Science Fiction - Alex O'Brien - Bog

Ozzy Melbrook, a regular 23 year old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his friends find themselves face to face with an oddity of nature while backpacking the Appalachian Trail-an enormous Oak tree with a mysterious, endless cave behind it. When Ozzy finds a superhuman strength within him, he breaks a doorway through the tree using an everyday hatchet. A dark energy blankets the mountainside and Ozzy and his friends soon find themselves cornered by unearthly, demonic hounds ready for blood. With no choice but to run into the mysterious cave, Ozzy is confronted by an evil laugh coming from the man controlling the hounds. After killing his friends, this vile, relentless man offers Ozzy a deadly ultimatum: face the same destiny as his friends or enter through a cloudy, sulfurous portal that will take through time and space. Consumed by pain and fear Ozzy is left with no choice but to jump through the portal in order to escape from his death. Ozzy is then woken up under a powerful thunderstorm by a mysterious yet beautiful young woman named Marina. He is immediately hypnotized by Marina's beauty, especially by her miraculous, rainbow eyes. She takes him back to her cottage where she and her mom heal his wounds and protect him from the torrential rain. Soon after, their conversation is interrupted by the same evil laugh that Ozzy faced in the cave. At this moment Ozzy realizes that he had entered a game, a universal game of life or death. Will Ozzy allow Marina and her mom to face the same destiny as his friends did in the cave, or will he be willing to sacrifice his life in order to give them enough time to escape from this evil man's doings?