text: [Themes: horror]
  
  You turn, and run as fast as your legs will carry you. Trees are torn up and sent flying away behind you as the beast gives chase. Thankfully, its size means that navigating past the trees is impossible, so it needs to tear them up and throw them away to follow you. You have enough of a lead to know you have two options: You could head towards town, getting help from the many armed residents of Dawnwood who have enough combined firepower to invade a small nation, which would easily be enough to scare away or kill the beast. Hell, the need for that is unlikely, as since there's been a lack of reports about this creature, it probably wouldn't venture out and follow you if you escape the confines of the trees. On the other hand, if you head towards the caves, you might be able to find a place to hide and escape this terrible beast.
  
  > head toward the caves
  You change direction, bursting towards the few caves that these woods have. You can here the beast right behind you, feeling its hot breath on the back of your neck, blowing your hair out of the way. You spot two caves you think... well, hope you can reach before it catches you. One is a small crack in stone that you think you can dive through that's definitely far too small for the beast to follow you that leads into a tunnel further in. The other is an opening to a large cavern that's also too small for the beast to follow you and that widens considerably further down.
  
  > go through the small tunnel
  You dart through the small crack, heading quickly down the tunnel. As you're emerged in complete darkness you stop walking, your deep breaths echoing off the cave walls creating an eery sound. You pull out your phone and turn on the flashlight, illuminating the area. Then, you let out a petrified scream. The walls are covered with vivid symbols of red, sharp and alien characters you don't recognize. But that's not what makes you scream. Three bound figures lie on the ground, their bodies now a scene of horrific cruelty. They're naked, but their skin has been torn off to let you see the wet muscles that glisten underneath. You let out a sob as they begin to writhe. They're not dead, you realize in terror. The figures writhe, and you begin sobbing as you back away in terror. You run with a scream to the opening of the tunnel. You don't dare venturing out in case you're sighted by the beast, so you sit by the opening, sobbing. You begin to smell a strange smell coming from further down the tunnel, this one different from the rotting flesh. Soon, your wretched, sobbing and broken body finds sleep.
  
  > Awaken
  "We found her!" a voice cries, awakening you from her slumber.
  
  You open your eyes, spotting a young man you vaguely recognize as the town mechanic.
  
  "It's ok," he says. "You're going to be alright."
  
  The images of the writhing corpses fill your mind as more of the town's residence arrive.
  
  "Jesus, what the fuck happened her?" someone asks.
  
  "God, is she OK?"
  
  "Does she need a doctor?"
  
  "Hazel! Where's my baby girl!?!"
  
  You hear Dad's voice and spot him among the growing crowd.
  
  "Dad!" you cry, as he leans in and hug him.
  
  "Oh Hazel, thank God I've found you. What the hell were you thinking, sneaking out like that? It's OK, I found you. You're safe. What happened?"
  
  You sob, and attempt to recount your story to Dad, to his confusion.
  
  "Your friends said that you had been looking for Kyle. They found him, but then they couldn't find you. You... you smell of drink. What were you thinking, Hazel? You must've got drunk and seen a bear. I'll tell the sheriff and have a hunting party sent out to kill it."
  
  "It wasn't a bear, Dad! And there were bodies! They're in the cave!"
  
  "Sweetie, you were drunk!"
  
  The Sheriff appears, emerging from the crowd. He stops by Dad, squeezing his shoulder.
  
  "I'm glad you found your gal, Malcolm. We'll talk later," he says, before pausing. "She smells of drink. I've always believed in the father disciplining the kid, so I'll leave that to you, Malcolm."
  
  "Come on, sweetie!" Dad says. "I'm getting you home."
  
  "No wait, check the cave! There's bodies in there!"
  
  Dad sighs, and the Sheriff heads in. He appears a minute later, shrugging.
  
  "There ain't nothing in there. There's a few rabbit carcasses that look to be infected, but that's it," he says.
  
  "What...?" you ask in confusion. "I need to go down there and check...!"
  
  "Calm down, darling. Those animal corpses could give you an infection. You might've seen them wrong in the dark. I'll have someone clear them out later. Come on, everyone, head on home."
  
  The Sheriff stands by the entrance to the tunnel, motioning for people to leave as the search and rescue party heads out towards the town as Dad thanks them.
  
