CHAPTER TWO
--THE DELUDED--
(Kellin)

“Goddammit, Kellin, I was just going to take a piss, calm the fuck down, I wasn’t serious about crossing the forest all by myself! Did you think I’m that dumb?!”

“Honestly?”, I raised an eyebrow ironically. “Yes, I do. You could’ve told us where you’re going, man, you got us fucking worried.”

“You’re just paranoid, because the place is scary.”, Jesse rolled eyes. “Calm down. I’m not goin’ anywhere, we’ll wait until the morning, no matter how desperately I wanna get to civilization. Okay? Okay. Now, where are the others?”

I looked back. “Um, they’re coming, at least that’s what they said. I bet they’re just slow, because Gabe’s being a total coward today.”

“Awesome. Just great. You guys are dumbasses, seriously.” My friend let out a deep sigh. “Should we wait for them here, or go back?”

“I don’t know…”

I looked up at the trees. Maybe it was just me, but they seemed incredibly tall, and they made the atmosphere kind of claustrophobic, as if they weren’t producing oxygen, but consuming it. The air was heavy and humid, annoying flies were flying around my head and crawling on my arms, tickling me and causing me to scratch my skin all the time. It was from that kind of woods that were scary enough to be in a horror movie, but no one filmed there, because running through such a forest would be quite hard. Thorn bushes, fallen branches and cobwebs were blocking the way between the trees. There were no paths. There were no signs that anyone has been here the last, like, three million years. It was like nature made its way through human evolution without having to change along with the new rules humans had invented. The trees here weren’t going to become wood for fuel, instead, they seemed to be sneaking in the shadows and plotting an evil plan to destroy humanity.

I frowned and kicked what it seemed to be a rock.

“…Let’s go back to the van, they’ll figure out we’ve gone back, and follow us.”, I said hesitantly.

“Gosh, you’re all such pussies.”, Jesse snorted out. “Boo, hurry, then, the evil ghosts are gonna get you. Come on.”

He punched my shoulder lightly, though he didn’t mean to hurt me, he was just messing around; then he started making his way back through the bushes, a small, hardly visible path showing where we came from. I rolled eyes and followed him. What was wrong with him? Today he seemed to be constantly irritated, as if everything and everyone pissed him off. That made the whole situation even more annoying to the point when I was feeling so nervous that I jumped at every little noise I heard.

I was sure it didn’t take me long to find Jesse, even at all, but now it felt like we walked for more than fifteen minutes. Was it possible that the van was so far away? No, that couldn’t be.

“Jesse, slow down, would ya?”, I murmured. “I have the feeling we’re walking in the wrong direction.”

Surprisingly, he stopped. “Yeah… I’m pretty sure I was just near the road, when you caught up with me. Let’s go back and try again.”

I looked back at the path we had made, but I couldn’t tell where it was. It was almost like it had vanished… Nah, that was impossible, probably I just wasn’t looking carefully enough. It was now almost completely dark, the high trees were fully blocking the sunlight that remained in the evening dusk sky.

“Okay…”, I bit my lower lip.

Jesse noticed my nervous expression and put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. “It’s gonna be okay, Kellin, don’t worry. We might be kinda lost now, but I’m pretty sure we’re near. We just gotta keep walking, preferably in the right direction.”

“Sounds like a plan.”, I tried to smile. “I just wish we knew what the right direction is.”

He shook head.

“This is so stupid, man. We got lost a few feet away from our van, how dumb is that? We must find the way back.”

“I bet the others will laugh in our faces when they find out.”, I grinned bitterly.

“If they do, we’ll kick their asses. Come on, now, let’s go.”

Suddenly, I heard a rustle somewhere on my right, and raised a hand to make Jesse shut up. I quickly turned to look, but I didn’t see anyone, absolutely anyone. I almost thought I was imagining things, but by his expression, I could tell Jesse had heard it too, and even though he was trying to keep his ‘tough guy’ image, it was obvious that he was slightly scared.

“…Bats…?”, he guessed, but he didn’t sound really convinced in his own words.

“Shh.”, I stopped him once more.

Here it was, again, and this time I was pretty sure it was footsteps, somewhere near. It was too dark to see who was coming, though, but I was really hoping it was a person, not a bear or something.

