came out of the bedroom she put it away and looked up. She smiled but it wasn't hard to see the tiredness in her eye. Neither Bob nor Ned mentioned it though.
"When do we leave?" Fred asked.
"As soon as we're ready. We should eat something first then pack a few supplies just in case then we go." When Ned was saying this she noticed Fred pale slightly.
"We're considering staying the night?" She asked trying to hide the shaking in her voice.
"Hopefully not but there's always the possibility, we can't leave those woods without Gollum or without knowing that he is definitely not there."
"Right." Fred took a deep breath and stood up. She was walking to the kitchen when Bob stopped her.
She whispered, "Fred if you don't want to do this, just say. We can take you back to the hospital, you'll be safe."
Bob smiled gratefully and wished she could accept the offer. "What you said last night was right. We can't just destroy everything we've worked for. If Gollum is out there we have to find him." She walked away from Bob and went into the kitchen. "So, what does everybody want for breakfast?" She noticed the reluctant glances. "Unless you want Ned to cook again?" Bob laughed.
"What is that meant to mean? I'm a brilliant cook." She protested but the laughter in her voice betrayed her false anger.
"Yeah, as long as you like everything char-grilled." Both Bob and Fred laughed at this and the angry look on Ned's face.
It was good to hear their friend laughing again and returning to her normal happy self but Bob couldn't help but think that this was false. There was something so forced about her behaviour but she couldn't figure out why, she had been through a lot but there was something else. Maybe it was something to do with David or the search she didn't want to have anything to do with. Bob decided not to ask Fred about it knowing she would just brush it off. She smiled as she heard Ned and Fred arguing about who was the best cook.
**
After almost an hour putting off the inevitable they left. Fred had made them some supplies and Bob had been out and somehow got them a car, although no one asked how she had managed to get the car. They hated to think. Fred grabbed her coat as they left knowing it would be a long day and it would be cold, if not weather-wise them some other penetrating coldness that she couldn't get rid of.
They started off in the car with Bob driving, they knew exactly where they were heading, they didn't like the thought of what they were doing but knowing they had to do it. Fred was sitting quietly looking out the window but there was nothing that she could do to prevent those awful memories coming back to her. It had been the same that night, every time she closed her eyes she saw the dungeons of Orthanc, she felt the never ending torture she had suffered, no matter how much she tried to put it out of her mind it wouldn't go away. Just the thought that there was the possibility she might be taken back there was enough to make her shake.
Ned looked around to the back seat and saw Fred sleeping soundly even though the noise of the traffic was loud. She turned back and looked at Bob and motioned to the back seat mouthing 'she's sleeping'. Bob nodded and returned her concentration to the road.
They went on for nearly twenty minutes before Fred woke up and looked around. Ned noticed she was awake and smiled when she turned around.
"Are you alright Fred?" She asked still smiling but slightly concerned at Fred's pale and slightly distressed face.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't get much sleep last night." She returned the smiled although it was much weaker than Ned's.
"Me neither the way Bob snores."
"That is so not true." Bob protested. Both Fred and Ned laughed at her anger.
"So, where are we?" Fred asked looking out the window for any signs.
"I don't know exactly but we're about five or ten minutes away." Ned said looking out the windscreen. "Don't worry I know exactly where I'm going."
"Yeah, right. Ned you can't find your way around school sometimes." Bob laughed as they pulled into the turning that entered the New Forest.
Fred looked up at the forest green signs remembering when they had first came here with Bob's sister. The beginning of a nightmare. Ned and Bob were also uneasy and knew that this was not going to be easy. It didn't take them long to get to where they had arrived before. Bob parked the car and they got out, stretching their legs and looking around. Fred stayed close to the other two as they walked into the open plane that was settled in the middle of the forest, she had no intention of letting them out of her sight. They noticed that she stayed close but didn't mention it.
They were soon walking through the forest and it hadn't escaped their notice that it was getting thicker and thicker and they were getting tenser and tenser. They were keeping a close eye on the thick trees. Bob and Fred were almost expecting a Ring Wraith to suddenly jump out of the bushes and take them away but they knew that they were safe from Wraiths now. Still they walked cautiously making sure they kept a look out for Gollum knowing how slippery he was and not wanting him to get past them. This was going to be harder than they thought.