  "Come on, Hazel, let's get home," Dad says.
  
  You follow Dad out as he leads you back home.
  
  > go home
  The ride home is long and quiet. Dad can clearly tell you don't want to talk, so he leaves you alone. Eventually, you pull into the driveway.
  
  "I've told your teacher you won't be coming in today. Go upstairs and have a shower, you can have the day to relax. I'm staying home to look after you today."
  
  You nod, and walk inside. You pull off your mud-covered shoes, and walk upstairs, leaving a trail of muddy water behind you. You walk into the bathroom, and slowly get undressed. You unbutton and pull off your jeans, then step out of your underwater. You pull off your jumper, than your shirt. As you go to unclasp your bra, you freeze as you notice yourself in the mirror. One of the strange, alien symbols you saw covering the cave walls above the disgusting, shuddering, skinless bodies, is carved into your stomach, just below your belly button. You shriek, and you hear Dad call up to you.
  
  "Hazel? Are you OK?"
  
  > say "I'm fine!"
  "OK, honey."
  
  You stare at the symbol in horror, before taking a deep breath. You open your bathroom cabinet, and pull out some bandages, applying it to the wound. The wound's shallow and small, nothing really to worry about medically, although it terrifies you. Whoever did that to the corpses had access to you while you slept. You shudder at the sight. You decide to shower to feel some bit cleaner.
  
  > Shower
  You walk into the shower, and set the temperature as hot as you can without scalding yourself. You step under the water, feeling your hair grow in weight as the water soaks it through. The water warms you and helps clean the layer of dirt and mud from your body. To your absolute embarrassment, you notice the water pooling yellowish beneath you before it goes down the drain and you realize in the terror of last night you must have wet yourself at some point. You blush, both from embarrassment and the scalding water, and finish cleaning yourself. You turn off the shower and grab a towel, tossing your dirty clothes into the wash basket. You dry yourself off and get dressed, before collapsing on your bed. You grab your laptop and turn it on, finding comfort in the endless terrible comedies that Netflix provides. Dad brings you breakfast, then lunch, leaving you in a cocoon of blankets in front of the latest episode of Some random crime show about a police division that doesn't do nearly as much in real life, finding comfort about the stereotypical characters and massively contrived murder methods used to kill people. Eventually, you hear a knock on the door.
  
  "Hazel!" Dad shouts. "Your friends are here."
  
  You wiggle out of bed and jump up, walking down the stairs. Standing there are Mason, Carter, Lucy, Ant, Becca and Kyle.
  
  "Hey, Hazel. You feeling alright?" Lucy asks.
  
  "Yeah," you reply.
  
  "I'm so sorry, I just got drunk and wandered off to find a place to go to the bathroom. I didn't think anything would happen to you because of it!" Kyle says apologetically.
  
  "It's fine," you say.
  
  "Well, we were only stopping by to see if you're OK, and if you wanted to go down to town and get a bite to eat."
  
  Dad stares at you.
  
  "Do you remember what happened last time you went out? Only last night, remember?"
  
  "We'll have her back before sundown. We're only going into town, and I'll take good care of her," Mason says.
  
  "I'm sure you will," Dad says skeptically, looking Mason over. "Hazel, keep your phone on and be back by eight. Not half eight, not quarter past eight, not a single minute past eight. Got it?"
  
  "Yes, Dad."
  
  You walk out the door with your friends out towards town.
  
  > One Hour Later...
  An hour later, you sit in the pizza place Lucy and Becca work in, with two other unfortunate teenagers working behind the counter, a large pepperoni pizza in the middle of the group.
  
  "So... you were attacked by a monster... who then led you into a trio of undead dead people?" Ant asks. "No offense, but that sounds like complete and utter bullshit."
  
  You stare at Ant incredulously.
  
  "Do you not recall less than an hour before that what happened? You nearly pissed yourself!"
  
  Ant looks down, ashen faced.
  
  "There were no ghosts. You're just fucking with us," Lucy complains.
  
  "Fine, I believe you."
  
  "I believe her," Kyle says.
  
  "You d-don't have a c-c-choice, Kyle. You n-nearly got her kill-killed," Carter says.
  
  Kyle shrugs.
  
  "Fine, say we believe you," Becca says. "What are we going to do about it?"
  
