"That's a really shit explanation," I burst out.

He pointed a finger at me in thought. "You're not wrong there, buddy."

Constance rolled her eyes, shifting her body towards the open door. She hopped out of the car, pushing Joe in his trolley of cheese out of the way. "We need to get moving."

"But we just met!" Joe exclaimed, throwing his arms open and smiling. "You can't be leaving me already?"

"We don't trust you and," Hailey stated, scanning him and his llamas, "...that."

She got out of the car like a mouse as Henry sighed and followed suit. "You're not wrong there."

They left me sitting awkwardly in the car - again - as they pushed through the crowd of jittery brown llamas. I stared gracelessly, wondering if I could trust him and whether I really wanted to know the answers to the burning questions I had. He noticed me staring and grinned, waiting for me to say something or maybe to help him out of his trolley. I really couldn't tell which one it was.

"Cheese?" he grinned after a while.

"What happened?"

"I um – me llamas got out," he concluded in an unsure tone.

I nodded. "Okay."

I couldn't think of anything else to say, he'd just created so many more questions. Like why were the llamas let out? Or why were they chasing him? And what about the cheese?

He sat there, totally relaxed, sitting on his pile of cheese with a dozen llamas looking like they were in love with him. They jostled, nibbling gently on anything they could find until he reached over and patted their heads contently.

Stiffly, he sat himself up straighter in his cart, pushing a llama head out of his lap. It spat aggressively on him, green saliva splattering like a paint bomb on the side of his face. He shrivelled up like a prune, wiping the gunk away.

"Gross!" he remarked, half falling out of his trolley and somehow landing on his feet.

He began to walk towards my group of stragglers, pushing his cart half-heartedly as we went. The llamas set about humming as they bustled around him like a strange protective net. Sighing, I climbed out of the front seat, slinging the backpack containing the file over my shoulder. This couldn't get any weirder, that's for sure.

I jogged after them.

"So," Joe was saying as I reached the group. "I need some help penning these bastards."

"We're not experienced in herding anything," Hailey retorted.

"I don't need experienced people," Joe articulated, "Just people."

I thought about it for a moment. Joe seemed genuine. The more we stayed on the road, the shorter the time between us and the Galgort agents became. "Look, let's just go," I said, a little anxiously.

"Why?" Constance asked.

I gave them a look, but no one caught on. "If they find us..." I urged, "out on the road..."

Henry nodded, speaking quickly. "Good point. Fine, we'll go to your farm. Where is it?"

Joe beamed. "Brilliant! It's just up the road a little."

We nodded in agreeance, letting Joe push his trolley past us, the herd of llamas following eagerly.

When Joe said his farm was just up the road, he literally meant it was up the road. We hadn't walked more than sixty paces before we disappeared off the road and down a long and windy driveway. Surrounded by trees, we emerged into the little cottage and garden that Joe called his home. I watched him stroll straight for a pen where the llamas were supposed to be happily grazing in utter doubt.

"Why don't you just push the trolley in?" Hailey suggested, reaching the pen.

"They're too smart for that," Joe pointed out, twiddling his thumbs on the trolley's handle as he stood just shy of the entrance. "I've tried that one before."

I leaned thoughtfully on the fence in silence, wondering how to get the llamas in the pen. For something so simple, this was turning out to be more than the easy task we'd envisioned. The only thing working for us at the moment was the fact that being here kept us off the road and from being found.

I glanced around, taking in the finer details of Joe's place. A little wood cabin, with frosted windows filtered the shade off of it. Leaf matter scattered everywhere like it was autumn as little birds sat on nearby branches, watching us curiously. The small cottage had a faded red porch and was surrounded by brightly coloured geraniums of every colour. The recent rain left mud puddles along the yard and gravel driveway where there was a large, locked shed and an old electric blue Ford GT parked in front of it.

"They seem to follow you," Henry added, breaking through my observations of Joe's humble abode. Janet was now perched on his shoulder, pruning her great big white feathers delicately.

"Right and you're the animal expert?" Joe asked half-heartedly.

"As a matter of fact, probably. Now, try walking into the pen," Henry continued, urging him to walk into the pen.

Joe sighed, letting go of the trolley and numbly shoving it ahead of him into the llama pen. "I've tried this a million times before," he said, unenthusiastically strolling into the pen and standing in the middle. "See!" he remarked, clearly annoyed as he threw his arms wide open. "They reject the pen."

