Dark Vanishings 2: Post-Apocalyptic Horror by Dan Padavona

Author:Dan Padavona [Padavona, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Dan Padavona
Published: 2015-06-24T19:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Tree House in the Sky

The sun disappeared behind the sprawling wilderness, the forest floor cloaked in grays that progressed toward blackness. Breathless with sweat pouring off her, Amy pointed up into the trees. When Keeshana looked up, she saw a glut of thick, crossroad branches blotting out the sky. A sea of green leaves covered the limbs, letting through intermittent glimpses of twilight.

Keeshana wore a puzzled expression. “What am I looking at?”

Amy put her hands on her hips, trying to pull enough air into her lungs to speak. “Look closer. Over the branches.”

Keeshana squinted harder, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until Amy came to her side and pointed beyond the boughs. She followed Amy’s finger until she realized the barrier between sky and ground was not just branches but planks of wood.

“Is that a tree house?”

Amy smiled. “Yes.”

“Where in the heck are we?”

“We’re about a half-mile back of my old house. This is where I used to play when I was a kid.”

“No offense, South Carolina, but you haven’t been a kid in a long time. You sure those boards are gonna hold us?”

“Every kid in the neighborhood adopted this tree house at one time or another. If anything ever needed fixing, there were always a few kids keeping up with the maintenance. I bet you anything that the tree house got handed down to this generation of kids.”

Keeshana still wasn’t convinced the fort was safe, and when she saw how steep the climb was, the days of her youth felt as though they had occurred a few centuries ago. Besides, she hated heights. As she contemplated making the climb, a branch snapped not far from where they stood. Eyes wide in the descending gloom, they ducked beneath a low canopy of oak leaves, their bodies pressed against the trunk. The air was humid and stagnant here, the hoary light of the forest seeping through the leaves and fading fast. The forest went still, the paralyzed silence which pervades when a predator is near. For a long moment, the only sound was their own slow breathing. Keeshana had started to relax when rustling leaves and crackling twigs marked someone pushing through the forest about fifty yards away, coming toward them.

Amy whispered, “Follow me.”

Keeshana looked up at the old oak, not seeing any way to scale the tree. But Amy scooted up the trunk as though she were twelve again, playing hide-and-go-seek with her friends. Before Keeshana protested, Amy disappeared into the leaves, the soft jiggling of branches marking her ascent. Then Amy was gone, and Keeshana crouched alone under the oak, heart pounding.

“Kee.” Amy whispered from high up in the tree. “Hurry up.”

More branches snapped, closer this time, popping across the wilderness like fireworks.

“Kee. Come on.”

This is crazy.

Now their pursuer was close enough for her to hear the thud of footsteps against the forest floor. Trying not to think about what she was doing, Keeshana wedged her foot into the rough trunk, simultaneously leaping. Her fingers caught hold of a branch, allowing her to inch her way up the trunk.

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