The Dark Forest

Chapter 1
Prologue

Chapter Description: Mike has decided to get away from everyone on a camping trip. He plans on a quiet, relaxing escape from life's problems, but the forest is too quiet. Something sinister lurks in the cave, and Mike is about to find out that a simple retreat may have been his biggest mistake.

The sun glared through the leaves. It was late autumn. The leaves had lost their vibrant green color and were starting to change to dull, lifeless colors, mostly brown, but few had turned yellow or orange. It was a very cold day, which rendered all residents of the forest silent. The occasional bird would venture from a tree, only to seek shelter on another. Wildlife seemed scarce during the day and almost nonexistent at night. In this particular area of the forest, absence of sound was near absolute. There was no subtle breeze, no running water, not even a bright sun. There was nothing appealing about this forest. It was a great place to get away from every day life, but not much else.

Night was falling.

The shadows shifted as the eerie glow began to give way to complete darkness, interrupted only by the faint light of the stars. Mike lay down on his cot with his hands over his eyes. He had heard that this was a great place to get away, but he didn’t like it. The leaves didn’t rustle, the birds didn’t sing, and everything was far too quiet. It was as if something big were about to happen, but until then nothing could break the silence. It was as if nature itself were quietly preparing for a storm. In spite of the hint of a coming storm, the sky above was completely clear without a hint of change, it was very unnerving.

Mike continued to try to sleep. So far this had not been a relaxing vacation. He brought no one with him, insisting that he just needed to get away from everything, however he was beginning to regret his choice. As the last of the light faded, Mike decided that he couldn’t sleep a wink. He had left his electronics at home since the idea was to get away from it all, which was definitely coming back to haunt him tonight. His sleeping bag was fairly warm, but Mike decided that he was cold and craved the warmth of a fire.

Mike grabbed his flashlight and turned it on. He shined the light at his fire pit. The fire was completely out. He turned out the light to see if he could detect the slightest ember. Nothing. Mike got dressed. Now would be the perfect time to look for fire wood. This time he would stock up. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle a night run for fire wood, but the stillness of the forest around him was very unsettling, so he preferred to limit his trips away from camp in the dark and there were other things he could do during the day.

The search for firewood was very uneventful. After half an hour of gathering fallen branches and heaving a log, Mike felt he had enough fuel for the rest of his trip. Mike brought his findings back to camp. He dusted off the coals from his previous fire, which by now had grown cold. These coals had no moisture in them and would burn fairly easily. He found and crumpled some old receipts that he hadn’t yet bothered to throw away and put those in the center of his fire pit. He started with his smallest twigs and worked his way to moderately sized sticks. The wood was slightly damp, but he knew it wasn’t too wet. He put his coals from the previous fire on top of the kindling.

Mike debated whether or not he should start the fire now or wait until after he chopped some wood off the log he had salvaged. He decided it would probably be more enjoyable to just get the fire going and in addition to being warmer, he’d be able to see what he was doing without sticking the handle of his light in his mouth. He took his lighter out from his pocket and started the fire.

Mike had put his axe in the bed of his truck after his previous fire that evening. His axe was in for some serious sharpening when he got home. The blade was already dull and it would take a lot of effort just to cut a few pieces off the log. It was all a bother to him, but still, it was something to do. After fifteen minutes of hacking at the log he finally had a few sizeable pieces appropriate for a fire. He took them to the fire pit, only to realize that his fire was going out.. He quickly put more kindling on it and put the firewood around the diminishing flames. “That’ll catch.” he reassured himself. Mike watched as the kindling slowly burned, thereby spreading the fire to the logs. He heaved a sigh of relief.

