Horror in the Woods

by Mountford, Lee

  'I don't doubt it will,' Craig said, 'just seems a bit of a slog for a glass of wine. We could have gotten that back home.'

  'But you have to see past the slog,' Ashley said, feeling the need to back Tim up. 'It's really nice out here, and totally different to what we're used to. Let's be honest, it'll do us all good to get out of the city for a few days, to see this side of the world.'

  Tim squeezed her hand, gently.

  'Fair point,' Kim said. 'Craig, stop complaining, I think we should all try our best to enjoy this.'

  'I guess,' Craig said. 'It's just so creepy out here.'

  Tim gave a conspiratorial wink to Ashley. 'It would be even more creepy if you knew the stories.'

  Craig stopped in his tracks. 'What stories?'

  'Relax, they aren't real, just urban legends about this place. These woods, specifically.'

  'Oh great, this place is haunted, isn't it?' Craig asked, and the others stopped too.

  'Not exactly,' Tim replied, 'but if you believe the stories, there are things out here. Things waiting to prey on hikers and people who wander in uninvited.'

  Ashley caught eyes with Kim and give her a sly smile, letting her in on the joke. Kim nodded her understanding.

  'Things? Can you be more specific?' Craig asked him.

  'Do you want me to be?'

  Craig sighed. 'I'm not sure, to be honest.'

  'Don't stress about it, Craig,' Kim said. 'It's not like you believe in anything like that.'

  'I don't, but-'

  'Exactly,' Tim said. 'Like I say, it's just an urban legend. They exist everywhere. I'm pretty sure the Webb family isn't real. At best, they're a twist on a family that maybe lived here years ago.'

  'The Webb family?'

  'Yeah, a family that is supposed to live out here in the woods. Not nice people.'

  Ashley was struggling to keep from bursting into laughter, though she did feel bad for Craig. She could see the story, as outlandish and bare bones as it was, was beginning to unsettle him a little. The whole thing was made worse by the fact that Kim was ever-so-stealthily making her way behind Craig as he was engrossed by the wild yarn Tim was spinning.

  'Let me guess,' Craig said, 'a family of killers?'

  'Bingo,' Tim said, poker-faced. 'Not just killers, though, they are supposed to be twisted, demented deviants. They don't just kill, they torture. And they eat people while they're still alive.'

  'Ah, cannibals as well, then. How very cliché.'

  'Yeah,' Tim said, nodding in agreement, 'most legends are. They say that this family has a specific reason for doing what they do. Well, other than enjoyment, that is.'

  'And what reason is that?'

  Kim was directly behind Craig now and Ashley was amazed he hadn't seen her. She had to bite her bottom lip to keep the laugher from erupting out of her.

  'Story goes that there is something else in these woods, too. Something kind of old, ancient evil. Something that has found its way up from the-devil-knows-where. Maybe hell itself. This thing is, apparently, what the Webb's serve. And in return, they are granted special privileges.'

  'Such as?'

  'Can't say for sure, but it sure fuels their hunger for human meat. It's why they kill whoever comes through here. Hell, they could be out there somewhere right now, watching us.'

  Kim chose this moment to throw her arms around Craig and scream in his ear. 'Craiiiiig!'

  Craig nearly jumped out of his skin, and threw Kim off him. He even let out and audible scream, something Ashley knew would only embarrass him further when he had regained his composure.

  'Get off,' he said, his face going beet red. 'You bunch of dicks.'

  The rest of the group were almost doubled over in laughter, especially Kim, clearly proud of her role in the prank.

  'Oh Craig,' she said through teary eyes, 'you jumped like a scalded cat.'

  'It wasn't funny,' he said, trying to calm down. His ego had obviously taken a knock. Ashley did feel bad for him, but that wasn't enough to stop her laughter.

  'Sorry, Craig,' Tim said. 'It was just a joke.'

  'Well ha-ha. Very funny. The story was stupid anyway, why would anyone believe it was true?'

  'You seemed to believe it when you squealed like a girl,' Kim said, digging him in the ribs with her fingers. He batted her hand away.

