† Night [Book 2/3]

Jaycie looked uncomfortable, fidgeting with her fingers and finding excuses not to look directly into Jonah’s eyes. Jonah sat on the grass, ripping some off the ground and throwing it up into the air, trying to keep himself occupied to avoid conversation. Wanting to forget all about Jaycie was his ultimate desire, yet there she was, looking as beautiful as ever. It took only a second for him to crack.
“…Why won’t you give me another chance?” he asked softly, not really looking forward to the answer, nor even a word from her. A gust of wind blew past them, sending chills up their spine as Jonah awaited for an answer. Jaycie brushed her hair away from her eyes and looked down at the ground.
“I don’ know, Jonah… I just don’t think I could ever like you in that way again…” she said, feeling guilty about the brutality of her honesty but she knew it couldn’t be avoided.
“Why?!” Jonah burst out. “I was only good to you! If you hadn’t fucked up and started talking to Lance, we could’ve still been together. Even when you were with him, did I get mad? Did I even attempt to break you guys up? Hell no, Jaycie! I forgave you and him, even though I shouldn’t have. You know how hard it was watching my best friend date you?! You know how hard I had to try to just let it go? You don’t even appreciate a fucking thing! So don’t give me that bullshit that you still don’t love me! You know you still love me. Don’t you?”
Jaycie sat in silence for a really long time, glancing away as much as she could to delay her answer. It seems to be eating her up inside, dying to get out. However, she didn’t want to hurt Jonah. But she knew she had to break his heart. 
“No…” she finally said, her voice cracking with sadness. “No… I don’t love you anymore Jonah. I’m sorry…”
She began to get up, and Jonah did the same. He didn’t want to believe what he’d just heard. All the signs, he thought she loved him again. When he heard the sentence, so carefully structured to let him down easy, he felt like blaming everything on himself. 
“Please… don’t follow me right now…” Jaycie requested. “I want to be alone…”
“Tell me you’re lying.” Jonah demanded, taking hold of her hand. Jaycie snatched it back aggressively, and began walking away.
“TELL ME YOU’RE LYING!” Jonah yelled. Trying to hold tears back, he ran after her, but she continued to look away. Jaycie didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. She wanted to get away. Increasing her speed, she left Jonah behind in the darkness and headed towards the abandoned campfire, where another was waiting anxiously to exact his plan of revenge.
Sophia looked shyly away as she sped up her pace in order to catch up with Caleb. She still couldn’t believe that he had come back. After all these years of them only connecting through the internet, here he was, walking with her late in the night, acting like they haven’t even been separated at all. No words were spoken, but they both knew it felt right. Sophia decided to break the silence.
“Where are we going, huh? You look hella lost right now.” She commented.
“Anywhere with you is fine.” He replied, still looking out into the darkness. “That’s all I ever wanted.”
Her heart raced. Her breaths felt deeper and her fingers could not stop shaking as she struggled to take in what she had just heard.
The two continued to walk in silence for a while.
“So what, you missed me or what?” he asked her.
“…You don’t even know how much I missed you.” Out of impulse, she reached for his hand and he held it tight. Gazing into each other’s eyes, the distance that once tore them apart slipped away, becoming like ashes in the frigid winds. Feeling the warmth between his hand and hers, he gave an unseen smile. She, too, couldn’t help but smile. Finally, two people that deserved each other throughout everything that threatened to keep them apart just dissipated and gave them a deserving closure. At least, for now…
Inside the tent, Brandi and Leah were aggressively kissing Blake, who seemed to enjoy every second of the pleasure. Brandi reached inside of Blake’s shirt and caressed his skin as he moaned in ecstasy. Leah gasped in jealousy as she pushed Brandi of off Blake and began to suck on his neck. All he could do was sit back and enjoy as two girls that would have never hooked up with him sober was fighting for him.
“I guess all it takes is weed and I can get any girl I wanted…” he thought.
“God, Blake… take off your shirt…” Leah cooed. “I want you so badly.”
Brandi grabbed a pillow from the side and smacked Leah on her head, causing Leah to fall to the floor.
“Back off, he’s mine!” she screamed, but as soon as she was about to pounce on Leah, Blake stuck his finger in her mouth and stroked her hair with the other.
“Brandi, baby… There’s enough of me to go around.”
Leah giggled as she got up slowly. She took both Brandi and Blake and initiated a three way kiss that would later ignite an hour of passion and lust. Blake’s fantasy had finally come true. He had lost his virginity… to two girls, nonetheless. Nikki was knocked out, her hair completely covering her entire face, reeking of both alcohol and weed.
Jaycie ran past the thickets and the bushes that scratched her legs and gashed her arms, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get away. Making her way to the campfire, she wanted to forget all about Jonah, no matter what it took. She saw the burning flames, rising up even higher than she remembered. Seeing shadows move on the floor, she gazed to the side and saw Lance’s lonely figure, sitting all alone on a splintered log that she once had sat on.
“What are you doing here all alone, Lance?” she asked. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and gazed up at Jaycie. He smiled.
“Waiting for you…” he laughed. “Listen, there’s something I gotta tell you Jaycie…”
Jaycie was curious to hear what he had to say. She was hoping that he liked her again, and this night… she’d go all the way. Throwing the entire image of Jonah out of her head, she only wanted to focus on one thing and one thing only… Lance. She didn’t even like Lance. She just wanted a release.
