Through the Woods

by Rowan Thalia

"Maybe those assholes will believe us now," Dexter says angrily, leading me out of the building. Seeing the looks on our faces, the rest of the guys are up and in front of us in seconds.

  "What happened?" Sterling asks, peeking around us.

  "Look at the ceiling. I'm off to get the police," Dexter says, taking off in a sprint. Sterling stops and turns when he hears him, rolling his eyes and running after Dex.

  "What happened?" Jackson asks, pulling Maria with him, unable to stop touching her it seems.

  "There's a message on the ceiling," I choke out, pointing inside. He pales as he pulls her inside. She makes a gagging noise almost immediately, before tears start running down her face. The cops come running after the guys, the herd of footsteps causing us all to step out of the way. We stick outside, waiting to hear what they say. Words keep getting thrown around like 'prank' and 'obvious threat'. It seems like the cops can't even figure this shit out.

  Here's hoping we can, before things get even worse.

  20

  Asher

  When the cops come out of the cafeteria, their lips are sealed. They all side eye us and walk back to the tent they’ve set up in the yard as their operations base. I’m sick of being treated like pranking kids, but there’s nothing we can do. Maybe Alex and I should call our dad, and have him throw a little money around … nah. I can’t stand the backlash that always creates.

  “Hey babe,” I pull Juniper into my arms. “Let’s find a quiet spot away from the demon duo to chill. Nothing we can do besides wait this one out.”

  “He’s right, the more we push these small town police, the less they believe us,” Alex scoffs as he kicks a pine cone across the ground.

  “Then, what now? There’s obviously something evil preying on us,” Jackson implores.

  Everyone stops and looks at Juniper. She shrugs. “The only thing we know for certain is that our love keeps him at bay. I mean, I hate to keep suggesting orgies - but there are worse ways to pass our time.”

  Jackson barks out a nervous laugh, pushing Maria behind him. It’s obvious they haven’t gotten to that stage of their relationship - yet. I hate to peer pressure people, but Jun may be right. She’s always unconventional, but this really takes the cake. I look at my twin and give him my best ‘let’s make trouble’ grin. Alex’s answering smile clears some of the clouds from my mind, my brother loves to rile people up.

  “We can set up our cabin as the shag shack!” Alex guffaws. “I mean we have two rooms, Jackson, so don’t worry about our girl seeing your little package.”

  Jackson’s face colors, then he seems to catch on to Alex’s playfulness. “Alex, how do you know what my package looks like? You creepin?”

  The two burst into laughter when Alex puts on a fake guilty face and shrugs. Their laughter echoes through the trees and catches on, and before long, all of us are joining in as we head toward cabin one. The police give us a questioning glance, but we shake them off and head up the stairs. At least here we can relax without being snuck up on. As soon as the door closes behind us, we flop on the sofas and breathe a collective sigh of relief. A light rap sounds on the door, and I get up to answer what is inevitably one of the officers asking why we’re here versus the farmhouse.

  “Can I help you officer?” I say as I crack the door.

  “Son,” he peers behind me at the group. “Y’all should really be with the others.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t do that. We don’t feel safe there, with those two girls. It’s okay that you don’t believe us - but we aren’t going back in that house. We promise to stay put, just not there,” I explain firmly.

  “Alright, I don’t see why that would be a problem as long as you stay in here,” he tips his hat and steps off the porch.

  With a sense of accomplishment, I close the door and lean back against it. Alex gives me a thumbs up, and Jackson claps. I wish I could do more for Juniper, it eats me alive to see her suffering. Call me the mother hen of the group, I guess. Alex hates when I take care of him, but Jun lets me, and it makes me feel needed on a level I’ve always missed out on. Come to think of it, I’d also like to stop seeing that damn woman in white sometime soon. Maybe Jun isn’t the only reason we are being haunted, I mean the woman in white came from my childhood. With a shrug, I start scanning the room for supplies to secure our safety - as much as we can.

  “Dex and Alex, can you find something heavy to put in front of the door? Sterling, do you still have salt stashed away here? Let’s go ghostbuster on this bitch,” I suggest.

