POWER LINES
with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

"He didn't notice when he first heard the slithering sound, a soft rustle followed by a dry, whispering, crackling noise, as if paper had fallen - or leaves. Then he felt something slide across the toe of his boot and curl to brush his pant leg, and as he turned back to the cave entrance, he saw that a thick net of greenery had replaced what he had hacked away a bare hour before. He tried to kick off the vines clinging to him, but succeeded only in embedding the thorns deeper into his ankles. Feeling an edge of panic, he jumped, hopped and ran, hacking as he went. He never saw the root looping down from the ceiling to lash itself around his throat while another knocked him to the floor."