“Come with me, Lance…” she whispered seductively as she led Lance to Blake’s truck, fishing the keys out of her pocket and twirling it around her fingers.
“Oh, what do you wanna do you bad girl…?”
“Everything you ever wanted.”
The truck doors slammed, and they made the seats go down so that they were able to lie down. Lance caressed Jaycie’s body as she began to strip her clothes off. She pushed Lance down on the seats and climbed on top of him. Lance met him half way as she kissed him fiercely, feeling his tongue massage her mouth. She could’t help but let out a moan. Lance took of his shirt and Jaycie ran her fingers through his well-sculpted body.
“You’re so fucking hot…” she moaned.
“As are you…”
“I want you inside of me…” she pleaded. Sliding his jeans off, Jaycie proceeded to take his boxers of with her mouth while slowly kissing his lower body. He gasped in sheer ecstasy as she gave herself to him, thrusting slowly at first and then increasing the intensity as the minutes went by. Then, they heard a bang on the car windows. Looking up Jaycie saw Jonah’s eyes filled with anger and sadness at the same time.
“What the fuck!?” he screamed. “Why the fuck would you do this to me?”
Punching the car windows, it shattered the glass into many pieces as the shards landed on Lance’s naked body. Being careful to avoid getting punctured by the glass, he quickly got up and pulled his pants up. Jaycie did the same, looking both embarrassed and terrified at how Jonah would further react.
“Hey, you deserved this man…” he said softly. “That’s what you get for trying to get with Nikki. After I told you  how much she meant to me and you still had the nerve to do that shit?” 
“I DIDN’T DO THAT!” Jonah yelled. “She came on to me and I fucking pushed her off. But you…”
He stopped himself. Jaycie gathered her clothes and ran away from the scene. She didn’t want to be a part of the commotion. She knew that it was all her fault. Instead of freeing Jonah’s memories, guilt had replaced everything she wanted to dispose of. And worse of all, Jonah still lingered in her mind. She loved him. She just didn’t want to admit it. She knew she had to keep it a secret. She didn’t want to get hurt again. Meanwhile, Jonah felt as if his world had ended. As if his mentality had been destroyed and the taste of betrayal felt like blood on his tongue.
“You did this willingly… You did this on your own. What kind of a fucking best friend—“
He stopped talking. Lance looked worried as Jonah’s eyes suddenly rolled to the back of his head, displaying only white. He fell to the ground. Lance rushed to his side and held his head up.
“What’s wrong man…?” he screamed. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
Jonah didn’t answer. He began to twitch uncontrollably. Lance withdrew his hand and felt something warm. It was blood. Glistening against the moonlight, it looked crimson red…almost black, even. Lance screamed in horror. Loud enough that it echoed throughout the forest…that the others even heard it. Loud enough that even the night, which was not even a person or a thing, felt sympathy in the pain of his scream. The clouds retracted back to cover the shimmering moon. Once again, the whole vicinity was shrouded in absolute darkness. The night was drawing in on them. The madness would soon begin.

“Jonah!” Lance repeated over and over again, wishing that life would return to his best friend’s face. 
Jonah’s eyes were wide open, looking as if he had seen death itself. Lance couldn’t bare to look. He covered his eyes despite the blood that drenched it, painting a pseudo mask on his face, as if he wore his friend’s final moments on his cheek. Red. The epitome of blood and violence. Lance was disgusted at himself. He wanted to die as well, feeling both paranoid and guilty. Then he saw Jonah start to convulse and Lance found sick hope in his sudden sign of life.
Jonah was shaking as if a tremor had struck him repeatedly. Foam was erupting from the depths of his mouth, sliding town the tip of his lips onto his shirt. Lance was mortified at the sight and, desperate, began yelling for help. That’s when the rest of the group had arrived. Darting from the depths of the forest, Sophia and Caleb emerged. Sophia’s eyes began to fill with tears as Caleb stood lifeless, watching in horror and disbelief. Sophia’s hands unlinked with Caleb as she rushed to Lance’s side.
“What the hell did you do?!” Sophia pushed Lance to the side, taking hold of Jonah as she concernedly shook him. “Jonah, wake up…”
“I didn’t do shit, I didn’t do anything… Something hit him, Soph… I don’t know what it was… Who… I don’t…” Lance began to break down. Caleb went by Sophia and started to get out his cell phone.
“Fuck, no reception…” Caleb sighed. “What should we do?!”
“Try again, please! We have to get help…”
Blake stumbled out of the tent, looking as if he had just woken up. The three girls slouched behind him as they tried to make out what was going on. They too, rushed to the crowd.
“Get him to a fucking hospital!” Caleb cried out, not thinking about the fact that they had absolutely no way to transport him, or to even make a call. Blake and the girls had arrived a few seconds later, and once they found Jonah dying, the girls went into  a hysteria phase of crying and screaming. It was as if the woods had been turned into a monstrous pandemonium as the group of friends stared at their friend dying, being unable to do anything about it but watch. Lance was weeping the most, almost hysterical in the sense that he made his best friend’s last moments a haunting, brutal memory. He wanted to kill himself. He wanted the body to be him instead.
“…Why are we still here?” Brandi sobbed, as she looked around in total paranoia. “Why are we still here?! We should be getting the fuck out! You have trucks! You have cars! We have to fucking get out of here!”
