Monroe House

Only the Beginning

The six of them crept silently down the path until they couldn't see the glow of the fire anymore. Taking one last look behind them, they straightened up and stretched.
"So, what'd you see up there"? Chris asked.
"Just a bunch of drunken weirdos celebrating a successful prank night. Th only thing truly sketchy about them was that they were hanging out here of all places", Hunter informed.
"So.... they're not a threat", Candice interrogated.
"Nah. I don't think we have to worry about them", Caleb assured.
The rest of the group sighed in relief. One less problem plaguing their minds, they thought. They gathered their things and continued further into the forest, silently listening to the environment around them. The chirp of the crickets and and the hoots of a nearby owl. The normalcy of the sounds brought the group some semblance of peace and comfort.
That is, until the noises stopped abruptly. This made the group stall.
"Chris, you practically live outside, what does that mean", Julie questioned.
"That something really, really dangerous is close by. Everyone, stay close together and shine your your lights around. And for Christ's sake, don't run"!
Everyone grabbed their flashlights and shined them into the surrounding darkness. They huddled back to back, ensuring nothing could surprise them. It remained silent for what felt like an eternity. Then the rustle of leaves and snapping of twigs shattered the silence.
The group froze and listened. The scuttling resounded from either side of the trail, completely surrounding the high schoolers. The footfalls sounded heavy and were moving with purpose in the direction the gang had come from just moments ago. Deep huffing and grunting followed the rustling and crackling as the unseen creatures scurried past the group. This only unsettled the group further.
Chris slowly bent down and rolled his pant leg up, unsheathing a concealed haunting knife as he straightened back up. He grabbed the hilt of the weapon tighter as the commotion surrounding them passed them and continued running in the opposite direction.
"Keep moving forward, guys", Chris ordered.
Not wasting any time, the gang quickened their pace as they continued on. Chris kept his eye in the direction of the retreating forces a moment longer before turning and catching up to the rest. They kept the same pace until they made it to a bend in the path. They stopped to catch their breath.
"How long have you had that", Hunter huffed, gesturing to the knife in Chris' hand.
"I've had it this whole time. I brought it just in case".
"Glad you did. Although, that wouldn't really hold up against... whatever the hell those were".
"Could've been wolves", Caleb offered, cleaning his glasses with his sweater.
"I pray they were the normal variety and not the demonic shapeshifting ones Hunter told us about", Julia hoped out loud.
"Something tells me they're the least of our worries now", Chris informed, gesturing to a large boulder positioned at the head of the bend.
The rest of the teens turned to where he was looking. There, crudely etched into the large rock were words: The Dead are Everywhere.
They stared at the ominous message, raking their brains for a rational explanation.
"Ok that's pretty fuckin' weird".
"Could it be a joke"?
"Who would risk trekking all the way out here and take the time to do that"?
"The missing teens. They were the only ones that ever made it this far".
"I don't think so. The writing seems way older than four years".
The group continued to bounce explanations off each other until Hunter remembered where he had seen this message before.
"Guys"! Hunter interjected, startling the group. "Can't believe I forgot about this. Come over here. The Four ran into this, too". Hunter set his things on the floor and pulled his phone back out. The gang surrounded him as he pulled up the paused video and hit play.

