Outward Bound

Hunting in this way was illegal and without thinking he shouted and waved his arms. The magnificent stag made its escape before the men could fire.

The men stood and turned their attention to him. One of them pointed his rifle directly at him and shouted; ‘Get over here NOW!’

 Simon calmly walked over and told them what they were doing was illegal and they should leave the area otherwise they would be in trouble. The men looked at each other and laughed.

‘You and whose army are going to make us?’ one of them said as he spat on the ground between Simon’s feet.

‘I will report you to the Police’, Simon said as he turned to walk away but his arm was grabbed and as he was spun round a fist drove into his stomach and he collapsed onto the heather gasping for breath.

His rucksack was pulled from his shoulders and the contents emptied onto the ground. One of the men put his rifle down next to the 4x4 that was clearly their transport and picked up Simon’s mobile phone. He quickly pulled the SIM card from it and snapped it in half and then stamped on the phone breaking it into several pieces.

‘Not going to report us now!’ he said with a toothless grin.

‘What about him?’ one of the others asked; ‘we have several more days to find the best antlers and we can’t have him alerting the cops.’

‘I promise I won’t say anything’, Simon said hoping they would just let him go.

‘What are you doing out here anyway?’ he was asked and like a fool Simon told them he was spending time alone on the moors.

‘Well it looks like you will be coming with us. Once we have finished our business we’ll dump you somewhere’.