DAY 14
I suppose I should preface this with some kind of backstory, but I’m entirely unsure of where to begin. I don’t know if I should write most of what’s happened here down in the first place, as it’s rather…unfathomable, to say the least. The last time I looked out the window I saw those…things…and I still can’t believe they’re real. But I gather that as I see them in the flesh, they are indeed real, and they are coming for me.
It’s been approximately 14 days since I arrived at this small cabin in the forest just beyond the Alaska Range. I rented it out with my three friends, Jesse, Alex, and a native Alaskan, and we planned to stay here for at least a week, but…things changed. I guess I knew the moment we entered the woods, something was wrong. I could feel the atmosphere change as the car drove into the canopy of pines and aspens, a kind of weight compounding onto me. The air around the car seemed to seep into the vents with a vile stench unlike that that had been there just moments before. All of us in the car reacted to it almost instantaneously, pinching our noses and blaming the one next to us for the smell, though when I bent to the vent and took a good whiff, I scrunched my nose even further, exclaiming the horrid stink was coming from it.
“Nah, it’s definitely from Jesse and those gross hotdogs from the gas station earlier!” Alex barked, giggling as he playfully shoved the curly, golden-haired man sitting next to him in the back seat. “Should’a ate’em without the chili sauce!” Jesse, the accused, pushed his friend back and proclaimed his innocence.
“Wasn’t me! I already went to the bathroom; maybe it was Cheyenne! Just cause she’s a girl doesn’t mean she doesn’t do that kinda stuff!” I furrowed my brows at being the next to be accused.
“I just told you it was the vents, guys!” Even though I reiterated my words, they still argued with each other, the older of the two giving the other a noogie on his head after trapping him in a head lock. I turned back in my chair to face the front and closed the vents I could reach.
“What do you think it is?” I inquired to the person driving, a raven-haired, olive-skinned man who was firmly grasping the steering wheel and peeked a glance at me.
“Probably just some dead animals or somethin’. Nothing to worry about.” I took his words as reassurance. For some reason, this man was always able to keep me at ease with just a few words. His name was Innik and he was Inuit, part of one of the main tribes here in Alaska. I always thought it was strange he was so far south, but he said it was because his family sought “exploration”. Out of the three of them, Innik was probably my closest friend…I’ll miss him.
When we arrived at the cabin, it was nearly dusk already and we still had to carry everything in, blankets and pillows, food and drinks, a few things to keep us busy over the next week. While hauling in the goods from the trunk, the smell seemed to have followed us the entire way, wrapping its heinous tentacles around our nostrils.
“Gah, it followed us!” Jesse whined, absent-mindedly rubbing his nose to push the scent away.
“Told ya it was you.” Alex laughed as he towed one of the last baskets inside. Jesse shoved him forward and the four of us made our way through the door.
I can guess that Innik’s expression as he turned to me after locking the door behind us was for the same reason as I’m writing about this now. He saw something as he closed the door, or knew something from the weird smell outside, or…something. He was pale when he looked at me, eyes wide and mouth partly open. His brows were slightly furrowed as well but when I inquired, he just cleared his throat and shook his head.
“It’s nothing.” He let out a brief, airy laugh. “Just wanting to know what was in those hot dogs Jesse ate.” Innik walked past me and towards the other two men, helping to unload the crates and put away the goods in cabinets and the fridge.
For a little while, we all sat back drinking beer and playing cards. We eventually cooked up some hamburgers and brats on the indoor griller and Alex got the antenna just right on the TV for a few channels to come in. It was pretty late in the evening when we all headed in for the night, Alex and Jesse taking the room at the end of the hall, Innik in the bedroom just before the bathroom, and I slept on the lounge chair.
I believe it was around 3, maybe 4 in the morning when I was jolted awake by a loud bang at the front door. I shot straight up and let the blanket tied around my midsection pool around my feet as I stood at the base of the couch. I waited for a moment or two, wondering if I was just hearing things in my head from a dream when all of sudden another thud, and another thundered in the air. The sharp sounds sent me back into a sitting position and I recoiled to the corner of the lounge section, pulling the blanket up over my knees and around my back, hoping this was just a bad dream as fear rippled through me. When more and more thuds came from the other side of the door, Innik and the others came running into the living room and had to yell to be heard.