  "What do you mean?"
  
  "Well, there's a monster in Dawnwoods.. That's a problem, also the monster's too big to go in the cave you were in or else it would've caught you, so that means the body skinning thing is separate, so we got a monster and at least one Satanist."
  
  "How do you know it was Satanism?" Ant asks.
  
  "Well, it wasn't Christians, hence, it must've been Satanists," Becca says.
  
  "Why c-couldn't it b-b-be any other r-r-religions?"
  
  "Carter, this is the whitest, most Christian town that has ever existed. There was one Sikh family, and they had a cross burned on their lawn and were forced out of town after 9/11. There's no other religions here."
  
  "OK, fine."
  
  "So, what are we going to do about...?"
  
  You groan as a sharp pain hits your stomach. It intensifies, and you let out a yelp.
  
  "Are you OK, Hazel?" Mason asks.
  
  "Yeah, I'm..." you groan, and Lucy helps you to your feet.
  
  "I think I'm going to be sick," you groan.
  
  "Come on, I'll take you," Lucy says, dragging you into the bathroom.
  
  You're pulled past the urinals and into one of the stalls, and drop to your knees, letting out a torrent of puke. You groan in pain as you begin to puke, filling the bowl.
  
  "Thank Christ I'm not on shift now. I'd hate to have to clean up this again," Lucy says.
  
  You puke again, before the pain starts to recede.
  
  "Don't worry, Hazel, we'll get you home soon," Lucy says.
  
  "Hey, Lucy?"
  
  "Yeah?"
  
  "Did you drag me into the guy's bathroom?"
  
  "Oh, oops. Sorry, Hazel. I clean both toilets, so I'm used to entering them both, and this one was closer..."
  
  You sigh, and stand, ready to go home.
  
  > go home
  You friends drag you home, where your father waits.
  
  "Hazel! Are you OK? Carter called and told me you were throwing up."
  
  "I'm fine," you groan, as Dad helps you inside.
  
  "Go upstairs, sweetheart. I'll get you a flat Seven-Up to help settle your stomach and a hot water bottle. Thanks for helping get her home, guys," Dad says.
  
  "No bother," Mason replies. "See you later, Hazel."
  
  Dad helps you up to bed, and you collapse onto your mattress. You fall asleep before Dad even gets into the ktichen.
  
  > Six Hours Later...
  When you wake up six hours later, you panic. You're lying in a rusted, iron cage, surrounded by pitch darkness. You stand slowly, finding yourself in the middle of the woods. You look around desperately for a way out, but it seems you're stuck in here. The wind blows through the trees, rustling leaves and giving you a cold chill as you realize you're in your underwear. You look around, spotting a large RV next to the cage. Two figures step out and begin walking towards you. They both wear ski masks, hoodies and baggy black pants, with one carrying a doctor's bag. A third appears, pushing a gurney towards you. You scream for help and back away to the back of the cage. One of them steps forward and unlocks the cage door, and they enter the cage.
  
  "Hands behind your head, don't move," one of the figures said.
  
  > Attack
  You charge forward, swinging at the first man. You hit him with some force in the jaw, and he grabs your arm. He slaps you hard across the face, knocking you to the ground. The men grab you, and force you into the gurney. They strap your hands up my your head and your feet together, leaving you stretched out on the gurney. A ball gag is stuffed in your mouth and strapped tightly. You wince one off them puts surgical gloves on, before drawing a thermometer that's pushed into your ear. He checks it, before placing a cold hand on your stomach. He pushes gently, before squeezing.
  
  "I'm right. Get the injections ready."
  
  You shake and try to scream as one of the men takes out a needle that's almost comically large and sharp. He jabs it into your stomach and you scream into your gag and presses down, releasing the liquid into your stomach. You begin to tear up as he repeats the process with several more needles, and by the end your eyes are obscured with tears. He smiles at you through the ski mask, before another man arrives with a large burlap sack. He opens it, pulling out a small mammal like a rat or a ferret, and a large knife. You watch in horror as he slices the mammal's throat open, letting blood flow out onto your stomach. He tosses the carcass aside, and begins to use his fingers to draw various patterns along your belly as you wince and shake. He sighs, and slaps you hard across the face.
  
