Chapter 19
The Hike Part 1: The Forest of Doom
[Daisy]
The first part of the
forest seemed startlingly easy to navigate. Daisy, however, knew better than to
let her guard down from that. This entire forest and the very few pathways that
ran along it were designed specifically to trap any humans that made their way
out of the inner wall. It was a system that until this point had a hundred
percent success rate….well still had a hundred percent success rate. They had only just entered and it was already creeping Daisy out entirely too much with just the atmosphere that seemed to envelop it. She couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
From all the
information they'd gotten off of the drone, they knew there was only one truly safe
path and that was a giant tunnel through which all of the supplies for the
prison came in. There were other small pathways built leading out from each
door but they were all dummy pathways. As much as they were designed to look
safe with their tall fences and lights, Mrs. Kane had reported that the seemingly
innocent trees lining them were very much capable of snacking on a stray human. Mr. Summers had even theorized that the fences and lights were designed to retract at a moment’s
notice although they hadn’t found a way to actually confirm that particular
theory.
The one thing that
was very clear from the very first step into the forest was that it was
definitely not from anywhere near Earth, or at least it didn't come close to matching what they were taught in school. Daisy had never actually seen an Earth tree either so there was just no telling what these truly were.
One thing was immediately apparent and that was the lack of even a single patch of green, the whole forest stuck out in bright reds, blues and purples. It
could almost be beautiful if it wasn’t so deadly. Daisy could see how a set of humans who had never seen a tree before and being unaware of the dangers could be easily drawn into them and disposed of like the part of '06 had been.
Then it happened.
A massive clang behind them. The sound of the door being shut. It was
the very last indicator that their plan was now truly irreversible under all circumstances. There would be no getting back in. Clearly the aliens had abandoned whatever chase had been planned and they were now going to use the forest to get rid of them much like they had during the '06 escape. Daisy allowed herself a smile. An impossible task lay ahead of them, but the aliens had at least played their part perfectly by falling to the trap of relying on the forest to take them out. They would have no idea of the advance knowledge the five of them had. If they survived, they could very well sneak out of her undetected and the aliens would simply assume they had perished in the forest. Its not like any of these plants or animals left bodies to find.
Their earlier theory then suddenly decided it was time to confirm itself as the fences around them began to
recede, opening them up to the full scope of the forest, complete with all of
the creatures that lay in wait. And then just because all of that wasn’t
enough, the lights immediately shut off as well, plunging them into near pitch
blackness. Luckily the moonlight above them was fairly bright and it pierced the canopy of
the trees just enough for them to see a few feet in front of them. After running
around so many dark tunnels, this might as well have been broad daylight.
“Stay close to me and
keep a very close eye on either side of you,” advised Aria, “remember what was in that document and we can make our way out of this alive. We just have to follow the
path to that one tree and the make the correct turn and we should hopefully
come out of the other side rather than getting lost in the middle. The creatures of course, we have to take our chances. Whatever you do, do not lose sight of each other or this forest will win this fight.”
Daisy nodded along
with the others as they huddled together closer. That was going to be another
problem. The paths here, in addition to being very dangerous, were also
designed to lead them deep into the center of the forest and not towards an
exit. The Carpathians definitely didn’t cut corners when it came to things like
that.
The maintained a
relatively brisk pace as they half walked, half jogged along the path, doing their best to go as fast as the light
level would allow. The first parts of the path were relatively smooth and
easy to travel.
The suddenly it started to give way to more overgrown sections where a step in the wrong place might send them all tumbling to the ground and potentially to certain death. They slowed down to a fast walk. Daisy walked along between Harry and Aria, holding tightly onto Harry, not wanting to lose his warmth in this dark forest. The feeling of being watched had only increased over time and things were also starting to get cold as the night entered its darkest phases in the early hours of the morning.
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