  'Oh, it is a true story,' Tim said. 'Well, maybe I misspoke, it's a story that people around here have actually told over the years.'

  'Well, it's still stupid,'

  'I agree,' Tim answered.

  'Let's just keep moving,' Craig decided, walking off ahead in a sulk and leaving the other three behind. 'The sooner we're out of this place, the better.'

  Kim rolled her eyes and mouthed the word, baby, before going after him. She fell in line with him and Ashley heard their muted talking. She and Tim set off behind, giving them a little room.

  'I didn't go too far, did I?' Tim asked. 'I was only trying to lighten the mood.'

  'Don't worry about it,' Ashley said. 'He'll get over it before long. He's just not the best at handling being the butt of a joke.'

  'I can understand that,' Tim said. 'I'll apologise later.'

  'You don't have to.'

  'I know, but I will. No need to give anyone a reason not to like me. They're your friends, so I'm trying to get them onboard.'

  'They will like you,' Ashley said. 'Just be yourself and they can't not fall in love with you.'

  'Is that right?'

  'I did,' Ashley said. As soon as the words had left her lips, her body seized up.

  Shit, shit, shit!

  Ashley realised she'd just told Tim she loved him. They'd never discussed it before now, and she had no idea she felt that strongly, but after saying it, it didn't feel like she misspoke. The problem was that it was out there now, hanging over them like a bad smell. Ashley felt a knot tighten in her stomach. How would he react?

  Would he tense up, pull away, murmur how he thinks she's nice? She looked away, wanting the ground to swallow her up, but felt his hand cup her chin and pull her gaze back to him.

  He was smiling.

  'You beat me to the punch,' he said.

  'Really?'

  'Yeah, I was planning on telling you tonight, maybe snuggled round a fire. Something romantic.'

  'I... I don't know what to say.'

  He laughed. 'Well, you can apologise for ruining my best-laid plans.'

  He then pulled her towards him and kissed her, with passion. The knot in her stomach freed itself and a burst of adrenaline rippled through her. She kissed him back and ran her hand through his hair. She pressed her body against his, overcome in the moment, and she felt him growing excited.

  'Well then,' she said, whispering in his ear, 'I think we can still make tonight special. But you're going to have to control yourself for a little while longer.'

  'I can try,' he grinned. 'But you don't make it easy.'

  She shrugged and skipped off ahead, trying to play the tease. Not a role that came naturally. 'You'd find me boring if I did that.'

  Ashley felt elated.

  It was the first time she'd ever told anybody she loved them. And worse, it wasn't planned, it had just slipped out with barely any thought. Those few moments where she was twisting in the wind felt like an eternity, but hearing him say it back made it worth it. She felt him catch up to her and take her hand again, his goofy grin as big as hers.

  The moment was then ruined by Kim.

  'What the fuck is that?'

  Just up ahead, Kim and Craig had stopped dead in their tracks, their bodies tense.

  'What is it?' Tim asked.

  Kim didn't answer directly. 'Is he...?'

  'Can't be,' Craig said, his voice quiet. Scared.

  'What?' Ashley asked as she and Tim jogged over.

  Ashley shrieked when she saw what they were looking at. A cold feeling crawled its way up her spine.

  A man lay on the ground beyond them, tied and bound.

  He was
, without a doubt, quite dead.

  And he had also been stripped of his face.

  4

  This was unexpected.

  It seemed the group he was following had stumbled upon a little surprise. One that lay motionless and bound on the floor. Skin torn from the face.

  That must have been painful!

  But this development concerned him.

  It could ruin everything.

  He had been following the group undetected for a while now, but out in the wilderness he had to keep a good distance. Now, under the cover and darkness of the trees, he felt even more sure of himself, with more places to hide, and was able to stay closer to them.

  He was the wolf and they were little, vulnerable sheep, ripe for a messy slaughter.

  But the sight the group were now looking at in the small clearing certainly mixed things up a little. Though maybe not in a bad way. This would certainly raise their fears and tensions, which was good. It got them scared earlier, and it would make playing with them that much more fun. He just hoped it wouldn't make them turn back on themselves, because then the trap would turn into a hunt.

