WARNING THIS CHAPTER HAS A DEAD BODY AND A GORY SCENE!!!
The woods swallowed them fast.
Branches creaked overhead like shifting bones. Dry leaves crunched beneath every step. The glow of the others' flashlights flickered faintly through the trees behind them—tiny, drifting specks of white and gold. Distant voices echoed and broke, like sound getting lost in fog.
Ryan swept his flashlight back and forth.
"Luke!" he called again. Nothing answered but the rustle of wind through the underbrush.
Emily walked beside him, a few paces back, her own light steady in her grip. The beam carved long shadows over tree trunks and twisted roots.
After a while, she broke the silence.
"You really think he's pulling a prank?"
Ryan exhaled through his nose. "I don't know. Maybe. But if he is, he's dragging it way too far."
Emily nodded slowly. "He's dumb, but not reckless."
Ryan glanced at her. "Exactly."
They kept moving. A chill seemed to cling to the trees here—different from the humid warmth by the fire. Quieter too. The forest felt like it was holding its breath.
Emily's voice came low. "What do you think happened?"
Ryan hesitated. His flashlight caught on a tree stump, then swept past.
"I don't know yet," he said. "But I don't like it."
"You think this has something to do with what you saw?"
Ryan stopped walking.
Emily took one more step before noticing, then turned back to him.
His jaw was tight. "You don't believe me."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
Emily held his gaze, eyes unreadable in the half-light.
"I believe you saw something. I just think… maybe you're still stuck in old patterns. Always hunting a threat. Always expecting something bad."
Ryan looked down at the forest floor. "And what if something is bad?"
A branch cracked in the distance.
They both turned sharply, flashlights rising in sync.
Silence.
Then wind again.
Ryan swallowed. "I'm not making it up. The camera, the ruins, the figure—"
"I know," Emily said quickly. "I know you're not lying. I just…" She sighed. "I don't know what to believe right now."
Ryan nodded, slowly. "Yeah. Me neither."
They stood still for a moment. Just the two of them and the dark.
Then Emily shifted her flashlight to the left.
"There's a path over here. Looks like it splits off. You want to take it?"
Ryan hesitated, then nodded.
They stepped off the main trail and into the deeper dark, their lights cutting narrow tunnels through the trees. The sounds of their friends were gone now. Just footsteps. Breath. The weight of everything unspoken.
After a while of walking we still haven't found Luke.
"We should go back…it's getting really dark out here" ,Emily says.
"Yeah you're right…we can't find him out here. Lets head back"
Suddenly a strange liquid dripped on Ryan's cheek. Ryan rubs it off of his cheek and pulls his hand away to find his fingers a dark red. He smells the substance and realizes this is blood.
"Em" ,he says quietly and when she looks at him he points up.
She notices the blood on his fingers and looks up at the trees and gasps loudly. Ryan looks up to and stumbles backwards in shock.
"GUYS!! TASHA!! DERRICK!! COME HERE NOW!!"
They came up to Ryan and Emily from some bushes after a moment. Derrick is the first to react after seeing what was up in the trees by falling over a log and vomiting on the ground. Tasha just looks away, trembling as she covers her mouth.
We finally found Luke, but not how we wanted.
He was hanging from a tree branch that was impaled through his chest and there was a gaping hole in his stomach where his internal organs were hanging from his body, missing bits and pieces. His arms and legs had areas of missing and torn skin revealing his bones, red with blood, and the skin that was left on was severely scratched up. His head was hanging from his neck with barely any muscle to hold his head on.
Ryan hesitantly turns to the group.
Get it together Keller.
"G-guys…we should go back to the mansion. Regroup and figure out….fuck I don't even know what to figure out but we just need to leave this. I'll come back later and see if there's anything that can hint towards what happened here. Derrick I'll get you a pot or something to puke in. I know those carpets are expensive and stuff."
Everyone walks towards the mansion and when we get inside they settle on the couches and chairs.
Ryan returns from the kitchen and hands Derrick a bowl.
"So….did anyone notice anything? Anything at all?"
Everyone shakes their head.
"Okay well tonight everyone will sleep here…if you can even sleep. I'll go back out and see if I find anything. Derrick, you got any guns on this rock?"
"There's a shooting range 'bout a mile north. I keep anything in a nearby shed ranging from shotguns, pistols, ARs, and snipers. Should all be there and the ammo is there too in the shelves. Jeep keys are hanging up in the kitchen"
Ryan nods, "Thank you. Is there a lock on this shed?"
Derrick shakes his head.
"Well when this is all over get it done. Can't have anyone stealing guns."
Ryan picks up some keys off of a hook by the front door and goes outside.
There they are from earlier in the day. The jeeps. Ryan hops into the first jeep. He turns the key in the ignition and the engine roars to life.
I gotta find something…maybe this has to do with that thing I saw in the woods…
Ryan starts driving into the forest, ready to finally uncover something evil on this island.