Fireweed and Brimstone by Boone Brux

Author:Boone Brux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Alaska stories, Alaska, Ghost stories, ghost, demon shifter, demons, angels, Grim Reaper, humorous paranormal, light paranormal, Paranormal fantasy
Publisher: Boone Brux
Published: 2019-03-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Sweat seeped through my T-shirt as I hiked along one of the trails leading through the Far North Bicentennial Park. Lucky for me this reap was near my home. Not so lucky was that it was happening out in nature about two miles from where I lived.

At the top of a particularly steep hill I stopped and yanked a water bottle from the hiking pack at my waist. Hiking pack was my name for it since I refused to call it a fanny pack. I popped the lid, lifted the bottle and poured. Water splashed on my face as I gulped down mouthfuls, but I didn’t care. The weather was exceptionally hot for Anchorage. Anything over seventy and I started sweating like a whore in church.

As I shoved the bottle back into the side pocket, the thumping clop of hooves sounded behind me. I spun, snagging my bear spray from the other side pocket, and flicked the orange safety catch on the handle. It wasn’t unusual to encounter a bear or moose on these trails. A hiker needed to be prepared or they could easily end up dead. I loved Alaska, but its beauty was ruthless and deadly.

Standing in front of me was a baby moose. I backed up several steps. Where there was a baby there was a mama. The one piece of advice I did heed from my mother was never get between a mother and her baby, be it bears, moose, or human.

“Hey there, little guy...or girl.” I took another step back down the trail. “Where’s your mommy at?”

When I say little, the term is relative when it comes to moose. Calves are gigantic by the end of summer, but this one was smaller than it should have been. Don’t get me wrong, it was still big enough to scare the crap out of me. I needed to get past it to find my reap, but it blocked the trail with the width of its body.

I glanced around but didn’t see the mother. No rustling in the trees gave away her location. I thought maybe I could go around the animal but when I stepped off the trail, it shifted as if to follow me.

Okay, that wasn’t going to work. I glanced at my watch. Twenty-three minutes until my client would be ready to move on. Going back to the trail head wasn’t an option, especially if the moose followed me.

From behind me voices wafted up the trail. One of them sounded extremely familiar. I turned to the side, keeping the moose in view, and darted a look down the dirt path. Around the bend came my brother. He had his arm draped around a very pretty twenty-something woman I didn’t know.

When he saw me, his face broke into a smile. “Sis? What the heck are you doing out here?”

“Hiking, but as you can see the trail is blocked.” My gaze slid to the baby moose and then back. “You might want to take another trail.”

“No can do.

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