“Yo Scott we’re here, Hurry up.”
“Yeah man I’m almost done packing, just hang on a bit!” I exclaimed before ending the call and putting my phone inside my pocket. I double-check everything on my backpack making sure that I have what I need for our five day camping trip. My best friend Randy proposed the idea that Me, him, and my other two friends Zach and Reed should spend the first week of summer in his Uncle’s cabin deep in the woods. The rest of them were pretty excited for the excursion, but I for one wasn’t keen on spending the first week of summer vacation out in the middle of nowhere. I would much rather do what I do best; Stay at home and play video games all day. But with their constant begging and nagging, I caved in. Letting out a deep sigh as I zipped my bag shut, I headed out the front door. I mean the five-day excursion wasn’t too bad since right across the cabin was a lake we can swim in.
I began making my way to the black, old G-wagon parked across my house. The distinct roar of the mighty V8 engine was the only noise audible in the area. I see Randy’s head poke out the window, his wavy blonde hair and thick eyebrows made him easily recognizable even from a distance.
“Load your things in the back and hop on already!” Reed shouted, who was clearly the most excited for this getaway.
“Yeah yeah calm your tits” I replied back as I opened the back door of the car and loaded my bag before getting in the front passenger seat and fistbumping Reed to greet him. His gaudy sunglasses matched the color of the SUV. Reed was the loud one of the group. Fun guy but a complete dumbass.
“Hey man, Excited for this trip?” He asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”. I replied sarcastically.
Reed chuckled. “Aww come on man what better way to start off summer than hanging out with your pals for five days in the middle of nowhere?”
“Anything that doesn’t involve you guys.” I retorted with a smirk, Reed punching me lightly on the shoulder.
I met Randy back in 5th grade while I met Zack and Reed in the 7th. Randy grew up quite affluent (hence the G-wagon) but was and still is a humble guy. His parents invested in stocks, bonds and owned a number of establishments. Even with everything given to him he never once was an entitled asshole.
“Zach I told you no vaping in my car!” Randy complained as the scent of blueberry-flavored vapor wafted inside the car.
“No, you said not to take a hit whenever the car is moving.” Zach replied before taking a second hit and releasing the sweet vapor yet again. Zach was the laid-back man of our group. Black slicked hair and a slim body. He would always be vaping 24/7 and was once suspended from school for selling them to minors.
Randy started the ignition and off we went. The drive itself was uneventful, us sharing stories of basically anything, Reed tormenting us with his corny jokes from time to time, Zach constantly taking hits much to Randy’s dismay, to Randy constantly reminding me how badly we needed this vacation. I could never tell this to them directly, but I truly do love spending every second with them even if it means dragging me to god-knows-where.
Two hours into the trip the scenery around us was filled with nothing but trees. It was peaceful to say the least. We stopped at a gas station to fill up on gas because, as Randy put it, the G-wagon is a complete “tremendous gas hog”. We packed a lot of food and drinks for this trip but I for one needed a red bull in order to put up with any more of Reed’s jokes.
“I’m gonna get a drink” I said as I hopped off the car and went inside the mini mart. Grabbing a red bull from the refrigerator and making my way to the cashier. The clerk was a middle aged man with greasy hair and a thick beard. “That will be $1.56” he said as he scanned the item. “Want me to put it in a bag?” he asked. “No thanks, I’ll drink it along the way” I replied back as I handed him the cash.
“What brings you kids all the way here?” he asked, handing me the energy drink.
“Nothing much, just me and my friends staying over in a cabin in the woods here for a bit”
“I see,” he nodded. “Well you kids be careful out there. Three campers went missing a few days ago in these woods. I figured they were about your age.” he remarked as he pointed out the bulletin board with a poster of three missing people; Mark, Julia, and Santiago. I simply nodded back and thanked him as I left the store. I felt a little bit uneasy about the disappearances of those campers but then again they probably just got lost or something. My friends thought the same thing as I entered the car and told all about what the clerk had said.
“Hey, maybe Reed can go missing next and we’d all be free from his corny ass.” Zach Retorted. All of us laughed save for Reed who responded with a “Fuck you”.
Three miles away from the gas station is a dirt road between the trees where it took another five miles to get to the cabin. When we arrived, The lake was silver as diamond and glimmering, where the depths were vodka clear and the water was smooth and still. Even someone like me was in awe of such beauty. The cabin itself was also stunning; black in color and I could best describe it as contemporary with a glass roof and cobble stone that made up the pathway.
“Woahh” Zach expressed.
“Spared no expense, am I right?” Randy proudly said, parking the G-wagon.
We all got out of the car and loaded our luggage and bags of food to the cabin.
“Damn man, this place is hella lot better than the dump I’m staying at” Reed exclaimed as he plopped his bag on the floor, gazing over the sleek interior of the cabin.
