Word Count: 13,950
I sat near the edge of a tall cliff, watching the sun break above the tree line. The glorious orb cast its orange light on the underside of the early morning clouds. I gazed upon the wonderous sight as I struggled to recall the events of the past few days. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare from which I would awake, but there was no waking from the reality I was in.
Glancing down to my hand resting in my lap, I looked over the length of my hunting knife. Crimson blood dried and adhered to the blade and handle. The red blood stained my jeans and tattered shirt as well.
It was just supposed to be a fun week of camping with my and two other families. We planned this trip for several months, wanting to get our children away from the television and off of the grid for a while. The little ones were spending more and more time playing games or texting on their phones, and all of the parents wanted to get them to spend some time in the out of doors. We thought a camping trip in the Ozark Mountains and a canoe trip down the Buffalo River would do them some good.
The first day of our group vacation was a miserable one. The children complained about the drive, they complained about helping set up camp and they complained about not having their electronics. By the time we got the children to sleep that evening, we were all almost ready to pass out ourselves. We stayed up and drank a few beers and shared a few joints before retiring for the night.
The next morning, we got the children ready and took them to a gradually sloping waterfall under which lay a nice pristine pool. This was somewhere we used to come as young childless couples, so it was at least ten years since any of us was out here. Although we did not know if things changed any since then, we decided to try it anyway. Despite the fact the paths with which we were quite familiar no longer existed, it was not all that difficult to find the waterfall.
Before we allowed anyone to slide down the slippery slope into the pool below, my oldest friend Tod and I made our way down to the bottom on foot. We found the streambed full of cold flowing water, but we had to make sure that there was indeed still a pool at the bottom. Checking it for any large rocks or boulders that may have fallen into the water over the years, Tod and I found the pool in virtually the same condition as the last time we were here.
On our way back up, Tod and I examined the rocky streambed for any obstacles that could possibly cause injury to anyone. Satisfied, everything was fine, we reached the top and Tod climbed into the flowing water and yelled out with enjoyment as he rushed down to the pool below. After giving Tod enough room to get out of my way, I climbed into the rushing water and was off. It was every bit as much fun as I remembered it being. When I got to the bottom of the natural slide, the water launched me six feet through the air before I finally hit the water.
I yelled at the top of my lungs for my wife and the others to start coming down. I barely heard her reply with a simple “Ok.” Several minutes passed, and no one came down the trough-like streambed. I was just about to yell up to my wife again when Tod’s oldest son came shooting down the slope. He was screaming loudly as he shot over the edge and into the pool below. Tod helped him away from the landing area, so the next child did not land on top of him. Until we got them in the habit of moving out of the way, someone would need to stay at the bottom of the slide to prevent anyone from being injured by the next person down the slope.
All of us had fun once we got the children past their initial fear of jetting down the slope in the cold foamy water. We took turns playing and supervising until the sun was nearly at its peak in the sky. At this point we decided it was time to round up the children and go back up the hill where our coolers remained several feet away from the stream for lunch. There was some grumbling as the kids still wanted to play, but they were just as hungry as the adults and eager to eat something.
The other fathers and I got the young ones cleaned up as the mothers made everyone sandwiches. I had to make sure my wife loaded several packages of those peanut-shaped, peanut butter cookies. I remember always having those when my family went camping when I was a child, and that crunchy peanut butter flavor was synonymous with camping and the outdoors for me.
Of course, as soon as they finished eating, the children wanted to get back to the natural waterslide. There was a lot of complaining for the next hour as we gave lunch some time to settle before getting back into the water. They did not really grasp the concept of getting cramps from eating and swimming, but we finally got them occupied doing a bit of exploring through the woods. The fathers took the children and gave the mothers a little break from the pandemonium of that many kids begging to get back into the water.
There was a shallow cave not too far from here where Tod, Gregory and I used to hang out when we were younger. I knew the kids would get a kick out of it even though it did not go very deep into the bowels of the earth at all. There were other caves nearby of which we knew, but it took very little debate to decide those would be much too dangerous for children. Those particular caves were probably dangerous for adults as well, but when we were younger and exploring, we did not think of the perils that could be involved.
We would not be going deep enough into the small cave to be beyond the sunlight, but Gregory brought a flashlight just in case. It would come in handy looking into the smaller crevasses to check for wild animals. When we arrived, we found vegetation growing over the top half of the cavern’s opening.
My two boys and Tod’s son were very eager to explore the cave even if it wasn’t very large. Gregory’s daughters on the other hand did not want to go inside. I supposed going exploring like this was more of a boy’s thing. Not having any daughters of my own, I did not have much of a clue about what they liked to do. Leaving Gregory and his girls to entertain themselves outside, Tod led the way into the cave with the three boys behind him. I took up the rear.
There was a strange odor in the cave that I first attributed to the vegetation hanging over the entrance, but the deeper we got the stronger the smell became. It was not overwhelmingly strong, but it was strong enough to be very noticeable. I could not really say what it smelled like. The smell was not all that repugnant; it was not the smell of rot or feces. It almost seemed like the odor was coming from the walls.
I did not notice at first, because it nearly blended in perfectly with the gray stone of the cave, but there appeared to be a blue mold, or lichens perhaps, growing on the ceiling and some of the walls. Needless to say, we did not stay in there very long. The boys got to see the back of the cave, and they were happy with that. If it was some sort of fumes coming from the minerals in the stone, we did not want to expose the children to it for very long.
We exited the cavern to find Gregory and his daughters picking flowers from a nearby shrub. When they saw us, they met us in the middle with their blossoms in hand. I recognized most of the flowers, but several of them were some of the oddest foliage I ever saw. The white pedals formed a semi-circle, and the dark violet pattern in the center looked like the Grim Reaper.
By the time we returned, we were gone for almost two hours. I could not speak for anyone else, but I was anxious to get back into the water. That odor from the cave seemed to stick to me, or possibly my clothing. Even after the walk back through the forest to meet back up with the wives, the smell still clung to my body.
Gregory’s girls wanted to go show their mother the flowers they collected as we took the boys into the cave, but the boys immediately wanted to get back into the water. I went down first so there would be an adult at the bottom when the boys came sliding down. I was so thankful to get into that cold water and have that lingering odor washed off of me.
We played around on that smooth stone slide for several more hours before it was time to get back to camp. There was still a good six hours until dark, but we wanted to get back to camp with plenty of time to spare. There was still the supper meal to prepare, and we did not want to wait until it was late to eat.
As everyone was mulling about the camp doing their thing, I noticed Gregory’s daughters were being awfully quiet. Normally they were rather rambunctious little girls, but after our trip to the stream they seemed to be uncharacteristically silent. I assumed they were probably tired from all the walking and playing they did today, and they were likely to fall asleep as soon as dinner was ready.
