"No, but your body did leap back a bit when the bullet hit your shoulder. Maybe it fell out and back, I'll check." Bob crawls behind his friend feeling his way in the dark.
His hand touches something frigidly cold and hard and he knows he's found the phone.
"I found it!" Bob almost shouts, then he sits down by Greg and checks the phone. It's dead. He flips it over to see the back is missing. "Shit, I'll look for the battery." He hands Greg the phone and returns to the spot he found it. Within seconds he says, "Got it."
Greg puts the phone together and turns it on. The screen updates the time, and it reads 11:47 p.m. Before he can make a call they hear something in the woods. Both men know this is the last thing they need right now.
* * *
Buck Holt and Aaron White are two officers walking together in these woods, even though Buck entered with Brad about ten minutes earlier. When Buck lost sight of Brad, he waited for Aaron. They knew to split up, but felt the need to walk side by side. But if anyone was to ask them, they would say they it was an accident and they didn't need the company. They hike northwest and hope to leave these woods soon. They've been walking for more than an hour now with nothing to show for it.
"To hell with this," Buck says to Aaron, "let’s sit down and take a break. Besides, those dumb boys are probably dead by now anyways."
"I can't believe you said that, but you know me, I'm always ready for a break," Aaron replies, as he sits down next to Buck.
Neither one likes to work; anytime they see a chance to sit down on the job, they take it. They’re very lucky, or unlucky, the other officers haven’t caught them yet. Both are crooked men who would do anything for a dollar as long as they don’t have to work too hard for it.
Buck's real name is James. A friend of his gave him the nickname in grade school. When he was in third grade, he wouldn't do anything for anyone, until they paid him a dollar. His friend told him his parents should have named him Buck. After a while, all the kids started calling him by the nickname.
They chat as they rest, not listening to the woods around them, but something is there.
"Erick, Bob, or Greg are you there?" One or the other will yell and then they go back to their conversation.
"So, how's that wife of yours?" Aaron asks.
"Just as fat and lazy as yesterday," Buck replies.
Both men laugh because they know it to be true. His wife is one of those women who thinks everything in life should come to her, and if it doesn't, it isn't worth getting up for.
"You shouldn't talk about your own wife like that," he says to Buck.
"Why not, she ain't going to get up to hear it."
"Stop, you're making my side hurt," Aaron says. He holds on to his right side as he laughs.
Buck lights up a cigarette and blows smoke up in a ring.
"How's life been treating you?"
"Not bad, wish I would win the lotto. I wouldn't have to be sitting here if I did," he answers.
* * *
With the cell phone in his hand, Greg's ready to dial, but instead he listens to the woods.
Shuffle…Shuffle….
is the noise; they clearly hear it now and both boys let out a long breath.
"Damn I guess we’re jumpy," Bob says. "Just some small animal."
Greg punches some buttons on the phone.
"Hello," he says to the other person. "Stop screaming and listen. Bob and I are okay for now. I’ve lost blood from the bullet and need help." Greg explains to Skinner where they are. "Let me talk to an officer," Greg says, and he hears Skinner yell.
"Greg is on the phone, it’s Greg, him and Bob are alive!"
"Hello."
A voice Greg has never heard before picks up the phone. He explains to the officer what happened and where they are. No, they hadn’t seen Erick, he answers the officer's question. He presses the "end" button, and now all they can do is wait.
* * *
The three officers in the woods have been advised contact with two of the three young men has been established. Brad is to go locate Bob and Greg, while the other two are to keep looking for Erick.
* * *
Buck and Aaron continue their chat for another fifteen minutes after they receive the news that two of the young men had called in. Each officer knows he should be looking for the other man, but they still gossip on.
Soon they hear a slight noise.
Crunch!
The noise comes from deeper in the woods. They figure it’s the other officer and jump to their feet to begin the walking and looking process.
"Man, that was close," Aaron says.
