Innocence is No Defence Part 2

It was getting dark and I wasn’t ready. I was rushing, trying to stuff all the flares and flashlight batteries into my pockets without dropping any. On the way to the store, I had added duct tape to the list of things needed. On the way to the car lot, I used it to tape the flashlight to the barrel of the shotgun to create a way to aim the gun and light up the night at the same time.
Mike saw the gun/flashlight and did the same to his pistol.
Mike took care of the car. The prices were extremely low, and in seconds he was driving the car out into the forest.
I looked out the window anxiously at the quickly setting sun. “It’s almost night,” I reported.
“Yeah, Dan, you’ve said that about a hundred times now. So what? They can’t attack us in the day?”
“Did you not hear anything I said? Their weakness is light. Hit them with the flashlight and then shoot them.”
Mike was trying to get me angry, I could tell, I just didn’t know why. Usually he makes people mad while being completely oblivious. It wasn’t like him.
“Well, have you ever tried just shooting them?”
“Does it matter?” I yelled.
“I’m just saying we should know everything about our situation before we rush in-”
“Watch out!” I yelled.
Mike slammed on the brakes, but far too late. The car hurdled towards the guard rail like a projectile. The drop-off was immense, easily 60 feet of a drop down to just rocks and dirt. I grabbed the gun and held on to it like a lifeline as we crashed through the guardrail and out into open air.

To Mike, everything was passing in slow motion. He spun, far too late, to see the guardrail. He slammed on the brakes, but the car turned and began to bounce and almost roll. He ticked the seconds by as he got closer and closer to the edge. His eyes opened wide with terror.
He felt a startling jolt as the car collided with the guardrail. The metal bent and twisted, making an eerie screeching noise that turned to protestant groaning as it gave away. For a second he felt the car going back away from the edge as a result of hitting the guardrail, but the forward momentum took control and pushed the car with surprising force.
The car did its first roll as it bounced over the guardrail. Mike’s world spun, filling his throat with hot bile. He opened his mouth wide and screamed as he caught the first glimpse of the drop. It was so far down he could hardly see the bottom.
He closed his eyes as life went back to real speed and he fell down to the bottom.
Lights out.

Darkness.
I saw nothing. I groaned. I realized that I was slumped on my head, upside down beneath the car seat. I moaned again. A deep pain ripped through my back like a knife. I reached out and tried to push myself out from the seat, but when I did, I rolled out onto open rocks. I coughed. The air was filled with smoke.
My vision blurred. I tried to see what was in front of me, but I couldn’t. A flash of movement caught my eye. Something was walking toward me. It had a human shape.
“Mike?” I asked drowsily.
I frowned as I looked closer. No. No, this wasn’t good.
I stood up quickly, felt a rush of pain reach my head, and I wanted to just give up, but I couldn’t. Then I saw it. The shotgun. It was jammed in between two rocks. The butt end jutted out like a tree branch.
I ran to it, but my vision was so screwed up what had looked like just a few feet was much longer than that, and then I ran right into the butt end. It jabbed me in the ribs and for a moment I couldn’t breathe. I gasped until the air flowed freely back into my lungs.
I grabbed for the shotgun, felt its cold metallic surface, grabbed the butt end, and then I pulled with all my strength.
I swore. It was stuck in there good. I couldn’t pull it out.
I looked back; saw the goblin sprinting at me. I saw him about 60 yards away, but I was so distorted he could be right on me.
I struggled with the gun still. “Come on,” I grunted. A steady flow of expletives came out of my mouth. “I don’t… have time… for this…. Come on!”
With one final burst of strength I yanked the gun out from in between the rocks.
I turned around, flicked on the flashlight, aimed the light straight into the creature’s eyes.
“Dan! Don’t shoot! It’s me, Mike!”
“What the?” I lowered the gun. I stared at him. It was Mike.
“Well, why the fuck were you walking like a zombie?” I asked him.
“Jeez, do you know how far we fell? I can hardly look straight, much less walk in a straight lane,” he said angrily.
“Well,” I stuttered. My brain was working way too fast and my eyes were seeing things, and because of it I almost shot my own agent/best friend.
“Let’s see what we can salvage from the car,” I said.
“Sure,” Mike said. “Long as you don’t try to shoot me,”
I grimaced.
The car was done for. It was hardly recognizable as a car. The spot that hid hit the guardrail had gave in and now it was dented so far back it shoved the engine and lots of things under the hood far back almost the point where it got squeezed out the cracks. All the windows had shattered and all the fragments lay around, making the crash scene even more hazardous.
