It All Started With A Stumble #9

The orange sunset gave way to a black sky thick with stars. Rose curled up next to me, trying to get warm, while I tried to think. 
"You're thinking that's another crop circle? Except under the water right?"
She was right, "Yep, I am just not sure how we get at it, with those guys down there in the water." 
As if in response to my comment one of the raptors let out a startling cry. I crawled forward and peered over the ledge. In the pale star light I could make out their heads bobbing above the surface, treading water. How long could they honestly keep that up? More importantly, how long would the new 'water' circle last out there. It was the closest thing we had to a way home.
"We need to get out there some how!" I reiterated to myself more then Rose.
"The raptors seem to be able to swim a lot faster then we can Matt. We are just going to have to wait the out."
"I don't know that we can afford to do that. We have no idea how long those circles last or when or if a new one would form."
I glance up at the sky, hoping the clear night would some how clear my foggy and tired mind. Rose stood next to me looking up.
"You know Matty boy, I might just have an idea." She was looking up at the cliff.
"There is no way I would make it up there Rose."
"No, YOU wouldn't, I on the other hand..." 
"What and just leave me here?"
"Shut your mouth for a moment Brains and give me a leg up. Don't argue."

"Fine."
I interlaced my figures and Rose used them to lunge upwards, at first I thought she had slipped and would fall backwards down into the waiting raptors. But she clung tightly to some unseen hand hold above the over hang of our ledge. There she remained for a moment, just dangling. Then with a grunt she heaved herself up and caught herself another hold with her left hand. Fairly quickly, she made her way upwards and then abruptly disappeared. 
"Rose?"
"Yeah, I'm okay, do me a favor and get back against the wall!"
I had barely obeyed her request when I heard a loud grinding noise followed by a sharp crack.
"GET BACK!" Was all I heard as a landslide of huge rocks came tumbling down the cliff, not a meter from where I stood. I heard the rocks hit the water with an almighty crash that sent a few of the dactyls above screeching out into the night. Then just as quickly as the rocks had come, silence settled over the lake.
"Did I get the bastards?" Came Roses voice from above my head.
I peered over the edge and was immediately impressed with Roses stroke of genius. Bellow floating on the surface of the water, were five very dead looking raptors. I stared in wonder a moment to long.
"Well?"
"... Yeah, you got 'em! Remind me not to piss you off any more."
"There dead then? all of them?"
"I am surprised there's anything left of them."
"Great! Heads up!" And with that I looked up to see Roses silhouetted form leap out from the cliff. She plunged into the water a good five meters out from the bass of the rock wall.
"Coming?" She asked.
I stepped back from the ledge then rushed forward, diving out. I may have been showing off a little but, I mean the girl had just killed five dinos to my one. I entered the cool waters of the lake cleanly and come up right next to her.
"Shall we?" She smiled and we began swimming in the direction of the water circle.
I was not nearly as far as I had first thought, after about ten minutes we noticed we were getting close, even if we could not see the thing. It was also about then that I came to notice a major flaw in our simple plan. We knew we were drawing near because we had become aware of a current in the water which began to sweep us around in a wide arc.
"Balls! I this was not thought through so well."
Rose looked at me as if to ask why, then it sunk in, "Shit!"
"Definitely."
The current was becoming faster with each passing second. Each passing second... Funny now I think back on that! As the speed increase the size of circles we were being swept around in shrunk. Rose started trying desperately to brake free of the currents hold but it was futile. We were going in. 
"Come here!" I grabbed Rose and held on for dear life.
Our speed kept on increasing and our circles became sloped as we entered the while pool. As we spun down wards towards the bottom of the lake at a sickening rate of knots I could make out something familiar racing up to meet us. Below a bright blue dome of light could be seen, growing in intensity as we fell. The water seemed to be rushing around the dome, the dome responsible for the plug hole effect. It was nice to at least be proven right before you died.
We hit the blue light of the dome and with out warning the spinning stopped. We didn't die. Instead we were left laying inside a ring of dry lake bed. I stood up as energy crackled across my wet skin. Next to me Rose only managed to make it to her knees before she threw up. The light grew brighter. We might be going home.
However something was different this time. As the light reached a blinding intensity it began to flicker. At first it was like being inside a room as some one flicked the lights on and off. The flickering came faster and faster now and I began to be able to make out details around the dome. It appeared as if what ever wanted the lights off was starting to win out and as it did more details became clearer.
Suddenly the light show was over and I felt myself fall several feet to land on a hard surface that felt nothing like the bottom of the lake. Rose landed beside me in a heap and moaned quietly. It was difficult to see now the lights were completely out but slowly my eyes adapted and I could see our new surroundings.
We now stood, as best as I could make out, inside a large sphere roughly the diameter of the energy dome. The walls were very strange indeed and seemed to be made out of some variety of matted grass. The grass itself glowed a faint blue green, giving the room it's only light. At random intervals around the sphere odd branches, like that of a very old tree, reached out from the walls towards the center of room. 
It was at the center of the sphere that my eyes stopped dead. There seemed to be some sort of chair knitted together out of the ends of the branches. It was from within this dark space, that surrounded the chair, that a pair of eyes peered out at me and kept me frozen where I stood.