  Sterling claps his hands once, then motions for me to follow him into his room. We proceed into the room, and over to his bags. When he pulls open the zipper of a duffle bag, I sit down on the nearest bed.

  “When the fuck did you have time to gather all this shit?” I gasp.

  “When I went into town for research,” he shrugs.

  The guy is good at what he does and is always so thorough, I’ll give him that. I can see why Juniper and Dexter love him. He loads my arms with salt canisters, then fills his own with sage. We both walk out into the living space and dump it all out on the coffee table. Jun’s eyebrow raises, but she picks up a canister and gets to work. Between the three of us manning the salt, Dex and Alex moving furniture, and Jackson covering the windows, the cabin is secured fairly quick. Although I would prefer to pack up and get the hell out of here, this will have to do for now.

  “Well, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I asked you guys to come to camp with me,” Jun grumbles as she folds her legs under her body on the couch. I feel bad for her, she’s taken on a lot of guilt for the spooky shit we’ve all been through. If I knew what to say to make her feel better, and not sound hollow, I would. But this is a fucker of a situation, and I just don’t have the words.

  “You mean you didn’t plan all of this awesomeness?” Alex holds his hands out and turns in the middle of the room. He’s kind of an asshole, but it usually does break the ice. He’s gotten better with Jun around, but you can only change so much about a person, I suppose. It takes a minute, but Dexter finally laughs, and we all join him. Jun makes a frowny pout, then pulls him down for a kiss. Before their lips break, someone pounds on the door.

  “They’ve been found!” a male voice shouts.

  We look at each other with surprise. Who knows what we are about to see, but I’ll be damned if I can’t wait to get out the door. Alex checks the window, scanning for anything untoward. Then he and Dexter quickly unblock the door and swing it open. The rest of us crowd behind them. The officers are circled around the three staff members, who are wrapped up in blankets with wild hair and dirty faces.

  “Well shit,” Alex gasps as we get closer.

  Brian is sporting a black eye, and Jessica and Bobby look drawn. They look like they’ve been missing for weeks, not days. One of the officers is rifling through a medical kit, another is calling for a medical team on his walkie.

  We close in on the huddle, and the officers make room for us in the center. A chill runs down my spine when Brian’s eyes connect with mine. There’s something not right with his gaze, his pupils are so dilated his eyes look black. He reaches out and grabs me around the wrist before I realize he’s even moved. His mouth opens, and I hear a voice in the back of my mind.

  ‘Don’t think you can get away from me. I will have you both. You hold the key to your undoing.’

  Snatching my hand back, I take three steps away. My blood runs cold, and I look at Juniper with dismay, but she’s not reacting at all to what I heard. Juniper is approaching Jessica, and I can’t reach her with Alex between us. Am I the only one he talked to this time? I glance at Alex, who is also focused on Jessica, and not Brian.

  “Where were you guys?” Juniper asks, as the police mill around like busy ants.

  “We ran out after Brian, the rain was so heavy … I don’t know how but we got lost. We found a cave and waited there, but no one ever came,” Jessica mewls. Her voice sounds hollow, and the hair on my n
eck rises.

  “Wendy was in on the whole thing,” Brian-not-Brian suggests. “We wanted to prank the other staff. I panicked when she let you guys call the police and ran off. I didn’t count on the rain being so heavy.”

  “Let’s get you all into the farmhouse where it is warm, so that you can dry off, and we will get to the bottom of this. Son, if this was a prank, it was a terrible mistake on your part,” one of the officers warns.

  Squeezing by my brother, I finally reach Juniper and grab her hand. Her skin is so warm compared to mine, that I gasp a little. She turns to me, eyes wide. Her hand flies over her mouth, and a choked cry comes out. Alex turns and stares at me, his face the picture of terror. I don’t know what they are seeing, but it is not fucking good. When Juniper recovers from her shock, she grabs my neck forcefully and brings her lips to mine. Alex wraps his arms around me from behind, then Sterling and Dex join the dogpile.

  Jun breaches my lips with her tongue, the heat of her mouth scorching me. My body starts trembling, then my stomach ties in a huge knot. I gag, pull my face away from her and throw myself to the ground, retching. The same vile black fluid that came out of Juniper drops from my mouth and pools on the pine needle covered ground. The viscous liquid throbs and begins to creep toward my hand, so I yelp and scramble backwards.