“She’s right… There’s a killer here and all you do is fucking stand around?! There’s someone here, guys! If we don’t go now, he’ll kill us all too! So get the fuck out and move!” Leah screamed in mixture of anger and sheer disgust. “We have to get Jonah help…”
“I’ll fucken’ drive…” Blake said in melancholy. “I swear, if he dies… I‘ll fucken’ kill that son of a bitch that shot him…”
He punched a nearby tree trunk, gashing his fist and tearing open his skin. His eyes were burning with tears struggling to make their way out. 
Jonah’s wound was deep, but it seemed as if his wound could still be mended. He no longer convulsed, but his eyes were closed shut as if he was in a great deal of pain. He muttered every once in a while, an action which gave the others hope that he could make it through. Caleb, the strongest in the group, carried Jonah on his shoulders as they trekked their way to the truck.
The group shared a common mood of fear and loss, as they feared for their friend’s life. Jonah was slowly slipping away. A killer was on the loose.
“Is it even a killer…?” questioned Nikki, the first complete sentence she had spoken since she entered her drunken trance. She snapped back into her usual self, the tragedy causing her to shake off the effects of alcohol. “I’m sorry I was so out of it… I didn’t even recognize what was happening…”
She walked up to Caleb, looked up at Jonah’s face and stroked his hair.
“Be strong for me, Jonah…” she whispered. “I’m sorry for what I did tonight… I want to have the chance to apologize to you, so please wake up…” 
“We’re not sure what him him…” Sophia explained. “Lance was there, but he said all he found was a sharp object in the back of Jonah’s head… He said it came from nowhere… So we don’t know what hit him… We should all be on our guard… If it really is a killer, there’s no doubt he’d strike again…”
“What kind of a sick fuck would do this to people…?” Caleb questioned.
“You’d be surprised at the sheer insanity of the human mind…” answered Lance. “I can’t believe I did that to Jonah… I can’t believe I betrayed my own best friend… If he dies, I don’t know how I’d live with myself. I don’t know how I’d be able to handle this shit. The guilt is pounding on my chest, eating away at my heart… What the fuck have I done, God?”
“God ain’t to blame… Blame yourself, Lance. I saw what you did…I can’t believe Jaycie would go through with it, either… Fuck you both.” Caleb retaliated. “He’s gonna make it out. Jonah’s a strong guy. He’ll make it out. And then what? How are you gonna face him then?”
“I don’t know man…” Lance replied, sighing heavily and wiping tears from his eyes. “I really don’t know…”
“What did you do?!” Leah snapped. “What the fuck did you do?!”
“Shut up!” Blake infuriatingly slammed. “The past is past. There’s no use talking about it now, so shut the fuck up already.” 
They had arrived at the truck, still shattered and from the earlier event. Caleb found Jaycie sleeping inside, where her and Lance had earlier committed the unspeakable act of betrayal. Caleb shook her violently.
“Get the fuck up. We’re leaving. Now.”
Jaycie groggily slouched up, then looked at Caleb, dazed.
“Why, what happened?”
“Jonah’s badly hurt. Get the fuck out of the driver’s seat.” Blake snapped, and then proceeded in telling Caleb to put Jonah in the back seat once the girls had sat down.
“Don’t be so harsh on her, Blake…” Sophia said, as she hopped into the back seat. Brandi and Leah followed, as Jonah’s body was laid out on top of the three of them. They didn’t even care about the blood, as long as they held on to the hope that their friend was going to live. Nikki climbed to the back of the truck and began to cry. Only now did it really hit her that she might be losing her friend. She wished that she didn’t stupidly make those advances that she had made earlier, but now it might be too late to even apologize. 
As if time had moved slower, everything seemed to move at half pace as Blake inserted the key into the ignition. Lance joined Nikki in the back of the truck as Caleb joined Blake in the front, sitting at the passenger’s seat. Both he and Blake had eyes of pure terror. But at the same time, they were hoping for a miracle to save them.
Blake wanted to start the engine and escape from the nightmare that they have all been forced to be living. They were condemned to an eternal darkness, and he was anxious to get away from it all. Anxious to have his friend breathing once more. Anxious to run away from the guilt and fear of losing someone close to him.
“No one is dying tonight…” he thought to himself as he tried to start the engine of the truck. The night had become a part of them all, merging with their despair and fears and every bit of their sanity. 
The truck would not start any time soon.

VII: DIVIDE
“What the fuck?!” Blake shouted, continuously trying to start the truck’s engine. “Something’s fucking wrong here, guys…”
Caleb punched the side of the truck and it echoed deeply throughout. 
“Damn it, get the hell out right now!” he yelled, almost ballistic in his state of anger. “Someone is here. Someone is trying to keep us here.”
Brandi began to be hysterical, crying and gasping in unison. Leah tried to calm her down, but to no avail.
“What about Jonah!?” Sophia shouted, slapping Blake’s back on impulse. “You’re just gonna leave your friend here to die?!”
“Who the fuck said I was gonna leave him?” Blake retaliated, opening his door and pulling out his keys from the ignition. “Everyone get the fuck out! Caleb, get Jonah out okay? Everyone else, get the fuck out. Now.”
Lance jumped out from the back of the truck, Nikki following. Her eyes were puffy and red, but she knew that fear was slowly taking over. The group was huddled, almost paranoid in every step that they took. Caleb seemed to be struggling with Jonah. The boy on his back barely moved, but Caleb had felt slow, heaving breaths from his body. And that was enough to keep him going. 
