THE CREEPING

Jason threw some wood on the fire as Mark, Janey, Eddie, and Harry all sat down around the circle of stones that held the small campfire within it. The tent was nearby and the last lights of the day were beginning to fade away below the horizon. The five friends had hopped the chain-link fence to get into Filmoure Forest, as there was no entry or camping allowed without a ranger. They hadn’t thought of a reason as to why, so they just snuck in over the fence. They had all figured that they would stay a day or two, leave, and nobody would ever know. Just a fun weekend for the group of friends. They often looked for places to hang out, but, living in Suburbia, they were always kicked out for making noise, as teenagers often do. Especially these teenagers, all were known to be a little odd, Eddie in particular considering that she is a girl but chooses to go by a boy’s name.

The fence had razor ribbon on it, but there was a section where it had fallen off, most likely due to a heavy storm. The teenagers were easily able to hop over the top of the fence, and just toss their packs over it. They hiked up a small hill and found a nice place to set up camp. It was late and getting later, but it didn’t really matter much to them, they didn’t plan on getting a whole lot of sleep. Their agenda included laughing, singing some songs, talking about their lives, sharing experiences, and building upon the already strong bond they shared.

“Hey, Mark, did you bring the video camera?” Jason asked.

“No,” Mark replied.

“Why not?” Jason asked in return.

“It was a bad idea,” Mark said.

“You suck,” Jason replied.

“Get over it, J,” Eddie said. Jason turned to her and pointed.

“Was I talking to you?” he asked.

“Yesh,” Eddie replied.

“Shut up,” Jason said, smiling. Eddie laughed, and then sat down on one of the rocks around the campfire.

“So, how’s everyone doing in school?” Janey asked.

“Who gives? We aren’t here to talk about school,” Jason replied.

“Well, excuse me,” Janey said, sounding pouty.

“Aw, poor kid. You should do yourself a favor and get over it,” Eddie joked. Janey smiled and introduced Eddie to a new species of bird.

“What’s up with you, Harry? You haven’t said a word since we got here,” Jason asked. Harry jerked his head to look toward his friends, as though Jason had startled him. Harry had been staring off into the distance, toward the woods.

“There are fences all around this place... I figure they’ve gotta be there for a reason, you know? They wouldn’t fence it up for nothing, would they?” Harry said.

“Oh, please. Don’t tell me you’re still scared of the Boogeyman. There’s nothing out here but us,” Jason said.

“I don’t know...” Harry replied.

“Come on, man! Don’t crap out on us because you’ve got the heebie-jeebies. We came out here to have fun, not scare ourselves silly and run home with our tails between our legs,” Jason said.

“We have tails?” Eddie asked.

“Let’s just forget this, sit here and enjoy the campfire, and roast marshmallows or talk about hot girls or something,” Jason suggested, ignoring Eddie.

“I don’t want to talk about hot girls, neither does Janey, unless there’s something she ain’t telling me...” Eddie joked as she turned to Janey and saw a now familiar species of bird.

“I just... I have a bad feeling, okay? I’m sorry, something about these woods just doesn’t seem right,” Harry said.

“Like what?” Jason asked.

“Well, nobody’s allowed here without a park ranger, and when they do come they have to be at designated points, and the rangers never leave. And they’re armed, but do you ever see any animals out here? Hell, do we ever even see any birds or bugs? Not a single one. There’s gotta be a reason for it,” Harry explained.

“He has a point,” Mark said.

“The hell he does. Don’t you go joining in his little wuss-fest. I just want to be here, have fun, get some sleep, and then in the morning we can put out the fire, pack it up, and get out of here, all right?” Jason shouted.

“Calm down, J. Nobody even said they wanted to go home,” Eddie said.

“Well what else is he implying?” Jason asked.

“Maybe we should just stick together, maybe all of us should sleep in the same tent,” Harry suggested.

“Oh no, no way. If my mom found out I slept in the same tent with three guys, she’d kill me,” Janey said.

“But she wouldn’t kill you for hopping the razor ribboned-fence and entering an illegal area of the woods via an illegal manner, especially when you told her you’d be at my house?” Eddie sarcastically asked.

“Eddie’s, right. Nobody’s gonna know about it, we’re the only ones out here. I would really feel a lot better if we all slept in the same tent. I know mine’s big enough, it’s even got a lock on it,” Harry said.

“Fine, we’ll do it,” Jason said.

“You guys didn’t even ask if us girls were up to it,” Janey said.

“How well do you know me?” Jason asked.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Janey replied. The others laughed, and Jason looked defeated and angry.

“Don’t worry, if they try anything, we’ll kill them,” Eddie said.

“Please, I really don’t feel too good about this,” Harry said.

“I think you’ve made your point very clear by now,” Jason said.

“All right, but I swear, if you try anything, any of you guys, I’ll call the cops,” Janey said.

“Oh yeah, call them and let them know that we’re out here,” Mark said.

“Dude, shut up. If it makes her feel better, let her know she can call the cops,” Jason replied.

“Well that’s not going to work anymore because now she knows she can’t call them or she’ll be in trouble. Way to go, genius,” Mark said.

“Well, I didn’t have any funny stuff in mind, so I was assuming she wouldn’t need to anyway, so could you maybe get off my back?” Jason replied.

“Cool your jets, guys. We’re here to have fun, not fight,” Eddie said, and then turned to Janey, “Don’t worry, you and me can take these wimps,” Eddie finished, jerking a finger at the three boys. The whole gang laughed, but as their laughter faded off, a very eerie sound could be heard echoing through the woods. It was like some sort of cry, but unlike anything any of the teens had ever heard before. All five of them were now staring off into the depth of the woods, where the cry had come from. It was far off, faint, but audible. Then, it was over just as suddenly as it was begun.

“Did you guys hear that?” Mark asked.

“I told you, there’s something out here!” Harry said, standing up. The five were all still staring into the woods.

“It was a coyote,” Jason said.

“There aren’t any animals-”

“It was a coyote,” Jason said again in a menacing tone, and glaring at Harry. Harry looked frightened, and sat back down. The five continued to stare off into the direction of the cry for a few moments.

“Well,” Jason started, standing up, “I don’t know about yous guys, but I’m not going to sit here and wait for nothing to come out of those woods and scare us to death.”

“Where are you going?” Eddie asked as Jason started to walk off.

“I gotta take a leak, if you don’t mind,” Jason replied. He disappeared into the darkness.

“Jason, maybe you shouldn’t go alone-” Harry started.

“Shaddup!” Jason called back form the darkness and trees. Then, the sound of crunching leaves below his feet faded away, and there was no sign that the boy had ever existed.

“So... how’s life?” Mark asked, both diverting the crowd’s attention and releasing some of the nervous tension that was filling the scene.

“Just being... life,” Eddie replied.

“How are things going with your girlfriend, Harry?” Janey asked.

“We broke up,” Harry replied.

“I’m sorry to hear that. What for?” Janey asked.

“She said I wasn’t there enough. I thought I was existing plenty,” Harry joked.

“Sounds to me like you’re ghost-boy,” Eddie said.

“Yeah? How’s your boyfriend, Eddie?” Harry laughed.

“Never ever ever, not me,” Eddie said.

“Really?” Janey asked. “What about all those anonymous poems you get in your locker... and keep?” Eddie’s face turned beet red.

“You weren’t s’posed to tell anybody I keep them,” she said, smiling. “I like them, okay? Whoever wrote them is pretty good. The four laughed.

“Actually, Eddie’s boyfriend is off taking a leak,” Mark added. The red in Eddie’s face was no longer embarrassment but slight anger.

“I can’t stand to be in the same room as J for too long, how would that work?” Eddie asked.

“Maybe because you’re so good at being the only one who calls him that,” Janey said. Eddy opened her mouth to reply, but before she could the whole group fell awkwardly silent as the cry that had been heard before was once again audible, this time noticeably closer. Then, a loud crunching noise was heard from the woods behind the group, and they all turned and stared toward it. Then, another crunch, this time much louder, much closer. Janey covered her ears and closed her eyes, and she appeared to mumbling to herself, and tears were building up in her eyes.

“What do we do?” Mark whispered.

“It’s getting closer,” Henry added. Janey was mumbling louder now, and tears were streaming down her face. Eddie grabbed a large tree branch and stood up. Henry and Mark followed her idea. Another crunch, this time just a few feet away. The three with branches prepared to strike whatever it was that was about to come from the woods. Then, movement; a shadowy figure emerged from the woods, and the three swung their branches at it. Jason shouted and jumped backward to avoid their swings.

“Jason, you idiot!” Mark screamed.

“Did I miss something?” a bewildered Jason asked.

“You scared us half to death,” Henry said.

“Well, I’m sorry, I’ll try not to return to camp next time, then,” Jason replied in a sarcastic tone. “What’s with her?” Jason asked. The rest looked at Janey, who was still crying and looking off into the distance. Eddie shoved her branch into Jason roughly, and then sat down next to Janey.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked in a soft voice. Janey sniffled heavily, and then coughed a few times.

“I think I am... I was just really scared, that’s all,” Janey replied.

“Maybe we should go home, guys,” Eddie said.

“What?” the three boys asked in unison.

“No way!” Jason shouted.

“Look, Janey’s upset, I think we’re all a little bit freaked out, I jut think we should go home, maybe do this another time, or just sleep out in Mark’s backwoods,” Eddie explained.

“We came all the way out here, we risked our necks getting in hoping nobody would see us, and now you want to just pack up and leave?” Jason yelled.

“Don’t you ever think about anyone other than yourself?” Eddie shouted back.

“Hey guys...” Janey said quietly.

“I keep you guys in mind at all times!”

“Apparently not our feelings or our safety though!” Eddie was yelling just as much as Jason was now.

“Guys...” Janey said, slightly louder.

“I care about your safety, that’s why I brought-”

“Don’t even say that-”

“GUYS!” Janey yelled very loudly. Everyone stopped and looked her.

“There’s something over there...” she trailed off. Everyone turned to see where she was looking, but only in time to hear a snap and some rustling, and see a tree branch wag back and forth as though something had just pulled on it and then let go. The teens all exchanged glances.

“We’re getting out of here, now,” Harry said.

“It was probably just a deer,” Jason explained. Harry and Mark were starting to pack up their things. Janey was starting to cry again and Eddie was desperately trying to comfort her.

“It had red eyes!” Janey shouted through her tears.

“You were probably delusional,” Jason replied.

“You’re the only one here who’s delusional, J,” Eddie replied to Jason in an angry tone before turning back to Janey and saying, “Don’t worry, we’re going home,” in a sweeter, softer voice.

“I swear, you guys are not leaving on me-”

“Stay if you want to, Man. We’re going home,” Mark said. He turned to pack some things as Jason reached into the pocket of his jacket. He pulled out a gun and fired into the air. The other teens froze, staring at him.

“Are you insane!?” Eddie asked.

“I told you, I care about your safety. We’ll be fine.”

“Where in the hell did you get a gun!?” Mark shouted.

“I figured there might be some animals out here, so I took my dad’s gun, is that okay with you?”

“No it’s not okay,” Harry added.

“Do you want to be safe or not?” Jason asked.

“When were you planning on telling us that you had a gun?” Eddie asked.

“GUYS!” Janey screamed. The four turned around, and she was pointing off into the distance, into a collection of trees and shrubbery. There were two large, glowing red eyes in the shadows and big, black claws could be seen parting the grass. Upon realizing it was spotted, the whatever-it-was darted off and into the dark.

“It was a coyote,” Jason said quietly.

“I’ve never known a coyote to look like that,” Mark said.

“We’re fine,” Jason replied.

“What makes you so sure?” Janey asked.

“It ran away as soon as it saw us, it was terrified of us.”

“He has a point,” Harry said.

“Let’s get going,” Mark said, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Janey said. Mark stopped walking and turned to look at her.

“What?”

“I’m fine. Look, I’m sick of always ruining everyone’s good time. I’m sure we’re all just scaring ourselves, it’s probably just a dumb fox or something anyway. Let’s all just calm down and relax, and enjoy the trip.”

“Are you sure?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah. Sorry, guys,” Janey replied.

“See? Everything’s cool,” Jason said to Mark, who glared at him before putting his things away. After that incident, the teens didn’t talk or joke around as much. A conversation almost started here or there, but died down quickly afterward. All of the teens, even Jason, were glancing around their surroundings from time to time; hoping that nobody else was noticing it. The glow of the fire before them only accentuated the worried looks on their faces. None of them knew it, but if any one of them had suggested that they go home again, the others would all have agreed due to their current feelings. Unfortunately (as it would turn out) for these teens, none of them did. Eventually they set up their tents (one for the boys and one for the girls) near the campfire, and set up their sleeping bags within and went to bed.

It was when Jason woke up at around 1:30 in the morning to take a leak that things started to happen. He finished up and started walking toward the camp. He felt a sharp pain on his ankle, like a bug had just bitten him. He grunted and abruptly stopped walking to scratch it, and it wasn’t until he was vigorously relieving his leg that he noticed something. The sound of his footsteps hadn’t stopped when he had stopped walking. Jason took a few steps forward, listening carefully, and then stopped. Sure enough, the crunching of leaves and twigs on the crisp woods floor stopped half a second after his feet did.

Something was trailing him.

And by now it probably knew that he knew it.

Jason ran toward the tent, and whatever was following ran after him. He had tucked the gun away in the far corner of the tent, a good 2 feet away from where anybody could accidentally set it off in their stirring. Right now he wasn’t sure if he wanted the gun; or if he just wanted to get inside the tent, zip up the door, and feel safe, much like a child who is afraid of the dark runs upstairs to the light when the bulb in the basement burns out. He ran faster now; the tent was close but he was sure that the thing was closer now. Jason reached the tent and frantically hit the ground hard with his knees as he bent down to reach the zipper that promised security if he could get it off of the ground then back down in fast enough time. He unzipped the tent, jumped in, and zipped it back up. Then, he waited, breathing heavily, waiting for a sign of something; anything really. There wasn’t enough light out for any silhouettes to be cast upon the side of the tent, so any hopes of finding out what had been pursuing him were soon gone. For a moment he just sat there gasping for air, wondering if whatever it was-

It was just a coyote. That’s all.

-was still out there.

But as he sat there panting and waiting for some sort of sign, a new thought occurred to him; a very bad thought; almost as terrifying as the thought of being chased through the woods by something.

Jason had entered the wrong tent. He looked down and saw only two sleeping bags, both occupied by girls.

Shit. If they wake up I’m-

There was a loud growl from the tent behind him. Not loud enough to wake anyone up, however; just loud enough to scare the crap out of him and make him cry out in fear.

Bad move.

As one of the sleeping bags before him started to rustle, Jason heard the stomping of feet as the whatever-it-was ran off into the night. Then; his fear of the thing was replaced by a new fear entirely when Janey turned on a flashlight, saw Jason in their tent and breathing heavily, and shrieked.

“Shhhh! It’ll hear you!” Jason tried to say as he approached Janey.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Janey yelled and tomahawked the flashlight at Jason as he went to cover her mouth, and it hit him dead in the forehead. The light of the flashlight was not the only light to go out in that ’s unconscious body fell to the ground as Eddie was waking up.

“Janey... what the hell?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Jason came into our tent... I woke up and he was just sitting there breathing heavily, telling me not to make any noise... he covered my mouth and... and...” Janey started crying and Eddie hugged her.

“Did he hurt you?” she asked.

“No, I threw the flashlight at him; I think he’s out cold,” Janey said. “I was scared though...”

Eddie looked at Jason lying there on the ground, blood starting to trickle form the wound on his head.

Eddie unzipped the tent and the two girls rolled Jason out onto the cold ground.

“Should we take him to the guys’ tent?” Janey asked.

“We can barely lift him. Besides, he doesn’t deserve it, he can sleep on the ground for all I care. I’m tired, let’s go back to bed,” Eddie said and the two girls went back into the tent. Eddie produced a small combination lock from her bag and looped it through the two zippers, locking the tent from any further intrusions. Then the two girls went back to sleep.

Jason woke up freezing cold and lying down on the dirt near the campfire, his head throbbing and grass and dirt sticking to the dried blood on his face. For a second he had no idea what the hell had just happened, but then it occurred to him that he was outside, and it was dark.

And he was outside.

He sat up frantically right as two beaming red eyes lit up, eyes that had been waiting for him. He turned around and tried to open the tent door, but it was locked. Jason screamed and the thing started to approach.

“Open the door! Open the fucking door! Oh my God, I’m gonna die, open the God damn door!” he screamed, and he heard rustling around inside.

“Go to bed, J! We’re already considering calling the cops on you in the morning,” Eddie’s voice replied.

“Please...” Jason cried, and turned to see the thing upon him and he screamed again.

“Go to bed!”

“OH GOD!” he screamed, and inside the tent the two girls heard a lot of rustling and screaming, and suddenly they wondered what the hell Jason was doing out there. Then they heard a sound that sounded like something splattering, and the screams were gone; replaced by a near-silence that was penetrated only by an occasional dripping noise. The two looked at each other.

“Jason?” Eddie called.

Silence.

Suddenly the tent door started frantically shaking as something tried to open it but could not get past the lock. Janey screamed, Eddie kept her eyes locked on the door Janey moved close to Eddie.

“What the hell? Eddie, open up, something happened to Jason,” Mark’s voice said. The two girls looked at each other.

“This isn’t some sort of joint scheme is it?” Eddie asked.

“What? What are you talking about? Just open the damn tent, Ed, there’s blood all over the place... oh, man, it’s everywhere,” Mark said. Eddie unhooked the lock and opened the tent door. Mark and Harry stepped in.

“Would someone mind telling us what the holy hell is going on out here?” Harry said. Eddie and Janey looked at each other.

“Sometime in the night Jason came into our tent. He was breathing heavily and then he tried to cover Janey’s mouth. She threw a flashlight at him. We threw his perverted ass out onto the ground, and he woke up and tried to get in again but we locked the tent,” Eddie explained.

“Did it not occur to you that he might’ve been trying to get away from something?” Mark asked. Eddie looked pissed.

“No, it occurred to us that Jason is a pervert and broke into a tent that just happened to be occupied by two girls who were fast asleep in nothing but their underwear,” Eddie said, suddenly realizing that she was in her underwear, but unlike Jason, Mark and Harry didn’t seem interested.

“Does this look like perversion to you?” Mark asked, wrenching the tent door open. There was blood all over the ground right outside of the door. Janey screamed.

“What the hell-”

“We don’t know, there’s no sign of Jason anywhere,” Harry said.

“Oh my God, what have I done?” Eddie asked. For the first time he could remember, Mark saw tears filling up her eyes. Eddie didn’t cry; Eddie never cried. Suddenly Mark felt very, very guilty. He put his arms on her shoulders, which were mostly bare except for the thin straps holding her nightblouse on.

“Hey... it’s not your fault. I’m sorry I blamed you... I’d have been afraid, too,” he said. She started crying and wanted to hide it; and immediately hugged Mark and buried her face in his chest.

“You guys are okay, right?” Harry asked Janey. Janey nodded, trying not to throw up at the site of Jason’s blood everywhere.

“So what in the hell happened out there?” Eddie asked.

“We don’t know... we heard Jason screaming and by the time we got out it was like this,” Mark replied. Eddie looked around, as if she was confused.

“So whatever did that... could still be...” Suddenly she sprang forward and closed the tent door, and as if on cue a huge claw popped into the door and began struggling against Eddie to open it back up. Eddie screamed as it started to win and then Mark noticed what was going on and jumped in to help. The zipper handle was tiny and hard for one person to maneuver, let alone two; and Mark ended up with his hands more around Eddie’s to try to get it shut. Harry and Janey noticed, then, what was going on as well, and began looking around for some way to assist. Eddie looked up and cried out as she saw a red glaring eye so powerful it permeated the tent fabric, and she tried more frantically to shut the tent door. Janey then picked up a shard of glass from the flashlight she had used to clock Jason and stabbed it into the hand that was trying to get into the tent (and at this point Eddie noticed that if it had gotten any further, it would have a whole arm wriggling around in the tent). There was a loud shriek that almost made both Eddie and Mark take their hands off of the tent zipper, and blood trickled off of the things hand. Suddenly it was writhing uncontrollably; but this time trying to get out of the tent. It finally squirmed its way out through the hole, scratching Eddie’s arm as it did so and causing her to let out a yelp. She let go of the zipper to stop the blood that started oozing from the newly acquired wound, and Mark took over. He quickly grabbed the tent zipper and shut it, then placed the combo lock around it and spun the dial. The whatever-it-was ran off shrieking into the woods.

At first they were all mesmerized; questioning whether or not they had really seen or experienced any of that. The looks in each other’s eyes assured them. Suddenly the pain in Eddie’s arm caught up to her, and once again she cried out and clutched the cut.

“Are you okay?” Mark asked.

“It’s a scratch... it hurts; but it’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine,” she said.

“Well,” Harry said, “I really don’t think that was a coyote. But does anybody have any idea what it was?”

The four looked at each other, hoping to find a spark of knowledge in someone’s eyes.

They found none.

“It’s claws were razor-sharp,” Mark said.

“I know,” Eddie replied.

“What I mean is, why did it try to use the door? Why didn’t it just tear through the tent? It was like it has never seen a tent before and wasn’t sure if it could.”

“Hell, it didn’t seem like it even thought to try,” Harry added. In the background Janey broke out a first-aid kit she had brought and put some disinfectant on Eddie’s wound (to which she let out a yelp as it stung, and Harry and Mark paused their conversation to see what it was, saw it as nothing important, and then lost interest) and then wrapped some gauze around it.

“A thought just occurred to me,” Mark said.

“What’s that?” Harry asked.

“Where’s the gun? Jason sure as hell didn’t take it with him to go pee, though he probably should’ve...”

“Must be back in our tent,” Harry said. Suddenly the weight of those words fell on them all like an avalanche, and they realized what had to be done; what should be done for general protection.

“So who wants to go for it?” Janey asked. They all looked at each other.

“Are you insane? Nobody is going to want to run out there, go into the tent, find the gun, and get back here. That thing could still be out there waiting for us to do something like that!” Mark said.

“But it may be just a matter of time before it learns it can slice through the tent fabric like butter,” Eddie said. “When it does, I for one would like to have a little bit of defense.”

“Then why don’t you go and get it,” Mark said, realizing that it was cruel and unusual even as it came from his mouth, and he had a hard time believing he had actually said it.

“Fine,” Eddie said, and crawled toward the lock that was holding the tent shut and keeping the thing out... for the current moment. The other three wanted to protest but stopped themselves. After all, it did have to be done sooner or later; and Eddie was a strong girl. Stronger than most of her male peers, in fact; maybe not in muscle but definitely in heart. She unlocked the padlock, but turned to the rest of them before heading out.

“Lock it behind me or there’s no point in this anyway.”

Then she was out into the night.

Eddie looked around first and saw nothing. It was dark, but the dim glow of the dying embers gave enough light for her to make out the vague shape of the boys’ tent; the door still wide open and flapping in the cool night breeze. She started creeping toward it, looking from side to side, and then something grabbed her arms from behind. She let out the start of a scream but was stopped.

“Shhh, it’s just me,” Harry said. Eddie looked confused.

“What are you doing out here?”

“I couldn’t let you come alone,” Harry said. Eddie smirked.

“Didn’t think I’d make it by myself?”

“On the contrary. Didn’t feel safe without you around,” Harry said. Eddie chuckled, and then her seriousness came back and she pointed to toward the tent. The two moved briskly yet silently through the dark, tip-toeing over sticks and pebbles and stones so as not to make noise or become wounded. They soon reached the other tent and went inside, closing the door behind them. They knew it wouldn’t have done much good if yonder creature from the darkness came back, but it at least made them feel better. A little. Harry found Jason’s bag and opened it and shuffled through some clothes until he found the gun.

“How many bullets are in there?” Eddie asked.

“Call them rounds,” Harry said, “And I think there are only six... it’s an old gun. I don’t see any more hanging around, either. Guess Jason didn’t go with overkill for once.”

“Well, whatever. Let’s get back to the other tent,” Eddie said, and again the two slipped through the opening and into the darkness.

Their first trip being undisturbed, both Eddie and Harry felt quite a bit more confident. It almost turned out to be a fatal mistake when suddenly there was movement to the right and the two glaring red beams notified the two that the thing was back.

“Eddie, look out!” Harry called. Eddie had already noticed the creature but Harry’s call seemed to bring her back into reality; she aimed the gun at the swiftly approaching being.

“Don’t move!” she shouted, and to the surprise of both teens it actually did stop running. Only very briefly, though, it almost seemed to have stopped just to think about what the girl had just cried out. Then it decided it was nothing it needed and started running again. Eddie pulled the trigger and, having never fired a gun before, both greatly missed and the recoil almost made her drop the gun. Life really wasn’t like the movies, was it? The shock of the moment got to her and she didn’t even move for a second; a second that would’ve been fatal if Harry hadn’t decided to go with her. He ran up and grabbed Eddie as he went, and the thing with its claws outstretched whizzed right by. The two teens hit the ground hard, but that was a few rungs down on the ladder of their concerns. They scrambled to their feet, and Harry grabbed Eddie by the hand.

“Come on,” he said firmly, and the two ran for the tent.

“Guys! Unlock the door!” Eddie called in advance. Then she prayed that she and Harry would be able to get into the tent when they made it there.

If they got that far.

The thing was now quickly gaining on them, and Eddie pointed the hand not being pulled along by Harry to point the gun backward. She hated the thought of wasting another round, but this time when she fired, she did hit the thing; at least enough to slow it down. When she turned back she saw a comforting site: Janey and Mark were sitting at the wide-open cover of the tent, beckoning her and Harry in, cheering them on and generally shouting at them to hurry up. Eddie and Harry made it to the tent and practically dove in as Janey zipped it shut and Mark put the lock in place; a move that went so smoothly it was probably talked over soon after Harry had left them to join Eddie in her quest.

Eddie and Harry were lying down on the floor of the tent, their bodies mingling among strewn clothes (probably the result of Janey’s effort to put something decent on) and empty sleeping bags, their hearts pounding and lungs gasping for air. Harry rolled over and looked at Eddie.

“You okay?”

“Fine. You?”

“Just peachy,” Harry said, and Eddie laughed. She laughed. It wasn’t all that funny; but the thought of what was actually going on around them, the reality of the nightmare and the fact that they had already come to accept it so easily, at least on a subconscious level, got to her inside.

“Glad you guys are okay,” Janey said. A claw tore through the tent fabric behind her and a hand grabbed her by the throat. She screamed. Mark sprang to life and grabbed the hand; probably the only thing keeping the claws from bleeding her then and there. Eddie and Harry scrambled back up and their tired hearts started again to beat rapidly.

“Get it off! Get it off of me!” Janey screamed.

“I can’t, it’s too strong... help!?” Mark yelled.

“Get it off before it kills me!”

Eddie raised the gun to its arm and pulled the trigger. A hole appeared in its arm and it shrieked and retracted its limb from the tent and from further damage. Janey was stills creaming and she moved as far away from that side as she could. Eddie peered out through the hole created by the claws, and a huge red eye peered right back, nearly blinding her.

It was the face that got to her.

The creature’s face was utterly disgusting and unhuman. It had grey skin and large eyes, two slits that were a poor excuse for a nose (as though it wasn’t used to smell) and its mouth was twisted into a disgusting, angry grimace. Eddie fell away from that spot and just sat there on the floor for a moment, aware that she was dangerously close to the creature and its hole still, but seemingly in a trance. The after image of the eye faded away along with the footsteps of the creature running off into the night. Harry knelt down beside her.

“Eddie?” he calmly asked her. She gave no response. Harry gently put his hands on her shoulders, and she snapped out and turned to look at him. “Are you okay, Eddie?”

“I’m fine... that thing...” she said. She stood up, and Harry looked at her from where he was, still squatting down on the floor of the tent.

“What is it?” Mark asked. Eddie turned to look at him.

“It’s no animal. But it sure as hell isn’t human.”

Eddie slipped some jeans on and then stood up and pulled a t-shirt over her head. “Thanks guys,” she said, and Harry and Mark turned from where they had been, facing a corner of the tent. It was a pretty arbitrary motion at this point, but polite nonetheless.

“So what do we do now?” Janey asked.

“We have to get out of these woods,” Mark said.

“It’s not that simple,” Harry said.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve got blood all over ourselves, one of us is missing, and we are trespassing. Supposing we could get to the fence and hop it before that... that... thing gets to us, we’d have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, and nobody would believe us.”

“Is going to jail really worth staying here to you?” Eddie asked.

“I’m not suggesting we stay here. I want to leave just as badly as you guys do... but I’ve got this feeling... like Jason is still alive. And he needs us.”

“A feeling? You want to stick around and actually go out there because of a feeling!?” Mark shouted.

“He could be in a lot of pain and a lot more trouble if we don’t get to him soon. We have three bullets left-”

“We need to get the fuck out of these woods, that’s what we need to do!” Mark yelled. “I’m not going hunting for that freak with only three rounds in a gun that none of us can fire worth piss; especially if we don’t even know if it’s worth it or not!”

“Cool it, Mark. Harry may be on to something...” Eddie said. Mark sighed heavily, and turned around.

“I don’t want to stay here...” Janey said.

“Well, we aren’t any safer in here than we would be out there, now...” Mark said. He had taken Eddie’s advice.

“You’re right. But we may have at least bought a little bit of time... it doesn’t know how many shots we have left, so it’s probably pretty wary right now. But it’s getting smarter,” Harry said. The thought made them all sick to their stomachs.

“Well, While it’s still gone I’m gonna head over to the other tent and see if Jason had any more bullets hidden anywhere,” Mark said.

“Is that really a good idea?” Eddie asked.

“You heard that thing run off. It wanted to get the hell out of Dodge,” Mark said. “Better to go sooner than later; before it comes back.” With that, he left for the other tent. Harry sat down in the corner of the tent, and Eddie sat next to him.

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” Harry said.

“To tell you the truth... I feel it too. I don’t know why... I just know Jason’s still alive. For now, at least,” Eddie replied. They sat in silence for a bit; Janey was mumbling to herself again. Soon, Mark came back and entered the tent. He didn’t need to bother locking it anymore; even if the creature knew it was unlocked, it could just as easily tear through the tent to get to the luscious treats inside.

“Any luck?” Eddie asked. Mark shook his head.

“Well, this sucks,” Harry said. Mark nodded his head.

“We have three rounds left,” Eddie said, “we’d better make them count.”

“Hopefully we won’t have to,” Mark replied.

They were lined up outside of the tent, all breathing heavily, Janey near tears at the thought of what they were about to do.

“There’s a trail of blood. I don’t know how far it will go, but this is better than nothing,” Mark said. With Jason gone, they were each able to carry a flashlight despite Janey’s obliterating her own.

They would need it.

“If anything comes up,” Eddie said, “Get back here and wait for the others. If it takes too long, go home and get help.”

“You ready?” Harry asked. It was generic; none of them could be ready for this, but they all nodded because one did what must be done in a situation such as. The four walked along the blood trail, which started off thick but eventually got smaller and smaller; to the point where there was just a drop or two on a leaf here and there.

Then the trail was gone.

“Well, what now? I don’t see anything anywhere near here,” Harry said.

“Well, at least we know that Jason stopped bleeding at some point. I was starting to wonder if he had any left in him, there was so much out here...” Eddie said.

“So where in the hell did they g-” Janey started, and then cut off and covered her mouth with both hands. Eddie traced her line of sight. Up.

Then she saw it, too.

