Wilderness Survival

Wilderness Survival is a story submitted by a user named scarycheyni1998. It’s about a group of teenagers who encounter something very strange in the woods.

Wilderness Survival

On a dark night in August, some teenagers sat at a campfire that was near burning out.

“No, I do not believe in ghost stories,” said Tom as he yawned.

Then, suddenly he was sitting there with an open mouth and just staring.

”What in the name of…” He said.

“Whaaat?” asked Alexander and turned around to see what Tom was staring at.

It was a very dark night and the clock was close to midnight. It was almost impossible to see the moon behind a tight cloud cover. Anna turned around and looked, and froze stiff. She couldn’t see exactly what it was, but someone or something was on the top of the hill. Alexander could feel a cold sweat on his back. What is that shadow? he thought.

Tom got back to himself again and said: “Hehe, now what is this? It’s probably some dumbass taking his dog out! I’m going up there to take a look if none of you guys dare to.”

He got on his feet from the stump he was sitting on and went towards the hill, near the dark shadow. One thing was a little odd.

“If this really was a human, wouldn’t it at least move a little?” Tom asked. He called out in a loud voice, in the hopes of getting an answer, but the shadow remained, completely quiet.

Tom stopped and looked back. “Unbelievable…” he said to himself. “In the dark, every distance looks much shorter than it really is.”

He was almost on top of the hill and at least twenty meters from the campfire. Then, when he turned his head again, he almost leapt into the air. The shadow was only about two meters in front of him! Anna and Alexander heard a sharp scream from the top of the hill and turned around to take a look. The shadow was gone! Tom was standing there with his back turned against them.

They ran to him, Alexander reaching him first. Then he asked, “Tom! Are you all right?”

Tom turned around slowly. Anna screamed. Tom had the worst, most menacing grin on his face. Something was wrong. He looked like someone else.

Then, from his gray lips, came an awful, hoarse voice, “TOM IS NOT HERE!”

Suddenly, with no reason (or maybe from shock,) Alexander lost all control of his legs and fell to the ground.

“Alexander!” Anna yelled, but before she got to do anything, Tom, or at least what used to be Tom, was standing right behind her and pushed her down the steep slope by the side of the hill. She fell backwards and rolled down to a bog.

“Anna!” Alexander yelled.

Tom just stood there, laughing in a raspy voice. Then, he ran into the forest. Alexander was laying on the ground, watching Tom run further and further into the woods. It appeared as though his feet weren’t touching the ground.

“Alex!” yelled Anna, who was struggling to get out of the bog. “Help me,” she yelled hysterically.

Alexander crawled down the muddy slope, towards Anna.

“Grab my hand” he shouted.

She grabbed his hand, but Alexander couldn’t hold on with his feet, and he fell into the bog as well. Almost halfway down in the mud, they heard a man’s voice. “Here, grab my hand!” It was a friendly voice.

They grabbed the hand and, one by one, they were pulled out. They lifted their heads and saw a man who looked to be in his forties. He was wearing some kind of uniform and looked almost like a scout.

“I’m the forester, what are you kids doing out here so late? I came when I saw there was a campfire that was left unattended, so I went down here to put it out. But you two look like you need some towels. Come with me.”

They walked for a while until they came to a steep hill. Then, the Forester stopped.

“Want me to show you something?” he asked.

He was speaking with the same strange voice that Tom was speaking with before he disappeared into the woods. The forester’s eyes went completely black. Then, he took out a huge knife.

Alexander screamed, “RUN! He is possessed with the same thing that took Tom!”

The forester roared after them, he wasn’t yelling, he roared. “COME BACK!”

They ran through the forest faster than they had ever ran before. They crawled over rocks, reefed themselves to the blood on the branches. They finally reached the road. They stopped to take a breath when they heard the sound of a car. They turned against it, the car stopped and the driver stepped out. It was Anna’s dad.

”Where is Tom?” he asked.

“I’ll explain later, can you just get us away from here?” she yelled.

They got into the car and Anna’s dad began driving. Oddly enough, he didn’t say a word. Both Alexander and Anna sat in the backseat, feeling relieved that it was finally over.

Then, Anna asked, “Dad? What were you doing out here in the middle of the night anyway?”

Her father turned his head around and said, “Want me to show you something?”