Don't Look Back

Miguel casts a new line in the pristine lake. Blue skies, crisp air, and the soft breeze warms his heart as the kayak rocks in the water. It’s his weekend off, and he decided to take a nice little trip to the wilderness not too far away. Gotta unplug and just chill. Good for the soul.. thinking to himself as he watches the floater bob. He looks around and takes in the view; luscious and vibrant trees surrounding the vast lake. It’s quiet enough to hear all the wildlife thriving in the forestry deep within the trees. The fisherman takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, his way of being within the peacefulness of the moment. He sits there in silence for what seemed like eternity, living in the moment until it is interrupted by a heart-dropping scream “HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!” from the trees behind him. He slowly turns his head around and sees a woman running to the edge of the woods where it meets the lake. “PLEASE GET SOME HELP!” she continues screaming out , moving frantically and holding a bloody stump where her arm should be. The woman’s clothing is all tattered and torn, covered in blood and whatnot. Miguel immediately drops his fishing rod and begins to paddle in her direction. “I’M COMING TO HELP JUST STAY RIGHT THERE!” he shouts back, trying to move as fast and as desperately as possible. The woman panics and screams“PLEASE HURRY I CAN HEAR IT COM-” then letting out a piercing scream as something out of sight begins to pull her back in the woods. The woman continues yelling “NOOOOOOOOOO!”, trailing away in the distance until she’s abruptly stopped. Miguel stops paddling; a cold, sharp chill begins creeping up his body as he begins to process the moment. He couldn’t see what had pulled her in but it was strong enough to yank her with an immense force, and brutal enough to mutilate a person. His heart is pounding in his chest the more he questions the moment. He reaches for his pocket to grab his phone but it’s empty. Miguel frantically searches his other pockets in his vest, his cargo shorts, and jacket but still no phone. He looks through the tacklebox and throughout his backpack but his phone is nowhere in sight. Then he remembers he had left it charging in his car parked at the car lot for the park. Sweat begins to build in his forehead as he tries to gather ideas on what he should do. I could head to the other side of the lake but what good is that gonna do? The car’s in the same goddamn direction that woman came from! There is nothing in the opposite direction but more trees and shit, the phone’s in the car, and from what I can tell no one came to fucking check out what the fuck is going on out here. Frozen, he stares at the woods she came from as the realization sets in. I’m gonna have to go through there if I have any chance of getting out of here. Miguel grabs his backpack and takes stock of what he has to defend himself with. Okay I have a knife, I can leave the kayak here and take one of the paddles with me. Piece of cake right? It’s just the woods, I’ve been here many times, nothing that crazy here. Probably just a crazy person, I can handle them, he assures himself, trying to muster up the energy for the trek. He picks up the paddles again, and slowly begins to paddle to the bay while looking frantically around to see if anyone is coming. There has to be other people here, other people to help me and that woman. Park rangers and shit right? After a few moments he finally reaches the bay, giving the surrounding area one last look around before stepping foot on the land. “HELLO?!” he shouts, the yell echoes outward but he doesn’t get a response back after a while. It’s daylight but I can’t hear the birds or any wildlife anymore, the whole forest is silent now. The thought sent Miguel on edge, what the fuck is going on here? He puts on his backpack and grabs a paddle then begins his path into the forest.