Bob and Ned knew that they couldn't do this in a day and were dreading telling Fred that they would once again have to spend the night in the place that ruined their lives and killed one of them. They decided to leave it for now just in case they were lucky.
As they got further and further into the forest they got more uneasy, the memories of what had happened in that place were so near. They all stuck close together remembering what happened last time they got separated. Ned was leading, slowly making her way through the trees making sure the path was relatively clear for the other two. Bob came next; she was trying to get through the forest whilst also keeping an eye on Fred who was also sticking close. Fred was constantly looking around her, every sound from the forest she heard she would try and locate it. She jumped whenever a bird flew from the trees or a squirrel darted across her path.
None on them liked this at all. They wanted to be back in that flat and away from these woods but they knew that they had to make sure that Gollum wasn't there and that he wasn't going to cause any trouble.
"So what do we do if we find Gollum Ned?" Fred asked trying to break the silence that was so oppressive in the forest.
Ned looked back, "I hadn't thought of that. We lead him before I suppose we can do it again." She said.
"Great. Lead him with what, the invisible rope you're carrying?"
"Fred does have a point there." Bob said smiling at Fred.
"No, I brought some rope with me, just in case."
"What if he's not here? How are we going to know whether or not he was taken back to Middle Earth? Just because he's not in this little section doesn't mean he's not somewhere in the forest. We might miss him." Fred looked anxiously around.
"Well, we're just going to have to look in the places he's most likely to be. Like near rivers and ponds, he likes fish remember?"
"But we don't have a map of the forest, how are we going to know." Fred stopped suddenly when it dawned on her. "We're not staying here are we? Ned?"
"We might have to."
"But you said that we probably wouldn't have to." Fred was getting more and more nervous.
"I know, I'm sorry Fred but we might not have a choice."
"So you thought you'd trick me into coming. That's thoughtful of you. I wouldn't want to miss out on this adventure."
"Fred are you being sarcastic?" Ned asked.
"Come on Ned, don't tell me you've been underground so long that you've forgotten what sarcasm is."
"Look Fred, none of us want to be out here okay. We all want to be at home with our feet up eating chocolate but that's not going to happen until we find Gollum. Understand?" Fred was slightly taken aback by Ned's outburst but she didn't say anything else and kept quiet as they walked through the forest trying to keep quiet as well as looking for Gollum.
There was nothing to indicate that Gollum was anywhere near this place, no signs that he had ever slept there. They looked at the nearest pool hoping to find some kind of sign like a half-eaten fish or marks that looked like they could have come from Gollum. Still nothing. It was as if he had never been there and yet they knew he had.
"He could be anywhere in the forest by now. This place is pretty big. Besides he wouldn't stay in the same place for too long. Maybe he doesn't know that the Wraiths have gone back to Middle Earth, he would try and hide from them. Perhaps we should be looking somewhere where we know he could hide." Fred suggested timidly.
"Like." Ned asked a little more impatiently than was necessary.
"Like say, Frank's hut. The Ranger's hut. He'd want to find somewhere with shelter and food right? A hut would be that." Fred was startled when Bob and Ned stopped suddenly almost causing her to fall into them.
"Frank's hut?" Ned asked again making sure it was true. Fred did have a point. Gollum wasn't stupid, he'd want to be out of sight and a hut was the perfect way of doing it. "You want us to go back to that place? That's like us sending you back to Isengard Fred. You wouldn't like it would you? That man killed me." Ned shouted unexpectedly.
"You have no idea what you're talking about Ned. You know I'm right about Gollum. If I have to come back into these woods then you can go back into that hut. It was you who said that we couldn't leave until we found Gollum so I think shelter is the best place to look. We might even find shelter ourselves. And I would go back to Isengard in a second if I got the chance to see..." Fred stopped herself before she said the name.
Ned stood still for a moment thinking about what Fred had just said.
"She does have a point. I don't like it there either but we can't just skip it. Gollum might be there and if he is that gives us the advantage, we know that place. I think we should head there. I certainly like the thought of staying indoors tonight rather than out in the woods."
