A passing boat found me face down on the bank caked in mud.
I woke up in a hospital with nurses checking monitors and officers firing questions into my skull that I had no answer to. After all, how do four people and a boat disappear just ten minutes after leaving the boat ramp? For them it was ten minutes, for me, it was much longer.
Two days of running. Two days of questioning if the next few moments would be my last. Two days of watching my friends disappear one after the other. Two days trapped in an unknown place running from things god himself disowned.
It was just supposed to be a weekend catching up with friends. Time filled with laughs and cold drinks. We made a tradition of getting together every few months to spend the weekend doing whatever our minds could conjure. This specific weekend we settled on fishing. Can’t say it’s my favorite thing to do in the world, but the company definitely makes up for it.
Honestly, I wonder if anyone who reads this will believe what I’m about to tell you. The endless loop constantly playing in my head tells me it happened. I can still hear the low bellow erupting from that–thing.
I’m writing this down as a sort of warning. To maybe help at least one person from making the same mistake we did.
So here it is, my story. An account of the two days spent trapped in an endless marsh.
We all planned to meet up at five am at the boat launch. I somehow managed to arrive about ten minutes early. The boat was already in the water. Blake, who’s our captain, was walking around making sure everything was in working order. Anthony and Marc were on the dock no doubt mocking Blake. The only accomplice missing now was Ryan which wasn’t a surprise. I don’t think he has ever shown up to anything on time.
Fifteen minutes after the designated time Ryan finally arrived. Thus, starting the early morning banter.
“I’m glad you could bless us with your presence,” Marc said while reaching to shake Ryan’s hand which would no doubt contain as much force his 170-pound frame could muster. Ryan who is 6’2 and built like a brick wall gripped Marc’s hand tight until slowly he crumpled to his knees which gave us all a good laugh, well, except for Marc.
“Nice to see you too Marc,” Ryan responded with a grin that stretched ear to ear, “and everyone else, sorry I’m late to the party, missed my first alarm.”
“I’ll forgive you, but only if you go get the extra fuel from the back of my truck,” Blake said while squeezing Ryan’s bicep, “use that ape strength for other things besides tormenting Marc.”
We continued catching up while helping Blake with preparations before we disembarked. It was good catching up and the tiredness I felt upon arrival was leaving and was replaced by excitement. There was something else mixed in with it though. Like the feeling you get when your phone rings in the middle of the night or get called into your boss’s office unexpectedly. Anxiety was welling up inside me for no known reason.
Obviously, I chalked it up to the energy drink I had earlier and just being jittery about being on a boat. We finished up the final preparations and Blake switched the motors on. Blake leaned out an open window and called out to us.
“All aboard the Oar Knot, we hope for smooth sailing and sunny skies,” Blake announced triumphantly.
Yes, you read that correctly. He named the boat Oar Knot. Hilarious.
We were making good time. We still had almost an hour before the sun was supposed to rise. Plenty of time to get out to the open water. Blake was traversing the channels like a pro, there was no telling how many times he has driven down them. He runs fishing charters some weekends to make a little extra cash so he could probably go gown these channels blindfolded.
After about thirty minutes of riding, I left Ryan and Blake inside and made my way out to the front of the boat to talk to Anthony and Marc. Something caught my eye as I was making my way up to them. Right past the bend on the channel we were on there was a wall of fog, it looked more like a cloud it was so thick. It was strange, it seemed to only encompass a small area over the water without stretching very far off into the reeds. Anthony noticed it about the same time I did and got Marc’s attention off of his phone and pointed off at the fog in the distance.
“Weird,” Anthony stated turning his head to look at me and Marc, “never seen fog that dense before, how about you Cade?”
I shook my head before he started up again.
“I sure hope Blake plans to slow down a bit. I’m not dissing his skills or anything, but I can’t see the other side at a–.”
As if on cue the engines slowed significantly causing the boat to lurch forward. We were thrown and I had to grab onto a seat in order to not hit the ground. The boat retreated to a slow coast forward as Blake peered out the door with a grin. I’m pretty sure he did that hard on purpose.
“Sorry guys I couldn’t resist, come on in here there’s something I want you all to see.”
We did as ordered and went in to see Ryan standing next to Blake in his captain’s chair.