He went back to the bed of his pickup to get his foldable lawn chair. He set the chair by the fire, got out his cooler, and sat down. The fire was warm. The sound the twigs made as they crackled with flame was very welcoming and inviting. Mike reached into his cooler, grabbed a beer, and stuck it in the cup holder. ‘Now this is camping.’ Mike thought to himself. ‘No one griping at you about their needs and expectations. Nothing that demanded your immediate attention…’ It was just Mike, his beer, and his fire. He pulled out a cigarette which he lit from the camp fire. His ex would have told him that the cigs would give him cancer. He was done with all that. His girlfriend had started out pretty fun, but in the end she had become too clingy and kept giving him these annoying facts about his ‘bad habits’. When he decided to break up, his and her friends divided on the issue, which had been enough for him. He decided he needed to be alone for a few days, and had left, with only his boss knowing where he was. Mike started to doze off during his reminiscence. He wasn’t happy with his vacation so far and thought he might head back in the morning. The point of this trip was to get his mind off it all, but that was proving to be futile so far.

Mike dazed into the fire. The rest of the forest seemed very untouched by any signs of life, other than vegetation. It was disturbing to him. This fire was the only thing that proved this forest capable of supporting life. In a way, he felt the fire was somewhat representative of him. As Mike started to doze of a rustling sound caught his attention, making him bolt upright. As he concentrated his attention on the rustling, he figured it was starting to sound like footsteps. He hadn’t seen anyone around over the last day and if someone had followed him from home that would completely ruin his trip. Wondering who or what it could be, he grabbed his flash light and followed the sound he had been hearing.

Mike walked away from the fire. “Is anyone out there?“ he called out. Everything seemed so dark. He could barely make out anything outside flashlight range. He could still hear those footsteps and the rustling though. He continued on in the direction of the source. It couldn’t be that far away. The steps progressively got louder and louder until he could swear that whatever was producing them would be visible if the sun were out..

Mike stopped. He scouted the area with his light, only to realize that his light had gotten very dim compared to when he looked for firewood. Slowly the light went out. Mike started to panic. He couldn’t see a thing. Mike turned around to see if he could detect any light from his campfire, only to realize that he had passed a few trees and had taken a few turns, putting some distance between him and his camp with nothing to light the way. How the hell would he get back to camp? As a last resort, he checked his pockets for batteries. Having an extra pair on his person was a thought that could have occurred to him, which he would have heeded were that the case. To his dismay, he realized he didn’t have any spare batteries on him.

Mike began to take steps forward. He figured that he should eventually see the light from his fire and then he’d be able to make it back to camp. He had given up on finding out where the footsteps came from. He figured that if it had been a bear or something that he’d be out of luck, so without further delay he started walking.

As he blindly hiked forward, Mike could hear the footsteps again, but this time it was accompanied by heavy breathing. He remembered the stories he used to hear as a kid about a witch who resided in this forest. She would butcher you for her stew, they would say. Mike had stopped believing that story due to the sense of security that the town had provided him. Now that story was starting to sound plausible. He started running. He didn’t care where he ended up so long as he wasn’t a witch’s main course for the night.

He kept running. It didn’t matter if he got back to camp or not. He was going to go home in the morning, give better effort at work, continue saving up for school, and give a shot at the relationship thing some other time, but he had to make it out of the forest and he couldn’t get caught by whatever was stalking him.

Mike ran into a tree. The impact didn’t hurt too much, but his contacts fell out. He squatted down, trying to feel for them. The breathing was slowly getting closer and louder. When the breathing got even closer, and Mike felt his contacts were a lost cause, he continued running. He started panting. When he realized that he too was making a lot of noise that could be tracked, he tried to hold his breath. After a few strides he tripped on a root. The footsteps and breathing became louder for a minute, but then they died away. Mike was scared. He decided not to move until dawn.

***

When Mike awoke the next morning he was shivering. It had been a very long night, and had even started to rain, but he had managed to fall asleep somehow, much to his dismay. Whatever had been stalking him last night could have found him and he didn’t want to think about what would have happened next. In the distance he saw a green blur coming his way. He tried to get up, but his ankle throbbed. He didn’t dare try to make any more sudden movements, so he just tried to lay low. To his horror, the green blur made its way closer and closer, until it was standing right over him. ‘This is the end’ he thought. He closed his eyes to brace himself.

