Dan’s nostrils flared from the incredibly pungent smell of rotten eggs and flesh. The canopy of the trees was denser in the heart of the forest as if they were walking under the dark clouds of a storm. They were only a few hundred yards inside the forest, but it felt like the inside of a cave. The clustered wide trunks of the trees were craggy and narrow as cavern walls with low, bowed branches that wove in and out of each other to form a ceiling only about ten feet above their heads.

Dan had pulled out the rusted and clunky flashlight from his bag and pointed it forward. He pressed hard on the on switch with his thumb.

“What is that smell?” Mark coughed under his arm.

The beam of light illuminated the forest floor that was riddled with wrangled roots and high grass. They only advanced thirty feet until Dan froze. He put up his arm to stop Mark who was a bit startled.

“W-w-what is that?” Mark stuttered.

Shimmering on the forest floor and the tree trunks in front of them was a translucent green goo. Steam rose from the ground with a light sizzling sound as the noxious scent intensified. Mark turned his head, fighting the urge to vomit. He tripped on a root and placed his hands on a nearby tree. An odd liquid warmth wrapped around his fingers, making him twitch backwards, splattering goo on the surrounding wall of trees. “Get it off. Get it off,” he cried. Dan steadied him.

“Thanks,” Mark breathed.

Dan nodded in the dark and focused his flashlight on his friend.

Green goo coated Mark’s arms and hands. Embedded within were insects, leaves and something that made Dan’s scales shiver. He reached into the side of his pack, took out a handkerchief and wiped down Mark’s arm. He pulled up something hard and thin, but it wasn’t a twig or branch. Dan focused the light on it.

“A bone?” Mark gasped.

Dan tossed it out into the darkness. It easily slipped out of his handkerchief and knocked into the side of a nearby tree.

“W-why are there bones out here?”

Dan shook his head and continued to wipe down his friend. “I’m more worried about finding what made ‘this’.” He focused his light on his goo coated handkerchief that looked like it was ran down the inside of a dumpster.

Crick!

Dan pointed the light toward the noise. A few tree trunks were illuminated, but it was hard to see behind them.

Crick! Crick!

Dan repositioned the light. Dark, twitching shadows hugged the edges of the trees. What the hell is in this place?

Thum! Crick!

The noises grew louder as something drew closer. Dan walked backwards his hand grasped onto Mark’s pack, pulling him along.

“Dan?”

The light continued to follow the sounds until they echoed from a wide gap between two trees. Dan stumbled around a root and his flashlight veered away from the gap, but something was glowing within it. Emerging like two bouncing taillights to a dune buggy were two red eyes. Puffs of steam came from what the boys imagined to be a snout.

“Mark, we need to run,” Dan whispered.

Mark nodded. His body trembling.

“Come on.” Dan yanked on Mark’s pack. His friend clumsily spun around and ran behind him, all the while trying to avoid any roots that may trip him.

The breathing under the red eyes turned to grunting and then a low, thunderous howl that traveled across the forest with an tunnel like echo.

Mark’s body trembled and his foot caught under a high root, propelling his body to the ground. He landed hard on his chest and a sharp bend in the root poked at his ribs. It was incredibly painful, and he couldn’t stand up without any support. He knew he was a goner for sure just to become chewed up, swallowed, and then molded into green plasma, but Dan had different plans. He pulled Mark up onto his feet and aided him with an arm around his shoulder until they there were behind the thick trunk of an old oak tree.

“Stay here, but get ready to run,” Dan ordered.

Mark nodded and grimaced at the pain that returned and ebbed from his chest. He didn’t know what was going on. It took a few moments for the air to fully return to his lungs.