Once I finished my hot dogs, potato chips and baked beans, I disposed of my plate and plasticware and excused myself from the camp. I drank two beers after we returned to camp, and it wanted back out. I slipped off into the woods to find somewhere distant enough I would feel comfortable relieving myself. That was the first time I noticed something out of the ordinary.
I was sure I could see three blue lights a short distance away hiding behind the trees and underbrush. The lights were faint, but one of them seemed to glow a little brighter than the others, like it was larger than the other two. I watched for several minutes, not sure if I was seeing something or if it was because I was just sitting in front of a campfire. If I did truly see three blue lights, they did not remain long. I took care of the reason I walked out into the dark woods by myself in the first place and returned to camp.
When I got back, I found Gregory and both his girls already retired to their tents for the night. Something about that seemed a little suspicious to me. I know they seemed tired when we returned to camp, but I did not expect them to go to bed immediately after I stepped away to urinate. I did not think I was gone for long, but perhaps I watched those faint blue lights in the forest for longer than I thought I did.
The rest of us stayed up a few hours after we put the children to bed for the night. I kept an eye on Gregory’s wife to make sure she was not acting strangely. By every way I had to tell, she seemed to be acting her normal self. She and my wife were not very good friends. They did not hate each other; they just did not particularly care for spending one on one time with each other though. Since I was not around her as much as I was Tod’s wife, it was hard for me to make any definitive calls on her behavior one way or another.
No one else seemed to get the feeling anything about her mannerisms were out of the ordinary, so I finally wrote my suspicions off as paranoia. Maybe it was whatever gasses we inhaled while in that shallow cave. I did not remember it smelling like that when we visited it the last time over a decade ago. Perhaps it was the foliage hanging over the top of the opening or the mold growing on the ceiling that caused that strange, pungent odor.
Eventually the remaining adults went to bed for the night, and my wife and I climbed into our tent next to the one in which our two boys slept. I started to ask my wife if she noticed anything strange about anyone after returning to our camp, but I decided against it. If she would have thought something unusual, I thought she would tell me about it. Of course, I felt like something was amiss but was afraid to say anything to her about it. I was sure it was no more than a sense of paranoia, and it would be gone after a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, my oldest son woke me up outside the door of the tent dancing on one leg. He had to go to the bathroom, and he did not want to venture into the woods by himself. The morning mist still hung in the air and gave the forest a haunted look. After feeling so uneasy for the later part of the day, I was a little scared to walk out there myself. I took my pistol with me just in case we encountered any wild animals and walked my sons out there so we could all three relieve ourselves.
Before we even made it back, I could smell the coffee brewing. I did not know who got it started, my wife was still sleeping when I got up, but I was looking forward to a cup when we returned. The rich, nutty aroma danced in my nostrils and edged me closer to being fully awake. I saw Tod climb out of his tent, eyes barely open, with his nose leading the way. Gregory got up early to walk his wife and girls out to the woods, and they put on a pot of coffee as soon as they returned. I was so glad we brough a propane stove with us, because we allowed the fire to burn itself out last night. Otherwise, we would not have coffee for at least another hour or so.
I got out the portable stove and started heating up a cast iron skillet to fry up some bacon. Once I got all the bacon cooked, I could get a pan of scrambled eggs for the children first, then another for the adults. Today we were going to canoe down part of the Buffalo River, and everyone would need to start the day with a full belly.
As I cooked, the other parents got the children fed and ready. As soon as we finished eating, we got the vehicles loaded with everything we thought we might need, loaded the children and headed up to our starting point. Gregory and Tod drove two of the vehicles to our end point to leave one of the cars there so we had a way to get back to our other vehicles at the end of our canoe trip. I let them drop off one of the cars intentionally, because I did not want to leave my wife and children alone with them. No one was acting strange at all today, at least as of yet, but I still had this nagging feeling something was not right.
I almost wished I did go. It took Gregory and Tod almost an hour to return with the one vehicle, and the children grew very impatient by the time they arrived. I was so happy when I saw that van driving up the long dirt road while the rest of us waited. So we would not have to wait any longer, we got the kids strapped into their life jackets before donning our own. As Gregory and Tod smeared their skin with sunscreen, the rest of us started loading the canoes. Within fifteen minutes of their arrival, we were on the water.
My youngest son was in the canoe with me and my wife, but my oldest boy was in a canoe with both Tod and Gregory’s wives. Gregory was in a canoe with his two girls, and Tod was alone with his son in the fourth. The starting point in the river was fairly deep, and the water was as smooth as glass.
We were not more than fifteen minutes into our gentle ride before the river became shallower producing a slightly rougher surface. Most of the children became a bit anxious when they saw what looked to them like rushing water. In reality, it was not much rougher than the water we canoed so far.
Once we got into the slightly churning water, the little ones saw how easy it was and were not quite so anxious when we encountered rougher water later. I was delighted to see the children having enjoyed the canoe trip as much as they did. They were so used to their video games and other electronic devices; I was afraid they would not be able to appreciate the fun of being outdoors.
A little before noon we decided to stop at a port bar in the river where the water made a sharp bend. Here we could allow the children to play in the river after they ate and not be in water deep enough for swimming. We laid out a few blankets on the pebbly ground and began making sandwiches for the little ones. Tod and I both enjoyed a nice cold beer with our meal, but Gregory did not have one. I thought that seemed very strange being he was usually the first one to pop open a can.
With all the fun we were having, I forgot about Gregory and his two daughters’ strange behavior last night. Now, when he would normally be the first one drinking a beer, he told us he did not feel like one at the time. Those were words I was quite sure I never heard him say in all the time we knew each other. His daughters seemed to be acting normally. They finished their chips and sandwiches then went down to the water with the other kids. I could not help but think it peculiar of Gregory not to have a refreshing beer though.
After we allowed the children to play for around half an hour, we got everything loaded back into the canoes. As soon as we could get the lifejackets on everyone, we were rowing down the center of the river again. I tried to lag behind the other three canoes so I could keep an eye on Gregory, but my oldest boy kept yelling for me to catch up. Eventually I gave in. I was afraid I would seem suspicious if I did not catch up after all of his carrying on about it.
My paddle splashed a little louder in the water as I put more muscle into my strokes. Our canoe gliding on the calm surface, we caught up to our son in no time. I was glad to see him having so much fun. It was difficult for me to enjoy myself with that nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that something was not right.
I managed to put that aside for a moment when I heard the sound of rushing water up ahead. We could not see it yet, but the noise of the upcoming rapids echoed between the valley walls. My heart began to race with anticipation. I could see the excitement on my oldest boy’s face, but I could not see my younger son’s face as he was seated in front of me. Even so, I could still tell he was excited simply by his motions.
Rounding a bend in the river, we could finally see the rapids up ahead. I could see several very large boulders breaking the water into four passages. The outer two were too close to the shore to be useful; we were obviously going to have to take one of the center gaps. Before we got too close, we all spread out a bit. It would not do for us all to hit the rapids at the same time. That would probably do nothing but drive us into each other.
