I never left the ranges of Mount Denver. Not really. Though I awake under the soft, warm glow of fluorescent lights, though the comforts of modernity are all around me, and though I am visited by friends and family alike, I am still there. Wet, cold, my entire body sore. My head pounds, and the air around me stank of a mixture of marshlands and smoke.
I guess I should start from the beginning. I don’t know how much of this I can fit into one post, so I’ll try to get it in two. Me and my friends set out to walk along Mount Denver a month ago. That is, at least, what they say, but I could never tell. Most of the experience was lost on me, though the parts they lingered on, I remember very vividly.
Remnants of a storm were picking up, dry branches swaying and, eventually, snapping. The sun had yet to show itself, but the morning glow was enough to cast the world into a strange, blueish light that did not mix with the muddy terrain in a wholesome way.
I wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for the wind or not; while it did pierce my skin with thousands of frigid knives, it also hid the quiver in my voice. That wasn’t the case for Penny, whose sniffles and hiccups were painfully obvious, no matter how hard she tried to muffle them behind the inside of her scarf. Sarah wrapped an arm around the shorter girl, whispering assurances that the raging tempest rendered moot.
“N-no, it’s fine, we can keep going,” Penny affirmed, her voice trembling with the cold. “We’re only a few more miles away, right?”
“Yeah,” Max murmured, eyes tracing the mountain in the distance, his brow furrowed in frustration. “John, any luck with service?”
“Nothing,” I sighed, shaking my head. “I’m not sure how far we have to go to get a signal.”
“Well, we’d better get a move on,” Max turned to face the group. “I know it’s a little scary to be lost, but it’s not as bad as not knowing your way in a forest. The fact is, if we keep going down we’re eventually going to find a trail or a road.”
“And if it’s a forest?” Sarah instantly regretted her question, as the shivering girl in her grasp let out a whimper.
“I… We won’t,” Max’s uncharacteristic hesitation only served to heighten the group’s anxiety, betraying his usual unwavering confidence. “We have a good amount of food left, so it’s not like we’ll starve up here,” I shot him a glance, motioning towards the blonde, expecting him to back down. This didn’t yield the intended reaction, as it only added fuel to the fire. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it just because Mrs. Sensitive over here is feeling blue. This is survival, and if you can’t handle the prospect of sleeping out here for a night, you shouldn’t have come.”
“I can handle myself,” Penny’s voice was muffled behind the thick fabric wrapped around her head. She rubbed her eyes before shaking off Sarah’s arm. “Y-you don’t need to treat me like I’m helpless.” At first, I thought she was referring to Max, but when I saw that her cerulean pupils were fixed on me, I realized she was talking to me. “You’re acting like I’m about to break down and start crying.”
I bit back the urge to retort, knowing that the situation didn’t need any further aggravation. “Sorry, you’re right. Let’s get a move on, yeah?” Mountain ranges are deceivingly complex, sprawling across hundreds of square miles with countless peaks and valleys. The misconception that reaching the top offers a clear path forward is just that—a misconception. Even at the highest point, the dense canopy obscured our view of the skies.
“We’re lost,” Sarah mumbled once a few more minutes had passed, frustration wearing down her naturally calm and collected persona. “We’ve been hiking for hours but haven’t found the trail.”
“Well, I don’t see you helping!” Max snapped, spinning to face the girl. Immediately, she went on the defensive, pointing an accusatory finger and prodding his chest.
“I’m sorry, but when all you do is brag about how you know nature like the back of your hand, I have the right to be a little pissed when you lead us around in circles,” Their back and forth sent Penny into a fit, who fought back tears and hiccups with little avail. My head darted between the two, unsure whether to break the fight up or comfort Penny. Thankfully, the choice was made for me, as Sarah pushed past Max, grabbing the blonde’s hand and taking the role of leader. “Come on, the sun’s setting. We need to find shelter soon.” Max and I only started following them after they gained a few meters distance, allowing me to talk without the fear of being heard.
“Don’t lose it, man,” I ushered, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. “The last thing we need is for our guide to throw a hissy fit.”
