Page 28

The sun was setting, and I knew it was almost time for dinner.

I needed to clean up. As I stepped onto the cabin porch, something made a noise.

I looked around to see a plague doctor’s mask, just like the ones I saw before.

Except, this one had a weird eyeglass. No, it wasn’t weird.

It was broken, and it was peeking through the tall grass and trees.

“Hey.” It quickly pulled away at the sound of my voice.

“Hey!” I sprinted in the direction I’d seen it, running to try to catch up.

I knew it. I’m not fucking crazy. There’s people wandering around in these woods. I don’t know why, but something is going on. Something weird.

“Hey!” I continued to run after the dark figure while it bobbed and weaved through the woods.

It was so fast. “Stop!” I watched it move so eloquently.

“Stop!” The figure led me further away from camp and deeper into the woods until the sun faded away, and I could no longer see it.

“No! Fuck!” I weaved through lingering branches hoping to find it again.

But I didn’t. Instead, I found myself lost in the redwoods.

“Damn it!” I stopped to catch my breath and spun around, looking in all directions.

I had no idea which way to go or where I even was.

I just knew I wasn’t alone out here. And that made me extremely nervous.

“Hello?” I called out. There was no answer.

“Okay, so maybe chasing some masked asshole out into the dark, creepy woods wasn’t such a good idea after all.

” I slowly walked backwards and stopped as I listened.

It sounded like something had moved off in the distance behind me.

“Definitely not a good idea.” I wandered around for a bit in the hopes that I lost whatever it was.

Time seemed to go on forever as I trekked through the endless woods.

I swore I felt like I was wandering in circles.

It drove me fucking crazy. “Where the hell am I?” I looked up at the night sky and whispered to myself, “God, I’m going to get my ass chewed out so bad for missing dinner. ” I blame Sabbath.

My foot hit a rock, and I roughly fell forward.

Redwood leaves and dirt shot into the air from my fall.

My body ached, and my head throbbed. “Fuck,” I breathed.

I didn’t want to move after the painful impact.

Just sit there and groan. “I give up.” I lowered my head in defeat and blew the dirt around my face.

“I’m never going to find my way out of these damn woods. ”

Where’s Sabbath when you need him? Wait.

My arm slid along the ground and reached the scar on my back. “How does this work?” I winced at the pressure.

Sabbath… Please. Find me.

I felt along the raised tissue and traced the scar, as if by pure determination and wishful thinking it somehow would magically lead him to me. “This is crazy.” I stopped and accepted defeat. “There’s no way he’s going to find me simply because of a fucking scar.”

The wind picked up, and my body shivered from the cool summer breeze, only it carried something else with it.

What is that?

I sat up on my knees and listened closely.

Voices. I hear voices!

I quickly jumped to my feet and moved in the directions of the faint sounds. Soon, I noticed an overwhelmingly large redwood tree ahead. It was ashen and bigger than any tree I’d ever seen before. It looked… ancient.

Wait— My eyes widened. I know this tree! It’s the one that grew from within that weird cave. But, those voices I hear… Are they coming from the same place? I stepped closer and the volumes of the whispered voices grew. They are.

Without any hesitation, I began to walk towards the ancient redwood tree.

If I can find that cave, maybe I can find my way back.

The faded and distorted memory of seeing the masked figures in the cave popped into my mind.

My whole body shivered and tingled at the thought of anything that happened that night being real.

The masked figures, the tree roots, the cave, all of it.

It was just too much. And the more I thought about it, the more it freaked me out.

I shook the eerie feeling from my body. “Just keep going, and soon, you’ll be out of these damn woods. ” Hopefully.

The woods shifted from the everyday redwood trees we’d become so accustomed to, to something that resembled a scene from a dark fantasy movie.

If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought I stepped into an entirely new world.

Numerous off-colored redwood leaves covered the ground, hiding the fact that hundreds of roots branched from the direction of the ashen tree and out towards the rest of the woods.

Totems of all sizes hung from nearly every branch and spun in the summer breeze.

The whole atmosphere was eerily beautiful.

My eyes raised, and my neck ached from staring so high up.