He wasn't wrong either. The pack of llamas stood around the entrance humming fiercely as though the pen was a field full of mines and Joe had just dodged them all. None of them even shifted their weight in response.

"Henry?" Constance said. "Any more ideas?"

"Well, they don't want Joe," he said matter-of-factly, raising a hand at him. "Or cheese."

"Nah shit," I muttered under my breath. "What if we just left them outside the pen?"

"They're priceless livestock!" Joe pointed out from the middle of the pen. "You don't leave priceless livestock out for the foxes to get!"

"So, shove them in!"

"Butch," Constance cautioned.

"What!" I snapped. "It's worth a shot. We need to get this show on the road!"

"You can't just do that, darling!" Constance reasoned, crossing her arms over her still sparkly chest. "They're living creatures."

I rolled my eyes. "Watch," I said simply, shoving a llama in the butt. It reared up like a horse, kicking out and striking me in the guts. I made a non-human sound, balling over in pain as I fell backwards into the dirt.

"Butch!" Hailey screamed, her face appearing over me with concern.

"Did it work?"

"Nope."

"Worth a try." I grimaced and held my hand out. She extended hers and I fastened to it, using her grip to stand myself up. This could take longer than expected.

The mob of now angry llamas poised in resentful stances as they waited for me to make another move against their freedom. The more I looked into their eyes, the more I felt they were trying to telepathically kill me. Their ears twitched slightly and before I knew it, I had taken off, sprinting around the yard; a pack of wild llamas trailing me. It wasn't long before everyone was shouting manically at me, trying to herd me into the pen. I ran in circles, each time missing the entrance of the pen.

"Butch, that way!"

"No! No! No! The other way!"

"Which way!?" I screamed at them in my frenzied sprint. With the llamas on my heels, I didn't exactly think about where on earth I was leading them, just that I wasn't in the mood to be mauled over by a dozen angry llamas.

"Keep going!"

I was running out of breath.

"There! There! Quick!"

With relief, I spotted the entrance coming around again and managed to race through the gates into the pen. I sprinted for Joe and the trolley as he waved me down.

"Run!" I screamed at him as I heard the gate clunk firmly shut behind me. Thankfully, he noticed the angry pack coming for him, and just in time we both nose-dived under the fence in unison. We lay there in the dirt, adrenaline coursing through us; our chests heaving.

I glanced over my shoulder, the llamas were right on top of us, trying to reach us through the fence. They hummed and spat until we were covered head-to-toe in a thick layer of the slimy green gunk.

"That is honestly disgusting," I laughed, wiping it off my cheek.

"Yup," Joe agreed. "One of the many perks of working with llamas."

I sat up, extending a hand to Joe and helping him stand.

"Tea?"

I glanced at Joe. "Tea?"

"Yeah. You want some tea?"

I rolled my eyes at the request in amusement, before giving up. "Sure." What was one more hour of drinking tea going to do?

Together we all trudged through the mud, leaving the humming llamas safely in their pen, and to Joe's porch. The porch was antique, painted red and peeling, exposing the greying wood underneath. The little wooden cabin was more than picturesque as I seated myself by some vibrant pink geraniums on the large swinging chair. I rocked it gently, watching as Joe swung the wire door open and the other adults followed him inside.

I smiled over at Hailey who sat beside me. We both stared back out over the pen as the llamas huddled around the fence and death stared us down. The lonely cheese trolley sat strangely still amongst the penned creatures.

"Nice work," she said eventually.

I glanced at her, suddenly feeling overly proud. "Thanks."

I shifted back, trying to act cool as I slid my arm casually over the back of the seat.

I grinned shyly; she hadn't noticed yet. Maybe I could act smooth? Brooding in my confidence, I neglected to notice the large, hairy huntsman crawling up my arm. All eight legs had an unusual spring to them, and I jumped up, trying to flap it off.

I jumped around, screaming like a girl as I held my hand and tried to make the large brown spider fly off my skin and into the garden.

"Get it off me! Get it off me!" I began, hopping around like a lunatic on one leg, trying desperately to knock it off my hand without touching it. Instead, I just aggravated it as it clung harder to me and ran friskily further up my arm.

All three adults came rushing out in a state of alarm.

"Spider!" I screamed desperately.

They burst out laughing with relief as Henry came over, and with one swipe of his burly hand, knocked it off.

I was about to thank him immensely for getting rid of the horrifying spider, when a man-made hum roared overhead. I glanced up. This couldn't be happening! How had they found us already?

"Get down!" Joe screamed as we all hit the porch boards heavily.