OddityVille: Harrowing Hills (Book Two)

Chapter Six: The Looming

    
Ashley's eyelids slide open with every bump she hears in the night and each loud pop the fire lets off. Her vision is fuzzy as this happens and all she can see is the fading orange glow through the walls of her tent. The stars are covered by clouds and she avoids looking up at them as much as possible each time she is awoken. Sounds of fumbling, lanky steps sporadically occur between the creeping hours and with each, the fire becomes smaller. She finds herself falling back asleep after these incidences, trying simply to make it through the night. She thinks it has to be rounding at least four in the morning when she is shaken awake by Mike, who is staring towards the entry of the tent. Deliriously groggy in her physical and mental state, she speaks loudly.

"What's going o-"

"Shh!"

Mike presses a finger against his lips and stares at her through the darkness as she slowly comes back to reality. She is puzzled when she finds it easier to see his face in this moment than it had been to see anything at all earlier on. Then, she notices that the dying fire outside is now roaring and lighting up everything around her. She subconsciously looks up and quickly snaps her head back down. Relieved that she had seen nothing the first time, she looks again. The high-up branches of surrounding trees flicker with luminance and she can hear the winds she had known were coming.

"Is it Linda?" The odd occurrence makes her speak in a whisper without her even realizing it, but Mike doesn't seem to hear or acknowledge that she is speaking at all. "Is it?"

"Shh!" He repeats the command and keeps his wide eyes on her without moving a muscle or even seemingly breathing. His chest iss stiff as a rock, but a vein in his twisted neck shows what is going on beneath it. The vein throbs, expanding almost twice its original size with each beat of his fear-filled heart.

The steps she had been hearing throughout the night are much heavier at this point, and she can tell they are closer than they had ever been. It becomes clear at this moment, that they aren't the bipedal steps a normal person would take, but are instead, that of seemingly four feet. One heavy step followed by a lighter step, and then a heavier one once again. She follows the sound with her eyes, coasting across the fabric at the back of the tent to that of the front. She covers her mouth as she takes in a sharp breath. The shadow of a person with elongated arms and legs, walking much like a dog, comes into view. The neck is bent back at an unnatural angle, allowing the thing to see straight ahead of itself rather than at the ground. The man-beast lets out painful croaks as it tries to breathe through a throat Ashley can only imagine is pinched nearly shut at such an angle. She shoots a look back at Mike, who seems to be avoiding looking anywhere else but at her. He forms another "Shh!" with his lips but doesn't utter a peep. Ashley looks back at the shadow of the thing outside and watches as its bottom jaw lowers away from the rest of the sharply featured face. Then, it talks.

"Linda, are you there?"

Ashley's blood runs ice cold as the familiar voice spills out. The creature's mouth doesn't move as it says this and remains agape, but the throat is visibly in motion; bobbing near the center as it would with anyone else, but far more noticeable. The thing starts to turn its head to either the left or right, but being that only its shadow is visible, Ashley can't tell which. Then, the unmistakable sound of a thrashing sleeping bag is heard. It becomes clear that the thing was facing Ashley and Mike, as it had to turn again to face the sound.

"Linda, is that you?"

"Cody! I told them you would be back!"

"Li-!" Mike throws his hand over Ashley's mouth when she removes her own from it and shakes his head violently at her.

"They know she's there now. Don't try to be a hero!" Ashley's brows raise near the middle of the two and drop on the outers, giving her a sorrowful expression as she obeys what she was told.