Read The Last Days for Free Online Page B

folding lawn chair recliner. They all had a fun day and now he was tired. He pushed his head back into the soft head cushion and looked at the tree tops that surrounded the campground.  It was now late in the day and the sun had fallen below the tree tops. The golden rays of the sun flickered as they moved through the leaves and branches of the trees as a breeze caused the leaves to gently sway.
    Mike couldn’t help enjoy the sight. Carter Caves State Park in Kentucky was a beautiful place. Beautiful and isolated in the hills of North East Kentucky. He had been coming here to camp for the last fifteen years.  After he and Kelly were married, he brought her here camping the following fall. He had held his breath and hoped. If she didn’t like it here, he knew that would be his last trip to Carter Caves. Fortunately she fell in love with the place and they had come back for a week each year after that in the fall to enjoy the mountains and the fall leaves.
     
    Mike’s thoughts were interrupted by the pop and fizzing sound of a tab being pulled off a can of beer close to his head. He glanced to his left and saw his camping neighbor, Chuck.
    Chuck was holding two frosted cans of cold Bud Light.
    Chuck held out one can towards Mike. “I saw you guys coming back and thought you might like a cold drink.”
    Mike smiled as he reached up and took one of the cans.
     
    Mike took a drink as Chuck made himself comfortable in the recliner next to Mike. Chuck pulled the tab off of his can and tossed the tab into the fire pit on top of the cold ashes and bits of unburnt wood.
    Last night Chuck and his wife had sat around the fire pit with Mike, Kelly and Kimmy roasting hot dogs over a blazing fire. After the hotdogs, Kimmy roasted everyone a marsh-mellow.  Of course for every marsh-mellow she roasted for someone, she roasted another one for herself. The adults talked and Kimmy ate. Mike had kept a close eye on her as she sat near the fire. He wanted to make sure ‘his daughter’ didn’t burn her fingers.
     
    The door to the RV opened and Kimmy came out, hopping down the steps.
    “You look all full of energy!” Chuck smiled at her.
    “She should be full of energy!” Mike laughed.
    Kelly came out of the RV behind Kimmy and shut the door.
    “Hi Chuck!” she said.
    “Hey Kelly.” Chuck replied.
    “We’ll be back in about twenty minutes.” Kelly said. “You guys enjoy yourselves.”
    Mike and Chuck watched as the girls crossed the campground on their way to the shower house that was next to the campground office about two hundred feet away.
     
    “It looks like you had fun today. Where did you go?” Chuck asked.
    Mike took a sip of his beer. “We took Kimmy on the Natural Bridge Trail to see the bridge.”
    “Nice family trail.” Chuck nodded.
    “It’s beautiful. Except for the top of the bridge.” Mike chuckled. “As soon as we got to the top of the bridge, Kimmy made a beeline to the edge of the bridge and looked down. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”
    Chuck laughed. “It’s funny how fast they can move when you don’t want them to.”
    “On the way back we walked Kimmy down the haunted trail.” Mike smiled.
    “Across from the campground entrance?” Chuck asked.
    “Yea. It starts down at the campground entrance and comes up through the woods for about a quarter mile. It ends across the little road behind us.” Mile replied.
    “I thought the haunted trail wasn’t open until Friday night?” Chuck asked.
    “It’s not. They only do the haunted trail on Friday and Saturday nights. We want to take Kimmy on the trail tomorrow night when they have all the scary ghosts and zombies.” Mike chuckled. “But we thought if we took her along the trail in the daylight so she would understand it is all make believe, tomorrow night wouldn’t give her nightmares.”
    Chuck laughed.” Good idea. Hey you want another beer?”
     
    Kelly had put Kimmy in a shower stall and handed her a wash cloth and