They Came After Me

by C S Allen

  “I’m glad I’m not babysitting her ass. I hate drunken people; they always ruin parties for people who are not drinking,” I stated.

  “Well, let Steve take care of her since they are two of a feather,” commented Mike.

  “The only reason why she’s hot is that she’s been drinking. Now she’s probably going to get hypothermia like a dumbass,” Emma stated.

  After making comments on how we didn’t like people who get drunk, we found the remaining marshmallows that Olivia had left behind. We used the knives that Olivia had passed out to us earlier to put the marshmallows on. We melted our marshmallows over the fire still burning in the fireplace. “If only we could make S’mores, they would be so good right about now,” Emma stated.

  “Oh stop; just let me enjoy this marshmallow without making me want chocolate and graham crackers with it,” Mike replied to Emma. We ate about two to three marshmallows apiece before calling it quits because our stomachs were full of sugar.

  “Is someone yelling?” Emma asked us. We stopped talking for a few seconds and heard nothing.

  “Nope, I didn’t hear anything,” I replied.

  “Well, maybe Steve and Miss Drunk Ass might be arguing. You can’t reason with a drunk,” Mike stated.

  “Help me! Help me!” screamed Olivia from outside.

  Chapter Four

  We all stood up, all at once, fearful of what was happening to Olivia behind the kitchen door. Then the door burst open, and Olivia came running inside. She was wet from being in the lake and pale looking. “H-Help me! Steve went underwater; he’s drowning!” Olivia yelled at Mike frantically.

  “Let’s go!” Mike yelled, as we all quickly ran outside and down to the water’s edge. A light could be seen underwater a little distance away from the shoreline.

  “Steve is where that flashlight is in the water!” Olivia said, yelling and pointing to the light. We tried our best to see where Steve could be, but it was too dark to see anything beyond ten feet in front of us. “Somebody, do something!” Olivia stated frantically.

  Just then something moved past the light in the water, causing the light to go dark from right to left. “That’s Steve down there,” Mike yelled, as he quickly ran into the water and then went under toward the light.

  The three of us on the shore were stunned at what was happening, and then the light moved. Mike came up with the flashlight, coughing and gasping for breath.

  “I can’t see Steve!” Mike yelled, as he swam frantically to shore.

  Olivia was being held by Emma and was visibly shaking from cold and her fear.

  “I . . . I can’t see Steve under the water, and the water is too cold for him to be out here this long,” Mike said, while shivering from the cold.

  “We have to call nine-one-one. Everyone, check your phones at the cabin!” I yelled.

  “There’s no service out here; I checked!” Olivia yelled back.

  “I’ll stay out here with the flashlight and look for Steve. You guys go back to the cabin and check your phones again. Somebody has to have service out here!” Mike stated.

  The three of us didn’t argue and quickly ran back to the cabin in the dark. We heard Mike yelling for Steve as we hurried to get back.

  Emma got to the cabin first and burst through the door. “Where’s my damn phone?” Emma asked, going through her purse.

  Olivia and I had our phones near the kitchen sink, and we checked them at the same time. “Damn it, no signal!” Olivia yelled.

  “Everyone, just dial nine-one-one and see if it goes through!” I hurriedly said.

  Emma found her phone and dialed the emergency number like I had asked. “It’s ringing! Oh my God! Hello? Hello? I need help; my friend has drowned in the water! Will, what’s the address here? Hello? Hello? No!!” Emma yelled into the phone.

  “Everyone, keep trying until we get through!” I said frantically. About five minutes had passed, and no one could get through to an emergency operator. Constantly pressing the numbers and hitting the send button over and over made us into crazed people. “We have to get out of this area to pick up a signal, damn it!” I said, while the two girls were still dialing. “We have to take Steve’s car and get the hell out of here. Where are Steve’s car keys?” I said out loud.

  “I don’t know. Where did Steve change his clothes?” Emma said.

  Just as Emma asked her question, Olivia ran over to the kitchen sink and threw up. I went into the bedroom and found Steve’s pants on the floor. I quickly picked them up and searched his front pockets and didn’t find anything.