After settling everything in, we decided to cook lunch since we were all hungry and have not eaten anything since, save for some chips and other snacks during the roadtrip. After which we changed to our swimming trunks and headed out to the lake. The water was cool and pleasant, a sense of calm and relaxation that I gotta admit, was a whole lot better than spending 12 hours a day glued to a computer. Overall we had a good time splashing about for hours and enjoying the freedom we had on a lake in the middle of nowhere.
Come nightfall and we all went back to the cabin to change and have dinner. After which we set up a campfire outside and just chill, talking about whatever came to mind whilst drinking cold beer and eating smores. I couldn’t help but to bring up the missing people from earlier.
“Those guys from the flyers, what do you think happened to them?”
“I don’t know man, probably got eaten by bears or something.” Zach replied as he took as he inhaled from his pod for the millionth time
“There aren’t any bears here, but if there were any maybe we could feed Reed to them” Randy chuckled as he jabbed Reed lightly
“Gee thanks, some friend you are” Reed rolled his eyes before looking back at me. “Those guys probably just got lost somewhere. Or you know, maybe they got drunk and drowned in the lake.” We all looked at Reed weirdly when he said the last part.
“Oh come on, weird shit happens to people all the time for them to get lost!”
Before any reply could be said, there was a sound in the distance that made all our heads turn. I don’t know how to describe it. It sounded like a siren, but it was a bit more disoriented and harsh so it made the atmosphere feel uneasy. The sound itself didn’t seem near, but it didn’t seem far either. It lasted for a good ten seconds before completely stopping.
“What the hell was that?” Zach muttered under his breath.
“Sounded like a siren, maybe one of the rangers pulled it off?”
“That’s one freaky-ass sounding siren if you ask me.” Reed replied back, taking a sip from his beer.
We thought nothing of it afterwards so we continued on conversing, sharing stories and what not. By midnight we ended up leaving the campfire and headed back to the cabin. None of us were sleepy yet so we just decided to lay on the couch and watch TV. My friends were watching The Big bang theory and I for one didn’t like the show so I just ended up scrolling through TikTok. After a while, Reed got up, put his airpods on, grabbed a flash light and said he wanted to “walk around the woods for a bit” and then headed out the door and shut it behind him.
“Think he’s gonna be okay?” Zach responded, eyes glued to the Tv.
“He’s gonna be fine.” I replied back as I kept scrolling.
“Imagine if he gets kidnapped.” Randy chuckled.
“Doubt it, he’s too loud, dumb and strong to be kidnapped.”
Truth be told, Reed may be an airhead, but he was the strongest one out of all of us. He was the only one who played sports in high school among us and no one in the school ever dared to mess with him because they knew he could beat them in a fight.
The night remained uneventful until the sound from earlier came back, only this time it sounded much closer that we had to cover our ears.
“What on earth was th-” Before I could finish that sentence, the earth began to shake beneath us. Was it an earthquake? No, the thumping was coming closer and closer.
“ Dude, something is coming our way” Randy said as he stood up and turned off the television, before turning off every light source in the cabin. Something didn’t feel right.
The thumping grew closer and closer before coming to a halt, followed by another loud thump, heavier than the rest. Randy shakily checked over the curtains of the window beside the door.
“We didn’t put out the fire, did we?” He asked us with a nervous tone.
“No, we did not” I replied, my voice was starting to tremble.
A few moments passed by without any sound. We all stood still and quiet before Zach muttered to break the silence
“What, the fuck, is that” we all looked at him whose head was facing the glass roof. Me and Randy both looked up to the direction he was facing and what we saw was the most disturbing thing we have ever seen. Illuminated by the light of the moon, was a creature unlike any other. It stood higher than the trees, about 50 feet tall, emaciated, whose flesh was dried up and mummified, and the color of which I could only describe as rusting metal. But the most disturbing feature of it all was the head; two sirens attached to it that faced the opposite direction of each other. It was a creature only the devil himself would have created.
The thing just stood there and was looming over us through the glass roof. Was it aware of our presence? Was it gonna attack? At this point I thought we were all going to die at the hands of whatever this monstrosity was. All three of us began to tremble, not one of us blinking.
It stood there for a good thirty seconds before it started to face the other direction and leave, the loud thumps following before it grew farther and farther away, before it all stopped. I was still trembling, Zach was sweating profusely, and Randy was gasping nervously. It took us a whole 10 minutes to calm down and collect ourselves. Randy decided it was high time to get out of here. But there was only one problem. Reed was still out in the woods
“HOLY SHIT, REED!”