"Fine but if we find a dead body in there."
"I seriously doubt the police wouldn't have found his body. I didn't exactly hide it well did I? It'll be fine."
"Okay. If you say so oh great one." Ned said as she walked off in the direction they knew the hut to be in.
Bob looked at Fred who shrugged her shoulders and motioned for them to follow Ned. Bob did so but shot angry glances at her as she went.
"You don't think there'll be like a police guard there or anything do you?" Fred asked whilst they were walking.
"I don't think there's any need. As far as I know Frank lived on his own with only a knife as a weapon. There would be no need for them to guard the house anyway. If there is we just move on. Gollum wouldn't stay in the house with a guard." Bob answered.
"How do we know they haven't already caught him?" Fred asked.
"Think about it. The discovery of a creature like that, one known from the movies. They would have taken him away to some lab to be tested. I don't think Gollum would have allowed himself to be captured anyway. It certainly couldn't be kept quiet no matter what." Bob was impressed at her own answer.
"I suppose. Maybe they took him to Area 51 or something." Fred laughed.
"You can imagine." Bob joined in. Ned stayed quiet though listening to what the other two were saying. She wished she could share their light- heartedness but there was something about these woods that made her cold and wary. She didn't know what it was and she wasn't rushing to find out but there was definitely something. Something she couldn't describe. Like it wasn't real. It was fake, like she was in a dream or something.
"Are you alright Ned?" Fred asked from the back. Ned turned around and realised she'd stopped, she looked blankly at Fred and turned back around and started walking again.
"Fine." She mumbled as she walked. This time it was Bob who shrugged and walked on.
They didn't understand what was wrong with Ned; maybe it was just that she'd been under ground for so long that she had forgotten what it was like on the outside. Having said that she might just have been anxious to be in the forest after all, they all were, especially Fred who was constantly on the look out for something that might be a Wraith. Bob had told her before she had entered the forest that there was no way a Wraith could have stayed behind and that they were all back in Middle Earth. Fred had said very little but just commented that Gollum had managed to stay so why couldn't a Wraith? She did have a point but Bob argued that it would have been found and was not in the forest any more.
Fred had been obviously anxious when they had come to the forest but Ned had been calm about it, she hadn't even mentioned Frank even though it had been at the front of her mind for some time. She hadn't been looking forward to searching for Gollum but the thought of being outside in the open and not trapped in that flat was a good thing, she felt surprisingly claustrophobic since she had come back and she was pleased to be in the open.
Now they wanted to go to the place that killed her and they had no idea what it would feel like. She knew that their logic was correct and that Gollum might be there but still she was apprehensive about going into that hut again. It had been bad enough the first time but to go back would undoubtedly be worse.
They walked silently not wanting to disturb each other's thoughts but also not wanting to disturb anything in the forest. There was still something eerie about it even though they knew they were fairly safe and that what happened last time couldn't happen again they were still on edge. Fred never let her eyes come off the forest, Ned was making sure that the path was clear and that there was no danger and Bob was thinking about what was wrong with Ned, she had been thinking about it ever since they had dug her up. The strange reaction they had got when she had first seen them. Almost like she was frightened, she remembered thinking that she looked like she had seen a ghost.
Bob tried to take her mind off it and convince herself that she was just being paranoid yet she couldn't get rid of that feeling that had haunted her since she had come back from Middle Earth. Something was wrong and she had no idea what. It was frustrating but she knew that she wouldn't find it out by just thinking about it.
As they drew closer to the hut there was something in the air that told them to be careful and it wasn't just Bob that felt it. The others did too. Ned was the first to notice something different.
"Listen." She whispered as she stopped making the others also stand still.
They listened carefully trying to figure out why Ned was so concerned about sound. They couldn't hear anything although Fred was sure that any second they would hear the loud whistle of a Wraith calling to it's master. She shook her head to get rid of the thought and returned to listening to the real sound, which she still couldn't hear.
"Listen to what Ned? I don't hear anything." Fred said quietly just in case she missed something.
