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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nGenre: Western<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plot: Hired guards protecting the mysterious forest are picked off one-by-one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Words to use: gate, entrance, border, boundary, kill, shadow, death, unknown, mystery, frontier, lawless, rule, challenge, face-off, smoke<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smoke<\/strong> billowed from the makeshift fire. Sparks flew as the logs dropped and Gareth stoked the fire with the metal poker. \u201cWhat do you reckon, Bill, about the mystery<\/strong> we are guarding? Is it something to do with the goings-on in that thick as molasses forest yonder?\u201d He pointed after laying the poker down next to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll I know is that it has me shakin\u2019 in my boots,\u201d Bill replied with a shiver. He had the barrel of his rifle resting at his side. He burst with pride describing how quick he was with his rifle to anyone who listened. He even had a medal. Often, until he knew what the sound was, he had a tendency to point at any random chirp of a cricket or cry of an owl. \u201cI am ready for it though, don\u2019t you worry.\u201d He patted his rifle and drew it closer. An owl hooted overhead, and without thinking, he grabbed the rifle and pointed it toward the tree. He let a sigh of relief as it flew away in silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt sure is the biggest challenge<\/strong> I\u2019ve ever undertaken,\u201d Gareth replied, smirking at the fear in his companions eyes. He pulled his jacket closer to his body and twisted his body to settle himself. \u201cTo be honest, I am not too fond of stayin\u2019 put. I\u2019m used to being out on the frontier<\/strong>, rambling, not stuck in one place, and I especially don\u2019t like not knowin\u2019 what I am guardin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, if we needed to know, I\u2019d reckon they\u2019d tell us,\u201d came the curt reply from Bill, who was mid-scan of the entrance<\/strong> behind him. Their job was to guard the entry to what was called Beware Wood and they were being handsomely paid. The rule<\/strong> was no one goes in nor out. If anyone was to venture in their parts, they were to alert someone on the other side of their radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With each breath that the forest expelled, the rusty hinges of the iron gate<\/strong>creaked, creating a sound like nails on a chalkboard. Dense fog, like bony fingers, rolled down the distant mountain. Moisture that came as waved saturated the air, it traveled through the forest and outward the two sentries at their post. It traveled the forest\u2019s border<\/strong>, then went back to where it started. Gareth furrowed his brow. He felt painfully aware of it matching his own breath as it left his body. He tried to alter it, but it settled back into the same pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI swear it smells of death<\/strong> in that terrible woodland,\u201d Bill said. The breeze seemed to get even colder. \u201cThat blasted fog is making it so damn cold. Here, let\u2019s add some more wood to that fire. The night is settling down and it\u2019s gettin\u2019 so cold. I don\u2019t come down with a fever.\u201d He laid two logs down on the top of the blaze, embers fluttering around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour imagination is taking off with your wits, Bill. Don\u2019t be a scaredy cat,\u201d Gareth said. \u201cWe just need to get through the night. Do you want to take the first watch or me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can,\u201d Bill replied, \u201cI won\u2019t be able to sleep a wink.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay, well wake up when it\u2019s time. I\u2019m exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI bet you haven\u2019t heard the rumors then?\u201d Bill asked, surprised at his ignorance. \u201cYou don\u2019t know nothin\u2019 about this forest, do ya?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat rumors are those?\u201d Gareth settled himself into his sleeping bag, straightening the blankets over himself. He looked over at Bill and his face looked deformed, dancing to the light of the fire and the deep worry lines settled on his face. A bead of sweat escaped from beneath his hat and rolled down his temple and disappearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis boundary<\/strong> is notorious. There\u2019s been others out here, guarding this wood and gate. They up and disappeared during the night. One after tother \u2014 and \u2014, \u201chis voice lowered, \u201cno one knows what happened to them. Just plumb vanished.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGood god, Bill,\u201d his voice became like gravel, \u201cI am sure that we ain\u2019t the first ones, but they musta moved on and found other jobs just like we will when we finish this job. I have no doubt we will be fine. Stop worryin\u2019, \u201d Gareth covered his face with his hat. \u201cI don\u2019t believe no ghost story, Bill. I don\u2019t got time for that. No, sir. Now, let me sleep.