To be CONCLUDED...  

It All Started With A Stumble #8

We swam to the left of the spit of rock, trying to move silently through the chilly water. At first we would take deep breaths and glide underneath the surface of the lake, in hopes of not attracting to much attention from watching eyes. However the temperature of the water made this tricky and we eventually gave it up. 
We had swam nearly eight hundred meters, making for the area where the valleys encircling cliff came to meet the water and run around the lakes shore. As we reached the rock wall we became aware just how high the cliff was. We had no hope of climbing all the way up it. However, not twelve feet up the side of the cliff, there appeared to be a little shelved recess set back into the rock. Further more, it seemed that the only way to reach this recess would be by climbing up from the water, providing some safety. 
"We need to get out of this water and rest. I think that shelf is about the safest place we are gonna find around here."
"As long as the raptors can't get us, I don't mind a bit of climbing." With that Rose swam over to the wall and started pulling herself up the rocks.
It was difficult going, the rocks were wet and covered with a slimy yellow, green moss that broke away from the wall when you thought you had a hold. Above me I saw Rose go over the lip of the recess and then reach down to me. I took her hand and she helped me the last of the way. 
We both collapsed on to our backs and lay there for the longest time not making a sound. The rock was delightfully warm from the midday sun and helped to dry us out in little time at all. Eventually Rose rolled over on to her stomach and peered off to the left, her gaze running back along the cliff towards the valley. 
"They're still there." She said softly. 
I crawled over and lay next to her and followed her line of sight. Sure enough the five remaining raptors were all standing at the point where the shore met the cliff, jumping up and down excitedly. 
"Matt, do you think they will leave? Lose interest?"
"I wouldn't count on it. They seem pretty determined." I didn't think it was worth mentioning that I thought they may very well know how to swim.
"Well, what do we do?"
I reached into my back pocket, happy to still find my compass there, I took it out and we studied the needle. The little metal hand pointed with surety out over the water.
"Crap!" 
"What? Are we going to have to walk around the lake?"
"Mmm maybe." I was not so sure about that, "I think we should sleep on it."
"I'm getting pretty thirsty." Rose said.
"You what? Thirsty? We were almost drowned an hour ago, you can't be serious. Why didn't you drink on the swim over here."
"Get the hell out Matt! I had a few other things on my mind. Dinosaur slaying maybe all fun and games for you buddy but I am most likely going to be in therapy for the rest of my days. If we ever get out of here that is."
"You're right, I'm sorry. Well I will just climb down and..."
"I don't think that's going to be such a good idea." Rose was looking back along the line of the cliff where the raptors were slowly wading out into the water. 
"Balls! I thought so." I said.
"You thought what?"
"I thought they might be able to do that."
"What? swim? Jesus."
"Yeah, well I doubt very much they will be able to climb up here from the water. So maybe if I am quick I can go down..."
"The hell you will, that's a retarded idea." I had to agree, I was not the best climber.
"Well you're not going down there either so don't even let that enter your head love." Rose smiled at me when I said this and I was not so sure why back then. 
"Okay I have an idea. Take off your belt." She just stared at me and raised an eyebrow.
"I still think this is only classed as our first date buddy."
"Look, maybe later," I smiled, "But for now would you just give me your belt?"
"Maybe later? You're lucky you killed a dinosaur for me Matty boy." She said half under her breath as she removed her belt.
"Oh and your shoe laces." I added as I removed my laces and belt.
Once I had them all in front of me I began to tie them all together. The resulting length still was not long enough to reach the surface of the water. So I tore one of the sleeves off of my long sleeved t-shirt and began to tear it into ribbons. After I had knotted these on to our make shift rope its length made it to the water with a foot to spare.
"This is great and very clever but we don't have a bucket." Rose said.
"I know how this will sound but... can you take off your shirt?"
"You are kidding right?"
"look, trust me would ya? You don't want to drink out of mine do you? The thing is soaked in blood" I had checked and the bleeding had stopped once we were out of the water but the t-shirt was still covered in the stuff. I hadn't looked at the cuts yet however.
"You're smooth Matt."
"Hardly. Are you thirsty or not?"
"Fine." With that Rose pulled off her t-shirt and handed it to me.
"Mind on the task?" She said and i realised I was staring, hey I was fifteen.
"Ah yeah, sorry."
I took the t-shirt, bunched it up and then tied it to the end of the rope. The Raptors were now half way from the shore to our shelf, still plenty of time. I lowered the shirt down and let it sit on top of the water. Slowly it sunk beneath the surface and I felt the weight increase slightly on the line. After a few moments I quickly pulled the shirt back up.
"Head back." I said and Rose tilted her head back.
Taking the shirt I wrung it out over Rose's mouth and she managed to get a decent drink.
"Not bad Matty." She said smiling. 
We repeated the process a few more times and we both eventually drank our fill, the water tasting ever so slightly like Rose's perfume. 
Afterwards we lay her shirt out on the rocks so that it could dry before the sun went down. A cool breeze had started blowing in from across the lake and we retreated to the corner of our shelter. We put our backs against the, still warm, shelf wall and I pulled Rose close. He bare skin feeling much to cold. 
As the sun finally set the sky turned a brilliant orange, some where across the water a pillar of smoke was rising into the twilight sky, smog black against the many shades of orange. 
"Look!" Rose whispered pointing into the fading light.
Above us, gliding on the last warm air currents of the day, where three pterosaurs. Each with huge wingspans. They circled nearby a few times then settled on to the cliffs some where over our heads.
"I don't think they will bother us tonight." I tried to reassure Rose. 
But she wasn't listening, just staring fixedly out at the water. The last rays of sun had hit the water making it look like one big orange sheet of reflective tinfoil, dazzlingly bright. Except in one spot about two hundred meters out from the cliff.
Here there seemed to be a hole in the surface of the lake around which the water swirled down like water running out of a plug hole. I pulled out the compass again. The needle pointed directly at the strange anomaly. Just as I had thought, it didn't look like we were going to need to walk around the lake after all.
Bellow our ledge, our old friends had arrived. We could hear the raptors splashing and chirping at the base of the cliff as the last light faded.


