Free Creeping Terror by Justin Richards Page A

acrossthe road. Ben stood beside him as they stared at it. He could see brambles and bindweed threading through the branches. The sun was low in the sky behind the hedge, but there was no sign of light shining through.
    ‘Well, we know there’s no way round it,’ Ben said. ‘I wonder if it’s growing as quickly as it seems to be on the satellite pictures.’
    ‘I don’t want to stay here long enough to find out,’ Rupam said. ‘I guess this is why we brought the sword. Help me get it out, will you?’
    Ben unstrapped the sword and handed it to Rupam.
    ‘Are you going to hack a way through?’
    Rupam raised the sword. ‘Unless you think we can just push our way to the other side? It could be several metres thick by now. Stand back.’
    ‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ Ben muttered, keeping well out of the way.
    Rupam swung the sword down and it sliced through the branches and leaves easily. Soon he had cut deep into the hedge. He stepped in among the greenery, still hacking away. His blows were not so effective now as he had less room to swing the blade. But he was working his way deeper and deeper into the mass of vegetation.
    Ben followed at a safe distance. It was almost dark inside the tunnel that was being created and soon he could hardly see Rupam. The blade glinted as it caught what little light there was. He could hear it thwacking into the branches as Rupam forced his way through.
    Ben glanced back, wondering how far they had come. Behind him, the opening had dwindled to almost nothing. Surely it wasn’t that far? As he watched, the gap closed up completely.
    ‘Rupam!’ Ben called, suddenly afraid. ‘We need to hurry.’
    ‘I’m going as quickly as I can.’
    ‘But – it’s growing back!’ Ben shouted. ‘The hedge is growing back and we’ll be trapped inside if we don’t get through soon.’
    The sword slashed with renewed vigour. Ben hurried to catch up with Rupam, but his foot caught in the loop of a branch and he went sprawling to the ground. Brambles scratched at his face and hands as he struggled up again. Leaves battered his eyes and he tried to brush them away, but they seemed to catch in his fingers, curling, entwining. A branch lashed out and smacked into his legs. A long creeper shot up from among the greenery, wrapping itself round his thigh and squeezing painfully tight.
    ‘Ben!’ Rupam’s voice was muffled. ‘Ben, it’s moving. It’s alive !’
    A mass of grass and nettles seemed to rear up in front of Ben, hurtling towards him like a wild animal – clawing, scratching, stinging and tearing at his skin as he tried to fight it off. Pressing into his mouth. His eyes. He was dragged down into the soft leaves. The last of the light disappeared and everything went dark green.

Chapter 9
    S ILVER IN THE DARKNESS. A FLASH OF LIGHT CUT across Ben’s vision. There was a tightness about his throat – strands gripping and squeezing. Was that why he was seeing a flashing light?
    But the tightness was loosening. He managed to work his fingers under the bindweed that was strangling him, ripping it away. Someone else was pulling brambles and roots and branches away from him. A hand reached out of the darkness – barely visible – dragging him to his feet.
    ‘Rupam?’ Ben managed to gasp.
    ‘Who were you expecting?’ Rupam was out of breath. His sword flashed again in the near-darkness, carving out a path before him. ‘Thought I’d lost you .’
    ‘I thought I’d lost you.’
    Ben tried to keep close as his friend hacked a way through. Leaves still whipped at his face, while roots continued to thrust out from the ground and stab at his feet. Branches twisted round his legs andarms. But Ben managed to fight them all off and stumble after Rupam.
    Several times they fell. Several times Ben had to drag vegetation off Rupam as it threatened to overwhelm him and drown him in a mass of green. Several times Rupam did the same for him.
    It seemed an eternity before they saw the