Forest of the Damned

by Lee Mountford

  ‘Yeah, sounds like a good idea to me,’ he said, getting to his feet and stretching his arms above his head.

  And so it was settled. They all said their goodnights and entered their respective tents. In the dark of the nylon enclosure, Roberta and James fumbled about as they got into their sleeping bags.

  ‘So I guess you aren’t feeling particularly amorous?’ James asked as Roberta felt his hand caress her face.

  ‘Afraid not,’ she replied. ‘But I wouldn’t mind a snuggle.’

  James took the hint and shuffled over to her, letting Roberta roll into him. He dropped an arm over her side and pulled her into a hug.

  ‘Goodnight, baby,’ he said and kissed the top of her head.

  ‘Goodnight,’ she replied. ‘Sleep tight.’

  It didn’t take James long to drop off to sleep. She heard his breathing deepen when he did, and it bordered on a snore. It took Roberta longer to drift off, however.

  She could not stop thinking about what she’d said earlier, completely involuntarily.

  The madness overwhelms me and I don’t know what to do.

  Why the hell would she say that?

  Roberta didn’t know how long it took, but she eventually dropped off to sleep as well. Sadly, it was to be short-lived.

  8

  Tony’s mind swam.

  It was a confused mess caught partway between the odd dream he was experiencing and the waking world pulling him back, ruining his slumber. Horrible sounds came from all around him.

  He sat up, and it took him a few moments of blinking in the dark to get his bearings.

  Tony was in his tent, packed tightly into his sleeping bag, and the lack of light penetrating the covering meant it was still night. His body ached for more rest, but noises outside of his tent meant his mind was far too active for that now.

  And far too afraid.

  The sounds the group had heard earlier, in broad daylight, had seemingly returned… with a vengeance.

  Ghoulish moans, cries, and screams of pain could be heard from all sides. And while they definitely seemed to be coming from a ways away, this time they were certainly not faint. They were clear, and there seemed to be multiple voices this time, too.

  An icy chill gripped Tony, seizing his joints together and rooting him to a seated position in the false safety of his tent.

  What do I do?

  Perhaps grabbing his camera and getting outside to record what was happening should have been the first thing to pop into his head, but it wasn’t. Tony was scared, and his hands gripped the sleeping bag tightly as he pulled it up to his face. What he wanted to do, as ashamed as he was to admit it, was to scream for the others.

  He didn’t have to.

  Instead, Tony heard a zip open up from a nearby tent. At first he wasn’t sure which one, but after a moment’s silence the answer came to him as Ken spoke.

  ‘Are you guys awake?’ His voice was a loud whisper.

  ‘Yeah,’ Tony croaked out.

  ‘We are too,’ he heard Roberta respond. Her voice was shaky.

  ‘You hearing this?’ Ken asked.

  With the others clearly awake, Tony found a little more courage and zipped open his tent, then poked out his head.

  The air was much colder outside the tent, immediately biting at the exposed skin on his face. The first thing Tony saw was the deep dark that swallowed up the trees in the middle distance onwards, hiding all but those closest to him, making it look like an expanse of nothingness. He suddenly felt very small and alone, like a single star lost in the vastness of a black cosmos. The pained shrieks, no longer muffled by the fabric of the tent, were louder outside as well, and they echoed through the air.

  Turning his head a little to his left, Tony could see Ken kneeling outside of his tent, his boots already on and his eyes wide and alert. To Tony’s right, completing the semi-circle of tents, the heads of James and Roberta poked through the opening of their unzipped entrance flap. Roberta, in particular, looked terrified.

  ‘This can’t be real,’ she whispered. Tony struggled to make out the sound of her voice over the chorus of pain that seemed to surround them. ‘It’s insane.’

  ‘So what the fuck do we do?’ James asked. Even he seemed hesitant, his previous enthusiasm now dulled. They all looked to Ken, who pulled out his camera and flipped open the viewfinder. He reminded Tony of a cop in a bad T.V. show, cocking his gun and ready for action.