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay. But, it\u2019s the unknown<\/strong> that worries me. Why do they want this forest guarded at night? Who are they keeping out, or, an even more terrifying thought, keeping in that god forsaken forest?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill pointed his rifle toward the dark outline of the tree-line. Gareth let out a deep sigh and turned onto his side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI understand Bill, but didn\u2019t you tell me you just came from the lawless<\/strong>west, no wonder you\u2019re a shiverin\u2019 mass of bones. Not everyone is out to kill<\/strong> you. I ain\u2019t worried one bit, just you wait till light. We\u2019ll be fine and live to tell our stories of sitting in front of the fire, you telling ghost stories and scaring yourself half to death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, be that be, Gareth, but my one rule<\/strong> is protect yourself at all costs. One thing I don\u2019t want to do is have an old-fashioned face-off with a Spector, ghost, or anything unnatural. Human foes are good enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The air grew strangely still, a groan seemed to escape the voice of the trees beyond. With a sudden force, the sound of a metal click far off drew their attention. A shadow grew out from the forest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat was that?\u201d Bill jolted his body in a full 180 degree turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s just an animal, Bill. Would you pipe down now.\u201d Gareth pulled his blanket tighter. The crackle of the fire began to die down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUgh, the fire is starting to die already,\u201d Gareth sat up with a sigh and removed the blankets and put on his jacket. He grabbed the wood carrier and small bits of bark fell from it. \u201cI\u2019ll go grab some more. Try not to piss yourself, Bill.\u201d He let out a laugh as he strode toward the rear of the truck, leaving Bill sitting upright, his gaze shifting from one side to the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gareth placed logs into the carrier. He gripped it tightly when the sound of a groan echoed around him. He stopped dead in his tracks. He heard Bill\u2019s voice, high pitched, scream, followed by a rifle shot ring through the cold night air. He dropped carrier, the logs gave a loud thud as they dropped onto he dirt pathway. As quick as he could, he darted back to the fire pit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBill!\u2026Bill!,\u201d he called out. He repeated his name over and over again, his eyes frantically scanning their campground and the surrounding area. Only the sound of the wind blew across the forest canopy. The creaks and breaking of limbs could be heard loudly and definite. It was a pattern forming in Gareth\u2019s mind. His eyes darted, hoping Bill had just stepped away to relieve himself. But, why wouldn\u2019t he answer? And, what was he shooting at?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBill, stop messing around and answer me,\u201d he yelled, the forest creaked in response. A shadow grew, he noticed it, edging closer and closer. His heart rate spiked and his eyes grew big. It inched closer as his feet failed him, his knees became weak. He tumbled onto the soft dirt beneath him. The shadow wrapped itself around him and with a swift action, grabbed his legs and pulled him into the forest. The only sounds was his scream, then silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The radio crackled: \u201cAndrew to Gareth, come in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAndrew to Bill, come in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The forest took a deep breath and sighed with satisfied for the night\u2019s feast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Copyright \u00a9 Rachel D. Knepp.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author\u2019s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means\u2014including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods\u2014without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews or critical articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Edited version Genre: Western Plot: Hired guards protecting the mysterious forest are picked off one-by-one. Words to use: gate, entrance, border, boundary, kill, shadow, death, unknown, mystery, frontier, lawless, rule, challenge, face-off, smoke Smoke billowed from the makeshift fire. Sparks flew as the logs dropped and Gareth stoked the fire with the metal poker. \u201cWhat do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,18],"tags":[5,7,6,28,10,11,4,32,20,12],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror-story","category-western","tag-author","tag-fiction","tag-horrorfiction","tag-horrorstory","tag-shortstory","tag-story","tag-storywriter","tag-westerngenre","tag-writer","tag-writingprompts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":480,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions\/480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}