Tod and his son took the lead. My oldest son’s canoe went next, but they took the third passage instead of the second. Crossing around behind Gregory and his girls, I set our canoe on a course following that of my son. Attempting to urge Gregory over to the next gap in the rocks, I tried not to make it seem like I was driving him to the other path. I just wanted to follow behind the canoe holding my first-born son.
The water was rough and churning once we passed the three large boulders, but everyone made it through with minimal difficulty. Here the river began to narrow, and the water began to rush at a much faster pace. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, yelling and hollering in excitement as we navigated our way through that rough corridor.
I tried to keep an eye on Gregory as he and his girls made their way through the rapids, but it was simply too difficult. I had to pay attention to where my canoe was going. I was sitting in the back and it was my task to keep the slender boat on track. It was one thing to let my attention stray when the water was calm, but with it this rough my focus was on keeping us from turning sideways to the current.
Were I not so concerned with what Gregory was doing, I might have enjoyed the fight with the water as much as everyone else. As it was, I was having an extremely difficult time trying to have fun. I could not pay attention to enjoying our trip along the river and the beauty of the nature that surrounded us.
How could I when I was so sure there was something not right with my long-time friend?
Once we cleared the swiftly rushing water, everyone was hooting, whistling and making other sounds of conquest. We began to pull all four canoes alongside one another. I tried to feign the zeal everyone else felt after conquering our first real challenge along the trip. It was difficult though. I noticed Gregory glancing at me as we all caught up to one another, and his strange behavior was all I could think about. Now that I saw him trying to keep an eye on me, I was more suspicious than ever.
We traveled on for a little over an hour before we decided it was time to stop and give the children a snack and make sure they all had something to drink. This time I noticed Gregory grabbed a beer out of the beer cooler and popped it open. I could hear the can open from where I was standing, and I could even hear him slurping as he tried to take a large drink from it. I watched Gregory shotgun one beer after another, yet now he sounded like a teenager drinking a beer for the first time.
As I was getting my cooler loaded back into my canoe, I noticed Tod walk over to Gregory and the two began to have a conversation. That was not suspicious in and of itself, but when I saw Gregory turn his back to me so he could say something to Tod unobserved, I could not help but wonder if something was amiss with Tod as well. I had my suspicions the flowers Gregory’s daughters picked released a pollen or some other chemical that might be affecting their brains. If Tod was now acting strangely, it might be somehow contagious.
We passed through several more sections of river that provided almost everyone with a great time. Some of these were even more intense than our first real pass through rock filled waters. I wished we could have made better time, but we had to stop to allow the adults time to rest and the kids to get themselves a snack. I think the only time I got excited during our whole canoe trip was when I saw the van parked just off of the water.
It was dark by the time we got the other van, loaded the canoes on top and got everything else loaded. When we arrived at the clearing in which we parked, most of the children were already asleep. It was too far to carry them and the coolers, so we had to rouse them all and march them back to camp.
I helped my wife get our boys tucked away for the night, and she removed a joint from her fanny pack. As she sparked up the joint, Tod and I got some wood loaded into the fire pit. We passed the joint around as we got the fire burning bright, then it was finally time to relax. As we got our campfire going, I paid attention to Tod. As far as I could tell, he seemed to be acting like he always did.
Gregory seemed to be acting normal, and I began to wonder if all my paranoia was for naught. Although I felt a bit uncomfortable sharing a joint with him, I began to feel more at ease watching his body language and listening to him joking around. Perhaps he simply did not feel well last night and this morning. If Gregory did not feel well, I would expect him to complain about it at least some. As it was, he did not mention anything about it at all.
The next day we went for a hike on a well-marked trail we found in a brochure of the area. Gregory, his wife and daughters stayed behind. He said his girls would have more fun picking flowers in the nearby area. Gregory said that way the flowers did not wilt any before they were able to get them pressed in between sheets of cardboard. It was nice not having him around making me nervous the whole time, but I still could not help wonder what they were doing back at the campsite.
The trails were marked with signs indicating the numerical designation of the trail as well as the difficulty level for each path. We found some very interesting rock formations I did not remember from my youth, but I was not even sure if this trail existed at that time. The boys all wanted to play on the rocks, but we were worried about snakes. Most of the formations were exposed to the light of the sun, and those were good places for the serpents to sun themselves.
On our way back, we saw a herd of at least twenty yellow-tailed deer crossing the pathway. Both Tod’s son and my own became very excited when we saw the beautiful creatures no more than fifty feet away from us. A twelve-point buck guarded the clear walkway as the others made their way from one side to the other.
My youngest son wanted to run up and pet them, but I whispered to him that he needed to stay quiet and still. He was used to life in the suburbs where virtually every animal he saw was someone’s pet. He did not understand that these were wild animals. Again, I whispered to him to be quiet and watch the deer. After they passed, I explained to him the one with the antlers was watching us, waiting to attack us if it felt we were a threat.
That evening, I only had one beer after putting the children to bed. I was exhausted from the hike we took earlier in the day, and I was ready to go to sleep. My wife came on to bed with me. She was not really ready for bed, but she said she did not want to wake me trying to scoot into her sleeping bag later in the night. I told her not to worry about it, but she was somewhat insistent. I did not care either way. I was just ready to go to bed.
I awoke sometime during the night. What time it was I could not say as I was completely unable to move. As hard as I struggled, I could not move my arms to look at my watch. Laying there terrified with my back to my wife, I could hear voices speaking outside. It sounded like the voices were coming from the opposite side of the camp, directly behind Gregory’s tent.
The voices were not speaking English. They did not even sound human. They could be best described as throaty chirps and gurgling. It seemed like I laid there for an hour or more as I listened to the voices. I was sure the chirps came from one being and the gurgling from another, as it was clearly two separate voices.
I wanted to get up and see what was out there. Eventually, I wanted to scream in terror, but some unseen force held my body firmly in its paralyzing grasp. My pistol lay in the tent only inches away from my hand, but it might as well have been a mile away. Unable to scream, unable to grab my gun, I was more terrified than I ever was at any point in my life until now.
As I struggled to make my body do what I told it to do, the alien conversation seemed to come to an end. I could barely make out a faint blue glow through the fabric of our tent. It seemed to be joined by a faint yellow light as well. I only saw the glows out of the corner of my eye for a moment before they faded into darkness. It was at this point that I again fell to sleep.
When I awoke the next morning, my wife was already up with our boys. My head spun as I climbed out of my tent and looked around. Nearly everyone was awake but me, and I did not understand why my wife did not wake me sooner. I looked at my watch to see what time it was, and the hands were not moving. The glass was covered with condensation on the inside. That should not be possible. It was a waterproof watch, and I did not cause any damage to it that I could see. I could barely see the hands inside indicating the watch stopped at thirteen minutes after midnight.