"I know," Buck replies. They walk a short distance and believe that the other officer is gone, so they sit back down to talk some more.
"Was you in on that big marijuana bust out here last week?" Aaron asks, a cunning smile spreading like a disease.
"You know it! I made a good amount off that stuff too. I kept me about a pound out before the others showed up and started packing it into evidence bags. Dumb shits, don't they know how much money they can make on the stuff?" Buck speaks with plain small town stupidity.
"I just knew you had some of it. I always keep me some back too," Aaron says.
"I know," Buck replies in a whisper. "I hear something else." He places his finger to his mouth to indicate to be quiet.
Crunch!
They hear the noise again, louder this time. Then whatever it is stops like footsteps, but not quite.
The guys are facing each other and listening.
Crack!
As the forest floor gives way to something heavy, the sound is close.
"What is it?" Aaron asks nervously, but tries not to show it.
Buck just shakes his head from side to side while listening to the sound.
Something hits Aaron hard on his back, knocking him forward into Buck, and they both go down hard. The pain in Aaron's back is so bad, it must be broken, he thinks when something bites him in the neck.
* * *
Bob is speaking with his parents on Greg’s phone.
"We have been here a long time," he tells them. "Please get us help. The local officers are in the woods looking for us, but apparently they can’t track worth shit."
They talk for a while longer before they hang up.
"They’re calling Erick and Skinner's parents to let them know. I guess Skinner never thought to call them, dumb shit," Bob says.
Both boys smile faintly, trying to keep their spirits up.
"I'm feeling better. Let’s try getting up and moving. We're going to freeze if we don’t, it feels about fifty degrees out here," Greg says while he slowly tries moving.
Bob has put his shirt on Greg to help keep him warm, but it doesn't do much. Only good thing about the cool weather, it looks like it is slowing down Greg’s bleeding.
"Oooh!" Greg moans with every attempt at movement.
"I truly am sorry, man, you of all people. I’d never hurt you on purpose," Bob says, feeling so terrible to see his friend in pain. It’s not funny like Skinner needing to pee.
"Forget about it buddy, when I feel better, I’ll kick your ass," Greg says with hope that his friend understands he doesn't blame him.
"I’ll let you. Now let’s see if we can't get you to your feet." He puts his arms around Greg's upper body and lifts him to his feet.
Greg's head spins. He closes his eyes, and rests his head on his friend's shoulder. Slowly he tries to take a step while Bob holds him up.
* * *
Buck is lying under his friend's body and he can see the monster attacking them. Aaron now has a jagged hole in his neck, but somehow he's still alive. The animal is so large and heavy, and is pressing down on Buck so he barely can breathe.
A claw now reaches for him and it goes across his face as it rips all the skin away and he still screams after his face is gone.
Aaron looks at his friend’s face in disbelief. He tries to figure out where it just went. The only t
hing he sees is bloody bones, but his friend is still screaming. Then everything goes black when the animal tears Aaron's head from his body.
Buck watches as the creature rips his friend's head away smoothly from the neck that held it. He knows something is wrong with his face, he saw the paw slice through the air. He felt it hit his skin, but he doesn't feel pain now, it's numb. Buck can still see the animal clawing his friend. It now pulls Aaron's body away from Buck with its large mouth. He inhales deeply when the weight lifts from him. He stops screaming and pushes his body back with his arms as he tries to flee from the monstrous thing. He moves slowly, because he's too injured to perform any quicker motion. He hangs on to hope of an escape while the animal is busy with Aaron's body. A faceless man crawling the crab walk, the whole time never taking his eyes away from the creature. He only gets a few feet when the animal stops suddenly, then looks to Buck as if just remembering he's there. Shit! Quit looking at me, he thinks. Buck's unmoving on his back, still in his crab walk position. The animal stares at him. It seems to be making a decision on what to do with Buck. They stay in this stand off for several minutes.
The creature finally goes back to the body at hand.