“The weather channel didn’t call for fog this morning,” Blake said pointing at one of the displays that had the weather data on it, “all my time running down these channels I’ve never seen fog that thick. Looks like a bunch of cotton balls wadded together.”
“Maybe there’s a fire somewhere,” Anthony responded looking around for confirmation.
“I don’t smell smoke, plus doesn’t it look almost stagnant to you guys? I know it’s not real breezy today but it looks almost frozen to me,” Marc said as he raised a hand to his chin squinting like he was trying to zoom in on it.
He was right though. The more I looked it just seemed off. I looked at one of the displays above the steering wheel and sure enough, I saw that the wind speed was supposed to be eight miles an hour.
An unsettling feeling crept into my gut as I tried to wrap my head around the oddity we were headed towards. The closer we got the faster my heart beat until finally we were only about twenty yards away. The high beams of light coming from the boat didn’t look like they penetrated even an inch, they bounced off it like a solid surface. The boat slowed even more as we prepared to go through.
“I can’t see a thing,” Blake said as we were only now a mere ten yards away, “luckily it’s a straight shot through. Everyone hold on just in case we bump into something.”
“Aye aye captain,” Ryan responded no doubt trying to ease the tension hanging in the air.
“Here we go,” Blake said as the fog started swallowing the front end of the boat.
I braced, white-knuckling a handlebar next to the door. Closer and closer it came. I watched as it devoured the rest of the front of the boat then the small table and bench vanished right outside the window. Sweat was collecting in small beads on my forehead. Then it was right at the window. As soon as it made contact every light and electronic on the boat went out.
My stomach dropped like I had just missed a step, no that doesn’t really capture the feeling, this persisted, like cresting the hill on a roller coaster then plummeting nearly straight down.
“Hey! — HEY!”
“Christ Marc! Don’t scream in my ear like that, we’re still here,” Blake retorted as the sound of rummaging began, “Where did I put that flashlight? The electronics just got checked on this thing last week, I can’t wait till I see those people from the shop when I get back,” the clattering of objects ceased, “Here we are!”
Light flooded the cabin. I threw my hands up to shield my eyes due to Blake switching a flashlight on pointed directly at me. After we all regained our bearings and the bright circles that danced through my vision left, we all looked to see if the fog had passed. My stomach was still doing somersaults, I was doing my best not to see that sausage biscuit for the second time. We were still surrounded by fog.
“What is this man,” Ryan said as he put a hand to the window, “I’ve drove through some thick fog before during my cross-country routes with my rig but this is insane.”
“I think it’s finally starting to thin a little,” I said as the flashlight Blake was holding started to break through the soupy mist.
“Thank god,” Blake stated with an exasperated sigh, “it would’ve taken us forever to reach the open water at that speed.”
Lights and electronics whizzed back to life as the final traces of the fog dissipated. Relief washed over me and I’m sure everyone else.
“All right,” Blake said raising an arm in the air, “back in business bab –”
All of us looked at Blake who raised a hand onto one of the displays.
“Strange. Something’s up with the GPS. It can’t find our location.”
As I looked closer the normal arrow that shows the location of the boat wasn’t there, also in the top right corner there was a message in all caps.
SIGNAL LOST
My heart rate quickened again. Sure it could have just been an electrical error, but I don’t know, the air around us somehow felt, off. I pulled out my phone to check my GPS, I had no service but that was normal out here. The GPS works without service anyways so I tried it. The blue arrow was gone on it as well. I tried to calm myself as I looked at my friends.
“Would you guys mind checking your GPS on your phones? I’m sure it’s just a fluke, but mine isn’t working either.”
I watched as I saw everyone reach for their phones and begin swiping. Without even saying anything I knew they saw the same screens I did by the looks on their faces. We looked at each other for a moment and it looked like Anthony was about to say something but it was cut off as the boat began to shake slightly, then our silent surroundings erupted with noise.
A loud, deep droning sound drowned out everything around us. The closest thing I can compare it to is a huge freighter blowing its horn, but that’s still pretty far off. Another problem with this idea was that we should be miles away from any paths a ship of that size could fit down. Sure we might hear them in the distance, but this one sounded way too close. I had to cover my ears at this point because it kept getting louder. I couched down pressing my palms harder and harder over my ears as the noise grew. I thought it started off loud, but the longer I sat with my ears covered the more its volume increased. My chest felt like it was about to explode. All my organs were vibrating like what you would feel at a concert during a song with heavy bass. Even still, the noise kept building up until I was screaming trying to drown out the sound to no avail. Finally, after reaching an ear-shattering crescendo it abruptly stopped.