  ‘We do what we came to do,’ he said. ‘We get this recorded. Audio and visual. Let’s see if there’s anything out there.’

  ‘But what if it isn’t what we came for?’ Roberta asked.

  ‘Meaning what?’

  ‘Meaning, what if it’s people making those awful sounds? I mean real, living people.’

  ‘Can’t be,’ Ken said. ‘Listen to it. There are too many voices. I refuse to believe that many local townsfolk are here in this forest with us.’

  Tony tended to agree with Ken’s line of thinking. To him, the haunting, incessant moans could be only one thing. He was certain this was a supernatural event.

  However, the feeling that overcame him while in the presence of one was not excitement, as he had expected, but utter fear.

  The noise was everywhere. Whatever was making it had to have been everywhere as well. It made Tony feel vulnerable and insignificant.

  Ken flipped a switch on his camera and Tony, even from this distance, saw Ken’s own face on the screen of the viewfinder. He was recording himself.

  ‘We’ve just been woken up to the terrible noises you can hear all around us. We have no idea what is making them, but they are coming from all directions, it seems. We are going to try and record what we can, but given the late hour and the lack of light, we can’t risk moving away from the campsite to investigate further.’

  Tony almost breathed a sigh of relief.

  Ken switched the mode on his handheld camera again and aimed it off into the forest. He then looked at the others. ‘Are you coming out?’

  Tony, with some hesitation, slid on his boots and tied up the laces, pulling them tight. He dug around in his backpack and found his camera as well, then got out, stretching up to his full height and feeling infinitely more exposed, like a hundred pairs of eyes were watching him from the dark.

  James and Roberta joined him as Tony walked and stood beside Ken. They huddled together, each with a camera pointing out into the night.

  ‘Everyone film a different section of the forest,’ Ken said. ‘Roberta, can you get the audio recorder from earlier?’

  ‘Already have it,’ she answered, pulling the small device from her pocket with her free hand. She flicked it on with her thumb and held it aloft.

  They stood together, shivering in the middle of the night as the howling and moaning continued. James repeated Roberta’s earlier statement, ‘This is insane.’

  Tony set his camera to night vision and the trees and ground on his screen flooded with a green hue. He was able to see a little farther in that mode, but not by much. Slowly tracking the area in front of him, Tony stared intently at his screen, hoping and praying that nothing would show up and freak him out even further.

  ‘Listen,’ Ken said, tilting his head to the side like a dog. Tony didn’t want to, but soon understood what had caught their leader’s attention.

  The moans and cries were quieting, yet again slowly fading away.

  ‘It’s stopping,’ James said. ‘Like it did before.’

  Less than a minute after they noticed the drop, the sound that had surrounded and terrified the group disappeared completely, leaving them all in silence. Not even the noises of nocturnal wildlife could be heard, only that of the wind and the swaying and creaking of branches.

  It was James who eventually spoke. ‘I can’t believe that. Honestly. I just can’t get my head around what we heard. It was everywhere. Fucking. Everywhere. Surely this is proof?’

  ‘It’s as close as we’ve ever gotten,’ Ken replied.

  ‘
Let’s just hope we picked it up again.’ James started to fiddle with his camera to play back the recent footage, but was stopped when Roberta let out a piercing scream.

  Jumping at the sudden sound, Tony whipped his head around and saw Roberta backpedaling and pointing out towards the trees, her eyes wide in panic.

  ‘What is it?’ James asked, dropping his camera and putting a protective arm around her. He cast his gaze out into the night, as did Tony, who could see nothing.

  ‘I saw something,’ Roberta spat out. ‘A woman, standing out there. I saw her!’

  ‘Are you sure?’ Ken asked as he paced out ahead of them, showing little-to-no fear.

  ‘Yes!’ Roberta yelled. ‘Ken, don’t go out there.’

  Ken stopped, still a distance from the rest of them, and scanned the surrounding area. His camera was switched to night-vision mode as well, to help him see anything that may be lurking in the dark. ‘There’s nothing here,’ he said. ‘What did she look like?’