The tree was astonishing. “I wonder how old it is?” The voices grew in volume and capacity as I neared the base of the ancient redwood tree.

I noticed a faint, glowing light ahead and picked up my pace until it eventually became a light sprint.

The voices grew with each step I took, and something strange overcame me.

I felt drawn to the light ahead, like a moth to the flame.

The light grew with the whispers until I noticed how the ancient redwood wasn’t growing out of the ground, but from inside a giant hole.

The cavern from the other night. I stopped running and slowed my pace as I quietly moved closer.

You could see the candles flickering from down below, only this time, the cave wasn’t just filled with old and endless roots.

There were people inside. No. Figures with various masks.

I crouched on my knees and crawled a little closer.

My mind nearly exploded at what I saw in the cavern below.

“It’s real,” I whispered to myself. “All of it.”

But if this is real, who are they?

I silently counted the masked figures. “Eleven.” What an odd number.

They were dressed in all black, wearing long robes or cloaks, like something out of an old movie.

They were covered head to toe and even had gloves.

You couldn’t see any hint of who they really were.

The only distinction between them were the masks they wore.

While half had plague doctor masks, two of them distinctly stood out.

One had what appeared to be a more elaborate mask with all black features and brass colored accents, whereas the other had that damn broken eyeglass, just as I’d seen before.

They both wore wide brimmed leather hats, while the others wore giant skulls of animals, wrapped in old vines.

It made me sick to see them walk around in the bones of dead animals.

“Who are you?” I asked myself quietly as I lay on the ground and watched them.

The figures whispered and spoke to one another, the same distant chants and sounds I’d been hearing since the night I arrived.

They gathered around the ancient redwood and created a circle with their bodies, and the jumbled whispers quickly grew into a full fledged chant.

I grew cold, and I felt wrong to be witnessing whatever was happening before me.

What is even happening right now?

A woman’s voice broke through coming from behind the elaborate plague doctor’s mask and spoke to the rest. “The first blood has been spilled. The time has come.” First blood? Wait, Foster said the same thing earlier today.

Is this ? —

The sound of faint footsteps from behind me set me on edge. I quickly stood and tried to back away towards the trees, hoping who or whatever it was didn’t notice me. The footsteps grew louder and closer, and I caught a glimpse of an old, bloody axe.

What the fuck?

My back hit a tree, and I tried to remain silent. I knew whoever they belonged to was maybe now only a few feet away. Absolute fear washed over me. I couldn’t just stay there and wait to be found. I needed to run. Fast.

My foot shook as I stepped forward without making any sound. My other foot followed as I repeated the motions. Just keep moving. Take your time and don’t stop. I stepped down and broke a small twig.

Shit.

My entire body froze, and I listened. The only sound was the distant voices of the people below, and the sound of my heart pounding in my chest. The footsteps had stopped.

I held my breath and waited. A tear rolled down my cheek as I felt the sensation of someone breathing behind me.

I trembled in fear and decided to count to three and just book it out of there.

One. Two. Three.

I shot forward, but they pulled me back. “N—” They covered my mouth as I tried to scream.

No! Let me go! Let me go!

I struggled and fought to break free, but whoever it was, they had a strong hold on me.

“Shhh.” I froze as the person leaned in and breathed against my ear. The warmth from their hand, the way they smelled, it seemed oddly familiar.

Wait.

His mouth brushed my ear ever so lightly. “Rosie.”

Sabbath. I should’ve known he’d eventually find me.

He pulled me closer to his body and whispered, “I’m going to let go, but you have to stay quiet.

Understand?” I groaned into his hand. “I mean it, Rosie. Now is not the time for games.” With a heavy sigh, I nodded.

Sabbath slowly moved his hand from my mouth.

I turned around, and as I opened my mouth to speak, he raised his finger to his lips and silently shushed me.

He was dressed in a clean band t-shirt, a fresh pair of jeans, and his worn leather jacket.

He was also holding a damn axe, which made me a bit uneasy.

It was weird to see him so on edge. I looked back in the direction of the cavern and then at him.

He tilted his head and shook it, as if telling me not to go back. But I had to.