I know that many will doubt the contents of this story, and it is only natural. I have spent years of my life trying to overcome what my eyes have seen, and yet I cannot find rest and the feeling of safety even inside the walls of my house.
Ten years ago, I had a friend who was an avid hiker. Jim hiked almost every Sunday; he was the athletic type, and we were friends ever since school. On the other hand, I was more of an indoors person, who enjoyed the luxury of my house, books, and access to the Internet. Camping, hiking, and similar activities looked like chores to me.
As we grew older and everyday life, work, and other responsibilities filled our days, Jim started insisting that I should join him on one of his hikes. I was reluctant at first, but as he pressured me, the idea of finally doing something more adventurous grew in me.
He said that there was a trail that he had only hiked once before, but that he would consider it his favourite, about two hours drive from the city we lived. He convinced me to also camp for one night on top of the mountain and make the return walk the next day. It all sounded a bit too much for a first-timer, but after I initially agreed on joining him, Jim became overexcited. I want to be clear and state that I agreed to this only because I felt safe with Jim; from our school years, he had been protecting me from bullies, and given that he was of a bigger build even back then, I was saved from a lot of harassment.
“I’ll take care of you, buddy,” He was saying to me. “You just enjoy the experience; I’ll teach you a thing or two. Who knows, maybe I’ll make you a hiker?” Jim knew when he joked about it that I would never do such a thing on my own, but he was grateful that I was doing it for him so we could have a good time just like we used to before adult life became a burden.
In April of 2013, we took his pickup truck and drove towards the mountain trail. With us, we had a tent, two bags of equipment that I didn’t even bother asking Jim about, and food. Additionally, we brought with us a ton of beer cans and cigarette packs.
“How’s Chloe? You two are doing good?” Jim was staring straight ahead, holding the wheel with one hand while having a cigarette in the other.
“Yes, we’re good. Thinking about family and maybe having a baby, actually, but I’m not sure.”
“Hey, now’s the time for all that, buddy. If you’re gonna have a kid, better do it now when you still have the energy to hunt it around the house.”
“I know, it’s just…” I lit a cigarette and opened my window to blow the smoke out. “… It is a big leap. It’s frightening, actually.”
“Yeah, I get it. It’s the right attitude to have.” Jim seemed to be troubled as if he was searching for words inside his head. He gave me a quick stare and started talking again. “You know, talking about big leaps, I’m taking one too.”
“Don’t tell me you’re getting married to George…” I paused to read his expression, and when I was assured, I cheered. “That’s awesome, dude! When is the marriage happening?”
“In a month, maybe two. I’m not quite sure yet; it depends on when we are going to get settled in Zurich.”
“You are going to move to Europe?” It was hard to contain my feelings. One part of me was happy for him, but the other, more selfish part, felt sad that my best friend was going to another continent.
“George landed a job at a big tech company there, you know. I may be looking adventurous, but when it comes to building a future, I wanna play it as safe as possible. I believe we are going to be happy there.”
“I do too, man. You are going to have countless places to hike in the fucking Alps.”
“Yes, I will.” Jim turned and looked at me, grabbing my shoulder with his hand. “Hey, I want us to have a hell of a time those two days like we used to in college.”
“Gonna blast Nirvana and get drunk on beer cans in the woods? Yeah, like we used to.” When I finished my sentence, I heard a big sharp noise and immediately smelled rubber. Jim quickly turned towards the front of the car, grabbed the wheel with both of his hands, and tried to turn left, but a big tree came directly at us. I closed my eyes, and we crashed.
***
When I opened my eyes again, I saw the tree that hit us. Black smoke flew out of Jim’s pickup truck, and there was blood coming out of my left temple. Jim was next to me and made slight moves indicating that he had just regained his senses, like me.
“What happened?” I called.
“We probably just had the unluckiest case of a blown tire.” He said as he unbuckled and opened his door.
“Or the luckiest if you consider we are both virtually unharmed.”
“Yeah, but this piece of shit ain’t moving. Get your phone and make an emergency call.”
As he told me the number, I got out of the car and pulled out my phone.
“No signal!” I yelled. “You try.”
“Yeah, me too.” he said and then started cursing.
“We can just wait here until a car passes.”
Jim looked inside the trees on the side of the road, then back at me.
“It’s not a popular road, but we don’t have any other choice. Hey, do you hear something?”
Immediately, I turned to look at the woods and saw a figure moving behind the trees.
“Hey!” I yelled. “We crashed our car on a tree and need help!” The figure completely ignored my plea, turned, and ran towards the heart of the forest.
“What the fuck?” Jim yelled from behind me. He was holding a handful of nails as he stood on the road, right about where our tire must have blown up. “Did you do this? Hey, where did you go? Come back, you fucker!” As he was yelling, Jim grabbed something that looked like a bat from his car and started pursuing the figure.
I instinctively followed, probably because I felt safer with Jim around, especially now that it was revealed that someone got us off-road on purpose. What was that all about? Jim said it was an unpopular road; maybe it was a good place to rob people. I didn’t like the fact that we were chasing someone who would go to such lengths to rob people; what if he had a gun?
