“Just drink it. You will feel better.” Arnie’s mouth curled into a thin smile. “I put a call in to Williamsville. That’s the nearest town. They are sending a squad car up here. It’ll take a while though.”
“How long?”
“Gosh, I don’t know. An hour maybe?” He placed a hand on her shoulder, just for a moment. “We’re not exactly close to anything out here.”
“An hour?” Sally knew the tears would flow again soon. “That’s too long. We have to find Ben now.”
“Do you know how hard it is to find someone out there?” Arnie gestured in the general direction of the woods. “Two thousand square miles of dense forest. No, we need to wait for help.”
“But he’s not lost in the forest. Someone took him, I told you.” She felt like screaming. “He was right behind me on the trail, and then…”
“Be that as it may, we have procedures around here. If we are going to find Ben we need to follow them,” Arnie said.
“You’re sure the police are on their way?” Sally felt helpless.
“Cross my heart.” Arnie raised a hand to his chest. “Now get that cocoa inside you, it will warm you up.”
“Alright.” Sally still didn’t want the drink, but what else was there to do? Besides, she might as well keep her strength up. She raised the cup and sipped, the chocolate taste filling her mouth. It was warm and pleasant. She sipped again.
“There you go. That’s a good girl.” Arnie took a sip from his mug and relaxed back into his chair.
She gripped the mug with both hands and gulped. The cocoa was good, better than good, and Arnie was right, it was helping to take the edge off. She felt light headed, tired. The cup started to slip from her hands. She wanted to hold on to it, but it fell anyway, landing with a dull thud on the rough scraped wood floor.
This wasn’t right. She was too tired.
She fought to stop her eyelids from closing, tried to stand up. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask Arnie why she felt so strange, but all that came out was a slurred mishmash of vowels and consonants.
Her vision grew dim, a black cloak closing in around the edges of her consciousness, and then there was nothing...
Cold.
A gnawing, painful cold.
Sally rose from slumber, just for a moment, and forced her eyes open, even though they wanted to stay closed.
Trees.
She saw trees above her.
She was moving too, although strangely she knew she was not walking. Someone was carrying her. She swayed back and forth as they walked. And then her eyes rolled back in their sockets and she passed out again.
Sally drifted back to consciousness.
Her head felt like a thousand hammers were pounding away inside it. She briefly wondered why everything looked lopsided, then realized that she was lying sideways on the ground. She felt loose gravel under her body, stones pushing into her, sharp and painful.
It was still light, but judging by the way the sun hovered low in the horizon it would not be for much longer.
She tried to move, but her hands were bound behind her back. When she looked down she found her legs tied at the ankles with a piece of nylon rope.
She let out a moan.
“Well hello.” Arnie was kneeling a few feet away with his back to her. “You’ve been out for a while. I was wondering if you would wake up before I left.”
“What’s going on?” Sally’s voice felt thin. Her mouth was dry. She realized that she no longer wore the Ranger’s jacket.
“You didn’t follow my instructions did you, didn’t do what the permit said. You just had to come up here even though there’s a perfectly good, perfectly safe, campground on the other side of the lake.” Arnie turned toward her and for the first time she saw the figure propped up against the rock that looked like an elephant.
It was Ben.
His head hung low, his hair a matted, clumped mess. Something stained his shirt, something dark red and… With a shock she realized it was blood. A whimper escaped her lips. “What have you done to him?”
“Me?” Arnie looked shocked. “Nothing. He was like this when we got here. It must have dragged him back here. Poor guy.”
“What are you talking about?” Sally pulled at the rope binding her wrists, but it held tight. “Is he dead?”
Arnie reached out, lifted Ben’s head, and touched his neck, feeling for a pulse. “No, not yet, pretty close though. It tore him up real bad. His face looks like it was put through a blender.” Arnie whistled, as if he appreciated the damage to Ben’s face. “I’m sure it will be back to finish the job tonight.”
“What will?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Arnie reached out, searching Ben, patting him down. He pushed a hand into Ben’s trouser pocket and pulled out a set of car keys, then stood and approached Sally, swinging the keys on one finger. “Better not leave these here or I won’t be able to move your car. Can’t have that clogging up the parking lot. People might ask questions.”
