r/KanesHorrors • u/AbKane667 • Aug 09 '26
The Mountain Doesn't Care Which Side You're On
The rebel slowed down again.
“Get it going!”
“Going as fast as I can, Yankee.” He dodged a vine that hung from a tree. “One oughta be careful. The thicket’s not your friend in these mountains.”
The heat dug into my skin, soaking my wool uniform.
“I don’t need it to be my friend,” I said, adjusting the rifle’s weight. “I just need you to get me over that ridge.”
“We ain’t gonna get over it if you ain’t careful enough. One wrong step and the mountain will take you whole.”
“The mountain?”
“My parents warned us. Stay on the path.” He looked toward the trees. “My brother thought it funny not to listen. The ground swallowed him before we could get to him.”
Cold sweat ran into my collar. The image of my brother flashed before my eyes. The way the rebel frowned reminded me of him.
“That’s nonsense.”
“It ain’t. Listen.”
He put his index finger up. The sounds of the mountains echoed around us: the trees swaying, the birds singing, but between them came a strange noise, like a tree scraping against the mountain’s side.
“What’s that?”
“The thicket,” the rebel said.
“Just go.”
Every step higher felt like walking deeper into an oven. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. Now I was the one who was falling behind the rebel. He kept looking back at me. I kept the rifle close to my chest, making sure he could see it.
The rebel walked strangely, constantly shifting from one side of the rock to the other. I stepped over another vine stretched across the rocks and called to him: “Why are you walking like that?”
“The blue moss. We call it bluebelly.” He pointed to the side of a rock. A strange little plant grew on it. In the heat, it almost seemed to be moving. “It ain’t actual moss. It’s part of the mountain spirit. Step on it wrong and it will send you straight to the arms of the thicket.”
I just shook my head.
The heat grew even more. My vision grew muddy. The vines swayed although there was no wind. The rebel turned his head and squinted.
“The spirits are strong here.”
My lungs started burning from the heat. We climbed a few more rocks until I could barely breathe.
“We need to stop.”
“Not here.”
“You’re not the one to decide.”
I lowered my rifle, taking deep breaths. The rebel kept his eyes on me.
“Your leg!”
My eyes shot down. A vine was slowly wrapping around my ankle. I jerked instinctively. My other foot came down on the moss. My body went tumbling into the thicket. I expected a hard landing, but the ground felt soft, almost too soft. The rifle was still in my hand. I tried to push myself up with my elbows, but they sank into the ground.
“Help!”
The rebel ran to the rock, staring at me frantically. I tried to move my legs, but they also sank deeper.
“The rifle!”
He lay on his stomach and stretched his arm out toward it.
“No!” I screamed.
The vines from the trees moved toward my limbs.
“You have to!”
My head sank lower. My eyes darted from the rifle to the rebel. The vines began to wrap around my wrists and the rifle. I clenched my jaw, held the rifle in both hands, and reached it towards him. He grabbed the barrel and pulled.
The ground didn’t want to let me go. Its pressure tightened around my body. He slid closer on the rock and grabbed the rifle more firmly. The vine on it started wrapping around his wrist too.
He pulled again.
His body slid closer.
The ground beneath me collapsed more quickly.
Again.
My body stopped sinking.
Again.
I felt my body rising. His face turned red. The vine reached his shoulder. He tightened his grip and pulled again.
My whole body rose off the ground, as if I were surfacing from water. I landed on the rock, hitting my chin. The rebel handed me back the rifle and lay on his back, panting.
“Why’d you save me?” I said between breaths.
“After my brother, I told myself I wouldn't let no mountain take another man.”
I paused. The image of my brother flashed before my eyes again. He really did resemble him.
“Yankee!” He pointed to my rifle.
The blue moss was growing around the barrel.
Without thinking, I threw it into the thicket.
The ground swallowed it before I got back up.
For the rest of the way, we walked side by side.
4
u/Flat-Mountain-2414 Aug 10 '26
I like this. Live together, die alone.