Elwood (Book 1)

https://rumble.com/v4yutjb-elwood-part-1-by-ray-bush.html

Elwood

 By Ray Bush

Jack drove south on the road that wound through forest with his girlfriend Mia, her best friend Lori, and her best friend's brother Ethan. “Elwood has been abandoned For at least a hundred and fifty years, possibly longer,” Jack explained. Jack was the leader of this small exploration group. They traveled south western America looking for ghost towns and other abandoned places. “The legend is that it was a small fishing and hunting town. The town was also a booming trading station. Then the wildmen came.”

Mia loved how Jack seemed to know everything about everything when it came to western American history, geography, and all things creepy. 

“I know none of this is true but the myth is fascinating,” Jack went on. “They say the town was flourishing until the bandits known as the ‘wildmen’ came. They surrounded the town with hundreds of them. They wouldn’t let anyone in or out of the small town.  They did this for a couple of generations. That weakened the town financially and the overall vibe. Life became more meaningless to the people of Elwood. The men were mostly weak and the women had broken spirits. That’s when the wildmen forced them to have the auction.”

“What is the auction?” Ethan asked, he always seemed to be the most interested in the darker parts of Jack’s knowledge.

“This is where shit starts to get pretty brutal,” Jack wanted to continue but also wanted everyone to have a chance to stop him before they heard this. When there was no protest Jack continued, “So every female from the ages of fifteen and twenty drew stones. The unlucky few, usually between eight to twelve girls, that drew the stones with the ‘W’ on them would wait in the park for these wildmen. They called it ‘auction night’. I’m going to spare you the most brutal details, you don’t want to hear it and I don’t want to say it. The young ladies would be taken into the forest for long enough to have the baby and go through the feeding stage.” He let them put together the details that he wouldn’t say. “When they came back they were ruined, like a woman that had been beaten by her shitty husband for far too long.” 

Mia gasped, “You are making that up to get all of us freaked out.”

Jack smiled, “I’m not making it up. Someone made it up but it wasn’t me. The story most likely was made up by mountain men that were trying to be funny or scare each other. It must have been a different time for them to think this story was funny. Or even sometimes, I guess, they’d just gone months without seeing another person. That is a lot of time to make up some crazy stories.”

“How did it end?” Lori asked, this was the first time she had spoken for about an hour. She was always the quiet one.

“They fought,” Jack said simply. “A few fathers in the town got fed up with their daughters being taken. That lit a fire under a few more then a few more until that the town was ready to end this cycle. They lured the wildmen into the town on auction night, trapped them in, then burned them all alive. I know we don’t usually go to haunted places, and that is not the main reason we are going here, just be aware that we may encounter some activity. I’m so excited, this place has fascinated me since the first time that I  heard this story.” 

“Is the town haunted?” Lori did nothing to try to hide the fear in her voice. She must have spaced out what Jack was saying. “I don’t really like haunted places.”

“If you think about it everywhere is probably haunted if you look for it,” this did not comfort Lori at all. “And this a pretty dark story, but it is just a story made up by bored men with nothing else to do. I’m sure that if we were looking for ghosts here we would find them. But my opinion is that you won’t find much unless you are looking for it.” Lori looked relieved. “And that is not why we are here so I think we should be good.”

The woods were thick and passed by slowly as they bounced down the dirt  road. The car had gone silent so Ethan spoke up,” Should we be doing this?”

“Really guys,” Jack was trying to be comforting, “These are all just stories made up by bored dudes that lived alone in the mountains. They would either try to make each other laugh or more likely it was made up by a single man that wanted to keep others out of his territory. Their stories can be terrifying, but most are just dumb as shit.”

The group pulled into the parking area for the trailhead to Elwood. The ghost town was a mild hike of about forty five minutes with a minimal incline. The plan was to hike in, mosey around the town for a couple hours then hike back out before sunset. Jack was pretty good in nature but he was not prepared for an overnight trip. The size of the trees and the denseness of the forest overwhelmed the whole group. The woods seemed to be darker and thicker than it had been on the forty five minute drive down the dirt road. Every tree seemed to be watching, every blade of grass seemed to be humming a soft haunting tune. 

“Are you sure about this Jack?” Mia said what the rest of the group was thinking, including Jack himself. 

“I still wanna go,” He had not come this far just to turn back because of tall trees. However, he would understand if nobody wanted to go with him. “But obviously I don’t want any of you to be uncomfortable, and I will not go alone. That would be stupid.”

