Horror in the Woods

by Mountford, Lee

  'Old meat,' Ted said, dismissively. 'Not much good to us anymore. We have a certain need, and are very particular about our food.'

  'Yeah,' Adela chimed in. 'It really has to be warm.'

  'And squirming,' added Claudia, speaking her first words of the morbid conversation.

  'Please,' Ashley begged, yet again. 'Please, just let us go.'

  Ben again rubbed his beard. 'You mentioned getting your friends. Who were you talking about?'

  'There's another one inside,' Henry said. 'But he ain't going nowhere.'

  The father nodded and looked to Ashley. 'And who else?'

  Ashley paused. She had no idea where Tim had fled to, and she was angry, furious, that he had abandoned them, but if he was about to get away, she didn't want to alert them to that. Maybe he could get help, if they could just survive for long enough. Right now, it looked like their only hope

  'No one,' Ashley said. 'Just us.'

  'Aw,' Ted said. 'That's sweet. A lie though, ain't it?'

  'No,' Ashley said, then stopped. Of course he knew it was a lie, this was the one that had been following them for God knows how long. He knew about Tim. Hell, he'd probably watched as Tim cracked open the faceless man's skull.

  'We know there's someone else, silly girl,' Ted said. 'Mind telling us where he is?'

  'I don't know,' Ashley said, 'honestly. He ran while we were still inside.'

  'Rather cowardly,' Ted said.

  'Very,' Kim added.

  'Can't stand a coward,' Ted said. 'He seems to have let you all down.'

  The worst part about Ted's cruel taunts, was that he was absolutely right. The brave, honourable man she thought she knew, even if it had been for a relatively brief period, obviously didn't exist in the real world; he was just a facade. A cover used to hide the real Tim, the coward beneath.

  Given his actions, she wondered if she could really hold out any hope of him contacting the police at all, or if he would just keep the whole thing quiet and let them die, all so that he wasn't held accountable for what he'd done.

  It seemed Kim had been right about him; the man was a prick.

  'I'm here,' a voice said, one that Ashley recognised. She turned to see Tim appear from around for the far side of the house. He stepped up onto the porch.

  'Tim,' Ashley called.

  'It's okay, I'm here,' he said. He kept walking towards them.

  Initially, Ashley was thrilled, but suddenly she realised Tim was getting too close to Henry's massive form. What was he planning? He couldn't take on the brute, surely? Then Tim stopped, just beside the beast.

  Henry made no move to attack.

  'Tim?' Ashley asked. Her mind was scrambling to make sense of what was going on. Something didn't seem right. The whole family again burst into riotous laughter.

  Tim included.

  'What's going on?' Kim whispered to Ashley.

  'Sorry,' Ben said. 'Seems we have one more introduction to make. But, like Henry here, I think you've met this one before as well. In fact, I think you know him pretty intimately. This is our youngest, Timothy.'

  The group laughed again and Tim gave a big, theatrical wave. 'Hi, girls.'

  16

  Ashley's head was spinning, unable to comprehend what she was hearing.

  This didn't make any sense. It couldn't be true. None of this could be true. She felt light-headed, then her legs gave out and she dropped heavily to the wooden floor of the porch.

  'What the fuck are you talking about?' Kim asked, incredulous.

  'Exactly what I said,' the oldest man said. 'Timothy here is one of us. Always has been.'

  'Come on, Kim,' Tim said. 'You're a bright one. Work it out. Do you think it was an accident we ended up out here?'

  'You didn't even know about this place,' Kim said. 'You were as confused as any of us when you saw this fucking house.'

  Tim just shook his head. He actually looked disappointed. 'Nope, not confused, just acting that way. You were all really easy to fool, by the way. You know that? All I had to do was come into your boring little lives and play the perfect boyfriend for Ashley. Then I planted the seeds for a small trip away, to get to know each other a little better, for Ashley's sake. All with the hope of becoming one big, happy group of friends.'

  'Just to get us out here?' Kim asked.

