by T. L Smith
THE EVIL WITHIN
By: T.L. Smith
Cover By: Rachel Rai
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.
Copyright © 2016 Terri L (Smith) Vest
[email protected]
2018 Cover Illustration by: Rachel Rai
(fiverr.com - Rachel543)
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1540445414
Evil is not something superhuman, it's something less than human.
Agatha Christie
PROLOGUE
It had been some time since he'd had an awareness about him. He longed to return to his life, or what was once his life. He clung desperately to the memories of family, a home, . . . a future. Now, there was only loneliness, and horror. As much as he wanted it all to end, deep down he knew he must fight to stay alive, even if only in consciousness until he could find help. He'd lost control of his body, actions and choices long ago. He was aware of an evil, terrifying being inside his brain that he had no understanding of how it came to be. He only knew it was, and he knew he hated it.
As he pondered the prison his body had become, a darkness slowly began to surround him and he felt himself slipping away. He prayed he could live with the results from this span of darkness, or at least be spared from having to face it. If the past was a sign of what was to be, he hoped to remain within the darkness for a very long time, and God help those who crossed his path until he returned.
CHAPTER ONE
George McCallister was a toned, 35 yr old, 6'1" Forest Ranger from the Three Forks National Park. He'd lived in Oakville, Illinois all his life. He graduated from Summerfield High School then attended the forestry service training center for 18 months. He graduated in the top 10 of his class. He returned back to Oakville where he met his wife Joanne and married her a year later. They now have a 10 yr old son Sam, who had a love of exploring, and a 7 year old daughter Julie, who loved to study and research things in her life..
Joanne was a slim, 5'6" paralegal, mother of two. She was originally from Missouri, but decided on a change of scenery after graduating from trade school. Since she has a love of the outdoors, she stumbled upon the cozy town of Oakville and never looked back. Her interests seemed to be a strange combination of the outdoors and the law. One free spirited and one very regimented. She figured they balanced each other out. She had found a job as a paralegal upon arriving in Oakville and it was through her connections there that she met George. He had come in to settle his family's affairs one afternoon, their eyes met, and as they say - the rest is history. It turned out to be a great match of personalities with very similar interests. As a result they were now a very happy family of four that loved to go camping as often as their schedules allowed.
Sam and Julie were two very active, fun loving and intelligent kids that were very protective of each other, despite the pranks they'd pull on each other all the time. Julie adored her brother. She couldn't imagine life without him. No one "got her" like he did. Though their interests were different, they respected each others passion for what they liked.
It had been a busy school year and the work schedules for George and Joanne had kept them both running at full speed. Once school let out, both made an effort to clear their schedules for a much needed vacation!
The time had finally come and the McCallisters were now looking forward to a trip to the Three Forks National Park. It would be great to camp under the stars, cook by the fire and explore their surroundings. Little did they know, this trip to the woods would be their last!
Unknown to the McCallisters - the Park had recently become inhabited by something evil. Several families and hikers that had entered before were never seen or heard from again!
The day began with excitement in the air. Tents, chairs and other camping equipment were being loaded into their SUV. Sam and Julie were joking and laughing together thinking of all the pranks they’d pull on each other while camping! As they pulled into the park, Senior Ranger, Joe Warner, greeted them with a warm smile.
"How's it goin' folks?" asked Joe. "HEY Joe! It's going great! We thought we'd do a little camping this weekend and get rid of a little youthful energy, if you know what I mean", winked George. He and Joe had been friends for years. In fact, in a private meeting one evening, he had asked Joe if he would consider being a sort of Godfather to the kids and look out for his family should anything ever happen to him. Joe of course shrugged it off as being silly, "nothing was ever going to happen to him", but agreed that he would be happy to look out for them should the need arise. They had all formed a family type bond over the years and he adored seeing the kids on their weekend camping trips to the Park. They were good kids.
Joe moved closer to the SUV so he could speak to him without the kids hearing. "George, I know you've been on vacation so I need to ask, have you read the paper yet today?" George thought it was a strange question. "Uh, no actually, I haven't yet. I bought one but haven't gotten around to it. Why do you ask?"
A frown creased Joe's forehead as he leaned closer still. "We have a situation in the park right now and I wanted to be sure you were aware. They are advising park visitors to put their camping activities on hold till it's resolved. You sure you want to camp this weekend?"
George chuckled. "I'm sure it will be fine. I'm a strong, strappin' young man. I'm sure I can handle myself and look out for my family, don't you think?" Joe knew that George's skills were impressive and if anyone could do it, he could. Still, he worried if maybe he shouldn't force the issue and make them postpone their trip. "Come on Joe," said George. "It'll be alright. I've got my sidearm with me and even brought my radio just in case. We'll be fine. Besides, these two in the back make enough noise to scare the bears and lions away, and I doubt we have anything more menacing or intimidating than that in these woods."
After hesitating a moment longer, he conceded. "Alright, you just keep a good look out then, and keep that great family of yours safe. If you need anything, hit me up on the radio and I'll come runnin', ok?" asked Joe.
