Chapter 5

Partial fifth chapter of my attempted book.

       Lloyd awoke with a start, he gazed around himself, mind in a fog, where was he? Lloyd glanced around and could barely make out his surroundings in the grey light.  
          "What is this place? Am I dreaming?" He wondered aloud. Lloyd slowly pulled himself to his feet and swayed as the world spun around him, he threw out his hand to try and catch himself, his hand met the smooth cool surface of something and he steadied himself on it. Once the world stopped spinning and came back into focus, Lloyd took a closer look at what he was leaning on. It was a tree, but not a vibrant living tree, this one was grey, and twisted, standing like a skeletal sentinel in the land. Lloyd peeked around the tree and saw he was standing amid hundred of similar trees. What must have once been a lush vibrant forest, through some terrible calamity, had been reduced to an ashen waste. The trees stood stark against the sky, stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction. Lloyd took this all in and thought to himself that there's no way this could be real, he had to be dreaming.  
           After some time Lloyd found his legs had steadied and decided to explore this skeletal wood. Lloyd then began to wander aimlessly, not sure where he was going, not really caring. He watched as the trees all passed around him, each one just as barren and dead as the last. Nothing stirred in this forest, Lloyd was the only living being that moved through these woods, as far as he knew. As Lloyd wandered, he began to see flickers of black outside the corners of his eyes, unsure of what it was, he glanced over to investigate, but as he turned to look, the shapes disappeared. Lloyd was convinced that since this was all a dream, he was imagining things. As he walked on though, the flickers came more frequently, a shape looming in the corners of his vision. Lloyd began to feel panic gripping his chest and he could not say why. It was the sensation hardwired into our very essence, that feeling that something is staring at you. Lloyd began to walk a little faster, hoping that he could escape these shadows haunting his vision. They persisted however, seeming to draw closer and closer. The silence of these skeletal woods was broken only by the sounds of Lloyd's feet and the pounding of his heart in his ears. Lloyd began to glance around more frequently, paranoid, convicted that something was hunting him, that this dream was a nightmare. Lloyd began to hear the sounds of scratching, like fingernails against wood, he didn't know if this was all in his kind or if the sound was real. As Lloyd move onward and his panic grew, the trees seemed to draw in nearer, there skeletal branches reaching out, bony tipped hands grasping for him, seeking to trap him forever in the grim embrace of the forest. Then he started to run, imagining those hands clawing at his flesh and rending his body, he ran faster and faster, not caring where rushing headlong through the woods. Lloyd turned sharply trying to shake whatever he thought was chasing him, he tried this over and over flying deeper into the woods, he wanted to wake up and escape this hellish wood. As Lloyd sprinted between the trees, he glanced back, hoping to see nothing but his own footprints nipping at his heels. As Lloyd glanced back his foot caught on a root and he was flung to the ground. Lloyd crashed to the ground with a wrenching thud, the wind crushed from his lungs. Lloyd lay in the dirt groaning, why did it hurt, dreams don't hurt, what was happening. Then he heard it, the sounds of the shadowy beast drawing near, the rasping of it's fetid breath, and the click of it's nails on the trees. Gritting his teeth, Lloyd leapt to his feet, turning to face the creature and, nothing, there was nothing there. Lloyd breathed out a sigh and laughed to himself. 
              " it's all in your head you just need to calm down." Lloyd turned to go on his way, then froze. The Thing, as it could only be described as such, was as gray as the flesh of the dead. I hung in the air, suspended, a demonic marionette, it lacked legs, it's body just slowly ending in strips of ragged flesh. It's arms were nothing more than bones, tapering off to jagged points, it's skin was drawn tight across it's body, showing every bone, it lacked a face, all it had was a black pit, dark enough to swallow even the light of the sun.  
          Lloyd just stood there, too shocked to even move, how could a creature like this even exist in his worst night mares. Lloyd stood there, transfixed, unable to move or look away. The creature began to drift toward Lloyd, arms out to the sides, scraping the trees as it moved, it ragged flesh flapping, a grisly skirt. 
         "Dear God, please help me." Lloyd prayed, as this unholy monster drew upon him. Lloyd, through sheer will, managed to move one foot back, retreating. Lloyd's movement seemed to hasten the creature and it tried to lunge for him, bone spears outstretched. Lloyd fell to the side, narrowly avoiding being gored. He scrambled to his feet and fled in terror from this creature, this flesh puppet. Lloyd sprinted through the woods, screaming silently in his mind to wake up. Why couldn't he wake up? This was all just a dream, Lloyd just had to wake up. Lloyd carried on running, not caring where his feet took him, being driven by fear, the same fear that drove man to huddle in caves to escape those things in the dark.  
        Lloyd finally collapsed, unable to move anymore. Certain that this would be his end, Lloyd began to weep. Why he couldn't say, was it for his friends he'd never see again, his family, or the future he'd never have. As the tears streamed down his face Lloyd turned to meet his end.  The creature was gone, Lloyd just stared back at empty forest. Relief overtook him, and Lloyd began to sob even harder. Finally he was safe from whatever that thing was. Lloyd sat down, collapsing into the dirt. Thinking to himself, that maybe this wasn't a dream, and if it wasn't how did he get here, and what was that thing. Lloyd thought of his family and friends, wondering if he'd ever see them again. With these thoughts in mind Lloyd drifted off into a dreamless sleep.  
       Lloyd awoke with a start, he looked around himself, mind in a haze, where was he? It all cane back to Lloyd in a rush, the fear, the dark, and the memories of that thing chasing him. Lloyd was still stuck in the skeletal woods. 

Author's Note

any advice would be appreciated.