The fog seemed to be thinning somewhat off to the right, as Erin could make out the outlines of trees a little farther away than before. Elsewhere, it was as dense as ever.
Lynn had evidently taken notice of the variance as well.
“Wait a second, Erin. Maybe we should go in this direction. It looks like the fog’s not as thick that way,” Lynn suggested. “At least it will be a little safer for us in this area, being able to see a little farther ahead.”
“I’m with you on that,” Erin agreed, relieved that they would have a few strides warning before coming to the edge of a lethal drop-off.
They took a few steps to the right. Erin reached out and felt the texture of one of the trees as they passed by it. She drew a little stability from the solidity of the trunk.
Gradually it became easier and easier to see farther into the trees ahead. The two women were finally able to concentrate more on the ground under them, than what was coming up immediately in front of them. Even so, Erin’s sense of caution did not lessen.
As they continued forward, keeping a careful watch on the ground, Erin had no more doubts that their visibility was steadily increasing. Strangely, the illumination in the area was increasing as well.
“Full moon should be helping out, but this much?” Erin asked Lynn, taken aback by the rising ambience.
“I don’t have an explanation for it,” Lynn responded. “But you are right, it is getting much brighter around here.”
They took a few more steps, when both Erin and Lynn came to a stop. Erin saw that the fog was visibly receding around them. Looking over at Lynn’s bewildered expression, she knew that her friend was as struck with the bizarre phenomenon as she was.
With great apprehension, Erin stood with Lynn as they waited to see what the fog’s dispersal would reveal. Hoping for a landmark, a sign of their campsite, or even a member of their group, she scanned the growing periphery with great scrutiny.
The amount of light continued to expand, until the last layers of fog started breaking up to reveal a blue-green sky spread far and wide above them. Forested hills rose up all around them, as they found themselves at the base of an incline that led towards a long ridgeline.
After the initial shock of the sight of daylight and unfamiliar terrain subsided, Erin looked to Lynn to see if her friend was as stunned as she was.
“Where are we? That’s not normal. Something’s wrong with my eyes,” Erin said, looking at the teal hue of the sky, panic surging. “Something is wrong with me.”
“Then something is wrong with me too,” Lynn replied in a voice just above a whisper, her lips barely mouthing the words.
“Then what is it?” Erin asked Lynn after a few more uncomfortable moments had passed.
It was not what she had wanted to hear from Lynn. Erin had hoped that the problems rested with her alone, and that Lynn did not see what she was seeing. Whatever was affecting Erin’s vision was also altering Lynn’s.
“We’ve gotta find the others,” Erin went on, before Lynn answered. “Something’s gone wrong with us, Lynn.”
“So that’s how we walked all the way to the bottom of a hill, moved into another entirely different area, and found ourselves here? Is that right, Erin? And we’ve suddenly gone from night to broad daylight in less than half an hour? And how come everything but the sky is the right color, if something’s wrong with our eyes?” Lynn queried.
Her barrage of words stung Erin. She wished with all her heart that they were experiencing some shared hallucination, but knew better.
Erin frowned as she looked over at Lynn. “Then how do you explain this?”
“You think I know?” Lynn countered sharply.
“We got lost in the fog, and lost sense of time,” Erin said.
“For how many hours? And that explains the sky color?” Lynn shot back.
Erin glared at Lynn, unable to come up with a verbal response but not about to concede anything either. A heavy tension weighed the air between them down, as they continued to glower at each other.
They were given little time to resume their argument, as a loud, piercing screech shattered the still air. A broad, dark shadow swept across the ground, passing swiftly over their position and bringing their eyes hastily upwards.
“My god! What the hell is that?” Erin cried out, looking skyward, where she beheld the sight of a horrific-looking creature that was flying just above the tops of the trees. Its fierce, reptilian visage gazed down hungrily upon them, as it circled over their position.
The body of the fearsome creature was well over ten feet in length. Its extended jaws, opening with each ensuing outcry, revealed an arsenal of whetted teeth, arrayed into the unmistakable maw of a very formidable carnivore.
“Run! Just run!” Lynn yelled, giving Erin a hard shove to urge her onward.
Erin broke out of her momentary trance, lurching into a full run, needing little inspiration to hasten her strides. In an instant, both of the women were running as fast as they could across the forest ground. Lynn, with a slight lead, angled towards the rounded base of a nearby hill.
Behind them, the creature glided low just over the uppermost tree branches, relentlessly tracking the young women. The beast skimmed above the trees, its keen eyes searching carefully.
When it reached a larger break in the forest canopy, its wings tucked in suddenly, and it swooped downward with deadly grace and force as it leveled out beneath the trees.
The creature’s wings folded close to its body whenever it passed by the trees in its path, spreading wide in the gaps between the trees, and snapping down in the open spaces, giving bursts to its pursuing flight. The beast closed fast upon the two desperate women running before it.
Legs straining to the limits, Erin and Lynn reached the bend at the base of the hill. Dodging trees, and adroitly leaping over another fallen tree trunk, the two women looked frantically about for escape.
“To the right!” Lynn shouted quickly, breaking sharply to her right, running towards a wide creek.
The creek had cut a deep embankment, as its waters coursed steadily along their meandering route. Erin realized Lynn’s desperate notion at once.
Glancing back, Lynn checked to see that Erin was still close behind her. Erin was following right on her heels.
Erin looked over her own shoulder and stifled a scream as she saw that the huge predator was deftly flying just a few feet above the ground, gliding rapidly just a short distance behind.
It was closing on them far too fast.
“Down! And stay on this side of the bank!” Lynn yelled as they reached the lip of the bank.
In a flurry of motion that was a mixture of falling, twisting, and slipping, Lynn dropped and rotated to press herself against the near side of the bank. Erin tumbled in awkwardly behind her, almost falling out from the bank in the process. Swiftly, Lynn reached out and grabbed Erin’s shirt, pulling her in tightly. Mud and water was spattered all over them.
A second later, the creature shrieked in rage. It hurtled by just overhead, streaking across the surface of the creek as its prey evaded its imminent grasp.
“It will probably turn around! Let’s go!” Lynn said, anxiously watching the winged nightmare.
Once the beast came back from the other direction, their position would be abruptly turned from a means of refuge to one of vulnerability.
The cry of the monstrous creature suddenly changed pitches, as the sound of a great, sonorous roaring intermingled with it. The forest was filled with the deep-toned eruption, the furious cacophony shaking the air. Erin knew at once that the roar had not come from the flying entity.
The shrill shrieks of the flying monstrosity and the horrible roaring of the other denizen of the forest escalated, with both creatures now well beyond Erin’s line of sight.
Erin was not about to wait to see what the cause of the tumult was, or what had become of the flying creature. Most certainly, she did not wish to see the source of the deafening roar.