To be continued...

It All Started With A Stumble #7

The raptors did nothing for a long time, they just kept circling us, staring. They seemed a little surprised to see us. Of course it was safe to assume that they had never seen any thing on the lunch menu quite like us before. Rose reached out and grabbed my hand, our new friends didn't like this tiny movement and a round of angry chirping issued forth.
"We're in deep shit aren't we?" Rose said under her breath.
"Oh, you better believe it."
In fact I was doubtful we would get to see the end of the minute. Yet still the cold eyes only watched. The one directly in front of me had bright red feathers down its arms and seemed, some how, to be leading the groups movements. Any second now their curiosity would give way to their hunger. I suddenly realised, our window was closing.
"NOW!" I screamed.
I yanked Rose forward and lowered my shoulder running straight at the red feathered leader. The raptor seemed shocked by my sudden movement straight towards it, I gathered this didn't happen to often for the carnivore. My shoulder connected with the side of Red's head and it was knocked off balance. We didn't stop to see how quickly it would recover, for now the group seemed to be caught up in a moment of chaos.
I crashed through the undergrowth dragging a bewildered Rose behind me. Though the trees ahead I could see the glisten of water shinning more brightly now. Behind us however, I could hear several angry raptors cutting through the forest. I was sure they would close in before we could make our way to the lake beyond the trees but we ran on.
With mental images of jaws snapping at our heals we burst out of the dense jungle and into the blinding sunlight. Ahead, only a hundred meters now, was a huge lake. Directly before us, a long spit of rock ran out into the dark blue water. I steered Rose towards it, as we ran I saw her turn her head to look behind and briefly saw all the colour drain from her face.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
"MOVE!"
We were half way along the spit, I heard a snap of teeth and felt the expelled air from the action against my back and some thing pulling on my t-shirt. The bastard had me. We were there at the end of the rocky out crop. I spun to my left turning on the run, with my right hand still holding Rose's I flung her off the rocks out into the water. Carrying my momentum around I turned, grabbing the raptor, still clutching my shirt in its teeth. It's head now against my side I put my left arm around its neck and shoved off backwards into the icy cold water taking it with me.
My body cried out as the cold of the ancient waters closed around me. The combined weight of myself and the small dinosaur drove us down, deeper then I had expected. Then the water around me became frenzied as the animal was thrown into panic mode. Our tiny section of the lake was roiling as the dinosaur fought desperately to find the surface. Should it make its destination I knew my momentary advantage would quickly be lost.
I clung tight and tick downwards, propelling us deeper into the darkness below. The raptor fought harder still, churning the water with its powerful legs. Twice I felt a searing pain, once in my leg and the second time down my side. The little light that made its way down to these depths began to shine red in the water.
As my lungs starting screaming for air, my enemies struggling slowed and eventually stopped. The raptors panic response to the cold water had caused it to burn up its air much to quickly. I held on for as long as I could, wanting to make sure it was dead, then kick hard for the surface. I broke back into the daylight and let out a cry louder then any noise I have ever made as air once again filled my lungs. For a moment I lay there on my back, just floating, the blood pounding in my ears.
As the pounding inside my head died down I heard crying and a soft splashing. I lifted my head to see Rose paddling towards me tears in her eyes.
"You ass hole!" It was not the kind of response one hopes for when he has just saved the life of the girl he fancies.
"What?"
"I thought you were dead, I though they'd takin' you. I didn't see you make it into the water. Not the time for hiding under the god damn water trying to scare me!"
