Katie ran. She had seen shards of light that resembled diamonds floating in the air. It had been beautiful, strange and terrifying all at one moment. The shards had danced round unpredictably but still managed to keep in some sort of formation. It had been like something out of a magical dream but Katie Haines knew she was awake. It was real, at least, she was sure it was. It looked real but when Katie had stepped closer and reached out to touch it, her hand went straight through. It got hotter as she broke through the glass shards. She tried to grab one of the shards, so she could get a closer look at it but there was nothing solid to grab. It like like trying to grab the air. Then she suddenly felt herself falling through.
She felt hotter and hotter as she fell and landed on a massive moss-covered log. The log, full of damp, cracked as she fell on top of it and broke apart. Splinters flew everywhere and Katie was sure that things had ran out from the log. The log she was on stopped snapping when she was halfway through it and she could quite comfortably sit in the gap she had broken out of the log. She looked round as she stood up. She knew none of the trees in the wood would be wide enough for her to do that. She began to brush splinters from her clothes, wondering if it was some sort of massive tree that the park ranger had kept secret from everyone. As she looked around she realised something was very wrong. Everything was very wrong in fact. She had been in the woods, now she was in a jungle. Trees and ferns for miles around, no people, no village, nothing of modern life. She couldn't heard any sounds of a car engine going in the distance or the voices of anyone. Behind her were the shining white diamonds that had brought her to wherever she was. She yelped out in surprise as something crawled over her foot and moved back. The large centipede that had just crossed her foot was now continuing on it's way, totally unaware of it's startled short cut. There were vines hanging down over her and sunlight only just managed to enter through the trees. The little sunlight that reached the floor was green which gave the whole place a mystic but eerie feel. There were chirps coming through the trees and the sound of graceful objects brushing against the leaves, as light as wind. Katie was sure she saw something flick about in the trees and heard a clicking call coming from deeper in. There was the sound of heavy footsteps marching towards her. She could smell all sorts of smells as if the world was made up of them. The smell of rotting wood, the taste of it thick in her mouth. Every bit of the place seemed as real as the wood had been on the other side but it was still as impossible as the diamonds floating about in the air. She heard the clicking noise get louder and wasn't sure what to do. She turned back to the diamonds and hoped they would return her back to where she started. She jumped back through the light shards and landed back in the woods.
The temperature in the woods was normal and everything was the same, as if it was ignoring the shining diamonds. She turned away and rubbed her eyes then looked back but the diamonds still hung in the air. That was why she ran, it was just so strange and she didn't want to be a part of it, whatever it was. She liked the way her life was at that moment and she didn't want anything to change. As she ran she heard heavy footfalls through the woods, echoing through the trees. She ran faster and faster.
Logan Wiles stared as Katie ran out of the woods. She ran into him, her blue eyes full of fear. Everyone knew Katie. She had the richest parents for miles and most of the other kids tried to make her seem worse than she really was, they told pointless rumours about her. They knew who she was but they couldn't say a true thing about her. Logan had been spotted by Katie's father and recognised as someone his daughter went to school with. He had been asked to find Katie and had been just about to head into the woods to look for her. Seeing her panicked, Logan wasn't sure what to do. He knew that Katie didn't panic over the smallest thing. "There's something in the wood!" she panted, fear oozing from her voice. She knocked against him trying to break out of his comforting grip. Then a scream echoed through the woods. Katie ran away from Logan, her ginger hair flying about her as she ran. Logan took a step towards the wood then turned and thought about going to comfort Katie. He thought long and hard, investigate a wood from which there had just been a scream or go and comfort Katie. He decided that the woods would be better. As he looked towards them, steeling himself to go in, there was another scream, an terrified call that filled Logan's ears and made him take an involuntary step back. He forced himself to continue forwards.