Dan peered his head over the side of the oak tree. His short snout well hidden behind the thick core of a mangled branch. The beast leapt from tree to tree, sniffing the rough and moldy bark, eager to find a familiar scent of its prey. Short, but powerful quakes followed its destructive movements. In frustration, large bearlike claws pulled off the craggy skin of a nearby tree and threw it in one swift motion as if it was forcing open a door. Dan moved his head from incoming wooden shrapnel, that could have ripped open his face, but he saw it. Snapping its large, dark head and snorting loudly from a pig shaped snout, the beast started to take shape before his eyes. It was at least twice his height and walked on all fours like a gorilla. A frizzy mohawk stretched from its head down to its lower back, two mammoth arms the size of bookcases slamming down onto the ground with shattering force. In a few words the beast terrified him. He didn’t know what to do. It could pulverize him with its arms and hands, rip him in half or swallow him whole. A fate he was now thinking could have happened to Mark’s parents.

Dan looked over at Mark and knew from the sight of his friend’s wide eyes that Mark didn’t know what to do either. They were trapped, and a rampaging beast was sniffing the woods for them. It would only take a few more tries before it found them curled up behind the tree. He had to come up with something to do. He was good at that. He just needed an idea. He pulled out his goo covered handkerchief, studying it like a maid scrubbing out a spot on a dress, and then it came to him. A crazy, but possibly brilliant idea. He sifted through his bookbag, found what he was looking for, and pulled out a box of kitchen matches. He draped the goo covered rag onto a small bush that rested under the tree, took out a match from the box, and held the match in position beside the box. He looked over at Mark and made eye contact then counted with his fingers, silently mouthing the numbers.

“1”

The bush quivered as the ground trembled with a thunderous motion.

“2”

Two large hands grasped the bark of the tree with a firm grip as a pair of ruby eyes stared down at its prey.

“3”

Dan struck the match and it sizzled with ignition. He lit the bottom of the handkerchief and a spectacular chemical reaction burst the once dull and useless cloth into a ball of flame. Dan nearly burned his arm, but it didn’t matter. He swiftly turned around and using his voice now. “GO!”

Mark ran in the opposite direction of the beast into the darkness of the forest. All he could hear was his beating heart and his quick strained breathing. After a few hundred yards, it was quiet, and Mark started to calm down. We must have lost it! He paced to a light jog and grinned. Pfuff! A tremendous force yanked on Mark’s shirt pulling him forward. He turned and saw Dan with his flashlight pointed ahead.

“Come on,” he breathed.

Mark picked up the pace and followed his friend.

OOOOOOOOOWWWWWOOOOOOHHHH!!! A low, resonating howl traveled across the trees, followed by a long uncomfortable silence.

Dan and Mark continued to run into the darkness with no exit in sight, forever trapped in the woods with their mysterious captor.

Mark stopped when a familiar voice returned to his head. The voice of the ghost like woman, haunting Mark’s imagination. She sounded distressed. Quick! To your left! Follow the light! Mark grabbed his head as if trying to physically pry the woman out of it. Who are you? Why are you talking to me? There wasn’t an answer, but Mark knew he had to listen to her. She was right about his parents earlier and for a few moments he had forgotten her talking to him near the pond. There was just so much going on. He took a deep breath, calming himself down, and pondered his next move

Dan realized he was alone and flashed his light onto Mark through the small openings between the trees. He was now ten yards behind him, grabbing his head.

RAAAAARRRRGGGHHH! A deafening roar filled the dark void of the forest with a terrifying reminder. It was coming for them. A distant boom shook the ground like thunder of an incoming storm.

“Mark, let’s go!”

Mark looked to his left and his eyes lit up, unseen in the deep shade of the canopy. She was right! “This way!”

Dan saw Mark run off behind the trees. They needed to get as far away from the beast as possible and Mark seemed to be running perpendicular to its path. Dan flashed the light in the direction of Mark and then pointed it toward where he was heading himself. He needed to make a quick decision. Be alone and safe or follow his friend who has apparently just gone insane. The quakes grew louder and swifter. He had to decide now. His impending doom crushing and stomping through the narrow gaps in the trees. With a begrudging growl he ran in Mark’s direction. “I better not get killed!” he said to himself. He caught up quickly. He was, of course, the faster runner between him and Mark, but the beast was soon on their tail.

