The Dreaming – Chapter 3
Poison Ivy
The two intrepid explorers trudged through the carpet of leaves back to the shuttle. A blanket of mist was descending rapidly around them and they were both eager to get back to the comfort and warmth of the ship.
They had almost made it back when something attracted their attention. Nestled in the middle of an otherwise insipid looking group of trees was a beautiful, violet coloured flower. Its oval petals were edged with a delicate white and the flower provided a stark contrast to the ubiquitous moss and yellow hues of the rest of the forest. The tree that it belonged to had huge, flat green leaves that were similar in shape to that of ivy. He decided Dr Goodfellow would never forgive him if he didn't check this out. It was worth a closer look, so Buck wandered over to the colourful bloom, but this unfortunately, proved to be a huge mistake.
Before he could react, a slim vine had shot out at lightning speed from near the base of the tree and knocked him flat off his feet. As he tried to recover, another snake-like tendril curled around his waist, pinning him to the ground. The stricken space captain tried in vain to prise it away but it was too strong. As more vines moved in to tie him down even further, Buck found him-self wishing that he and Hawk had never accepted this mission.
Great, he thought, as he battled to free himself of the organic bonds, we found the planet of the Triffids!
Hawk gave a cry of alarm and fired at the base of the plant, but the mist was coming down fast and he didn't want to hit his friend by mistake. For a minute, there was a hiss as the deadly laser made contact with damp wood, then a crackling sound. Another thin, green vine whipped out and caught Hawk's arm, knocking his weapon out of his hand. The fog was too dense to see what had become of it.
He heard Buck cry out, "Hawk! Go, get help, tell Wilma...." then there was only silence."
Sorry this one is so short but there's more to come...