Reed
“Billie Jean, is not my lover” Reed sang along with the song, flashlight in hand and a can of coke as he walked through the dense forest. Back in highschool, he found that the best way to ease his mind before a big game was going on a walk alone at night listening to tunes. He wasn’t afraid of getting jumped in any circumstance because he was always confident in his physical condition. Hell, he once fought off four guys from a different school who decided to gang up on him after rubbing it in their faces that they didn’t stand a chance going against his school’s soccer team. Suffice to say, he was more than capable in defending himself.
He was a good 100 feet away from the cabin when suddenly he felt the ground shake. He quickly grabbed his phone to pause the song and took off his airpods. Standing still to feel whatever was making the ground tremor. “An earthquake?” he thought. But then he realized that the thumping grew closer and closer towards him before coming to a complete stop. He decided it was time for him to get back to the cabin to check on his friends. Turning in the other direction, he began making his way back before stopping just a few meters, his flashlight shining through what he could only describe as a “really weird looking tree”. He examined the tree 20 feet away from him.
It wasn’t a tree at all…
This thing was about 10-12 feet tall, emaciated with bony hands and a rusty color. The most weird part of it was the upper body, nestled above the skinny neck were two sirens that faced the opposite direction of each other. But when the features couldn’t get any more bizarre, was that these two sirens had a mouth with rotting yellow teeth.
“Jesus, what the hell are you” was all he muttered before one of the skinny arms jerked forward in a single swift motion. Reed felt the impact of an object suddenly making contact with his skull, falling to the ground. He laid there for a good 10 seconds before getting back up. His vision was blurry and he could feel cool, thick liquid dripping down the side of his face.
A rock. That thing just threw a rock at his head.
Dazed and confused, he could feel the thumps getting closer to him. His terror was extreme, his vision was still blurry but he was aware that the thing was getting closer to him. He threw his arms wildly in the air to ward off the attack. Suddenly, he felt a new searing pain in his lower body, like a sharp cleaver in his stomach. His senses came back to him as he reached down to touch the edges of his shirt to feel a warm, thick mass. To his terror and fear, he was holding his own intestines. That thing just ripped his guts open. He started to gag and cough before the bony hands came down once again and this time, his left arm came right off clean. His eyes widened as he turned to his side looking at the dismembered limb before turning back to the creature. The thing grabbed him by the sides and lifted him up. The speakers started to play the awful sound from earlier but much more distorted.
Reed wanted all of this to end.
~~~~~~~~
“Shit, where is he?!” as I muttered frantically running through the woods, looking for Reed. Zach and Randy running behind me. We couldn’t leave him without him. If anything bad happened to him we would never forgive ourselves. The only light source that guided us was the moon, as we knew the flashlight would attract whatever that thing was, to us.
We ran until I suddenly tripped over something. When I stood back up I turned on my phone to see, in my horror, what remained of my friend. His left arm sliced off, his guts torn open, and half of his head gone. I started to gag and throw up, Randy and Zach did the same when they caught up and saw what was left of Reed. Before we can even mourn for him, the horrible sounds echoed back in the darkness along with the heavy thumps. We began running at full speed back to the car, the thumps inching closer and closer.
“Fuck, we’re not gonna make it!”
“Just shut up and run!!”
We were now 10 feet away from the car before I tripped and fell again, Randy quickly pulled me up and we were able to make our way to the car. We were only grateful enough that the thing didn’t end up destroying the SUV. otherwise we would have ended up just like Reed back there.
“Hurry, it’s coming!” Zach exclaimed as the silhouette was drawing closer. Randy fumbled with the keys before finally starting and pressing his foot in the accelerator. I wish I could say that was the end of it but the thing was chasing us down with all of its strength and might. When we thought it couldn’t get worse, it went down on all fours and its speed dramatically increased. Zach began to yell that we were going to die and I was frantically begging Randy to go faster to which he pressed the accelerator further down. The G-wagon fishtailed through the dirt and gravel and I thought we were going to crash into a tree and that would be the end of it, but by the spear of Randy’s driving abilities, we approached the exit to the main road. By that time the thing had stopped chasing us before playing the horrific sound one last time.
Once we made it out of the woods we all broke down over the events that transpired, especially that we lost a friend, a brother. We waited until the break of dawn before going straight to the local police station and told them about everything. Of course, we knew they wouldn’t believe us about the thing we had just seen so we told them that our friend was killed in a horrific manner. We went back to the area and showed them where Reed was and the body was still there, in the same condition we found him in. They ruled it as a “bear attack” and that was it. When we explained to Reed’s parents what had happened to him, they broke to the ground sobbing and I guess, we did too.
Years come by and me, Randy, and Zach are still friends and we still hang out whenever we have the time. It would be a major disrespect to Reed if all three of us cut each other off since we made a deal that we would never leave each other’s sides no matter what. Randy sold the cabin once he took ownership of it but decided to keep the G-wagon forever as it was the trusty machinery that kept us alive, no matter every time I hopped onto it, it reminded me of the Siren head.