As I leaned down to pick up a flare I glanced back up at where we had fallen off. It was a treacherous rocky climb back up, and at the top the guardrail hung out over the edge, bent beyond belief.
After having collected all the things I had dropped from the crash I took a step back to thoroughly analyze the way back up. I sighed, realizing that there was no way we could just climb back up. We were completely blocked in, except for a pitch black cave made of rocks that looked so unstable it would probably collapse if you flicked it.
But it came down to either going in there or staying here and dying.
“We need to go through that tunnel,” I told Mike.
He looked at me like I had just suggested we run through the streets wearing a chicken costume, meowing. His eyebrows rose up and his mouth twitched.
“Yeah, if you want to die. I think I’d rather take my chances with the cliff.
As he said this rocks shifted on the cliff face. Pebbled rolled down and dropped on top of the car. A small shower of dust landed nearby.
Mike turned and looked long and hard at the cliff; then he turned back to me and said “We go that way.”
I nodded.

Chapter 3
The cave was surprisingly wet. Everywhere I stepped, my feet landed in a murky puddle. Water dripped from the ceiling. Once, I stopped to catch it in my mouth. It worked, but it didn’t taste like any water I had ever tasted. It tasted something like if you condensed all the flavors of cough syrup into one tiny drop of water. In other words, it was disgusting.
I coughed it up onto the ground, which got a good laugh out of Mike, until he slipped and fell on his butt, which caused me to laugh harder than a drunken man.
“Wait, stop,” I said. “I think I hear something,”
Silence. I was ready to dismiss it as my imagination, but suddenly I heard it again. And it sounded like a voice.
It was whispering. The tone sounded very urgent, almost like it was being stalked by someone and it didn’t want that person to hear what it was saying.
I began to hear some of the words, but there weren’t enough of them to form a cohesive sentence.
Then it came startlingly clear to me. “Can you hear me now?” It said. “Yes? Well get out.”
The words chilled me down to the bone. My heart stopped and then I realized that we should run. But when I looked back, I could see things moving towards us. They were closing in fast.
“Quick, this way,” I yelled.
And then I ran, shotgun in hand, desperately away from the goblins.
“You’re too late now,” the darkness said. “You’re miiiinnee…”
“Faster!” I screamed.
I saw a figure ahead of me, saw its blank eyes and empty smile, and with one swift motion I shined the flashlight on the goblins and then fired. The shotgun bucked and fired. It bounced back into my stomach hard, but I didn’t have any time to process the pain as I was already filtering it out of my thoughts.
There were more of them up ahead.
“I need your help!” I yelled back to Mike.
“Holy shit,” he muttered.
I slowed down, aimed the shotgun, and waited a second for the flashlight to do its job. The creature grimaced but it kept coming at me. In a split second I computed the size of it. The thing was easily seven feet tall! It towered over me like a skyscraper.
I reached into my pocket, drew out a flare, and lit it, then hurled it at the creature. It screamed like a tortured animal, but it still charged me. I aimed the shotgun, fired one shot, pumped it, then fired again,
It kept coming.
Pumped in a new round; then let another round fly. It threw its arms up in the air, screamed deafeningly loud; and then collapsed at my feet. Its body sat there for a second; then it exploded in a shower of sparks that looked like confetti.
I took off running again, after all the goblins had been eliminated.
Suddenly, I emerged out of the tunnel and back in the forest. I looked around. The tunnel had led us straight underneath a mountain. Surrounding us, there was an outcropping of small bushes and creeks. Up ahead, the sky was particularly dark. Behind us the night was light up by the moon’s glow, but ahead there was no such comfort. It pained me to say it, but that was where we needed to go.
“Mike,” I called. No answer.
I turned around, looked back at the tunnel. He wasn’t there. I called his name again, fear rising in my voice. I tried to calm myself down. He was probably just lingering inside the tunnel.
I went back halfway through the tunnel, called his name a few times, but still no answer. I groaned as I began to work my way through the forest, calling his name.
Just as my spirits had reached their lowest point, my phone rang. I pulled out the phone, hoping it was Mike, but with a jolt of shock I saw Rose’s name come up.
I answered it urgently. “Rose?” I said.
“Daniel,” she said. Her voice sounded strained and full of agony.
“Rose,” I said, relieved but horrified. “Where are you?”
I heard her sob on the other side. “They, they took me,” she wheezed.