Gregory was in the process of cooking breakfast, and all the children were in the middle of eating their first meal for the day. I quickly walked over to my boys with the intent of taking the food away, but by the time I got to them they already finished their plates. Filled with a great deal of ire, I approached my wife and asked her why she did not wake me sooner.
“You were tossing and turning all night, so I thought you could use a little extra sleep,” she explained.
I was not sure if I believed her or not. For part of the night, I was paralyzed; I was paralyzed by whatever it was out there lurking in the darkness. When I awoke this morning, I was sure I was in the same position I was when I heard those alien voices speaking. There was very little doubt in my mind something either possessed or replaced my friend Gregory, and I was beginning to suspect the same thing happened to my friend Tod. I was not sure about Tod’s son or either of their wives, but I was rather confident Gregory’s daughters were possessed as well.
All through the morning I kept trying to think of some excuse to cut our vacation short and return home. I did not want to be trapped out here with these people in the woods any longer. There was something out here that was taking over the bodies of the people who were my long-time friends, and I was not about to allow it to get me and my family. Coming up with an excuse my wife would believe turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated. I was used to giving her a little white lie now and then, but I was not used to using grandiose lies with her. Whatever excuse I made, I had to make sure she fell for it.
The first thing I had to do was go and relieve myself. I could not even think about drinking a cup of coffee until I got the beer from the previous evening out of me. I tried not to go very far. I only went so far as to be semi-obscured from everyone else at our camp. I did not do a head count before walking out here to urinate, and I started to wonder if anyone else was out here with me. I tried to make myself go as quickly as I could and returned to the others.
My wife, anticipating my return, had me a mug of coffee ready and was going to fix me a plate of eggs and sausage. Gregory cooked breakfast that morning, and I did not know if I could trust anything he prepared to go into my body. That was when I thought of my excuse to leave this vacation early and get away from these people, or whatever they truly were.
Wrapping my arms around my stomach, I shook my head and told my wife I did not feel like eating. With sympathy in her voice, she asked me what was wrong. I kept my answer very brief and told her my stomach hurt intensely. Rather than suggest we go home so I could get medical attention, my wife told me I should probably skip the day’s activities. She thought I should stay behind and rest for the day. My wife even offered to stay behind with me. She said our boys could go with the others. There was no way in hell I was going to send my boys off with those things masquerading as my friends.
For a moment I began to panic. I was not going to drive away and leave my wife and two boys behind, but I did not want to spend another day with these imposters either. Whatever I was going to do, I had to make my mind up quickly.
“Gregory and the girls are staying behind,” my wife informed me, thinking she was making me feel better about staying myself. I guess she thought I would feel better with their company instead of being alone.
I did feel better knowing Gregory was not going to go fishing with everyone else, but now that put me in a new dilemma. I did not know if I should go fishing with everyone else or stay behind and keep an eye on whatever was impersonating my long-time friend. Ultimately, I decided to keep up my facade of feeling ill so I could still use it as an excuse to leave later. This way I could also stay behind and make sure Gregory did nothing to sabotage our camp or vehicles.
My boys were disappointed I was not going fishing with them, and I was a bit disappointed as well. We could always go fishing some other time, but right now Gregory had to be monitored so he did not attempt to tamper with anything while everyone else was gone. My wife was very proficient fishing, so I felt confident the boys would still have a good time.
Before they left in one of the vans, my wife asked me again if I was sure I did not want to go. I assured her I wanted to go, but my cramping stomach would not make for a very enjoyable time. I hoped my family would be safe even though Tod was going to be there. My wife had her pistol with her, and she was more than aware of how to use it. I felt better with her being around Tod than I did her being around Gregory.
Climbing back into my tent after the others left, I told Gregory I was going to lay down and hope my stomachache went away. He acted like he believed me, but I know he saw through my deception. I cannot say how, but I knew he knew. I tried to lay there as quietly as I could so I could listen to what was going on outside my flimsy canvas tent. I hoped I would be able to see through the thin canvas walls of the tent enough to watch what Gregory and his strange girls were doing. Unfortunately, the sides of the tent were more transparent at night than they were in the full light of the sun. Even though I was not able to see them, I was still able to listen in to what they were doing so long as they stayed in the camp.
Not quite thirty minutes passed when I heard Gregory ask his daughters if they would like to go look for some more flowers to press. Almost in perfect unison, the two girls answered him with the exact same words. Granted, they only said the words ‘Yes Daddy, let’s go.’ The phrase was innocent enough, but it was yet another strange behavior for them to say it the way they did. It was almost like a preprogrammed response.
I took note of the direction in which I heard them leaving as I planned on following them once they were far enough ahead. If I left too soon, they would probably see me, so I had to give them time to get far enough away. I just had to hope they did not get so far ahead of me that I lost them.
Closely keeping an eye on the time, I continued to try to focus on my hearing. Five minutes after I heard Gregory and his daughters talking about picking flowers, I carefully climbed out of my tent and looked around the forest for any sign of movement. Although they were not quite where I expected them to be, I was able to spot that imposter and those two imposter children of his.
I put my pistol on my left hip and my hunting knife on my right before heading out after them. I really hoped I did not have to use my weapons, but I was going to be ready to protect myself from whatever my best friend since childhood and his daughters had become. Even though it was already warm outside, I put on my hoodie because it had a camouflage pattern that would help keep me hidden from those on whom I wished to spy.
Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the forest. My father started dragging me out hunting with him when I was only eight years old. He taught me how to walk toe to heel, which when done properly allowed one to move virtually silently over the dry leaves covering the timberland floor. When I was little, more of my life than not was spent outside in the woods surrounding my childhood home. I knew how to hide, and I knew how to follow someone without getting caught.
My oldest son left his binoculars behind, sitting right outside the flap of their tent, so I grabbed them and took them with me. I knew he was going to be upset about leaving his binoculars behind, but right now I needed them more than my son did. This enabled me to lag even further behind the thing imitating my oldest friend and reduce the chance of it spotting me.
Gregory and his daughters were walking to the east, but as they walked, they began to circle around the camp to the north. They were trying to circle back around to the camp to sneak up on me. I knew he was up to no good, but now I had confirmation.
Why else would he leave camp in one direction but return from another?
Since they were circling around the way they were, I did not have to do as much walking. It was much easier for me to stay in one place and watch them with the binoculars than it would be for me to follow them in a straight path. That thing that replaced Gregory did not realize its tactics were making it easier for me to watch its every move.
The girls were picking a few flowers, but not many. They seemed to spend a lot of time examining spots that, from where I sat, did not look to have anything in them except leaves and sticks. As the girls looked around, Gregory reached over to pick something up off the ground. Whatever it was, it released a bright burst of light that shined so intensely, it temporarily blinded me.