Glowing like a restless flame ahead of them was a wall of light. It was mostly obscured behind trees and leaves, but it made Dan and Mark smile. They were finally going to be out of the dark, but their happiness diminished at the heavy breathing and stomping of boulder sized hands. The beast was now running parallel to them as if they were racing. It snorted like a horse as it ran with the remarkable four-legged grace of a gorilla. Two crimson jewels glanced over at them from the beast’s head, keeping an eye on its opponents or possible meal. Dan focused the beam of light on its face in between the gaps in the trees as he ran alongside it. The beast snapped its head back from the light, but Dan was able to see that it ran like a gorilla across the forest floor.

Dan sprinted harder and could feel his legs beginning to give under the strain. His parched mouth and throat, crying out for water. It had been nearly a few hours since they entered the forest and he felt like he could go through his entire water supply in a matter of seconds. His body burning with each desperate stride toward the light. It didn’t help that he didn’t eat breakfast either.

The wall of light revealed something behind what appeared to be an invisible barrier between two worlds, one light and the other dark.

Mark broke through the veil first in a wide lunge and landed on his side.

Dan was next, but the beast changed its direction right behind him. Its powerful breaths, disturbing Dan’s short, brown hair. Its large, strong fingers attached to its equally impressive arms. Dan jumped and broke through the barrier between worlds. The warmth of the sun felt amazing on his cold-blooded face. A clear contrast from the goo covered forest. Dan clinched his stomach as butterflies fluttered within it and a deep fear marred his face as he descended to the ground.

Grasping tightly onto Dan’s leg was a mammoth, hairy hand. Dan’s leg went numb. Within a few moments, they both crashed onto the ground. The beast rolled as Dan thrashed about like a rag doll in its hand, bumping and sliding across the ground. After a few rotations, the beast’s body unfurled face down in the middle of the new sunlit place, lifeless.

Mark looked around, his eyes slightly squinted to adjust to the brightness. The warmth of the sun felt amazing and made Mark feel like he could run a marathon, but the adrenaline pumping in him made him want to vomit. His stomach squirmed at the sight of the unfurled beast and he wanted to run again and find a hidden corner that it would never find him, but he just froze there near the middle of what Mark can best describe as a clearing, staring at a large eight-foot-tall monster and possibly the dead body of his friend. Something squirmed and moved and Mark took a step back as the beast’s arm twitched and turned. He looked around himself for a getaway spot and noticed an angled flat boulder behind him and pictured himself hiding behind its far end.

“Ah,” came a weak voice from the beast.

Mark took a few steps backward toward the boulder. He pictured the beast waking up, grabbing him and tossing him across the clearing, but he stopped. The voice was coming from something else. Mark sighed with relief.

Dan staggered from dizziness and took a few steps away from the large massive hand that had weakened its grasp and stopped a few yards away. An unsettling pain throbbed in his right ankle and scratches and bruises graced the sides of his snout and arms. He felt around his body, trying to see if he had broken any bones. After a few moments, he took a deep breath. Nothing broken. He took off his bag and searched around inside. The lining was wet and cold. “Dammit.” He reached into another pocket of the bag and pulled out a canteen with a deep puncture into the steel. It must have grabbed onto my bag as well. He could feel the adrenaline ebb away as anger replaced it. “What the hell is that thing?”

Dan regretted asking the question as a thick, heavy eyelid opened revealing a shimmering ruby iris. It twitched like a hungry pigeon pecking at snacks. Dan was petrified. Nothing came to mind. No escape plan or witty remark. He was truly afraid. He looked around for somewhere to hide until he heard it.

A loud, high pitched wail traveled across the forest, making Dan and Mark’s scales shiver. A simmering cloud rose above the beast’s brown hide with the sizzle of a stir fry on a hot stove. Its two massive arms scrambled, scratched and dug into the ground. It spotted Dan frozen about ten yards away and crawled its way over to him. Wide red irises desperately focused ahead. It was within a few feet and rose its arm to grab Dan’s snout. Dan closed his eyes, awaiting his deadly fate, but nothing happened. He half-opened one eye and saw a smoldering arm falling apart, pooling into a pile of ash by his feet. The rest of the beast followed suit until there was a three-foot-high soot pile left in the middle of the clearing.

Next Chapter: 5 - The Silver Compass