“Who took you, Rose?! Fuck!”
The transceiver was filled with static for a moment; then another voice filled my ear.
“Want her back?” it said. “Come and get her.”
The phone went dead.
I looked at it hopelessly; then threw it on the ground desperately.
“Rose!!” I screamed.
I took off running towards the darkness, my heart going a mile a minute. I struggled to breathe, to fill my lungs with life, but I couldn’t do it.
I tripped over an enormous tree branch and fell to the ground in a brutal heap.
As I crawled back to my feet, I heard a scream.
This was a scream like none other I had ever heard. It shredded my innards like a knife and cut my breath short.
“Daniel!!”
It was Rose.
Cackling filled the air, a sound that further energized me.
I saw, out of the corner of my eye, movement, and I turned, shotgun raised. It was more of the goblins.
I pointed the shotgun at the first creature and fired. The shot rang out in the night like fireworks. It reassured me to keep moving. The creature exploded into sparks and soon disappeared.
I set off at a jog. Up in the distance I could see the outline of a bridge. There was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that Rose was there, trapped somewhere by that bridge. All the lights were out and I could see some goblins walking back and forth like they were on patrol, which further increased my suspicions.
It was a short walk to the bridge. Eventually, I found the road and it was easy running from there on out.
The road ended suddenly before the bridge where there were dead end signs and huge concrete barriers. I vaulted over the concrete barrier easily, and landed right next to a body.
It was gruesome. The man was wearing a hard hat so I assumed he had been a construction worker that had been working on the bridge. There wasn’t much else I could tell from the body it was so bloodied. There was a gigantic gash in his chest where it looked like he had been swung at with an axe.
I turned away from the body to take in the situation ahead. There looked to be about a dozen adversaries, all armed with some hand to hand weapon. I saw one walking with his back to me and I quickly ran up behind.
It spun around at the last second, saw me, and screamed devilishly. I was so close I could see its rotting, disgusting teeth. They were bent in all directions and shriveled like an apple that had been left out in the sun for days on end.
It reached out and grabbed me, then shoved me away. I hit the ground hard and rolled. My head slammed against the pavement and I stopped. My vision was blurred. I could just barely make out the monster’s form as it came towards me.
Lying on my side upside down, I lifted the shotgun off the ground, aimed it and fired. There was a flash of bright light from the barrel of the shotgun and the figure tumbled backwards and then rolled over dead. The body sizzled away in a hail of sparks.
Three more goblins stepped up to the plate. One charged instinctively. In one hand it held a baseball bat with a rusty nail through the middle. It increased speed then took an enormous leap forward. It raised the bat above its head like a club and swung it down- straight at my head.
I fell backwards. I cried out as he got closer, just feet from impaling me on a spike. I raised the shotgun in midfall and pointed it straight at the creature’s chest. I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The shot rang out in the night and knocked the goblin backwards. The creature screamed out, grasped for something that wasn’t there, then faded into the thin air with a shower of sparks.
I stood up, aimed the shotgun back and forth between the two remaining attackers. They split up, one went left and the other went right, which made it increasingly hard to keep them in sight.
I waited for them to get within the shotguns range, and then let one round off at the creature to my right. As soon as I did this the creature to my left sprinted at me. I turned back to it and fired three shots in quick succession. It howled and fell.
Now I had their complete attention. More of them were coming, forcing me to back up. I raised the gun and blasted away, but more of them just kept coming to replace the ones I killed.
More and more of them came into view. There was an alarming high pitched whirring that I assumed they were making put I couldn’t place the noise.
I recognized the sound all of the sudden.
Helicopter blades.
The chopper appeared out of nowhere. It appeared almost as if it had risen out of the trees.
Its immense searchlights were all focused on the creatures. They screamed and growled as the light ripped through them. Their skin boiled and bubbled disgustingly as the light hit them. The creatures began to shudder and shake. Then, without warning, they exploded like bubbles. An oily black liquid coated the ground at the spots where they had been.
I stared at the helicopter window and smiled as I saw a familiar face behind it.
I waved up to Mike and he flew towards me, then cautiously landed on the street in front of me.
As he stepped out I said, “I didn’t know you knew how to pilot a helicopter,”
He grinned. “Well, we all learn something new every day.”
I heard guttural growling coming from the trees.
“Hop in,” Mike said.
I jumped onboard. Mike hopped into the pilot seat and started the plane, but we didn’t take off.
“Why aren’t we leaving?!” I yelled over the engine.
