Welcome to episode 43 of Flash Fiction Friday with AB Frank.
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The writing prompt for this week:
Object: Trail
Action: Activate
Genre: Sci-Fi
Object Word Association: Track, path, hike, route, walk.
Action Word Association: Trigger, awake, initiate, set off.
Enjoy!
The trail wound from the valley and up the hillside in an abrupt incline. Daylight diffused through clouds and low-hanging mist. The cold earth, slick with precipitation, squelched under the hiker's heavy steps as he pressed on.
His breath became increasingly audible such was the stress of the climb. He noticed dark tree trunks but could not recall when he left the open air and entered the woods.
He leaned against one of the trees to fill his lungs with fresh oxygen. Now he was still, he took a moment to observe his surroundings. He couldn’t see six feet in any direction with the persistent mist. The tree cover had reduced the daylight further, that much he could see. A droplet of sweat rolled down his forehead and dropped off the end of his nose. Using his sleeve, he mopped up the sweat and took a drink from his canteen.
Unbeknownst to him, he’d lingered too long. His loud breathing, heavy footsteps, contact with a tree and sweat landing on the ground seemed to activate the woods. A white pointed shoot, vivid despite the white mist, grew from the forest floor. He titled his head and studied it. It shot out of the ground and before he could react it was buried in his stomach, injecting him with toxins. His body sagged to the ground, paralysed.
Roots slithered over him. They pulled him tightly into the earth and drew all the nourishment they could from his body. The white shoot burrowed through him and the pointed end poked through the roots to face the sky. It was waiting. It was hunting.
THE END
It Was Hunting