Lori was the most onboard with continuing the adventure, Mia was on the fence, and Ethan was completely against it. Lori told him that he should wait with the car. Jack would leave him the keys, as long as he didn’t run them out of gas or kill the battery 

A feeling of dread took Lori’s breath away as she took her first steps into the treeline. It was not long before the parking area disappeared behind a sheet of forest. The tall trees were thick at the top and blocked out most of the sunlight. Eyes from everywhere watched them, they could all feel it. Logically it would have to be animals watching, but it did not feel like animals.  The deeper they walked the feeling more eyes seemed to fall upon them. Mia thought she heard a distant laugh, more accurately a cackle of a witch, almost imperceptible. 

“DId you hear that?” Mia asked. She did not try to hide the fear that she felt. This place was getting worse by the step.

Jack was at the back of the trio, he was the most experienced in the outdoors so he liked to be able to see everyone. “I thought I heard something,” He answered. “What did it sound like?”

“It almost sounded like a laugh, a woman’s laugh,” Mia answered. She didn’t want to say that it sounded like a witch, that would embarrass her. 

“I thought I heard it too,” Lori answered, “Should we go back? I don’t want to but maybe this is a bad idea.”

“I want to keep going,” Mia answered fast. She was scared too but to her it was more exhilarating. “I bet we are like a third of the way there.”

They both looked at Jack. “Hey I told you guys that it’s up to you,” He said. “To me that sounded like an animal, but if you are nervous we can turn around right now.” Lori thought about it for a minute. She did but she didn’t want to go further but she also didn’t want to rain on the parade. “For reals Lori, we can turn around. I will get to Elwood one day. It doesn’t have to be today.”

“Thanks Jack,” She smiled. “I think you are right about the animal. I will be ok.”

Mia double and triple checked that Lori was ok to move on before anyone took another step. Lori assured them that she was, so they moved on. Mia would have thought that the springtime in the forest would be a magical time, like a walk through an elf village from the stories she read in her teenage years. It was not. The forest was dark and musty and the feeling of being watched never left her. Jack was expecting the aroma’s from freshly bloomed flowers to fill the air. He was unpleasantly surprised. The air smelt of wet moldy grass that had been left in the lawn mower bag for too long. To the left of the trail Jack could hear a rustle. It was most likely an animal but what if it wasn’t. What if the stories were true? Again, logically it had to be a wild animal, that wouldn’t be good but Jack did have his gun. 

A wolf howled somewhere far away, Mia and Lori both jumped. For Jack, it solidified the suspicion that it was an animal stalking them off the left of the trail. He thought that he could hear one to the right of the trail now as well. Then Jack heard a soft growl, and started to think that this may have been a bad idea so he unsnapped his holster and clicked off the safety. Now he was sure that at least Lori knew that there was something stalking them. 

“What’s out there Jack?” she whispered, Lori didn’t want to draw unwanted attention.

“I’m not sure,” Jack answered, also feeling uneasy, “It feels like we are being herded forward.” 

That is what it felt like to Mia also, like sheep being pushed to the slaughter by the shepherd's dog, which would explain the growl. That’s when they heard a clown sounding laugh, high pitched and extremely loud. It echoed through the forest, bounced through the trees, off the leaves to the ground then back up in the air. That laugh was menacing and it was all around them. When the laugh died out Jack heard both of his female companions screaming. He didn’t blame them. What had he got them into? Mia stopped screaming and began sobbing, Lori did the same. 

“Let’s go back Jack,” Mia said between sobs, “I don’t wanna be here anymore.” Lori immediately agreed. 

“Yeah,” Jack answered, “I don’t want to fuckin be here either.” 

They turned around to go back, that’s when the forest came alive. The branches on all the trees began shaking like they had been hit by a sudden windstorm. Or maybe the forest had really come to life. Wolves howled much louder than before, but now it was not just one. It sounded like the whole pack found this small group of explorers. Jack pulled out his gun.

“I don’t think we can go back,” Jack said, now as scared as the others. Worst of all, this was his fault. He was the one that had brought them here. 

Everything stopped suddenly. The trio looked around, then at each other. “What do we do Jack?” Mia asked

“I don’t know,” He answered, hating himself. He loved Mia and he put her in this situation. The plan was that he would propose to her in the town square of Elwood. He didn’t think  that was going to happen. 

Just then, what could only be described as a Banshee’s scream filled the woods. Then the forest came back to life ten times the  magnitude as before. The trees went wild, the wolves howled from just inside the tree line camouflaged by the darkness. 

“Run!” Jack yelled, “Get the fuck out of here!” Mia did not need to be told twice. She took off like an olympian, Lori was right on her heels. Jack didn’t realize how fast the ladies were. He tried his best to keep up but they slowly increased the gap.  

Before long the forest began to open up, Jack knew that Elwood was close. He expected to be excited to have finally got this close to the ghost town, but this was the wrong kind of excited. He was glad they had run away. Trees behind them started falling over with the loudest snaps that Jack had ever heard. The sound rivaled the loudness of thunder when lightning strikes mere feet away. Trees kept snapping and falling, there had to be at least twenty trees that snapped, collapsed, and blocked the trail for no particular reason. 