  "Stop shaking," he says, before turning to one of the other men. "Tomorrow night."
  
  He finishes drawing his patterns, before taking out a small black notebook. He begins to read from it in an insane language you don't understand, like the spluttering of a madman. The pain in your stomach intensifies greatly as you let out a petrified scream as you feel yourself being torn apart. Finally, he stops, as does the pain.
  
  "Ah, good. Get the chloroform and untie her. Then, bring the kids back from their walk."
  
  They free you from your straps, and you notice the door's still open.
  
  > run for the gate
  You leap up and run for the gate. Clearly the men weren't prepared for your newfound strength, so you charge out of the cage and begin sprinting towards the trees. As you hear the men loudly swearing behind you, you break through the trees. You run through the darkness as you avoid trees, before knocking into something. You fall to the ground, painfully scraping your knee on a tree root. You look up, and scream in terror as you see them. A half dozen figures slowly surround you, giving you a view of them. The... creatures are all children, but they're so deformed, so mutated, they barely qualify. One is missing both it's arms, replaced with long, thin, slimy tentacles that reach forward to touch you. A second is missing most of its face, a gaping hole in its place filled with tiny, wiggling tentacles from the walls, back, roof and floor of the mouth. A third looks like a cute, perfectly normal girl of around four years old, except her mouth hangs open and her eyes are completely black. Another, one of the worst, looks like a cross between a schoolgirl, a fetus and an octopus, and stands wiggling above you as it reaches out towards you. You scream, and crawl backwards, terrified. They advance slowly, tentacles extending to rub you, slick goo wiping across your face and hair. You sob as you try to stand, before being yanked up by a man in a mask. He takes out a large rag and a glass bottle. He soaks the rag, before holding it to your mouth. You try not to breath, but after about a minute you take a gasp for breath, inhaling the fumes.
  
  > Lose Consciousness
  You awaken in your bed, terrified and curled up in your blankets. You briefly wonder if you dreamed everything, but know that that's impossible. Your knee hurts where you scraped it, your window is still open, and you know your mind couldn't conjure up everything you saw last night.
  
  "Honey? Are you OK?" Dad calls.
  
  You pause, wondering if you should tell him, before realizing he'd never believe you.
  
  "Yeah, I'm fine," you reply, wondering what you should do.
  
  It's Saturday, so you could visit your friends and explain the situation. If you're more optimistic, you could go through the normal, legal means, although you're almost certain that will be complete and utter bullshit.
  
  > visit your friends
  You shower, noticing the same mark still under your belly button, and head off to meet your friends after a quick breakfast with Dad who remarks how "You look like you haven't slept". He gives you something to help settle your stomach, and you head out, texting your friends. They're already at Ant's house, so you head over there, carefully following their directions. Eventually, you find yourself at a house that's not even worth describing as it's identical to every other house in this shitty town. You knock on the door, which is opened by a short, balding man in a cheap suit.
  
  "Hello?" he asks, peering at you.
  
  "Hi. I'm Hazel, I'm a friend of Ant's."
  
  "Hmmm... Of course you are. I'll admit, it was my mistake calling him Anthony. I wish I had went with something nicer. It was his mother, god rest her, who wanted to give him a nice name like Connor, but I wanted Anthony. Ah, I'm rambling. He's in the games room, last left."
  
  You nod and thank him, heading down towards the last left and going inside, finding a pool table, several beanbags with your friends spread out among them, and an Xbox.
  
  "Hey Hazel. F-f-feeling better?" Carter asks.
  
  "Yeah, I... I need to talk to you about that."
  
  Ant looks up at you, raising an eyebrow.
  
  "Have you... put on weight?" he asks, staring at your belly through your t-shirt.
  
  "Hey Ant: Stop being such a prick. You don't ask a girl that," Lucy says.
  
  "What do you need to talk about?" Mason asks, looking away from the console to look at you, which Ant quickly takes advantage of and both screen peaks and starts heading towards his location for an easy kill.
  
  You explain your situation to the group, and they stare in either disbelief or horror.
  
  "There's no such thing as monsters," Lucy says as you end your tale.
  
  "Hang on," Mason says. "There's a rusted out cage from the old freak show in the woods. How else would she know about it?"
  
  "Maybe she saw it when she was lost."
  
