BEARTH

-Dark Mountain-

Chapter 12 

Adam and Jenifer catch up to the rest as they hear them arguing in the darkness of the night.

“I told you I saw something, Quin!” Susie tells him as Alicia adds to the conversation.

“I told Harvey just last night and he looked at me like I was crazy; for this place even!” Adam has heard enough.

“OK, stop!” Adam shouts as everyone stops to face him. “Are we sure we want to be chasing this; last time there was any kind of lights in the sky, we were picking our ass’s up off of blue grass… remember?!” Adam reminds them as Harvey slowly faces Alicia.

“I don’t think you’re crazy, I saw it too but Adam is right, maybe we’re getting caught up in something we shouldn’t be.” They all quickly evaluate the situation as Susie speaks her mind.

“Well what if it’s a plane or something? What if there is such a modern place still standing, we have to find out!” Susie insist as Jenifer turns to face Adam.

“She’s right, Adam.” Adam takes a second with a steady nod to consider the facts before agreeing to move forward.

“Ok, but control yourselves, will you?! Keep your guards up, and don’t think we’re sleeping in tomorrow.” He tells them as they all roll their eyes and keep moving towards their discovery.

“Yeah, yeah, we know.” Everyone says under their breaths. They get moving at a quicker pace as they curve around the mountain and start to descend to the other side. They quickly look for a sign of a crash landing as they find exactly what they were looking for.

“There!” Alicia points out as they all look to see what she discovered. Down below shows a flatten trail of thin trees dragging to the bottom edge of the mountain. They get to the bottom faster as this side of the mountain is flattened making it for an easy descend. Once at the bottom, they move closer towards the caving hole at the end of the trail and stop to face the darkness before entering it. Quin begins to pull out his weapon as Adam lowers it back to his side with a shake of his head.

“Nothing would survive a crash like this.” Adam explains to Quin. They look in the cave-like hole and slowly begin to step inside it to investigate. Moving through the freshly made cave they creep in deeper with caution as they can only hope for it not to collapse. They pass through the darkness and near the gravel at the end of the cave to notice a yellow glow. The yellow glow pulses through the rubble from behind as Harvey begins to move the gravel to one side; Adam and Quin start to help as do the girls. They see the glow pulse faster with a crescendoing hum that continues to grow louder. Adam quickly orders everyone to stand to the sides as a charge-like blast explodes outward, shooting out the remaining debris from behind. With a hissing of dark smoke they all begin to cough uncontrollably as the thick smoke and debris fills the cave. Adam yells orders to everyone as he gathers his breath.

“Get low and move out!” Readying to move out, Jenifer hears a moan of a man near the open gravel. She tries to see through the smoke and yells to Adam.

“Someone’s alive!” Adam again gives orders as another charging sound begins to make itself heard.

“Everyone get out, NOW! Away from the sound!” Everyone runs out but Jenifer who stays in search of the troubled voice.

“I see him! On the ground!” Jenifer shouts while pointing over by Adam’s feet. Adam struggles to focus through the smoke but manages to see a man laying half way out of the gravel.

“I got him, Jen! Get out of here!! Go!!!” Jenifer runs out blind through the smoke while gasping for air as Alicia and Harvey catch her outside. They all fall to the ground near Susie and Quin who are still coughing out of breath. Jenifer turns around while rubbing her eyes.