Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #15 June 2015 | Page 89

the sound of my feet upon the gravel, when I decided
to stop and take a quick rest. I leaned against a tree,
checking to make certain the smoke was still billowing up into the sky.
I started up walking again and became acutely aware
that something was off. I wasn’t sure what as my
brain was still rattled from my crash. I stopped for a
second and glanced around, yet found nothing out of
the ordinary. Something was still not right, and it was
scratching at the back of my brain. A little voice was
screaming that I should run, but I did not know why.
Tripping on a rock brought the revelation I sought.
A large stone on the gravel path caught my foot and
caused me to fall forward suddenly, and I barely
caught myself by throwing my leg forward. My progress came to a sudden halt, but the sound of feet on
gravel continued. Finally it dawned on me that something was trailing behind me on the small broken path.
For a moment, I stood frozen with silent fear as the
echoing steps quickly faded into the night.

was an older home, although lacking knowledge of
such things I could not place its date of origin. It was
mostly brick and looked like it had at one point been
connected to a power line. The smoke I had witnessed
before did not come from the old house, but from the
doors of a storm shelter that were thrown open. It was
now merely a few wisps floating up into the night.
Regaining some strength in my legs and calm in my
mind, I decided that the house would be the best place
to find refuge from whatever hunted me until it was
daylight at least. Despite its age and declining condition, I preferred the dusty, dark safety of a roof and a
door to a smouldering hole in the ground. Stumbling
to my feet, I limped to the wooden door and tried the
knob. It opened with little effort, and to my surprise I
found that the inside of the house was in fairly good
condition. It was definitely not occupied, but someone
had spent time inside recently and even had a spare
bed and electric lantern set up in what would be the
living room.

Without a word I broke into a run, cutting myself on
branches that had overtaken the old road. The steps
behind me quickened as well, and now that I was
moving swiftly I could tell that whatever was behind
me was large and heavy. I knew it had to be whatever
had caused my car crash, and I knew that I had to find
shelter soon. If civilization rested with the smoke on
the horizon, I had to put my entire existence towards
reaching that goal.

It didn’t take long to make up my mind that this would
be where I would hide from whatever creature lurked
in the night beyond. I knew that even if it was a bear,
it would most likely not attempt to follow me inside,
and the windows here were not broken but clouded,
providing me with good cover. Despite my assured
safety I couldn’t help but feel a bit of apprehension
over finding a recently abandoned bed, and I couldn’t
rest until I was sure someone wasn’t prowling around
inside the house.

I do not know at what time the large beast behind me
turned from my path or how long it took me to reach
the clearing containing the old house. I only know that
by the time the branches moved aside and revealed the
destroyed abode, I was so winded that the only action
I could take further was to collapse on the ground.
Panting heavily on my hands and knees, I weakly
pulled myself to a nearby tree and rested with my
back against it.

I picked up the electric lantern and switched it on,
happily finding it full of power as it illuminated the
dark surroundings. I could see more of the house now
and discovered that indeed the inside had been made
to be as comfortable as possible by someone recently. I found that less disturbing than the signs that the
person had quickly vacated the area for some reason,
evident by the hastily discarded pyjamas and dishevelled &VF6