A twig cracked under my foot and the footsteps cautiously stopped. For a few moments Jesse and I, and the unknown creature were standing in silence, waiting. Then, finally, I found enough courage to call out:

“…Hello?... Guys, is that you?”, my voice sounded quieter and weaker than intended.

A deep sigh of relief sounded somewhere between the thick verdure.

“Kellin, dammit, you scared the living shit outta me, man.”, Justin’s voice broke the intense silence.

“Fuck you, you scared the living shit outta me!”, I let out a short, nervous laughter, glad it was just my friend. I saw his figure come closer, followed by a few others. So everyone had come after us. Great. Now they all knew how stupid we were to get lost for such a short amount of time.

For my surprise, once Justin was close enough, he hugged me tightly. Startled, I stepped back a little.

“Wow, wow, man, what’s going on? Everything okay?”

He didn’t reply, but when he pulled back, I could see the worried expression on his face. When he opened his mouth to say something, though, he was interrupted by Gabe, who had approached as well, followed by Jack.

“Where the fuck have you been?! Jesus Christ, guys, you scared us to death! We’ve been searching the fucking forest for hours, we thought something happened to you!”

“Huh…? Hang on, hang on.”, Jesse stopped him. “Come again. For hours? We’ve been here only for a few minutes, man, calm down.”

“No, you haven’t!”, Justin shook head. “You vanished at 6:30. Now it’s almost nine.”

“What?!”, I looked down at my wristwatch. It had stopped.

“Stop kidding us.”, Jesse rolled eyes. “It’s a dumb joke. Who came up with it? I bet it was Jack.”

“It wasn’t Jack, and it’s not a joke.”, Gabe insisted, still looking quite shaken. “I fucking panicked, and it was your fault!”, he pushed my other friend lightly.

“Hey, hey, calm the fuck down, both of you, would ya?”, I stood between them. “I don’t know what the fuck happened, but it must be some sort of a mistake. Doesn’t matter. Now, let’s go back to the van, shall we? Do you remember the way back?”

“Sure.”, Jack shrugged. “We came right from… huh.”

I noticed the change in his expression and felt the panic return. “What? What is it?”

“…I’m sure we came from there. I took this rock…”, he showed the rock in question. “…and left marks on the trees, so it would be easier to go back. The last mark I left was over there, only a few feet from here. Thing is that now…”

Jesse let out a sigh. “Don’t tell me the mark is missing.”, he said ironically.

“No, man.”, Jack shook head. “The tree is missing.”

“Holy fucking crap… You’re right…”, Justin’s face went pale. “I could’ve sworn that it was right there, and now it’s almost like the place is totally different than it was a minute ago.”

“For example, I’m sure we didn’t walk past this fallen branch right there.”, Gabe added.

“Okay, cut the crap, what’s goin’ on? I swear, if you’re messing with us, I’m gonna kill you.”, Jesse crossed arms, annoyed. I wasn’t sure if he was really that angry, or he was just trying to hide his fear, but I knew I was goddamn scared.

“Guys…”, I moved my look from them to him and then back to them. “What are you trying to say…?”

Surprisingly, Jesse replied instead.

“…I think what they’re trying to say is that we’re seriously lost, and there is something really wrong with this place. And, well, I must agree. There’s totally something off. I just… can’t tell what exactly…”

“So now what?”, Gabe quickly asked.

“Now we go back to the fucking van already.”, I emphasized. “I don’t care if we’re lost. We’ll find the way back. Because I don’t like this goddamn place…”

* * *
--THE HUNTER--
(Vic)

And in the meantime a lonely shadow was watching from a distance… observing…

Click… Light. Click… Darkness.

Click… Click… Click… Click…

Shadow… Person… Shadow… Person…

…Shadow…

…Me.

My fingers were absent-mindedly playing with the lighter. Cigarettes? Nope, I didn’t smoke. That’s a bad, annoying habit. Every addiction makes you an easier target, because sooner or later, you’d want more. And what if there is no more? You start to become dependant. You start to become nervous. Soon you start to become weak.

I knew what happened to the weak ones of us. They died.

I scratched my cut. Ouch. It hurt like hell, but itched at the same time, making me want to take the fucking bandage off and throw it away somewhere. It was a bad idea. I know it was a bad idea. The Colonels liked blood, they remembered blood, they could easily trace me if they got to smell mine. So nope. No throwing away any bandages.