Nothing happened. Mike opened his eyes to see that a hand was extended to him with a couple of circular objects in it. He tried to get a good look at the stranger, but nothing was very visible. Finally a female’s voice that reminded Mike of wind chimes announced, “I found these by that tree over there and I assume they’re yours. I don’t plan to hold them here all day, so if you’ll be so kind as to take them off my hands… oh, and don’t worry, I cleaned them off for you.” She was holding his contacts! Mike grabbed them out of her hand, not much caring how she stumbled upon them. Upon putting them on, he could see a tall brunette standing over him in a green jacket and blue jeans. ‘She’s somewhat attractive…’ he thought to himself.

Trying to be careful of his ankle, Mike picked himself up into a sitting position so he could look her in the eyes. They were green eyes. “Thanks,” he said “Don’t know what I would have done without these.” He tried to stand, but his ankle determined otherwise. “Fuck, I really fucked myself up last night.”

The girl helped him up. “You should be really careful with that ankle. Is your camp nearby? I can patch it up once we get there.” She helped him start walking Mike took a deep breath before responding, “It should be, but I don’t know where. Look, I can probably walk on my own, it isn’t too big a deal.” He tried to break away from her grip, but found that her grip was a bit too firm for him in his injured state. She smirked at him and teased “Guess you’ll be stuck with me as your escort.”

After ten minutes of assisted limping in a single direction, Mike was feeling very agitated. He hated needing someone else’s help and he especially hated being dependent on a woman, granted this was an extreme case in his situation, but he found more and more that he’d prefer to walk on his own. “Look,” he said, “I appreciate you helping me and all, but if you could just find me a walking stick I’d much prefer to walk on my own.” His companion answered him, “Embarrassed are we? Don’t worry. I think we’re almost there and then I can patch you up.”

They walked in silence for the next half hour. Mike knew they had to be going the wrong way; he hadn’t been away from his camp for that long before his light failed and he got lost last night. He was about to say something when the girl announced, “I hope you don’t mind if we just go to my camp for the time being. I’ve been looking around for smoke for a while, but I think last night’s rain must have cleared that.” That reminded Mike of how cold he was. He shivered. His clothes kept out most of the rain, but he was still slightly soaked and very cold. He reluctantly agreed. “Uh, what’s your name?” he asked. “My name is Sara,” she answered, “What’s your’s?” Mike took a while to respond. Only now did he start to wonder how she had even known that he wore contacts before even meeting him. He uneasily answered, “Mike.”

Sara and Mike walked for ten minutes before they approached the mouth of a cave, where they stopped. “Sara, why the fuck are we at a cave?” Mike asked, his concern over his situation growing by the minute. “Don’t worry about it. I’m a geology student on vacation up here and I fell in love when I found this cave. Seeing all the formations gets me very excited!” Mike had a lot of follow-up questions for that, but finally his condition got the best of him and he passed out.

***

It was late noon when Mike next awoke. He was warm. Sara had put him on a cot that looked very similar to his own. Looking around, Mike realized they were inside the cave. It was very dark and he could only see things by fire light, except for the cave exit of course, but that light was very dim. The sleeping bag she had him resting in was almost too hot for him to sleep in. He considered that she had to be pretty strong to be able to lift his dead weight into the cave, onto a cot, and into a sleeping bag after he collapsed since he wasn’t very light himself… still, she didn’t look that big. She just looked like an average woman in her early twenties. He decided to stop worrying about it. She had helped him out of the forest after all.

