Griffin Rock's Secret: A Cody Burns Fanfiction

Chapter 7

     As the night fell over Griffin Rock, the Burns family gathered in the bunker underneath the firehouse. Dani and Blades had searched above the woods for hours, flying high and low. Chase, Heatwave and their respective partners had searched on the forest ground after warning the townsfolk, but there was no sign of Cody. No footprints, car tracks, even broken branches or crushed plants gave any sign as to where their little brother and son had gone.

     Everyone was quiet, staring intently at their shoes or the floor as they tried to think about where and whom had taken Cody. Everyone at the firehouse was hoping that Cody was at least in a place where he could stay dry. Doc Green had been quite ready to help with a device that could search and locate people. He and Graham had been working on it through the whole day. Very faintly, a crack of thunder could be heard from above. It was going to be a long night.

------------------------------------------------------------------

     As Cody lay on the leaf bed under his makeshift tent, the rain that could reach through the trees canopy pummeling the ground, he curled into a tight ball as lightning illuminated the small cracks in the tent. He shivered, cold and quite hungry from not having dinner or a good blanket to cover himself. As the thunder rumbled menacingly above, Cody let out a shaky sigh, pulling his jacket tighter to his body.

     At first, Cody couldn't tell if he was imagining the sounds, or just hearing wind in the distance. There was some weird sound coming from outside his stick tent, which sounded like really strong wind blowing through the trees. As he listened closer, however, the sounds got even louder and clearer. Another flash of lightning illuminated the land through a crack in the branch wall near Cody's face, and he pressed his face closer to try and make out what was outside.

     The sound that he had heard was clearer now, though the rain and thunder muffled it seriously. Through the peep hole that Cody was looking through, he watched as something huge passed behind two trees, moving slowly, methodically, despite the rain and thunder. It was making its way around the trees, and there were times when Cody was able to catch a glimpse of it as it passed through a treeless section of the forest. A long, thick tail. Massive shoulders. The two strange lumps that grew from its head.

     Cody didn't even realize that he was holding his breath until he let out a sigh of relief as the sound got fainter and fainter. Then, as another flash of lightning illuminated the forest, Cody jerked away from the peep hole, hands over his mouth, his body shaking as he sat upright on the leaf bed. The creature that had been walking through the trees, the creature that had given Cody a sense of terrified awe, was standing on four giant fur legs, it's tail swinging gracefully to one side, and it's head turned toward his makshift tent. It's orange-yellow eyes had glowed and stared right at Cody's brown ones.

     The breathing was loud, like bellows as the creature approached the place where Cody was still sitting, frozen in fear. He tried to breathe, but his lungs seem to not work, his chest frozen, his heart pounding. He could barely hear the creature's footsteps over the pounding rain as it walked right past his tent. He heard its bellow-like breathing and its muscles bending and moving as it stalked right past his sleeping shelter. And then it was gone.

     Cody's body suddenly started to function properly again, his heart started racing, his lungs gulped in air as his chest ached from holding his breath in fear. All his muscles unclenched from their frozen positions, and they ached from the paralyzing fear that he had experienced like never before.

     He refused to sleep after what had just happened.