“I love how this is somehow my fault,” Unlike me, Max didn’t bother hiding his voice, causing Sarah to send us a brief, annoyed glance over her shoulder. “If I’m such a screw-up, then why don’t you just go on without me, huh?”
“Max…” I let out an exasperated sigh, my voice raising in volume once I realized he wasn’t going to bother keeping quiet. “You know none of us are saying that. I’m just saying that now’s not the time to lose your cool.”
“Oh, right,” he mocked, rolling his eyes. “Me getting frustrated that I have two people whining at every turn is ‘losing my cool’, but her going off on me like that isn’t?”
“Can you please stop acting like a goddamn toddler?” The words left my mouth before I could reconsider them, and the next second I was reeling back, blood trickling from my nose. I dabbed at the injury, the viscous red liquid staining the tips of my fingers. “Jesus, Max!” Despite the burning urge inside of me to retaliate, I decided against escalating the situation. Not only would getting into a fight make us lose precious time and energy, but considering our weight discrepancies, the outcome was not in my favour.
“Guys!” Penny snapped, her eyes no longer glassy from unshed tears. She swallowed hard, looking between us before pointing a finger in the distance. “There’s a cabin.” Max and I exchanged one final look before following where Penny was pointing. Sure enough, a short distance away, a quaint cabin stood alone, seemingly at peace with its isolation. Though it didn’t look like the most inviting place, sleeping inside was a much better alternative to sleeping out here.
As we approached the wooden building, I took a quick look at the condition of the infrastructure. Though not completely dilapidated, it was more abandoned than we were first led to believe. The wood was relatively clean, aside from the occasional splinter or stray twig, and the windows weren’t boarded up. Curtains hung over them, however, making it impossible to see inside.
“Maybe someone is living inside…” Sarah murmured, approaching the door and giving it three gentle knocks. Much to no one’s surprise, no response came.
“Nobody’s going to hear something like that,” Max scoffed, pushing her aside and bringing his fist up. Without warning, he slammed it against the wood, causing splinters to jut out more and more with each violent beat. “Well… no one’s answering.”
“Max, what the hell is wrong with you?” Sarah shoved him, or rather, pushed against his shoulder until he relented, and grabbed the knob. She twisted it and, just like that, the door opened. “Oh, would you look at that? It’s open. Who would have thunk?” The door creaked open to an all-consuming darkness, the kind that seemed to snuff out any light daring to enter its domain.
Sarah was the first to step in, followed by Max. Penny hesitated, but she was coaxed into entering by me. I patted my body for my flashlight, digging into the countless pockets adorning my winter jacket. When I finally got my hands on it, I heard Sarah’s voice, echoing throughout the empty cabin.
“Hello? Is anyone here?” She called out, despite the size of the building not requiring her to raise her voice. “Sorry for coming in uninvited, but we got lost.” After a few seconds, she shrugged and took a few more steps inside. “Light, light light…” She repeated to herself, disappearing within the almost supernatural veil of darkness. A few seconds later, I managed to get my own flashlight to work, pointing it at where Sarah was.
Though the quality was lacking, the light did manage to illuminate the room. We were standing in what appeared to be a living room, with a fireplace and a sofa, as well as a few chairs surrounding a table. A table that held the body of a man with a chunk of his shoulder bitten off. A scream clogged inside my throat, and the flashlight was redirected at yet another carcass. Or, at least, I thought it was one. It wore the same college sweater as the first corpse, and it too was covered in blood. But as its head was put into the spotlight, the bloated, grey face and hollow eye sockets told me it wasn’t a person. Or, at least, not anymore. Its neck, far too thin to support such a hulking skull, fell limp to the side, revealing a pulsating, yellow cyst covering a majority of its throat. The flesh, sickly and swollen, looked ready to burst at any second, something writhing incessantly within it.
I couldn’t tell what happened after that. There were the screams of four, scampering, frightened teenagers running for their lives. I hit the ground, watching as Max ran out in a panic, unaware of who he had just shoved aside. Then, there were the screams of three. Crawling backward, I shone the light upwards, revealing a grotesque visage of the undead. Its eyes met mine, and I bolted to my feet, fleeing in terror. I barely made it a few steps before an iron grip latched around my foot, and I was sent crashing to the ground once more.