"Sure thing Joe, no problem. I'm sure we'll be just fine!" and with that, George put the SUV in gear and headed out to their favorite camping spot in Sector three of the park. Of all six sectors, three was the biggest and had the best view of their surroundings. Shaking off Joe's warning, he concentrated on the road to the campsite and smiled while pondering the fun they would have this weekend!
The drive hadn't been a long one and before they knew it they were setting up camp and preparing for night fall. During their run for supplies, George had picked up the evening edition of the local paper. Now that the tent was up, dinner was on the stove and the fire was burning, he took the time to sit and read the paper. In it he read something that left him feeling uneasy.
CHAPTER TWO
“FAMILY FOUND DEAD IN LOCAL WOODS
Tuesday afternoon a family was found dead by their campsite in Three Forks National Park. The bodies had been mutilated and dismembered. It was suspected that a recently escaped patient from the Brownstone Institute for the Mentally Ill may be responsible for the murders. Authorities state the Institute had recently experienced a power outage and during that time patient Levi Rigland had escaped into the woods. Rigland is known to be extremely dangerous and citizens are warned not to approach him. Instead, if sighted, citizens are instructed to call the local authorities. Rigland had been hospitalized after a jury found him mentally insane, and guilty of the deaths of two other local families.”
Slowly lowering the paper George looked at his family and wondered if he should have heeded Joe's advice to camp another
time. His wife Joanne was busy preparing dinner and the kids were getting their sleeping areas set up. Looking behind them into the woods, he scanned for anything unusual or out of place. Everything seemed normal enough. Chuckling, he turned his attention to the family - missing the shadow that moved quietly among the trees.
After finishing up with dinner, the kids went back into their tent and Joanne turned to clear away the dinner mess. As the evening had darkened and the shadows grew, George couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Turning to Joanne he asked - “You know that feeling like someone's watching you? Well, I’ve had that all evening. I read this article about a killer on the loose and ever since, I’ve felt like someone was watching us. Silly, huh!?” Joanne was finishing the clean up from dinner. She turned to look at him and saw the concern on his face. At that moment something snapped behind them in the trees. They both spun around to see what it was. The woods were dark and ominous with shadows lurking everywhere, and every sound became a warning. Seeing nothing, Joanne nervously laughed saying, “Now you’ve done it... you’ve gotten us both spooked!”
Chuckling they both slowly turned and stared more intently into the darkness. Everything now seemed quiet and deathly still. The evening noises had ceased as if everything in the woods were holding its breath. “Hello?” he hesitantly called out. “Is anyone there?” Joanne moved closer to him, now feeling there may indeed be something to worry about.
Seeing nothing, they nervously chuckled to each other and returned to their previous activities. Remembering the newspaper article, he felt pulled to finish reading it. Reaching down he picked it up and found the article to continue reading.
"Law Enforcement sources state the second family attacked left one child in critical condition. Before passing away, the girl was said to be mumbling something about “a monster crashing out of the trees.” Authorities believed her to be hallucinating due to the extreme shock she was in from her injuries, but did want to warn families out camping to be on alert just in case.
“Until Rigland is brought back in, we are urging all tent campers to consider postponing their trips until a later time” stated Ranger Joe Warner of the Illinois Forestry Department. When asked what Rigland's MO seemed to be, Warner replied “hiding in the trees until his victims settled in for the night, then dropping in to murder them in a vicious and brutal way.”
George paled as he finished reading the article. Surely, he thought, these aren’t the woods that Rigland had escaped into. Taking a deep breath, he returned to his paper, silently vowing to keep a sharper vigilance for the evening.
CHAPTER THREE
Sam and Julie were playing in the tent, trying to find things to do to help pass the evening hours. Tomorrow was going to be great, and both were wound up with excited energy in anticipation of the outdoor activities they would be doing. Both loved the outdoors and all it offered! Sam was into the hiking and climbing and all the physical aspects of it, while Julie was more into appreciating the many forms of wildlife that could be seen if one was quiet enough not to scare it away. And that's where the rub came when doing things together. Julie felt Sam couldn't be quiet if his life depended on it!
As both kids prepared for the next days activities, Sam concentrated on collecting the equipment needed for all he would be doing, while Julie gathered the items that would help her study the living creatures around her. Now that they were both quietly involved in their separate errands, the sounds outside the tent were much more noticeable.
As Julie carefully packed her backpack, she heard what sounded like her name being whispered. "What?" she questioned Sam.
"What??" asked Sam in confusion. Frustrated, Julie said, "You called my name, I asked what you wanted".
"I didn't call your name, I'm busy packing my stuff for tomorrow!" chuckled Sam. Julie stared at Sam, wondering if he was trying to pull another prank on her. Noticing that he had returned to his packing, she shrugged and returned to her own.
"Juuulieeee" whispered a gravelly voice.
"WHAT!?", snapped Julie. "I didn't say anything, Jules!" he replied. "Sam, I KNOW it was you. You're just trying to pull a prank on me since I got you with the last one! Now stop it so I can finish getting ready for tomorrow!" she snapped.