"Sorry, I was a little busy killing a velociratpor? But next time I will check in with you first before hand." Knowing what I now know about women this was maybe not the best thing to say.
"Don't give me that shit buddy! Look at those things. We are screwed, you think you can kill one of those things?"
Thankfully I didn't have to answer because at that moment my recently drowned friend broke the surface right between us, unmoving. Rose simply stared at it. After a few moments of staring at it, she stared at me, her mouth slightly open.
"You?..."
"Well, yeah, that's what I said isn't it?"
"You, killed it? A dinosaur?"
"... It needed doing." I said smiling like a bastard and I thought she was going to get angry at me again but instead she just started laughing.
"You saved my life? by killing a dinosaur? Oh man, you do know how to impress a girl don't you?"
"I try."
Behind us I saw the raptors still standing on the spit, looking at us, unsure on what they should do now. I thought I remembered reading that dinosaurs could swim and was not to keen to sick around and find out. As impressive as I was I did not think I could drown another five raptors. Rose beat me to the saying so however.
"As good as you are, I think we better find some other place to get out, don't you?" I did agree. Although I didn't really fancy the idea of staying in the water all that much longer. Some how we had been thrown back in time, It sounded moronic saying it. We had already seen what was walking around on land trying to kill us. The idea that I was bleeding fairly solidly and chumming the waters, so to speak, was not comforting. If there was any hungry thing living in the lake, it was a sure bet it would be on its way toward us.

To be continued...

It All Started With A Stumble #6

Eventually the eyes, and the foot that accompanied it moved away and we fell into a restless sleep, a sleep that kept being broken by sounds that ripped through the night and chilled the blood in our veins. When my eyes would snap open at one of these nightly noises I could not help but feel as though we were being watched, more then that, being hunted. However every time I peered down into the gloom I could make out nothing at all to support my fears. 

The next morning I awoke to find Rose asleep on my chest. The sun had only just risen it seemed and it's dappled rays only just managed to break though the canopy above. Looking up into that green foliage I realized why we had survived our fall. The leaves were so thick and tightly packed that I was surprised we hadn't been tangled in them and caught further up. 

I let Rose sleep a while longer and reached into my pocket, pulling out the little compass I had managed not to lose in our ordeal. In the low light of the morning I could just make out the little needle pointing off towards the low lands, out, further away from the cliffs. By my reckoning that meant that either north had shifted or the needle was been drawn that way by another force. Hope was beginning to be rekindle inside me.

I woke Rose and we made our way down the tree. The going was slow and the tree was huge but after twenty minutes or so we reached the forest floor. Our nerves had been on edge climbing down the thick trunk and reaching the ground did little to still them. There was a very strange odor around the place and one could not quickly forget the eyes of the night before. My only hope was that those eyes only operated in the dark.

"Where do we go?" Rose asked in a whisper. 

"The compass is pointing that way." I said gesturing off to the low lands.

"So we're heading north?"

"I figure the only hope we have for getting out of this place is if there is another one of those... light shows. The compass is the only thing that points us to them. Perhaps there is another one over there, because last time I checked, that was not north."

"It's as good a plan as any."

We started out through the underbrush. As the sun rose higher in the sky the jungle became stiflingly hot and sweat began to soak my t-shirt. The thick air seemed to choke you rather then give you life. Every so often we came to a place where we could make out clawed tracks in the damp earth. Some of which were rather small, others made me want to press on at a much faster pace. Luckily however, through the course of the morning, we avoided encountering any of the animals that had made the prints.