They did not stop running until they were within the Elwood city limits. “What do we do Jack?” Mia asked frantically, “ What the fuck do we do?”

“Fuck me,” Jack answered, trying to catch his breath. The forest was silent again, “Give me a minute to try to catch my breath.” 

“Fuck your breath,” Lori was so mad that Jack brought them here, “ You brought us here so you need to get us the fuck out of here?”

Jack breathed in and out heavily. “I gave you a lot of chances to back out, as little as twenty minutes ago.” Jack was upset with everything that was going on and didn't need Lori rubbing shit in his face. “I get that you are scared, I am scared too. I promise I will get us out of here. You just have to give me a minute to think.”

Mia also wanted to scream at her boyfriend, but he was right. That would just fluster him and make it harder to think. They entered Elwood from the north and now looked south down mainstreet. The town seemed to have a glamor spell that could make all your problems seem not to matter. They stood at a  crossroads admiring the beautiful scene in front of them. It almost made them all forget about the events from the forest, or at least put them on the back burner. Both ladies, at that moment, felt lucky that Jack brought them to this place. 

 Across the street on the right corner was, a mostly charred, “White’s General Store.” On the left corner was “Big Dick’s Bait Shop.” The name made Jack smile. The memories of the forest had completely faded now; all that mattered was this magical little town. Lori could almost see the bustling women and the playing children crowding mainstreet. Mia saw a church down the left path of the crossroads and wanted nothing more than to see inside it. Without a word Mia wandered up the street towards the abandoned church. 

Lori gazed in wonder at this ancient main street and felt small for her part in the world’s history. This town had to have been here since before the wild west times. It somehow looked older than the colosseum in Rome, just more well maintained. She paid no attention to the courthouse/sheriff office/jail. Her focus was on the perfectly manicured hedges. How were they not overgrown? Lori’s feet carried her down mainstreet with little help from her brain.

 Jack hardly even noticed the women walk away. His attention was down the road on the right of the crossroads. He passed “Smith’s Hunting Shop” powerless to stop his feet from moving. Hypnotized by the town, Jack drifted away from his companions and straight to the stable door. His girlfriend and her best friend had been basically forgotten.

He pulled open the large stable door with a loud screech from a hinge that may not have moved for at least a decade, but probably more like a century. The smell of fresh hay filled his nostrils. That couldn’t be, how would the hay be fresh? The door slammed hard behind him as he stepped in making him jump almost through the ceiling. Then a loud thud hit the door making the stable shake to its foundation. Jack slammed his shoulder hard against the door, it did not even budge. 

In the distance, maybe from the moon as far as Lori was concerned, she heard a loud thud that shook a building. She paid very little attention to the noise and paid no attention to any of the five buildings that she passed, three on the left two on the right. She was mesmerized by the beauty of this town, more specifically the perfectly manicured hedges. Her feet glided her over the dirt mainstreet as if she were the ghost of one of the town's women. The hedges were spotted with small yellow and white flowers, she had never seen such perfect landscaping. But how could that be? This town had been abandoned for who knows how long, at least according to Jack. 

She stepped through the wood arch, carved beautifully with crosses and angels. This place, or at least the elites, had been Christians of some type. She walked between the tables until she stood at the large stage taking up most of the center of the pavilion. The ground was dirt but the stage was raised and made of wood. It also looked perfectly maintained. Three oil lamps decorated each of the dozen or more picnic style tables. The base was decorated with an assortment of freshly picked flowers. This was obviously the place for town gatherings and important meetings. Unfortunately it may have hosted some auction nights as well. 

Lori felt like she could hear the voices of the town talking business. “My daughter will not be auctioned,” a deep voice said from nowhere. 

“That puts the whole town in danger,” That voice was obviously a politician. “You have to think about more than just yourself.” 

The voices quieted and became more jumbled like a large group of arguing people. Lori thought that it must have been that way at the last auction meeting. She would have been proud to be the daughter of the man with the deep voice. She turned in a slow circle taking in the entirety of the pavilion, when her eyes reached the stage again Lori screamed.

From another world Mia heard Lori scream, it sounded like a scream of fear not pain. Mia felt a hint of worry but she pushed it aside and entered the church. She just had to see what was inside. The church, like most of the town, was perfectly maintained. Someone, or something must be looking after this place. She thought she could hear the faint singing of a church choir, whether it was in her imagination or real was up for debate. Now she could hear the preacher reading from, what these people must have thought of as, the good book. Her feet carried her deeper into the church. The faint choir got a little less faint. On the wall behind where the choir and preacher stood was a wall of candles, they lit all at once. Somehow this did not scare Mia, it comforted her despite her not being religous. 

