It had been a long afternoon of hiking, but the trails were well kept and they kept a quick pace, talking and laughing as they enjoyed the freedom and the trails. Cora took a deep breath of the pine scented air. “I could do this for the rest of my life.” She breathed out slowly, enjoying the moment.
“Nothing says we really have to go back.” Jet’s voice was a little dull, probably thinking about the company he had left behind.
“Just keep swimming.” Sophie chided with a grin as she stepped over a limb that had fallen across the trail.
Kat was a good distance ahead of them on the trail, consulting a map and compass she always carried with her. “What’re you doing, girl scout?” Sophie asked as she hurried to catch up.
“Making sure we take the right trail. The campsite should be just down the left path, about a mile.”
“No sweat then.” Sophie bounced up on her toes, dark wavy tendrils of hair had already escaped her braid and framed her face.
“Going to be dark soon.” Jet observed, looking at the barely visible sky between the thick canopy overhead.
“It’s just a mile.” Kat reminded them as she looked toward the two divergent trails. There was a sudden, furnace-like breeze. Kat squinted, wincing as both ears popped with pressure.
Judging by the expressions on everyone’s faces, they felt it too. Cora wiped sweat from her brow, her eyes narrowing as she studied the trail. “Hot.” She said, pointing.
“It doesn’t seem hot-” Jet began, his words cutting off as Kat, who had started walking down the leftward trail, vanished right before their eyes. He was moving almost instantly, calling his wife’s name.
Cora and Sophie weren’t far behind with the bounding blonde dog at Cora’s hip. The three skidded to a stop as Jet too vanished before their eyes. “Son of a bitch.” Sophie’s words were low and awed. “I told you not to play chicken with the universe.”
“I- I- I didn’!” Cora protested, taking a hesitant step toward the faint heat distortion in the trail.
“Oh no you don’t. You’re staying right here.” Sophie grabbed Cora’s arm. “Right here with me.”
“We’re hallucinating.” Cora suggested, her voice not sounding very confident.
“Maybe.” Sophie allowed as she crouched to pick up a rock before throwing it at the shimmering heat distortion. It too disappeared.
“You know we’re going through there, right? Dream or no dream, danger or no danger, we’re not leaving them in there alone.”
“Dammit, Cora, we should be safe, careful.”
Cora snorted and pulled out of Sophie’s grasp. “We’re not leaving our friends in there alone.” Her voice was firm as she said, “Tillie heel.” The blonde dog followed at her hip. “You coming?” She asked Sophie, only a few steps from where the others had vanished.
“Of course I’m coming.” Sophie’s voice was resigned whatever happened, she wasn’t leaving the others to deal with it alone. They were a team and had been for years now. “This is a terrible idea.” She said once the pair of them stood before the strange distortion.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“Yep.” Cora agreed, stroking Tillie’s head for comfort. “Let’s hope it’s a dream.”
“Definitely a dream.” Sophie said as she took the first step toward the heat mirage. “Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a nightmare.”
Passing through the mirage was like passing through a doorway made entirely of spiderwebs, they seemed to brush against the skin, tickling and teasing as they trailed over the girls’ hair. Sophie shuddered at the sensation, pushing through until until she emerged from whatever it was into a whole different place. The late fall weather of southeastern Texas was replaced by what felt like an inferno.
It was probably well over a hundred degrees here in the predawn stillness. Dry, caked, cracked fields of mud spread as far as the eye could see to the north and west. To the east the mud grew thicker and more moist, occasionally bubbling with some sort of gas. The air seemed to scorch Cora’s lungs as she breathed it in, there was a horrible smell just under the heat. A mix of methane, sulfur, and something so sharp it made the nose ache. Cora pulled her shirt over her mouth to at least filter some of the stench.
“What is this place?” She asked.
“Hell.” Sophie answered quickly as she turned in place. “Definitely hell.”
“What was a portal to hell doing in the middle of nowhere?”
“Where else would you put a portal to hell?”
Cora nodded, “Good point. Do you see the others?”
“No.”
To the south, maybe a half mile up an almost non existent slope, the ground began to change. Sturdy reeds growing out of the dense mud, then grasses and brush.The reeds were as big around as a pinky finger and topped with what looked like overlarge cattails in a strange red-brown shade. It was the grass that really caught Cora’s attention, about knee high the grasses were a rusty orange color with large white tufts at the top that waved in a breeze. Unfortunately, the breeze came from deep in the mire behind the girls and blew the awful smell toward them.
“I think I can see footprints.” Sophie said, she had crouched down studying the dried mud at their feet.
“The others?” Cora asked, Tillie was eagerly sniffing at the ground, racing in ever widening circles around Cora and Sophie.
“I think they went south, toward the solid ground.”
“We should too then.”
They moved toward the rise in the terrain, eyes scanning their surroundings and looking for their friends. It had only been moments since Jet and Kat had disappeared. Where could they have gone in such a short time.
Sophie wiped the sweat off her face and reached for her water bottle. “This is insane. It’s got to be over a hundred.”
“This whole thing is insane Soph. Where in the hell are we?”
“I told you already. We’re in hell.”
Cora opened her mouth to retort, but a deep rumble of sound shuddered through the pair. A low, roar that just went on and on. Cora’s heart stuttered, her breath clogged in her lungs. She could barely force herself to turn and look back toward the noise. Sophie had gone still next to her, all the color faded from her face, hands trembling. Cora looked back, toward the ripple in reality. Something was emerging from it. A leathery snout, nostrils twitching over a mouth filled with massive teeth, longer than Cora’s hand. The nose was a dull, brown color striped with charcoal grey. The top of the face, starting a few inches from the nose and flaring back over its brows, was a brilliant orange-red that faded to almost yellow at the edges of the patch. Behind its beady black eyes a mane of bristling, shaggy, black hair flowed over its neck and down its back. It stood on two legs, long tail balancing it out, short arms tucked close to its side as it sniffed the air.
Cora and Sophie’s eyes met, both girls’ eyes wide, faces pale, lips slack. Sophie recovered first, “Is that a god damn t-rex?”
A shiver raced down Cora’s spine as she grabbed Sophie’s hand and dragged her to the nearest bit of cover. “Where did that thing come from.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she dragged her best friend into the cover.
“Jurassic Park?”
That startled a sharp bark of laughter out of Cora’s mouth before she covered it. The dinosaur was still near the ripple, its tail swaying slightly as it looked around. They heard a birdcall from behind a nearby boulder. The t-rex perked up, but the sound was not enough for it to locate them. When the girls looked, there behind the rock was Jet and Kat. Both of them had wide-eyed pale faces and neither of them seemed to be handling the trip through the ripple any better than Cora and Sophie.