Shadows in the Dark

by Hunter England

Luke

  We all woke up at about the same time. Karen seemed a little nervous, but I didn’t bother asking her about it. Nick seemed the same, mad about sleeping in the woods and all. Other than that, everything was normal. Well, as normal is it could be.

  “How much longer until we get there?” Karen asked as she slowly stood up. She wiped dirt from her shirt, letting it fall back down to the ground.

  “About two and a half hours. Maybe even more,” I said. She groaned and leaned against a tree, waiting for Luke to fully get up.

  “It’s not as bad as you think it is,” Nick said. He staggered up, still half asleep. “After the first hour, you get used to it. After that, you don’t really pay attention to it.” Karen sighed as she walked forward and looked up into the sky.

  “What time is it?” she asked. I pulled out my phone and checked the time.

  “It’s seven in the morning,” I said as I put his phone back in my pocket. “We better start heading out if we want to get there soon.” I turned and started walking the opposite direction, hearing Nick and Karen start to follow. We walked in silence for a while, not attempting to say a single word to each other.

  “Hey, Luke,” Nick said. I stopped and turned around.

  “Yeah?”

  “We never really planned,” he said. “What are we going to do if we find this guy?” I smiled at him.

  “Do what we did last time,” I said. “We fight him.” Nick stared into my eyes and smiled. But this smile was different. This was an evil smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol, gripping it hard.

  “How can you fight him,” he started, “if you don’t have your partner?” He rested the barrel of the gun on his temple.

  “What the hell are you-”

  The shot of the gun echoed throughout the trees as he pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through his skull and killing him. The blood spewed from the other side as his body fell to the ground. I gasped and staggered back, feeling my heart racing.

  Karen started laughing hysterically, staring at me. What the hell was going on?

  All of a sudden, her neck snapped and she fell to the ground, lifeless. Her eyes went blank. Both Karen’s body and Luke’s body melted into the dirt, oozing and disappearing into the ground. I gagged and bent over, puking.

  Before I could straighten up, I was flung backwards and rammed into a tree, not being able to move. I squirmed around, but I was being held there tighter than ever.

  The trees around me burst into flames, flooding the woods with a glow of fiery red and orange. I started to scream, crying for help and struggling to get free from whatever was keeping me against the tree.

  About ten feet away, a man stepped out from behind a burning tree, laughing and watching me. It was the hooded man.

  “You bastard!” I yelled. “Let me go!” He only started to laugh some more, enjoying me struggle to be set free.

  “Relax, Luke,” he said. “Don’t worry, this isn’t real. I’m in your head. Now, wake up.” The trees around me stopped burning all together. “I’m watching you.”

  I jolted up from the ground, screaming louder than ever. Then, I realized I was back on the dirt, having Nick and Karen there with me, asleep. They both quickly woke up and stared at me.

  “What’s wrong?” Karen asked. Nick stared at me confused.

  “He’s here!” I yelled, standing at looking around. “He’s here, watching us!” I searched the distance, but only saw trees. He could be anywhere, watching us as much as he wanted to.

  “Relax, Luke,” Karen said. “No one is here but us.”

  All of a sudden, Nick went flying from the ground and rammed into a tree, having the air knocked right out of him. Karen yelped and scurried up to her feet, looking around. I jumped up, frantically searching for any sign of movement in the distance. Nick didn’t move. He only groaned on the ground, motionless.

  Karen ran towards him, but didn’t get far. She was sent flying back, smacking right into a tree. She fell to the ground, and didn’t get back up.

  I started to panic, sending bolts of electricity in every direction, hoping to hit something that wasn’t meant to be there with us. Dirt was sent into the air as I flung electricity everywhere. I stopped for a second, and it was silent for a moment. Then, I was sent flying into the air, smacking my left shoulder into a tree and landing on the ground.