“What the hell is that?!” Alex barked, watching the front door literally vibrate with each new bang.
Innik moved to me and asked if I was okay, wrapping a hand around my back and squeezing my shoulder in reassurance. The noise became louder and louder, we were all sure it, whatever it was, was going to break through and get inside, but just as the sound seemed to reach its peak, it stopped.
“What the fuck…” Jesse broke the silence and slowly stepped towards the door, unconsciously taking lighter and lighter steps as he got closer. When he reached the door, he placed his open palm upon it and felt for something, anything. When there was nothing, he put his ear to it in hopes he may hear whatever it was that was originally making noise. Again, nothing. He pulled back and swallowed hard.
“I’m gonna open it…” He proclaimed, taking the lock in his hands and undoing it.
“What?! What the fuck, no!” Alex denied, gripping his friend’s shirt at the back to try and pull him away. “We don’t know what’s out there!”
“Exactly!” Jesse yanked his shirt free from Alex and took hold of the doorknob. “It could just be an angry buck or somethin’.”
“And you wanna let it in?!” Alex attempted to hold the door closed and push Jesse away, but the shorter man kept hold of the door handle.
“It could also be someone who’s hurt and needs help.” Jesse proposed. Alex looked at me and Innik, possibly looking for an explanation why anyone would be out here besides all of us. He looked back to Jesse and gave his own explanation.
“If it was someone who needed help, don’t you think they would’ve said something by now, not hit the door millions of times to scare the shit outta the people inside?! And anyway, how does whoever or whatever it is know there’s people in here in the first place?!” Jesse was moving to push Alex out of the way and pull open the door when a new sound erupted: a sharp pair of nails scraping the wood of the door from the very top to the bottom.
When the sound became louder and faster, as if whatever on the other side was becoming more vigorous in its motions, the two arguing men backed away slowly, the couch now at their backs. Then, a thud, then another, and another. A soft whine, like that of a newborn goat or lamb rang in the air for several seconds followed by more thuds and scraping. Looks of horror were plastered across everyone’s faces while the noises pressed inside between the cracks and crevices of the door frame.
“What in the holy hell…” Jesse whispered, his breath hitching when the noises suddenly stopped again, perhaps reacting to the sound of him talking. For a few moments there was complete silence, but it was quickly abashed by the feeling of dread that washed over us as we noticed the doorknob begin to turn.
Jesse flew to the door and shut the lock again, backing away just as quickly. When the door didn’t open, the handle began to turn back and forth repeatedly, the continuous clicking of the locking mechanism held in place by a thin rod was like literal music to our ears. But a far more hideous noise was to come. The clicking ceased and the knob stood still, thumping and scratching taking their places. A voice was then heard, unlike any other voice I have ever heard before it, a voice that held no rhythm, no cadence, no real sound behind it, like when an animal tries to speak and sound human but isn’t.
“Let…me…in…”
DAY 15
Supplies are running low. I’ve got about two more days of granola bars and tuna packs, but my water stash is just about spent, only about a fourth of a one-liter bottle and a full regular-sized water bottle. If I space it out, maybe I could make it last, but…who knows. I would’ve spent more time planning out my food situation had I known my trip to this god-forsaken cabin was going to be extended this long, but no one really knows what the future holds. I’m really starting to hate the fact that I’m alone, too. I can hear those things whining and wailing each night, calling out to each other, waiting to see how they get to me. I wonder if they even realize I’m here still, they must if they’re sticking around.
To clarify, I’m currently in the attic, stored away with a crate that held a small collection of food and the water that was previously in the fridge at the start of this trip. To tell you how I got here, let me continue the story from last night.
The thing on the other side of the door spoke to us in a voice akin to what a cat sounds like when it tries to talk like a human in those weird internet videos. It was more of a whine mixed with a shrill, nasally sound than the sound a voice makes when two people are talking to each other, nonetheless, we understood it clearly.
“Let…me in…” More bangs followed soon after but each of us were glued to the sofa, not moving an inch from where we sat and not making a single sound in response to whatever it was talking to us.
