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Flashlights shined every which way in an attempt to penetrate the darkness.
Twigs began to crack, the bell ringing continuously just like it had earlier, with no sort of sequence or reason that any of us could decipher. We couldn’t tell where it was coming from. All we could do was run.
“Go, go!” Tyson implored, urging the group to start moving again.
We weaved along the trail, using memory and the poor lighting from the flashlights to retrace our steps, having to dodge rocks and muddied splotches of ground. The bell continued to ring, from somewhere far off another joined in, heightening our fear.
We made it another few steps when something too fast for any naked eye to see shot out from within the trees ahead of us. A blackened blur nearly blending with the night, the ringing of the bell so loud it could’ve been right beside our ears.
Whatever this thing was, it snatched Amber up and dragged her off.
Her shrieks grew quiet in a matter of seconds, the sound of a sole bell now seeming to come from behind us. Sasha screamed, brokenly yelling her friend's name.
“We gotta keep going!” Tyson shouted, dragging her forward with Jacob’s help.
“What the fuck was that, Angel?” Bellatrix breathed, holding onto me.
“I, I don’t know.”
I grabbed her hand and started running again. The bell continued to ring, growing closer and louder, the sound of twigs breaking faster as whatever was out there began catching up to us.
We reached a bend and moved around it and just as our group rounded to the other side, another bell began to ring from what sounded like right in front of us.
“What do we do?” Collin cried.
“Run into the trees?” Alex quavered, trying to sound strong.
“No! Fuck no!” I objected. “The last thing we need to do is get lost in the woods with whatever is out there.”
“Keep moving, maybe it’s trying to throw us off,” Sasha theorized. Her voice was steady, thick with a fresh onslaught of tears.
Holding my side, I calmed my breathing as best I could and started running again, tightening my grip on Bellatrix’s sweaty hand.
The ringing grew louder until we were practically right on top of it. This time, I saw something glowing just as Collin was taken from the front of the group. At the same time, Sasha was snatched out of Tyson’s grasp, her arm twisting and breaking so severely before our eyes, fragments of it were left behind on Tyson’s hand.
Alex and Jacob yelled incoherently, stumbling forward in a vain attempt to save Collin.
Both he and Sasha were carried off into the trees, the sound of the bells retreating further away this time.
“No, she was just right here! I had her. What the fuck are these things?” Tyson yelled his strong voice cracking.
“They’re picking us off,” I stammered, running my hands through my hair.
“We cannot stop. We have to try and get to the car,” Bellatrix beseeched, pulling on my wrist.
Tyson bobbed his head in agreement, wiping any signs of tears from his eyes and standing tall. “She’s right. We can’t die out here.”
I nodded, allowing them to drag me for a minute before I pulled my shit together enough to run.
“This is so fucked,” Alex sniffled, his breath coming out hard and fast.
It didn’t take long for the bells to return. We kept going, not slowing or pointing out the obvious. We made it a few more yards before Jacob fell over something in the middle of the pathway.
I tripped over him, wincing as Tyson crashed into my side. Bellatrix managed to weave around us, stretching both hands out in front of her to steady herself.
“Fuck,” she cursed, helping me and Tyson to our feet. I twisted around to see what she was staring at.
“Oh, my god…”
Jacob scrambled away screaming, swiping wildly at himself to remove the pieces of Collin that had begun sticking to him. Tyson gagged, holding a fist to his mouth to hold back anything from spewing.
Alex stumbled backward, vomiting into nearby overgrowth.
The only recognizable part of Collin was his bloodstained clown costume. Something had torn his face off, leaving everything beneath the flesh, a mess of torn tendons and broken bones to ooze and spill out.
The rest of his body was contorted unnaturally. His legs were bent backward, knees shattered to the point the bottom of his tennis shoes were cradling his head.
Nausea swam through my gut. I swallowed repeatedly, walking backward to get away from the sight, screaming when Jacob was suddenly plucked off the ground as if he weighed nothing.
Instead of this fucking thing dragging him off like it had all the others, he was taken a few feet away and dropped. He landed on his stomach, his cry for help was cut short as the air got knocked out of him.
Alex was at his side within seconds of everything happening. He was too caught up in the moment to see this was a trap.