My instincts told me to cry out in pain, and it took every bit of strength of will I had not to. I wrapped my arm around my head with my eyes tucked inside my elbow as if that were going to somehow ease the pain. The only thing that was going to stop the pain of seeing that illuminous burst through binoculars was to give them a few minutes to recover.
When I was able to see again, Gregory and his daughters were nowhere in sight. I did not know if they turned back my way or continued to circle around. He must have known I was looking at him, so he did something that blinded me long enough to give him and those girls of his a chance to get themselves hidden from me. Going back to camp was not really something I wanted to do until I got my eyes on them again.
Double checking to make sure my pistol was fully loaded, I returned it to its holster and began heading toward the last place I saw Gregory’s doppelganger and those of his two girls. How I did not notice as I navigated to this hiding spot, I did not know. The area surrounding me was covered in what seemed like an unusually large number of dry, fallen branches. If I did not want to try to sneak my way through them, I had to go back the way I came and walk back around.
That took me nearly five minutes, which added to the time it took my eyes to recover from that blinding attack and gave them a ten-minute lead on me. I could only hope they remained on their previous course. If they did, it should not take me long to catch up. On the other hand, if they knew I was following them, they might have a trap or ambush waiting for me. It was easier to stalk those things impersonating my friend and his children when I had both hands to use, but after mulling the idea of an ambush, I decided it would be prudent for me to carry my pistol in my hand.
By the time I finally located them again, Gregory and his girls made their way around the north and were now circling back around to the west. They acted like they did not know I was watching, but Gregory would not have used whatever he did to blind me if he was not aware of my spying. I was now more sure than ever they were trying to draw me into a trap.
I saw everything I needed to see. I was not going to catch up with them without them seeing me coming, so I decided my most logical option would be to go back to camp and wait for them to return. Then I could have my own ambush ready for them when they arrived. Once they were again out of my view, I backtracked and worked my way back to our circle of tents.
Rather than getting into my own tent, where the imposter Gregory would expect me to be, I got in the tent belonging to Tod and his wife instead. Gregory would not know I was in there, unless he now had new or heightened senses of which I was unaware. That could explain how he knew I was following him and how he so easily blinded me from that far.
I felt fortunate when I saw Tod left his own pistol sitting on top of his sleeping bag. My heart sank when I realized it was out of ammunition. Tod and I used the same caliber of handgun, but my ammunition was in my car, and I did not think I would have time to get to my car and back before Gregory and his daughters returned.
Thirty more minutes passed before I heard those things impersonating my friend and his daughters returning to camp. They must have thought I was still in the forest since they did not see me sitting in my lawn chair. I could hear them talking, and they were not speaking any language a human voice would be capable of making. Gregory sounded like he was gurgling, and his daughters were both letting out high-pitched but low-volume screeches.
What was wrong with them? Were they possessed or were they replaced with something else?
I had no idea what was really going on, but I was positive that was not the man I knew since I was a child now standing no more than thirty feet away from me. I was already at the opening of this tent, so I did not have to move or make any noise in order to peek outside. I saw Gregory standing near the fire pit, but I did not see the girls anywhere.
Gregory appeared to be looking around, scanning the camp and the surrounding area very slowly. I wondered if he was looking for me. Suddenly his daughters ran up to him, and I gasped in horror over what I saw. The creatures upon which I now gazed were not human. They were roughly the same size as Gregory’s daughters, but they had no hair on their head. Instead, a patch of long, wiry hair grew from their shoulder blades. The things’ skin was not fair and soft as normal; instead, it was dark and leathery. Their legs were grotesquely bent, appearing to have one more joint than human legs.
The little demons ran up and wrapped their arms around Gregory. They exchanged a few incomprehensible words, then Gregory began walking over toward my tent. When he crouched down to open the flaps of my tent, I burst forth from Tod’s tent and quickly put two bullets in the thing’s back. The two smaller creatures began loudly emitting high-pitched shrieks. They were much closer than Gregory’s doppelganger was to me, so it was not difficult at all for me to put a single bullet in each one of their skulls.
In a panic, I hastily ran over to my tent to retrieve my car keys. Looking down at the thing that was imitating my old friend, I found its body was covered in tiny blue-green scales. The blood leaking from the body was a light purple-gray color as it oozed from the fatal wounds I gave it, but it quickly turned black then transparent after being exposed to the open air. I expected the smell from the creature to be quite putrid, but instead I found it had almost a rosy scent.
Realizing I was standing there gawking at the thing at my feet, I tried to focus my attention on the task at hand. Retrieving my car keys from inside my tent, I ran over to my vehicle after kicking that creature twice to make sure it was dead. My hands shook as I tried to get the key into the door. It took me a minute, but I finally got the driver’s side door open. My ammunition was in the trunk, and I was not going to bother reloading until I put some distance between me and those things.
I was driving so fast in my desperate attempt to get away from those ghastly corpses, I almost ran off the road several times when I had to take a sharp curve. The thought crossed my mind to stop and load mine and Tod’s revolvers, but I was sure I was not too much further away from the bridge that spanned the width of the gorge. I could stop once I was on the other side and reload then.
Despite the fact I was driving much faster than was safe for this old mountain road, it seemed like it took me hours before I finally saw the gentle curve in the road just before the bridge. My foot slammed on the brakes as hard as it could when I rounded the bend and saw what was in front of me. That was better to say, what was not in front of me. The bridge was gone.
It did not appear that the bridge collapsed due to the absence of debris. Instead, it seemed more like something lifted the bridge up and flew it away. Some of the supports on both sides of the gorge remained, but the bridge and the supports in between were gone. I could not imagine what force could possibly remove an entire bridge so cleanly from its place spanning the gorge. My heart sunk in my chest at the prospect of what I was facing.
Did I only anger more of those creatures by killing the ones mimicking my old friend and his children, and now they were making sure I could not get away?
That did not make very much sense to me. If they could remove the bridge that easily, surely they could capture me with the same level of ease. Who could say how these aliens, demons or whatever they were thought. Their thought process may be nothing like humans. Maybe that was why they took the form of Gregory and his girls. Perhaps they were trying to learn to act human, and they were using this camping trip as some sort of experiment.
I backed several hundred feet away from the edge of the gorge before getting out to retrieve my ammunition from the trunk. Nearly vomiting from despair, I realized my wife took my tackle box with them instead of hers, and my ammunition was inside of it. Desperately digging through everything in the trunk, I tried to find something with which to reload the two pistols I carried.
It seemed like fate was turning my way when I found a box of bullets with twelve rounds inside. That was enough to fully load both guns and still have two rounds left over. Climbing back into the car, I returned my pistol to its holster and placed Tod’s gun in the seat beside me.
My only other hope for escape was one other mountain road leading off from this one. I was not sure if it was even still a usable road, but it was at one point in time. It took me several minutes to get my car turned around as the road was very narrow, the trees of the forest creating solid boundaries. The one positive I could conceive of was, with the bridge missing, my wife and boys would not be going back to where the corpses of those monsters lay about the ground.
