Bat Out of Hell

The metal zipper of the sleeping bag ripped across my torso, waking me in a flash. My eyes shot open to find Chester sat bolt upright next to me, a sliver of moonlight from the tent’s net window illuminating his face, his eyes round like two shiny golf balls.

“What’s wrong?”

His jaw ticked at the sound of my voice, but other than that, he remained rigidly fixed in place, head cocked to one side as if listening intently to the silence. “I heard something.”

“What do you mean, you heard something?”

“I heard something. In the tent with us.”

“What sort of something?” My voice ratcheted up a notch and I reached out, seeking contact with him. It was the kind of automatic gesture people do when they’re at ease with each other. Familiar. Relying on an easy comfort. And that was far more unsettling than anything Chester thought he’d heard. 

I snatched my hand back and scooped up the sleeping bag, hugging it close. The cool fabric slipped over my bare skin as a headache radiated sharply from my temples. Shit. I’m naked. How much did we drink last night? Please tell me we didn’t—

“Listen. Can you hear that?”

I snapped my attention back to the tent.

“It’s in the corner, down there.”

“What?” I mirrored his gesture, leaning my ear towards the direction he pointed. My heart pulsed so loudly it was all I could focus on. “If there’s something in here with us, maybe we should leave.”

“Sshhh. We need to know what it is first.”

“You’re scaring me. What the fuck could it be? You promised me there were no tarantulas around at this time of year. I told you camping was a bad idea. We’ll get bitten and whatever it is will lay eggs inside us and then we’ll give birth to thousands of tiny half-insect-half-human alien creatures, which will then eat us as their first meal, and no one will ever know what happened—“

“Can’t you ever shut up. Just for once. Jesus, Lily. I’m trying to—“

A high pitched chirp, like a bird on helium, cut across his words.

“Oh my god, what the hell was—“ The flush of a cool breeze puffed against my forehead as something small and black flew past me at speed, my hair whisked along with the movement. I scrambled to my knees, auto-pilot panic the only sensation I was aware of as I fumbled with the door, another zipper tearing at my skin.

I erupted into the campsite and pulled myself up to standing just as a torch light from a neighbouring tent landed on me. I shielded my eyes from the beam just as I remembered that I was naked. Completely butt ass naked. I whipped my arms around me, awkwardly trying to cover myself as Chester poked his head from our tent.

“I got it. It’s a bat. And he’s amazing.” 

The helpful neighbour’s torch swung over to Chester and I saw his hands cradled together like he was holding something delicate. 

“A bat? There was a bat flying around in there with us?” I forgot everything. My hangover. My nakedness. “We really could have been bitten.” The light circled back to me.

I heard Chester laugh, that cocky annoying laugh that made me want to scream at him. “Lily, you are aware you’re naked, right?”