It All Went Black

Wind blew through the trees, invoking an eerie feeling amongst the group...
"You sure we should be doing this?" Thomas asked, a touch fretful.
"Probably not," I answered. "But lots of others have, so I don't see what the big deal is."
He muttered reluctant agreement and Cassie tossed a careless arm around his shoulders.
"C'mon Tommy, it'll be fun. It's the perfect place for a bonfire."
"Alright, alright," He's smiling now. "Let's just hurry up and get there, it's freezing."
"Told you to grab a jacket." I said with a shrug.
"Yes, mom." He responded teasingly. We laughed and continued on, crunching through the autumn colored leaves littering the forest floor. We kept our flashlights aimed forward as we continued.
"I think I see the clearing, just ahead." Cassie spoke up and I squinted, straining my eyes.
"You sure?" I asked and she shook her head.
"I keep telling you, Jackie, get your damn eyes checked, you need glasses." I nudged her off balance for a moment, glaring only a little.
"I don't, you're just-" We entered the clearing all at once and she gave me a smug look that I waved away.

The clearing was a ragged circle, surrounded on all sides by oak and birch trees and in its center was a massive stone octagon with a small hole in its center. As Cassie had said, it was perfect for what we needed. We began gathering kindling, and soon we had them burning steadily, the fire growing to devour the wood. Cassie pulled a bag of marshmallows from her hoodie pocket, and from Thomas' bag an unopened bottle of Fireball while I hunted for roasting sticks. I looked ahead in my search and for just a moment the fire behind me reflected off something deeper in the woods. Squinting once more, I studied the dark forest, and saw nothing. I returned to the fire, where the others had already made themselves comfortable and handed out the sticks.

"Think someone else had the same idea as us." I informed them, stripping the bark from my stick and feeding it to the flames.
"It is a pretty good idea." Cassie shrugged, already roasting a marshmallow. She pulled the blackened snack from the fire and swigged from the bottle before eating it, wrinkling her nose as the booze lit a fire in her throat and belly. She passed it to me, and I took a slug before passing it to Thomas, wiping my mouth with a grimace. We continued in this fashion for some time, talking, laughing and enjoying the peaceful crackle of flames, the hooting of owls and cricking of bugs all around us.
It was sometime later that I staggered up, my head and belly warm with booze.
"Imma go to the bathroom." I mumbled, tottering off towards the woods.
"There's an outhouse out here?" Thomas asked in bleary confusion. Cassie began giggling. I turned back and nodded.
"Yep, there sure is." I jerked a thumb behind me. "It's called the woods, Tommy dear." He flushed and laughed.
"Oh, yeah."

I continued on to do my business, and was in the middle of it when I looked up and, just barely, saw a second glint. I frowned, straining my eyes and doing my best not to topple over. It couldn't have been the same people as before, that had been in the opposite direction. Why would anyone just circle around like that? Maybe they were waiting for us to leave?
Well, I thought as I stood and buttoned my pants. They'd be waiting a while in that case.
I returned to the fire and informed the other two of what I saw.
"You...you're just seeing shit, girlie," Cassie responded. "Keep telling you. What did I keep tellin' you? Glasses."
"I look dumb with glasses," I groaned. "Fucks up my whole vibe."
"What vibe?" Thomas snickered. I threw some leaves at him.
"My badass vibe, obviously." That made them both crack up and I stole the bottle from Thomas' hand, taking a sulky drink.
We moved on, discussing anything and everything under the sun and my heart warmed as we spent time together. It must have been nearly two in the morning, and halfway through the bottle when we decided to wrap things up. I pulled the fold up shovel from my bag and began shoveling dirt up and tossing it on the fire to kill it. Thomas joined in, dumping a bottle of water on the flames, making them hiss and pop as they were quenched.

We began the trek, laughing and nudging one another into trees, teasing Cassie with threats of spiders, slapping mosquitos and making shadow puppets in our lights.
Then Thomas screamed, and Thomas fell, clutching his leg and shrieking. My heart dropped into my stomach and we were at his side. I shined my light down on his leg and was nearly sick at the sight. Caught in a bear trap, it had all but cut his leg in half. Bone, blood slick bone was visible on all sides and the flesh was torn ragged from the teeth. Cassie screamed next and stumbled off to the side, vomiting. Tears sprang to my eyes and my chest burned. I couldn't get enough air. I dropped to my knees. Thomas was still screaming and I struggled to speak, stuttering badly. Finally, with a whoosh of air, my lungs were willing to inflate, and I grabbed Thomas by the ears, forcing him to turn away from his leg, calling his name.

"Thomas! Thomas, please! You have to stop screaming, stop!" The howls died down into heart rending sobs.
"J-Jackie, fuck! Fuck, please this hurts do something Jackie, Jackie, please I-"
"Stop!" I snapped. "Thomas I know, I know it hurts but if you don't calm down we can't do anything."
He whimpered, staring me in the eyes, his face frozen in horror.
"Why would someone put this here?" He whispered. I shook my head, frantically.
"I-I dunno, man. I don't know. But we gotta get you help. Do you have your phone?" He was shaking his head even before I'd finished.
"No, no, I don't you know my mom put that tracker app on it, I left it at home, fuck." He tipped his head down, eyes squeezed shut. "Fuck, this hurts."
"Alright," I muttered, digging through my pockets for mine. "Alright...fuck."
Thomas lifted his head.
"What now?" He moaned.
"I-I don't have my phone." I stood, patting my pockets down, feeling the air grow thin. My mind flashed back to the Octagon. I spun around to Cassie.
"Cassie, yo-" I froze. She was gone.
"Fuck." Thomas whispered and I snapped back to the current problem. Cassie was uninjured. I had to help Thomas before...just before anything else happened. He was shaking badly now. My head spun with dizziness.
"Fuck. Okay. Thomas, we have to get you out. G-Get you out and, and wrap up the wound, with your shirt or something. We have to stop the bleeding." I threw my pack to the ground and yanked the shovel out. I slid the shovel edge into the trap, just below the teeth, and took a deep breath, willing my hands to steady.