  Emma came into the bedroom and asked, “Did you find them?” “No, but I just remembered that Steve told me there’s a spare key under his floor mat. We need to have Olivia stay here, and then both of us will take our phones down the road in Steve’s car. When we make it to the main road, we should be able to get a signal and call for help,” I said, pulling Emma out of the bedroom and toward the front door. Olivia was sitting on the living room floor, crying hysterically while looking down at her phone. “Olivia, go get Mike and tell him that Emma and I are going to drive Steve’s car down the road to get a signal,” I said to Olivia, while kneeling down in front of her. “Olivia, did you hear me?” I said a bit louder.

  Olivia looked up at me and said, “I can’t see outside; it’s too dark. How am I going to find Mike?”

  Just then I realized that Olivia had become worthless. She was drunk, sick, and hysterical. We couldn’t leave her by herself, so I suggested that we all take candles and go down to the water and get Mike. Emma and I helped Olivia up and grabbed a few candles and lit them at the fireplace. Emma helped Olivia along in the dark while they followed me down to the lake.

  “Mike! Mike! Where are you?” I yelled. Just then I could see a light flashing in our direction.

  “Over here!” Mike yelled. We cleared the brush and then could see Mike just a few short yards away. “I can’t see anything out there. I keep calling but nothing. Is anyone coming to help us?” Mike asked.

  I told Mike of our plan, and then he reminded us that Steve’s car had a hole in the drip pan.

  “Screw it, let’s just get in the car and let the damn thing drive us as far as it goes. If it gets us a hundred yards, then that’s a hundred yards less that we have to walk,” Emma remarked.

  “We can’t leave Steve out here,” Olivia said. She was trying to calm down.

  “We have no choice, Olivia, we have to go,” I said.

  The four of us didn’t want to leave the lake, knowing we were leaving Steve behind. It was an awful feeling to make that decision. We all had our phones, though, and maybe one of us would get a signal as soon as we started down the dirt road. We had to try anything to get help. Mike led us out of the area with the flashlight and up to Steve’s car. As we got to the car, I could smell the spent oil from the engine. I got in on the driver’s side and pulled up the floor mat and found the spare key Steve told us about. The others just got in anywhere there was a door. I put the key into the ignition switch and turned the key. I pressed down a few times on the accelerator to give the engine gas, and the car started up roughly. I then turned the lights on and looked in the back to see that everyone was in. “Let’s go,” I said. I then looked at the front dashboard to put the car in drive, and then the engine made a loud, repeated banging sound. I thought the engine was going to explode.

  “Turn it off, Will, the engine is going to throw a rod!” Mike yelled over the noise.

  I quickly turned off the engine and the noise ceased.

  “What’s going on?” Emma asked.

  “The engine is screwed without oil, and if we don’t keep it off, it will pretty much blow up,” Mike stated.

  “What the hell do we do now?” Olivia asked. She was still shaken.

  “We’re going to have to stay here until daylight. Steve said that there’s a quart of oil in the back of the car, so we’ll plug the hole as planned and then try driving the car out of here,” I said.

&n
bsp; “I have an idea also. Two can stay here tomorrow and fix the car while the other two start walking the dirt road. One way or another, we’ll get a damn signal on our phones,” Mike suggested.

  “Good idea, Mike, we can’t do anything in the dark with a half-lit flashlight and candles,” Emma said.

  After we all agreed, we headed back to the cabin, feeling a bit frustrated. Steve was somewhere in the water, and we couldn’t do anything. It wasn’t fun going inside the cabin this time around.

  We all sat down in the living room and quietly looked toward the fireplace. Emma had her arms wrapped around Olivia for comfort on the couch. Mike was sitting at the other end of the couch, looking like he was in deep thought. I couldn’t sit down because I needed to know how Steve had drowned when he was a good swimmer. I didn’t know what had happened except that Steve had disappeared, and I was angry now.