There was a humanly figure hanging upside-down from the top of the tree before them. They didn’t need to shine light on it to know that it was Jason. A drop of blood fell and landed on Eddie’s face. She wiped it off and looked at it, just to make sure that it had actually happened.

“Shit! What the hell!” Mark shouted.

“Shhh! It’s probably nearby!” Harry whispered.

There was a snap of a twig, and the four were running in the direction they had come.

Someone tripped, someone screamed, there was a gun shot, and then more running. In such a flurry of fear and events, it was nearly impossible to tell who was who and what was happening, and with the darkness it was even harder to help each other out. Only three teenagers returned to the tent; hyperventilating and eventually all collapsing to their knees.

“Where’s Janey?” Eddie asked.

“Shit... I don’t know...” Harry said.

“Aw, hell!” Mark yelled, throwing his flashlight. “Why weren’t we watching out for each other?”

“I couldn’t see a thing, I was running so fast,” Harry said.

“I tripped back there, I’m surprised I made it back,” Mark said.

“So you’re what I almost tripped over,” Eddie said.

“Was that Janey that screamed? Shit... it must have gotten her...” Harry said.

“No shit, Sher-” Mark started.

“Well, I wasn’t sure if she was just taking longer to get back,” Harry didn’t let him finish.

“Look, we shouldn’t be arguing, guys,” Eddie said. “That thing could have been right on our heels.”

“There’s another brilliant point we’ve gotten from Harry. Thanks to his wonderful plan, we’re now missing two friends and in the same fucking mess we started out in!”

“Stop it!” Eddie screamed. Everyone grew silent. For a moment event he forest outside didn’t dare to make a noise.

“We aren’t going to get anywhere by fighting. Two of our friends are missing, and that thing could come back at any time. Especially if it hears us making a bunch of noise. So I suggest we keep quiet and come up with a plan.

“I’m sorry, Eddie,” Mark said.

“So what do we do now?” Harry asked.

“I say we leave the woods and go for help,” Eddie said.

“No! Nobody is going to believe us. They’d arrest us and our friends would be left for dead,” Mark said.

“So what do we do then? Going back out there is just going to get someone else lost,” Eddie replied.

“We need to come up with a better plan before that thing comes back,” Harry said. The three of them sat there for a while and thought about their problem. Two missing friends, no way of escape or of outside help. The situation was entirely in their own hands, and none of them liked it one bit.

Daylight came soon afterward; the creature had not made another return to the campsite. The three sat and pondered, and even took brief, restless naps in shifts. With the sun up they were slightly less scared; at least they could see now. But sight didn’t necessarily mean safety, and they knew that.

They had a feeling. A strong feeling. A feeling that told them that maybe, just maybe the light would scare this thing off, that it wouldn’t attack them in the daytime. Some animals only hunted at night, after all.

But the fact was that this was no animal - at least not like any animal any of them knew about. Still, when the sun was up and they were wide-awake again, the three set forth in search of some sort of sign. They were wary but definitely nowhere near as wary as they would be if it was night. If it was dark.

No sign of their friends came. They even walked to the spot - at least what they thought was the spot - where they had seen Jason the night before; that gruesome depiction of what may or may not be a being still alive hanging upside down from the top of a tree, dripping blood occasionally to the greenery below; but saw nothing there now. Fear swept through them all, but the overwhelming helplessness that had set in sometime during the night overpowered it. Perhaps that was a good thing; perhaps that was the only thing keeping them from screaming.

“So what happens next?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know... we’re running out of options,” Mark said.

“We’ve been out of options for a while now,” Eddie corrected.

“Maybe we should just leave... I mean... Somebody’s got to believe us and at least check the woods, right?” Harry said.

“I’m not so sure,” Eddie said. The two boys looked at her. She shrugged.

“You know something,” Harry said.

“I dunno why it didn’t occur to me before... but there was a story in the newspapers a while back, I think it made the TV, too. You know how it works, all the important stuff goes on TV because nobody reads anymore... Anyways, some guys were caught trying to sell drugs nearby, in the town of Yardston. They claimed they dumped a lot of the stuff into the woods... and the reports said the police had no intention of checking the woods out. To my knowledge, they never did.”

“I think I understand why,” Mark said. Eddie tried a smile but didn’t quite finish it.

“Well, what I’m saying is, I don’t think they’d even check, you know? Cops are usually all over drugs, too...”

They knew she was right. This situation kept going from Very Bad to Worse. Their only options were to find the thing and kill it, find their friends and get out, or just plain get out and leave their friends for dead. And if they weren’t out by nightfall, their parents would know that something was up. Someone would call someone else, more calls would be made, and their mothers and fathers would find out they had been duped; that their kids had not gone to each others’ houses for the night. Then a search would begin... but would they ever suspect the woods? Would the police check even if they did?

If they didn’t make it out by nightfall, they would have some explaining to do. Any excuse would do, the only real trouble would come if they told anyone about their little excursion into the Forbidden Filmoure Forest.

They would just have to make sure that nobody found out.

But if something Very Very Bad were to happen; if one of them was to be seriously wounded or killed, then whatever excuse they had would probably not work anymore.

So they would also have to make sure that nothing very very bad happened.

There was a crash. A very loud crash, like a tree being knocked over somewhere close by. The three took off in the direction of the tent; Mark led the way followed by Harry, and Eddie followed closely behind. But soon the distance between her and Harry started to grow, she was not going as fast as the others, and she didn’t know why. It was almost like something was behind her, holding her back just gradually enough to slow her down before she even knew what was happening. She called for the others but they did not hear her over the sound of the snapping and crunching leaves and twigs, or over their own gasping breaths and beating hearts. Soon she could no longer see them or the shaking of branches they had recently passed through. She stopped running and listened, but didn’t hear anything. Not at first.

There was a sound from behind her. Very low, almost not even there. But once she heard it she could not unhear it, nor could she ignore the terrifying fact that the sound was breathing.

Mark and Harry had both entered the clearing where their campsite was before noticing that Eddie did not follow them. Mark had his hands on his knees and his head down and he was breathing heavily. Harry sat down and then rolled onto his back and stared up at the sky as he gasped for breath. Both felt like they were drowning. The only time they had ran faster than they just had had been the night before. And this time they had run a bit further.

“Where’s... Eddie?” Mark asked between breaths. Harry sat up and looked around, and did not see her.

“I don’t know... she must’ve... shiiiiiit,” Harry sighed, and let his head drop back down to the ground. She had been right behind him; right behind him and he had failed to look out for her.

There was a gunshot from somewhere nearby. Neither boy had had much experience with guns, so telling the exact distance was impossible. The shot sounded like thunder; the only reason they recognized the sound for what it was was the fact that it was broad daylight and there were no clouds, eliminating thunder. That, and the feeling they both had that told them the truth behind the sound. It was a gunshot, and Eddie had the gun. Eddie was in trouble.

“We have to go back out,” Harry said. Mark shook his head.

“We can’t, Harry. We’re unarmed now, even if we did get to Eddie in time, we’d have no way of helping her.”

“We could at least try!” Harry protested.

“It’s not the better of our options, Har,” Mark said, and looked away. He didn’t want to look at Harry. He didn’t want Harry to look at him.

“Fine, then,” Harry said after a short silence. “You stay. I’m gonna go help Ed.”

“Harry, don’t-” Mark turned and Harry was already gone; some swaying twigs were all that was left as a reminder of his previous presence.

“-get yourself killed,” Mark finished. He sighed and went back inside the tent.

Harry ran through the woods, carefully following the trail. Thoughts danced around his head and taunted him as he went: “It’s all your fault, Harry! She’s dead, and it’s your fault! La-la-la!”

Something jumped out of the brush up a small hill to the side of his path and landed on him. Harry screamed, he knew it was over. But he didn’t scream because he knew he was going to die, he screamed because he knew Eddie was going to die.

“Shhh!” Eddie said, covering Harry’s mouth with her hand. Harry breathed a very muffled sigh of relief.

“Eddie! I thought you were dead!”

“Not yet, and it’ll stay that way if we shut up and stay low,” Eddie said. She had not made an attempt to move; she was still lying down on top of Harry, ducked into some brush. Neither of them dared to say anything; not just because Eddie had instructed so, but because neither would say that they didn’t mind the way they were awkwardly positioned; in fact felt safer this way.

Some twigs snapped nearby as though someone was walking, but Harry saw nothing. A few more steps that grew louder as they grew closer, and Harry did see something - but it wasn’t a creature. It didn’t even have feet; it looked like a floating red orb. Then Harry saw that it was no orb; it was a hole. A bleeding hole. Every time blood ran from it, it quickly disappeared. Eddie saw the puzzled look on Harry’s face and responded by putting her finger to her lips: Shhh. I’ll tell you when it goes away.

They stayed there for a while even after the footsteps were gone, just in case. Then they started toward the camp, and Eddie told her tale.

“I got slowed down by something... I don’t know what. But then it charged me. For a second I didn’t know what to do, I could hear it but I couldn’t see anything; other than branches moving. I guess it was instinct, but I shot at the moving branches and I guess I hit it good enough to stun it for a while, but it started chasing me soon after I ran. I’m so glad I ran into you, Harry... I was so lost...”

“Mark didn’t follow me. I didn’t really have time to stick around and convince him that he should come along; time was of the essence. I guess I got to that point at just the right time; the same time you did, anyway. So what was that about?”

“It bleeds, like a normal creature. But the blood disappeared... I don’t get it either. But I definitely couldn’t see the thing, not until the bloody wound. Even then, it was hard-” Eddie froze in her tracks and Harry almost bulldozed her. He immediately saw what had shocked her.

The camp site was a wreck. Both tents had been torn to tatters; clothes and things had been thrown about.

And there was no sign of Mark anywhere.

They thought about calling out for him, but it would do just about as good as it had done in finding the others. The only thing that would possibly reply was the creature, now invisible for some reason. The only possible good that could come from this was the idea that the creature may not come back now that he had already ravaged the area. Maybe.

As the sun started to set, the two sat there on a log looking out into the jagged horizon, the trees cutting into it like some roughly-sawed bone. Both of them had been running from the new problem for a long time now. It had caught up to Harry a while back. He had fought it, had good reason to, and eventually come to except it. But as the two sat there waiting for the night to approach, it finally caught up to Eddie. Harry had to congratulate her on that; she fought it longer and better than he had. But she wasn’t fighting now, she was crying. For probably the first time Harry could remember, Eddie was crying. Harry put an arm around her and drew her close, and she didn’t abject. She suddenly wrapped both arms around him and buried her face in his chest. Harry knew exactly how she felt.

The new problem was that they were now utterly alone. And they would probably die utterly alone.

It was pitch black and they stood on the edge of the clearing. The flashlights they held were off, the loaded gun in Eddie’s hands had two shots left. Harry had his hands on Eddie’s shoulders, the two made direct eye contact. Harry didn’t want to do what they were about to do without speaking to her again, knowing he may never get another chance.

“It’s all or nothing now, Ed.” She nodded.

“What if we don’t make it?”

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about it,” Harry said. Eddie nodded again, and her eyes looked away. Harry followed her and brought them back in line with his. “Eddie... when I heard that gunshot earlier, I thought I’d never see you again. And I blamed myself for it.”

“What are you saying?”

“My girlfriend left me because I wasn’t there enough. And I didn’t care when she left... I was glad. I was glad for the same reason I wasn’t there enough,” Harry said. Eddie’s eyebrows slanted downward; she wasn’t mad but confused.

“I wasn’t there because I was spending my time with you, Eddie.” Her eyes widened. Suddenly the last few months of Harry wanting to hang out with her more than the others in the group made sense, the strange but never too present protectiveness had a reason, the anonymous poems had an author.

“I... see...” Eddie said. She looked away again. Harry felt embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” Harry said, fighting the awkwardness he now felt, “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Eddie’s eyes sapped back to meet his.

“You didn’t. I was... sad.”

“Sad?”

“I may never see you again after tonight...” Eddie said. All of the butterflies in all of the fields on Earth couldn’t compete with the flock in Harry’s stomach. Then Eddie hugged him, and Harry instinctively hugged her back. He was glad, because his conscious self was too shocked to move. He could feel her heart racing against his own beneath her soft breasts. Both felt safe again, neither wanted to ever leave.

“Hope I’m not interrupting a moment,” a voice came from behind them, and both turned in shock to see Mark - and Janey- approaching with flashlights. “But I think we should get going.” Eddie and Janey rushed over to each other and embraced.

“Where have you guys been!?” Harry excitedly asked.

“The thing came while you were out chasing her,” Mark explained. “He sounded pretty pissed, heard him coming from a mile away. I hid, he tore the place apart looking for me, I watched. It was freaky as hell, he was invisible...”