Buck breathes again; he hadn't noticed he was holding his lungs back from their duty. Creeping away on his back, he's too scared to change his line of sight. When a light bulb goes off in his head, he reaches for his gun.
The animal seems to sense something is up. It looks back at Buck. His hand is almost on the butt of his revolver when the animal leaps. He watches the animal soar through the space between Aaron and him. From this angle, he can see just how large the beast is. Spread out to its full length over his body, flying like a majestic eagle. It must be over eight feet long. Raising his gun is useless as the animal is now on top of his body.
Buck begins to scream, but his throat has been removed by the creature.
This attack is quiet and fast. The animal moves in for the kill as if it knows to be silent so the others in the area will not be alerted. It tears at the lifeless bodies until it knows they are dead, and then it is gone into the night. A trail of large bloody paw prints is the only clue of what happened to the officers.
* * *
Brad, the other officer, pauses to listen, then trudges on hoping it will be over shortly. The uneasy feeling the woods are watching him hasn't faded. He spins around quickly to scan the dark forest, but nothing is there. He begins to whistle a light tune with expectations it will drown out the forest noises. After a few minutes, he realizes he can't hear if the boys are yelling, so he stops the whistling, even though it's making him feel better. He carefully picks up his pace in hopes of finding the other two boys soon. He's the only officer left in the woods searching, he just doesn't know it yet.
Chapter 12
Imaginary Line
My phone in the bedroom rings.
"Hello," I say so sleepily, the person on the other end probably can’t understand me. My eyes open wide and I sit up fast, when I hear what the person says.
"Oh no, not there. Okay, we’ll be on our way," I reply, and my heart pounds faster after my body catches up with my brain. Tonight Julie and I have to enter the Black Woods.
Dale rolls over and looks at the clock.
"Man it’s almost one in the morning. Who was that?"
"It was the forest dispatcher and they need our help. Three young men are missing," I tell him as I try to hurry my old body. "They’ve already called Julie."
"I’m coming," Dale says as he rises from the bed to join me.
"No, you stay here. It looks like this might be a long search and I will need you to take my place when I'm tired." I knew he couldn’t walk in the woods, not for long anyway. He feels the need to help me and I understand.
Reluctantly he agrees and gives me a kiss as I'm getting dressed. I don't tell him where I'm going. I know he would try to stop me.
My sister and I have only been in the Black Woods once, a long time ago. We were picking mushrooms and they were up like crazy that day. We were hunting in our regular woods and not paying attention as we went. We traveled a little too far off course and landed in the wrong area. We soon realized our mistake, and fear set in as we were too afraid to breathe. We could hear something following us, and we slowly started to move.
Crunch!
We heard the ground giving away under the weight of something heavy in the woods behind us and then again.
Crack!
We looked at each other, and we knew we had to run fast. With all our might, we fled the area, and ran as hard as we ever had in our lives. Luckily, we weren’t far from the imaginary line, the Black Woods line. Panting loudly, we turned to look at the woods. Pure fear was evident on our faces and what we saw froze us in our tracks. It was some kind of animal, what, I don’t know. Nothing we ever saw, nothing anyone has ever seen that we know of. It ran straight at us, its teeth shining.
"Oh my, oh my, oh my," I could hear Julie chanting next to me.
It skidded to a sudden stop, stared at us with those eyes, and snarled as it lifted its head, Then, it ran back into the woods. The mouth was like a lion's or a tiger's, the nose protruded too long, like a canine's. Its ears were too small for the large round head. The body was full of muscle, front legs shorter than the back ones. A long tail and smooth, shiny, short black fur covered its entire body. Its eyes were bright blue, shining pure evil. It was so oddly misshapen, nothing in proportion with its body.
"What the hell!" I heard myself say as it disappeared.
What keeps that wild animal in those woods is probably a question no one will ever be able to answer. We knew about the imaginary lines and we never strayed across them. We were told always to stay away and no one had to tell us why we shouldn't cross it, after we heard the stories, we didn't want to.