I still sat crouched covering my ears for some time after it stopped. Eventually, I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Ryan mouthing something my still ringing ears couldn’t decipher. I slowly stood up on my shaking legs as Ryan was still trying to talk to deaf ears. How he could still hear was a mystery. After a little while longer my hearing started to return.
“What in gods name was that?” Ryan said asking a group of people who had just as good of an idea as him.
“I think we need to get out of here,” Marc said still rubbing his ears, “I don’t know what that was but I want to get as far away from it as I can.”
I nodded in agreement as everyone else unanimously agreed with him.
Blake started turning the vessel around before stopping all of his motions at once. We all froze as we looked out at the impossible happening at the bank. How should I describe this? The impenetrable fog that was there just minutes ago was gone. The crazy thing is that wasn’t the strangest part. The bank now had electric blue lines running through it, pulsing the color in various strengths. The mounting fear inside of me was finally beginning to bubble over.
I’m almost certain we all felt it. A creeping realization was settling deep in my bones, I knew we were somewhere we shouldn’t be and that fog brought us here. I tried my best to regain my composure because I could see the others becoming more unhinged by the second. All except for Ryan who bore his usual stoic expression, but even that was faltering slightly.
“We need to get out of here, now,” I turned my gaze away from the odd sight just out of the window to look at Blake.
He managed to tear his vision from the window to look at me and nod. He put his hand on the throttle and kept pushing up until we were racing back the way we came. We all found places to sit inside as we drove. It was only a few minutes and I was sure we weren’t nearing the boat launch yet, but Blake began decelerating. He was wearing a confused expression.
“No no this isn’t right.”
“What’s up Blake,” I said walking up to his seat.
“I know for certain we are supposed to take a left here, why is it going right?”
“Are you sure, I mean it is still dark out?”
“I’ve been this way hundreds of times with my dad. I know where I’m going Marc.”
“Sorry man, I didn’t mean it to come off like that. What does this mean then?”
Anthony spoke up this time, “I think we all know what it means, I’ve been thinking it since we heard that noise,” he paused for a moment readjusting himself in a chair, “I think that fog took us somewhere.”
“C’mon man, you watch too many movies,” Ryan responded.
“You got a better idea then?”
“Yeah, as much as I hate to say it Blake must have made a wrong tu–.”
“I didn’t!” Blake yelled as he stood up out of his chair. He always had a pretty short fuse and this situation was not doing it any favors.
“Woah woah guys, let’s all just take a minute to think,” I said walking in between them, “I know were all a little on edge right now so let’s just chill out for a minute.”
Eventually, after a slightly less heated discussion, we decided to press on. We figured we had to still be on the right track and maybe Blake would spot something that would help him get his bearings back.
I was just sitting with my face pressed nearly to the glass trying to take my mind off things. I swear for the slightest moment I thought I saw something moving in the reeds. I decided against saying anything as there was already a pretty heavy atmosphere in the room. I was probably just seeing things anyway due to my own heightened state.
“Is that a light?” Anthony said breaking the silence and I turned to see where he was looking.
“Yeah,” Blake responded, “it shouldn’t take us too long to get over there, maybe they will be able to tell us what’s going on out here.”
I couldn’t stop the tension building in me the closer we got. The light from the unknown source was growing by the second until finally, we rounded the final corner and the source of the light finally came into view. It was another boat that sat right at the edge of the channel. The only light on the boat was a huge lightbar mounted on the stern, the rest of the boat was dark. I was concerned but my mind allowed a sliver of hope to infiltrate it. Just maybe someone was on this boat and they would be able to help us out.
The boat was about 35 feet long which was a tad smaller than the one we were currently on. Up top was an enclosed space surrounded by large windows all the way around which housed the cockpit. I could tell by the build it also had room below which was probably the sleeping quarters. I don’t know for sure because I never saw it entirely.
Pulling up beside the boat we all called out trying to warrant a response. One never came but we did notice the boat rocking slightly and also heard some commotion on the inside. Me, Ryan, and Anthony decided to board the vessel to see who was on it. We figured they probably needed help since they weren’t responding to our calls. We all grabbed flashlights and got ready to board.