  'Of course,' Tim said. 'See, not a lot of people come into these woods. It's pretty rare we get visitors who wander by of their own accord. Whether they realise it or not, people subconsciously avoid this place if they can help it. Didn't you feel it when we crossed into the woods? That happens for a reason, and it's been getting stronger and stronger over the years. Good for protection, not so much for visitors. So, we needed to be a little more creative with things, and getting people to come visit us out here is my job.'

  'And one you do well, every time,' Ben said. 'You do us proud, boy.’

  'Thanks, Dad,' Tim said, gushing like a schoolboy.

  'You fucker,' Kim said, through gritted teeth.

  Tim shrugged. 'Always had a mouth on you, Kim,' he said. 'But I do like your spirit. Truth be told, it was a shame it couldn't have been you that I used. I think we'd have had a little more fun than I had with the little mouse on the floor over there.'

  'Fuck you,' Kim said. 'I'd never let you anywhere near me.'

  Tim laughed. 'Well, not now, obviously. But I saw the signs. I'm good at reading people, Kim. You and Craig aren't even together anymore, not in any real sense. Boyfriend and girlfriend? You two are a joke. How long has it been since you two actually liked each other? How long since you, you know?' He made an 'O' with his thumb and forefinger on one hand, and thrust the forefinger of his other through it.

  'Go to hell,' Kim said.

  'More insults. But I notice you didn't answer, or try to deny it. Face it, Kim, if I'd have tried, I could have had you. And I wanted to, believe me. You're much more my type. But it would have made it difficult getting you all out here if I'd have come between whatever was left of you and Craig. The more people I bring home to meet the family, the better. No offence, but they'd have been most disappointed if I'd just turned up with you. You're a pretty girl, and in good shape, but not exactly enough to fill a family of eight.'

  That confused Ashley, and it pulled her back from the mental abyss she was about to fall into. 'Eight?' she asked. 'There are only six of you.'

  'Only six of us here,' Tim said.

  Great, Ashley thought. If, by some chance, they did get away, then there were two more of those freaks running around out there somewhere.

  Unless they were in the house, and had been the whole time.

  Kim grabbed hold of Ashley, pulling her to her feet. 'Get up,' she whispered.

  'Oh,' Claudia said. 'Getting ready to run, I think. Reckon you can get away? Think you can outrun us?'

  Tim snorted a laugh. 'You can try, girls,' he said. 'But it would be useless. This is what we do.'

  'What?' Kim asked. 'Kill innocent people?'

  Tim shrugged. 'A family's gotta eat.'

  'Then eat fucking vegetables. Or deer. Or rabbit. Or anything but fucking people. How sick do you have to be to do this kind of thing? How did it even start?'

  Tim rolled his eyes. 'Bit of a long story, that. One I'm not sure you'd believe.'

  'Try me,' Kim said, pulling Ashley back a bit farther. There was a small gap in the porch railing behind them, Ashley noted, and she knew what Kim was planning.

  'No,' Tim said, 'I don't think so. You're stalling now. The shock has worn off, a little, and now you're just playing for time.'

  'I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with you people,' Kim said. 'I mean, look at you. What's wrong with your faces? Is it some kind of inbreeding?'

  They all laughed again, like hyenas. 'Well,' Tim said, 'now she really is hurling out the insults.'

  'Indeed she is,' Benjamin said. 'What do you take us for, animals? We ain't sick like that.'

  'Then why do you look so... so...?' Kim trailed off.
r />   'Why do we look the way we do?' Ben asked, finishing her words. Kim nodded. 'Bit of a side effect to what we do. That's all.'

  'So,' she said, pointing to Tim, 'how come he doesn't look like the rest of you?'

  At that, Tim's smile fell. Of all the insults Kim had thrown, Ashley realised that one genuine question had actually struck a nerve.

  'All right,' the father said, taking another step forward, 'I think we've talked for long enough. Can only talk for so long before everything is said that needs to be said. Only one question left; are you gonna make this easy for us, or are you gonna run and make us work for our supper?'