Mike got out of the cot. It was at this point that he realized he was naked. Blushing, he grabbed the sleeping bag and wrapped it around himself. ‘Jesus,’ he thought, ‘this bitch is crazy weird… I’m gonna have to talk to her about removing my clothes.’ She was over by the fire. Mike saw that his clothes were laid out by the fire too and got even more agitated. “Hey, why the fuck did you take off my clothes?” he demanded. Sara slowly turned her head to look him in the eyes and calmly answered, “Tell me you’ve taken some sort of health class… well, I’ll lay out a few basics for you. It’s very cold out, your clothes were sopping wet, you were running a fever and had all sorts of cuts and bruises on your face, a sprained ankle and let’s not forget my favorite one which was you passing out from one or more of these. Hypothermia was my immediate concern, so I got you out of your wet clothes and into a warm, dry sleeping bag. If I hadn’t, you would have suffered a lot worse than just passing out and waking up naked. You’re welcome.” she turned back to the fire, obviously pissed off. “Your clothes are almost dry,” she said, still looking away from him, “I’d give them about ten more minutes. In the meantime, you should eat something and drink lots of water.” Mike went back to the cot. “Who died and made you the authority on health?” he asked, knowing full well that he was probably just pushing his luck even more. “… while you’re at it you should definitely brush your teeth. You still have really bad beer and tobacco breath. That mouth to mouth was nothing short of disgusting.” she replied, still looking into the fire. At this point Mike felt really embarrassed so he just shut up. Sara got up out of her seat and tossed him an opened bag of crackers followed by a bottle of water. “You need your strength,” she told him.

Mike put his head down. This was completely humiliating for him. Here was a complete stranger playing mom to him and even worse was that he actually needed the help. Whatever. His friends back home were never going to hear about this anyway. There was only one person who might have had a vague idea where he was, but no one was better than him at keeping secrets. Hell, he’d never even discuss a secret with those who were involved with it and would deny knowledge of it. Mike resigned himself to accepting her help. Humiliating as it was, he was in need of help, and there his help was. He slowly ate a few crackers. They tasted a bit funny. He decided to go look for some other food to get rid of the taste.

Mike got up again. He felt really dizzy. He figured he must have gotten up too fast or something, so he sat back down. When the dizziness didn’t subside, he took a very long swig of his bottled water, and that was all he could remember from that afternoon.

***

It was night when Mike next woke up. He still felt very fatigued. As he attempted to pick his head up to look around, he realized that there was nothing supporting his head and he was actually sitting in a lawn chair- his lawn chair. He also realized that his wrists and ankles were both firmly tied to his chair. He couldn’t move.

Mike looked around the dimly lit cave. The fire was out, but there were lots of lit candles. He thought he could make out an alter a few yards away from him. What the hell was going on? Where was Sara? “SARA!!!” he called out, his voice echoed through the cave. It was so dark in that cave. He thought he could vaguely detect movement over by the alter.

“Ah, I see you’re awake. Welcome to my little getaway from life’s day-to-day troubles.” Mike saw a pair of glowing green eyes as a female voice addressed him. Both eyes and voice held a sinister expression of hunger. He was overcome with fear as this pair of eyes approached him. “Where the fuck am I? What the hell have you done with Sara? Answer me you bitch!” he cried out, in his attempt to fight off the growing chill going down his spine. He doubted Sara was still alive. He knew coming to this cave was a bad idea, but he just wasn’t strong enough to resist her urge to check out the cave. Dumbass student was the reason they were gonna get killed. If only they had avoided the cave they could have evaded capture. He looked into those glowing green eyes. They were terrible, very menacing. He felt as though they were devouring his mind and even his very essence. The chill down his spine spread to his limbs. Mike shuddered, trying very hard to look away, but still unable to break eye contact from the two brightest sources of light in the cave. She was right in front of him now, towering over him.

Mike could hear Sara’s voice now, “Mike, watch out. She’s very dangerous.” Since Mike was unable to break eye contact with his captor, he tried to figure out where his companion’s voice was coming from. It sounded as though it were either in front of him or behind. “SARA!!!” Mike called out once more, “WHERE ARE YOU!!! “ Mike trembled as the pair of eyes got even closer to his own. The pair of glowing green eyes were just inches away from his own. Mike trembled as they slid out of sight. He could feel light breathing on the side of his neck. “Your clothes are dry,” he heard Sara whisper in his ear.