“Where the hell are we gonna go?” Lance asked.
“Shut up, motherfucker! You’re the reason why we’re in this fucking mess. So might as well shut your mouth before I make it my job to do so.” Caleb threteaned, his fist tightening as his eyes were glazed with frustration. He then turned to Jaycie, who never spoke a single word since they found her. “…And you. You’re more stupid than I thought, Jaycie. How the hell could you do this to Jonah? You know he loved you, right? And guess what, cousin! You loved him back! I don’t know what made you do this to him, but you better hope he lives… Because if he doesn’t, I’ll never forgive either of you… You got that?!”
“Caleb, stop!” Sophia commanded. She couldn’t believe the level of anger that Caleb was at. “What are you even talking about?!”
“Yeah, what do you mean?” Leah asked, as she worriedly looked around for any signs of the culprit who had attempted to assasinate Jonah. There was no disturbance.
“I saw him. I saw him fucking Jaycie. Despite all the shit that Jonah did for you, you’d still do that to him?” Jonah groaned in pain, as if he somehow heard the words that Caleb had spoken.
“How did you even see that Caleb?” Sophia asked, curious why he never spoke of the incident until now.
“While you are me were walking… That’s why I hardly spoke during the last few minutes… I didn’t want their mistake to ruin our moment, Soph…”
Sophia blushed, feeling the butterflies and the warmth despite of the dangers that they currently faced. For a single moment, all of that had vanished. But then reality snapped back in as quickly as it left. Still, Sophia gently stroked Caleb’s hair and kissed him on the cheek. Caleb’s face had begun to turn red. 
“Babe… watch out for Jonah’s foot. I don’t want it to hit you.” he warned.
“Babe?!” Nikki teased. “Ooh, so you guys are going out now?”
“No!” Sophia replied, blushing even redder than Caleb did. Then he turned to him. “Are we?”
“Hell yeah we are!” Caleb replied, but then, at the moment of happiness, he had forgotten his load and almost dropped Jonah on the ground before noticing that he had begun to slip and catching him just in the nick of time.
“Fuck, can you save these romantic bullshit moments for later?” Blake said, infuriated. “We gotta get Jonah help! And all you two are thinking of is going out? Try making it out alive first, okay? There’s a damn killer out here. I just know it. My car is way too new to break down like that… and that arrow lodged in Jonah’s head wasn’t just coincidental. It didn’t appear from nowhere, guys… It had to come from someone. Now, we’re lucky that it didn’t pierce deep enough, but he’s still losing blood. So I suggest you all shut the fuck up.”
“What?” Brandi laughed, in the midst of the coruption. “I think it’s cute. But you’re right… We gotta make it out of here first… Back at the tent, I thought I saw someone… but I didn’t think much of it… Now I know that someone is here.”
“Uhhh, duhh motherfucker. Shut up, bimbo.” Blake said without thinking.
“Uhhhh, shut up, virgin before tonight.” Leah said in defense of her friend. “And to think that you had to drug us so you’d even stand a chance, small dick. You suck more than I do, and I fucking love fucking. Just shut the fuck up and lead the way, asshole.” 
Blake shut up. The rest tried to control their laughter, but it came out anyway. The girls had all huddled up together while the two guys stood guard at the front. Lance withdrew into the darkness, his guilt still eating him up. Every breath he took, he felt that it had been stolen from Jonah.
“Damn it, best friend… You better live… I swear, I’ll kill myself if I ever lost you… I can’t make it without you…” Tears began to fall from his eyes once more. But this time, he cried quietly. He cried for hope. He cried for regret. He cried in hope of atoning. But he knew that he couldn’t possibly atone until he opened his eyes again.
Silence seemed to grasp each and everyone of them as they maneuvered through the woods without any traces of sound. It seemed to be a longer trek on foot than the fast five minutes it had took them to speed through the woods. The walk seemed to be endless. And then—
The silence was split by a cracking sound, followed by the splattering of blood against bark and skin. The moonlight shone on the attacked as as if it were a possessed spotlight, revealing the misery and downfall of a comrade in the middle of a tragic play. Jonah was struck. This time, the intensity of the blow was too harsh to survive. A tomahawk had split the side of his skull, ripping completely through one side to the other. The piece of his severed head fell to the floor, and the wound seemed to be a gaping portal that poured a torrential waterfall of blood onto Caleb’s face and body.
He dropped the body, his hands shaking uncontrollably. He stared at his palms, as red as the rivers of blood forming on the ground.
Sophia cried a blood-curdling scream that seemed to drown out any other noise. Then the other girls joined in horror as they stared at the heavily mutilated body lying on the floor. It was no longer their friend. Instead, a corpse had took his place, his eyes white as it withdrew to the back of his head. The thing seemed to be swimming in it’s own pool of blood, lifeless yet darkly alive in the moonlight.
The night was becoming darker. Lighter in the sense that there were no longer clouds, but darker in the sense that it was becoming their enemy. It held them imprisoned in the thickets and the trees that blocked their escape. The night, which created an illusion of bewilderment and fun, slowly began to turn against them. One had fallen, his body out to bleed dry.

