Level 1.6

Jim deals with whatever was screaming...

Falling backwards, Jim reached for his bag, scrambling to find his crowbar. Finding it, he  pulled it out of his bag, clenching it tightly. As he did so, the floor in front of him exploded. Jumping back towards the edge, Jim swore loudly.

The body fell limp as it landed on the platform. He winced, looking away from the body. You couldn’t really recognize it as human any more, not after launching itself through the tree stand. For the second time in minutes, Jim felt like he was going to be sick.

He didn’t have time to get himself to the edge of the tree stand before it started to lurch however. The madman must have taken out one of the support branches. As the tree stand started to slip, Jim ran up it, trying to not get hit by the tumbling body. Sliding the crowbar into his belt loop, he jumped off the rapidly falling tree stand and at the tree itself. 

Grabbing onto one of the tree branches, he listened to the tree stand crash to the ground. Grinding his teeth, he pulled himself up onto the branch slowly, feeling his body starting to scream in protest. Swinging his leg up, he sat on the branch and looked down at what remained of the tree stand.

It had splintered once it hit the ground. His bike was on the other side of the tree, thank god. His bag was nowhere to be seen. He groaned as he looked at where the stand had sat. His bag had gotten caught on one of the branches not far below. Just how was he supposed to get it?

Looking back down at the ground, he supposed he should be happy there wasn’t another one of those things down there. Scooting down the branch, he wondered just how long before there would be another one. These things seemed to react to each other’s screams. Just how long would it take for them to come running?

Shimming along the tree, he tentatively put his foot on one of the lower branches before moving onto it. Climbing along that now, he looked over at his bag. It was a branch lower than him. If he could just knock it off, it shouldn’t be too far of a drop.

Laying down on the branch, he pulled his crowbar out of his belt loop and slowly tried to loop it under his bag’s strap. If he could just do that, he could guide it off of the branch, Then he’d just have to climb down and ride out of here.

It took him a few tries to get the crowbar under the strap, but eventually he got it. He grinned. Just as he did, there was another scream. This one sounded far off, but he didn’t know how much the woods interfered with sound. 

Dropping both the crowbar and the bag, he watched it drop to the ground. Looking down, he swallowed. It was only a seven foot drop, right? That shouldn’t be too painful. Grabbing onto the tree branch, he swung himself over and let himself hang below the branch. Closer to the ground now, he let himself drop.

The fall wasn’t far, but the terrain below him was not the kind that would allow an easy landing. One foot landed about six inches higher than the other due to the tree stand, knocking Jim off balance. Falling, he closed his eyes and flung out his arms to catch himself. He felt wooden splinters digging into his hands. 

Opening his eyes, he saw a part of the madman who had burst into his tree stand. He had to bite his tongue to not scream. 

Jumping up, he checked his hands to make sure they weren’t bleeding. When he confirmed it, he ran over to his bag and crowbar and threw them on. Running to his bike, he heard another scream, much closer this time. Throwing his leg over his bike, he began to pedal away as quickly as he could.

Author's Note

Yeah, crappy description. Sorry, just getting home and tired as hell. Hopefully this chapter doesn't show it too much... As always, anything constructive is welcome.