  Not that hunting them down didn't have its appeal. Chasing them as they ran for their lives, squealing like pigs. But it's not how things were supposed to go. There was more risk that way, if only a little.

  He watched as one of them began taking tentative steps towards what they had found. He kept his eyes on the redhead, who didn't move at all, and focused on her nicely rounded rear. He debated pleasing himself again; certainly the mood was rising, he could feel the stirring again. But he knew he couldn't, things could change quickly given this current turn of events and he needed to be ready.

  If he failed and the family were denied their food, Father and Mother would hold him accountable and there would be hell to pay.

  He did not plan on letting them down.

  5

  Ashley couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

  Tim and Craig slowly approached the body, but Ashley didn't want to move; she wanted to keep as far away from it as possible. When Kim began to walk to the body as well, Ashley was left with no choice but to follow. She didn't want to look -- she had no desire to investigate this morbid scene -- but she didn't want to be removed from the group, even by a few feet. Her legs wobbled as she took tentative steps. The closer she got, the clearer the horrific sight became.

  At first, at a distance, the man's face just seemed like a red smudge, like it had been covered in crimson paint, but the closer she got, the more detail she saw, and the more nauseous she felt.

  The face had been torn off completely and Ashley could make out lumps of flesh and tendons still attached to the grinning skull beneath.

  'Oh God,' Kim said.

  The group stopped as one about ten yards from him, sharing a seemingly telepathic agreement not to get any closer.

  'What happened to him?' Ashley asked.

  She looked to Tim, who just shrugged. 'I have no idea.'

  'His face...' Ashley went on, but felt herself trail off.

  'What could do something like that?' Craig asked. 'Maybe an animal or something?'

  Again, Tim shrugged. 'Could be, I suppose. If he was already dead. Though I'm not sure what kind of animals around here would have done that. A hungry fox, maybe?'

  'I don't think that's what it was,' Ashley said, pointing. 'Look at his hands.'

  They all saw what she was seeing. The man's hands were bound together in front of him, with what looked like thin wire wrapped tightly around his wrists, cutting into the skin.

  'Fuck,' Kim said.

  'Someone killed him?' Craig asked.

  'Can't have,' Tim said.

  'So he just lay down, tied himself up, and let the animals eat his face?' Kim said, with no small amount of sarcasm.

  Ashley looked around, feeling an uneasy sensation crawl over her. Then she saw it, a few yards from them, hanging from a branch, swaying in the gentle breeze like a rag.

  She began to scream, horrified at the sight. Her instinct was to huddle down to the floor and cover her eyes.

  'What is it?' Kim asked, panicked. She crouched next to Ashley and put an arm around her shoulders. 'What's wrong?'

  Once again, Ashley pointed, and the others followed the gesture.

  Hanging from a nearby branch, jagged and bloody -- like a macabre mask -- was the flap of skin that had been torn from the man.

  * * *

  Kim wanted to scream, just like Ashley already was.

  It was there, lodged in her dry throat somewhere, but she refused to let it out. Instead, she looked on, horrified, at what was hanging in front of them. It was a surreal, terrifying sight.

  The face before them obviously belonged to the poor man who lay dead only feet away from them, but Kim's mind ran to more urgent thoughts.

  It was clear someone had done this to him.

  Whoever it was, they had killed this man, for reasons Kim didn't know -- would probably never know -- and that was bad enough, but they'd also saw fit to leave his face on display like some kind of warning.

  Or taunt.

  So, the question was, who was it meant to taunt?

  The smell of blood was strong and fresh, so Kim was acutely aware that whoever had killed this man was probably still out there in the woods somewhere.

  Still hugging her screaming friend, Kim put her hands against Ashley's cheeks and twisted her face to meet her own, away from that horrible sight.

  'Ashley, honey,' she said, in the most soothing tones she could muster. 'You need to stop yelling.'

  'But look at it,' Ashley said, her breathing heavy and erratic.

