Awakening

Zac lay motionless

on the cold hard floor. His heart beating like crazy. He opened his eyes to the

commotion of the police station.

"Wake Up, sleepy

head!", the sergeant said. "Your bail has been made..."

Zac opened his

eyes suddenly and felt a warm rush of adrenaline run through his spine. Despite

the thrashing he received last night, he felt no pain.

"You there!", said

the sergeant pointing his stick at Zac, "Cap wants to see you..."

Zac stood up

clumsily and reached for the door.

"What's this

strange energy I feel inside..." he said to himself.

The jail door

opened and Zac walked out and immediately saw Roxanne waiting for him with her

arms crossed.

"Oh crap! Not her

again..." Zac thought.

"So you've been

busy..." said Roxanne as Zac walked towards her scratching his head.

"Sign here!" ,

said the Captain "and I don't wanna see you back here again..."

Zac reluctantly

signed on the affidavit swearing not to engage himself in any illegal

activities again . Roxanne grabbed his arm and almost dragged him out of the

door.

"What the hell is

wrong with you?", she said dragging him out of the precinct.

"I told you, if

you ever need anything- you call me- do you even realise that I had to leave my

work and come down here to save your ass!"

"Sorry!" , Zac

could only say so much- embarrassed as he was.

"That ain't gonna

do it, I need you to move in with me, so I can keep tabs on you"-she said

holding her hand.

Zac was barely

listening to her. He felt a strange echo inside – Help!

"Huh?" Zac

exclaimed.

"You even listening

to me?" , she asked again.

"Heellppp.. meee

... !" ,  Zac heard it again but this

time closer- a broken-distorted voice!

"Zac!" , she said.

"Something's

wrong...", he replied looking around .

A cool breeze blew

across his face. She was still holding his right hand but his mind was

frantically searching for something – that voice! Where is it coming from? He

knew instinctively that someone was calling out for help. But who and where?

The road outside

the Precinct was almost empty, across the station was the Hudson river, beyond

which the skyscrapers lit the night sky . Zac heard the voice again and slowly

started to walk the river. Roxanne stood there for a second quiet puzzled at

his strange behaviour.

Zac kept walking

towards the embankment as if he were drawn towards the voice.

 "The river- there's something in the river- no

someone!"

The water was

pitch black – there was nothing except a singular boat floating aimlessly,

untethered.

"Wait, Zac!",

Roxanne came running after him.

Zac stood right on

the edge of the embankment staring hard, scanning the waters. His eyes fixated

on the boat.

"Please.. help!"

the strange voice echoed in his head once again.

"That's it...

Something is wrong with that boat!", he said to himself. "Someone's in

trouble... Calling for help...needs my help..."

Roxanne came

rushing towards him. She thought he had lost his mind. But Zac couldn't help

himself. He was in  a trance-like state.

He felt drawn towards the waters – he had this strange urge to help someone. A

sudden rush of adrenaline ran through his spine; he felt invincible. He took a

deep breath and dived headlong into the dark waters. Roxanne stood there

dumbfounded trying to process what had just happened...

Half an hour

later-

Zac sat

shivering by the embankment covered in a shock blanket. A paramedic was

checking his pulse- two police cars and an ambulance along with a media van had

arrived. He had just rescued a drowning woman. Roxanne sat there by his side still

trying to understand the fact that her boyfriend had somehow rescued  a drowning woman when he barely knew how to

swim. The moment she saw him jump she came to her senses and ran back into the

precinct and somehow persuaded the sergeant to help her. Within a few minutes,

search and rescue teams came rushing along with the media people. Before they

could begin the search, Zac came back swimming like a fish with the unknown

woman in his arms. It was nothing short of a miracle. The sergeant walked

towards him with suspicion in his mind. He had a lot of questions but the

medics said that Zac was too hypothermic to speak- he needed to be in a

hospital...

The sergeant

gnashed his teeth in frustration but there was nothing more he could do but

wait till Zac was conscious for him to start questioning. Roxanne sat beside

him in the ambulance  anxiously thinking

about what is to come next...

MEANWHILE, the case

of the missing rangers spread quickly. It had been more than 4 hours since they

last reported to the headquarters.  The

Chief was well aware about the dangers of that cursed forest although he had

never believed in such legends and myths but the number of missing cases had gone

up in the last couple of months. This bothered him greatly so he immediately

sent a backup team to investigate the matter, sincerely hoping that the men

were alive and well.

It would soon be dawn-

the moon was beginning to set silently beneath the mountains. A group of five deputy

rangers that included three men and two woman drove off to the last known

location of the missing men. Within a couple of hours, they reached the

outskirts of the forest. They slowed down as soon as they saw an old grey truck

parked underneath a tree.

"This must be it!

- they remarked," they stopped right there…"

They got out from

their vehicle and meticulously inspected the truck, finding no usable clues,

they began inspecting the area around the truck. The foliage was thick on

either side of the road and there was only one hiking trail on their left,

through the trees which disappeared into the forest.

They gave each

other anxious looks and decided who would go into the woods looking for their

partner. Moments later three men walked away into the treacherous forest while

the woman and another man decided to stay in the vehicle and keep watch. They

were to maintain radio contact at all times and if anything went wrong they

should inform headquarters and not come looking for them. Each of them knew

about the risks of  getting into the deep

forests at this time ; even without the legends and myths the forest was infamous

for its dense canopy which could easily confuse anyone; parts of the jungle were

so thick even sunlight could not penetrate...

The lady ranger looked

at her watch as she watched the three men walk into the forest.

" 3.30 ... the sun

would be up soon..." she said to herself.

None of them knew of

the horror that awaited them in the woods.

"Everything ok so far..

no sign of  Joe..." one of the ranger's voice

screeched through the walkie.

"Copy that!" replied

the lady officer as she drew a sigh of relief.

15 minutes later, the

three men found themselves at a relatively dark part of the forest. They stopped

and took out their flashlights and scanned their surroundings. One of them cocked

his shotgun as he followed the others...

*creak*

"What was that?" ,

remarked the one with the shotgun immediately turning and pointing his rifle at

the general direction of the source. It sounded like a large branch of a tree slowly

breaking away.

All of them watched

and scanned the area anxiously, nothing- there was absolutely nothing they could

see or hear that could be making that weird sound.

Another ten minutes

passed and then suddenly-

*Creak*

This time it was louder

and it sounded like it was a lot nearer...

"Let's get back ..

I don't think it's safe," one of them remarked.