My head turned, watching as the beast’s gnarled teeth clamped down on my ankle, grating the bones and tearing the flesh. It started pulling back, stopping momentarily as Penny grabbed my hand and pulled with all her might. This, however, only served to help the monster, and it began dragging both of us across the floor. I screamed, not in pain, but in terror, watching the light of the outdoors dwindle more and more.
A blinding flash of white lasting only a second burst from the door, followed by a thunderous percussion. My ears rang with the gunfire’s echo, shots firing in rapid succession– miss after miss after until, finally, the fifth bullet found its mark, and the grip around my foot went limp. Penny took the opportunity to haul me over her shoulder and throw herself out. Max, revolver in hand, slammed the door behind us, panting heavily. The silence that followed would’ve given way to relief if not for one glaring issue.
“Sarah’s still in there,” I gasped in realization. The thought sent me to my feet, only for a searing pain to shoot through my leg. I collapsed, only managing to stay upright by using Max’s shoulder as support.
“I-I’m going back in there! I still have…” Even Max’s resolve seemed shaken, as he trailed off, looking at the cylinder which only housed one remaining bullet. We waited, each of us waiting for the other to declare that they would save her, yet words failed us.
“We… We can’t just leave her,” Penny was the first to break the silence, looking between us with wide, frantic eyes. “W-we have to go back!”
“Are you fucking nuts?” Max retorted, gesturing wildly at the door. “Did you not see what’s in there? That thing is going to rip us to shreds!”
“So we’re just going to abandon her!?” She argued, her voice growing more shrill and desperate. “How can you say that, Max? Sarah is our friend! She-“
“Is dead!” He lifted me over his shoulder, turning his back on the cabin. “You can come with us, or you can play hero and try to wrestle with that fucking thing.” Penny looked back and forth, the choice already obvious, but her indecisiveness only caused the seconds to tick by. Max scoffed, shaking his head and starting his walk away.
“No! Please, I-I’m coming, I’m coming!”
Our trek wasn’t to any particular destination, as our main goal was to distance ourselves from the cabin. Though it hadn’t even attempted to interrupt our argument outside the cabin, we weren’t going to take our chances and camp out on its front lawn. It wasn’t long before the sky turned a deep purple, the moon and stars our only guide. While Max desperately tried to keep a match alight long enough to set the kindle ablaze, Penny was eyeing the infection surrounding the bite.
“I-it looks really inflamed,” She murmured, hands teetered inches from the wound. “Okay, um, I’m going to sterilize it, so…” Before I could say anything, she dabbed a napkin in rubbing alcohol and pressed it against the wound. A hiss escaped my lips as I bit back the pain. With the fire lit, our huddled bodies were cast in a faint, orange glow. Penny continued to work on the injury, keeping it free from any grime and dirt, regularly pouring more alcohol on it.
“Do you think Sarah’s okay?” Penny’s voice broke the heavy silence, her question bringing a sharp pang to my chest. I couldn’t bring myself to answer, though a solemn nod from Penny told me I didn’t need to. Finally, Penny secured the gauze tightly around my ankle before crawling closer to the fire’s warmth.
“Are you cold?” I asked, noticing her shivering.
“I-I’m fine, it’s just the wind,” She mumbled, pulling her coat closer. Max had been silent throughout, which I didn’t blame him for. He kept glaring down at the firearm, regularly checking the cylinder, as if another bullet would appear. Each time, he was met with the singular cartridge, and his glare grew angrier and angrier. He didn’t pack any more bullets, probably because he never expected anything like this to happen. I could tell the way he brandished the weapon on the first day was purely to impress us rather than for safety reasons.
“It’s not your fault,” I managed, and his head snapped up. Once he processed my words, however, his expression returned to weary resignation.
“I ran,” He muttered, shaking his head. “I had a weapon, and I ran.”
