A Banished Land - Softcover

Jauch, Jake

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1440177708 ISBN 13: 9781440177705

Verlag: iUniverse, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

What if vampires exist? Not just vampires, but werewolves, dragons, and other creatures as well. What if they lived among us long ago? If so, where are they now? Are they dead and gone or are they someplace else? Well, they do exist, and that other world has been found, because that's where they are right now, and they're fighting for their lives!

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

At a young age, Jake Jauch was fascinated by the worlds that authors can create with their words. This inspired him to become a writer. He wrote his first novel at the age of seventeen. He is attending college where he is studying creative writing. He lives in Addison, Alabama.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

A Banished Land

By Jake Jauch

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Jake Jauch
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-7770-5

Chapter One

The evening air is warm and humid as I walk along the edge of the forest gathering firewood for the campfire. Sometimes it seems like the nights in Alabama are just as hot as the days. There's not a single cloud in the sky to obstruct the view of the sun as it sinks low in the west. I know that I should be heading back towards the camp before I lose the last rays of the sunlight, but the camp isn't far. I still don't want to have to travel the distance in the dark though. I run my hand through my short brown hair and quicken my pace.

The campsite is set up in a clearing just past the tree line and less than twenty feet from a small stream that trickles through the middle of the clearing. Short soft grass is the only vegetation that seems to grow in this tiny green oasis. Looking back at the sunset through the trees, it reminds me of the end of some romantic movie with the perfect sunset and a happy ever after.

As I get closer I see a lone figure looming near the campfire poking at it, trying to keep the flames going. He turns as he hears me approaching and gives me an annoyed look. He usually gives me that look when I sneak up on him.

"Take your time with the firewood Ivan," he says as he turns back to the fire.

Scott never seems to get mad at people, he just makes jokes.

"Sorry," I say setting down the firewood. "Why do we need a fire in the middle of the summer?"

"Well, you never know what you might need," Scott says adding a few pieces of wood to the fire. "It should help keep the animals away, but I don't think anything will come around."

I toss a twig in the fire and shrivel before it catches on fire. We sit in silence for a few minutes just listening to the sounds of the fire crackling and the crickets chirping. After about five minutes Scott stands and walks to the tent.

"See you in the morning," he says crawling into the tent and zipping the flap shut.

"Yeah, see you," I say listening to the sounds of the forest as they seem to dominate the camp site. My leg starts to cramp so I stand up and walk to the center of the small clearing. As I listen to the hypnotic sounds of the forest around me, my mind begins to stray to past events. In particular how I managed to be spending my first day of the rest of my life camping in the middle of nowhere.

It was two days before the end of my and Scott's senior year. We had become friends when we were both freshman and over the years we've become good friends. The one thing we shared in common the most was our fascination with swords. We would spend hours at one another's house practicing. Neither one of us ever became exceedingly good, but it was just a pastime that we both enjoyed. On the night of our graduation ceremony, Scott came up to me and wanted to know if I felt like going on a little camping trip. Having nothing else planned so close to the end of school, I readily agreed to the trip.

So this morning I woke up at four o'clock in the morning and drove for twenty-five minutes to Scott's house. Scott lives just outside of a small town called Addison. It's one of those towns where everyone knows everybody, so nothing exciting ever happens, and word spreads like a wildfire on a dry day. Once I got to Scott's house we proceeded to hike to the clearing that we're now at. We decided not to bring anything electronic, except flashlights. This meant no cell phones or portable video games. Two days in the woods with no contact with civilization sounded like fun and there was a slight hint of a challenge in Scott's voice when he asked me to go. This caused me to want to go just to see if it was going to be a challenge.

We started the hiking as soon as I got to his house and parked my car. Scott apparently had been to the area where we were going to be camping. When I asked him what the camp site looked like so I could help search for it, he just said it was a clearing. By the time it was eight o'clock in the morning and after four false clearings we finally reached the right one. After two hours we had the camp set up and the needed provisions set up.

After we had finished setting up the camp we followed the stream to where it emptied into a river. The river was quite a sight to see. There were trees on either side of the river creating a natural canopy over the water. The openings in the canopy sent golden beams of light into the clear water, forming shimmering patterns on the river bottom. Fish darted back and forth in the crystal clear water.

Naturally we thought it would be fun to see who could catch the most fish with their bare hands, since we hadn't packed any fishing poles. It only took a few minutes before we were both soaked through and finding it hard to breathe from trudging waist deep in the water. Eventually we grew tired of the fish evading our every move. It was a good thing we weren't depending on our catch to survive, because we both went back to camp hungry. When we had made it back to camp and had changed into some dry clothes only a few hours of daylight were left. So Scott decided to start a fire while I ventured off to find some firewood.

The sudden sound of the tent flap opening causes me to snap back to reality. I turn to see Scott climb out of the tent and start walking toward me.

"You still up," Scott asks squinting at me through the darkness. Looking around I notice the sun has set completely and the fire is burning low.

"Yeah," I say. "Why?"

Scott comes up and stands next to me, he stretches and yawns. He rubs sleep from his eyes and yawns again. Scott runs his fingers through his hair to fix it.

"Because it's been about two hours since I left you out here," he says raking his fingers through light brown hair.

"Has it really been that long," I ask trying to hide a yawn.

He stretches again and walks over to the few glow embers left from the fire. He gathers a few twigs and dead foliage from around him. After a few seconds of blowing on the embers the fire bursts to life once more. I look at Scott in the glowing light of the fire and can see something is troubling him. I yawn and walk over to the fire and immediately feel the heat. I glance at Scott again as he stares into the fire.

"I've seen that look on your face before," I say wanting to help. "What's wrong?"

"When I fell asleep in the tent I had a strange dream," he says adding a few sticks to the fire. "It may have been a premonition."

I can remember Scott having these types of dreams before. He fell asleep in class on e day after a test. When he woke up he said he smelled smoke, but as he became fully awake he couldn't smell it. Near the end of the class the teacher lit a candle, blew the match out and threw it in the trash can. Less than thirty seconds later the trash can burst into flames from the match. I had listened to him tell me about other dreams before, mostly little things like eating something for breakfast. After that dream and the trash can I started listening more intently, because his premonitions could include me as well.

Now that I think something is going to happen every little noise now puts me on edge.

"I packed a machete in my backpack if you want to use it," he says nodding towards the tent.

Knowing that I have some means of protection brings me a little comfort. Now only the louder noises will put me on edge.

"Thanks, that'll make me feel a lot better," I say standing and walking to the tent.

I sit on my knees...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1440177708
• ISBN 13: 9781440177705
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland