Hides in the Night

Our band of teenagers expanded as we moved, forming smaller groups or single parties and so we could cover more ground while still being within eyesight of everyone. Though, they were mostly just beams coming from flashlights or phones.

Jess remained at my side, and I was glad for the company. There wasn't much to talk about as we searched, however.

Every few minutes, Michelle would take pictures of something inane from where she hung with her boyfriend.

"Can we take a break?" Jess panted. I wasn't sure how far we had walked, but it had been well past an hour since we'd begun the search.

"I'll ask." I turned and shouted to the others. "Hey guys, five-minute break?"

The hike was nothing compared to conditioning practices, but we had a diverse group of people. Not everyone would be in the same shape I was.

It seemed everyone wanted a break but no one had been brave enough to ask for one: mutters and groans of agreement rippled through the crowd. Soon enough we were all together again.

Anyone who had water to share passed their bottles around. I felt a little guilty for not bringing my own, but I'd been too preoccupied with sneaking out to remember to pack anything.

Michelle sat with Jake and his friends but shot to her feet with a squeal.

All eyes turned toward her as she brushed something from her butt before performing the "ants in my pants" dance.

"Babe, what's up?" Jake asked, gripping her arm.

"I sat in something wet and nasty!" she wailed.

I made my way to her, sweeping my light over the log she'd been using as a seat. "What could you have sat in? Melted ice or something?"

"I don't know!" she said, brushing her pants off. "I sat on some—stupid slug or something? I don't know it's slimy and nasty! Ew, ew, get it OFF me!" She dropped into a crouch and wiped her hands on a patch of green weeds.

Jess looked confused. "Are there even slugs out here? I mean . . . isn't it a bit cold?"

"How would I know, Jess?" Michelle snapped, rubbing her palms against the side of her pants.

We left her to her whimpering and I crouched next to Jess. I wanted to see this mysterious slug myself, but all we found was a puddle of something opaque and viscous.

I reached out to touch it and Jess shuddered next to me.

"The hell is this?" I whispered more to myself than to anyone.

It was slimy and disgusting. Whatever it was, I wanted it gone so I shook my hand before wiping it off on my jacket.

"Nasty ass . . . slime shit," I muttered.

"Why'd you touch it?" Jess snickered.

"I don't know, maybe because I'm actually two years old and learn by touching stuff," I berated myself, sighing.

She shook her head and we took a seat far away from the slime to enjoy the rest of our break, taking a few drinks from a bottle passed our way.

Our cold, cold break. I wanted to return to hiking so I could start warming again.

"How much farther do you think this thing is?" Jess asked me.

"Who knows, but it sure is getting colder. It might even snow if we're out here any longer," I surmised. I peered at the dark through the treetops and saw nothing but inky black.

She rubbed at her sore legs and chewed on her lip. "Will we be able to find our way back?"

Shrugging, I said, "I'm sure we will. Someone here has to have a working GPS. Even if we do get lost someone will be able to lead us back to town."

A shadow flit across the corner of my eye and I snapped my head that way to look, but there was nothing.

"Alright let's get back at it! We've got more ground to cover," one of the guys shouted as he stretched to his feet.

"How far do we need to go?"

"Shouldn't we give up and go back?"

It was Michelle who spoke up next, clinging to Jake's arm. Most everyone was shivering. "I mean we're not keeping anyone here. If you want to go back go ahead and go back!"

Though some did consider it, no one was keen on leaving the pack. We spread out into the search line again and began the hike.

Some conversations whispered on the wind, but Jess and I remained quiet. She was holding on to my jacket, as if afraid to lose me, and I didn't mind. This way, I didn't lose her, either.

"What are we even looking for?" one of the other girls shouted after a few minutes.

No one had an answer until ten minutes later. Victor waved his flashlight in an erratic spotlight and shouted to us. "Over here! I found a fence!"

Our group came together and gathered around it. We couldn't tell what it was for until we looked up to the trees.

The branches were limp and hanging. Smaller saplings had toppled to rest against the forest floor, their roots upturned. Some trunks had snapped clean in half; the destruction only seemed to worsen further into the woods.

"There are some tire tracks over here, leading into . . . that," one of the other girls said, crouching on the ground.

Michelle's camera flash blinded us all for a second or two and she said, "Let's follow it."

"You think the wires are electric?" Victor asked.

"Touch it and find out."

"I'm not touching it, you touch it."

The boys argued for a while about who was going to do it. I stood back and examined the tree line some more: whatever crashed there had to have been big.

A chill chased tremors down my spine and something dark flit past the edges of my light. My heart skipped a beat.

Jess seemed to have noticed it as well.

All at once, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I whipped my light around to illuminate the woods; nothing but trees and bushes. Jess clutched at my jacket and I didn't pull away.

"Nichole, what was that?" she whispered.

"I don't know, maybe a deer or something." I didn't know who I was trying to convince more.

Someone was watching us, that was certain.

We weren't the only ones feeling the heebie-jeebies. Those not caught up in the argument were looking around the woods.

We didn't have time to be arguing.

"Alright, I'LL do it!" I growled, marching up to the fence and grabbing the wire.

"Nichole!" Jess wailed, running to my side.

Nothing happened, though. There was no spark, no course of electricity through my body. I released the wire and turned to the group, arms up. "See? Let's go."

Jake grinned and nudged my shoulder with his fist. "When'd you grow a pair?"

My cheeks flushed and I hoped it was hidden in the dark. "Shut the hell up, man."

He snickered and attached himself to Michelle before leading the pack again. I fell into step next to Jess and rubbed my arm.

Despite the bravado, my hands were trembling. I didn't want to think about what would have happened if it had been a live fence.

The unsettling feeling continued to weigh on top of the entire group. We weren't sure how far the crash site stretched, but there was no end in sight.

I kept seeing shadows move, but there was never anything there.

"Shhh, guys . . . up ahead. Get down, lights out," came Jake's harsh whisper. He was already crouched, so like a single entity, the rest of us ducked down and shut off our lights.

We shuffled forward together until we were practically on our bellies, crawling. There was a slight incline, and at the top was the dark shape of a vehicle.

Jake motioned for us to stay put, pried his arm from Michelle's grip, then army-crawled through the broken twigs.

At the top of the hill, he crouched behind the car and disappeared around it.

When he returned, his flashlight was on. "There's no one here," he called, his voice shaking.

Sharing glances, we stood and joined Jake. The hill sloped downward, and all the trucks from earlier that morning were there.

Everything was quiet. There was no wind, no sounds of wildlife. No soldiers. I swallowed the dry lump in my throat and held tight to Jess, who was trembling alongside me.

Most of us stayed by the first car, but others wandered down. Though Jake left to explore, Michelle remained and lit the hillside with her camera.

I pulled away from Jess and put my hands on her shoulders. "Stay with the others, I want to look, too."

She nodded in jerky motions and I left her side. On the way up, I kicked something and leaned down to see what it was.

A rifle.

I followed its contours with my fingers until I touched slime making me recoil and jump to my feet.

Startled, I skittered away until I almost tripped over a flashlight. It, too, was covered in the substance.

Someone called, "Oh my god, there's blood!"

As if on cue, more yelling started. "Lin this isn't funny! Lin?"

Everyone turned to the voice in the back. A girl from my math class had her hands to her mouth and was turning this way and that before coming to us for help.

"I don't know where Lin went! She was right here a second ago! She—she said she was going to look at something over there and—Lin! Lin where are you!" Her teary eyes were wide.

Michelle and I ran to her side to comfort her and Jess trailed after us, hovering a foot away. It wasn't long before she clutched my jacket again.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Michelle asked.

The girl sniffed and gestured behind us. "Yes! She was right there. I went to look inside this truck, and—for like two seconds. Where could she have gone?"

Several other people joined in shouting for Lin, meandering about the abandoned caravan. Every nerve in my body was on a hair-trigger, the slightest sensation turning my skin to gooseflesh.

We called for a minute or two, but no answer came.

Not right away.

The first time, I thought it was an echo. The second time, though, was louder. Closer. It was not an echo or a human's voice.

It was a cry, dangerous and malicious. We all came to a halt and stared into the woods.

"Please tell me you all heard that," Michelle said.

"What was it?"

"It didn't sound like a bear or an elk."

"Maybe it was a coyote," Jess suggested, worrying her hands. She and I were arm-in-arm. "They make really weird noises."

Once more the sound trilled through the leaves and several of us jumped.

Without a word we started moving again, giving up the search for Lin. We were heading back the way we had come, unanimously and silently deciding to drop this silly game.

The bushes off to the side rustled and the girl broke from the group to run toward them. "Lin! Lin where have you been!"

Her body jerked with a wet sound as a long, bladed . . . thing pierced her shoulder.

She had enough time to croak in pain before she was heaved into the tree like a paper doll. The branches creaked as something moved, leaping to the next one before all was still again.

Shocked silence lapsed. When the first scream rose, more and more followed suit as we all took off running down the mountain.

"Keep UP!"

"I'm trying!"

I lost track of everyone but Jess; my hand was super-glued to hers. She was slower and less athletic than me, but I spurred her on at my pace anyway. It was cruel, maybe, but I was going to keep her alive this way.

We had to go faster, faster . . .

"Michelle?" I shouted into the darkness, casting fleeting glances around.

We had all sprinted in the same direction—away—but had scattered like roaches in the light.

Her response was an unintelligible squawk from ahead of us, but at least she answered.

