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Undeterred, I walk on, descending into the bowels of the earth and toward the unknown. Maybe, if Fate is kind and luck is on my side, this cave will lead me somewhere spectacular … to a part of the Blackwater Falls never seen before! If it does, I can always retrace my steps and collect my equipment.
The path leads down, the darkness all-encompassing. It’s cold, but without the breeze it’s infinitely more bearable, and the deeper I venture, the warmer it seems to get. Makes sense, I reason. Bears like caves because they’re safe and warm.Bears. “Shit,” I breathe, my eyes widening in the gloom. I’m a fucking idiot!
Chapter Three
Holy crap.Shit. Shit. Shit.I’m unarmed and who knows how deep and far into this tunnel. But surely, if there were bears, I would have come across them already, wouldn’t I? Heart racing, I feel torn. Go back while the going’sgoodand get a damn shot of the Falls? Or explore on and find out just where this bizarre, smooth passageway goes? My inner rebel takes my fear and beats it to death before it can take ahold and destroy my Halloween adventure.
I’ve come this far without incident—I might as well go on.Soon the cave seems to bottom out and widen into a larger cavern. My phone light isn’t powerful enough to see further than a few feet, but there’s space all around me now, and I can no longer reach the cold, stone walls. “You’re okay,” I whisper. “Just keep the light ahead and watch your feet.”
A deep and rumbling growl fills my ears and my heart bunny-hops in my chest. I can almost feel my life leave my body.Oh no. Dear God, No!I freeze as still as a statue, my phone still grasped firmly in hand. Every muscle in my body quakes with terror. I’m fucked. I’m so very, very fucked! I’m going to get mauled, eaten, and shit out by a fucking black bear! What a way to go.Seriously. Fuck my life.
So much for my new beginning. I’m going to die here in West Virginia, just like my parents, and I’ll never see New Orleans. I’ll never take another photo again. This is my curtain call. I hear the distinct sound of heavy footfalls on the earth, and in a sheer moment of panic I lumber backward. Something crunches horrifically underfoot, and I stumble right onto my ass. A shriek escapes me as I fall and it’s amplified by the cavern, echoing in a mockery of my ungracious stumble.
I scramble backward and raise my phone before me like a shield of light. There’re bones scattered all over the ground. Lots and lots of bones. And that cracking sound? A skull of some description that I just crushed with my boot. In the shadows beyond the reach of my pitiful light, I see a great lumbering shape. There is no mistaking the territorial huffing and low rumble of the bear as it ambles forward, closing in for the kill.
This is it. This is how I die. The bear draws nearer. It’s so close I smell its breath now. There’s nowhere to go. I can’t outrun a bear. For a split-second I contemplate grabbing a broken bone and attempting to defend myself, but this beast is massive, and I just waltzed into its home. It’s pissed. Even if I managed the odd stab or two, it’d be like tossing stones into the Grand Canyon. It probably wouldn’t even feel it and then it’d gore my throat anyway.
It roars suddenly and its spittle flies at my face, its rancid breath blows my hair over my shoulder. I can’t prevent the strangled scream that tears forth from my throat as I realize the bear’s mouth is wide enough to just bite my face off.
A bloodcurdling screech vibrates through my soul, ricocheting off the rock walls to bounce around painfully in my skull. It’s so shrill and high-pitched that it could be ultrasonic. In confusion and agony, I drop my phone and plaster my hands to my ears, protecting them from the abominable sound.
The bear shakes its head from side to side in the darkness, illuminated only by my discarded phone. It roars in retaliation, but a heartbeat later a great black shadow slams into the beast—knocking him sideways and across the cavern.
What the fuck was that?My guts twist inside me as whatever it was that barreled into the bear shrieks again. My head swims, and I squeeze my eyes shut tight against the pain. I feel warmth trickle from my ears and between my fingers. I know with mortifying certainty that it’s blood. Bones skitter in all directions as the two creatures fight, and I turn my face away, but then it hits me. Now is my chance. Maybe I can make a run for it while they’re occupied?
Steeling my courage, I scramble to my feet and bolt haphazardly into the darkness, blind without my phone. It’s live or die, I must take the risk. But my ears ring, and I have no idea in which direction I’m headed. I just run, hands outstretched before me, and pray to God that I make it out of here alive. Maybe West Virginia isn’t so bad, after all.
Maybe I should count myself lucky to be breathing and able to stand on my own two feet? Maybe chasing a dream was the dumbest thing I ever did.But I don’t have time to mull the thought over, because in the next two seconds my already dark and terrifying world comes to a bone-grinding halt. One moment I’m pelting through the inky gloom for my life, and the next—nothing.
Chapter Four
When I awaken pain greets me, ringing clarion clear in my ears. I wince, my hand flying to my head. “Fuck me,” I breathe. Disoriented, it takes a moment for my situation to sink in and for me to remember just where I am. And a further several seconds to comprehend just what the fuck I’m looking at when I glance up, squinting in the firelight.
A tall shadow looms over me, wings flared, antennae erect. A scream dies on my lips as the figure squats down, and suddenly the nightmarish shape has a face, and I scramble backward on my ass for the second time, heart thumping in my chest like the drums of war. Big black, lidless eyes regard me with curiosity within a very otherwise humanlike face. My gaze roves over his body, drinking him in, every ounce of logic in my mind rejecting what my eyes are seeing.
His skin is as black as the night sky and has an iridescent sheen in the flickering light. The creature is lithe and athletically muscular, and his rippling ladder of abdominals makes my foggy brain swoon despite my sheer disbelief and terror. And as if my heart could bear another fright, my gaze drops between his thighs, and I almost die on the spot.
His cock is knotted like rope, with thick bulges every inch … of which there are several. My stomach lurches and I raise my eyes to meet the creature’s once more, before I find my voice. “You’re the Mothman,” I choke out.
“I am,” he answers, his voice like silk and midnight.
“And you can talk,” I gasp, my already fragile mind reeling.
“I can.”
Chest rising and falling like I’ve just run amarathon,I lick my lips as I attempt to gather my thoughts. “This is impossible. You’re an urban legend. A monster. A cryptid! You can’t exist. I must be dead, or dreaming? Unconscious maybe?”
“I assure you, I am very much real, and you are very much alive.”
Through the dull ache in my head, my thoughts scramble to make sense of this. “Oh my God. The bear,” I breathe. “Holy shit, you saved me.”
“Indeed, the bear is a friend of sorts. She keeps unwanted visitors at bay.”
I swallow hard. “Your friend?”
“We are all animals, my pretty. We understand each other, though it takes time and patience. Something which humankind is sorely lacking.”
“Is—”I can’t believe I’m going to ask this. “Is the bear okay? I didn’t mean to trespass. I was just hoping to get a photograph of the Falls. I thought the narrow path might lead to a beautiful view.”