“Why are you doing this?” Sally could feel tears meandering down her face. She blinked them away.
“You did it to yourselves I’m afraid. You should never have camped here.” Arnie squatted next to her. “This land, this whole area, it’s cursed. This place is soaked in blood. Has been ever since those damn kids came up here with that Ouija Board a few years back. They thought it was just a bit of fun. Whatever the hell they conjured up had other ideas.”
“What?” Sally wondered if Arnie was mad.
“Do you know they found a bunch of bones up here years ago when they were building the restrooms? Some fancy folks from the university said the remains were Native American, said this was some kind of old burial ground.” Arnie drew a long breath. “Now I don’t know what those kids released with that Ouija Board, but seems to me it must have something to do with them bones. Either way, they all ended up dead. They were picking up pieces of them for weeks. Didn’t stop there either. No sir. A few months later a young couple went and got themselves torn apart. The cops blamed the deaths on an animal attack of course, bears or some such. That’s why the Park Service closed this place, moved it to the other side of the lake. Now I don’t know a whole lot about such things, but it was no normal animal that killed those folk, I know that much.”
“Please, untie me?” Sally pleaded. “I won’t tell anyone what you’ve done. I promise. We need to call an ambulance for Ben. He’s hurt.”
“Sorry little lady.“ Arnie shook his head. “You say that now, but you don’t mean it. You’ll have every cop in the county up here the minute I let you go. We both know it’s true.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“You think you are the first ones to camp here since we closed this place? Heck no. Every year we get a few hikers that go wandering where they shouldn’t, people like you that camp here, and every single time it ends the same. Folk ripped apart like they were rag dolls, torn limb from limb.” Arnie lowered his head. “I have to give it to you though, you are the first one to make it out alive.”
“I don’t understand.” Sally squirmed, hoping to loosen her bindings, but Arnie had done too good a job.
“I like my job,” Arnie said. “Do you know what would happen if folks found out that people are still dying up here?”
Sally shook her head.
“I’ll tell you what would happen. I’d lose my job, that’s what. They would close this park down for good. Not just move a campsite or two, but close it. We can’t have that now, can we? I have five years left until I can retire and move to sunny Florida.”
“You’re sick.” Sally spat the words. She tried to sit up, but could not get enough leverage and fell back to the ground.
Arnie ignored her. “I always wondered what I would do if someone actually escaped.” Arnie stood and wiped his hands on his trousers. “I guess now I know.”
“Let me go.”
“I’d love to, but I can’t,” Arnie said. He stepped toward the edge
of the clearing “This job, this place, it’s all I have. If it’s any consolation, it won’t be long now. It will come for you once the sun goes down. I just pray it kills you quick. Of course, it probably won’t.”
“Don’t leave me here. Please?” Sally struggled. A knot of fear churned in her stomach.
“I’ll come back in the morning to clear up the tent and such, and put you two with all the others.” Arnie chuckled. He pushed Ben’s car keys into his pocket. “Boy, if those University folk came back up here now they would find a whole lot more bones to dig up. Yes sir, a whole lot more.”
“Wait. Please don’t do this.” Sally couldn’t see Arnie now, but she could hear him pushing through the trees, picking his way back out to the trail. She called after him, begged him to let her go, but he didn’t answer. Soon even his footsteps faded to nothing.
She was alone.
Except for Ben, and he was too far gone to be much help. The sun slipped behind the mountains, lighting the sky a bright crimson, which soon faded to dark blue, and then black. Darkness crept across the lake and stole the land. Sally struggled against the bindings on her wrists and ankles, twisting one way then the other, but it was to no avail. Arnie knew how to tie a knot. She tried to move, sliding her body across the ground. It was slow going, and for a moment she thought she might be able to make some progress, but then her wrists jerked back and she realized that she was tethered to something, a tree perhaps, and her heart fell.
She called to Ben, asked him for help, but if he was still breathing he made no show of it, and so in the end she stopped trying. Instead she cried. She wept for Ben, and she wept for herself.
