StoryTree
you are here

The Ninety-Mile Silence

adventure◐ Teen
5 contributors · 4 paragraphs deep

An hour in, Dell stopped dead. Fresh tracks crossed the trail, huge and clawed. "Bear," he whispered. The prints were wet. Whatever made them was close, and it was moving the same way they were, toward the beacon.

They backed away slow and quiet, the way Dell's dad had taught him, and looped wide around the tracks. It cost them an hour, but the bear never came. By evening the beacon was louder, and the tower's blinking light showed through the branches.

↔ version 1 of 2 of this paragraph — hover its sides to flip. The card below is what happens next.

What happens next?

1 ways forward
Vote share across the top 1 branches
A possible continuation

They reached the tower in the last light and climbed to the cabin. A solar panel still fed a little radio. Mara called out their position again and again until, on the fifth try, a tired voice answered, "We hear you. Hold on. Help is coming." They sank to the floor and finally let themselves rest.

HK
Hana Kim
6 votes · future 1 of 1