The choir and the preacher went silent. “Who are you?” an angelic voice said from nowhere. 

“I am Mia,” she answered, then immediately regretted it. Everything that she knew about horror movies was that you never tell the ghost your name. It was too late to help it now. “Who are you?”

“I am Lois,” nowhere answered, “I am the keeper of Elwood.” Mia opened her mouth to speak, Lois spoke first. “You must go,” Lois said with urgency in her sweet voice. “They know you are here, She knows you are here. And they are all coming.” The trance was broken and Mia was wide awake. She could hear things, grunts and hoots in the distance. “Run,” Lois whispered. Then the banshee screamed again, Mia ran to the door.

Jack pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight but dropped it when the banshee scream filled the forest and ghost town. The darkness around him erupted with the sound of a thousand bat wings hitting the air. Shadows bounced around the small light and bats bounced off of Jack. He picked up his phone and turned off the light. It did no good, the bats still bounced off his head and upper body like a hundred flying hacky sacks. They squealed and squeaked causing chaos in the stables. Jack took a step towards the door on the opposite side of the stable. A hand closed around his ankle and he fell hard on his face. 

Jack was double engulfed in darkness, the darkness of the stables and the darkness of the bat wings. Wings slapped him everywhere and he even felt a few of them were even biting. Jack tried to stand but he could not for a moment. The weight of the bats made it hard to get to his feet. He finally did and ran to the door still being swarmed by the devil birds, Jack hated bats. He swung his arms wildly in an effort to get them away. Stumbling and bumbling he made it to the door, got out, and slammed it behind him. The blue sky was gone, replaced by dark swirling clouds. They looked ominous. 

Nine young women stood on the stage and stared at Lori with eyes from hell, those girls had gone through some things. The clothes were tattered and stained with, what Lori hoped was dirt but more likely it was, blood. She was sure that it was blood dried on the inside of their thighs and down to their calves. Scraps, cuts, and bruises covered the skin that was visible. The pain in their dark eyes was heart wrenching. Eighteen dead eyes lifted away from Lori’s two to look over her shoulder to the entrance way to the pavilion. 

“You must leave,” their lips moved, but the sound was in Lori’s head. “They know you are here, and they are coming to get you.” 

The hedges came to life like they were filled with a thousand chipmunks that broke into a meth stash. The girls disappeared and the banshee screamed . Lori meant to run out the way she came but she could hear something as the scream faded. Grunting maybe, and footsteps marching. She could see shadows moving around on the main street as well as hear opening and closing doors to the shops. There was another exit on the opposite side from the way she came in, she used it. 

Mia came out of the church to what should have been sunlight but the sky had shifted completely while she was inside. Standing on the road that Mia had used were six children, probably elementary school age. Over the shoulders of the small children, Mia could see that Jack and Lori were nowhere to be found. If they needed to get out of here in a hurry, being split up was very bad. She guessed that they had felt the same enchantment that took over her mind. It made sense that it was children, they were right next to Sunset Schoolhouse, according to the sign on the building. She could feel their will focused on her, they wanted her to look at them. She resisted for a moment out of fear but gave in and looked. 

In unison the children raised their right arms and pointed down the street. Mia looked and saw one of the most beautiful houses she had ever seen. It was a white southern style mansion with beautiful green grass. The most important man in town must have lived here. She looked back at the kids, their eyes were dark and expressionless but their facial expressions spoke volumes. Now over the kids shoulder were very large men walking down main street. They looked like they were straight out of a viking movie. Mia ran down the street towards the mansion, which put the schoolhouse between her and their vision. She hoped Jack and Lori were ok, as if in answer the banshee screamed.

Jack looked around. In front of him was a rectangle cul-de-sac charmingly named hobo ally, at least that was the name on the street sign. Jack  knew that name from the myth also, obviously the poor people lived here. These houses looked much rougher than the entrance of the town had been. The dirt was dark and the ground was uneven and littered with larger stones. From a dark alley between two houses came a deep menacing  growl. He snapped his head in that direction. A large, insane, looking saint Bernard stepped out from between the houses. It looked crazed and rabid with blood stained teeth. The dog looked to be extremely powerful and was very intimidating. From between different houses Jack heard another, similar, growl. This time it was a muscular pitbull that stepped out. The pitbull’s dark eyes stared daggers through Jack. The dog’s snarling face was covered with blood including  blood stained teeth. Four more dogs stepped out from various houses, two german shepherds, a rottweiler, and the biggest dog Jack had ever seen. It was black with brown accents and looked like a bear. He thought the breed was a Tibetan mastiff. Jack knew this would be the end for him. 

From behind him there were more growls. “Dammit,” Jack thought, “What the hell else can happen?”