  'I know, I know. But we need to try to be calm, hun. We need to be quiet.'

  Kim saw the realisation dawn over her friend. 'Because, they could still be out here?' she said.

  Kim nodded. Ashley shut her eyes tight and began to cry, but it was a quiet sob, one pushed down within. Kim pulled Ashley in and hugged her.

  'It's going to be okay,' she whispered.

  'Tim,' she heard Craig say, his voice unsteady. 'What the fuck is this?'

  'How should I know?' Tim spat back.

  'Well, it was your idea to come out here.'

  'Yeah, but this isn't the kind of thing I've ever seen before.'

  'You sure it isn't something you've set up? You know, we go over there to check on your friend, covered in makeup, only to have him jump up and scare us? Seems like something you would come up with.'

  Kim knew Tim was about to reply, and angrily, but she was up on her feet before he had the chance.

  'Jesus, Craig,' she said, jabbing a finger into his chest. 'What is wrong with you? This is real. You know it is. Can't you smell it?' Ever since they had approached, Kim had been able to detect a tinge of copper in the air. She could smell the blood, and she knew the others could too.

  'Well, what do you want me to think, Kim? It's not every day we come across something like this.'

  'No,' she said, 'it isn't. Which is why we need to keep our heads.'

  Craig turned his cheek and looked to the ground, embarrassed. He nodded. 'Sorry, Tim,' he said.

  Tim took a moment before he responded. 'It's okay, this has me reeling as well.'

  'What do we do?' Ashley said from her crouched position on the floor.

  The group was silent for a moment.

  'Do we head back?' Kim asked, through it was more of a statement than a question. That, in her head, made the most sense.

  'No,' Tim said, 'we need to reach somewhere with a phone, or at least a signal. The town we are heading to is closest. That's the quickest route we can take to call someone.'

  'Yes, but that means moving on through these woods,' Kim said. 'And whoever did this could be waiting here. I'd rather take my chances out in the open, to be honest.'

  'Won't help us as night,' Tim said. 'We won't be able to see shit then, either. If we really move, and forget about camping tonight, we can hit town at about two or thr
ee in the morning.'

  'It'll still be dark,' Kim said. 'So we're still in the shit.'

  'But-'

  'Dammit,' Craig said, cutting off their back and forth. 'Aren't you forgetting something?'

  Kim spun to face her boyfriend, surprised and more than a little annoyed at his tone.

  'And what's that?'

  'Him,' Craig said, pointing to the man who lay on the ground.

  'Him?'

  'Yes, Kim,' Craig said, raising his voice again. 'We need to check on him. We can't just leave him like this.'

  Kim looked at the dead man, who was stone still. Why would they need to check on him? She squinted to see if she could make out any signs of breathing and, if it was there, it wasn't obvious. He was dead, so surely now all they needed to worry about was self-preservation?

  'Craig,' Kim said, 'he's dead. We can't do anything for him.'

  'We don't know that,' Craig said. 'We can't just leave him like this. We need to know one way or the other. Even if he is dead, we can't just leave the poor guy like this.'

  Kim took a deep breath, and considered her next words. She could normally bring Craig around to her way of thinking, but when it was something principled (or what he perceived to be principled), he could be as stubborn as hell.

  She was worried that his stubbornness in this situation could put them all in danger.

  'Honey,' she began again, but he didn't let her finish.

  'Kim, how can you be so heartless?'

  It took a moment for the words to sink in. Heartless? How could he be so ignorant to the situation, the danger, they were in? She clenched her teeth, readying herself for a verbal assault, but again she wasn't allowed to finish. This time, Tim stepped in.

  'Craig,' he said, gently and calmly, 'I understand what you're saying. I really do. But think it through. We don't know who did this or why. But someone did do it, that we know, and then they hung that thing there,' he pointed to the face, 'for all to see. You don't do that unless there is something seriously wrong with you. Can you really look at all this and say whoever did it won't look to do it again if they find us?'

  'There are four of us,' Craig said, as if it made a difference.

  'And we don't know how many of them there are, Craig,' Kim said. 'Think it through, you idiot.'