Backyard Dungeon 16: A Reverse Portal Fantasy by Jacobs Logan

Author:Jacobs, Logan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

As I crept up to the old video store, my heart pounded in my chest. The windows both upstairs and downstairs had been papered over, but as a dim light upstairs clicked on, I could see small breaks in the newspaper where someone could easily look out. As I rushed across the street and the open area at the edge of the side parking lot, I kept an eye on the window to watch for the outline of figures, but thankfully I saw none.

The building had an open field on one side, with a parking lot on the other. On the edge of the parking lot was a line of trees that formed half a mile of suburban wilderness, and when I crossed into the tree line, I took a deep breath and looked back at the building. There were still no figures in the window, so I took a moment to listen in with the mic to make sure I hadn’t been spotted.

“...drank all the fucking booze,” the older male voice said mid-sentence.

“Go fuck yourself!” the younger voice shouted back.

Yeah, they didn’t seem worried about me.

I moved back through the trees until I could see the back of the building. The back half looked much more like a home than the front. There was a patio surrounded by an overgrown patch of yard, and scattered around were a couple of beat-up camping chairs, a rusted-out grill, and an old couch that was covered in mold from being out in the damp Ohio weather. The couch was broken down in the middle and looked like it was still in use, given the beer cans and cigarette butts all around it.

The patio wasn’t visible from the road, so it was a safe bet that the back door here was the squatters’ main way in and out. But there weren’t any vehicles parked within sight of the building.

I found an inconspicuous spot to place the first trail camera and faced it toward the back door, and once I had it set up, I texted Nate to make sure it worked.

Camera ready. Do you have video?

Confirm. Have video. Please adjust upward slightly.

Better? I typed back once I’d made a minor adjustment.

Perfect, Nate replied.

I started to pick my way back to the road when I heard the sound of a car, and I crouched down as a pair of headlights filtered through the leaves and branches.

The sun was setting, but I could see fairly well in the last of the pink, early evening light. From the cover of the trees and some underbrush, I could hear the crunch of gravel under tires, followed by a car door opening and shutting. Then a voice cut through the following silence.

“Cool your tits,” a gruff voice said and then paused as though they were listening to another half of the conversation. “Yeah. He’s going to meet us by the bridge… Yes, I got you’re fucking milkshake! I swear to fucking God, I’ll pour it out on the ground if you ask again.

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