  I couldn’t hold it in, so I just blurted out the question. “Olivia, tell me what happened down there. How exactly did Steve drown?” I asked.

  Olivia looked at me with disgust and said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Mike chimed in next. “I want to know what happened also. How did Steve drown, Olivia?”

  Olivia stared at the fire and just ignored Mike’s question. Emma then got up from holding Olivia and walked into the kitchen. There was a loud thump in the kitchen[pe5] from Emma stomping the floor, and then she walked back into the living room angry.

  She looked at Olivia. “Tell us what the hell happened to Steve, Olivia, now!”

  Olivia started to cry and held her hand up as if to ‘say just a moment.’ We were all staring at Olivia, and finally, she calmed down after a few minutes and started to tell us what happened. “You guys won’t believe me. You will say that I’m nuts or too drunk to know anything, but I know what happened.” Olivia paused, as if she was waiting for us to say something, but we didn’t. “Steve and I were in the water and playing with the flashlight. We would throw the flashlight not far from us in the water and then compete on who could get it first. We did that a few times, and on the last turn, something was in the water with us,” Olivia said, as she started to cry again.

  The three of us listened to what Olivia said and looked at one another. It freaked me out a bit when she said that something was in the water.

  “What was in the water, Olivia?” Emma asked.

  “I don’t know. It was black looking, like a tentacle or something, and it grabbed Steve. It pulled Steve down underwater, and then he came up screaming. I was so scared that I swam as fast as I could to the shore. Steve wasn’t behind me when I looked back. There were bubbles and a big wave that followed behind me. I couldn’t see Steve anywhere when I looked back. I was so scared,” Olivia stated. She was shaking from being in shock.

  “What the hell?” Mike yelled out. “Something like a tentacle took Steve? There’s no damn octopus in the lake, Olivia. Your friggin’ drunk ass couldn’t see shit two feet in front of your face when you left to go swimming. Jesus Christ, what kind of bullshit are you trying to pull?” Mike yelled at Olivia.

  “Stop it, Mike!” Emma then yelled at Mike, as she grabbed his arm. “It’s not her fault, Mike, something pulled Steve underwater. It’s dark out there; you tell me what you can see in the dark. Can’t you see Olivia is trying?”

  I had to interrupt before things got worse. “Guys, listen to me. The facts are that Steve was somehow pulled underwater. He then came up and screamed, scaring the hell out of Olivia. By the time Olivia got on shore, Steve was gone. What could have pulled him under? Let’s think about this,” I said.

  A few seconds passed, and then Mike said, “Algae. It has to be the algae, Listen, there has to be a big clump of it where Steve was, and he got caught in it. There’s no other explanation,” Mike stated.

  “Oh my God, he’s right. I remember seeing that crap in the water,” Emma chimed in.

  “I couldn’t save him; I thought something was after us when he screamed,” Olivia said. She was crying again.

  “It’s going to be all right, Olivia, it was an accident. It’s not your fault,” Emma stated. She walked over to Olivia and gave her a hug.

  “I’m sorry, Olivia,” Mike added.

  I didn’t know what to think or even say after that. I just looked at Emma and Olivia holding onto each other. The thing that looked like tentacles was more than likely algae. It was dark out, Olivia had beer goggles on, and Steve had gotten tangled up in a bunch of algae. I felt sick to my stomach that we had Steve out there somewhere. I wanted daylight to quickly come so we could get the hell out of the cabin and run away.

  Bang! Hisss!

  The back door flew open and slammed against the wall. I turned quickly to look at the back door. “Jesus Christ!” I yelled, not knowing what had caused the door to slam open. The girls screamed at the same time I yelled out.

  Hisss!

  That same sound came again from outside the door. “Where’s the knives?” I asked.

  “I have mine, Will!” Mike replied.

  No one could see outside the back door or much in the kitchen. The glow of the fireplace helped illuminate the back door as we all waited for something terrifying to come in. Mike ran over to the fireplace, reached in, and grabbed a partially burning log and took it out. He then turned to face the back door, quickly took three steps toward it, and threw out the burning log.