Miguel’s eyes fixate on everything around him as goes further in the forest, ensuring himself that he will not be surprised nor taken down by anything without him attacking first. He had thought of running but he has to find the path that leads to the entrance first. Keeping the paddle firmly held in an attack stance, he presses on further until he finds bloody drag marks leading off to his left. Miguel stops and checks in all directions, I could see what’s going on and find the shit that did this or just find the path and eventually get more help. He then decides to continue moving forward with his original plan, only this time with some urgency. Oh finally, I thought I was lost for a second, relief washes over him as he sets foot on the manmade path to the entrance. “Just a mile to go and I can get help” he says to himself, he begins to jog down the path as he feels more assured and safer on the path. Miguel makes it about halfway until he sees something covered in dirt and brush on the ground a couple feet ahead of him. He brushes away the earth then immediately yelps “WHAT THE FUCK”, falling back in shock. It was the woman’s arm, seemingly torn off of her body. It was mutilated and mangled, missing three fingers but it belonged to the woman. I have to get the fuck out of here, he quickly gets back up and begins sprinting down the path. He goes down a couple more feet until he realized he had left his paddle behind him, I need a weapon in case I need to fight whatever the fuck this is. He turns around and sprints back, grabs the paddle then turns back around until he hears a twig snap to his upper right. Miguel slowly lifts his head up to find a pair of bright yellow eyes looking back at him. A creature stood above him, noiseless as it crept it’s way down the tree it was hanging off of. It stood on four limbs with two arms hanging out on either side of it’s black, fur-covered body with a human-like face holding lips stretching from side to side. The thing towered over Miguel as it slowly approached him, making him tremble with each step. He swung the paddle with all of his might right into the creature’s face, but it had done no damage. It had only angered it. It’s face meets his as it slowly unhinges its jaw, opening wide lips to expose rows of sharp, jagged teeth. The creature then shrieks in Miguel’s face, then slashes at him causing him to swing a couple yards into the woods. Miguel yells in pain as he lands into a tree, then falls a couple feet until he meets the ground. He groans as he feels a sharp and immense pain coming from his leg. Miguel looks down at his leg to see a bone sticking out of his thigh, “oh god I can’t die here” he says as he slowly lifts himself back up. He looks away as pushes the bone back in, causing an ear-drum shattering scream to come out of him. The creature shrieks out in the distance then begins to run in Miguel’s direction. Miguel begins to limp away as fast as he can, but to no avail as the creature reaches him in seconds. Pushing him and launching him forward into a rock, landing flat on his face and nearly knocking him unconscious. Miguel can’t move as he is in too much pain to do so, all he can do is listen to the creature as it slowly approaches him. He whimpers as he can hear it sniffing him all over, it’s breath sending chills down his body.Then all of a sudden an immense pain shocks his body as the creature bites into his leg, he screams as it gnaws on his leg, tearing through the nerves and muscles until it’s torn off. The creature flips his body over and lifts Miguel off the ground and pulls it to its face. It pulls Miguel closer, “youuuuuuuuu are mineeeeeee nowww” voices spill out of its mouth but the lips don’t move. Miguel trembles and shakes, “wh- wha- what the f-fuck are you?” The creature stares into his eyes for a minute before it begins to walk, still holding Miguel in its arms. I can’t move, I can’t do a thing.. My body.. It hurts everywhere.. Miguel’s vision slowly begins to falter before ultimately fainting. Memories spill into his mind of his family, his accomplishments, and his wife, almost bringing him peace before he is woken up. His eyes slowly open then immediately meet the eyes of the creature again. “Ohhhhhhhhh hellloooo thereeeeeee… weeeeeeelcome too your neewwwww homeeee for nowww”, an unnerving smile creeps over its face. Miguel whimpers and tries to move but he cannot move a single fiber in his body. His eyes frantically look around, he is now in a cave with tunnel entrances surrounding him. Sunlight spills through the ceiling above him, illuminating hundreds, possibly thousands of corpses, skeletons, limbs and the like on the ground below him. Miguel begins to panic and scream until the creature wraps its hands around Miguel’s throat, “nnnnnnnnnowwwwww doooooooo nnnooooot geeeeeeeet loooooudddddd, thiiiiiiisssssss wiiiiiiiiiiiill beeeeeee ooooverrrrr soooooooon” the voices spill out. It loosens it’s jaw again then begins to slowly devour Miguel’s body, starting from his legs then working it’s way up. He screams as he watches it slowly tear him apart, his yells filling up the room and spilling out of the tunnels into the woods. Miguel begins to lose feeling in his body as he rapidly loses blood and all sense of reality. He tries to push it away but it doesn’t flinch as it bites through his left leg. Miguel’s eyes begin to roll back, his thoughts become flooding with memories again until there is no more energy in him left. The creature grabs what is left of the lifeless body and tosses it aside among the others, then walks away, hunting for more wanderers in the woods.