Click… Click…

I sat down and leant against a tree, darkly staring out in the… well, darkness. That was ridiculous. That whole situation. I was so pissed that I just wanted to throw the lighter somewhere and set the whole forest on fire. That whole goddamn forest. And honestly, I would totally do that, it would solve many of my problems, if it wasn’t for the stupid guys.

…Click… Stupid, stupid, stupid…

What were they even doing here? Really, those were the dumbest human beings I had ever seen. Because, seriously. Your car breaks. You find yourself near a creepy forest. And what do you do? A reasonable person would wait until the day, but no, the fucking idiots would just rush into the woods, expecting to find God knows what. I doubted garage mechanics walked around here, just waiting for a bunch of kids to accidentally stop here, so they’d fix their van. And the van itself? Total disaster. I would rather shoot myself than drive that thing.

“Vic?”

Startled, I dropped the lighter, but not before I accidentally burnt myself. Stupid lighter.

“What do you want?”, I looked up. “Go away, I don’t like you anymore, you made me burn my fucking hand.”

A tall figure stood next to me, chuckled and let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah, whatever. Are you okay?”

“Do I look like I’m not?”, I crossed arms. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m fine, well, I was, before I burnt my goddamn hand. Does that sound familiar to you?”

“Stop being a dick. I’m just worried about you. You’re my big brother, after all, I can tell when you’re acting weird.” The other man sat next to me. “So is everything okay?”

I hesitated, then sighed.

“It’s those fucking kids, Mike. I’m just… I’m just so tired of watching all of them get killed. I just want it to be over already.”, then quickly added: “And I’m also irritated. By the fact that I’m burnt with a fucking lighter.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be overdramatic.”, Mike rolled eyes. “It’s just a small burn, not a big deal. It’s nothing compared to the cut on your arm anyway.”

“Yeah, man.”, I looked down at the bandage. “Werewolves are fucking bitches. Literally.”

“Mm.”, my brother shrugged. “They are. Not that we couldn’t deal with them, though.”

“Oh please. I doubt there’s anything we can’t deal with. After all these years, being the last survivors, we’ve proven to be pretty badass.”, a small smile finally appeared on my face. It felt almost strange, I hadn’t smiled since we got here. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the upsetting atmosphere, or because we had been on the run ever since. Whatever the reason was, now, when I let my mouth stretch into a grin, my face almost hurt.

Glad to see me not that serious, Mike patted my shoulder. “Alright, I’ll go check on Jaime and Tony, and see if they’re done with the fire. You can sleep some in the meantime, okay?”

I nodded, though I wasn’t going to. Sleep? No, thanks. I wouldn’t want one of the Colonels sneak near me and kill me in my sleep. This forest was a place, where you shouldn’t bother sleeping without one eye open wide. And I personally preferred to keep both of them open and ready to spot the enemy on time.

Once Mike was gone, I leaned down and took the lighter again. I had to be always prepared. Always ready…

My mind drifted back to the poor guys with the van. It was sad that they had to die. Such a shame, one of them was quite cute, really. So cute, so young, so stupid. They all were. If they only knew as much as we did…

Of course, we could try to get them out, but we already did this with the last ones. They only almost got us killed too, and they ended up with their blood all over the place. Trying to save anyone aside from us four was a bad idea, it never ended well. That’s how it always worked – we’d kill the fuckers who deserved to be killed, save ourselves, and we’d be out of there in no time.

Yeah. Though… One more try wouldn’t cost us much… I sighed, clicking the lighter on again.

Click…

Wouldn’t be a little cold blooded not to do anything if we knew there really was a way to help?

…Click…

It would be… Dammit…

…Click…

Gosh, how I hated this job sometimes…

…Click…

I spent a few more minutes in hesitation, then finally I got up.

…Click. Darkness.

“You can try to come and get me, fuckers…”, I murmured. “Just try…”

Silence. I smirked, then picked up my backpack and started walking between the trees.

The Hunter in the night was going… well, hunting.

END OF CHAPTER 2.

Notes

Okay, so I've decided, this fic will be a little different than my other ones. For example, I'm not doing the traditional "Vic's POV", "Kellin's POV", etc. Instead, in each chapter, I'll call them differently, for example, in this chapter, at the beginning of Kellin's point of view, I call him "The Deluded", but in the next chapter, he'd be "The Desperate", and will change frequently, depending on the situation.

Writing from Vic's POV is quite fun, I hadn't tried that before.

Enjoy! Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of it so far!