The four explorers continued down the trail, carrying on idle chatter to distract themselves from the surrounding darkness and ever growing anxiety.
"You know what this reminds me of, guys" Kendall said.
"The time you got us lost", Justin said, smirking back at Kendall.
"Hardy Har, kid", Kendall countered as Wayne laughed and Carmen high fived her brother.
"I was gonna say this reminds me of when we hiked to that haunted castle in England".
"Oh yeah! I remember that. Carmen got scared by a rabbit", Wayne teased.
The rest of the gang chuckled as Carmen rolled her eyes.
"For your information, I thought it was a coyote. All I saw was a flash of brown and the bushes moving around".
"Yeah, a coyote that's incredibly small, has huge ears and a stump of a tail", Justin mocked.
They continued laughing until a sharp snap silenced them. The team froze. The rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs started immediately after the snap was heard. The teens shined their flashlights into the surrounding darkness and stood back to back. Carmen grabbed Justin's arm, protectively, and pulled him closer to her. Wayne's eyes darted from side to side, desperate to see what was making the sounds that now were circling the small group.
Kendall held his camera up and and switched it on to night vision.
"Are you serious"? Wayne confronted.
"You wanna be able to see who or what is fuckin' with us don't you", Kendall asked, panning his camera around slowly,
The rustling and crunching was soon joined by deep huffing and grunting.
"What the hell is that", Carmen questioned, gripping Justin's hand tighter.
"Some kind of animal. What they are I don't know", Wayne whispered.
"Y-You think it's those w-wolf things Kendall was talking about", Justin stammered.
"Possibly", Kendall agreed. "They're the only things I can think of that would be this deep in the woods and making sounds like that".
"Well whatever they are, everyone keep your eyes open. We don't need these things getting the drop on us".
The grunts and rustling continued to surround the explorers, growing in volume with each passing second. The sounds then moved in the direction the group had come from and stopped. All four light sources pointed in that direction, along with Kendall's camera. Small, dark shapes sprouted from the surrounding foliage. Their small eyes glowed an ominous white in the reflections on of the lights.
Kendall continued to record as the group slowly backed away from the unknown forms in front of them. They paused again when one of the shapes started to rise and take on a new form. It was tall and had long, thin limbs. It's glowing eyes shining brightly in the green hued screen of the camera. It's gangly form moved in sync with its low raspy breathing. It's pointed ears moved as it honed in on the rapid heartbeats of the trembling teens in front of it. It's jagged claws twitched and it's dagger like teeth dripped with drool. It's long snout slowly sniffing the air.
It continued to stare the group down and they stared back, raking their brains for what they should do. The creature studied them for what seemed like hours until it quickly turned and disappeared into the darkness, along with the rest of the dark shapes. Silence filled the air once again. Kendall turned off his camera with a shaking hand and turned to his friends.
"Run".
The group turned tail and sprinted up the path. Not daring to turn around to see if the creature was pursuing them. They continued running until they came to a bend in the path, a giant boulder sitting at the head of it. They skidded to a halt, tumbling to the dirt path, gasping and coughing.
"Kendall", Wayne gasped as he propped himself on his knees. "Tell me you got that".
Kendall nodded, holding up his camera and shaking it, "I got it".
"I'd say 'let's go back', but there's no way in hell I'm going back there", Carmen coughed as she crawled over to Justin, who sat slumped against the boulder. "You ok"? Justin nodded, shakily.
Carmen put her arm around the shaking teen and looked at Wayne and Kendall.
"What now"?
"Keep going"?
"After that? I'd rather not"!
Kendall stood up, "Look, I get your fear guys. Trust me, I do, but we already made it this far and were at the halfway point. I don't see why we can't......", Kendall trailed off as he looked over Justin and Carmen's heads, taking notice of the writing etched into the side of the large structure.
Wayne followed his gaze and stood beside Kendall. Carmen and Justin followed his actions and moved to stand next to the two. There, they noticed the crudely written message: The Dead are Everywhere.
"What does that mean", Wayne demanded, shooting a glance towards Kendall.
"I have no clue, man", Kendall assured.
"Maybe one of the mob members did as a warning all those years ago", Carmen offered.
"Maybe".
"Hopefully".
They continued to gawk at the writing in silence. Then, a distant sound distracted them. Not a sound really, but voices. A distant conversation between a man and a woman. The small group strained to figure out what was being said, but they were to far away. A shrill scream then silenced the discussion and was followed by a distant popping noise. Silence.
Hearing enough, the explorers briskly walked away. Leaving the the cryptic message and disturbing noises behind them.

Hunter cleared his throat as he turned off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket.
"So", Candice started. "That was...... horrifying".
"Please tell me whoever uploaded that edited that in", Layla begged.
Hunter shook his head, "Nope. All of it was a hundred percent authentic. This video has been looked at backwards, forwards, and sideways by police, detectives, and professional editors alike after these guys disappeared. This is for real, guys".
The gang looked at each other, back at the writing, the forest, then back at each other.
"Can we get moving before...", Caleb started before a sharp gasp interrupted him. Everyone whipped around and stared at Julia, who's wide eyes were trained ahead of her.
A young boy, about thirteen, stood in the center of the path. He had on a dark green flannel shirt, dark pants, and muddy boots. Black hair hung into his dark, unfocused eyes. He stared intensely back at the group. His scowl contorted into a twisted smirk. He let out a dry, strained cackle.
"Don't get too scared yet", he mocked, his voice was distant and raspy. "This is only the beginning". He delivered a final chuckle before he faded away in front of the gang's eyes.
The high schoolers stood there, terrified and confused.