“It takes a while!” he shouted.
“Well, hurry up, goddamnit!”
I could see more of them, crawling towards us just as we began to take off.
The helicopter was one of those types where the midsection was completely open to the outside. I took advantage of this to fire some shots at the oncoming goblins.
The helicopter hovered ten feet above the ground, shuddering and wavering side to side threateningly.
“What’s going on?” I screamed.
“I don’t know!” Mike answered.
The goblins began to leap off the ground and grab at the helicopter. At one point, there were three of them hanging onto different nooks and crannies that were providing handholds, but the helicopter movements were so crazy that they kept getting flung back onto the ground. However, they always picked themselves up and just tried again.
One in particular kept getting closer and closer to getting inside. In one last desperate attempt, it raised its axe high as it jumped. Once it got close to the helicopter, it chopped at it and planted the axe into the side of the helicopter.
It grabbed hold of the axe handle and held on with an iron grip that surprised even me.
I leaned out the side of the chopper, one hand holding onto the floor, the other aiming the heavy shotgun out at the creature clinging to the axe.
I looked down, startled, as I realized that we were climbing- fast. I groaned. The other goblins looked like tiny little specs. I began to break out in a cold sweat. I willed myself not to look down, then focused my attention on the determined vermin still clinging to the axe mindlessly, a look of desperation in its eyes.
I struggled to aim the shotgun with one hand. My palms had become so sweaty it was nearly impossible to hold the gun. I realized I didn’t have the luxury of taking the shot while the gun was holding still. I tried to make the gun’s aim cross paths with the creature, and just before the invisibles crosshairs passed over the beast, I pulled the trigger.
The gun bucked, knocking my fingers aside effortlessly. The gun slid out of my palm and out into open air. I swiped for it but my hands came back empty. I watched in total horror as the gun toppled seventy feet to the ground. I moaned. "Fuck,"
The shot just missed the creature, but it did hit the axe. The wood turned to shrapnel and the creature fell into open air. I watched in slow motion as the creatures expression changed from determination to fear. It reached desperately for a handhold, but no such enlightenment was provided.
I gasped for air desperately, thinking we were finally safe. I stared out at the bridge, then I climbed into the cockpit.
“We need to head that way, towards the bridge,” I told Mike. He nodded and adjusted his course roughly.
“Where’d you go?” I said. “After we left the tunnel.”
“I couldn’t see, I was dizzy from fighting and I must’ve taken a wrong turn. All the sudden I’m out by a helicopter pad. Some genius left the keys in, so I figured, you know, what the heck.”
The rest of the short journey was silent. Mike set the helicopter down right before the bridge and cut the engines.
Now weaponless, I made my way up silently towards the bridge. From what I could see, it was uninhabited, but I knew how easily things could change. I didn’t want to rush in on something, as furious and enraged as I was.
After reaching the middle of the bridge and still having seen no one I began to relax and get scared at the same time. Was Rose here? It had seemed that I was heading into the darkness, which would be keeping her there, but there was no sign of anyone, much less a place to keep a prisoner.
The night was getting surprisingly colder. Before I hadn’t noticed it with all the action, but now in the silence I began to shiver. I rolled down the sleeves on my old gray sweater.
I took one step then froze. I heard a noise, almost like something was clanging around inside a can. A stared straight ahead where a row of concrete barriers blocked whatever was making the noise from sight. I slowly, cautiously, approached the barriers. The noise was getting louder and louder gradually.
I looked back to see Mike, standing at the foot of the bridge, his hand raised in a thumbs up. He had decided to stay behind to guard the helicopter.
I looked away, and saw something rise up out of cover from behind the barriers.
“What in the,” I began.
It was a barrel. Its edges shimmered with a dim yellow light. As it rose, it shuddered and shivered in the air. It shook back and forth like it was about to explode.
Without warning the barrel flung itself dangerously at me. I swore and then dived to the left. I landed on my elbows –hard – and slid on the hard concrete. I rolled over to see the barrel charging me again. I ran to the row of concrete barriers. Seconds before the barrel crushed me from behind I used one hand to vault over the barrier. I crashed to the ground (oh so gracefully) and the barrel collided with the barrier. I felt the barrier shudder behind my back. I couldn’t imagine what that would do to my back.
I peeked over the barrier; saw the barrel preparing for another charge. I took off sprinting. My heart pounded in my chest and I felt like the whole bridge was shaking.
Wait…
I stopped.