We had been walking for hours and the sun was starting its return journey to the horizon when we first caught sight of a large body of water through the trees ahead. We had become increasingly thirsty as the day had worn on, not to mention hungry. Driven on by our thirst we began moving a lot faster through the ferns, our arms and legs now covered in hundreds of scratches, some of which were bleeding quite badly now. As I let go of a large frond, that had been jutting out into our path, it whip back against the raw skin of my arm. In my anger at the pain it had caused me I went to rip it up but stopped when I noticed its blood stained surface. I turned and looked back, many other of the ferns we had passed also had blood covering them. Our blood, a clean and very well marked trail as it suddenly appeared to me to anything equally as hungry as we were.

"Rose, stop." I hissed in the loudest whisper I dared.

But before she could respond a series a chirps and squeaks issued forth from the surrounding scrub. 

"Shit!... Rose, don't move." 

As I said this six very quick moving animals darted out from the bushes around us, encircling us, trapping us. As the six creatures began to move around us in a ever shrinking circle, I finally had a chance to study one of this strange places inhabitants up close. I locked my eyes on just one of the animals and instantly knew what was standing before us, sizing us up. 

The animal was around three feet tall and walked upright on two very powerful looking legs. It had two smaller fore limbs which still looked completely capable of inflicting a lot of damage. Each fore limb was feathered from shoulder to wrist and the animal kept its balance via a long muscular looking tail that bloomed at it's tip into a feathered brush. The predators began to snarl, their cold eyes staring firmly into our. We where in trouble. Big trouble.

"What the hell are they?" Rose said through gritted teeth.

"Those... are Velociraptors... God damn dinosaurs!"


To be continued...

It All Started With A Stumble #5

"MOVE!" I bellowed at Rose.

And she did. I tightened my grip on her hand and together we ran as fast as we could, heading towards the road. I recall wishing the night sky had not been so bright and clear, because as I looked back over my shoulder I saw the forest wall rustle, it seemed as if every tree shuddered as something huge moved within trying to break through. Another of the roaring screams filled the hot night air and at that a monstrous shape burst through the foliage and into the field.

"You gotta be friggin' kidding me!"

"What? What is it?" Rose asked panting as we ran.

"Just don't stop running."

We had reached the place where fence should have been, but it was nowhere to be seen, not that this surprised me given what was now running across the field after us.

"Where is the damn road?" Rose screamed.

I glanced again over my should and immediately wished I hadn't.

"MOVE FASTER!"

I could now feel the vibrations of our pursuer's foot falls through the ground beneath us, it was closing in. As we ran I noticed that the area around us was in no way familiar to me. About a hundred meters ahead of us I could make out a stunning vista in the star light and suddenly realized we were on some sort of plateau heading towards a cliff that stretched out in a crescent for kilometers. We were approaching the edge fast. Before us the land dropped away into a large flat forest filled expanse. Behind us I could now feel hot breath hitting the back of my neck. There was no place left to go. 

"WAIT!" Rose screamed.

But there was no time. I jumped out into nothingness taking her with me. I felt something slam against me as we went over the cliff and knew that our persistent friend was falling with us. I could barely make out anything as we fell, it felt like forever. All I could see where flashes of landscape bathed in silvery light, and nearer, leathery skin. Beside me I could here Rose screaming.

Then we hit. We fell for so long I, not for the first time that day, thought we would die. However hundreds of rakish arms seemed to reach out and catch us. They also succeeded in cut my arms all over. I came to rest in the fork of a large tree rather abruptly as Rose came tumbling down one of the larger branches that led into my fork and land right on top of me. For a moment she did not move, her arms looked about as shredded as mine and she had a nasty cut on her right cheek. I was starting to worry when she at last spoke.

"Ow!" She sighed not moving her head from my chest.

"You okay?"

"Ow."

"Yeah I know right, lucky this nice cotton soft tree broke my fall." I said feeling like I had landed on rock.

"Lucky I landed on something a little softer, thanks for having seconds at dinner." She looked up at me.

"Least I could do." I said and she leaned forward, for a moment I thought she was going to kiss me, when suddenly the tree we were in shook violently and the dreadful roaring scream returned. I had briefly forgotten about our falling friend. I had hoped it would not survive the fall, but somehow it had been just as lucky as us, even given it's size.

"You know what it is don't you Matt?" Rose's voice was barely a whisper. 

"Um not exactly." I said as the tree shook once more.