“You saved me, and Penny,” My attempts at raising his mood only worked for a moment.
“After I shoved you out of the way. Not to mention, I wasted four bullets because I couldn’t aim for shit,” He paused, glancing down at the gun. “And now there’s only one bullet left.” The crackle of the fire filled the silence that followed after that. As much as I wanted to convince him otherwise, I knew nothing I said would have worked. Partly because he was too stubborn to ever have his mind changed, and partly because, deep down, I agreed with him.
“We have enough supplies to last us a few days,” Penny’s change of topic was appreciated, neither of us able to handle another extended period of crackling kindling and unspoken words. “If we ration well, you’ll be good to walk by then. O-or, preferably, we’re found.”
“Yeah…” I murmured, finding myself drawn in by the fire. “Yeah, I’m sure everything’s going to be alright.”
Nothing of note occurred for the next few days. We never left camp, as a result of my injury leaving me immobile. Penny kept it clean, applied alcohol to it and even changed the bandage, but the skin remained an angry red, and the pain persisted. Being stuck a cripple left me frustrated, and soon enough my irritation began to leak into our conversations.
“Sh-should we try getting a signal again? If either Max or I went out, then maybe we could get help,” Penny suggested, having grown antsy about remaining saddled in the same place. “Or if there’s another hiker, then-“
“Why are you so sure that anyone will come?” My words were bitter and cold, the only solace I had from my pain being to bring it upon others. Penny’s breath hitched as if the possibility that we wouldn’t make it out never left her mind. Despite my heart tearing into pieces at the reaction, I could do nothing but continue. “Sarah had most of the food in her bag, and now we’ve lost it. We’re surrounded by trees and mountains. How long do you think we can last in these conditions?”
“That’s enough, John,” Max’s words finally returned to the thunderous boom he was known for, causing me to fall silent. He stood, his shadow casting over both Penny and I. “We’re going to get out of this alive. All of us. Do you hear me?” I was stunned into silence, his voice leaving my mouth dry.
“Maybe I’d believe you if you didn’t fuck up so badly the last time,” I managed, the words spilling out before I could stop myself. Max’s eyes narrowed, his face growing a bright red, the colour travelling down his neck. He stomped towards me, and that’s when my sudden burst of bravado came to a stop. Before Max could punch me a second time, Penny stood in front of him.
“Stop! This isn’t helping,” She pleaded, tears filling her eyes. “He doesn’t mean what he’s saying, Max, you of all people should know that! I-I’m sure his injury is just making him a little bit grumpy. Right, John?” The way her eyes shone with hope made my heart sink even further.
“Right,” I grumbled, my gaze returning to the fire. Max bore holes through Penny’s eyes just to gaze at me but didn’t act upon what were the undoubtedly violent thoughts plaguing his mind. Though he was no longer seething with rage, I could tell from the glimmer in his eyes that my words hit deep. Never had I seen a look of complete defeat in his eyes. “P-Penny’s right, I didn’t mean it. I don’t actually blame you for any of this, you did what you had to.”
He didn’t respond, just kept gripping the revolver with all his might, knuckles turning a bleached white. He took a breath of air, as if preparing himself to speak, but decided against it with a shake of his head. The sun, whose rays were already blocked out by the canopy, hid behind the mountain, and our world shrank to the fire’s flickering glow. Max settled into the makeshift sleeping bag, the firearm never leaving his grasp. Following him was Penny, who wrapped herself in a thin blanket.
“Good night, you guys,” She murmured, voice soft, barely above a whisper. Max didn’t respond, as his eyes were locked on the gun. “Max?”
“Good night,” His tone was a forced calm, a blatant attempt at hiding his frustration. Once her worries were laid to rest, or at least subside a little, she allowed her eyes to close. Max, who I knew wasn’t sleeping, kept his back to me.
Though exhaustion was taking its toll on me, sleeping seemed like a herculean feat. Be it the injury, the weather, the conditions, or a mixture of everything, I just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. After the moon peaked, and the stars were high in the sky, I realized exactly what was keeping me awake. Hunger.