A tiny crack in the bridge formed 20 feet ahead of me. At first it only grew longer until it stretched all the way across the bridge. Then I widened until it was big enough for me to jump into it. I could hear the metal structure of the bridge groan in protest as the crack opened up and the road split completely in half. Then the road rose up into the air until the pavement crumbled and there was a gigantic section of road floating in front of me, hovering there, but most of all, it was shaking.
I took one step back, slowly sped up, then I was sprinting away, glancing feverishly back over my shoulder. The hunk out of the road that had been possessed by darkness, backed up slightly, like a bull taking a step back before charging.
A steady stream of curse words flowed from my mouth like a river. I sucked in air desperately, but I didn’t slow down, because I knew that if I did I would be dead before I could take a breath. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, shit, were gonna fucking die, fuck, fuck, fuck,"
I could see Mike in the distance, a look of confusion on his face as I charged toward him.
“RUN!” I screamed.
“What is it?” he asked. He looked back at the bridge and then his jaw dropped. He stood there, eyes wide, jaw hanging down like a complete idiot. He didn’t move.
“Oh my god,” I said, exasperated. I spun quickly on my heel and ran back to him, grabbed him, and began to drag him.
“Come on!” I shouted. “Run!”
The thing was getting closer. I looked at the forest, saw our chances of making it if we went in there, and then I turned. I began running to the right of the bridge. There was a 60 foot drop down to the lake, but I was willing to risk it if it meant getting away from the thing that was about to kill us.
I stepped up to the edge then turned back, surprised to see Mike wasn’t following me. He stood back, shook his head no frantically.
“C’mon!” I yelled angrily.
He just kept shaking his head no. “No, no, no, no,” he muttered under his breath.
“Well, bye then,” I said, then let myself fall backwards over the edge.
I can’t say that I didn’t scream on the way down. In fact, I did scream, a lot, and very similar to a little girl. But that was beside the point.

Chapter 4

Mike gasped as Daniel stepped off the edge and toppled down to the water. For a few seconds he heard his screams, and then a loud splash as he hit the water.
Mike was deathly afraid of heights, but he also found out that he was deathly afraid of floating chunks of pavement that tried to kill you.
At that moment, there was an enormous explosion and the helicopter behind him exploded. The engine lit up like an atomic bomb, sending flames and smoke up into the sky. The floating chunk of pavement tore through the wreckage thoughtlessly, animalisticly, shaking off some of the rubble like a wet dog.
The street turned as if to face Mike.
Mike took one look at the concrete death machine, and then dove over the edge.
“HOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYY SSSSSS-”
He hit the water with a gigantic splash.

The first thing I felt was an enormity of pain. Pain, pain, and more pain. And then I felt, wet.
Instincts taking over, I began to swim up to the surface. For a second I thought of this book about an enormous alligator that had lived in a lake, and when people swam over it, it would dive out up out of the water to snatch them up and gobble them up hungrily.
I put those thoughts out of my head as I crawled out of the water and onto the shore. The shore was a tiny beach-like area of wet sand. Ten feet away the land turned back to the regular forest almost like this spot had never existed. I lay down, exhausted, on my back, and for minutes on end I just sat there.
Abruptly, I sat up.
Where was Mike?
I looked down into the depths, and I thought I could see his figure, down there, struggling with… something. That was the best way I could describe it.
I threw off my sweater and my kicked off my Converse and socks then dove into the lake.
I was welcomed back into the lake like an old friend. I swam determinedly down towards where I could see him, struggling. It was as if he was wrapped in, vines… they were dragging him downwards. He kicked and churned, to no avail.
I arrived by his side and got to work on the vines. They were easily as thick as my arm, but they were much stronger.
In a final, desperate attempt I pulled out one of the waterlogged flares that had been in my pocket the whole. I brought it out hopefully, and then sparked it.
It came to life and lit up the lake. The vines screeched like animals. They twisted and shriveled in pure agony. I let the flare sink down to the roots. Finally, as the flare hit the lakebed, they stood straight up, then shrunk back into the ground like worms in sunlight.
Mike’s face was purple and bloated. One of the vines must’ve been around his neck. I wondered how long he’d been down here, wrestling with them.
I realized that he wasn’t moving at all.
He floated there, stiff as a rock.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him up. He was heavy, but I couldn’t leave him there. I empowered myself mentally and pushed harder, swam harder, but I wasn’t making progress.
And then I popped out of the sea like a projectile. All the momentum was built up, and I pushed and kicked and dragged Mike out of the water.