This seemed to go on for forever, the banging, the scraping, the whines, but in reality, it had to have been only for about 3 or 4 hours because when daylight broke over the horizon the sounds died down. Still, none of us dared move a muscle until we felt comfortable enough that the thing was gone or at least lost enough interest to find a new target to scare the crap out of. When that happened, Alex was the first to get up, slowly creeping up to the door but stopping a few feet from it, perhaps deciding against what he and Jesse had just done a few hours before. He turned to the rest of us and cleared his throat before speaking.
“We need to leave, now.” He declared. “We need to get our shit, and fucking leave.” Before any of us could protest, Alex moved to the kitchen, grabbed the stacked crates and began to pile the goods that had been unloaded the night before back into them.
“Alex, calm down.” Jesse walked up to his friend and gestured for him to slow his role and take a breath before proceeding.
“Calm down? CALM DOWN?!” Alex looked flabbergasted at the man before him, had he not just seen what he had seen?! “There is something out there and it ain’t no deer!” He deduced, shoving full bottles of water into a crate and taking out the boxes of food from the cabinets.
“Well-” Jesse started but was cut off.
“Well nothing! It talked! It fucking talked!” Alex finished storing the food into the crates as Innik and I joined him and Jesse in the kitchen. “Ain’t no deer here or anywhere that can talk, Jesse!”
“It could still be a person.” Jesse postulated earning an incredulous look from Alex.
“Are you kidding me?! If it was a person, I ain’t sticking around to find out what the fuck is wrong with it!” Alex took one of the crates in his hands and hauled it towards the door, aiming to go outside. “Now I’m getting the hell outta here, ya’ll can come or stay, that’s your choice.” We followed him to the door as he sat the crate next to it and placed a cautious hand on the knob. He took in a deep breath and looked back at us. “That thing should be gone by now, so…we gotta get outta here before it comes back. Maybe more’ll come, and I don’t wanna be here to find out just what the hell it is.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go out there,” Innik suggested, stepping forward and raising a stopping hand to his friend. “We don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with and for all we know it could be at the other side of the door waiting for you to open it.” Those words sent a chill down my back, just the very thought that this thing was smart enough to plan an ambush attack like that meant it may not be an animal, or at least no animal I’d ever heard of.
Alex breathed another apprehensive sigh but shook his head. “Even so, we gotta try, right? If we don’t get outta here…” We were all thinking it, maybe that thing wanted to get in because it wanted us, to hurt us, to eat us, to kill us. We didn’t know and the fear of the unknown was driving Alex to move. “I’m going.” He stated, taking hold of the lock, twisting it open and bracing himself for what may be on the other side of the door.
When he opened the door, slowly and cautiously, he was met with…nothing on the other side. And by nothing, I mean nothing, no birds chirping, no frogs ribbiting, no ambient forest animal sounds, nothing but clear daylight all the way to the wood line. I could hear Alex breathe a sigh of relief at the absence of some mythological creature waiting to gobble him up and spit out the bones. He bent to take hold of the crate again and started to walk out the door.
“You coming?” Those words rang in my ears as we all watched him head for the car. He was only 10 or so feet from the trunk door when, out of nowhere, a dark flash blipped across the grass, snatching Alex and zooming out of view before any of us could get a good look at it. It happened so fast, we didn’t have much time to react, the crate Alex had been holding hit the ground with a soft thud and for several seconds there was complete silence as we each processed what had just occurred. When we realized that thing had indeed been waiting for the door to be opened, for one of us to come out so it could attack, a loud scream sounded from the woods in the direction the flash had disappeared to. In that moment, Innik moved to the door slamming it closed, shutting the lock and placing his back firmly against the wood, shielding us from the outside.
It took Jesse and me a moment to gather words and just as I was about to speak, Jesse tumbled to the floor, soaking in the fact his friend had just been taken by some forest beast that none of us knew what it was.
“What…” I looked at Jesse for a moment before taking a seat next to him and putting my hands on his shoulders.
“Cheyenne, Jesse,” Innik called for our attentions. “Get up. We have to lock all the doors and the windows. Come on!” Innik rushed past me and Jesse as he moved to seal the house shut. Jesse didn’t budge but I knew I had to help Innik so I stood and followed him to the back of the cabin, closing the blinds to each window as I ensured their locks were securely fastened. When we got back to the living room, Jesse was still sat on the floor, now curled up in a ball with his knees to his chest and his face buried in them.
