He always went hiking alone
despite knowing people
shouldn’t hike alone in case
of an accident or unexpected
dangers.
He didn’t need that kind of
help.
He was freakishly strong,
a seasoned survivalist, and
he always armed himself
with a gun.
Despite his bravado and his
preparedness, he felt an eerie
feeling that day when he
hiked in a forest he was
unfamiliar with.
He experienced something
he’d never experienced before.
The forest became ominously quiet.
No birds sang. No insects hummed.
Darkness spread across the
forest.
Frightened, he reached for his gun.
Too late.
In a millisecond, he was snatched
out of this existence by a
monstrous entity that resembled
a giant praying mantis and
devoured him in an unknown
dimension.
The authorities. The trackers.
The search and rescue dogs. The
hundreds of volunteers. Never
found a trace of him.
Bob Boyd