After an hour of kicking up rocks in the woods, the relative silence of the trio’s surroundings was broken by a sickening crack.

The surviving duo rushed to the source of the sound. Judging by the lack of screams, shattered tree, and the broken boy they guessed that the assailant snuck up behind Chad and put him through one of the surrounding trees. Which was a concerning level of strength.

Chad rushed to his brother’s side and pleaded with every deity out there that this was a nightmare or a sick joke. However, if a benevolent deity existed in this dark world, it most certainly wasn’t there with them this dark night and the malevolent ones were rejoicing in the tragedy.

After several seconds, Chad’s face gained a resolve rarely seen in his shallow day to day life.

“Addison let’s go get this b*****d and make him pay.”

However, while this event strengthened Chad’s resolve, it demolished Addison’s. It was a reality check for her.

“Chad, look at what happened to your brother. I’m starting to think we made a mistake choosing fight over flight. Let’s get back to the others and do what we should have in the first place and leave.”

“I am looking and I’m not leaving these G*****n woods until whoever did this is in the ground. You can go back to the others if you want, but I actually care for my sibling.”

Both faces morphed after the statement left Chad’s mouth and hung heavy in the air. Addison’s broke and filled with tears, while Chad’s was filled with shame and regret. Before Chad had the chance to apologize or take back his thoughtless statement Addison took off into the woods. Chad took off behind her trying to stay with her and protect her as he promised.

This chase went on for several minutes due to both of their athletic abilities, Addison’s for track and field and Chad’s from football. The chase came to a tragic conclusion when Addison fell victim to the cruelest entity there is, simple dumb chance. Addison tripped on a tree root and bashed her head on a rock. Chad simply stopped and looked in horror at what he had done with a carless word and an even more careless action.

Chad walked back to the cabin housing his friends with his head down. How he wished that the killer would take his life before he reached his friends, that he would never have to tell them what he had done, but as was so common in this incredibly dark night his luck just wasn’t there.

As he stood in the doorway alone under the stares of all those he considered friend, he couldn’t get out the words he so desperately wanted to. It just did not want to pass his lips. His first luck of the night was that he did not need to. They all knew what him coming back alone meant.

Randy’s face went from shock to sadness then settled into rage.

“You promised you would look out for her! You promised!” Randy bellowed before punching Chad across the face and knocking him to the ground. Randy proceeded to climb on top of Chad and proceeded to wail on him, each punch punctuated by a heartbreaking sob. Chad didn’t know which hurt him more, the punches or the sobs.

The others pulled Randy off him.

“Let me go!! He killed her!!”

The others tried to tell him that there was nothing that Chad could have done, that he had probably just lost his brother, and that now wasn’t the time to have this confrontation. That first claim hurt him more than anything Randy had done to him. He so desperately wanted to tell them the truth, but they were right about this not being the right time. They needed to stick together if they were to get out of this situation with everyone alive.

They decided that staying to fight would only end in further tragedy. They rushed to Randy’s truck as that was the best automobile to rush through the woods.

“This isn’t over, when we get out this, we will have a very serious talk.” Randy gritted through his teeth after pushing past Chad.

Chad knew exactly how that conversation was going to go as he had no choice but to tell everyone what really happened if he had any hope of looking himself in the mirror again.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

After reaching the truck they all packed themselves into the truck using every available space, sitting on each other’s laps up front, and piling in the truck bed.

After about two minutes of being thrown around the truck while it was driving over roots and uneven terrain, a tree fell right in front of them. The truck swerved out of the way but all that did was change which tree the truck ran into. Fortunately for them, being so packed together in addition to the reduction in speed brought by the change in direction and subsequent braking reduced the damage to only some nasty bruises and busted lips. Unfortunately, the beat-up truck would go no further as it no longer started up.

Their injuries were irrelevant however due to the killer likely being close to them. They exited the truck as quickly and efficiently as a group of terrified twenty somethings could and proceeded to run as quickly as they could while staying together. The less athletic members jumped on the backs of their more athletic companions in an attempt to speed up the retreat.

This continued until Randy, with his sister on his back, was clotheslined by a huge gray arm that suddenly jutted out from behind a tree.

_

Bobby Jenkins

“You change the world or the world changes you”

Grade D

_

Sandy got the breath knocked out of her due to her brother landing on top of her. Randy tried to get back up and defend his sister but was stomped back to the ground.

Chad rushed the creature, half hoping to somehow make up for what he had done and half to prevent any more innocent victims. He was subsequently hit into a tree by the being before he could do anything though. The creature raised his foot again about to put it through both Randy and his sister’s chests.

Chad stared at what was about to happen, it was more painful than his probably cracked ribs.

Everyone closed their eyes as no one wanted to see what was about to happen. As a result, no one saw the pale-yellow lightning bolt shoot out from the trees and brush past the monster. Afterwards the creature’s throat suddenly had a thin black line that grew into a thick black gouge that started to billow smoke like it was set alight.

“Sooooo, whatcha up to?” A gravelly voice sounded out from the figure that suddenly appeared following the disappearance of the lightning bolt. The figure wore a grey suit and a black dog mask with a pale blue lightning bolt finger painted across the left eye.

“Night… is… falling…” the creature croaked out.

“It’s already here my friend, but thanks for the heads up. Now in all seriousness, why did you come out after so many years dormant?”

“Night… is… falling…” the creature croaked out again.

The man sighed and then in a mocking tone said, “Well, that’s just not helpful, but as those seem to be the only words in your vernacular lets draw this conversation to a conclusion.”

***

I decided to see if its corpse would be more enlightening.

I proceeded to the dying creature relying heavily on my cane. While that lightning trick was effective, not to mention extremely cool, it took quite a toll on my body. My essence painting method based on what I learned from the succubus’ chi had a major flaw, while traditional chi provided a uniform boost, my method was lopsided. The lightning imbuement provided speed and power, but not the durability to withstand those boosts.

I walked back to my car after picking up the creature’s rusty shears and having my mask consume the creature’s accumulated negative energy. I blew out a cloud of black mist to cover my exit as I did not have anything to say to or ask from the co-eds.

As I was later driving back home, I could not help but think back on what the creature said, night is falling. I had no idea what that meant, and its soul was not particularly revealing. All I got was that there was some vague feeling that told the creature to walk the earth again. Add that mystery to list right under what plans someone had for me and whether or not they related to the aforementioned coming night.

Current Equipment:

Head:

[The Black Wasp Jackal’s Face]

Earrings:

[]

Necklace:

[The Energy Baron’s Stomach]

Clothes:

[Suit of Armor]

[Muscle Shirt]

Rings:

[The Mentalism Ring]

[Succubus’ Kiss]

[Mena’s Book]

Bracelets:

[]

Shoes:

[Cement Shoes]

Armaments:

[Weaver’s First Armament]

[Sense Cane]

[Holy Straight Razor]

Storage:

[Various Essences]

[Chi Organ]

[Murder Weapon: Axe]

[Murder Weapon: Shears]

[Green Thumb]

[Glass Eye]