Peered over my shoulder down at the ground, Rose clambered over me a little to see, but the ground could not be seen, the light of the stars all got caught up in the jungle canopy above. All we could make out was the trunk of our tree and those around it running down into the gloom below. Lucky I could not make out the thing rocking the tree, I didn't really think Rose was ready for that yet. Jesus I wasn't ready for it yet. The tree shook once more and then the night seemed to go quiet once more as culprit moved off in the underbrush.

"What's with that cliff? and where the hell is the road?" Rose seemed to have decide to move on to other question.

"I don't think it's the road that has gone or the cliff that has appeared Rose." Rose looked at me and in the dappled light I knew she was waiting for more.

"I think we left, not the road and I think it was us that appeared not the cliff." She just lay there not moving. She was not a stupid girl. I knew she would have come to this conclusion herself but obviously needed me to confirm it.

"That light, the blue energy. It moved us?" The puzzled look on her face mirrored my own feelings.

"I think so." I sounded like I was telling her someone had died.

"Why? How?" She thought a moment then asked the more important question, "Where?"

"I am not too sure." I lied. I had a pretty good idea of where we were.

"I think we should wait up here till the morning." She said looking nervously down into the darkness below.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Thoughts of the pursuing shadow flashing through my mind.

"Hey, look, the torch." Rose was pointing off into the thick black soup below.

I could see the torch about twenty meters away, laying on the ground. Some how in the fall the switched had been flicked on and now its little beam shone feebly amongst the tree trunks. 

"In the morning we can climb down and get it." I said.

"Shouldn't we get it now? it might be dead in the morning." She said peering down at it.

Movement in the torches light quickly put all thoughts of going down to get it out of her mind. As we watched something moved through the light, too fast to make out any detail. Just a flash of green and brown and I thought I saw feathers to. 

"What the hell?" Rose sounded slightly more than worried. 

"We will worry about that in the morning, lets just get some sleep."

"Matt?... What's that?" The calm way in which she said this was completely unsettling.

I looked back down into the tiny patch of light, at first I couldn't see what she was talking about. Then my eyes saw it. At the base of a large tree, poking out from behind it, into the light of the torch was a three clawed foot with a larger sickle shaped claw further up the ankle just past that the rest of the leg vanished behind the tree and nothing more could be seen. I continued to stare at the foot, then gasped, when I noticed that about seven feet from the base of the tree a pair of eyes were watching me, just as intently as I was watching them. But these eyes weren't like mine, these eyes were cold, unmoving, unblinking and although they were just watching, I instinctively knew they meant me harm.

To be continued...

It All Started With A Stumble #4

I have to be honest, in that instant, I thought I was about to die. To my surprise though my life didn't flash before my eyes. I didn't hear angels or trumpets, or any of that crap, just a ever growing roar. There was however plenty of the white light I have heard so much about although this was minus the pearly gates. In those last few seconds as the light came bearing down I grabbed Rose and put my arms around her, as I did the light hit.
I know what you're thinking, U.F.O or something like it right? If you were I am sorry but I am afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. Just before the light erupted around us I caught a glimpse of the blazing object, it looked to be nothing more then a humble passenger plane. It ploughed into the field no less then a foot from the crop circle we still stood in, lunching dirt into the air. The resulting explosion should have killed us both. As we watched in stunned horror the explosion engulfed the circle but to our surprise never entered the ring of flattened grass. The fire and light arched up over our heads to form a dome of intense heat. Surely we would be roasted alive yet some how that did not happen.
"Look." I screamed over the roar of the concussive force.
The invisible walls of the circle's dome, that held back the explosion, started to crackle with a bright blue energy that gave off even more static, I could feel it rippling across my skin. We watched as the blue energy became brighter and brighter, whilst the flames and heat became less. To my eyes I couldn't help but think the dome was some how absorbing the explosive energy. The new blue light was intense and all the collected energy seemed to be swirling around the dome and gathering on top at the centre.
Just before the light became to much for us to bare I thought I could faintly make out the charred remains of a plane in the field beyond but I didn't have time to be sure, the light was blinding. I closed my eyes and squeezed Rose, I felt her trembling as she squeezed me back. Then suddenly there was an deafening crack as if lightning had stuck at our feat and every thing went black.