Unearthly screeches followed behind us. Whatever was out there, it was the only noise they made.

There was no pounding footsteps as they chased, no scrape of claws on bark as they climbed. They blended with the shadows as if they had been created from them, so I didn't even know what they looked like.

Adrenaline surged through me, lighting my veins on fire. Filling me with energy. Everything seemed to slow down. The world narrowed into a tunnel until all I saw was the path ahead of me. All I heard was the beat of my pulse and each breath I took.

Jess' hand was warm and sweaty in mine; my speed suffered from her deadweight as I fought to pull her with me. She couldn't breathe, gasping like a fish out of water.

There were people still slower than us. My survival instincts new our odds were better for it. So long as we stayed ahead of the curve, we could do it.

/Let go,/ a voice needled from the back of my mind.

But I refused. If I did that, she would never make it. We were falling behind as it was, so if I let her go she would be overtaken and hunted by those screeching creatures.

If I held on, we could both make it. I was at point, I could drag her with me, I could—

A scream stabbed through the air behind us then was silenced with an abrupt end. Jess and I shrieked, so I urged her onward with encouraging shouts.

Too close. We were too close to the end of the pack. If we didn't speed up, we would be in a position to be picked off.

/Let go./

Another person just barely within my field of vision was yanked off their feet and swallowed by the night. I whimpered and fought back tears.

"What are they?"

"Just run!"

"Faster!"

Another scream from one of my friends, so close it made my ears ring. However, this one wasn't cut off like the last. It continued well into the woods; it ricocheted in my skull, bounced around the mountain until petering out.

"No!"

"Don't look back!"

/Let go./

My grip slackened by a margin when the voice gained strength. Jess' fingers tightened in reflex and I redoubled my efforts to keep us ahead.

I didn't have to let go, there was still a chance. I could do this, I HAD to do this. I could save us both.

The path ahead was littered with fallen trees from the crash, making running perilous. Navigating through the trunks and over fallen branches was difficult while towing Jess.

But I had to.

We would BOTH live.

I chanced a glance behind me. Jess' eyes were wide, her face flushed. She was panting and wheezing, her steps unsure.

Could she keep going?

All I wanted to do was encourage her, but I had to save every last molecule of oxygen to keep running.

My gaze flickered from the path ahead to the forest around me. My situational awareness would see me through the obstacles, I was sure.

Years of sports and video games would guide my path through the woods and see me to the end. I saw trees in my peripheral, rocks laid out in my path. Like enemy players or cones during practice. It was child's play, and it would lead me to the goal.

To safety.

Around us, the shadows moved and writhed. They hissed and pounced on those unfortunate enough to stray from the herd or fall behind.

Faster. We had to move faster and catch up with our friends—they were so far in front of us. I could barely make out their backs.

We were the last.

/Let go./

Somehow we cleared the crash zone, skirted the fence, and moved into untouched forest.

Our speed picked up as the ground beneath us sloped further downward. My footing was less sure, but I kept my balance and prayed that Jess would be able to keep hers.

If she couldn't, it would mean both of our lives . . .

It wasn't long before someone else tripped and tumbled down the hill. My muscles tensed for a fraction of a second as my body warred with my brain.

/Help. Run. Help. Run. Help./

/Run./

I skirted the fallen person, their identity not registering in my mind. It would be better if I didn't know who I was leaving behind. Who's life I was valuing as less than mine.

Jess became dead weight against my pulling. I jerked to a stop and found her trying to double back to help the person to their feet—Michelle.

I'd almost left her behind.

The screeches were once more upon us. The wraiths were in the trees, crawling shadows with glinting, chrome fangs.

"Michelle!" Jake shouldered past me.

/Let go. Run. Don't stop./

"I twisted my ankle—"

"Can you walk? We HAVE to run," Jess whined, pulling me toward Michelle.

Toward danger.

"Babe get up! Come on!"

"Nichole, help!"

 /Let go./

Black death descended from the trees.

Time slowed to a crawl. My vision tunneled and my breathing echoed in my ears. I tore my gaze from approaching doom and focused on Jess' pleading look, then to Jake picking up Michelle.

Teeth and claws threatened to rend and flay.

A nails-on-chalkboard squeal.

/Run./

Heat pulsed behind my eyes and my breath hitched. I ripped my hand free of Jess' and fled down the hill to catch up with the rest. They were so far away, bit I could see the lights from the police cruisers: they had moved farther into the forest.

"Nichole!"

"Nichole wait!"

Their appeals morphed into screams that curdled my blood and tore out my still-beating heart. Soon they melted with the cries of the monsters.

Tears threatened to blind me and I swept them away. Guilt twisted a knife in my gut and almost brought me to my knees, but adrenaline pushed me forward.

My instincts crooned pretty words—that I had done well. That this was right.

That I had only one directive.

S U R V I V E.