VIII: BRUTALITY ENSUES
Caleb was drenched in red rain, trying to abstain from terror but his face showed something far worse. Everyone else just watched in silence. Not a single word uttered. Not a single whisper, or even a slight sound. Only the thud was heard when Caleb dropped the body onto the floor. A slight cracking was heard. It seemed that a few minutes was needed before they actually realized the gravity of the situation. Then, and only then, the pandemonium began. Lance lost it. It was as if something had snapped in the depths of his minds that caused him to break down. Kneeling before the deceased body, his palms drenched in his own friend’s blood, he cursed himself for being a part of it. If only, he thought. But now it was too late. Caleb seemed the most disgusted, his shoulders dripping with blood as he looked horrifyingly at the still remnants of his friend, lying on the floor without a single movement. It seemed that it had only been minutes ago that they were having a great time drinking all their pain away. Trying to escape from the shadows of their lives. It’s ironic that the darkness they tried so hard to escape from had finally caught up with them. It was finally drawing them in to a nightmare from which there was no waking. 
Everyone else screamed in horror, and soon the riot began to take control of their sanity.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here!!” Brandi screamed, bawling her eyes out and almost screaming ear-splittingly. “Come on, I’m fucking scared and none of you are fucking listening!! There’s a fucking killer… There’s a fucking killer out here…”
Caleb took off his shirt, his body glistening in the moonlight, covered in both sweat and blood. He closed Jonah’s eyes, wide, as if he felt the final impact, as if he knew that he was never going to live again. And though it pained him, he knew that Jonah was never going to see the light of day ever again. He threw the blood-stained shirt on top of Jonah’s wound to help hide the disfiguration.
“We better start going…” Caleb spoke, being careful in his deliverance. “Whoever is out there wants us dead…There’s no way in hell that I’m just gonna stand here and let this happen… I swear… If I see that fucker…”
“Hurry up!!” Jaycie screamed, clutching her shorts tightly, wanting to run the hell away from the body and keep herself safe. She was crying heavily, seeing that the one she had loved lying there lifeless. She shouldn’t have done what she did to him. It wasn’t fair. And now his memory will always remember Jaycie as a liar. “…Please… We have to go…”
“I can’t just leave his body here! That’s so fucked up… And I am not! Not gonna leave my best friend… I can’t… I can’t do that to him… Especially after what I did… No… Don’t make me leave him…” Lance clutched Jonah’s hand tightly as he sobbed on his friend’s chest. Memories of their time together flashed in his mind. Their childhood, at which Jonah had always been a part of… The time when he needed someone to be there, Jonah was always there. He knew the absolute truth, and that truth was that Jonah was the single most important person in his life, someone that never let him down. And now, he was gone. The thing lying on the floor was nothing more than a doppelganger. He cried even harder, knowing that he’ll never be able to hear him laugh, or even be there for him. Worst of all, he knew that he was a horrible friend. “I’m not leaving him!!”
Caleb impulsively took Lance by the hand and propped him up, his rage elevating to the point where he punched Lance right in the face.
“Get the fuck up right now. We’re going.” 
Just then— a noise nearby nearly startled Sophia into hysteria. A rustling behind her caused Sophia to run into Caleb’s arms and began to hyperventilate. Tears were streaming down from her face, and she seemed to be trying to scream, but no sound would come out.
“Calm down…” Caleb requested, gently stroking her face and wiping her tears, but she continued to freak out. “Let’s go. Now.”
“We’ll come back for you, Jonah…” Lance whispered as he kissed Jonah’s forehead, despite the blood. He knew that he would at least try his best to return and get Jonah a good burial. It was the least he could do.
Caleb commanded the group as they hurriedly ran through the endless twists and turns of the woods. The exit that they had came in from suddenly didn’t exist, but they struggled to make it out another way. Blake followed close behind while the rest were almost two feet away, unable to keep up with their speed.
Leah stumbled and tripped on a small rock, gashing her knee in the process.
“Help! Help me!!” she cried out, but they had already left without her. She struggled as she got up, trying to press down on the cut to stop its bleeding. She cringed when she realized that all she had done was further hurt it. She heard the same rustling that they heard earlier, and she almost fainted in the horror that she saw.
Meanwhile, Caleb looked around to make sure that everyone was okay. He suddenly paused in the middle of the pursuit for the exit, causing everyone to topple over or lose their balance.
“Where’s Leah?!” he demanded, looking around the vicinity but unable to see the girl anywhere. “Leah!!! Leah, fucking answer me!”
“LEAH!!!” Brandi screamed hysterically as she prepared herself to run back to where they had come from. Blake had grabbed her hand, holding her back from running away but she struggled and tried to break free.
“Leah, you better be okay…” Sophia prayed. Nikki had put her arms around Sophia, trying to comfort her, but Nikki herself felt dizzy from all the running and all the strange and disgusting events that were unfolding in front of her eyes.
“I’m gonna check on her.” Blake reassured, as she directed Brandi back to the group. Jaycie walked up to her and held her hand.
“She’s gonna be okay…” Jaycie spoke quietly. “Leah’s a strong girl, remember…?”
“FUCK!” Lance exclaimed out of nowhere, frustrated by the way things are going. “Why us?! Why us!?”
“Calm the fuck down, bro!” Caleb scolded, as he followed Blake, determined to check on Leah as well. “He’s not going alone. I’m going with him.” 
Blake and Caleb trekked backwards on the path that they’ve just walked on, only to arrive a few seconds too late. A dying scream filled the air, causing the rest of the group to run after the two, wondering what had happened. Brandi cried even more harder, recognizing the scream as Leah’s. 