  "I didn't," you say.
  
  "Fine. We have to do something about this, then," Becca suggests.
  
  "She's right," Kyle says.
  
  "Y-You're only agreeing because you f-f-feel bad about getting her l-lost," Carter points out.
  
  "Shut it, Carter!" Kyle hisses.
  
  "Have you called the police?" Ant asks.
  
  "I told the Sheriff, he didn't believe a word I said when he found me."
  
  Mason nods.
  
  "Sheriff's an idiot. We have to check out the spot," he says.
  
  You shake your head nervously.
  
  "I'm not going back there. There's that beast and those Satanists..."
  
  "If you want, I could get my brother to drive us out there in his pick-up," Lucy suggests.
  
  "Will Drake really take us out to the woods?" Becca asks in surprise.
  
  "He owes me. I covered him when he was caught doing business with some kids at school."
  
  "Doing business?" you ask.
  
  "Drug dealing," Lucy explains, eerily matter of factly.
  
  "Oh."
  
  "I'll give him a ring," she says, disappearing off into a side room.
  
  You sigh, nervous at the thought of heading back to the cage, but you know it needs to be done. You wait for Lucy to return, which she does after a few minutes.
  
  "Good news and bad news!" he says cheerfully.
  
  "Go on." Carter says.
  
  "My brother will drive us into the woods and help us look around... but not until eight."
  
  "It'll be dark by then!" you say hysterically.
  
  "It's OK, you'll be safe with all of us! I'll have Drake bring the biggest, most powerful flashlights he can, and a gun or two," Lucy says, smiling.
  
  "I don't... I mean, I can''t..."
  
  Mason grabs you and smiles.
  
  "It's OK, Hazel. I'll keep you safe."
  
  You have to admit, you do feel safer in his arms. Damn his charm.
  
  "Fine, we'll do it," you say.
  
  "Great. I'd feel bad if you were killed by evil cultists because we didn't do anything."
  
  He smiles cheekily, and you begin to regret this decision.
  
  > Nine Hours Later...
  Nine hours later, you're ready to go. You've somehow convinced Dad to let you go out, not daring to tell him your actual destination and instead claiming you're staying at Lucy's house. You meet up at the Lucy's house with the group, and walk into the living room, where they're all sitting around.
  
  "Are we ready?" you ask.
  
  "Damn straight!" Ant smiles, holding up a large backpack. "Spare food, water bottles, lighters, matches, rope, fireworks, some knives and flashlights. What'd you guys bring?"
  
  Carter holds up half a chocolate bar he's been chewing on.
  
  "Half a M-Mars bar," he says, before taking another bite. "A q-quart-quarter of a Mars b-bar."
  
  "I brought a penknife and a lighter," you shrug, and Ant looks around disappointedly.
  
  "No one brought anything?" he pouts. "You guys suck."
  
  You hear a horn outside, and look outside. A large RV drives up the driveway, stopping outside. Lucy skips out the door, before running up to him, and you follow her outside.
  
  "Hey, Hazel," Drake says.
  
  "Drake's friend, Ed, has the pick-up, so we're driving to the woods, meeting him and switching vehicle," Lucy tells you.
  
  "OK," you say, walking into the RV. You raise an eyebrow as you notice that the RV's windows are covered with shutters and bin bags, and the actual interior looks like a scene from Breaking Bad, covered with beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners and other Chemistry gear.
  
  "Well, you're blatant," you say.
  
  "Hey, it's effective."
  
  "I mean, yeah, but Breaking Bad made this a trope. Don't police search RV's for this."
  
  "Breaking Bad helped my sales enough that I'm bribing the deputy. You'll be surprised how much extra meth heads are willing to pay for a product when you add some blue dye."
  
  You shrug, and take a seat in the RV, as your friends pack in.
  
  "Be careful back there. Knock one thing over and this place could blow."
  
  "Really?" you ask.
  
  Drake grins and shrugs, and begins driving.
  
  "Maybe. I mean, there's a distillery back there as well as the lab. I'd imagine one speed bump and boom!"
  
  "That's unnerving," Ant says.
  
  "I guess. So, why the hell am I dragging all your friends into the middle of the woods to the old freakshow cage?"
  
  "I told you already," Lucy reveals.
  