The old turnoff was closer than where we set up our tents than I thought, and it made me very anxious to get so near those bodies I left behind. I felt no measure of relief when I finally found the other road. It was simply impossible for me to shake the fear that there were more of these things lurking around. I felt like they were stalking me, hunting me, waiting to make me pay for what I did.
If I remembered it correctly, this road took us through and to the base of the mountains to a small town where my parents used to take us to do laundry. The way seemed clear for the most part. There were some patches of tall grass here and there, but the borders of the road were still clearly visible. I rounded a large rock formation and found a large tree that fell across the road some time ago. It was clear by the absence of any branches on the log that it did not fall recently.
Knowing it was probably a futile endeavor, I got out of my car, tucked Tod’s gun into my pants and went to see if I had any chance of moving or going around the dead tree. There did not appear to be any possible way I was going to dislodge the fallen trunk. I had the rock formation on one side of me and a steep drop on the other, so there was no possibility of going around either.
My heart raced as I tried to tell myself to calm down. I was a clever man, and I should be able to find some way out of this. The rocks did not look like they would be too difficult to climb, and from up there I could get an eagle’s eye view of the rest of the road. Perhaps I would get lucky and spot some other way out of here. Climbing up the rock formation was not as easy as it was the last time I performed such a task, and it took me a little longer than I anticipated.
I scaled the craggy rocks carefully; a fall from there would probably be fatal. Since my hands were not used to doing such rough things as this, my skin was soft and easily abrased by the occasional sharp edge. My knees and shins were scratched up as well by the time I finally reached the top of my climb.
I was rather shocked at how great a view I had from up there. I could see this road extended for at least another couple of miles, and the grass growth did not seem very extreme. The road we used to get to our camp was visible from here as well, at least some long sections of it were. I could partially see our circle of tents where the corpses of those creatures littered the ground. If not for the horrific nature of the situation, this would be a beautiful view indeed.
There did not appear to be any way around the large log blocking the road. I was not going to be able to escape that way. It did look as though there might be another road I missed earlier. I could see a divide in the line of the trees that looked like it might wind around to join with this one miles from here. I was running out of options, and I prayed silently that road would get me out of here.
I tried to memorize where everything was so I did not pass this other road again. Right when I was about to start my climb back down the granite stones, I noticed something moving on the road off in the distance. Using my son’s binoculars, I zoomed in to see two familiar vans coming this way. Initially, my reaction was one of excitement and relief, but then I remembered the bridge being gone. It would be impossible for them to get where they were without crossing over the bridge. There was no bridge, so there was no humanly way possible for them to get across.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought of the possibility that my family may be possessed, replaced, or whatever happened to turn Gregory and his daughters into what they were. I was furious with myself for not insisting we leave this morning when I was feigning a severe stomachache. Perhaps if we left then, my family would still be my family. I know my wife would be in hysterics if they somehow magically made it from one side of the gorge to the other without a bridge, but both vans seemed to be driving normally. There seemed to be no urgency in their pace.
It was not possible for me to reach that other road, if there even was a road there, before I ran into the others. Proceeding on the road on which my car currently rested was not a possibility either. As soon as they returned to camp, the people who were once my friends and family would find their dead companions, and I knew at least two of them were armed.
I had to think of something. I had to decide what I was going to do, and I had to do it soon.
As desperately as I wanted to believe my family was okay, I knew that was not the case. It was my fault for not getting us out of here when I could. Because I was afraid of making my wife suspicious, I allowed them to go on that fishing trip today. I hoped they would be safe, but Tod was already something else by that point. Now I was faced with having to do the unthinkable. I was not going to allow those things to do whatever they did with my beautiful wife and my sons of whom I was so proud and steal their identities, their lives.
Trying to ambush them at the camp would not work. I did not think I had enough time to drive back down this road and get to the main route before they arrived. Although I could see the camp, making it on foot was also an impossibility. Trying to quell the panic building inside me, I tried to think of a way to stop these things before they returned to civilization. This was something that was spreading, and I could not let it spread to the entire population.
Tod’s van was driving in front of Gregory’s van, and I decided my best option would be to run my car into Tod’s van. That would hopefully kill anyone inside, and it would force the second van to stop as well. Unfortunately, there was simply not enough room for me to turn my car around. If I was going to make this plan work, I was going to have to do it in reverse.
I was not sure I had enough time to get my car into position, but I had to try. Climbing back down the rock formation as fast as I safely could, I finally reached the ground and ran to my car. Opening up the door, the bell began to ring indicating to me the keys were still in the ignition. Grabbing the belt buckle, I snapped it into place, climbed in and pulled the door so that it clicked but was not fully closed. This stopped the bell from ringing, and I began backing my car out of this dead-end and to the main drive to camp.
I was afraid the brake lights from my car would give them warning that I was coming, so I used the emergency brake instead to control my descent. When this abandoned mountain road again straightened, forming a T-intersection with the main road, I allowed my car to pick up speed. I was far from being any sort of stunt car driver, but I thought I had everything timed so I would put my car right in front of Tod’s van when it arrived.
Never having jumped out of a moving car in my life, I did not anticipate the added difficulty of trying to pull off such a maneuver going backwards. Using the parking brake, I slowed my car enough so I could safely jump clear. I got myself turned with my feet beside the seat. The instant I released the parking brake, I jumped with all the strength I could conjure and leapt into the bushes growing next to the old mountain road.
Briars tore at my flesh and clothes as I jumped clear of the rolling vehicle, but I still considered myself fortunate I did not get caught by the door and drug down the hill. Pulling myself back up to my feet, I tried to pull the thorns away from me as gently as the situation would allow. Thin gouges covered my skin, and blood dripped lightly from the incredible number of small wounds.
As I struggled to free myself, I watched my car as it continued to roll backwards down the hill gradually picking up speed as it went. Removing my gun from its holster and Tod’s gun from my waistline, I began jogging, then running behind the out-of-control car. My heart raced with anxiety and fear as I watched the two vans coming along the main road. If I did not time it well, I may end up missing the first van and hitting the one carrying my wife and children. Even though I was sure it was too late, I still held some glimmer of hope my family could still be saved.
My car reached its destination only a fraction of a second before Tod’s van reached it. Tod was probably only driving thirty-five miles per hour, but the collision with my car brought it to an almost instant stop. Behind it, the other van was not able to stop and crashed into the back of Tod’s. Unless they were wearing their seatbelts, I did not think anyone in the first van could possibly have survived.
Because of my momentum as I ran down the hill, I realized I was going too fast to stop. The best I could manage was to slow myself down some, then ram the van with my side and shoulder to bring me to a halt. When my body slammed into the crumpled side of Tod’s van, it nearly dislocated my shoulder. I cried out in pain as my body lost the battle against the metal object. Unable to regain my balance after my body recoiled from the impact with the van, I fell to the ground hard.