  “Sterling! Light that shit on fire!” Dexter growls.

  Sterling moves faster than I have ever seen him. He lights the goop and kicks pine needles into the flames to make it burn hotter. Alex places his hands in my armpits and drags me away. When we get close to the farmhouse he drops me, turns my face forcefully, and stares into my eyes.

  “What the fuck was that, Ash?” His brow wrinkles. “What happened to you?”

  “I … I don’t know! What are you talking about?”

  “You looked like a fucking zombie!” He almost screams in my face.

  I still. “Brian grabbed my wrist, then I heard him in my head. I jumped back and grabbed Jun. She felt so warm….”

  “So he can get to us through contact with his minions now? That doesn’t make sense.” Jun rasps. “Did he draw blood when he grabbed you?”

  I start to object, then I look at my wrist and see a small puncture where Brian’s thumb would have been. A pearl of blood covers it. A coldness drapes over me again, and I look over at Sterling. His lips form a frown, and he runs toward the medical kit laying open on the ground. After digging a bit, he trots back to me with an antiseptic wipe and a bandage.

  “Here, let me,” he gestures.

  I offer my arm and allow him to clean and cover. He works carefully and quickly. It’s a wonder no one noticed what was happening, but they are all inside with the three that just got back. The muffled voices of the cops talking to them sound calm, so they can’t have been paying attention.

  “We’d better go in and see what story they’ve cooked up.”

  “I don’t care if they say it was aliens, as long as it allows us to leave this fucking place,” Alex grumbles.

  “True that,” Dexter sighs. He pats my back and heads up the stairs.

  I look up to see Juniper’s big eyes and her lips pursed. She and I have more in common than our love, and it’s not the type of thing most lovers would be excited about. As scared as I am, I know there’s nothing that can dim my love for her. I just hope she feels the same way.

  “Jun,” I drawl.

  “Come here, baby. It’s my turn to take care of you,” she soothes, as she pulls me into her hold.

  21

  Jun

  Somehow we all managed to sleep, despite the fact that we knew something was up. Though, we didn't hesitate to barricade ourselves into our cabin. Jackson and Maria opted to stay with us, so my little family dragged our mattresses to the living room. Asher even let me pamper him a little, which was a nice change.

  With the first chirping of the morning, I decided to stay up. Despite not being a morning person, something about the still of the morning was calling to me. I think with the complete mindfuck we've dealt with lately, I've come to appreciate times like this. I untangle myself from Ash and make my way to the coffee pot. I may be up early, but coffee is still necessary.

  We let the other couple take the twins' old room and piled all of our stuff into the other, so I headed in to find some clothes for the day. Being up early also means I get first dibs on the shower. When I pop open the closet and reach for my clothes, my hands touch something fuzzy and cold. My scream is bloodcurdling as two black eyes peek out. Brian's face peers out at me, his hollow black eyes unseeing and terrifying. He didn't lunge at me, but his mouth curled into a creepy grin as I scurried away. The door crashed open as the guys piled in, Jackson and Maria peering in from the hallway. Asher hurried toward me and followed my gaze, spotting Brian and lunging forward. I let out a yelp of surprise as Asher's fist connected with Brian's face. Alex joined him, and they had him pinned to the wall within seconds, blood slowly trickling from his nose.

  "What the fuck are you doing here?" Alex bites out as he cocks his arm back, just itching to land another punch. Brian's eyes flash from black to their usual blue before flashing back. A cackling, raspy laugh barks out of him, showing how unafraid he is.

  "He just wants a little blood. Give him what he wants, and you can have this useless body back. Maybe even the others he's gotten. Like yours," he says, pointing to me.

  "We've discussed this, Brian. It's not his to have, and he'll never get it," I say in a false cheerful voice. Brian's evil smile turns into a frown at my words, like he just can't process what's happening.

  "Fuck!" Alex yells, dropping Brian onto the ground in a heap. Black fog was oozing off of him, and the rest of us back out of the room. Alex and Asher both grumble as they shake off the creepy blackness that's on their hands.