He didn’t look good. All I could see of his eyes were the whites, and he resembled a dead fish.
I put my hands together and pushed down hard on his stomach. He coughed, spat, then rolled over and threw up all over himself.
I breathed a sigh of relief just as the sun began to rise.
I lay down beside him, too tired to speak.
And then, I fell asleep.

I woke up in a dark cell, lying on a hard bed.
I sat up and groaned. Everything in my body burned with an intense pain like nothing I had ever felt before. I felt the kinks in my backs and the bruises all across my back, chest, and arms. I felt kind of like how it would feel if you were hit by a double-decker bus.
Lying on the cell bed next to me was Mike. He looked worse than I did. There were red burn marks all over his neck and arms. His face was still a purplish green tint from nearly being choked to death and then puking his guts out. He was fast asleep. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was dead.
I walked up to the cell bars and grasped them like the prisoners do in the movies. I leaned forward to look down the hallways. “Hello?” I called.
No answer. The other cells were entirely empty. There wasn’t much crime to be heard of in the tiny town, in fact, we were probably the first cell inhabitants in the past few months. The walls and floors were covered in a thick layer of dust.
The door leading out of the hallway finally opened and the deputy, little Mrs. Perfect, walked in. I felt anger rise in my stomach as I saw her walk in, a smile of satisfaction on her face.
“Two counts of illegal possession of a firearm, three counts of destruction of town property, and one count of swimming in a no-swim zone. Boy, you are in some deep-”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, cutting her off. “But can you just let me out for a second? Just one second, so I can talk to you privately?” I asked her.
She looked at me suspiciously. “There’s no one else here,” she said.
“I know, but just to be sure. Please?” I put on my best adult puppy-dog-face that I possibly could.
She sighed and pulled out her keys to unlock the cell door. Inside my head, I cheered. Success! What a dumbshit!
She found the right key and then put it in the lock. Slowly, the door swung open.
Seeing my moment, I lunged at her, arms outstretched. I hit her shoulders and shoved her back against the wall. She hit her head on the wall – hard enough to make her slump to the ground, out cold. I began to head for the back exit, but then went back to retrieve her gun and flashlight. Just as I swung the door open, the other door opened and a male officer walked in.
“Deputy!” he gasped. He looked at me.
I aimed the gun into the center of his forehead. He took a step back, looking shocked. “You’re going to walk out that door and forget I was ever here. You hear?”
He whimpered.
“I said, you hear?!” I yelled.
“Yes!” he said, and then backed out of the hallway. I turned and ran out the back exit. I had to give myself a pat in the back for the tough guy act, and my escape from the cell. I didn’t think I would have the nerve to aim that gun at that officer.
I walked out into a parking lot. To the right, a small back road led out to the street. To the left there was a tiny garden that led into someone’s backyard.
I took the back roads. The alley was dark and damp and I resisted the urge to turn on the flashlight. I needed to conserve the batteries for tonight. It was already about noon, and there were lots of things to do before night fell.
I would have to leave Mike in the jail. I could tell that he was going to be out for a while, suffering the consequences for his charade with the ropes last night, and I didn’t need him holding me back. So far half of every night had somehow been robbed from me.
I needed to find Rose, and fast. However, I was begging to get an idea for where they were taking her. I just needed more evidence.
I laid my options out in front of me. Since it seemed unlikely that Rose would be anywhere to be found in the daylight, I wouldn’t search for her. I needed to take advantage of the daylight to find a place to stay and plan. I needed to get some rest, and then prepare for the journey ahead. But first, I needed to put some food in my body.
I stopped at an old rundown gas station to grab some food. I was surprised to see they didn’t take the money that I had left in my pockets. However, now I was left with no flares or batteries, just a flashlight and a gun.
I walked inside and grabbed a bag of Lays chips, then bought some coffee and a hot dog. It would seem like an odd combination but I was so hungry it tasted delicious. I dished over a ten, told the guy at the cashier to keep the change, and then exited the gas station drug store.
As I walked out I was surprised to see a police car speed by, sirens blaring. I ducked back into the shadows, and then felt a moment of stupidity. Had I really thought that the officer I had seen wouldn’t tell every living soul in that building what he had encountered?
I set off at an unsuspicious fast walk towards the area were forest was most prominent. I knew I needed to get into cover fast, or I would end up back at square one- in a cell.