Stunned by the impact and the resulting pain, I struggled to raise myself up on all fours. Out of the corner of my spark filled vision, I could see the driver’s door of the second van creak open with several jerky motions. Through my blurry vision, I could see two legs reach the ground from behind the van door. My head throbbed as I expected my or Gregory’s wife to exit the van. Instead, Tod emerged from behind the door. He was yelling something out to me, but I could not understand what he was saying. His speech seemed garbled and raspy, like it was not the voice of anything human. He had his hands raised threateningly and began running towards me.
Still somewhat stunned from my impact with the crumpled van, I could not get up to my feet. I did manage to raise myself to my knees. Everything was blurry and unstable, making it very difficult to lock my eyes on my target. Unfortunately, my coordination was not restored completely enough, and I missed the thing disguised as my old friend Tod. It halted its advance, yelling at me in its serpentine language. I managed another shot, which sent the creature running behind the second van.
I could hear banging on metal only moments later as the creature tried to force open the warped sliding door on the other side of the van. Supporting myself on the van beside me, I slowly got myself back to my feet. My head throbbed, but my vision began to clear. I turned to look inside the van that came to a halt as it collided with my car, what I saw horrified me beyond any measure. My wife, or the thing my wife became, was driving this van. It was Tod’s van, and it did not make sense to me that she would be driving it.
Along with her lifeless body, the bodies of Tod’s son and my youngest son lay in unnatural positions. Tod’s son was face first in the back of the front passenger seat with his legs folded backward to his head. My boy lay across the top of one of the back seats, his legs facing one way and his upper body facing the other. It was difficult, excruciating to see them in such a condition, but I had to keep in mind it was not really them. These things I saw lying dead before me were only copies of who they once were.
My vision cleared enough that I could see three figures running off into the woods. It had to be Tod, my oldest boy and Gregory’s wife, or whatever assumed their form anyway. I was sure I cracked a few ribs or bruised them badly when I came running down that hidden road and barreled into the side of Tod’s van. Breathing was difficult because of the pain, but I could not let these creatures get away after what they did to my family and friends.
Replacing the empty shells in the pistol I fired moments ago, I began running after those creatures as quickly as I could. The pain was intense, but my anger and hatred of these things that killed everyone I loved kept my adrenalin pumping and my body moving. I would hunt them down until my body died from exhaustion.
They were not very careful as they fled, and the three left a very obvious trail for me to follow. If they were not worried about how easy they made it for me to follow them, then that is probably what they wanted. They were going to set up an ambush for me up ahead, so I had to be mindful of any variations in the trail that might indicated the three split up to draw me in.
I was not making as good of time as I wanted, and it did not appear by the tracks that any of them were injured, at least not severely. There was no blood that I could see, and it did not seem like any of the creatures were being dragged. At times I was able to make out three separate trails in the dried leaves covering the ground, so I was sure none of them were being carried either. I had some idea of how durable these doppelgangers were, but I did not know the fullest extent of their ability to recover from injuries.
The pain from my concussive impact with the van began to ease up after a while. I could not say how long exactly because my watch was broken. The pain in my ribs persisted, and I was sure at this point that I had a minimum of two broken bones. I was not going to stop until those aliens, those beings, those whatever they were paid for what they did to my wife, my children and my best friends.
I only had a few more hours left until the sun began to set. If I was going to get them, it would have to be before dark. I could not imagine that I could track them at night. As far as I knew, these things were able to see in the dark as well as in the daylight. Even if they could only see as well as me, they could still gain a lot of ground on me during the dark hours. Having my son’s binoculars right now would be very helpful, but I left them back at the road somewhere. I was not sure if I left them in my car, if I dropped them on the ground when I slammed into the van, or if I dropped them when I leapt from my rolling car. All I knew was I did not have them with me anymore.
Attempting to keep the noise I created as I trudged through the dead leaves to a minimum, I tried to keep my pace as rapid as I could, but the adrenalin rush wore off some time ago. I was finding myself growing weak. I ate no breakfast this morning and had nothing to drink but a single cup of coffee. I could feel the symptoms of dehydration setting in. I was incredibly thirsty, and my tongue felt like it swelled in my mouth. I was having a difficult time focusing my vision.
I could only pray I could catch those creatures before they got back to civilization and spread themselves to assimilate the entire population. My luck made a turn for the better when I rounded one hill and could see the three things working their way through the mountain forest. I still had to catch up with them more. There was no way I could hit one of them from this far with a pistol, not with my eyesight being at less than peak. I took great care to keep an eye on my targets while simultaneously trying to remain hidden from them.
Their endurance level must be on par with that of humans, because it looked like the three were growing tired. This was nice to know along with the knowledge they could be killed with a gun. I began to wonder if they might not be the inhabitants of an alternate Earth. The only thing I was certain of for sure was they were not humans. As I continued to gain ground on them, I could see they had no hair, two of them were blue, and the short one looked the same as Gregory’s daughters.
Perhaps the small ones were the children, or maybe they were not even the same species. What they wanted with my world was something I believed I would probably never know, because I was going to kill them as soon as I was within range. There was probably not much chance I could get one of them to tell me their plans. Once found out, they only speak in hisses, gargles and clicks.
I had not considered that before now. Every time I found them out, once I was positive they were not who they pretended to be, their voices and appearances changed for good. The creatures must use some form of mental camouflage, and once they were discovered, they can no longer fool that mind.
If I ever got back to civilization, I did not think it would do me any good to warn anyone. No one would believe me if I told them aliens were taking people over, possessing them, or somehow taking their place. I would certainly find myself locked inside a mental ward somewhere. No, I had to make sure I killed these three and hope that was all there was.
Finally, I was able to maneuver myself into a good position to take a shot. I pulled Tod’s gun from my waistline and drew it in line with my three targets. With my heart racing, I fired the pistol six times in rapid succession.
One of the blue aliens instantly crumpled to the ground, and it appeared that I hit the small, leathery creature in the leg. That wound did not appear to be too serious. With the assistance of the blue creature, the smaller one was able to attempt to flee. In its injured state of the brown creature with hair growing from its shoulder blades, I was able to circle around the two where I could get off several clear shots.
Withdrawing my gun from its holster, I took careful aim at the taller one and fired three shots. It did not fall to the ground at first, and the smaller one tried to run. Its injury was serious enough that it could not flee with any measure of speed. I began closing the gap between us as the blue creature finally collapsed from its injuries. It was lying still by the time I reached it, but I put a bullet in its head anyway for good measure.
I almost wanted to torture the one that imitated my son, but I wanted to make sure I got the kill. Pointing my pistol at the creature’s center mass, I fired another shot. The creature dropped to the ground, but was not dead. It was speaking in its language of high pitched screeches, no doubt begging for its life. I had no intention of showing it any mercy after it replaced my child and tricked me into seeing it as my child. Without further hesitation, I put my last bullet in the center of its skull.
