Dressed in Smoke by Ambrose Ibsen

Author:Ambrose Ibsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ambrose Ibsen

14

The moonless night gave them almost no light to see by, and the terrain was too dense for blind navigation. Panting in the dark, the pair took a brief pause, seeking some faint glow by which to orient themselves. Finding none, they had little choice but to lean on Morrison's camera.

“Now, I'm sure this thing has a light on it,” began Ulrich, clumsily tapping the buttons. The camera switched on and the bluish gleam of the viewfinder proved almost blinding to his light-starved eyes. Squinting, he cycled through the various menu options.

“There's a button on the top, I think,” began Jonathan. “It opens the flash. There could be a setting to make the light stay on, though I didn't try it out earlier...”

The detective located the button on the top edge of the camera and unleashed the flash bulb with a satisfying click. Then, continuing his perusal of the menu options, he happened upon the light settings. There were options for engaging the flash, strobe lighting and, further down the list, a constant light setting. With some few taps of the screen, the flash bulb lit up and a piercing white beam shot forth into the dark woods. “All right, I think I've got it!” He waved the camera around, illuminating their surroundings. “It's staying on. I don't know how long the light will last, though.”

“Check the charge,” suggested the client. He peered over Ulrich's shoulder, pressing the menu button and returning to the viewfinder's blue holding screen. Pointing out a half-filled battery icon in the top right corner, he continued. “The battery's at fifty-percent or so. It might last a few hours...” He chuckled nervously. “Or, for all I know, it'll go off in minutes.”

Ulrich was already on the move, stomping once again through the wilds. “Whatever the case, let's not waste this opportunity. Come on!”

Navigating the woods by feeling alone had put a great strain on him, but now that the detective possessed a means of pulling back the darkness, he advanced with a new, unfamiliar trepidation. It was one thing to wander through the night-black holt, oblivious to what lay beyond the feeble reach of his eyes. But to cut into the night, to peel away the layers, was to invite a rush of dread and nausea at every turn. He felt himself perpetually on the verge of discovering something better left hidden.

They staggered onward, pressing through wall after wall of dense foliage. The woods, to their constant relief, brought them no horrors, though they did discover—after more than a half hour's walk by camera-light—a thing of great interest. Pushing through the brush, Ulrich startled at finding his own light reflected back at him. “W-What's this?” he muttered.

Jonathan, progressing a few more paces, tried to make sense of what he was seeing. “I... I don't know. Try moving the light a little. It seems like there's something reflective up ahead, but I can't tell what it is.”

Ulrich did as much, panning with the camera to illumine a

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