"Okay, Tommy, look at me, you looking?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay, when I tell you now, I need you to pull your leg out as fast as you can, okay?"
"Okay."
"You're sure?"
"Yes!"
I nodded, grinding my teeth with the effort of keeping in control, and began twisting the shovel sideways. The trap fought me every centimeter of the way but I kept pushing, straining every bit of muscle I could. I watched the trap, watch the teeth release his leg achingly slow, and then I could see the gory tips of them and I screamed at him to move. He did, and I yanked the shovel out, letting the trap snap shut once more. Thomas lied on the ground, sobbing and moaning. I dropped the shovel and crawled on my knees to him, shaking his shoulder.
"Thomas, c'mon buddy, you gotta sit up. We gotta get you wrapped up." He sat up, crying out as he did. My heart was squeezed in vice grips, seeing how much it must hurt. I stripped his shirt off him.
"This is the hard part. I gotta tie it tight, and it's going to hurt. You trust me?" He nodded, slowly, tears still spilling down his face.
"Okay" I whispered. I threaded the shirt around the back of his leg first, letting it hover away from his leg. Hesitating.
"Just do it." He muttered, squeezing his eyes tight. I shuddered, and pressed it against the back of his leg, drawing a low whine from him. I wrapped it once, squeezing as tight around the wound as I could, and now he was making a small yelping sound like a dog. I tied it off on the side of his leg, and pulled back, trembling, looking at my blood stained hands.

We sat there for a couple of minutes, getting our breath back as his cries died to a quiet whimper. Finally, I forced myself to my feet.
"What are we gonna about Cassie?" Thomas asked, swiping tears from his face. The quivering lip told of tears still to come.
"I...I dunno. We gotta find her...right?"
"I don't think I can stand." Thomas whispered, looking ashamed.
"That's..." I breathed. Deep in, slowly out. "That's okay. That's fine. Look we both have flashlights. So I'm...I have to leave you here. I have to look for her. And when I do, we can come back here and get you. You just gotta wait it out. Okay?"
He nodded, eyes wet once more. I bent down and squeezed his shoulders.
"I swear Tommy, we're coming back for you." I straightened up, returned the shovel to my backpack, snatching my light from the ground.
"If I don't find her soon, I'll come back and check on you. Keep an eye out for any lights."
I set off, the flashlight making it impossible to hide the trembling in my hands. I focused on my breathing as I walked, shining my flashlight around me. I called for Cassie and my voice broke, sending the air from my lungs once more. Tears ran down my face.

After maybe fifteen minutes of searching, I saw salvation. A light! I trotted quicker, stumbling over branches and rocks, calling Cassie's name. I approached from where the light was aimed, eyes half closed against the glare. I stumbled into a small clear patch, right where the light source was.
"Cassie, why-" I collapsed, gaping at the sight. I spun my eyes away and this time I did vomit, half digested marshmallows sticking in my throat and Fireball burning twice as bad as before. Cassie. Cassie. Cassie was nailed to the tree. Nailed to a tree and split open like a pig for supper. I vomited again at the imagery and curled into a ball beside my mess, too weak to cry, my entire body wracked with terror.
"No," I whispered, my throat burning with the effort. "No, no, Cassie, please. Please I never told you..."
I stumbled to my feet, shaking my head like a wet dog, tottered and almost fell in my own mess. Someone did this. Someone planted that trap. I didn't want to meet that someone. I ran in the direction I had come from, screaming Thomas' name, screaming myself hoarse, because we had to go, we had to, and we had to go now and-
I cracked headfirst into a tree and rebounded, landing flat on my back. For the countless time that night all the air was forced was my lungs and I gaped like a fish, unable to breath. I struggled into a sitting position at the sound of crunching leaves. Oh no. No they were here.

Mindlessly, I dragged the shovel from my pack once more, unfolding it and clicking the latch in place to lock it. I pressed my back to the tree I'd hit, holding it in front of me, shaking, my mind screaming at me to run. But I couldn't. There was nowhere to run. And now they were in front of me, presumably grinning behind the black, empty faced mask. He was tall, so tall, and built like a fucking barn but I ran at him anyway, screaming. I swung the shovel, and of course he grabbed the handle before it could connect. He yanked, and I let go before he could pull me close.
Then he slammed the handle into my nose. There was a crunch and a blinding pain and blood spilled into my eyes and mouth as I fell back on my ass. He approached, faster than I would expect and he planted a heavy boot to my chest, forcing me down. I scratched at his ankle, letting choked, gurgling sobs escape my throat. He spun the shovel so the blade was pointed at me. Now I knew he was grinning.
Then the shovel blade descended.
And then it all went black.