Suddenly, something attacked me from behind; its blue scaled arms wrapped around me making it obvious what it was. When I downed the first of the two, I never checked to make sure the thing was dead. Now it had its arms around my neck, cutting off the air to my lungs. I threw my empty pistol to the ground, and while struggling with the strange being, I managed to pull my hunting knife from its sheath. I slashed the thing across its forearms causing a light violet blood to spew forth. The creature gurgled loudly and let me go.
I spun around to look at it face-to-face. Its facial features were nearly identical to those of Gregory’s wife, but this thing had no hair and was covered in the tiny blue scales. I did not know if the scales covered the entire body, but all the flesh I could see was covered in them. The creature held its arms up parallel in front of its face as it gurgled out something in its language.
It seemed to be more concerned with the gaping wounds on its arms than it was about defending itself. With a wide opening, I began repeatedly stabbing it in its abdomen until it quit its loud gurgling and crumpled to the ground.
With that disgusting body now nothing more than a lump on the ground at my feet, I stared at the blade of my hunting knife as if somehow maintaining possession of it meant I could undo the carnage I left scattered through the forest. I was sure I got them all, but I was also sure this one was dead until it jumped on my back. The three bipedal creatures here were now dead, I was sure of it. I did not know about the others though.
Could the one that copied my wife, my son and Tod’s boy still be alive. I did not check them, I barely even looked at them. It was too difficult to even see a copy of my wife and son in the condition they were inside that crumpled van. At the time I had no doubt they were dead, but now I was not so sure.
It was growing dark, and it was already too dark for me to find my trail. I kicked around so many leaves as I struggled with that last alien, the path I made on the way over here from the last body was gone. I knew the other corpse had to be close, but the sun was setting behind a nearby mountain peak faster than I anticipated. I was not sure which direction to go to find it.
I stopped trying to use my eyes and instead tried using my knowledge of the outdoors. The road leading to our camp ran north to south at that section, and the sun was slightly to the right of that. That meant it was after noon, and the direction I chased the remaining three creatures was to the northeast. I just had to situation myself by the setting sun and head southwest.
At home I could navigate even better by the stars, but even the relatively small change in latitude we made on our trip here set the constellations in slightly different positions. I could only see a few of the constellations with which I was familiar through the trees of the forest. I used them to keep my direction oriented to the now set sun, but not to guide my direction.
Trudging my way through the leaf-strewn forest floor, I realized I had no clue as to how long I chased the final group through the forest. I was pumped up on hate, anger and adrenalin, and time kind of lost any meaning as I pursued those doppelgangers. It was after noon when I started chasing them, by my recollection, so then I chased them for six hours before catching up to and dispatching them.
Moving to the closest tree, my body collapsed against it. The pain from my injuries quickly crept back up on me, and I knew there was no way I could force myself to climb that far through the forest. I could not stay here though. If I did not find water, I would die.
Forcing myself back to my feet, I struggled to carry on. I walked for another hour, but only probably covered a third of the ground as I did coming out here. I considered stopping and allowing myself to die. Everyone I loved was gone, replaced by whatever those things were. I adjusted the knife I still held in my hand and thought about using it to slash my wrists. All other thoughts vanished from my mind when I heard the welcoming sound of a trickling mountain stream.
It was not difficult for me to locate the stream, which seemed to be fed from springs in the rocks. I scooped the water with my hands and drank it as fast as I could. I spent half an hour feeding the life-sustaining liquid into my mouth before I began to feel a small fraction better. Moving back up the bank of the shallow stream, I propped myself against a tree.
I did not pay attention to my change in direction, and now I was completely lost. There was no time to complete that thought as I passed out leaning against the tree. Although I had nightmares seemingly the entire time I slept, I could not remember the subject matter of these dreams once I awoke. No doubt it was about the ordeal of the last few days, losing my family and friends to these aliens.
I rose from my exhausted slumber as the distant horizon began to show the slightest amount of sunlight. I could hear the water running below me, and I climbed down to drink my fill. It was difficult to breathe due to the pain in my swollen ribs, and climbing down the rocky bank of the stream was not easy. It was not easy, but I managed anyway. It was not until I rehydrated myself some more that I began to think of the events of the past few days.
Grabbing my knife from where I left it before passing out last night, I struggled back to my feet and began walking toward the rising sun. Everything seemed like a blur, like the last few days happened in a fog of confusion. My head throbbed almost as intensely as my ribs ached. As hard as I tried, I could not remember what happened over the past two days other than some very vague, very unbelievable pieces. I continued to stumble through the forest toward the rising sun as I held my hands against my head in an attempt to stop the pounding agony, as I fought to recall what happened.
I was hunting something, something that was a threat to my family and friends, but what was it?
Soon I reached a point where I could not walk any further because my pathway took me to the top of a large cliff. Taking a seat on a weathered limestone slab, I hung my legs over and gazed over the forest at the base of the cliff. It was beautiful bathed in the light of the morning sun. I always loved coming to the Ozark Mountains; that’s why I brought my family here for this summer’s vacation.
That was it. We traveled here with my best friends and their families to take the children camping for a week. I remembered taking them to a natural water slide my friends Tod, Gregory and I visited many times as we were growing up. It was after lunch, and we had to keep the kids out of the water for a while, so we took them for a walk to see some shallow caves we knew of. I remembered seeing that unusual blue mold on the walls of the cave, and that strange smell. That was when everything became cloudy.
Oh no. Oh please God no. It was starting to come back to me. I thought my friends and family were aliens. My body had a bad reaction to the spores of that blue mold which caused me to hallucinate. In the throes of my hallucinations, I thought creatures far from being human took over the bodies of my loved ones. I hunted down and slaughtered everyone I cared about.
I glanced down to the bloody knife in my hand and the crimson blood staining what was left of my torn-up shirt. It was not the blue blood of aliens, but the red blood of the people I killed. My stomach wrenched in pain as the realization of what I did came over me. My poor boys would never grow up to have children of their own. Gregory’s daughters would never give him grandchildren. It was done, over. They were all gone.
I could not live with myself knowing I heartlessly ended the lives of ten people, including my beautiful wife and children. I did not want to live, and I did not think I should live after what I did. Tod and Gregory were my friends since grade school, and I took their lives while in my delusional state. There were no delusions now. I knew exactly what I did.
My hair and tattered clothing whipped in the wind. The sudden rush of air was soothing against my scrapes and wounds. I could not comprehend how I could continue after murdering ten people, so I allowed myself to fall over the edge of the cliff. My eyes remained on that one last sunrise as the cliff face whisked past me, and I never even saw the approaching ground until it was right in front of me
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Photo by Chance Agrella from Freerange Stock
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