  "That nightmare bull isn't convincing me. What's the real reason?"
  
  "That is the real reason."
  
  Drake turns around to stare at you in annoyance.
  
  "What...?"
  
  "Eyes on the road, Drake," Kyle says.
  
  "Fine," Drake says, turning around. "Still, I want an explanation why I'm driving into the woods because the new girl had a nightmare."
  
  "It wasn't a nightmare!" you say.
  
  "Sure," Drake says.
  
  You all sit in awkward silence until you reach the outskirts of the woods. Drake pulls over, and you stand and head out the door. Although you couldn't tell because of the shutters and blacked out windows of the RV, you can now see that night has fallen. An empty red pick-up truck with four seats sits next to the woods. Drake strides forward, pulling out his phone.
  
  "Ah, shit," Drake says. "Of course Ed left the truck here and went off on his quad rather than just take back the RV like he was supposed to."
  
  He locks the RV and hides the keys in the wheel well.
  
  "I'll text my friend and get him to pick up the RV. Come on, get inside. Let's go drive to a dumbass cage in the woods."
  
  Drake, Lucy, Carter and Ant go in the seats while you, Mason, Becca and Kyle sit in the back of the pick-up. You sit, half-lying on Mason who wraps one arm around you. The emotional part of your brain momentarily forgets all fears in favor of a childish infatuation and hormonal lust towards Mason that causes you to blush and your heart to flutter, the rational part of your brain reminds you to stay vigilant in case the cultists or that beast do show up. You and the rest of your friends pull out flashlights and fire the beams off into the darkness, illuminating trees and undergrowth.
  
  "We're nearly there," Drake shouts. "It's a hell of a lot easier to get here because a path's been made."
  
  Your ears perk up at that.
  
  "What do you mean?" you ask, as Drake rolls down his window fully.
  
  "What'd you say?"
  
  "I said what do you mean? You said there's a path."
  
  "Yeah. It's like a big RV drove over the undergrowth and knocked a dirt path along."
  
  "What, you think Ed's been driving out here to work in the RV?" Lucy asks.
  
  "Nah, Ed's terrified of the woods. Said something about a monster or something."
  
  You feel a flash of fear as you remember the RV from last night. You stare outwards, illuminating every shadow, both hoping to and terrified of seeing something hiding in the dark.
  
  "Here it is! The old freak show's cage!" Drake says dramatically.
  
  As Drake pulls the pick-up into the clearing in the woods, you see the massive, rusted cage, although there's no RV. You shiver in fear, and Drake steps out of the truck.
  
  "Let's investigate and get home," Drake says, firing his flashlight beam towards the cage.
  
  The flashlight beam illuminates the cage and its insides. The old rusted gurney sits there, now encrusted with dried blood.
  
  "Well, that's new," Drake mentions.
  
  You step back nervously.
  
  "Hazel said there was a gurney in her dre... when she was abducted," Ant points out.
  
  "Fuck, this is some creepy shit. I'm calling the sheriff," Drake says.
  
  Drake takes out his phone, and makes a call.
  
  "Hello, Sheriff Buckly? I just found a gurney in the middle of the cage in the woods covered in dried blood. I think some weird... oh, really? OK, you know where the cage from the... oh, great.. Cool, see you in a few minutes, or an hour, or whatever."
  
  "What was that?"
  
  "The sheriff said he'll come here straight away."
  
  "Good," you sigh in relief.
  
  You really can't imagine having to deal with this without the help of the law. Now, it's out of your hands. You wait patiently for Sheriff Buckly to arrive. Eventually, you spot a flashlight heading towards you.
  
  "There he is," Drake says.
  
  You shine your light ahead, illuminating the figure of Sheriff Buckly. He swears, and holds his hands to block his eyes.
  
  "Turn that off!" he says, and you do.
  
  "Fuck, how'd you even get the truck out here? I can barely walk through the undergrowth," he says. "Where this bloody gurney?"
  
  You point at the cage, and Sheriff Buckly walks over and looks at it.
  
  "Jesus... who else saw this? I'm going to need to gather all the witnesses and find out what was going on," he says.
  
  "We're the only people who've seen this, although Hazel got a bit of a closer encounter."
  
  "So you didn't tell you pa about this?" Sheriff Buckly asks.
  
