Set your story during Polar night
Writing Prompt from reedsyprompts
It has been three weeks since the Polar night started in Antarctica, where it lasted longer than the day. Three members of the Northern Arctic Initiation Expedition (N.A.I.X) - Alexander, Samuel, and Liam, were in their temporary tent that they'd set up on one of the snowy mountains far from their base. The team was figuring out how they proceed to the vantage point.
"We're just 8 hours away from the vantage point, huh?" Alexander exclaimed as he looked at the GPS in his tablet, showing the coordinates and the distance of the said point. The three of them were tasked to take a picture of the Aurora Borealis, which seems to change locations every night. The problem is that they head out on a Polar night and the only thing that can guide them is the tablet in question, the headlamp, and the night vision goggles.
Liam was on his laptop with an antenna connected to it, serving as a radar to see if there's, serving as a radar to see if there were any potential dangers. "There's no animals nearby - no wolves, polar bears, nothing. We can reach there in no time, but the terrain we're on right now might not help us..." he said. Samuel was lying down on the ground, reading a novel book to kill time, "Yeah, going up this mountain is already long enough, let alone trying to go back down." he replied while his eyes were glued to the novel.
"Anyways, we still need to get it as soon as possible. We don't want a snowstorm to block our way back." Alexander said half-joking and half-serious, knowing how much he wanted to complete this task, "Did you find any safe paths for us to go, Liam?".
"Ah... uhh... There is, but it'll take us some time..."140Please respect copyright.PENANAtRtgUtxYXZ
"How long will it take us?"140Please respect copyright.PENANApeQarEq82p
"Given the path and the thick snow, it might take us... 1 hour 35 minutes..."
Alexander sighed, "That makes it 9 hours 35 minutes... Not to mention on how long will it take for us to go back..." He knew that N.A.I.X gave them a difficult task, but the three of them didn't have a choice. "Alright, let's go and take a rest for now. We'll be heading out once we slept enough." he instructed as Liam and Samuel nodded at his order, keeping their stuff in their bags and went to sleep.
Three hours passed, and the trio woke up from their sleep. Now that they were energized and ready to go, they packed up their tent and descended from the mountain. Despite the mountain is not too steep, it's still risky for them to make mistakes considering that they could cause an avalanche or even trip onto something and slide down. It took them a while, but they managed to reach ground level safely before they took the detour that Liam discovered. And what he said was true, the terrain, path, and the thickness of the snow alone was enough to slow them down until they got back on track.
The three of them found themselves in a thick forest, walking quickly as they listened to their surroundings for any possible animals that might attack them. "It's no use, this forest is too thick... we can't keep going slow like this...!" Liam muttered silently under his breath. "Liam... chill..." Samuel said jokingly, only for Liam to be annoyed by the icy joke that he made.
As they reached the halfway point of the forest, they found an abandoned cabin. Most of the wooden structures of the cabin nearly withered away - making the chances for it to break almost likely to happen. "Should we... go and look what's inside...?" Samuel asked as Alexander was surveying the cabin, "We can, but it'll cost us some time. Might as well get some intel, just in case they need it." Alexander got close to the cabin, carefully stepping on the wood that is prone to break until he reached the front door. It made an incredibly loud screech as he slowly swung the door open. "Yeah... this place looks abandoned, alright..." He thought to himself before gesturing Liam and Samuel to come close. The sound of creaking grows louder as their combined weight stresses the wooden floor.
"Stay apart, don't stay too close. We don't want any injuries or casualties here." Alexander informed, causing them to stand in the distance. They took their time checking the cabin, hoping that they might find something interesting before making their way back to the vantage point. Alexander asked both Liam and Samuel if they found something, only for them to shake their head and say 'no' in unison. Knowing that they've wasted their time on nothing, they put on their night-vision goggles and continue their journey.
Or so they nearly thought... As Alexander and Samuel exited the cabin, Liam accidentally tripped on his foot, stomping the fragile floor and causing a crack to happen. He couldn't react as his life was flashing in his eyes, but Samuel instantly saved him by grabbing the back of his clothes and pulling him across the gap and outside the cabin. Thanks to Liam's stomp, the entire structure of the cabin began to crumble. "Oh god... RUN!" Alexander panicked as he helped Samuel who was carrying Liam on his back.
The two of them sprinted without looking back, their eyes were closed shut as they sprinted down the straight path of the forest. "Make a mental note... Never approach an abandoned cabin, especially when it's winter..." Samuel panted, Alexander nodded his head before he straightened his body back, opening his eyes just to see that they were already outside of the forest. He looked back at the forest just to see that the forest was as deep and thick without any light on the other side.
Alexander held his head in confusion as he tried to figure out how they sprinted that fast, but he decided to shrug it off and prioritize his team's well-being, "Samuel, how's Liam doing." Samuel was squatting on the ground, looking at Liam who is still in shock from what happened. He tried everything to make him snap out of it - tapping his face rapidly or shaking his body until he decided to slap his face as his last resort. Arming his palm up, he said, "Sorry Liam, if nothing will snap you out of it... then this will do!" He slapped his cheek enough to get him back to reality.
Liam rubbed the cheek where Samuel slapped before looking at him, "Dude... what was that for?!" Samuel was apologizing to him profusely. Alexander was still had his eyes at the strange forest. Once the trio had calmed themselves down, they proceed to make their way to the vantage point.
"Liam," Alexander said140Please respect copyright.PENANAn3NaNWbWrX
"Yeah?"140Please respect copyright.PENANAtTZf1j6zp5
"Once we took the picture of the Aurora, I want you to find a clear path for us to head back."140Please respect copyright.PENANAgKgFvXLu76
"Sure, I can do just that... But why though?"140Please respect copyright.PENANAetttf5hcpY
"We're not going back through that forest again..." His voice was dead serious
Liam was unsure of why he wanted to evade the forest, but he agreed eventually. With what happened back there, they might have encountered a ghastly forest that exists on a Polar night.
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