“Jesse…” I called out to him, approaching gently and squatting to his level. I again put my hands on his shoulders and tried to calm him. “We should-” He cut me off.
“No!” Jesse yelped. “Did you see what that thing did to him?! It took him! He’s probably dead! And I was gonna let the thing inside!” Tears started to stream down Jesse’s face as he began to rock back and forth. “Alex is dead…”
“You’re probably right.” Innik’s voice caught me off guard because I was trying to calm Jesse and his words would only rile him up. I gave him a disapproving glare as he continued. “That thing out there probably killed him and there’s probably more of them waiting to get us.”
“Wh-what…?!” Jesse questioned, eyeing the mobile Innik while he triple-checked that the front door was locked tight. “What do you mean? How do you know?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure at first, with just the smell and the weird atmosphere here the woods, but when I heard that thing talk last night, it made it all clear.” Innik leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest.
“You know what it is.” I presumed.
“I do.” He nodded.
“What?! What the hell was that thing, then?! And why didn’t you stop Alex from leaving?!” Jesse yelled as he got to his feet and clenched his fists in anger and confusion.
“It’s…it’s got lots of names, but it’s better known around here as a windikouk.”
“What the fuck is that?! Windi-what?! What are you saying, Innik?!” Jesse got closer to him.
“It’s a wendigo…” I uttered and Jesse turned to me and raised a brow, unwilling to believe the words that had just come out of my mouth.
“’Scuse me?” He begged.
“A wendigo.” I repeated. “Right?” I looked at Innik who nodded. “But I thought…”
“Those things aren’t real, Cheyenne.” Jesse pinched the bridge of his nose and took a seat on the couch as he processed the information being given to him. “It’s just some native legends, something elders tell the kids of their tribes, so they don’t go wandering outside the protection of their people. It can’t be real.” He breathed in a frustrated sigh.
“Not real?” Innik echoed. “Did you see what just happened, Jesse? And the smell, the, the sounds that thing was making? That’s exactly what it is!” Jesse groaned and reiterated his words before Innik could continue.
“No, no, no. I don’t know what took Alex, but it wasn’t some mythological creature that eats people and can only be killed with bullets covered in ash, there’s no way that’s even remotely possible.” Jesse rubbed his temples and closed his eyes.
“But…what if it is?” I suggested, sitting next to Jesse ho let out another groan. “What if…what if that thing out there actually is some kind of monster and it’s not just, like, a bear or some angry person, or something? We could be in serious here.”
“O-kay,” he laughed briefly, clapping his hands together and standing before putting his hands on his hips and looking between me and Innik. “Let’s say it is this thing, this wendigo, huh, then what? What do we do? Somehow, magically conjure up some gun with ash bullets and take it and it’s friends out and get the hell outta here? What?” Jesse threw his hands up in the air waiting for an explanation.
“We stay here.” Innik stated, causing Jesse to chuckle and scratch his head. “If we try to leave, we’ll end up like Alex. We stay here for a few days; we hold up and we wait-”
“Wait for what?! Who’s coming for us?! No one will even know anything’s wrong until a week down the line, Innik! We’ll be long dead by then, if this thing really is what you say it is.” Jesse grinned viciously, heading to the kitchen and pulling a beer from one of the crates that Alex had loaded. He cracked it open, tossed the cap on the floor, and took a swig. “Can’t leave, shouldn’t stay. We’re fucked.”
“Jesse-”
“No, we are. We really are.” He repeated. “You really think it can’t get in? You think that a lock is gonna stop a whole ass wendigo? Are you high right now?” He took another sip of his beer.
“Stopped it last night, didn’t it?” Innik concluded, Jesse just looked at him. “Obviously, even though it knows how to hunt, how to lure people out, it still has some limited intelligence, it barely knows how to function a door. If we keep things locked, ration our food and water,” he looked at the nearly empty bottle of beer Jesse continued to drink, “we can wait it out. It’ll lose interest eventually, find something else to hunt.” We all got quiet for a few moments, pondering Innik’s words and looking at each other.