After rushing to the scene of the scream, Blake was mortified and almost gagged on the nearby floor. Caleb was paralyzed in place, thinking about how he’d always say that he’d spring right into action when it came down to it, but this time he was unable to. 
Leah’s clothes were tattered and bloody, her breasts exposed and her mid-region filled with cuts. A silhouetted figure held a shiny knife in its hand, covered in murky blood reds and shades of red so dark that it almost seemed black. Leah could no longer scream. She had exhausted herself, and the pain was almost unbearable as she felt blood rushing continually out of her. Caleb couldn’t hold himself anymore. He started towards the figure, just in time for the rest of the group to arrive. But they too, were paralyzed at the spot.
“You bastard!!!!” Caleb screamed as he grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at the figure’s head. The figure had flinched, but its rage caused it to tear off Leah’s pants, cutting apart her lacy black underwear and impaling the knife deep into Leah’s private area. Leah’s eyes widened as she felt every bit of her energy begin to fade away. Caleb charged at the figure, but before he could do so the killer had turned the knife clockwise, slicing a chunk of her vaginal flesh as Leah  screamed helplessly. 
“LEAH!!!” Brandi screamed as she watched in pure horror, tears streaming down harder than usual.
“You’re gonna get it, motherfucker!” Caleb shouted as he pulled out his butterfly knife from his pocket. At the flick of his wrist, the wings unfolded and revealed a very sharp blade. He began to charge after the killer after Blake was hurled aside, his attempt at knocking down the figure became nothing but a futile attempt. Leah was twitching uncontrollably as blood gashed, forming an even larger puddle of blood than Jonah’s. She saw black, and then nothing more. 
The killer had noticed Caleb charging at him, and pulled out another knife. Much larger. Much sharper. Caleb ducked and jumped at the killer, jamming the knife deep in its shoulder. The cry of pain revealed the figure as a male, albeit younger but much more strong than himself as Caleb felt the killer’s arm wrap around his waist and hurl him more than ten feet away. Blake, snapping out of his temporary blackout, opened his eyes, unfortunately just in time for the killer to mutilate Leah’s body even more.
“Everyone, run!!” Blake yelled. “We’ll handle this fucker! Fucking run, you hear me?”
Jaycie helped Brandi up as she forcibly made her move. Sophia was trembling, but she knew that they would have to put their trust on Caleb and Blake to take down the killer. Lance, being reduced to a cowardly state of his former self, followed the three girls.
The killer pulled out the butterfly knife protruding from his shoulder and gashed Leah’s stomach, afterwards ripping it open further with his bare hands. He snatched out the intestines as blood came spilling like an overflowed water fountain. The area smelt of blood. Blake ran up and punched the killer on his face as hard as he could. He couldn’t help but smirk when he felt drips of blood fall on his clenched fist. Caleb soon sprang into action, but it was already too late. After being dealt Blake’s blow, the killer ran with an outrageously fast speed, disappearing into the darkness.
Caleb knelt down and examined Leah’s mutilated body. He began to sob for the first time in the night. Blake shook his head, knowing that this night was far from over. He thirsted for vengeance, and so had everyone else.
“The next time I see that fucker… I’ll get him… I’ll bust his fucking head open… For Jonah and Leah… I’ll avenge their deaths…” Caleb said as he noticed that his hands were trembling in pure rage. “You hear me?! I’ll get you!!”
His voice echoed in the woods, and soon he too broke down, unable to even look at Leah’s body. It no longer even resembled a human.
“This night is far from over…” Caleb whispered. “We’ll make him pay…”

IX: STAR-CROSSED
Some say being pursued by something unknown is much scarier than knowing the actual danger. Perhaps this was true, as paranoia becomes the most lethal fear for the group. More so, the darkness wasn’t going to give them a leeway. It was relentless, and the night was still so young. 
Blake stood up and wiped the blood off of his hands, helping Blake stand. They stared at the broken body, mutilated to the point of no recognition. In some ways, they wish that they had enough time to give the body a proper burial. An act out of respect. But they knew that they had no time. The body would corrode and seep back into the earth, and though they didn’t really like that idea, they knew they had no choice. Their group was being hunted by a senile psychopath, and Blake knew that it wouldn’t stop until it killed them all. Bidding farewell to Leah, they began to trek back to the rest of the group, who was frantically searching for an exit that seemed almost impossible to find.
The rest of the group waited at a reasonable place where Caleb and Blake would find them, and soon enough, they arrived. They all shared something in common: silence. Silence as it began to disturb their minds. Silence as it suddenly became deafening to their ears. Silence as the result of absolute misery twisted with agony and vengeance. They stood for a while without saying a word, taking a minute to absorb the situation. But then, Lance broke the silence. For the first time since Jonah’s death, he seemed to be back in his previous state of mind, abandoning his thoughts of cowardice and replacing them with sheer madness.
“Fuck this. I’m not just standing around here anymore. That guy killed my best friend! My. Best. Friend. And I never even got to say goodbye. I never even had the chance to apologize.” He pushed his long, brown hair back and gave a frightening smile. “Well, we’re going to get out of here. If he’s lucky enough, he won’t show himself again. But if he does, I know for a fact that I won’t be the only one going to hell… I’ll drag that fucker in with me…”
Sophia looked horrified, noting the sudden change in his mood. Blake walked to him and put his arms around Lance, asking him to calm down. It seemed to work.