  "Move guys," I yell, shoving everyone back and pulling the guys to the bathroom. They both quickly scrub the residue off until just their raw skin is left. "Let me see your faces," I demand, wanting to see if any traces managed to take them over. Both of their eyes look clear, so I pull Asher in for a kiss, pouring every ounce of love I have into it, before moving to Alex and doing the same. We all freeze as I pull away, waiting for the black gunk to ooze out.

  "He's locked in! Let's get the fuck out of here, now!" Dexter demanded, "We can buy new shit at home." Not one of us bothers to fight him, instead everyone grabs their necessary stuff like phones, wallets, and keys, and runs out.

  "We've got our stuff, and if they're saying prank, I'm getting us the fuck out of here," Jackson says as we step off of the porch.

  "Us too, let's go," I agree, grabbing Asher's hand for comfort.

  "Whoa, whoa. Where are you going?" One of the random officers milling around asks as he sees us all leaving.

  "You can't detain us any longer, and now that they're back there's no crime. We are out of this fucking place," Maria rages before a string of Spanish curses fly out, followed by a half sob. The sight of a girl crying clearly freaks him out, because the officer throws his hands up and backs away.

  "Fine, we have your information. We'll be in contact if we have any further questions," he says, giving us all an odd look. Like we haven't been trapped animals for way too fucking long over this. Dicks.

  Jackson wasn't joking when he said they were out of here, they were both piled in his big truck before we even got to ours, peeling out of the parking lot within seconds. Maria rode with the other girls, so she wouldn't be leaving a car behind.

  "The fucking car won't start," Dexter yells punching the steering wheel. Sterling starts tapping a nervous rhythm on the dashboard as he watches, until Alex finally jumps out and pops the hood. We all follow suit, it's way too hot to just sit in the car and wait.

  "There's nothing disconnected, it should be working," Alex calls, holding up his hand for the keys. Dexter throws them over and he catches them easily, before he rounds the SUV and tries again. Nothing happens.

  "Let's try one of the camp cars? We can fucking have
someone else bring it back. I don't give a fuck," I growl, over this already. Why do we always have setbacks?!

  "Let's get the keys," Asher says next to me, pulling me with him. "Don't freak out, babe. We'll get out of here," he promises, though his voice is strained.

  "We will, even if you guys have to go without me," I counter, knowing it would let them leave. It's me the thing wants. "You guys go and get the stupid blood out of Dudley, I'll be fine until then." My words are firm, but he stops dead in his tracks.

  "Not gonna happen, babe. I would never fucking leave you here, and you know it," his {blue?} eyes burn into mine, emotions swirling in their depths. I can see his anxiety clearly, but I can also see his determination and love. I'm a lucky girl.

  "Fine. We do this together," I finally agree with a heavy sigh. It was worth a shot. He scoffs before giving my hand a squeeze and leading me toward the office. Thankfully, we still have our camp keys, so I unlock the door and we step inside. The room is ice cold, a frigid breeze swirling around. Even the windows and large mirror have ice on them. We both look at each other, our steps hesitant as we make our way to Bobby's desk. Neither of us have forgotten the last incident we had in here.

  Sure enough, as soon as my hands curl around the keys, a low wail echoes through the room, and I look up to see the lady in white in the mirror again. Her creepy pale eyes are focused on my boyfriend, and I glance back to see his face pale with fear. His fear bolsters my determination, so I grab him and we hurry out of the room.

  Once we're outside, I let out a breath of relief. I just want things to go back to normal, and this is freaking me the fuck out. Asher's hand shakes in mine and I'm the one to stop us this time. His face is still pale as his eyes dart around looking for something else to pop out. I put both of my hands on his cheeks, making him focus on me.

  "Asher, look at me. This is going to end. We are going to end it. I'll be damned if he takes this and ruins it. We will leave, even if we have to go on foot. You hear me? We. Will. Leave." My voice is passionate, and he nods along with me. I can tell he doesn't quite believe me, but I'm confident enough for the both of us. I've had enough of the running, though I realize we are about to run again, but this time towards the end of this. I want this blood demon gone, and I want him gone now!