Meanwhile, Abby Maitland laughed as Connor Temple slipped in the mud again. After a third scream, he landed with yet another satisfying squelch. They had been looking in the woods for the whole morning and the only thing that they had succeed in doing was coating Connor in mud and probably scaring all the wildlife away with their screams. The detector still said that something was here and if there was then they would find it. Connor had been about ninety percent sure that his precious detector wasn't picking up interference. He stood up and tried to brush himself down, getting mud on his hands which he tried to wipe on Abby. "Don't you think the detector is broken? It could have mud in it's circuits." Abby said, jumping out of the way of Connor's mud covered hands. She hit the hand held device with the palm of her hand and shook it a bit and Connor took it off her as if she was a toddler holding a priceless jug. Nick Cutter walked over and looked Connor up and down, shaking his head at the state of Connor's clothes. Although he didn't say anything on the subject everyone knew Cutter was wondering why he had to end up stuck with Connor in a wood full of mud. "We carry on looking, it must be nearby." Cutter said as if someone had asked him what they were meant to do. Connor was still holding the detector but it was now coated with mud like him. He handed it to Nick who, with a disgusted and less than pleased look on his face, wiped it clean on his top just so he could see the screen.
Liam Durrows watched as people in black uniforms rushed round unloading boxes from the three Jeeps that had pulled up on the outskirts of the woods. Liam and his father had barely been given an explanation for the whole thing and his father was clearly trying to do something about it. His father was shouting at a pretty, smartly dressed woman called Jenny Lewis. The woman was trying to calm him down and Liam pitied her, she would be there all day at the rate his father was going. "I'm the park ranger and I haven't allowed anyone to bring guns into my park yet. Just because you've batted your eyelashes won't make you the first." his father ranted. He was waving his arms around madly acting as if he had been asked to give up the woods not just allow weapons into them. "This is a matter of importance." the woman protested. She had given up the flattery attempts when she had seen Liam appear from the house. "We have been given government permission to bring guns onto this sight." handing him a sheet of paper. "It is due to the thought that a dangerous and rabid dog has made it's home in the woods, threatening the lives of all the animals."
"I don't care! I'm not letting you wander in and wreck the woods!" Liam's father shouted. His father waved the paper around madly and hadn't even bother to read it. Liam could tell how keen the woman was about bring the weapons into the woods but he understood why his father wanted to woods kept safe. Liam's mother and father had met in the wood, it meant that much to the family. His father had been working on spotting foxes when Liam's mother had come running past, chasing after her pet dog. His father had helped her catch the dog and the two had got talking and had fallen in love. It meant even more because Liam's mother had died two years ago. "What if I were to tell you that your son and everyone else in the surrounding area would be in danger due to this quite frankly dangerous dog?"
"I wouldn't believe you, no rabid dogs have got into my wood." Liam's dad snapped back; Liam found himself smiling and continued to listen to the argument.
After about half an hour of ranting and raving, his father had been forced to give up. He walked inside muttering about complaining. Liam ducked behind a mass of trees. If his father, following the correct proceeder, couldn't do something to protect the woods then Liam hoped he could. He watched as Jenny turned to the men who were unloading the things and told them to carry on. Then Jenny walked triumphantly away. Liam decided to follow here to wherever she was going. It had to be somewhere important. Carefully the boy climbed through the undergrowth. He kept thinking that his blonde hair would give him away but every time Jenny looked round, she missed him. Liam still felt a bit worried. He wasn't sure whether he could be punished for following the woman and he didn't really want to be caught and find out.
Keeping to the shadows, Liam watched as the woman walked over to a young woman with platinum blonde hair and her companion, a young man with messy black hair. The man was coated with a thick layer of mud which made Liam wonder what they had been doing. They clearly didn't look like the type of people Liam expected to be working for the government, let alone the type of people the government would trust with guns. "You're free to bring in the guns." Jenny said. The young man looked excited but a man in a green jacket about 10 meters away looked back and shook his head. The man seemed to be the leader of the group and seemed to be a bit more at home in the woods. He had blonde-brown hair and seemed to one of the people who, in movies, became heroes by force. "Not you." he said bluntly. The young man moaned and turned away. "Abby, you go get a gun." The young man turned and smiled, beginning to walk away. "Don't even think about it, Connor." the man ordered without even having to look. Rumbled, the young man frowned and turned back to the woman who gave him an unsympathetic smile. The woman walked towards Liam and he tried to hide but there was no way he could hide from her. The trees gave him no cover as the woman walked forwards.