  ‘Horrible,’ Roberta said and quickly moved back towards her tent. Her hands were wrapped around her own chest and tears started to form in her eyes. James stayed with her and pulled her in for a hug. ‘She just looked… wrong.’

  ‘Check your footage,’ Ken ordered, but Roberta shook her head, clearly not wanting to see the strange woman again. Ken walked over and gently took her camera. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘Let me see.’

  Tony and James looked over Ken’s shoulder at the camera’s viewfinder. The footage was rewound and played again. It was unsteady, and on it they heard James talking, then Roberta’s scream. The camera shook and dropped, then stayed pointed to the ground. But during all that, Tony could see nothing out of the ordinary.

  Neither, it seemed, could Ken. ‘Damn it.’ He rewound and replayed it again. This time, he slowed the playback down and inched it forward frame by frame.

  ‘I don’t think I got it,’ Roberta said. ‘I was aiming the camera in a different direction. I just turned my head and saw her. I didn’t even point it at her, because I panicked. But I saw her, I swear.’

  Ken reviewed each frame anyway, but Roberta was right—there was no image of a woman in this footage—at least, not in the section they had just watched.

  ‘We need to stay focused,’ Ken said, his voice stern. ‘If we think we see something, we need to get it. That should be our first priority.’

  Roberta looked shocked and more than a little hurt. ‘I’m sorry, Ken, but I was a little freaked out.’

  ‘I understand,’ Ken said, ‘but that’s why we’re here. I keep saying it, but we need to put our fear aside. Nothing here can hurt us. I need everyone to be in their game, vigilant, and in the correct mindset.’

  ‘Hey,’ James snapped, stepping away from Roberta and towards Ken. ‘The lady got scared, all right? It isn’t her fault. Give her a break.’

  Ken made to step towards James in retaliation, and Tony noted the man’s jaw was clenched. However, Ken stopped mid-step.

  He took a breath.

  ‘Fine,’ Ken said, then he turned to Roberta. ‘I’m sorry. Just, with everything that’s been happening, I’m keen to get something visual on record.’

  The angry expression on Roberta’s face softened a little, but did not disappear completely. She nodded. The apology seemed to have sufficed.

  Another silence fell over them, this one awkward, and Tony again looked out into the dark forest wondering if Roberta had indeed seen a woman out there, or if perhaps her tired mind had been playing tricks on her.

  ‘I wonder who the hell it was,’ James mused.

  ‘I know who it was,’ Roberta said, stepping back into her tent and pulling off her boots. Before she disappeared inside completely, she added, ‘It was Mother Sibbett.’

  9

  James was worried about Roberta.

  She looked tired this morning. Hell, they all were, and James doubted anyone got much sleep considering the events of the previous night. But it was more than just that with Roberta… she seemed fragile and frayed at the edges.

  And scared. Really scared.

  After James had entered the tent with her the previous night, he had questioned how Roberta knew the mystery woman she had seen was Mother Sibbett. Roberta would only give one answer: I just know. And she would not talk about it any further.

  That morning, sitting close to the campfire in silence as Ken and Tony tended to breakfast, Roberta looked pale, and her eyes appeared a little sunken with dark circles beneath. James was worried she might actually be ill, though she denied it, claiming she was fine, just tired.

  Ken was cooking chicken and vegetable stew from a packet; he poured its dehydrated contents into a tin that was being heated over the fire, bubbling as it mixed with boiling water. Roberta’s portion was served up first, and she gobbled it down in only a few mouthfuls. James ate next, then Ken and Tony turned their attention to preparing their own food. During this time, no one said much of anything.

  The previous day's enthusiasm seemed to be heavily dampened after last night, which was a shame to James, as they should have been elated at what they’d gotten as evidence. Maybe they still could be.

  Without a word to the others, James stood and walked back to his tent, leaving Roberta staring at the flames. He went back to his camera again, plugged in his headphones, and listen to some of the previous night’s footage.

  He smiled.