He turned his head slowly knowing that any sudden movements would be a trigger for the dog's attack. Seven black wolves stepped from beside the stables. They looked like hounds directly from hell. This death was going to be a very painful one. The dogs growling got more intense, the wolves growls matched their intensity. The banshee screamed louder than ever. Apparently that was the opening bell for this dog fight. Jack felt the wolves fly past him into hobo alley. Barking, growling, and screams of pain filled the air. The K-9’s squared off one on one, except for the mastiff. Two wolves attacked the giant dog. The sounds were terrifying, and the fight was vicious. Jack ran down the street west of the cul-du-sac. 

As the banshee scream faded the air was filled with an equally terrifying sound, a group of dogs fighting to the death. Lori hated that sound. The growls and barks were far more vicious than Lori would have thought, judging by the dogs that she had known. She knew dogs to be loving and gentle, these dogs were far from gentle. The dogs sounded as wild as any wild animal she had ever heard. She looked back towards the entrance, despite the cloudy sky she could see that the shadows were very close to the entrance of Meadows Park. Lori passed by trees on her left and the back entrance of the Nickel Casino on her right. From the darkness between the trees, red eyes looked out at her. Then the whispers began in her mind.

“Get out of here,” the voice in her mind encouraged, it was like a thousand whispers combining into a single voice. “Hurry up Lori, they are almost here.” How did they know her name? 

The eyes disappeared with a nearly silent scream into the darkness. The shadows between the trees began to fluctuate like a shaking bowl of Jello. The darkness stretched out from the trees towards Lori, she stepped away towards the casino. The darkness formed hands that stretched even closer to her. One slapped her on her shoulder, another tugged at the sleeve of her shirt tearing it a bit. A third grabbed her ponytail and gave it a fairly hard tug that yanked her head back. She walked quickly to the elbow of the street that would take her east quickly then back south. The last hand smacked and grabbed at her ankle. It made her twist and stumble but luckily she was able to keep her feet. 

Lori stopped at the strange crossroads. There was the way she had come, then a hard left, ahead the road forked, one southeast the other southwest. Lori was considering the options, now that the shadow hands were gone she felt a little less urgent. There was a bright blue flash of lightning followed immediately by a loud boom of thunder. Lori screamed again, she had screamed more tonight than she had since the haunted house in October. Elwood was far more scary than a bunch of kids jumping out at you at a haunted house. Lori took the road east taking her back towards the main street of the town. She moved slowly trying to catch her breath.

Mia walked past Mayor Stevens house, at least that is what the mailbox said. The house looked brand new and the beauty of the place amazed Mia. There was a bright blue flash followed by a boom that shook her from the inside. As the thunder rolled away, Mia understood why they called this place “The Echo Forest.” Just then the double doors of the mayor’s house flung open. A skinny man charged out of the door and headed straight for her. His eyes were wild and his long gray hair matched. However his face was clean shaved which Mia thought to be odd. In his hand Mia saw a large kitchen knife stained with what she thought to be blood. He was waving the knife above his head as he ran awkwardly like his legs were arthritic. Despite that he moved very fast. 

Mia took off like, what she hoped was, a rocket. The man screamed again, he clearly had no screws left behind his crazy eyes. His blue suit was in tatters and waved out behind him like a war torn flag. The white undershirt was stained, with god knows what, but it did match the stains around his mouth. Mia was faster than the man but he ran surprisingly fast with his skinny, knock kneed, legs. Mia followed the road right then left so she was now in front of “The Western Inn.” 

To the right of “The Golden Stone Casino” was a dark alley that Mia planned on taking. She passed the door marked as the delivery entrance, she was slowly pulling away from the crazed man. Mia got to where she could see down the alley only to see it was blocked by a six foot pile of bones. Mia looked back, she thought he was just a little closer. She began to wish that he ran like his legs looked. As if thrown, a human skull flew from the pile and landed right where Mia’s next step would fall. Mia crashed painfully and rolled on the hard dirt. She knew that she would have some scraps, bruises, and raspberries from the fall. She tried to get to her feet before the man could pounce on her.

She was not successful, the crazy man was on her back and rolled her over. “You look delicious,” the man said through a thick accent. A wolf howled from not far away, she hoped that it hadn’t found her companions. The man laughed like a lunatic clown, the laugh fit with the way the man looked. 

Jacked sprinted past the main entrance of the Nickel Casino and he thought he saw Lori running on the road to the east. Luckily the dog fighting had stopped, one of the packs whimpered away moments ago. Next on the left was a cage that looked exactly like an MMA cage called “The Pit.” Inside of the cage, and on the top, was the largest murder of crows that Jack had ever seen. Jack locked eyes with the largest crow sitting atop the cage closest to him. He didn’t know if it was because crows are territorial or because of the wolf that howled painfully, but the crows hit the air and charged Jack. He tried to run but didn't make it far. They were on top of him blacking out the cloudy sky and cawing so loud that it hurt his ears. He was pissed that this was the second time he had been on the ground being attacked by flying creatures. 