  You shake your head, and Sheriff Buckly nods.
  
  "Good," Sheriff Buckly says.
  
  Sheriff Buckly draws his revolver, and quickly aims at Drake's head and fires. Drake's head snaps back as it explodes partially, sending chunks of gray brain matter, pale skull and pieces of red flesh at you. You scream as Lucy runs over to Drake as his body collapses backwards. Mason runs for the truck, before the Sheriff barks an order.
  
  "Stop! Move another muscle and I'll blow the brain out of everyone of you!"
  
  Mason stops, raising his hands. Sheriff Buckly points his gun at all of you, forcing you to raise your hands into the air.
  
  "Everyone, calm down. Nobody needs to get hurt," Sheriff Buckly says.
  
  "Fuck you!" Lucy screams. "You killed him! You killed him you piece of..."
  
  Sheriff Buckly steps forward and cracks her across the head wit his revolver.
  
  "Shut up! Carter, Mason, Ant, Kyle, get in the fucking cage!" he shouts.
  
  Mason, Ant, Kyle and Carter slowly walk into the cage.
  
  "Now, back the fuck up to the end of the cage!"
  
  The boys comply, and the Sheriff draws a set of keys from his pocket, locking the cage door. He turns to you, Lucy and Becca.
  
  "Just don't move. They'll be here in a minute."
  
  You stand in silence, the cold wind blowing, the silence only broken by the occasional soft sob by Lucy as she stands over Drake. After about half an hour of waiting, you see the RV pull up along the path. It stops, and four masked men step out.
  
  "Anyone escape?" one asks.
  
  "No," Sheriff Buckly responds. "Fuck, I didn't even know they were coming out here. You said whatever the fuck you injected the girl with would make her forget everything."
  
  "I said it probably would. Her phone's bugged. How didn't you find out?"
  
  "She didn't make any calls saying she was going to do it!"
  
  "Well, at least no one escaped," the masked man says, pulling off his mask.
  
  The group remove their masks. You vaguely recognize them, one being the mechanic who found you, one being the town doctor, Doctor Kessel, another being a German teacher from school and the final one being the bartender of the local bar.
  
  "What are you going to do with...?" Becca asks, before Sheriff Buckley lets out a bark.
  
  "Hey! Shut the fuck..."
  
  "No, Jake, let the girl ask her question," Doctor Kessel says.
  
  "What are you going to do with us? Who are you? Why did you send a monster to hunt me?"
  
  "What are we going to do with you? Nothing, ideally. We only need to borrow you. Who are we? Well, surely you must recognize us. Louis, Sheriff Buckly, Mrs Jordan, Alison and me, Doctor Kessel. "As for the monster, I assume you're referring to the Black Beast. That's not an issue, I assure you. Although I'm not sure of its origins, if you look at town records, it actually kills most of the bears in the area, which reduces the amount of attacks so much it's saving lives. If I was in your situation, I'd be much more worried about us."
  
  "What do you want? Are you going to sacrifice us to Satan?" Becca asks again.
  
  Doctor Kessel lets out a chuckle.
  
  "No, Rebecca, we're not. We're not satanists. Real satanists don't even believe in Satan. We're... researchers. We're humanitarians. We're explorers. When we were little kids, we used to be the best of friends. We played in these very woods. When we were little, we found... a book in one of the caves. We took it and read it, and we found out the most amazing things. Do you know how insignificant not only we are, but this planet, this solar system, this galaxy and this universe is? There are so many amazing things we learned about these beings that we can't even comprehend, but compared to what's out there, we learned so little. So we kept reading. The book included some instructions to summon them, to summon these beings that are stronger than any gods we've ever imagined, more alien that any alien we've created in fiction, more incredible than anything you could experience here. If we create a Key-Bearer, we can create a portal to these beings."
  
  "That's insane! How do you know they won't wipe us out, or enslave us all, or worse!" you cry.
  
  "I don't," Doctor Kessel admits.
  
  "It could destroy everything!"
  
  "You just need to calm down and listen!" he hisses. "Imagine you're stuck in a room. There is a small tap for water, a toilet and a small machine that creates a nutritious yet tasteless paste. You have everything you need to survive and continue your blank, boring existence. Now, one day, a door appears in the room. It's unlocked. Do you go through?"
  