“You really think we have a snowball’s chance?” Jesse joked, taking the last gulp of his beer and looking Innik in the eye. The other man took a moment before answering, choosing to be completely honest with his friend.
“No. But we gotta try, right?”
DAY 16
We sat around the cabin for several days, about a week total before things started getting really hairy. Most days consisted of cards games and making plans on how to escape, often interrupted by the sounds of something running around outside and tearing the trees and foliage apart. Most nights were generally restless; we were all in the living room, huddled on the couch facing the door just in case something tried to break in. We wanted to face whatever it was head-on, even if it would’ve been a severely unmatched fight. The monster outside was effortlessly downing full-sized aspens and pines and tearing bushes and plants from their roots for whatever reason and if it had the strength to do that, it had enough strength to tear each of us limb from limb.
It wasn’t until around 3 or 4 days into our isolation that the creature finally came into view one night, Jesse said he could see something coming out of the woods from one of the front windows, prompting me and Innik to join him in peering out the corner of it at whatever was outside. What I saw scarred me for life, but I must say that if I was to ever encounter a true wendigo, this creature fit the profile. It held a large buck skull over its head and stood nearly 7 feet tall. It had dark, ashen skin and the flesh that stuck to its form seemed to be stretched so thin it may rip at any moment. The long, spindly limbs forced It into a gangle-like motion as it walked, bipedal, but slow. There was a large fur tied to its waist and draped over the lower parts of its body that swayed in the wind as it hobbled forward.
“Jesus Christ…what’s it carrying?” Dragging behind the creature was a large carcass, held by the back legs and being tugged along as blood and entrails spilled out.
“Is that a…bear?” It appeared to be a large brown bear, maybe a Kodiak, that the monster was towing along. Suddenly, it pulled the dead animal over its shoulder to land in front of it not a few hundred feet from the entryway to the cabin. We finally got a look at what all those trees and shrubs were being downed for, it was making a nesting area to rest as it ate, slept, and relaxed. It tore into the bear, clamping down on the intestines, flesh, and all.
We all sat back as it consumed the forest dweller, holding back our vomit while watching it pulling tendons and slimy bits from the body. Jesse finally closed the curtains and we all quietly turned in for the night. Around the 7-day mark, Jesse was starting to get stir crazy, unable to sit still and starting to rifle through the food and drink crates and fridge to see what we still had. He was getting antsy and unsure if we were going to be able to wait this thing out like Innik said, but he eventually calmed enough for us to have another round of cards, poker this time.
“So…” Jesse started, his voice trailing off as he awkwardly scratched his head and fidgeted with his cards.
“What’s up?” innik straightened his hand and looked at the taller man, watching him intently.
“Umm…don’t you think it’s time for us to go?” Jesse didn’t mince words.
“Jesse-” I was about to say but Innik cut me off.
“We’ve been through this; we have to wait.”
“If we wait for too long, we’ll starve!” Jesse barked, slamming his cards on the table and turning to me. “Cheyenne, listen to me, we can’t just stay here, we’re gonna die!”
“Jesse, please-” I wanted to stop him, I knew where this was going, I knew this was going to be a repeat of what happened to Alex if we just let him continue with his rampage. But there wasn’t much either I or Innik could do to calm him down.
“No! No more of this negotiating and rationing and playing cards like there isn’t some monster right outside waiting to eat us! We have to leave! Look,” Jesse stood and made his way to the window, pulling open the corner of the curtain to show us something. “It’s gone right now, out hunting or whatever, it’ll be gone for a little while, this is our chance! We can go now, and it won’t get to us! Cheyenne, come with me.” He offered a hand to me, and I looked at Innik who was brooding as he watched both me and Jesse move around. “He can stay here with his wendigo.” Jesse glared at Innik who shot him daggers right back.
“Jesse,” I wanted to prevent him from leaving, from becoming another body, from dying like Alex. Just because that thing wasn’t there right now doesn’t mean it wasn’t around. We didn’t see it at first when Alex opened the door either, it just came from out of nowhere and snatched him up. I didn’t wanna lose another friend. “You don’t have to do this. We can stay here, we can wait.” Jesse scoffed at the idea and charged past me into the kitchen. He grabbed a full bottle of beer, snapped it open, chugged it, and slammed the empty container on the table before turning back towards the door and stopping in front of it.
