What Walks In These Woods: Part 6
Keith kept a steady and intense pace as he burrowed deep into the dark bowels of the forest. His impromptu flashlight shone a beam of light forward as he kept his gun at the ready. The dark silhouettes of ghoulish trees passed by him on each side but Keith paid them no heed.
He did not know exactly where he was heading. He just continued on. Keith held on to a thread of hope that somewhere within these woods, Morgan was watching over him. The cold air lashed at his face, yet Keith pressed on.
Hours passed. The stars spun round in a sky all but blotted out by the treetops. Keith was breathing heavily, and his steps had become a bit labored. He kept moving through the pain.
For all he had walked, the dark surroundings did not seem to have changed. Keith finally slowed to a halt, as his body achingly begged him for a rest.
His body slumped against a tree and slid down to a sitting position on the cold, hard ground.
Keith shook his head, frustrated.
"I'm sorry. I should have done this sooner. I was…I was just so scared of knowing that I had lost you. I didn't want to face it." Keith said as he sniffed his nose.
"I wanted you to come home. Walk in through the front door. I waited, and it killed everything inside of me to do so. I hear you now. I know you are here somewhere. And I know that...that thing took you from me." Keith said the last part with a harsh quiver.
"I know I'm late. I always was. But I'm here now. Show me. Show me where to go. Please..." Keith said in a whisper.
Movement from above snatched Keith's attention. He raised his gun, the light beam searching out the beast. Keith felt his finger squeezing the trigger, almost moving without his consent.
His light flashed in the trees above before falling onto the hurried flight of an owl. Keith's finger relaxed off the trigger, and he breathed out heavily as he continued to track it with his light.
He was about to put the gun down, when he noticed something strange.
His light, now shining high up towards the treetops, was now shining on a tree that had its upper portion hanging upside down along its trunk. He studied it further to see the top of the tree had nearly been sheared off, not by a blade, but by some tremendous force.
He kept his light up above, and scanned around to see another tree with its top completely torn off.
"I see. I see it." Keith said to the darkness.
Keith moved towards the damaged trees. He kept his flashlight moving up and down, from the forest floor to the tops of the trees.
On the floor he saw more and more carnage. Tree tops smashed and splintered lay on the forest floor. Above, a widening area of the night sky was becoming apparent.
Keith had begun to run, and as he did the forest became a disaster scene. Trees broke from lower and lower down, some ripped from the ground, their roots exposed.
There was a smell, too. Something odd and foul. Something made of sulfur and wildfire.
Keith ran and ran until he reached a clearing. A clearing that should not be there at all.
His flashlight shone across the open area. The ground had been smashed and broken, a huge gash ran from the ground forward to a gigantic silver disc-like shape. The disc was on one side, embedded into the ground, and with a multitude of trees mangled at its front end.
The disc had gouges and holes torn into it despite its metallic appearance. Keith slowly moved closer, each step taken with extreme caution.
Keith's mind knew what he was looking at, but he was refusing to accept it for a moment. A large silver disc had crashed into the forest.
A UFO. A flying saucer.
"No...it...is it?" Keith mumbled. He moved up near the wreckage and saw there was an interior. Keith flashed his light in and saw nothing immediate, so he continued in. climbing through the torn side of the saucer. Keith could not believe what he saw.
It was a black glassy interior, with strange white and gold markings on panels of the interior walls. Much of the glassy parts were cracked and smashed. There was something akin to hallways, but they were very tubular and ran in a circle. Keith followed it to the front and center of the ship, finding the true devastation.
What must have been a sort of command center, there were three corpses of gray humanoid aliens. Their bodies were thin and frail, and they had some sort of blue suit over their bodies. The impact must have ravaged them, as their contorted remains were bent and splattered all over the room.
The smell was absolutely horrid, and Keith held his hand over his nose. His light shone across the room and there was a small inlet in the command center. It looked like a cell, and the door frame had been smashed from the crash.
Inside the cell, familiar claw marks adorned the walls.
Keith began to piece things together, as a painful memory resurfaced.
The meteor shower.
He remembered watching it with Morgan, the sky alight with the fireballs from space. He remembered one in particular being so big that Morgan had yelped, and he had held her close. Perhaps it was not really part of the show that night.
The ship had crashed during the shower, possibly even from it. The crew of the ship had died, but their cargo, that thing in the woods, had escaped.
Keith snarled to himself and found his way out of the ship. He started looking around the crash site, and it didn't take him long to find that the creature had been using this spot as a home.
Skulls, bones, tattered clothes, and bloodstains were in a loose pile a few yards past the crashed saucer in the woods.
The town had been feeling empty. Keith knew why now.
As his light moved across the remains, a bright shining glimmer caught his eye. He moved his light once more and a sparkle grew bright in the macabre forest floor. Keith knelt down, his finger reaching for the shine in the dark.
He felt something solid and cold and he pulled it close. Keith recognized it immediately.
Morgan's wedding ring.
Keith clutched it tight as tears ran down his face. He kissed it and bawled in the cold night.
He looked at the ring with sorrow as he whispered,
"I found you."
From the forest, the sound of something being dragged came into earshot. Keith reacted quickly, putting the ring into his chest pocket and reaching up and turning off his flashlight. He moved to a spot behind the saucer and looked out into the dark where the sound was coming from.
The moon had pulled into view in the sky, and it was nearly full. The clearing from the wreckage had created a pocket of brightness in the dark night.
Twigs snapped. Loud footfalls crunched through the splintered wood. From the darkness, the creature lurched into view, dragging a body behind it.
Keith watched in quiet horror as the creature pulled the eviscerated body of Sheriff Wolcott into the moonlight. It belched something vile and then began to eagerly consume its prey.
Keith watched it tear into Wolcott's flesh. It was ravenous. It was also preoccupied. So Keith took a deep breath and moved out of his hiding.
He stood in the pale glow of the moon's spotlight, his gun held at a ready. The creature continued its feast, unaware of its visitor.
"You!" Keith roared. His rage and anger created a primal howl, and the creature reared back from the bloody mess it had made. The three orange eyes sought out Keith and locked onto him. He shot back a look of venom and vengeance.
"Come on!" Keith shouted. The creature raised its arms and bellowed a horrid low rumble as a reply. It took a few steps towards Keith, slowly.
Keith readied himself as the creature launched at him at great speed.
His finger on the trigger, Keith waited. He watched the orange eyes bear down on him. He waited until they were close.
His finger squeezed the trigger.
The shotgun kicked in his arms.
The creature took the full blast in the chest, and crashed into the cold hard ground, sliding up to Keith's feet.
The creature moaned in agony as Keith racked another round.
Bright blue blood poured out of the chest of the creature as it raised a claw slowly up to Keith. Three orange eyes looked up at him and the message was clear.
It was in pain, and afraid.
Keith aimed the gun and fired once more. The buckshot tore the clawed hand of the creature to pieces and the rest of the shot hit it in its face. A sticky cloud of blue fluid accompanied the blast. The creature rolled back in agony, and Keith racked the gun once more.
Keith fired again. And again. And again. He fired until the gun was empty, and even then he tried to fire five more shots before he stopped.
The creature was motionless. Most of its upper body was an unrecognizable splatter of flesh and blood. Keith threw the shotgun and collapsed back onto the ground. Tears ran once more as he pulled out Morgan's ring and held it tight.
Keith sat back up and removed his pack. He took out the satellite phone and made a call to Search and Rescue.
As the sun rose the sound of helicopters filled the morning air.
Written by Doug