“Only in the sunlight,” Eddie said. Mark looked at her, and She showed him the blood on her shirt. “I shot him earlier... this didn’t show up until it got dark again.”

“Well,” Mark continued, taking the point, “I figured it might be a good idea to lie low, so I crept away, the other direction, obviously, and found Janey hiding under a log.”

“He never got me... I just got lost and couldn’t find you guys or the campsite, so I hid under a log for most of the day, until Mark found me. We stayed there for a while, then came back here and found you guys,” Janey finished.

“We were about to go for one more run looking for you guys,” Eddie said.

“Well, that won’t be necessary, then. Unless-” Mark looked around, and uneasiness filled his eyes.

“Still no sign of Jason,” Eddie said. Mark looked up.

“All right. Let’s go kill this son of a bitch,” He said. Eddie and Harry turned on their flashlights, and the four set out into the woods.

They made a lot of noise as they trekked through the dark woods. They wanted to draw the creature in. They had only two bullets left, but there were four of them and one of him. And they were not afraid anymore; this had to end tonight. It wasn’t a matter of needing to not get caught or get in trouble (though, Harry thought, if they did manage to get home before it got too late, they could still get away with most of this, assuming they found Jason), it was rather a matter of them having had enough.

It wasn’t long before the blazing red eyes were visible in the distance. They were all afraid; anyone would be afraid. But it wasn’t as bad as it had been. The eyes approached but in a very cautious fashion, never getting too close but never getting too far. It knew something was up, something had changed in its prey.

And it didn’t like it.

It didn’t like they way it suddenly felt like the tables might’ve turned, it didn’t like the way that it knew that if it had not been injured from the start, if it had been at full capacity, it would’ve killed them all before they had a chance to scream. It also didn’t like that because it was injured, it was not at full capacity, they kept slipping through its fingers. They did it time and time again, even the one it had hung upside-down at the top of the tree, wasted the last of its precious fuel on, had somehow gotten away when it wasn’t looking. It knew it should’ve killed the one; but at the time it didn’t seem like a big deal. After all... it liked the scream, it fed on the suffering.

But this had gone far enough.

It let rage fill it, its anger swelled. This is what their race had been taught to do. They didn’t know it made them irrational, they didn’t know it made them stupid. All they cared about was the warmth that anger and hatred brought, the sheer strength and force it supplied.

It took off toward the teens.

It surprised them at first, the way it suddenly darted toward them. But they quickly regained their wits as soon as Eddie pointed her flashlight at it. Three more beams of light joined to focus on it, and for a second it was blinded. The second didn’t last long; it only swerved a little, slowed a little, but then picked up speed and accuracy once more.

“Eddie, shoot it now!” Harry yelled. They had been wondering why she hadn’t shot yet - she wondered it herself - but Harry snapped her out of it with his calm yet distinct call. They were huddled together, as though they were one being, and the one being raised two of its tiny arms and held a gun out.

Eddie pulled the trigger.

She knicked its shoulder, it screamed, but that was about it. It continued, they continued.

The last bullet.

Harry thought of how movie-like it was, they would finish this with the last bullet, take some time to recuperate, and then head out of the forest and into the sunset.

Puh-leeze.

Eddie pulled the trigger again, and it missed. The thing dodged at the last second - maybe it only stopped to avoid something - but just barely missed being hit dead in the left eye with the famed, hopeful Last Bullet.

“Shit! What now!?” Mark shouted. He looked to Eddie, they all did. She was petrified. ‘What now’ was a damn good question, one that she did not have the answer to. She looked to Harry. His eyes did not agree with the others’, his eyes did not beg her to get them out of this. Harry’s eyes told her it was okay, that at least they tried, that he loved her. Eddie did not have the answer.

But the four of them together, the One Being, did.

They all dropped at once, right as it pounced. Nobody thought, nobody questioned, nobody checked to make sure the others would follow; all knowing that if even one happened to not follow, it wouldn’t work. But all did follow, they fell and Eddie swung the gun, its barrel in her hand, as hard as she could. The butt of the gun broke on the creature’s knee and it shrieked as it tripped and fell head first into a tree trunk. The tree was old and hard, and the creature’s neck instantly snapped - shattered - and it fell dead to the ground, as though the very spirit of Filmoure Forest had said “You’ve trespassed here long enough, now get the fuck out.”

The our got back to the tattered remains of their campsite that night. None of them talked much, none had much to say. They gathered what they could of their stuff, put it in some bags, and headed for the area of the fence where the razor ribbon had fallen off, most likely due to a heavy storm. They hopped it, and started walking home. They goofed off along the way, had as much fun as possible, all knowing that they were in deep shit when they got home.

“So what do you guys think happened to Jason?” Mark asked. The smiles faded, the goofing off and laughter ceased. Then, Eddie smiled.

“Knowing J, he got the hell out of Dodge,” she said, and the others laughed. They knew it, too. It was that feeling that they just knew he was alive somewhere. They were all one being, after all.

After a while of walking, Harry, who was holding Eddie’s hand, started to slow her down. Finally she had to inquire about it.

“Harry, what’s wrong?” she asked, stopping.

“Eddie... there’s something I should tell you...” Harry said. He looked at the ground.

“What is it?” Eddie let go of his hand, and it slipped into his pocket. He turned off the flashlight he had been carrying for both of them (Eddie had handed hers to him after deciding they didn’t need two because they were walking so closely together) and immersed them in pitch blackness. Eddie could barely see Harry at all.

“It’s just... something happened... and...”

“Harry, you’re scaring me...”

“I think I might be... turning into... ONE OF THEM!” Harry suddenly shouted, and before Eddie knew it, two blaring flashlight beams were coming from Harry’s eyes as he jumped at her. Eddie screamed, and it quickly faded to laughter as Harry let the flashlights fall to his sides. She punched his arm lightly.

“You’re a jerk,” she said. He laughed.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right, Ghost-Boy,” Eddie said. She kissed Harry. “I kinda like it.”

“Come on, let’s catch up with the others before somebody gets eaten,” Harry said. He took Eddie’s hand and they ran to catch up with their friends and go home.

And on the other side of Filmoore Forest, a teenager with tattered clothes and minor cuts and scrapes stumbled out of the woods and onto Sherrington road. He looked around, not knowing where he was, and then started walking along the road. At least he was out of the woods now. He wondered what became of his friends, but didn’t want to go back. He would eventually have to, he would later know, in order to get back to his home town. The only route was through the forest.

But for now, at least he was out of the woods.