The heat of the day gave way to a numbing cold that crept under her ripped and filthy nightie and caused her teeth to chatter. The tent, and the warm sleeping bags contained within, were just as they left them the previous evening, but they might as well have been on the moon.
In the end she gave up and lay still, waiting for what would happen next, wondering if Arnie would come back to kill her. Not that he needed to. Given the way the temperature was dropping, she could very well end up freezing to death before morning.
She closed her eyes, and let her mind wander. If she focused hard enough she could pretend that everything was fine, that this was just a night spent camping under the stars. Even the numbing cold receded a little as she slipped into a fantasy that drew her away from the horror of the situation.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Sally opened her eyes, a wriggling fear churning in her gut. The sound was faint, distant, but recognizable. She craned her neck, looked around, but she saw nothing. She shivered, only this time it was not just from the cold.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Closer now. Just a little. She let out a small cry, a whimper of fear. She scanned the clearing, her eyes darting from the tent to the lake, and up to the trees, at least those she could see from her vantage point.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Something was moving. She could hear it creeping across the clearing behind her, drawing near. She called out to Ben, not because he would answer, but because she didn’t want to face it alone.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
She sensed it right behind her, knew it was there, just waiting, savoring her fear. In that moment Sally realized that there was no escape, and so she closed her eyes and thought about Ben, about his smile, and the way she felt when they were together, because to think about the alternative would be too much. She tried to stay calm, tried not to let it know that she was afraid, even when rancid, hot breath touched her neck, even when she heard those terrible sounds right next to her.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
THE END
Also by Anthony M. Strong
What Vengeance Comes
John Decker left Wolf Haven, Louisiana, to escape the memories of his troubled past, believing he would never return. But after twenty years working for a big city police department, he suddenly finds himself back in Wolf Haven, taking the reigns as the town’s sheriff. Expecting to spend his time dealing with the trivialities of small town life, the occasional drunk, cats stuck in trees, and domestic altercations, he instead finds a vicious killer picking off the residents one by one. Scrambling to find answers before anyone else dies, Decker stumbles across an age-old superstition, a terrifying creature conjured from the depths of hell to seek revenge.
READ NOW USA
READ NOW UK
The Apartment
Jack Brannan thought the fifth floor apartment in New York City would be a great place to finish his latest novel. It seemed like the perfect arrangement, free room and board in exchange for looking after the rambling old apartment building while its owner was out of town. He soon comes to realize, however, that there is much more to the former Roosevelt Hotel than meets the eye, and that nothing is ever free.
READ NOW USA
READ NOW UK
The Remnants of Yesterday
Life can change in the blink of an eye. Just ask Hayden Stone. One minute he’s on his way to visit his brother in New York, the next he’s running for his life. Previously normal people are becoming mindless killers, at least, those that don’t vanish into thin air. Worse, there are other things out there, frightening things that should not exist.
Thrust into a world in which nothing works, no phones, no internet, no cars, Hayden and a ragtag group of dazed survivors must pull together to achieve the impossible: Survive.
READ NOW USA
READ NOW UK
About the Author
Anthony M. Strong is a British born writer with a passion for writing horror, science fiction, and speculative fiction.
Always up for a new adventure, Anthony’s travels have taken him through much of England, France, Spain, Yugoslavia, Canada, Puerto Rico, Italy, Germany, Austria and most of the United States.
He has worked as an artist, designer, magazine editor, playwright, and actor. And of course, a writer.
When he's not writing, traveling, or making a mess of home improvements, he spends his time reading, watching documentaries, photographing, and occasionally enjoying a beer while watching American Football.
He currently resides most of the year outside New Orleans, Louisiana, and some of the year in beautiful New England, with his girlfriend Sonya, and three demanding but loveable pooches named Gidget, Tiki, and Hayden.
Connect with Anthony, find out about new releases, and get free books at www.anthonymstrong.com.
Want to know when new books are released? Want free stories in your inbox? Join my mailing list, no spam (or any other kind of tinned meats) I promise.
http://anthonymstrong.com/list/
The Return Page 4
