The Ghosts Of New Orleans (A PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND CONTAINMENT DIVISION (PRCD) CASE FILE) Read Free Page B

Determined, she punched the accelerator once
again and the car responded.   As the front tires reached the shore, she could
feel the moorings of the bridge shake.  All four tires reached safety moments
before the bridge was swept downstream with the force of the wave.
    Eloise continued down the road – her formerly pleasant surroundings
now taking on a nightmarish quality. She found herself driving through the
canyon-like base of the valley.  Tall pines and oaks, once resplendent in red,
orange and gold leaves were now charred and black, their skeletal limbs
reaching out towards the road.
    Blue skies were now grey and churning, and the sun couldn’t penetrate
the insidious darkness.  Rolling hills and sparkling limestone bluffs were shadowed
and dark, silhouetted against the grey of the sky.
    She sensed danger all around, but knew that she could not turn back. 
    The road twisted and Eloise drove further into the hills.  Trees on
either side of the road entwined, creating a tunnel of sharp branches and thick
brush. She could hear them scraping against the sides of her car.
    She looked to the side and saw shadowed shapes of men and women in the
bark and branches of the trees.  Then the branches transformed into hundreds of
arms, reaching out, grabbing for her. 
    She held firmly to the steering wheel, pushing forward, trying to get
out of this hell.  She glanced at the faces and saw death, but not the natural
death that she was used to dealing with.  These were the faces of those trapped
in eternal torment, caught between this world and the next. And though they
reached out, she knew that she couldn’t help them.
    Suddenly, the roots of the trees were no longer earth-bound.  The
trees moved forward, onto the road.  The branches, now arms of rotted flesh,
grabbed for her.  With a powerful swing, one arm broke the side window.  Eloise
screamed as she swerved the car away from the searching arm.  The glass crashed
behind her as the back windows were destroyed and more arms reached in.  Eloise
swerved back and forth on the road, increasing her speed, trying to keep the
hands from touching her.  Ahead she saw a glimmer of light – focused on the
light and pressed the accelerator to the floor. 
    Bursting from the darkness, the car dove over the edge of a tall
bluff.  Eloise screamed as she plummeted downwards. She could see the dark
waters of the raging river waiting for her.  She screamed again, burying her
head in her arms as her car spun down towards the river.  As she waited for
impact, the sounds of the rushing river changed to a deep-throated laugh, at
once triumphant and evil.  She knew that she was lost.
    Eloise awoke with a start. She sat up in her bed, her cotton blouse
sticking to her sweat-covered body, her breath coming in gasps.  She pushed her
hair out of her face and quickly glanced around the room, taking a few moments
to get her bearings.  She looked at the clock, she had only been sleeping for
an hour, but it had felt like an eternity.
    She could still hear the tremor of the laugh echoing in her mind.  She
slipped her legs over the bed, resting her head in her hands for a few moments,
willing her mind to clear, to focus.  Knowing if she wasn’t focused when she
went out that evening, she was not only endangering herself, but also the
others who accompanied her.
    The knock on her door jarred her.
    “Hey, sleepyhead,” Sally taunted, through the door, “It’s almost dark, you
gonna sleep through the night?”
    Eloise shook her head. “I’m going to take a quick shower – I’ll be ready
in 20 minutes.”
    “Great. I’ll put together some chow.”
    Eloise grimaced, glad that Sally was on the other side of the door and
couldn’t see her face.  Sally’s idea of chow was granola, nuts and dried
fruit.  Her only other choice was an MRE and she was getting tired of a
constant diet of pre-packaged, dehydrated food.  Wisconsin-raised Eloise saw
nothing wrong with a thick steak, a