"Julie, I swear! It wasn't me. I didn't say ..." A deep chested rumble sounded outside the tent and Julie now knew that it wasn't Sam making the noises. She froze where she was, staring wide eyed at Sam. Whispering she asked, "did you hear that?" Nodding, Sam whispered, "yeah...". They both froze, not making a sound, both to prove it wasn't either one trying to prank the other as well as trying to figure out where it was coming from.
"Miiiiiine" growled the voice, and with that, both kids jumped up and raced out of the tent.
“DADDY!” screamed Julie as she came running out of her tent with Sam close behind. Julie ran up to her dad and threw herself into his arms. She was crying hysterically about what she'd just heard. George pulled her away, yelled out her name and brought her hysterics to a temporary halt. “What is this all about?” he asked. With the look of terror in her eyes, she began to tell of the sounds and words she'd heard whispered through the tent.
Sam and I were in the tent getting ready for tomorrow” she said, “ when I thought I heard someone whisper my name. I asked Sam if he'd said anything and he said no.” As Julie continued, George could see her shaking. “We went back to packing our backpacks when I heard my name again! It was said in a low, drawn out rumble, sort of like a soft .... growl! Then, it growled ... MINE!” she forced out while fighting the tears, then broke down into sobs again.
Sam was standing nearby looking confused, worried and a bit scared. George turned to Sam and asked “Did you hear anything son?”
“I didn’t the first time. I just laughed at her, thinking she was trying to pull a prank on me. But then I heard something low and really scary sounding. Almost monster like!” said Sam.
“Alright son, let’s not get carried away” said George. “We don’t want to blow things out of proportion ….” Something snapped in the woods nearby followed by a low sinister sound – almost like a laugh. Julie ran to her mother as Sam stepped closer to his dad.
“Ok” said George, “let’s stay calm. Perhaps it was an animal of some kind ....”
“One that LAUGHS?” asked Joanne.
Sam spoke up, trying to be helpful – “like a hyena, right!?”
“In the TREES?” Julie asked, completely terrified.
Seeing the fear on his daughters’ face – that had now spread to his wife and son, George wasn’t so sure that this campground was a good idea after all. Trying to stay calm, he said, “Hey everyone, how about if we just forget about sleeping under the stars and go find a nice warm cozy hotel to have our adventure in?” Before anyone could answer, a terrible menacing sound began and seemed to get louder and closer. Julie screamed “SOMETHING’S COMING!”
CHAPTER FOUR
The trees started rustling, twigs snapping and the most throaty sound came from above. Looking up, all George could see was the pitch black darkness. The fire had burned itself down to just a small flame while unattended. Though it now provided them with no light to see what was above them, it did allow for shadows to dance and move around them. Monster shapes and grotesque 'beings' seemed to be all around them, leaving no path for escape.
As the family huddled together, the woods seemed to come alive with danger. Everywhere they looked appeared to have something staring back at them. Something moved on the left! Something snapped on the right! They were surrounded! Just then a wild looking creature that resembled a man, dropped down out of the trees with a crazed look in his dark chocolate brown eyes, that made them seem almost black. His clothes were torn and had blood smeared all over them. His hands were dripping and even his mouth had smeared blood around it, as if he’d eaten his prey! With the presence of so much blood, it helped conceal the fact that this creature was NOT a man, and in fact more of a beast with growing
fangs and claws!
Joanne, Julie and Sam screamed in terror as George looked quickly for anything he could use as a weapon! If only he had put his side arm on! Rigland started circling them like an animal stalking its prey while trying to decide how to attack. George spotted a sturdy looking branch that appeared hard to break. He scooped it up and jumped in between Rigland and his family. With an animalistic growl turning into a roar, Rigland attacked with a viciousness that most have never seen.
George fought with everything he had and was doing well until Rigland seemed to suddenly appear with large, very sharp claws. Before George could register surprise, let alone devise a plan of survival, Rigland swung out with a body crossing motion. For one split second, George thought he had missed and that he’d have his chance to defend his family........ until his head slipped off his shoulders and fell to the ground. His last view before dying was of Rigland pouncing on his defenseless family.
With the biggest threat down, the beast turned his attention to the rest. The screaming was piercing through his head and feeding his fury even more and everything became shaded in red. Levi was consumed in fury and bloodlust. Ripping and slashing was all he wanted to do in a way to drain the fury and stop the noise. Bodies and parts began flying as he slashed through the prey that he now viewed as a threat. In the chaos, Julie was thrown into the brush with deep gashes to her head and arms. Her mother and brother weren't so lucky. Mercifully, the first slashes would end their lives quickly. The position of Julie's landing would compress her wounds and ultimately save her life.
* * * *
The attack was so vicious that even the authorities would never share the details with the public. No one would know of the numerous body parts that were scraped together in an attempt to give the relatives of the McCallisters something to bury. The local woods were closed down as much as they could be, and signs were posted of a wild animal being loose in the woods to discourage any future campers from choosing that area to set up camp. Word spread of something unspeakably vicious in the woods and everyone hoped that the McCallisters would be the last to fall to this evil. And life went on for this quiet community.