  "What the fuck does...?"
  
  "We are trying to open that door. Just as the person in the room doesn't know what's on the other side, anything is better than the bland, boring existence of the room. We're trying to open the world up to experiences unknown to man, good or bad, because it has to be better than this meaningless existence."
  
  "What are yuo even talking about? What the fuck's a Key-Bearer?" Mason shouts, as Sheriff Buckly aims his gun at his head once again.
  
  "Shut up," Sheriff Buckly grunts.
  
  "Ah yes, the Key-Bearer. That part's the worst for you guys. A Key-Bearer is a creature birthed of the beings' power of a human womb. We've had several attempts at this, but every time we failed. Instead of creating a Key-Bearer, we created half-human, half-monster children who aged rapidly. Finally, we settled the problem. The mother of the Key-Bearer had to be a virgin, post-puberty, below 21 and to have AB Negative Blood. You'd imagine my luck when I found one such target walking around the cave where I was sacrificing some former mothers to keep the beings' interested in our world. I simply pumped out some gas I had on hand to help knock her out, and voila! I got to work."
  
  You stare at him in horror, putting a hand on your stomach. There's a series of gasps and shouts from the group, before Sheriff Buckly fires his gun in the air.
  
  "SHUT IT!" he roars.
  
  "I'm sorry, Hazel. It'll be over in a few hours."
  
  "A few hours? It's only been two days, how...?" you ask in horror.
  
  "The Key-Bearer grows incredibly quickly. It should be able to be birthed within a day at most."
  
  You feel something wiggle in your stomach, in your womb, and a pain shoots through you.
  
  "Listen, Hazel, it'll be OK," Doctor Kessel says. "In a few hours, you'll be fine, and we'll be in a whole new world."
  
  > Agree to birth the Key-Bearer
  "Fine," you say. "I'll do it."
  
  "Fantastic!" Doctor Kessel says eagerly. "I promise, you're helping save humanity."
  
  Doctor Kessel takes your hand, and leads you towards the RV, where a second, newer gurney awaits. You climb up in it and are strapped down. Doctor Kessel stabs a needle into your neck, hushing you.
  
  "Don't worry, I'm going to help you sleep for the next few hours. When you wake up, it'll be all over..."
  
  You begin to feel sleepy, before closing your mouth. Your heavy eyelids close, as the needle presses into your veins, sending you into a deep sleep.
  
  > Awaken
  Mother of the Apocalypse
  
  You awaken, lying in a small bed. Sheriff Buckly stands above you, looking eerily joy-filled.
  
  "You're awake! Good, we can begin!" he says.
  
  You stand, looking down. Your legs are covered in dried blood and other liquids, and your body immediately runs out of strength. You're helped along, out of the RV. Your friends are gone, but you only look for a second before you see the preparations for the portal. A large circle of stones lies, each stained with a drop of blood. Standing around the circle are the six cultists; Louis, Doctor Kessel,Mrs Jordan and Alison. Standing around them are a half dozen monster-children that make you want to vomit, the failed attempts at rearing a Key Bearer. They're so deformed, so mutated, they barely qualify as children. One is missing both it's arms, replaced with long, thin, slimy tentacles like pasta. A second is missing most of its face, a gaping hole in its place filled with tiny, wiggling tentacles from the walls, back, roof and floor of the mouth. A third looks like a cute, perfectly normal girl of around four years old, except her mouth hangs open and her eyes are completely black. Another, one of the worst, looks like a cross between a schoolgirl, a fetus and an octopus, and stands wiggling. Still, that's nothing compared to what sits in the middle of the circle. Sitting in the middle, wiggling, is your child. The Key-Bearer is nothing but a seething mass of tentacles that whip around, seemingly drawing lines of purple lightning around itself in the symbol that was carved into you.
  
  "Ah, you're here!" Doctor Kessel says eagerly.
  
  "Where are my friends?" you ask.
  
  "It doesn't matter now! Now, we begin! We will witness the glory of Crexiciliatanian's creation!"
  
  The Key-Bearer speeds up, painting the symbol across the very fabric of reality. The ground begins to crumble away, turning in pure blackness. Suddenly, there's a flash, and the portal opens.
  
  Then, it begins.