Jack was basically buried alive by a hundred flapping wings that smacked him with power. He was trying to grab the gun on his belt but it was not easy. The birds bit at his hands and arms, Jack could feel them tearing out chunks of him. He was crying out in pain even though he didn’t realize it. One of the crows clamped down hard on his bottom lip, another was yanking on his left ear. This was much worse than the bats. He felt a gash open up on his forehead as one pecked hard into his skull. Jack finally got a hold of his gun, pulled it out, and fired off three shots. He felt some of them explode all over him, he could not tell how many. The rest scattered away in the air with a whirlwind of wings. Jack got to his feet and ran like an olympic sprinter. He followed the road left past Chang’s Discount Inn. The road was not long and veered to the left again. Jack saw Lori walking back towards the main street. 

“Lori,” Jack hollered after her, “Are you okay?”

She turned around and got a huge smile on her face when she saw a bloody Jack jogging in her direction. “Thank God Jack. I am so glad you are ok?” Looking at him Lori was not completely sure if Jack was ok. 

“I’m battered but I’m ok,” He hoped it came out more convincing than he felt. He was hurting for sure. “I thought I lost you guys. Have you seen Mia?” He asked, then  looked down the road that Lori had come from. From that direction was coming grunts that sounded human but a human that was raised by a group of gorillas. The group sounded large. Lightning flashed again, and again thunder immediately followed. 

“Run!” Jack said but Lori did not need to be told, She was already running east towards mainstreet. 

Mia fought the right hand with both of hers, she was not having much success wrestling the knife free. Despite the lack of muscle on this man’s boney frame, he was very strong. He laughed wildly again and Mia was sure where the clown laugh on the hike into Elwood had come from. She was staring into Loon's eyes, who knew what this man would do to her if he overpowered her. She fought harder but so did he. He pushed her face towards the alley with his left hand then bit at the hands that were fighting with his right.

Three explosions filled the air that Mia recognized at once, Jack fired his gun. At least she knew he was ok, or at least ok up until the gunshots. The lunatic looked towards the sound. Mia heard footsteps coming towards them, not human but like a group of large animals. She heard the bones collapsing on eachother like a small landslide. The man's eyes bulged out of his head when he saw the large brown and black, bear looking, dog charging down the pile of bones. 

The dog was on him quickly and the man screamed when it yanked him hard and flung him off of her. Mia was free. A line of five more dogs charged towards the alpha dog. She didn’t move a muscle as they jumped over her but now that they were occupied with eating. Mia got quietly to her feet. She did not want to be the second course.  The dogs were growling and tearing at the man as he screamed horrible screams. When they paid her no attention she sprinted away. Houses blurred past her on both sides as she approached what looked to be a cemetery, she could already see the headstones. 

Mia turned right on the street before the cemetery which would take her back to the main street. She gasped in delight when she saw Jack and Lori running from the west towards her and the main street. Then she cried out in fear when she saw what was behind them. A group of large men that could only be described as wildmen. Again Mia thought they looked like the kind of men that you would see on a show about vikings. The men made Jack and Lori look like children. Mia glanced into the cemetery and saw the scariest woman that she had ever seen. Mia had no doubt that she was the one behind the witch's laugh. She was hunched over and her skin was gray. Most of her hair had fallen out, probably long ago, leaving long gray patches. She stood on a large stone cross and let out a laugh that brought tears to Mia’s eyes. 

As the three hit main street, Jack and Lori turned left and Mia turned right. They did not even notice the large trees on all four corners of the intersection. There was a bright blue flash and the trunks of all the trees exploded. The trees fell and blocked the southern exit of the town like a giant’s campfire. Mia didn’t know how but she knew that the witch woman was responsible for it. Jack turned around and could now see individual faces on the men chasing them. They were at least the size of professional wrestlers, most of them had long beards and long braids in their hair. He had no doubt that these were the wildmen.

At that moment Jack was so happy that the girls were faster than him. They pulled away from him quickly and never looked back. That made him happy, well that made him mostly happy. About two percent of him felt jealous and hateful for the death that he would have to suffer to keep them safe. He reached for his pistol, it was difficult because he was running and everything was bouncing. He decided to slow just a little to try to make it easier to grab the .45 with the extended magazine. He had twelve shots left, those could come in handy.