"Exactly. No birds. No noises you'd expect to hear in a forest. It's silent. When was the last time you heard silence in a forest like this?" She looked around and found that even the trees seemed to stand still and didn't wave in the wind.
"She's right. There's nothing." Bob said also looking around. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."
The others looked around them as well half expecting something to jump out at them and take them away. Nothing happened though. No sound. Just that deafening silence. They walked on slowly and as quietly as they could. Still the only sounds were their footsteps on the forest floor. They kept looking in the bushes making sure that nothing was there. The sunlight that filtered through the trees was also making the forest even more spectacular as well as adding to that eerie feeling.
"Ned, there's something wrong with that hut. I know it. I thought I felt something wrong before but now I'm sure. We should be careful." Ned nodded and walked even more slowly along the path that they had walked last time they had encountered the hut.
They came to the small hill that Ned had fallen down last time, just before they had met Frank. Ned crouched low trying to see the hut through the trees that shrouded it. Bob and Fred did the same. They all saw the hut and the sight of it sent a shiver down Bob's spine. Now she was certain that there was something wrong there. It was then that Fred pointed out the smoke coming from the chimney. Someone was in there.
Ned stood up and looked over the top of the small hedge that surrounded the hut and hid the bank. She looked towards the windows but although there was a faint light coming from inside she couldn't see, the sun must have been reflecting off them not allowing her to see inside.
"Maybe we should just leave. There's something very wrong here. I think we're in danger." Bob said as she stood up rubbing her head trying to get the warning to stop pounding on her head.
"We came all this way we can't go back now without finding out what's inside."
"I can. Come on please can we go?" Fred asked turning to leave.
"No. You were right. Gollum might be in here. Anyway Frank's dead so it can't possibly be him. Perhaps Gollum has built a fire. The least we can do is creep up and look in the window. What's the worst that could happen?"
"When someone says that something bad usually does happen." Fred said eager to get away.
"Come on aren't you in the least bit curious?" Ned said smiling for the first time.
"No." Bob and Fred said at the same time.
"Well I am so lets go and get this over and done with." Ned said as she walked in the opposite direction to that which Bob and Fred wanted to go in. They looked at each other. Fred sighed and followed Bob into the woods as Ned led the way.
They crept up to the hut making no noise and keeping low in case someone should come out. They tried to keep near some kind of shelter making sure they could run away easily if they had to. They didn't want to be there and yet they were strangely curious as to who was inside the hut. The feeling that something was wrong was still with Bob but it was faded slightly and was almost drowned out by a cry for help. She couldn't see who it was and she didn't want to make any noise by telling the other two what she felt so she kept quiet pleased that the pounding had stopped slightly.
Ned looked around her making sure no one was coming from the hut, she suddenly moved out into the open, still keeping low and ran towards the hut. Fred and Bob looked at her and shook their heads as they followed her in much the same way. They all stopped at the hut and looked in the window. There was nothing that they could see. Someone was obviously inside because they could see the light of flames dancing on the wooden walls.
There were towels on the floor and a set of clothes laying next to the fire but they couldn't see who was inside. Bob and Fred wanted to turn back and Bob was about to tell Ned but before she could she felt a pain in her head and she put her back to the hut and slid to the floor. Fred was instantly at her side asking her what was wrong. Bob shook her head and pointed to the hut telling them that whatever was causing this was inside.
"Frank?" Ned mouthed making sure she didn't make a sound. She was relieved when Bob shook her head and stood up helped by Fred.
"Something else." She whispered. "Something.something wrong." Was all she could say.
Ned nodded and they walked around to the front door. They were walking quickly mostly hurried by Bob who seemed to be suddenly very eager to get inside the hut. They reached the front door and Ned checked and saw it had a padlock on it. Probably put there by police.
Ned slammed into the door so it broke when she hit it. She crashed through and stopped when she saw the figure huddled in the corner shaking and moving even further backwards at her dramatic entrance. Bob and Fred followed her and looked towards the figure. Fred's face changed from frightened to completely surprised and saddened when she realised who the figure was. She went deathly pale and almost collapsed.
"Oh my God. David." She said as she rushed towards him.