Night Season
C.W. James
(, May 8, 2019)
Seventeen-year old Jace never liked how his classmates treated Kyle, his chemistry lab partner and school geek. He never did anything about it, however, preferring the safe anonymity of the herd. Kyle claims he has discovered the location of a legendary lost gold mine and asks Jace, an experienced backpacker, to act as his guide. Jace agrees, not only to assuage his guilt over not helping Kyle at school, but given his family's shaky finances, it may be the only vacation he'll get. And, hey, finding some gold wouldn't hurt, either. Jace is impressed how Kyle persists during the difficult hike, and actually starts to like him. The second night on the trail, Kyle reveals a darker side when he confides that he wants the gold so he can use it to exact revenge on the “cool kids” at school. After Kyle insists he was joking, Jace decides to continue the trek.They find the mine, some gold nuggets, as well as something else: an ancient life form. After it attacks, Jace ends up alone and lost in the mountainous back country, with no food, no equipment, no map, not even being fully dressed. Jace has not only to attend to his immediate survival needs, but figure out how to get back to the trail head.