The girls passed by the beautiful archway that served as the main entrance to Meadows Park. Jack got up to full speed when a large hand smacked his back and tugged at his shirt. Jack stumbled but luckily he was able to keep his feet. Mia cleared the perfectly manicured hedges and now passed Hooper’s Barber Shop. A massive hand clamped around Jack’s wrist and yanked hard. Thanks to his football background, he played half back in high school, Jack was able to yank his arm free and pull a 360 without losing much speed. As he approached the general store, Lori and Mia stopped at the crossroads entrance of Elwood. 

“What are you doing?” Jack asked, “Get the hell out of here.” Luckily the girls listened.

Jack could feel the wildmen breathing down his neck, they were right on top of him. As if reading his thoughts, Jack was tackled to the ground hard by one of these giant men. It hurt and knocked the wind out of him briefly. Luckily the big man did not land on top of him. The two tumbled and rolled intertwined like passionate lovers, Jack was able to squirm his way on top. He did not waste a second, Jack put the gun to the wildman’s head and pulled the trigger. The gun exploded and so did the head of the wildman. Mia stopped again worried about her boyfriend, thankfully the wildmen did too. Beside her, the angelic little woman known as Lois was standing there. 

“Mia,” The small woman said, “You need to run. Do you know what they will do with you if they catch you?”

She did not want to listen. “Jack!” She screamed to her bloody boyfriend. For the first time she realized how terrible her boyfriend looked. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Please Mia,” Jack begged with tears in his eyes. He now knew that the stories were true, so he knew what would happen to his companions if they were caught. “Run, I will catch you.”

Lori knew that Lois was right, she knew what happened if they were captured. She grabbed Mia by the arm and pulled, when Mia didn’t budge Lori yanked hard. Mia struggled but Jack was on his feet now and gaining ground fast. Mia let herself be pulled then she turned to run. 

Jack was within speaking distance. “Mia don’t stop running no matter what,” through heavy breathing.

The trail somehow seemed wider than on the hike in, like trees were just magically removed. Jack looked to the left, just inside the treeline was the pack of wild dogs. Jack looked to the right and there was the pack of midnight black wolves. Behind them and catching fast, or at least catching him fast was the wildman. Jack was not very confident that his group would be able to escape, but he would damn sure try to save the women. 

Now he could see the fallen trees that had collapsed on the way in. This was going to be a major hindrance. Lori wasted no time, she was climbing through what used to be the top part of the trees. The gaps seemed tight to Jack but she had no trouble. She weaved through like an experienced gamer controlling her favorite character. Mia was right behind, they disappeared into the branches and leaves. Jack knew that he would not be able to fit so he chose the trunks towards the wolves. The dogs appeared to be watching Mia and Lori, at minimum listening to them. Jack made his way up the trunks much easier than he would have thought possible. He was very surprised how strong a person’s survival instinct could be. Not just for him either, he would have never guessed how fast and agile the women turned out to be. 

Jack reached the summit of the trunks as Mia exited the treetops with Lori. They made it through so fast, that was good. These young ladies just kept getting more amazing by the obstacle. Jack turned and shot the three wildmen that were closest to him, not surprising they were much better than him in the trees. They dropped and the remaining wildmen paused but only briefly. They did not seem to like guns. Jack turned his back to his pursuers and made his way over and down the rest of the tree trunks. 

For the first time since the group had left Ethan behind, Mia felt like they were going to be ok. That is when the large alpha wolf charged from the treeline and gave Lori a body check that the toughest hockey player would be proud of. Lori cartwheeled high through the air then came down hard on the ground. Jack heard all the air leave her lungs. He thought this was going to be the beginning of the end for them. Mia screamed as Jack raised his gun, she was between him and the wolf making a clear shot impossible. 

Unexpectedly, the pack of dogs charged as well, Mia and Lori were both going to be finished. If his stories were right, and they seemed to be, this would be better than being tortured by the wildmen. Instead of pouncing on Lori, the large mastiff clamped its powerful jaw on the wolf’s throat. The wolf screamed in pain and his pack charged to help him. The alpha tried to pull back back but the mastiff was too strong. The wildmen cleared the fallen trees and charged towards Jack. He fired three more shots into the pack of wildmen, two dropped and the other took the bullet to his shoulder. The K-9’s didn’t even bat an eye. They were much too busy trying to tear eachother apart. Watching them was terrifying but Jack was so thankful for those crazy dogs. They must have even sensed the wolves at hobo alley and decided to protect him. 

Lori carefully made her way through the maze of fighting dogs, not wanting to get drug into one somehow. Mia followed, then Jack was behind her. As Jack passed the last pair, the Saint Bernard and a wolf that both had chunks of fur torn out and bleeding from multiple places, a claw shot out and tore a gash in Jack’s leg. He cried out, that hurt so much. He had enough of being attacked and hurt today, he felt like just giving up. Then he remembered the girls and what they would go through if he did. He fought through the pain and started to run as fast as his beat up leg would let him. They had to be getting close to the parking lot, he just needed the girls to get in the car. 