Multiple times I had to duck into an alley when a police car passed by, but eventually I made it to the forest. I looked back at the town, gave it a solitary wave goodbye, and then began looking for a place to set up shop.
Eventually I settled for a spot where the land gave away to terrain that was more like a spot in a jungle. There was a small creek that was only deep enough to come up to my ankles.
I trudged through it almost miserably. I led to a tiny cave that was perfect to set up in. I lay out the revolver and the flashlight. There were two batteries for the flashlight, and there were three magazines with the revolver. It wasn’t much to work with, but I couldn’t risk going back into the center of the town. The cops would be on me like a mouse on cheese, no, more like a shark to a whiff of blood.
It was already 12:45 and I had more work to do than time to do it in, so I set off collecting wood for an idea that I had come up with as I passed the bait and tackle store in the town.
When I had easily enough wood to create a small bonfire I began collected vines that resembled ropes. I pulled roots out of the ground, ripped them off of tree trunks and pulled them off the side of cliffs.
Then I headed back to the cave. I checked the time anxiously. 1:15.
I collected 4 pieces of wood that were about 6 feet long each. I grabbed the vines and used them to tie the wood together in a square. After I tightened up the knots the best I could I began lying more pieces of wood on top of it then secured them to the structure.
I looked at my project. It was amateur at best, but I just needed to get to the center of the lake. From there, my arms would be the things doing all the work.
I pulled my makeshift raft away from the center of the clearing. There was still a little wood left, so I took a thick chunk and set it by the raft to be used like a paddle.
I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me and I lied down on the grown, stared up at the tree branches that looked like arms grasping for me. I laughed out loud at the thought, then, thinking I would close for my eyes for just a bit, I fell right to sleep.

When I woke up, it was night, and the trees were reaching for me.
I screamed. The tree branches lashed out like whips, lacerating my chest and side. I howled as I rolled away. A searing wave of pain engulfed me every time that I rolled over one of the fresh wounds. I winced painfully.
Once out of reach of the trees I stood up and sprinted to my raft. I pulled out the flashlight and revolver to reveal, to my horror, the raft being dragged away by an enormous tree branch.
I swore. The entire forest was coming to life, attacking me, as if it was possessed by darkness.
I pointed the flashlight at the tree branch and the branch withered like a grape turning into a raisin. It shook spastically, then burst into flames and then disappeared.
I breathed a sigh of relief, but I was quickly pushed back into gear as I saw the form of a human like figure, sprinting right at me. I grabbed the raft with one hand and shot the goblin with the other. It spun backwards as it took the hit to the shoulder, then it dissolved into thin air.
I began running in the direction of the lake. I encountered multiple goblins along the way, but I brushed them all aside. Soon I was sprinting, holding the raft on top of my head, being tailed by at least thirty goblins. I hyperventilated as I plunged out in front of the lake. I hurled the raft into the lake, grabbed the oar, and then dived out onto it.
I landed hard on my chin. Dazed, I dragged my feet out of the water and began paddling anxiously. When I had finally gotten thirty feet ahead of the goblins I turned back to fire some shots at them, only to see them swimming for me. I saw a gruesome, shriveled hand trying to pull itself up, and desperately I stamped down on it as hard as I could.
I was standing on a very weak raft, standing up, moving around, and the raft was protesting against it, but when I stomped on that goblin’s fingers it was the final straw. The raft dipped violently, spilling me out into the lake, where I became free reign for the dozens of goblins swimming towards me.
I desperately tried to flip the raft back over as hundreds of hands grabbed and pulled on my legs, but I couldn’t do it. I cried out as I felt sharp, dagger-like teeth sink into my leg.
I cursed and lashed out at creatures below. As I let go, out of some impossible chance, the motion flipped the raft over. I saw it, and then I crawled out onto it.
I pulled out the wet revolver, saw it was no good as a gun, and then I grabbed onto the barrel and began hacking away at the creatures coming up like the gun was a club.
I batted away the creatures until my arm burned like it was on fire. I saw that I was almost in the middle of the lake. I dropped the gun, pulled out the flashlight, took an enormous breath, and then I jumped.
It was the coldest thing I had ever felt, almost as if the presence of the darkness made the water drop 30 degrees.
I looked up and saw the goblins rip the raft to shreds viciously, and then throw aside the parts angrily. They looked around for me, then looked straight down at me. I turned and began to swim for the bottom. I could feel my air slowly disperse as I got deeper and deeper. I felt the water pressures condense on my head. I felt the impulse to take a breath, but I resisted. I thought of Rose, who, if I was correct, had been stuck down here for 5 or 6 days, maybe more.