  Hisss!

  “That’s no damn raccoon out there making that noise, no matter what Steve said,” Mike yelled.

  I looked over at the girls, and they were just as scared as I was.

  “We need to get the backyard lit up with firewood, Will. Whatever it is making that noise isn’t going to like fire everywhere,” Mike stated. He reached into the fireplace again and grabbed a burning piece of wood and tossed it outside the door.

  “Mike, we need more wood from the side of the house if we’re going to do that,” I replied.

  Mike and I quickly came up with a plan of attack on how we were going to safely get the wood on the side of the house. Mike would carry another piece of wood that was burning like a torch, and I would hold the knife on the way outside. He would lead the way while I would be ready to attack whatever came after us. The girls would stay inside with the door closed just in case something besides us two wanted inside. We all agreed that something had to be done, and the plan was better than sitting and waiting for something to come after us. Mike again got a piece of burning wood out of the fireplace, and we cautiously went outside, looking around for anything that moved. The girls closed the door behind us and kept quiet while we moved toward the side of the house. I didn’t see anything in the darkness.

  Hisss!

  Mike and I stopped and looked in the direction of where the sound was coming from.

  “It’s coming from the lake,” Mike stated.

  “Good, let’s go faster and get the wood,” I replied. We turned the corner and found the firewood. I quickly gave the knife to Mike while he was holding the burning log. I reached down and saw spiderwebs and roaches scurrying along the stack, making me get a chill down my back, as I hate spiderwebs. I pushed a few of the logs onto the ground to get the bugs and webs scattered.

  “What are you doing, Will?” Mike whispered loudly.

  I didn’t want to explain, so I picked up as many logs as I could carry in my arms and then said, “Let’s go.”

  We turned around and headed back toward the door. Mike and I kept our eyes open toward the lake since that was where the sound had come from. We made it to the back door, and Mike tapped on it.

  “Hey, it’s us, open the door,” Mike whispered loudly.

  Emma opened the door for us and then closed it once we got inside. Olivia pushed the kitchen table against the back door. She looked more like herself. Mike went over to the fireplace first and tossed in his burning log.

  “Let’s burn down that whole backyard,” Emma said, as I walked behind Mike and put down about nine logs.

 
“I’d like to do that, but I think the cabin would end up on fire also, Emma,” I replied.

  Just then someone’s phone rang on the couch and then stopped after one ring. We all quickly ran over to the couch to find the phone. Emma found it first and picked it up to check it only to find that it was a dropped called from emergency services.

  “Damn it, it was nine-one–one calling us back!” Emma yelled disappointedly.

  “We need to keep our phones with us from now on; maybe they will call us back. Does anyone have a signal?” I asked.

  “Just try to call through, even if we don’t have a signal, guys,” Emma said.

  We stood in place for a few tries on our phones, but none of us could get through to get help.

  “Let’s get that wood burning in the fireplace so we can start throwing more wood outside,” I said anxiously. Each of us grabbed a log and put it in to burn.

  As we did, Emma’s phone rang in her hand, and she quickly hit the answer button and yelled into the phone, “Help us, please!” she said desperately. The three of us stared at Emma in hopes that the connection got through. “Hello? I can’t hear you! You’re breaking up!” Emma yelled.

  “Shit!” yelled Mike.

  “Tell them we’re at Senago Lake, Emma!” I said quickly.

  “If you can hear me, we are at Senago Lake!” Emma echoed to the person on the phone. “Oh my God, I can hear you now!” Emma said excitedly. “Where at the lake? Will, what’s the address here?” Emma asked me.

  “Shit, I don’t know where we are!” I replied.

  “Everyone look for mail around here; there’s got to be an address or something on it!” Olivia chimed in.

  We all scattered in different directions, looking for anything that resembled paper. I went looking in the bedroom by myself, and then I heard Emma yelling.

  “No! No! No! My battery is going dead! Someone, find an address quick! I’m still here, my battery is going dead, ma’am.”