I had followed him into the kitchen and waited at the archway that led into the living room. Jesse took hold of the doorknob once more, for the final time. I saw the handle turn and I saw Innik move to be able to slam the door back just as Jesse left, but he wouldn’t get that chance. Jesse pulled open the door to the sight of a new view. I only saw it for a second because the moment it was there, it practically sucked Jesse out of the cabin, and I dipped behind the wall of the archway and hid in the kitchen. I could only describe what I heard as the horrid screeches and shouts of someone being torn apart as the thing must’ve also taken Innik. I heard a slam, like that of what the door would sound like if it had gotten shut forcefully. I stood there for a moment, waiting for…something, a sound, movement, death, I didn’t know. But what finally moved me was the renewed shouts and yelps from outside in a voice I recognized as Innik, the thing had gotten him, snatched him from the opening of the front door and took him like it took Jesse and Alex before.
I threw my hands over my mouth and muffled my cries as tears streamed down my face, all my friends had been killed by this monster and it was coming for me next, I just knew it, I knew I was gonna be ripped limb from limb just like them. It was then that more noises began to sound from the living room, bangs and thuds at the door, it had returned for me. I jolted from my thoughts of despair and looked around, I resolved that if I was going to die, I was gonna fight till the very end, so, if I could find a weapon to help attack that thing, no matter how fruitless a task that may be, I was gonna do it. Then I saw it. The nearly invisible clip that was almost completely flush with the ceiling. An attic! I took mere moments to gather myself and charged forward to grab at the clip, just a few feet higher than me but low enough that I only had to hop to reach it. When I finally grasped it, I yanked hard to reveal the steps that led to a dusty upper level.
The bangs became louder and louder, though, this time, it sounded as if the door would indeed break, the middle and the frame already beginning to splinter. I moved quickly, taking hold of a crate of food and water in each arm and as I reach the narrow opening at the top of the meager ladder, I tossed each in and pushed them back out of the walkway; I pushed myself into the open area and tugged at the ladder with every ounce of strength in me and sealed the attic shut. Just a few seconds after it closed, I heard the undeniable sound of the front door shattering and heavy, thunderous footsteps walking into the cabin, it was inside. I heard the wendigo walking around each step it took sending shivers down my spine, I could hear the guttural groans, clicks, and smacks it was making with its mouth and body, unlike an animal I had ever heard before it.
I then heard the creature make its way into the kitchen, I held my breath and put my hands over my mouth and nose, hoping I wouldn’t make the slightest noise to alert it of my presence. When it stopped just below the entrance to the attic, I shut my eyes so tight I saw colors. I jumped clear out of my skin when it let out a shrill scream so loud, I could swear my ears would’ve started to bleed if I didn’t cover them. Luckily, because it was so loud, it didn’t hear me shift my body away from the entrance, or at least that’s what I believe or else it would’ve joined me long ago. When it stopped, I could hear it walk away, the sound of wood being tossed about rang in my ears for a few seconds just before I could hear nothing else. I exhaled in relief, sure to not be too loud in case there was still something inside the cabin that I just couldn’t hear.
I’ve stayed in this attic for nearly 10 days now, being as quiet as possible whenever I have to use the bathroom or whenever I’m eating or drinking. I pulled out my phone a few days ago to see if I could get a signal, but no such luck out in the wilderness like this. I’ve been typing up on my notepad about what’s been going on so far, but I don’t know how much longer I’ve got. I can hear them moaning and wailing every night, but it’s been dark for nearly 4 hours now according to my watch and I haven’t heard a single sound from anything out there. I’m starting to wonder…
DAY 17
Okay, so it looks like I might have a chance! I’m not putting all my money on it just yet but there may be hope. Innik said that those things could lose interest and find something else to hunt if you were to just wait it out and I think that might’ve happened. The thing that came in probably thought it killed all the people left in the house and no one was left behind, but with the smell of the blood all around maybe it didn’t notice my scent? I’m not a hundred percent on that, but my thing is, I haven’t heard them and the noises in the forest are back! I heard owls and even a hog last night. I thought one of those things came inside again but then I heard a squeal and an oinking sound, like how a pig makes. I’m assuming that if the wildlife is back then those things must be gone, or else they wouldn’t dare get close enough to trail into its territory.