 Thankfully, the dogs faded behind them; he hated the viciousness of their fighting. It was still far louder than Jack would have liked. Lori seemed to be doing ok, Jack was a bit hobbled but moving at a steady speed thanks to the magic of adrenaline, Mia was moving the best. She was right on Lori’s heels like a sheep dog herding sheep. There was one more growl of fury, a loud scream of pain from god knew which dog, then the sound of several dogs or maybe wolves running away, finally the sound was gone. That made them all happy, probably even the wildmen. One pack won the fight, he hoped that it was the dogs. Mia and Lori were a good distance ahead of him, if their legs were burning like his they showed no sign of it. The gash in his leg was particularly hurting. His lungs also burned like he smoked a whole pack of cigarettes in a row. 

Jack could not remember ever running with this much intensity, not even when he played football. Getting tackled by a high school lineman was much less scary than being chased by wolves and wildmen. Jack saw Mia and Lori clear the forest into the opening of the parking lot, he could even see the car. Jack was also approaching with a hobbling speed that he didn’t know he could. Again Jack wondered at the power of survival instincts. However the footsteps of the wildmen sounded like they were close enough to reach out and grab him. From the corner of his eye he saw a black blur behind the treeline. Apparently the wolves had come out as the victors. 

He knew at that moment that he was as good as dead, hopefully Mia would have the strength to leave him behind. Jack saw Mia open the drivers side door, he did not however see Ethan. Jack hoped he was in the car. Jack felt large fingers entangling themselves in his shirt, this was it. He dug deeper and found a tiny bit of extra speed. Lori got in the passenger side while Mia got in the driver’s side and Jack saw the brake lights. She was starting the car, he prayed that she would drive away. Jack was confident that they would get away, they would not suffer, that was the best news all day.  He hoped they would not wait around to see his fate.

Mia got out of the car and watched the group of Giants closing in on a wounded Jack. Mia, for the first time, noticed how injured Jack was. The big hand was reaching out for him, it was like watching an action scene in slow motion. But  her boyfriend’s life was the stakes in this scene. From the trees came five large dogs, two from the right and three from the left. The saint bernard clamped its mouth on the wrist of the reaching wildman. Unfortunately the large body of the dog knocked Jack sprawling to the ground. The literal dogpile sent the first five wildmen sprawling then the rest tumbled around them like a vicious car wreck. Jack got back to his feet and began running all out. Mia’s heart fluttered, Jack was going to make it.

Jack was closing in on the edge of the forest when a shadow appeared in front of him, it was the hunched over woman from the cemetery. There was no time to stop, he plowed through the shadow. Every nerve in his body exploded in pain that sent him to the ground in a heap. Then the shadow disappeared and the witch laughed in delight. His body was convulsing, and a few wildmen had escaped the traffic jam. They were now making their way slowly to Jack, obviously feeling victory was a sure thing.  He fought the paralysis but could not even budge his pinky. He was facing Elwood with his back to the car, he really hoped Mia had left. Something closed around his wrist and began to tug him with a gentle bite but a firm pull. 

Mia screamed in excitement, the mastiff had shown up just in time to save Jack. Appearing to not want to hurt Jack, the dog moved his grip from Jack’s wrist to his shirt collar. The dog pulled him halfway to the car as the remaining four wildmen closed in on the duo of a man and a man’s best friend. Mia had no idea how Jack had kept hold of his gun through everything, but she was glad that he had. 

Lori had found the note that Ethan had left for them under the windshield wiper and she read it. Hey guys shit started to get pretty scary here with all the screams, howls, and shaking trees. I decided to walk back up the road, Just pick me up on your way out. That filled Lori with anxiety but at least he was away from this chaos.

Jack started to get some feeling back in his body so he fought his way to his feet. With the will that he didn’t know that he had, Jack raised his gun. He could not let them get the girls, the giant mastiff was by his side bearing its blood stained teeth. Jack emptied that clip and dropped the remaining wildmen Mia ran to Jack and the mastiff ran back towards Elwood. 

“I’ll drive,” Jack said then kissed Mia, he was so thankful that she was ok. When she asked about his leg, “I will be ok. I love you  Mia.” 

Jack climbed in the driver’s seat then asked about Ethan, Lori told him about the note. Like Lori, that worried Jack. Mia got in the back then they pulled on to the dirt road out of this hell. 

Jack was the first to see the thing hanging above the road and between the trees. He was also the first one to see what it was. 

“What did they do to him?” Lori asked after a scream then through sobs. 

“That is what the vikings called a blood eagle,” Ethan was dead. Wildmen jumped out of the trees from each side of the car. Jack floored it up the dirt road leaving the wildmen and Elwood behind him forever.