Chapter 12 #2
I jumped forward, grabbing Dana’s hand and yanking her as far away from the skunk as possible. A jet of liquid shot past, just missing us. The air filled with the stench of rotten eggs. I gagged. It was the most disgusting thing I’d ever smelled.
I realized I was clinging to Dana’s arm and quickly dropped it.
Dana took a step back, coughing, and held her hand over her mouth. “Ugh, it stinks. Let’s regroup over there.” She nodded her head to her left and we sprinted away.
“Okay, it doesn’t smell quite as bad here. That was putrid,” Dana said once we were a safe distance from the skunk. “Did any spray get on you?”
I looked down at my clothes. “I don’t think so, thank god. I’m pretty sure it can take weeks for the smell to go away.” Charles would not be happy if I stunk up the entire film set for the duration of filming.
“Crap. I’d been hoping the smell would disperse after a few minutes, but it sounds like that’s not going to happen. I’m not sure I can stomach getting any closer.”
“Do you have any face masks at the cabin? They might help.”
“I don’t.” Dana kneeled down and rummaged through her backpack.
“But I have an old shirt somewhere in here. We could hold it to our faces. It might block out some of the smell. Aha!” Dana pulled out a red flannel shirt, which she ripped in half in one impressively swift movement.
“Here you go.” She handed me the fabric.
“Thank you.” I held it over my mouth and nose. I could still smell the skunk, but perhaps it wasn’t quite as bad.
“I wonder if it can spray again?” Dana peered at the cage in the distance.
“I think so.”
“Damn.” Dana’s shoulders slumped. “If it sprays us directly, that’ll be a nightmare.”
“What if we put something over the cage to intercept any spray? It should calm it down as well. Then we could try to open the door with a stick or something?”
“How do you know so much about skunks?” Dana tilted her head.
I grinned. “I had a role as a vet in Animal Rescue Hospital and there was an episode about a skunk that stunk up the entire building. Thankfully, its scent glands had been removed in real life. The writers often took a few liberties with the truth to make the show more interesting, so I can’t vouch for anything I learned, but I do remember the skunk found the dark quite calming. ”
Dana chuckled. “Who knew being an actor would give you so many useful skills? Well, I don’t have any other ideas so it’s worth a shot.” Dana pulled off her jacket, revealing a navy shirt that clung to her biceps. God, she was so toned. Her arms were even more impressive than I remembered.
Stop ogling Dana’s arms. I focused on the smell of rotten eggs lingering in the air and gagged again. Nothing like some skunk spray to counteract lust.
I looked around for a stick to hold the trap door open and spotted a long branch lying under a fir. “I think I’ve found our stick.”
I jogged over to it and stripped the twigs and dried needles so it was bare.
“Nice stick. Why don’t you stay here and I’ll do it?” Dana said as I rejoined her.
“No, I think we should both go, in case you need help.”
Dana looked at me for a moment. “Okay, thank you. So are you ready to brave the smell and rescue the skunk?”
“Let’s do this.”
I held the cloth to my face and we carefully approached the cage. The vile smell grew stronger. I focused on breathing through my mouth. The skunk, now sitting in a corner, hissed at us.
Dana gently draped her jacket over the cage. It didn’t cover the entire cage, but it would hopefully intercept any spray.
“Should I try unlatching the door?” I asked, peering at the latch.
“That’s okay. It’s my job, and I don’t want you to get injured or anything.”
Holding the stick with one hand, and the fabric to her face with the other, Dana crept forward. She reached out slowly with the stick and gently nudged the trap door’s latch. The latch moved, but then fell back down.
“Damnit,” Dana muttered under her breath.
She tried again, and this time hit the cage instead, eliciting another hiss from the skunk.
After four more unsuccessful attempts, I crept forward. “Do you want me to have a go? Put my vet skills to use,” I whispered through the fabric.
Dana looked at me for a second before handing over the stick. “Sure. My skills are clearly lacking.”
I crouched down, reached out with the stick and slowly lifted the latch. The trap door sprang open and we both jumped up and bounded toward a tree ten feet away. My heart thumped in my ears.
“Good job,” Dana said.
Tense, I watched the cage closely. But there was no flash of the furious skunk I’d envisaged racing toward us in attack mode. In fact, there was no movement or sound at all. Had it gone to sleep? Or was the poor thing petrified in a corner?
“Talk about anti-climactic,” I said.
“Here we go,” Dana said, smiling as a little nose poked out from behind her jacket, sniffing.
Slowly, the skunk emerged from the cage, its tail low to the ground. It was kind of cute. With its back to us, it trotted away. I exhaled.
Dana pulled some gardening gloves from her backpack and then collected her jacket and the cage.
“Well, after all that excitement I think I need to go home and take a shower. There’s a distinct smell of skunk following me around.
I usually clean cages after use, but I will be giving this one a particularly good disinfecting. ”
I sniffed myself. There was an unpleasant stench, but it was hard to tell if it was on me, Dana, the cage or just the spray lingering in the air.
“Thanks for pushing me out of the way. If you hadn’t acted so quickly, I would have been coated in the stuff,” Dana said as we walked back through the trees.
“My pleasure.” I grinned at her. “It benefited me too, since we’ll be spending Friday afternoon together. As much as I love Christmas I’m not sure I could stomach decorating surrounded by skunk smell.”
We began to walk again, the silence broken by both of our phones pinging.
Confusion must have been written on my face, because Dana chuckled. “Reception is very spotty out here, but every so often you get coverage and all your messages come in at once.”
Dana pulled her phone out of her backpack and frowned, quickly shoving it back in.
“Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, I just need to call my mom,” Dana replied.
I tugged my own phone from the back pocket of my jeans.
My stomach plummeted as a new unknown number flashed on the screen. Calm down, Emily. It was probably an actual scammer this time.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket, a flash of yellow catching my eye as I looked up. “There’s another patch of bark missing.” I pointed to the base of a fir. “Or is this the one you’ve already seen?
“Goddamnit.” Dana sighed, stooping to inspect the tree. “This looks fresh. Hopefully we’ll catch the culprit soon.”
We’ll. My chest warmed. That was nice. Dana and I were a team against this mysterious, Christmas-tree-eating animal.
“Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.”
“You’ve done more than enough, saving me from skunk spray and helping the little fellow in his quest for freedom.”
My heart dropped. What was I hoping for? That Dana would suggest we go on nightly recon missions into the forest to search for mysterious creatures? With anyone else, the thought would have been terrifying.
I was clearly digging for excuses to see her before Friday, which currently felt like eons away. It’s for the best. You need to focus on filming, not hanging out with a stunning lumberjane. But the thought of not seeing her for five whole days was distinctly unappealing.