  'Don't forget Craig,' Tim said to the girls, scowling. 'Wouldn't want to leave him behind. Think what would happen to him.'

  Ashley knew what Tim was doing, but regardless, it was working. Leaving their friend behind was still weighing heavily on her, but no matter which way she looked at it, Ashley just couldn't see how they could help him. It made her sick and ashamed, but she knew they had to try to save themselves.

  It seemed Kim was in agreement.

  Ashley felt her friend quickly pull her away, hard enough that she almost lost her footing. They slipped through one of the gaps in the railings and bolted off into the woods.

  Ashley heard whooping and hollering from the family behind.

  'It's settled,' she heard Benjamin yell. 'A hunt it is.'

  17

  The pain Craig felt from his spine was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. Every breath, every twitch of muscle, caused it to flare up in an eruption of white-hot agony.

  He knew, without question, that his back was broken.

  Would he ever walk again?

  Would he ever move again?

  Hell, would he even live long enough to care?

  The floor of the kitchen on which he lay was filthy. He could see small animal carcass, rats or mice, under the stove; a long insect, a millipede, crawled over one. Funny the details you notice when your mind is about to break.

  Craig had managed to stop screaming, mostly because his throat was too sore to carry on. Instead, he simply moaned and mewled between breaths.

  Tears still rolled down his cheeks, but he couldn't allow himself to fully sob, as the movement was too painful.

  So he wept motionless.

  In silence.

  As much as he could hope for a miracle, deep down he knew it was pointless. So, his mind, whether he wanted it to or not, was now coming to terms with his impending death.

  How had it all come to this?

  This weekend was supposed to be a new start for him. He had plans to rekindle things with Kim, to show her they were meant to be together, and get things back on track. Also, they were supposed to be bringing a new friend fully into the fold, one who seemed to make Ashley happy, and Lord knows that had been a long time coming.

  This trip was supposed to be the start of a new chapter, a positive one.

  But it had turned into something straight out of a nightmare.

  No, worse than that, because you woke up from nightmares.

  This was real, and its effects were permanent.

  It had all started when they'd entered these woods and found the man with no face. And from there, things had only gotten worse.

  Finding this house. Finding the basement.

  And the thing in the basement.

  The hulking beast that called himself Henry didn't make sense to him. He was just too big, both in height and girth. Surely, no human could be that big and still walk around so easily? His strength, too, seemed inhuman. The way he had snatched Craig up so effortlessly, like he was weightless, was terrifying.

  Craig remembered how the grotesque thing had squeezed him, pushing him into its rubbery, sour smelling skin. He was sure some ribs had been cracked, but the whole thing had seemed like a game to Henry. And then the hulk had, quickly and simply, snapped Craig's back, like it was nothing.

  Craig could hear voices outside, one of them Kim's, and one that sounded like Tim's as well, but there were others too. Unrecognisable. Perhaps the people that lived here? It was as good a guess as any. He thought of Kim and Ashley running away, leaving him behind as Henry stepped over him.

  Like he was nothing more than dirty laundry on the floor.

  Seeing his friends flee so quickly, seeing his girlfriend leave him behind for dead without even looking back, hurt every bit as much as the physical pain he'd been put through.

  Did he mean so little to Kim?

  Then again, if he was honest with himself, he had a huge part to play in them being in this hellish situation anyway. He was the one who insisted on going to check on the faceless man. He was the one who insisted they try to talk that same enraged man down. On top of that, when he had seen Kim ready to swing the heavy branch, aiming squarely at the man’s head, Craig's instinct was to stop that. He knew the damage it would do, and didn't want Kim to have a person’s death on her conscience. So, had taken the responsibility of protector on himself, taking the weapon from her and aiming it at the man's back and ribs, hoping to avoid any permanent damage.

  It hadn't helped.

  It had just fucked things up further.

  Even after all that, all that he had done, when they heard the child's voice through the door in the kitchen, he was the one that insisted they find a way in, even though Tim was adamant that they leave well enough alone. Craig, again, thought he knew best. Regardless of what anyone else thought, his way had to be right.

