The Quarry - Hackett Woods

Chapter 5 - Parker

I manoeuvre through the treacherous woods. I scrape my elbow on a branch sticking out. It catches me off guard and I accidentally trip on a piece of root in the ground and land face first into mud.

"Fuck, shit, fuck!" I curse.

My face is covered with sticky dirt and I wipe my hands on my jeans to try and get some of the mud off. I decide to go to the nearby lake to wash off. When I arrive I see Parker, skipping stones onto the lake. 

"Hey." I say and she quickly turns her head. I can tell she's been crying.

She wipes her wet eyes with the side of her index finger.

"Hi." She says back.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"No, not really."

"Tom's an asshole."

She doesn't say anything.

"Why are you with him? Why are you marrying him?" I ask.

"I love him." She says, holding back more tears.

"Why? He treats you like shit."

"I know!" she turns back to me and yells. "I know he does but I love him! I can't help it!"

Neither of us say anything for 10 seconds.

"I'm pathetic." She says and lets the tears out.

"No. You aren't." I say matter of factly.

"Please don't try to comfort me because-"

"I'm not." I interrupt. "I'm just correcting you. I'm stating a fact. You are the opposite of pathetic. You're the bravest and fiercest person I know. Remember when we were kids and we went to the quarry? Nobody wanted to jump off the ledge into the water, but you did. You were the only person brave enough. So I know some asshole incel is not strong to enough to break you."

Parker smiles.

"He's not good enough for you." I say.

"I know. Thank you. I'll end things." She says.

I cheer in my head.

"I'll go tell him to go home." I say and start to walk away.

"Can you just, stay here with me for a bit?" She asks.

I smile.

"Sure."

I sit next to her and we spend the next few minutes skipping stones onto the lake.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. When your dad died. I had just gotten with Tom and he was isolating me from you already. That was shitty of me." She says, breaking the silence.

"You didn't do anything. That was Tom not you. Anyway I always wanted to be alone when he died anyway." I reassure her.

"But still," she begins "I loved your dad. He was always nice to me. And he was there for me. When my dad left, when my cousin died. I mean I was barely at the funeral because Tom wanted me back home."

"None of that was your fault." I grab her hands and tell her directly. "You have done nothing wrong and I never blamed you for anything."

"I love you so much." Parker says and puts her arms around my back and hugs me.

I hug her back.

"I love you too."

The hug lasts for around a minute and a half. We both lean out and then all of a sudden rapid heavy footsteps come from behind Parker. I see a tall skinny figure run at us and before I can make out what it even is it grabs Parker by the head. She lets out a shriek and before I can even begin to figure out what the hell is happening I am hit with a spray of blood. I close my eyes for a second so the blood doesn't get in my eyes. I open them back up to see the figure tearing my best friend's head off her body. Her neck stretches out before finally giving way and her head is torn off. Parker, my best friend since I was a child is dead. Murdered right in front of me by God knows what.

My eyes adjust and I see that the creature has big teeth, claws and eyes. It feasts on Parker's head. I get up and run as fast as I can. I hear the thing howl. My feet crunch under the leaves and squelch under the mud as I try to process what happened. Parker. Parker. Parker is dead. What was that thing? I bear. No, don't be stupid that wasn't a bear, it was skinny and hairless. Was that an animal? Whatever it was it just killed my best friend. What will I tell the others? What will I tell Tom? Fuck Tom. This is his fault! This is his fucking fault! If he hadn't literally cheated on Parker right in front of her she wouldn't of left and gotten her head ripped off! And before I know it I'm back at the camp. Ben and Liam are there. Ben sees me crying, sweating, covered in blood and trying to catch my breath.

"Oh my god, Darby!" he yells, scared for my safety. "Are you hurt?"

"It's not my blood." 

And as I say that, the realisation hits me. Parker is dead. Gone forever. And tears fall from my eyes like a waterfall as Tori and Tom come out from their tents. We are in a game of survival now. Parker being the first victim of that, thing. 1 down, 5 to go...

Darby: Alive
Ben: Alive
Tom: Alive
Liam: Alive
Tori: Alive
Parker: Dead