Matt had had a great birthday party. Him and 5 of his friends from school had gone to the trampoline park, and when that was finished they had gone to McDonalds. And then it was time for the sleepover. Matt had never had a sleepover with more than one person before, and that was years ago back in primary school, so he was very excited, a little daunted though. His friends wouldn’t stop teasing him that he was one of the last of his friend group to turn 15, but oh well. At least he wasn’t the last.
His dad’s big people carrier had pulled up on their driveway and all of his friends had poured out and hurried inside, holding their sleeping bags and wash kits. Although it was about 8pm, it was still bright as day with orange light from the setting summer sun. Everyone had unrolled their sleeping bags in the lounge downstairs and gotten into their pyjamas, ready for an all-nighter that they had agreed to doing earlier (although if Matt’s mum knew that they were planning on staying up, she certainly wouldn’t let them).
It was a few hours later, and everyone was getting sleepy. Sure, they had had lots of fun talking in hushed voices about girls at school and playing truth or dare, but now all Matt wanted to do was sleep. He tried to push through, but it felt useless. He was just so tired. Did his friends feel the same? They were all still chatting eagerly with one another. When Matt eventually told them that he was giving up and going to go to sleep, they all told him that he promised he wouldn’t, and that they were still fine for another few hours at least. Every time he was caught with his eyes closed they shook him violently awake.
And then someone had a suggestion. “I have an idea. Let’s go to the woods!” To keep them all wide awake, why not go outside? A foolproof plan in the eyes of the others, but not Matt. “Guys, have you not heard the news or something? That creature that escaped from a facility in the mountains. We aren’t allowed outside after dark.” He objected.
“Matt, you really believe all of that stuff? It’s just another conspiracy, like all the others.”
“Why am I the only one who takes things seriously? Besides, my parents wouldn’t be happy.”
“Who says your parents have to know?”
And so there they were, walking through the woods, in the dark, the 6 of them alone other than each other for company.
They were strolling along the path that ran straight down the dead centre of the woods, a fairly wide gravel path. To the left and right just beyond the main path was a maze of twisted trees and narrow, muddy tracks all leading to nowhere. Everyone in the group was confident, knowing that the fact there were 6 of them would stop any people in the woods that tried to attack them. Everyone except Matt. Matt was beginning to feel cold. He just wanted to go home. Everyone was soon shivering, and holding themselves to keep warm. The easiness that they had all had, had disappeared in minutes at the onset of this sudden chill. None of them had coats with them, since when had a summer’s night been cold?
The right side of their faces were coldest, and they braced against the cold that came in waves from that side of the path. Until suddenly, a young tabby cat strolled from the woods on the right into the path just ahead of them. Now the coldness was coming from right in front of them. And it turned its head to look at them.
And suddenly the kitten was engulfed in a mass of black tentacles that had been secreted under its skin. What had been a kitten was hidden from view as the sea of tentacles grew bigger and bigger, until it was 8 feet tall. All six friends felt an overwhelming unusual feeling of being watched, far beyond anything they were used to, even though the creature had no eyes that they could see.
Without warning, the creature darted forward with unnatural speed, wrapped one thick, black, muscular tendril around Tom’s neck and twisted his head right round 180 degrees. Tom’s lifeless eyes gazed back in the direction the rest of the group, his body still suspended by the reaching tentacle. His head had not been completely separated, his neck was a twisted and mangled mess. Matt could see the way that his friends that stood in front of him right before Tom were frozen to the spot in shock. And then they ran.
The 5 of them ran as fast as they could, although they were so cold that they felt numb and their joints were slow to move. As the Strangler moved towards them, so did the cloud of coldness. But they were gaining on it. Maybe it had only been fast just that once. Maybe it was usually very slow. Glancing over their shoulders, they all noticed that it was almost in the distance. Eventually they had to stop to take a breath, the thought of their dead friend still not having fully hit them yet.
“Why is it just watching us?” Jack wondered out loud. “It isn’t trying to catch us. If it was, we’d know.” They all looked at each other. And then they looked back at where the Strangler was. Except it wasn’t. Suddenly, a black tentacle whipped out of the shadows of the wood on the left and grabbed Alfie’s ankle. They couldn’t see inside. Then the tendril of darkness slowly pulled Alfie, dragged him slowly screaming into the wood, out of sight. There was loud crack. And Alfie let off a blood curdling scream. Another, louder crack, and Alfie screamed constantly, until – crunch. And there was silence.
They ran again. Faster this time despite how cold they were. They all split up and ran into the wood on the opposite side of the path, going deeper and deeper. By now it was much darker, almost pitch black. Matt looked over his shoulder and saw the Strangler emerge from the other side of the path, cross into the part of the wood they were in, and he knew it had begun to chase them. Now it was trying to catch them. Faster than the fastest runner in the world and ten times as strong. Matt could see, though many trees were shielding them from him, blurs of his friend running, he kept catching glimpses of them, in all directions.
He saw a tentacle reaching for Josh, just behind him and left, so close to making contact with his neck. It was about to reach him when Josh was cut off from view by more trees. But Matt didn’t need to see to know what had happened. The loud, echoing snap half a second later told him that. A couple of seconds later, there was a thud behind him and right, and a yell of pain that sounded like Rowan. And another thud. Another yell. A yell that morphed into a scream at the third thud. A fourth thud and Matt saw the creature move away from where the sound had been. It had left Rowan to die on his own. Rowan’s moans slowly died away to silence.
Jack was just ahead of Matt, running in the same direction. “Matt, look a fence! We need to climb it now.” And the last two of them reached this fence, and Matt climbed over, and Jack didn’t.
“Jack what are you doing? You need to get over now, quickly!” And only then Matt noticed that Jack’s arm was shredded, a lumpy sack of chunks of bone.
“Look at me. I can’t climb it. You need to go now. Please get help. Tell people about this.”
And then the Strangler came up behind him and in one movement pulled off Jack’s head and held it up, over the fence for Matt to see. Jack’s body dropped down into the mud.
Matt turned around and it was a busy main road, right there a few steps ahead. He knew where he was. He sprinted to the nearest place – the police station.
A few hours later, after being questioned, Matt’s parents were called. He was sat down in the interrogation room, looking exhausted, when his mum walked through the doorway.
“What have you done? Tell me now, what have you done? Why are you here?”
“They are all dead.”
“Don’t be silly. Tell me what happened. Where are your friends?”
“They’re dead.”
And she saw the blood on his shirt and the fear on his face, and she understood.