  And look what it had unleashed.

  Maybe his friends were right to leave him behind. If they did make an escape, they were probably better off without him.

  He would only hold them back.

  His thoughts were broken by exited yelling from outside; something was happening. He heard a male voice say something about a hunt. Then, quite clearly, 'Go get them.'

  A few moments later, he heard multiple footsteps enter the house. One set in particular, booming and thunderous, was very recognisable.

  'Where is he?' a male voice asked.

  'Kitchen,' Henry answered. Craig still didn't understand why his voice was how it was; so high-pitched and childlike. He was clearly fully grown, overgrown if anything, so why did his voice reflect that of a child?

  The footsteps moved towards the kitchen, and Craig held his breath as people entered. The first to appear was a man with a beard, who smiled when he saw Craig. A woman with her hair in a bun followed, then Henry squeezed through the door. All of them looked odd, unnatural in some way. Henry's oddities were obvious, but the man had a gap in his top lip that ran up and met a disjointed nose, and the woman seemed to have drooping eyes, and horrible growths all over her skin.

  But there was one more person who entered. One that made no sense to Craig.

  Tim.

  He smiled and waved to Craig. 'How's it going, buddy?'

  Craig tried to speak, but the effort hurt. All that escaped was a low moan.

  'He looks a little confused,' the man with the beard said.

  'Then he can stay confused,' Tim said. 'I'm not explaining it all again.'

  'He's a handsome one,' the woman said, stepping closer to Craig. Her dirty boots stopped just before his face. 'Wonder if I should have a little play with him before we get going.'

  There was a flash of something as -- whatever was thrown -- struck the back of her head. A plate crashed to the floor close to Craig, and shattered.

  'You don't need to play with the likes of him,' the bearded man yelled.

  'Did you just throw something at me?' the woman roared in response. She stomped over to the kitchen units, grabbed an old, iron kettle, and launched it across the room at the man. It hit him in the face, knocking him backwards. 'Don't you ever do that again, you piece of shit.'

  She then ran at him and began swinging hard punches at the man, alternating between the ribs and head. The man tried to block, but too many got through, and he again stumbled backwards.

  Henry was laughing, he
artily. His disgusting mass jiggled like jelly. He was clearly enjoying the show.

  Tim was cackling as well. 'Get him, Ma.'

  'All right,' the man said, still trying to fend off the continuous assault. 'All right, I'm sorry,' he said. 'Will you stop?'

  The woman eventually did, but the scowl on her face remained. She landed one more shot as the bearded man straightened up to his full height, bringing her knee up into his groin. Upon impact, the man let out a groan and doubled back over.

  'Don't ever throw shit at me again,' she yelled, and stomped back over to Craig. He tried to shuffle away, but only succeeded in flaring up the pain in his back. 'And you,' the woman said, 'stop fucking moaning.'

  She pulled a leg back and let loose with a kick, hitting Craig directly in his already injured ribs. He let out a howl, as unimaginable pain exploded inside of him. Through it all, he was also aware of a warm feeling spreading over his groin as he wet himself.

  The group just laughed at his suffering.

  'Henry,' the man said, still holding his injured groin. 'Get him ready. Might as well have dinner prepared for when your siblings get back.'

  'Okay,' Henry said, happily, and began walking towards Craig.

  'And if you pull any shit like this again, I swear we'll lock you in that basement for good, and you'll never eat again. Or maybe I'll even take you to see Grandpa, see if he can't straighten you out. How does that sound?'

  Henry's eyes went wide. 'Fine, I'll be good,' he said. He turned to look down at Craig. 'Let's get you downstairs.'

  Craig held his breath as Henry reached down for him with giant, filthy hands. Craig knew the obese monster was going to pick him up, and he knew any movement was going to hurt. He braced himself for the pain, which came in waves as he was hoisted up and slung over the behemoth's fat shoulder. Craig cried out, unable to help himself.

  'Come back up when you're done,' the man said, obviously the father of the deranged group. 'If the twins aren't back within the hour, we are gonna get started without them.'