“…Leah’s gone…” Brandi whispered, sounding as if she were about to cry once more. “Leah’s gone… But I have to be strong… Because if I don’t live, then who else is going to remember her?”
“We all will. We’re going to remember them both…” Sophia said, trying to raise Brandi’s spirit as well as her own. “But we do have to get out of here…”
The group began to rush their way out, looking for the exit. Then it dawned on Caleb.
“This place… This place isn’t the same as when we went in.” he exclaimed. “I’m sure of that now. It was never a long drive for us to enter. Never. And judging by how long we’re walking to get out… No… That’s impossible… But it’s the only god damn explanation I could find…”
“Why the hell did you take us here, anyway Blake?!” Lance busted out. “We could’ve stayed at Jonah’s house… Then… They wouldn’t be dead by now…”
“Don’t blame it on me, fuck head…” Blake gestured with a glare. “This shit is way beyond my control… I just know that we have to fucking live. We have to. I’m going to take that fucker down when I see him…”
Once he spoke those words, the clouds seemed to move faster, shrouding itself around the moon. This time, there was absolutely no light. No light at all, as they found themselves succumbing to darkness.
“Wheat happened?!” Sophia screamed in the dark, searching desperately to find anyone. Mostly Caleb. She groped in the dark, but only seemed to catch air in her frantic searching. “I can’t even see anymore… Where are you guys!?”
No answer.
“Don’t leave me here…” she screamed. “I’m still here…”
But everyone else was also caught up in the darkness, and they knew nothing about the location of anyone. Screaming, each one of them cursing the dark. How could they lose one another when they were exactly at the same place? It seemed a mystery, but the night was still as vicious as ever, not even giving a slight glimpse of light. The darkness surrounded them.
“Fuck!” Lance said furiously. “Someone fucking answer me!! God dammit!” 
No answer once more.
It seemed everyone had strayed too far from each other. The moonlight revealed itself a moment later. But it had hidden itself just enough to distance the group away from each other. As if it was working against them. As if the night wished for them to separate.
Caleb’s eyes were blinded by the sudden reveal of the moonlight. Though he was glad to see it, he also felt let down and scared when he saw that nobody was around. And he hadn’t recognized where he was. 
“Hey!!!” he screamed, trying to signal his location. He put his hands in a triangle shape around his mouth to alleviate his volume, screaming louder than his previous attempt. “Is anyone around?!”
He heard a rustling nearby, and Sophia squirmed out of a bush, her leg bleeding as a sturdy twig impaled her skin.
“Caleb!” she exclaimed, happy to finally find someone. “Help me! A twig stabbed me in my leg and it hurts…”
She stood up in hopefulness, but she then fell as she felt her weight begin to push against her wounded leg, receiving another wound in process due to the sharp rocks beneath her. Caleb rushed to her side, helping her up and offering to carry her on his back.
“No, I can do it on my own…” she tried to reason.
“You’ve got to be crazy. Now’s not the time to act independent, Sophia… Especially since we lost everyone in the dark… Now, I insist. Hop on my back, will you?” he said, trying to be both serious and chivalrous.
She climbed on Caleb’s back, feeling a bit of tension as she felt her leg slide against his bare skin. Though fear mostly controlled her mind, she couldn’t take her eyes off his glistening body. It was toned and muscular and Sophia just couldn’t ignore it. She smiled, but then realized that this was no time to be checking him out.
She noticed that time seemed to be going by so slowly, the night still looking the same as it had done when they had first arrived. Then, she looked around her surroundings and knew that Caleb had said seemed so right. It wasn’t the same place. Some way, some how… they found themselves in a completely different place than before. Or perhaps, it just seemed that way. Either way, she knew that it would take a miracle for them to find their way out. Her heart sank.
“Caleb, do you think we’ll ever get out of here alive…?” she asked.
“Of course we are… No way in hell are we going to perish here… No way… Not since I just got you… I’m not letting you go this easily, Sophia.” he spoke, reaching over his back to stroke Sophia’s hand. “I’m never going to let you go…”
Sophia’s grip tightened on Caleb’s hand, and they continued to walk towards the unknown. 
It seemed that the stars shone dimmer when the couple had begun their escapade, and as they walked and Sophia felt her happiest in the long time, shadows had begun to form around them. Before they knew it, their moment would end.
“If we die here…” Sophia began to say. “I want to know that you love me as much as I love you… Listen to me, Caleb… Put me down…” 
“What are you talking about, Sophia?” Caleb reassured, putting her down at a nearby soft patch of grass. Worried, he stroked her face and kissed her forehead. “Everything’s going to be fine…”
“I love you, Caleb…” she whispered. She seemed to be both exhausted and frail. Her eyes looked like there were tears that were dying to come out, but she held it in. “Say it back to me… If you mean it…”
“Of course I love you…Every minute I was in Vegas, in the crowded streets and the neon lights… to someone else, it would’ve been so exciting seeing these colors all around you… But I was blinded by the light. I didn’t want to be there, because it hurt too much to know that you were miles away from me…” He kissed her one more time. “I needed you so much, Sophia… To make it through the day, I needed you in my life… And even though you weren’t with me, I knew I was going to come back to you someday… And here I am. Like I said, I would never let you go again…” 
“That’s good to know…” she whispered, zipping her jacket up, as it to conceal something. But Caleb didn’t notice. “Because, Caleb… I lied… I don’t love you…”
The tears she was holding back began to stream down, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“I don’t love you, Caleb…” she whispered, sobbing at the same time. She looked directly into Caleb’s eyes and felt his pain. “I want you to stay away from me… I want you to stay as far away from me as you can… Right now. Right now, Caleb… If you really do love me, stay away… Please…” 
Caleb looked devastated, and sat down right in front of Sophia. Desperate to figure out if she was lying, he began to align himself with her, kissing her neck and her forehead and her lips, hoping to find out that she was just playing a joke. A cruel, sick joke…
“Please tell me you’re lying…” he begged. “I know you don’t mean that…”
Sophia was never the type of person that was good at lying. Her lie was beginning to unravel internally. She couldn’t handle stating falsehood, and as the tears began to stream down, she knew that there was no way that she could lie to Caleb. Breaking down, she confessed her true feelings.