"ROSE!" I screamed into the still darkness.
At first I thought I must have been permanently blinded because I when I opened my eyes I was laying on the soft ground staring upwards unable to see anything. Slowly though, as my eyes began to adjust I began to make out the stars above. Some how the sight of them did little to comfort me, in fact for reasons I could not quite put my finger on it filled me with a mild panic.
"ROSE?" I bellowed again and thankfully this time I got a response.
"Matt?" Her voice was soft but not far away.
I crawled towards the sound of her and found her laying only a few feet away. I remember thinking just how quiet the night had become. It did little to ease that sense of panic.
"Are you okay?"
She considered this for a moment before she replied, "Yeah I think so. What the hell was that?"
"I have know idea. How are your eyes?"
"I was worried for a second, but no they are fine, you?"
"Fine. But I think we better go get some help real quick, there might be survivors on that plane."
"What plane?"
I was about to respond when I turned to the place I thought I had seen the plane, there was nothing. No fire, no wreckage that I could see. I wondered if maybe my eyes had still not become accustomed to the night again after the brightness of the dome, but if anything the night looked clearer then before. I looked back at Rose and could make her out perfectly. It was like being outside on a night of the full moon, yet the moon was no where to be seen.
"What plane Matt?" She seemed concerned for my sanity.
"I thought I saw one, I thought that was what hit us."
"Some thing is not right here," I had to agree with her on that, "We should really go."
"Yeah your right, come on."
I took her hand and turned to walk back towards the road as I did I kicked the handle of the torch. It's small but powerful beam flickered back to life and shone out across the grass. Rose bent down to pick it up.
"The grass is normal again."She said.
Sure enough all the blades of grass where standing straight up again, whats more they were no longer dry and brown like the kind that normally covered the field. The grass looked thick, fresh and green. What ever that circle had done had seemed to revitalise the soil or something. I pulled out my compass and checked it again, which seemed a lot easier by the light of the stars now. The needle sat still making no move which made me uncomfortable, as it did Rose to apparently.
"Lets get the hell out of here Matty, I really don't like this."
She tugged at my hand and we started back towards the fence. Rose shone the torch towards the road lighting our way. But its light now seemed harsh to me and I was suddenly over come with a spine chilling sense of mounting unease. My panic was nearing breaking point.
"Turn it off." My whisper was more an icy hiss.
"What's wrong?" She said turning off light, but the answer she got didn't come from me.
With out warning a wailing scream split the night. Despite the almost stiflingly warm air we both froze, my spine felt like it had turned to a pillar of ice as a second scream broke out and this time I could tell from which direction it had come. It was some place off to our left, further out into the field... No, I stared harder in the direction of the noise and there, where the field had once before stretched out for kilometres, now stood, barely two hundred metres away, what looked to be a thick dark forest.
"What the fuck?"
I can't remember whether it was Rose or myself who said it but it was all either of us could manage as the night was yet again broken by another, other worldly, scream. This time some thing primeval inside my brain clicked into place, like a key in a lock. A deep seated fear began to fill my body, drowning all rational thought in a sea of pure terror. As this tide finally swallowed me up and all else sunk beneath its roiling waves I found that only one thought remained.


RUN.


To be continue...

It All Started With A Stumble #3

Dinner was amazing, Maggie had truly out done herself. It must've had something to do with Rose being there and her wanting to impress, we rarely had guests. The conversation at the table had been light and very entertaining. Rose smiled and laughed which kept me doing the same. Maggie played the part of 'awesome older sister' for the night, instead of her more straight edge mother type role. Not that there was much difference between the two. 
Afterwards I did the washing up while the girls chatted, to quietly for my liking, I only caught every second or third word that they said but it was all peppered with laughter so it couldn't have been that bad.
"Leave the drying up Matty. You should probably walk Rose home it's getting late."
"Oh... okay, no worries Mags." I was more then a little surprised. I had expected Maggie would tell me to wait at home while she dropped Rose off in her car. Ah! how surprisingly wonderful sisters can be at times. She came over and gently squeezed my shoulder.
"I am still pissed," although her voice did not sound like she was, "but she is gorgeous and I can't argue with your taste. I expect you back home in an hour and a half." She smiled. I looked at her with my mouth hanging slightly open from shock. Her smile broadened.
"The clocks runnin' buddy."
I dried my hands and headed over to the front door where Rose was already waiting for me, grinning form ear to ear.
"Told you it would be fine." She said.
"But how?" 
"If you're lucky I will tell you on the way. You got that compass?"
"Yeah and a torch." I replied handing her the small light.
"Ah... Good thinking." 
With that she grab my hand and led me out the door. I marvelled out how soft her skin was. When we had reached the end of the drive way I tried to get a little more information our of her as to how she had managed to let Maggie walk her home.
"I told her I liked you." At this I choked a little.
"Wha... I mean what?"
"I just told her I liked you and would it be okay if you walked me home."
"I... I see... um good thinking. But?" It was the only question I could come up with, I wasn't even sure it was a question, she obviously understood its meaning because I could make out her huge grin in the starlight.
"Thought you'd like that. Come on we don't have that long." 
She started jogging along the road towards Kreen's farm. Her had still firmly gripping mine and I just allowed my self to be pulled along. I was not totally capable thought yet. I was still stunned. It was a very clever thing to have said to Maggie but was there any thing else behind it. I was already beginning to see how a girl could perhaps drive a boy nuts. They were kind of all consuming.
We were both completely out of breath by the time we reached the spot in the fence where the big rock, which I had hit that morning, sat in the gutter marking the place. We both took a moment to catch our breath. It was around seven o'clock and the days heat, still stored in the ground, was not going to let us forget what a scorcher it had been. I looked towards the area in the field where I thought the circle had been. I at first I could not make out much, the birds seemed to have all left, then I noticed a lighter patch of ground and realised it was the crop circle.