Mike couldn’t believe it. Sara was holding him hostage here in the cave. His fear subsided. Sara was tall, but she was by no means a big girl. He felt like he had the upper hand in a fight of life or death. As if she could read his mind, she let out a very shrill cackle. “Oh, boy. I hope you aren’t thinking of fighting your way out of this. You’re drugged, tied to a chair, and have no means of escape,” there was still laughter in her voice, “furthermore, I carried you five miles, and while you were unconscious I treated your wounds, undressed you, and put you inside a sleeping bag on a cot. In all fairness, I daresay I’m stronger than I look.” Mike turned his head to look her in the eyes again. He could see her eyes, but they were now less bright and menacing, though he did know she didn’t have the best of intentions for him He swallowed. There just had to be a way out. He wasn’t going to die here. “You caught me,” he said, maintaining eye contact and hoping he sounded equally intimidating, even though he was drugged and tied down to a chair, “what now?”

The pair of eyes started to glow again and the chill returned. Her eyes felt like they were burning into him. Those eyes turned upward, but the chill was not gone, as the roaring laughter which came from her was equally unsettling. “I really don’t know,” she said, still laughing, “you’ve got all sorts of junk in your system so I doubt you’d taste good, your blood seems pretty contaminated too, so I’ve no use for that… and then there’s this ‘tough guy’ attitude which you’ve been hiding behind, but it’s obviously fake for how frail you actually are, being carried five miles by a woman and all… so your flesh is bitter, your blood is no good, can’t even use your eyes, and I’d hate the company… you’d make a fine addition to my army of corpses..”

‘She’s going to kill me,’ Mike thought. He began to wriggle around in his tethers. ‘I will not die here. I will make it back home, tell everyone about the deranged girl in the mountains, put her in an insane asylum, and put it all behind me. I’ll patch things up with Tiffany, shoot for a promotion at work, take out a loan for school, and live life to the fullest, I just need to get out of here away from this crazy bitch right now.’ Suddenly he felt his bindings give way. He bolted out of the chair, only to land face first onto the cold stone underneath him. He had to get up! He had to escape!

Mike heard that sinister cackle again. The cold stone cave was nothing compared to the chill that laugh sent down his spine. “Did you honestly believe that you’re strong enough to break through nylon rope? I cut off your bindings, only to see if perhaps I was wrong about you. No. I was not wrong. You are puny, weak, and pathetic. Just another corpse living day to day life; not dead, but not truly alive. Your fate has caught up to you, corpse.” She snapped her fingers. The ground beneath him shook as a horde of dark figures approached. Mike felt the tremors grow as the figures drew nearer and nearer. As the figures all surrounded him, Mike felt the shaking gradually stop. “Take his blood!” his captor commanded.

Mike screamed as blade after blade slashed at his back. The blades were so cold, but the gashes left behind burned without mercy. When the blades stopped Mike felt something cold pressed against his side. It was a wooden bowl that she intended to have collect his blood. The bowl was removed. Mike was bewildered as he heard the horde retreat. He had no idea what was going on. With effort, he lifted his head off the ground. One figure was moving around. It was the deranged woman. She stooped down, got up, moved, and repeated the process until she had made a circle around him. She commanded her mob to bring various objects; candles, rotting flesh, various human organs, and her book. The stranger lit five candles placed along a circle which Mike saw to be formed of his own blood. He trembled in terror. He had to escape. Mike began to move his limbs. He was going to crawl away, unnoticed as this psychopath made her preparations. He felt a cold hand on his back. The sinister voice commanded him to stop. Mike froze. All he wanted to do was to get away, but he could not move.

“Spirits of darkness, accept my offering!” She called, “One soul to exchange for one servant!” Mike felt tingling in his body. He felt hands all along his body, but knew no one was there. He screamed. He cried. He tried to curl up into a ball, but he just couldn’t move. ‘PLEASE!!! LET ME GO!!! I’LL DO ANYTHING!!!,’ he thought so forcibly, convinced everyone could hear it. No one headed his pleas. “Take this soul and leave its corpse under my command!” Mike screamed. His scream filled the cave and faded as he felt himself being tugged out of his own body. His life was over. Maniacal laughter filled the cave.