I’m guessing if I can wait for just a little longer to confirm my theory, I might be able to get out of here! I still have half a bottle of water, two packs of tuna and a granola bar, I’m sure I can make it!
DAY 18
Another night without any weird sounds. I’m taking this as a sign that the coast is clear. I’ve just chugged the last of my water and scarfed down the last of my tuna. If I get down there and I wind up dying, better to go on a full stomach.
I’ve lowered the attic ladder and so far, so good. I don’t hear much but the wind from outside. I think I can hear birds chirping from outside and the sounds of ambient nature but it’s unclear if there’s any danger yet.
Okay, I’m down the ladder and into the living room. The door is in shards, completely destroyed and covered in large claws marks on a few chunks of it. Looks like a bit of blood and hair is embedded into the crevices and cracks in it, too. I’ve taken a glance outside and there’s no sign of those monsters, not even in that weird den thing one made from before. I see the car; it looks relatively unharmed and intact. I’ve got the keys firmly in hand and I’m gonna make a run for it. Here’s hoping.
Oh my God, I made it, I’m inside! I’ve tried the car, luckily it still runs perfectly even without being turned on for two weeks. Old piece of crap still works like a charm! I’m on my way out, finally!
I’m completely ignoring the bumps and sharp turns, I know exactly how to drive to get outta here and I’m not taking it slow just because there’s a few bumps in the road. The smell from just a few days before isn’t in the air anymore, it simply smells like the forest and an old car and…Innik and Jesse and Alex. Like Innik’s cologne, Alex’s clothes, and Jesse’s gas station hot dogs. As I take another harsh turn, I have to start wiping my eyes as tears begin to flood my vision. I’m bawling my eyes out because my friends are dead, and no one is sitting next to me complaining about my bad driving skills or why it’s taking so long to get out of this damned forest! No one is arguing in the backseat about who’s hair is better or who’s clothes are nicer or why Jesse can’t hold in his gassy hot dogs.
The realization of losing my only friends in the world hits me like a freight train and I have to keep blinking and wiping my eyes because my tears are blocking my view. It’s getting hard to breathe, I can tell I’m hyperventilating but I refuse to stop, I’m going home. I’m gonna tell Innik’s parents and Jesse’s and Alex’s that they died trying to get home, too.
It took what seemed like forever, but probably was only 20 or 30 minutes, to reach the end of the forest. I made it out and onto a paved road and I sped like a woman with a lead foot out onto the highway as far and as fast as I could. I never looked back at that god-forsaken forest.
DAY 22
I made to safety just a few hours after I reached the highway a few days ago. I drove and drove and drove until I ran out of gas, luckily running directly into a gas station just moments before. I told the clerk I had nothing on me, no money, no possessions, but if he’d let me use the phone to call the authorities, I’d stay inside with it and return it just as soon as I was finished. When I told the cops I had been attacked, I, of course, amended the story to a significant degree, sure to replace key aspects like the fact that it was a 7 foot tall mythological creature with white skin and wore a deer skull for a helmet. I made sure to let them know that my friends had been killed as well but that it wasn’t safe to go into the woods to look for their bodies, the animal might just attack them, too. When they asked me what it was exactly, I lied and said it was a massive bear, or something like a bear, at least, that I didn’t get a good look at the thing to give an accurate description. I told them they may want a large, possible 20 or 30 man team to get the bear, because even with so many men, it could easily tear each of them to shreds, that’s just how powerful the thing was.
The officer laughed at me over the phone, citing the words, “we have guns, sweetheart.”
So, it seems even if these men do set out to track down the ‘bear’ that attacked me and my friends, they won’t be of much worth in a fight. They didn’t seem to take my warnings too seriously, but we’ll just have to see how that plays out, in the end.
Should you ever go out to the forests beyond the Alaska Range, make sure you light a fire for me and my friends, and make sure it burns good and hot, because you’ll need the ash when the fire goes out.