The forest was way too quiet, there were no bird songs. Usually this close to the marsh you at least hear loon or duck calls, but nothing. Even the regular creaking of trees and rustling of leaves is silent. The forest was far too still, the lack of wind causing the air around me to seem stagnant. The only noise was the scarce crunch of the melting snow from my footfalls.
This was not normal for mid-April in Southern Ontario. It should be rainy, windy, and the birds should be going nuts. I wasn’t so loud as to cause the loons to fly away so it wasn’t me. As a country kid, I knew that there really were only two reasons for a forest to go quiet. Either a storm was coming or a large predator was in close. Neither of those was good for me.
My cousins had obsessively planned for this trip and so I really doubted that they would have planned it without checking the weather. Especially when they planned for this to be a sort of party weekend for our old friend group. We hadn’t really seen each other since high school so my cousin thought it would be a good idea that we all got together and stayed in a cabin somewhere by Bancroft. Cause 6 young adults in their mid-20s getting drunk in an area with a lake and cliff faces was a good idea apparently.
I was looking forward to the trip at first until I learned that my friends would be bringing their girlfriends. My old friend group being 100% guys other than me had drawbacks. I already had most of these girls complain about my closeness with their boyfriends. Never mind that I had known these guys since I was 13 or that was more likely to flirt with them than their boyfriends, I was still a ‘threat’ in their minds by virtue of being female and not a troll. Then again, I didn’t really know how to flirt to begin with, so I wasn’t going to be doing so intentionally anytime soon.
A twig snapping ended my rueful reflection on my ‘disaster bi’ status before it really began. I froze in my spot getting ready to flick the safety off on my rifle. My eyes scan my area as I try to hear as much as I can. There is a loud crunch to my right and my heart takes off a mile a minute as I raise my rifle towards the noise. There was nothing that I could see in my eye-line at first. Then I saw it.
About 50 feet in front of me about halfway up a cedar tree was a creature I had never seen in my life. At first, I thought it was a bear with mange, its grey skin; nearly hairless hide; and visible ribs reminiscent of a severely ill animal. Then I saw the horns and clawed hands on the creature as it stood on its hind legs. It was watching me just as intently with ember eyes as I was studying it with my greens.
Suddenly the creature lets out a growl so loud I could feel the vibration in my chest and then lurched forward. Not even thinking I quickly flick my safety and fire at it. My shot hit the creature square in the chest. The creature didn’t even make a sound, just looked down at its chest and back at me with a look of pure malice. We locked eyes again as the creature lowered itself to all fours. I couldn’t breathe as I reloaded out of habit, my instincts screaming to run but my brain was still trying to understand what the hell was going on.
Suddenly my brain stopped and I was running as I frantically tried to reload. I could hear the creature giving chase but couldn’t bring myself to look back. The terrain quickly gave way to rocky hills with the occasional slushy area as I ran as fast as I could clutching my rifle. I ended out falling into a ravine nearly losing my gun and letting the creature catch up with me. I was on my left side trying to ignore the damage done to it from my tumble and catch my breath.
The creature’s breath ghosted along the skin on my back that was exposed from my hunting jacket rolling up during the fall. I desperately grab my gun and roll to my back. Putting the barrel to the creature’s forehead I manage to pull the trigger as its claws tore into my right calf muscle. It reared back shaking its head violently stumbling slightly. Quickly reloading and then scrambling back by my elbows I accidentally slip into a crack in the rockface hitting my head.
I had just enough time to register the hazy pain settling over my brain before the creature’s clawed hand came into the fissure, feeling frantically for my body. I desperately flattened myself against the far wall praying that its arm wasn’t able to reach. I was lucky and the claw on its middle finger stopped short about an inch away from my nose.
“Now, now little one. No point in prolonging this,” a raspy voice called to me as the creature pressed its face to the opening of my hiding place. I was doing my best not to panic but the way the creature's mouth moved around the English language had me releasing shallow sobs. The blow to the head might have contributed to my overly emotional reaction.
Trying to steady my breathing and silence my sobs, I try and get my gun from under me. The edge of the butt was poking into my back painfully. I was worried I was going to accidentally set it off and shoot myself in the leg. In my wiggling, I notice an opening at my feet. I couldn’t tell how deep it went down but I was desperate to get away, so I began to shuffle down into it.
“Poor creature. In so much pain. Why do this to yourself? Why prolong this?” the creature continued to taunt and comment on the pained noises I was unconsciously making.
I got my entire lower half down through the other opening before the creature figured out what I was doing. I could only find a foothold for one foot and so I was desperately trying to balance myself. Unfortunately, this was on my injured leg causing what felt like a steady electric current to run up my leg and into my spine. I couldn’t trust myself not to fall if I tried to switch legs and so I wasn’t going to even try.
It began reaching for me again, this time managing to grab the barrel of my rifle. I grabbed the gun out of instinct as it yanked on the barrel causing my waist to scrape along the edge of the opening. The creature had pulled the barrel towards its face and so I took the chance to pull the trigger one last time. Hoping that another shot to the face would buy me time again.
With my luck though the kickback caused me to lose my balance and fall back into the opening. The fall was the opposite of gentle, at least 15ft down and mostly damp rock. I hit the ground and it must have been a hill because the last thing I remember was a pain in my shoulder and rolling.
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Thank you for reading. Constructive critique is not just welcomed but also appreciated! This is probably going to end out being a novella but I don't currently have a fleshed-out plot for this. So if you have any suggestions then feel free to share.
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