I thought that, perhaps, I misread the feeling, but once saliva trickled down my chin and my stomach tied knots around itself, there was no denying it. I was sure I had eaten not too long ago. An entire meal, in fact, yet it felt as if it was a lifetime since. My eyes scanned the bag residing next to Penny’s still body, and I considered taking one of the few remaining snacks. If I were lucky, Penny might not notice.
However, as I dragged my body from underneath the blanket, my consciousness started slipping in and out. I lost control of my body, the next few seconds flashing by in an instant. When I finally came to, I found my hands inches from Penny’s neck, my mouth open as drool dripped down the corners of my lips. A jolt of horror ran through me as I looked at the two distended hands, the way the fingers were so horrifically positioned causing me to question if they were even mine. The first few attempts at prying myself away were met with shocking resistance, but the thought of harming Penny any more than I already had gave me a strength I didn’t know I had, and I threw myself back, not daring to utter a sound. Aside from the rapid-fire heartbeat pounding in my ears, the camp was dead silent.
Minutes passed without her so much as stirring, and I finally allowed myself to breathe. I couldn’t understand what had happened, nor why, but the mere thought of trying it again sent waves of disgust through my system. I crawled back inside the sleeping bag, wrapping the cover tightly around me in an attempt to suppress any future urges. After an incessant back and forth with my mind, exhaustion was finally starting to numb my senses, and my eyelids became far too heavy to keep open.
I crawled back inside the sleeping bag, wrapping the cover tightly around me in an attempt to suppress any future urges. That was when my mind began racing, trying to piece together exactly what just happened. When I settled on the most comforting explanation, that being a delirium caused by sleep exhaustion, I closed my eyes.
The moment I awoke, I realized that the form of Max no longer rested underneath the blanket, and Penny was huddled against a tree, arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes stared dully at the weak fire, whose embers had all but exhausted themselves throughout the night. Her breaths came in long but with a painfully obvious shudder.
“Penny?” I cautioned to ask, not sure if I was prepared to hear whatever was causing her such strife. Her head moved at an agonizingly slow pace, but when our eyes finally met, her lips opened.
“I-I tried to stop him,” My heart stopped, and the blood that pumped through my veins turned to ice. “I told him you weren’t yourself, that you didn’t mean it, but he was deadset on going back. I tried to stop him.” She repeated, more so attempting to convince herself than me. My attempts at getting up were, once again, hindered by the injury.
“Shit,” I breathed, frantically searching the greenery surrounding us in an attempt to spot him. As my sight returned to Penny, I saw her outstretched hand holding a walkie-talkie.
“He gave it to me before he left, but…” She shook her head, arm going limp as I took the device from her. “I couldn’t bear using it.” I didn’t waste another second and activated the device. Immediately, static blared from the speaker, muffling Penny’s shrill gasp at the sudden violation of silence.
“Max, please, pick up. Max, it’s John,” My voice was panicked, but I didn’t care. “Max, you can’t go there alone. It’s not safe.” After a few seconds, I heard the sound of exhalation on the other end. “Max, answer me, are you there?”
“Yes,” He spoke, and I was thankful for the confirmation that he was at least alive. “I… I’m already inside.” Instinctively, my hand clasped over my mouth, and it took everything in my power to not shout.
“Get out,” I begged, but he didn’t listen.
“I’m sorry. I… I know you told me not to blame myself for it, but it really was my fault, huh?” Something banged, and I recognized the sound of wood splintering. “I-I barricaded myself in one of the rooms. I pushed a bed against the door, and it seems to be holding out for now.”
“O-okay, good,” I pulled my hair back, cold sweat forming on my forehead. “Is there a window or something you can get out from?”
“No,” Before I could continue, his voice cut me off. “I-I don’t want this thing to get me.”
“If it’s wood, you could break through it! It’s old, s-so maybe you could-“
“No, John, you don’t get it,” The sound of the revolver clicking shut caused my throat to go dry. “I don’t want this thing to get me.” No words dared escape my mouth, and I could do nothing but listen as the thunderous percussion rang out.