By the time we had scrambled over the fence our eyes seemed to have well and truly adjusted to the starry light. One of the nicer points to living out in the middle of no where was that the stars were so much brighter then in the cities.
"Before we go any further we should check that compass." 
"Good idea." 
Rose took out the torch and I pulled the little compass out of my back pocket. Rose stood right next to me, closer then I thought she had to, not that I was complaining, and flicked the little light on. It turned out my hunch had been correct. The needle should have pointed off to some point behind us, north, but it did not. Instead it point straight out into the field ahead of us.
"Damn you're clever aren't you?" and I was rewarded with another kiss, this time on the cheek.
"I try." I said with a smile, "Come on, lets take another look."
As we got within a few feet of the flattened grass the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand up again.
"Is it just me getting that?"
"What? that static kinda feeling?" she asked.
"Yeah exactly."
"Nope it;s not just you." Sure enough in the light of the torch I could see strands of her red hair starting to stand up and I laughed.
"I wouldn't be laughing boy, your's no better." 
I ran my hand over the space four inches above my head and there it was all my hair up on its end to.
"Do you think its dangerous?" She sounded more excited then concerned.
"Maybe. It's definitely not normal, I know that much."
Suddenly stepping into that circle seemed very stupid and I knew in that moment she agreed because she squeezed my hand that much tighter. I am still not sure why, with that thought in my head, I did what I did next. Maybe I was trying to impress her or maybe there were other forces at work, I'll never know. 
"Shall we?" I said smiling at her. 
And with that we both stepped across the threshold and into the circle. Instantly the torch went out and things seemed a little darker.
"Did you turn it off?" I asked hoping the answer was yes.
"Nuh..uh." Just what I'd thought.
"But your watch is still working right?"
"Hang on, I can't see... Yeah it's working, but it's a old wind up one, my mums. Would that make a difference?"
"It might." If it had no electrical parts to it, that may explain why it was still running.
"A magnetic field wouldn't do that to the torch though, would it?"
"I wouldn't have thought so..." Then it hit me, "but an electomagnetic field might."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I read to much."
"No such thing." She said, "Check the compass." 
I had forgotten all about it so I took it back out. At first I could not make out the needle at all. In fact it appeared to have vanished but as I held it closer to my face I realised it was still there, it was just spinning to fast for me to see plainly it any more. I was starting to feel a little nervous about all this. When Rose yelled out.
"What the hell is that?"
I looked over my should, back towards the road, just in time to see, what I can only describe as straight lightening racing along the fence line. I blinked and it was gone leaving only a purple line in front of my eyes where it had once been.
"What was that?" This time I thought I heard the edge of panic creeping into Rose's voice.
"I have no idea. It kinda looked like purple lightning." I tried to keep my voice calm, I wanted to reassure her, even if I felt like I could do with a little reassuring myself.
"Yeah but lightning tends not to be purple and sorta comes down wards instead of racing along fences."
I had to admit she had me there. 
"Crap!" I said as more lightning zipped along the fence, this time it was not purple.
"That one wasn't purple?" She said.
"Now if it will only come downwards we are back in business right?" I smiled weakly at her then some thing stranger again caught my eye. The night sky. It was... moving? 
"Look." I said to Rose turning her head upward and away from the road.
"What the hell?" Was all she managed. 
The stars were moving, not as fast as the lightning had been but a lot quicker then they normally did. It was rather pretty to witness, I remember thinking at the time. But I didn't get much of a chance to dwell on that notion. It was then that I saw another light in the night sky. This one was moving a lot quicker. It was arcing across the sky like a shooting star coming out of the east, very very fast, and coming lower as it drew closer. Evidently Rose saw it to.
"Thats heading right for us isn't it?"
"Shit!" 
It was all I had time to say.


To be continued...