I was the last to cross over and when I did I slipped on the wet siding and nearly fell into the pitch-black water below, luckily Anthony caught me just in time. When my foot finally landed on the wood paneling all the commotion we previously heard was gone.
“Anyone here,” Ryan called out as he stepped into the cabin with us trailing behind, “we’re here to help, you see, we’re sort of lost out here ourselves.”
Silence. Inside there were definitely signs that people had been there. I saw an open soda along with a half-eaten granola bar that rested on a small wooden table. It looked like they were interrupted right in the middle of their meal. That uneasy feeling started working its way through me again. Honestly, I just wanted off of the boat at this point. After checking the rest of the top level Ryan began making his way down the narrow set of stairs he barely fit in to try the door that lead into the hull of the ship. He finally reached it and turned. I heard it rattle in his grip.
“Locked,” Ryan said as he turned to look at us, then turned back around to lightly knocked on the door a few times, “hello, anyone in there?”
He made his way back up the few stairs and we started looking around to try to find a key or something. It was pretty hard to see because we had to use our phones’ flashlights to search. We should have grabbed actual flashlights from our boat. Anthony was searching the drawers next to the cockpit and found what we were looking for.
“I think I found the key,” Anthony announced while waving a lanyard with a small key at the end victoriously.
He passed by me and Ryan and made his way down the stairs sliding the key into the lock and twisting. The door creaked as it slowly began to open. It was about a quarter of the way when I noticed the light from Anthony’s phone catch something in the darkness behind the door. It seemed to recoil from the light because it was gone as soon as I thought I saw it. Then the door exploded open sending Anthony flying backwards.
He hit the stairs hard which evidently knocked his breath out of him because he was wheezing hard. What happened next froze me in place. A viscous black arm extended out of the darkness and grabbed Anthony’s leg which caused him to shriek in pain as black claws dug into his flesh. Terror grabbed my soul like a vice grip. I was possessed by it. My mind was screaming at me to run but my legs were not responding to my mind’s orders. Luckily, Ryan moved first, grabbing a metal folding chair that was positioned close by the stairs and bringing it down hard on the arm which caused it to release its grip. It then retreated back into the darkness of the cabin.
Blake and Marc were yelling at us as we stepped back into the crisp night air. My body was on autopilot as Ryan carried Anthony’s limp body in his arms. Ryan handed Anthony off to them so he could cross back over without falling in. I followed behind him nearly stepping on his heels. I leaped over when he finally got across lost my footing and crashed hard onto the deck.
They were wrapping Anthony’s leg up when I finally got to my feet. Ryan was practically screaming at Blake to get away from the boat. He was trying to help Anthony but when he saw Ryan’s expression he got up and went over immediately.
We peeled out of there as soon as the engines started. I looked back and saw the boat shaking violently. Then a dark figure leapt out into the reeds.
After about ten minutes of cleaning and bandaging Anthony’s wound the best our limited medical supplies could offer, we took him into the cabin below to lay him on one of the twin mattresses to rest. I was sort of glad he passed out because it would have been a job to keep him still while we worked on him.
We all gathered around Blake to discuss our options. Luckily me and Ryan weren’t questioned too hard about what had happened. They both had a pretty good view from our boat. We tried to call emergency services but just like the GPS there was no connection, I don’t believe we had much hope of that working anyway. We ended up deciding to keep pressing forward. We drove a pretty good while making idle chit-chat to keep our minds off our situation. It was pretty hard though when every once in a while you came up on a boat that would be sitting empty.
We would pull up beside them to shine our flashlights inside. We decided to get them out of storage after the incident on the boat. I proposed the idea that whatever those things were didn’t like light after seeing it move away from Anthony’s phone light. We also made another discovery that had somehow escaped our minds until Marc brought it up.
“Has anyone checked the time recently?”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check. The lock screen with a picture of my dog Red was there to greet me along with something I couldn’t believe. 10:35 AM.
Marc spoke up again because none of us were saying anything, “Where’s the sun at?”
I don’t know why I wasn’t as shocked as I should have been. None of us were. Maybe we would be if we hadn’t seen everything else that has unfolded since we left the boat ramp this morning.
Why did we decide to go fishing?