The thought of her, struggling, crying, waiting for me to come get her empowered me. I swam harder and harder until I felt like the muscles in my arms were about to pop like a balloon.
As I swam downwards I could barely see. I felt claws grasp my ankles. I lashed out, aimed the flashlight straight into the goblin’s eyes. It howled as its flesh boiled and melted. Its skin bubbled and popped gruesomely, then the creature became nothing but an oil-like liquid. The oil floated towards me, almost like it had a brain, and before I knew it the sticky, black, syrupy darkness had crowded around my hands, fastening them in place like handcuffs.
The goblins crowded around me like it was an underwater gang fight. Two of them grabbed my elbows and two more grabbed my legs. One slowly approached me, held his hands together, and then he slowly spread them apart. Impossibly, he formed a gigantic bubble in his hands, then, with one swift motion he pulled it over my head.
I let out my breath in a gasp. I breathed heavily, relieved to not choke to death. I was so caught up in the bubble around my head that I didn’t even notice the blunt end of a sledgehammer until it swung straight into my stomach.
I groaned and spat a nasty combination of bile and blood into my bubble. I coughed and hacked and then passed out as the sledge hit me above the head.

I hate to start like this again, but…
I woke up in an underwater cave, chained to a cross.
I looked around and then gasped. Next to me, on another cross looking thing was Rose. Her head too was surrounded by a bubble of air. Her eyes were closed and her head was down. I saw blood stain the side of her face, and I screamed angrily.
Suddenly a tornado of darkness formed around me. I thought I could see faces in the darkness, faces of real people, but the faces quickly shriveled into the faces of the goblins.
“Why am I here?” I screamed.
Suddenly the darkness stopped spinning around and sat there, completely still. I watched a dozen robbed figures walk out of the curtain darkness. Straight in front of me, a woman emerged. She was wearing a black dress with a veil pulled over her head. She walked towards me, ever so slowly, as if she was building suspense. She looked at me, veil still hiding her face. I heard her cackling devilishly, almost like a hyena.
I couldn’t speak, as if she had stolen the words right out of my mouth.
She finally stood right in front of me, so close I could smell her. She smelled like mildew, mildew and death.
She reached up slowly to her face, and then brushed aside the veil.
I screamed.
She was not human. Her mouth was stretched wide; wide enough to swallow me hole. Her mouth and eyes were like black holes. She screamed, shrill and hoarse. I felt the power drifting away from me body, like she was sucking the life right out of me. A gray mist like haze came out of my mouth, eyes, and nose and drifted into her mouth. I screamed, shook like I was having a seizure, and then screamed some more.
Suddenly, I felt a weight in my pocket.
Using my last bits of strength, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a flashlight.
A light bulb, dim but still alive, appeared above my head.
I flicked the flashlight on and shoved it straight into the devil’s face. The devil screamed, shook, and screamed more. She fell to the ground, clutching her face in agony. I was released from my binds, and I ran over to where Rose was.
I unbound her without thinking about it, almost as if I was controlled by the light. She was still unconscious, so I shoved her up towards a hole in the cave ceiling. It led to the surface, of this I knew. She drifted up and through the hole. I watched her go, my heart pounding with terror.
I felt something strong grab my neck, and when I turned around, there was the devil himself, staring me in the eye. Blood stained teeth, bulging red eyeballs, claws and fangs and spikes jutting out of its skin.
I felt a light in my chest, and when I looked down, I was glowing.
The devil’s hand, the one thing touching me, began to shimmer and bubble. The skin of the devil faded away, revealing a shriveled old hand. The rest of the body followed, showing an old woman. Her face radiated light, energy, love.
I embraced her as we were surrounded by hundreds of hungry goblins.
And then I was dead.

Epilogue

Rose woke up underwater. She saw the surface and instinctively began swimming for it, her throat burning for oxygen. She emerged and took a deep breath, then began swimming for the shore. She reached the shore and then pulled herself up onto the sand weakly. She lay there, gasping for some time.
“Daniel?” she said.
“Daniel?!” she called. No answer.
“Daniel!!” she screamed.
And then she began to sob.
It hit her suddenly, hard and fast. Daniel was gone, and there was nothing she could do about that.
But she was here.
In this town of damnation, nasty secrets, and murderers.
This little town that had taken the lives of hundreds.
This little town, which had taken everything that she had ever loved.