We tried telling everyone we met, but that didn’t work out well. We gave up talking about it. Our family believed us and that’s all that mattered. Now when we are out mushroom hunting we stay clear of the line as we hike those hills. We can hear a low growl, a crack, and crunch from time to time. We know the animal's eyes are on us, waiting for us, and we can feel its fury and rage.
I grab a large bag and fill it with food and drinks, and I know Julie is doing the same. When officers have been out this long, they need energy, and if we're lucky enough to find the missing, they will be starving and thirsty. As I close the door behind me, I pray for everyone’s safe return. Going back to those woods tonight will be the second scariest thing we’ve ever done.
* * *
Officer Roy stands at the lake and tries to get Buck and Aaron to answer their radios.
"Hello, all officers please report." He speaks into his shoulder radio.
"I'm here, Officer Brad reporting in."
"Have you seen Aaron or Buck out there lately?"
"No," Brad replies.
"They're not reporting in. If you do see their sorry butts you tell them to radio me immediately," Roy demands.
"Sure thing," Brad answers.
No word yet on Erick, and now officers Buck and Aaron are not answering their radios.
"We need more people, do we have any names for volunteers that might be available?" the officer at the lake asks the dispatcher on the radio.
"I already made several calls and located two, Julie and Laura, they're on the way," the dispatcher replies.
"Only two, we have six people out there now and we know the location of three, but still haven’t heard from the kid named Erick and now Officers Aaron and Buck. Damn, we don’t need to lose anyone else. I hate these Black Woods," Officer Roy says. He's standing close to the SUV as he is speaks. "Well, at least you got those two women. I remember working with them a few years back."
Skinner listens to the officer talking and wonders why he is calling them the "Black Woods," he looks over at the area and they do seem to be dark.
* * *
Officer Brad hears a cat’s meow, but deeper and stronger than a h
ousehold pet. Damn, I don’t want to run in… he thinks.
Yowl!
When a bobcat leaps from overhead off a tree limb.
The cat lands on his back and digs its claws in deep. Brad has his revolver in his hand, but he's struggling to keep his footing. He's barely able to stand with the excruciating pain. He raises his gun over his shoulder and shoots.
The cat hits the ground with a "thud" and so does Officer Brad. His back's painfully in bad shape, he can feel the blood run.
He radios for help and no one is available at the moment, but someone will be soon. The bobcat starts to move and Officer Brad shoots it again.
Now he's all alone and bleeding. He tries to get to his feet.
* * *
Skinner observes a white pickup truck pull in by the lake and park. An older man with a dog is talking to the officer. He sees his chance and he's going to take it. Slowly he reaches for the SUV’s door handle and pulls up.
Quietly he slides from the vehicle, sneaking like a bank robber. With his cell phone in hand, he enters in the woods. I’m on my way, buddies, he thinks as he runs wildly through the woods looking for his friends. He doesn’t care about some old ticks now; he only has the boys on his mind. They would do the same for him.
There's something bad wrong with these woods. He doesn't know what it is, but it's hanging in the air so thick it's hard to breathe it in. It's as if it doesn't belong in this whole forest, another place all its own. He must quit thinking about the woods and find his friends.
He stops to use his phone to call Greg.
* * *
Julie and I arrive at the site which is also our mushroom area. We see the officer talking with Dick.
"What's Dick doing here?" I ask Julie, like she should know.
"I don’t know, hope he don’t think he's going in there!" she replies, with a look of puzzlement on her face.
We get out of the car, holding the bags filled with nourishment, and walk to where the two men are standing.
"Hello," we both say to the men.
"What are you doing out this late?" Julie asks Dick.
"One of the boys out there is a nephew of my friend. He called and asked if I could come by, see how things are going," Dick replies as Sugar tries to lick us through his open window.