“I know…” she cried. “I know that I’m lying… You don’t know how crazy I am over you, Caleb… I don’t deserve you… I know that… But knowing you’re still here with me… It just makes me love you that much more… And I can’t lie to someone I love, Caleb… That’s why I have to show you this…”
Zipping up down her jacket, Sophia revealed her white tank top. Right by her stomach, a fleshy wound tainted it red, as it glimmered malevolently in the moonlight. She cried even harder, as Caleb’s world slowly felt like it were falling apart.
“No…” he refused to believe what he had seen. “You’re not gonna die, Soph… You’re not gonna leave me…” 
She frailly got crawled closer to Caleb and kissed him fiercely, as if every bit of her energy was spent on the kiss. She knew this would be her last moment with him, as her body began to weaken and her sights began to blur. Tears slowly fell from her eyes and fell on Caleb’s cheek. He didn’t care. All he cared about was holding the kiss. A kiss long deserved, but so poignantly final.
“You’re gonna live, Sophia…” Caleb whispered. “We’re gonna make it out… And we’re gonna be together… So stay strong for me, please…” 
“No…” she weakly whispered, as she held Caleb close to her body… “ I can’t… I can’t make it anymore… I’m already dying… I feel it… And that would in my leg wasn’t from a twig either… When I couldn’t see anything, I felt something stab me… I screamed out for help but there was no one but the dark… When the moonlight finally shone, I had two arrows sticking out of me… I pulled it out, and yelled for help, but still, no one was there… Then I found you, and then I realized that at that moment, I didn’t care if I died… Because I’d spend my final moments with  you… And I’m not scared to die anymore, Caleb… Just hold me…”
Caleb began to cry as well. In silence, they held each other, until the night had finally caught up with them.
Sophia and Caleb was stranded in a different area, where stones were sprawled all around the barren dirt. Unlike the part of the woods they had been in before, this part had life. Wildflowers swayed within the night air. Ivies entwined with the barks of the trees, and tulips bloomed on the patch of grass that they were on. But the beauty wasn’t really relevant, as there was darkness and evil here just as much as there was on their previous location.
The killer emerged from the depths of the woods, aiming to attack them in surprise. Sophia’s eyes widened as she noticed the killer’s youth, but decrepit face as he looked at her with sheer corruption.
“Caleb, watch out!” she screamed, trying to push her away as strongly as she could, but even with her force it had already been too late.
Caleb looked behind him, and his eyes had met the silver point of the killer’s blade. Sophia screamed as blood began to spurt, as it had been lava foaming from a volcano’s mouth. Caleb’s eyes were rolling in the back of his head, feeling the pain yet having no power to react. His body fell with a thud to the ground, but the killer took a sick pleasure in having Sophia watch Caleb suffer. Since she was basically stuck in that spot, he took advantage of that. Taking hand of a nearby rugged rock, he began to repetitively grind the rock on Caleb’s head, chipping away at his skin as Sophia watched in horror. His blood was all over the killer’s hand, and the killer wiped it on his face, as if it drew some sick honor to him. 
His face was barely recognizable. His eyes popping out, bloody and wounded… It looked as if it had been grinded off, with chunks of bloody meat sticking out and his forehead scratched deeply. Sophia could no longer scream. She was getting too weak, and her vision had been growing intensely worse. She could only cry quietly as she watched her lover being killed in front of her own eyes.
The killer then proceeded to bash Caleb’s head in with the bloody rock, and that caused blood to splash on Sophia’s face as well as all over the tulips and grass. The killer laughed a menacing laugh, and then walked up to Sophia.
She couldn’t even struggle as the killer stuck his finger in her open would. She could only squint her eyes in pain, wishing that this was all a nightmare somehow. Sophia still couldn’t stop crying. It kept coming down. The killer then began to increase the size of what he had inserted, moving from one finger to two, and then soon his whole fist was inside of Sophia. 
Possessing demented mind of high caliber, the killer began to crush any organ or body part that he could touch with his bare hands as blood began to pour out of the open wound. Sophia could feel all the pain, but she still couldn’t speak. Then, she finally couldn’t stay up anymore as she succumbed to death’s will.
The last thing she saw were the killer’s eyes looking into hers.
The killer finished his deed and decided to pursue the next victim, hearing whispers on the other parts of the woods.
Sophia and Caleb had doomed from the start, the stars shone brightly now that they had perished into death’s lair. The night had stolen yet more lives.

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