An aspiring eighteen-year-old author realizes she is a character in an unwritten horror novel and must use her storytelling knowledge to survive.
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Eighteen-year-old romance writer, I...
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The car sped down the dirt road, kicking up dust as it went. Atem seemed hyper focus on what the headlights illuminated on the path in front of us. With both hands on the wheel, his eyes went back and forth from the windshield, the rear-view, and the side mirrors.
"You have to turn around," I reminded him, twisting in my seat to look behind us through the back window. "The exit's the other way."
"Did you guys hear that?" he responded. "What were those? Footsteps? Didn't it sound like footsteps?"
Zeke constantly watched the fog through the passenger window. "It sounded like a hundred giants in a soccer game and the goal was us."
"Bigfoot?" Felicity turned to look at us for confirmation.
I opened my notebook to scan the pages, just as Atem pulled over near the other car in the second campsite. They had parked the other car at the outer edge of the circle, away from the center campfire pit that sat cold and desolate. The fire pit's large broken and chipped stones barely fit together in some places. The rim seemed like it would be one move away from collapsing.
"I'm not getting out." Defiant, Felicity tugged the seatbelt for good measure. "Like I said, screw that car. I just want to go home."
Atem made a U-turn in the large camping space, passing the other car completely, going around the center fire pit and back on the road heading the opposite way toward the ranger station. As we turned, the headlights washed over the nearby trees. The light reflected off a large pair of eyes high in the trees, watching us with unnerving accuracy. The red in the center of the eyes flickered inside pure, blinding white.
The car hummed as screams shrieked from everyone at the same time.
"Go, go, go!" I managed, keeping my eyes on the pair amongst the thick branches, and Atem stepped on the gas, leaving it in the dust. "I don't even want to know what that is."
"Just keep driving," Zeke instructed, as we all turned to peer out of the back window to see nothing but more dust at the bumper and fog in the distance closing in.
We passed the first campsite with flames blazing from the fire pit. Our equipment sat in the dirt like abandoned kittens awaiting an owner. I took a moment to scan my notebook. "I need a light."
Zeke aimed his phone's flashlight at the notebook that rested on my lap.
I skimmed my fingers along the pages as I read. "'And the game begins. Nightmare creatures are hunting for flesh and the warmth of human pulp. Creeping and stalking the forest far into the night until they have their fill. The characters learn that until they escape the confines of the vehicle, they are secure from the fog. However, even curiosity was a trickster.'"
"That doesn't help." Felicity said as we passed the lighted ranger station. She turned around in her seat to get a better look at the notebook. "What else does it say?"