As we were running, I looked to my left and saw another black figure moving behind a tree.
“On the right! Jim, there’s someone behind that split tree!” Jim stopped and looked directly where I pointed; he saw the figure right before it, too, disappeared into the forest.
“We should go back to the car.” I told him. “We don’t know how many are there and what they want. It’s not safe.”
“You’re right. This way, follow me.” I ran behind him and tried not to look back. At this point, my heart was beating like a war drum, and my brain made up scenarios on how we would get stabbed or shot by those weird men.
As we were running, Jim quickened his pace. I tried to catch up, but I couldn’t. Afraid I was going to be left behind, I yelled, “Wait for me!”
Behind me, there were no figures; maybe we outran them, I thought, and I sped up to find Jim. As I closed in, I saw him standing still. The bat was on the ground next to him, and in front of him was the split tree that the black figure used to hide moments before.
“It can’t be,” He murmured. “We went the opposite way, yet we ended up in the same spot.”
I immediately felt nausea, disorientation overwhelmed me, and instinctively I looked at my phone. 14:26, it read. But how? Looking around, the light dimmed as if it was late in the evening. How long have we been here?
“Jim, look at your watch. I think mine is stuck.”
“It isn’t. Look at my phone.” He turned and showed me his phone; his hand was shaking, but on top of his home screen, above the photo of him and George smiling, the widget showed 14:27.
***
At that point, both of us were overwhelmed with panic. I wasn’t used to Jim breaking his reassuring character and openly expressing anxiety; that made me even more nervous. We ran left and right without much thinking; it was almost night, or it looked as if it were night, but we had both agreed that we weren’t there for more than three hours.
As we traversed the forest, we used our phones as flashlights. Around us, we saw shadows and heard weird metallic sounds. It was almost as if chains were being dragged.
We were sure at the time that whoever was doing this to us was forcing us into circles, to wonder how hard we tried to change our path. We saw the split tree countless times until we decided to take shelter beside it.
“We need to hide!” Jim told me. He was keeping his voice low as if whoever was hunting us was near. From the depths of my gut, I could feel it. A thousand eyes looking at me from all directions, from inside the pitch black that surrounded us.
We grabbed dirt, leaves, and sticks and tried to cover ourselves. From the distance, we heard the metallic sounds grow louder. As whatever was hunting us came nearer, the sounds became more defined, and now I was sure they were chains, a lot of chains coming from all directions.
From my left, I heard Jim whisper, “Stay completely still, try to breathe as slowly as you can.” I saw him close his eyes, and I did so too.
I felt my chest going up and down as my heart beat extremely fast. They are gonna notice me, I thought, and right at that time, I felt a figure walking on top of me. By instinct, I remained still and did not move, even when that thing stepped on my right arm. Jim started yelling. “No! Leave me alone! Nooo aouhhh…” I could not resist; I opened my right eye ever so slightly. I saw Jim being held on his feet by three or more figures. They did not have jaws, and their spiked tongues hung low. They looked malnourished like they hadn’t eaten for weeks. On their necks, they were strapped by chains. My eyes followed the chains, and they all led to the tall figure that was stepping on my arm.
Its legs were more than a meter and a half, and while its torso seemed like a normal human one, its two hands were broken in more than four points. It had long black hair that covered its face and made a gurgling sound as it breathed.
With one hand, it held the chains of the other creatures, and with the other, it broke Jim’s jaw and completely removed it from his head. I was lucky that fear had completely frozen me because as the creature murdered my friend, I didn’t move, not even a millimetre. I was numb.
The chained creatures, once Jim stopped screaming, laid him on the floor and feasted on him. They looked like men; they must have been men once, but they were something different now, altered by the chain holder. Jim was receiving the same alteration.
For one whole night, I stood in complete silence, one with the dirt and the leaves that covered me. I endured the cries of my friend until I passed out.
When I woke up again, I was alone. On the split tree to my right, there was blood and vomit. I got up and tried to lift my right arm, but I couldn’t; later, I learned that it was broken.
When I found my way back to the road, a car passed and stopped. They called the police and an ambulance. I told the authorities that we were hunted by a large animal since I wouldn’t be taken seriously if I told the truth, and a search party was formed to find Jim, who, according to my story, was separated from me during the night.
As I expected, the police never found Jim or any evidence of him. No blood, no clothes, no split tree with blood.
Chloe was understanding of me having a post-traumatic condition after the event and supported me through the years. I can say that I never got over it, but things became a little better year by year, up until yesterday.
When Chloe and I stopped with our car at night to look at the map, I heard the chains, and deep inside me, I knew. I knew that the Chainholder walked behind trees with its hungry figures strapped by their necks. And I very well knew that Jim was now one of them. When I heard the sound of chains yesterday, I was assured that, for whatever reason, the Chainholder was well aware that I was hiding next to Jim and that I will have my turn when the time is right.