  As with the faint voices that day, they had again picked up the mysterious sounds from the forest. Only this time, the chaotic din was much more urgent. The voices, just as he had remembered, were everywhere—cries of people in agony.

  To James, there was no way it was anything other than paranormal. It had been scary when in the midst of it—even he had to admit that—and Ken acting like an arse hadn’t helped matters at all, but regardless, they had something. Two major events in less than twenty-four hours. Those, as well as Roberta’s sighting. James understood why Ken was disappointed they hadn’t gotten that on camera—he was as well to a certain extent—but it wasn’t fair to blame Roberta for being scared.

  That being said, there was no reason to let any of this ruin the investigation, especially such a fruitful one, as they were just getting started, and had already garnered great results. If the recorded voices weren’t enough on their own, there was still the chance they could catch something on this trip that would propel them to stardom, far beyond simple internet fame. Perhaps even an actual television show.

  It was an exciting thought.

  He left the tent and addressed the group. ‘Okay, I know we’re all a little frazzled and grouchy this morning.’ The others turned to look at him. ‘Last night was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, and I can imagine that is the same for the rest of you. Our nerves were frayed, no doubt about that. But I think we need to remember that this forest is delivering.’ He held his arms out wide, gesturing to the area around, then waved his camera. ‘Just did a quick check. Happy to report, those voices we heard weren’t just in our heads. We caught them on tape. More evidence, this time even better. There will be lots to review, but this is great stuff already. What we are getting here could change our fortunes. Literally. There is something about this place that, I don’t know, seems like the real deal—the thing we’ve all been looking for. And I think we should keep that in mind and pick ourselves up.’

  He hoped it was a rousing speech, but the faces that stared back at him seemed blank.

  At first.

  Finally, both Ken and Tony looked to each other, then back to James, and smiled. Roberta was looking at him too, but her expression was more unreadable.

  ‘I think you make a lot of good points there, James,’ Ken said.

  ‘For sure,’ Tony agreed. ‘Think that may have been the shot in the arm that was dearly needed.’

  James hoped Roberta would add to that, to show that she, too, was still eager to make the investigation a success. However, she stayed quiet.

  ‘So,’ James conti
nued, ‘perhaps we review some of the footage from last night? I mean, spending another day hiking is an option, but why not take a minute see what we’ve got right here?’

  Tony nodded. ‘Makes sense.’

  ‘But it can’t be an in-depth review of the footage,’ Ken warned. ‘We only have a limited number of backup batteries, so I’d like to preserve as much power as we can.’

  ‘Agreed,’ James replied. ‘So why don’t we just look through the cameras we left running through the night? Maybe we caught something on one of those.’

  They were all in agreement, even Roberta, though she was a little more hesitant.

  Ken and Tony scanned the footage from the camera that had been positioned up in the tree, and James and Roberta went through the one that had been ground-mounted and aimed out into the night. Given there were hours’ worth to wade through, both groups tried to quickly skim through what was available, fast-forwarding playback. Roberta still hadn’t said much, but her gaze was fixed on the screen, just as James’ was, and they both watched the green-hued footage zip through its runtime. The only way they knew that time was actually passing, was the quick swaying of branches in the wind. Other than that, all was still, and at first, it looked like all there was. A half hour’s worth of footage passed, then an hour, then more still and James thought it was going to be a bust.

  But then it happened.

  ‘What the fuck,’ James let out. He hit the stop button, then rewound the tape.

  For some unknown reason, the night-vision mode had failed at one point, switching back to normal colours that were shrouded in dark, with the closest trees only barely visible. This switch of modes lasted only for a few minutes, and then flicked back.

  James and Roberta reviewed it again, this time slowing it down to normal speed, watching the anomaly flick from green, then to full colour and then back again.

  ‘Strange,’ James said, looking at the screen, but he felt Roberta’s eyes on him. He turned to her and saw a look of panic on her face. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Didn’t you see her?’ Roberta asked. By now, Ken and Tony had taken an interest and made their way over, standing above the squatting couple and looking at the camera from over their shoulders.