Chapter Text
“Shit….” was the first thing you said. You were lost. Incredibly, undoubtedly, without a shadow of a doubt lost. And you were fucked. You didn’t know where you were, somewhere deep in a forest, where droves of thick fog rolled in and clung to the trees and ground. You couldn’t make heads or tails of which direction to travel in, where you were, or how you even got here. All you had on you was some clunky old flashlight and a scribbled note you found in your pocket. You know you didn’t write it, your handwriting didn’t look like a blind toddler trying to scratch the idea of what trees looked like onto paper with a busted sharpie. Still, it freaked you the fuck out. An ominous figure scratched onto paper surrounded by trees. Maybe a poor attempt at a map? Was there someone or something that lived here?
You didn’t let your mind wander too far, you had to figure out how to get out of this forest you wound up in. Your lips felt like they were chapped, and your scuffed up f/c shoes where caked with mud. You had been wandering around for hours, walking in a random direction that you had picked. You would have followed the sun, but it’s bleak light bled everywhere evenly, and as the sun began to set, it left no clues as to which direction it had traveled. You knew it had to be around the later part of the day, the sunlight slowly receding from a gray blanket covering the sky to a dimmer light that grew weaker by the hour.
This forest was really starting to get to you, you felt the hairs stand up on the back of your neck at the silence it held. Not a single bird chirped, not a single cricket, animal or even tree dared to make a sound. The eerie silence permeated like the thick fog that hung close to the ground. The silence was almost unbearable. The only sounds you could hear was the sound of your footsteps and your own breathing, nothing else daring to disturb the quiet that enveloped you now. Somehow, you felt like you were truly alone. You couldn’t help but grasp at the fact that something was deeply wrong here, with yourself, and with your surroundings. Something about the forest felt like it held a deep secret, one you were almost sure you weren’t meant to find out— not that you wanted. You wanted to get the fuck outta Dodge, but the problem was you couldn’t even figure out how you got here, or where to go. Whatever, you would process the terrifying ordeal of being truly lost without a hope of being found when you got out.
On top of the newfound horror of a dead forest, you had the feeling you were being watched. Something told you deep down that the creeping feeling you kept getting on your skin wasn’t from the bugs, but from your skin crawling at the feeling of being stalked. Some animal part of you was keenly aware of this, but the main part of you wasn’t willing to admit this in a million years. After all, who wants to admit they’re being watched when they should be alone?
You had been walking for hours, you had no idea if you were any closer to an actual sign of civilization, and it was getting dark quickly. Normally, you would make a joke or two in this kind of situation to keep yourself sane, but you weren’t in the mood. Usually you could get away with complaining by now that you were tired and hungry, but your adrenaline kicking in and constantly feeling like you’re just on the edge of breaking into a sprint from some Big Unknown had to exhausted. Not to mention, you couldn’t remember how the fuck you managed to get this fucking lost in the forest. Hell, you couldn’t remember anything. You would ask yourself who would be worrying about you, but you couldn’t remember the first thing about yourself, your life, or if you even had anyone who would worry. The most you knew about yourself was so far away from any kind of actual identifier that you stopped bothering all together. You knew your name was F/N L/N, your favorite color was F/C, and you fucking hated walking for this long in a forest when you were almost certain at this point that you would die. This was horribly depressing enough, but dying in a forest that was most definitely haunted was infinitely worse. Of course, had you remembered when you first started walking that you should never start walking if you find yourself lost, who knows, maybe you’d have been found by now. But you doubted that. Everything in your entire being told you there was no help, you were shit out of luck, and more lost than you were any chance of being found.
You were walking when you saw something nearby on a tree, a piece of paper nailed onto the tree. Your stomach dropped as you approached, on it read two words, “HELP ME.” You felt sick, but some part of you recognized this, it was the same writing as your note you had. You remembered, the piece of paper in your pocket and quickly unfolded it and held it up and compared the two. They had the same handwriting and style to it. You grabbed the paper and decided to continue on. Why, you couldn’t say. You were filled with more questions then you had answers to. Who put it there? Why did you even grab it? If by some odd chance someone is still out here, would you even be able to make it out okay?
After walking for about half an hour more, your body’s exhaustion was catching up with you. You knew your body would need to rest soon, but for some odd reason you were wide awake. You felt like if you were to rest, something, whether an animal or god knows what else, would kill you the minute you stopped to rest. So on you went, finding another paper taped onto the back of a tree as you walked aimlessly through the forest. This one was more unsettling, it had a drawing of the stick figure from your first paper with the word FOLLOWS etched onto it. You were starting to piece together something, what exactly you were piecing together you didn’t know.
When you approached a rather large building, feeling more unsettled by the minute, you debated whether you should risk going in there or whether you should just walk past it. There was a chance that you would find something, or someone. That someone though could potentially be a greater threat to you than not going in, but you were starting to feel the effects of hunger set in, and if need be you might be able to hole up in here until morning. This forest was creeping you the fuck out, though it would have been weirder if it didn’t. So you decided to stall for the inevitable, taking your time to walk around the building, slowly scoping it out before potentially walking into your death. Lucky you did, you conveniently found a hunting knife as well as two granola bars. You made a beeline for the granola bars, scarfing one of them down in less than two minutes, surprising considering how dry your mouth was. You felt safer now, you had a flashlight and a weapon, and if some animal or weirdo decided to try you, well let’s say you felt a little braver than you did holding three pieces of paper and a flashlight.
“Maybe I’ll get extra lucky and find a super hot serial killer or something,” you said in an attempt to joke. Although you personally didn’t recognize the cosmic irony of your statement, the universe was quietly listening to your prayers. The joke fell on deaf ears, you let out a dry chuckle at it, praying to god that no one was actually in there. I mean, you weren’t exactly choosy with who you wanted to be around but a crazy person who might kill you on sight was on the bottom of your list of things you wanted to see in this freaky ass building.
Steeling your nerves, you took a hearty step towards one of the entrances. As you headed in, you tried your best to still your heart, it was currently resting right in your throat with how scared shitless you were. You could hear your heartbeat in your chest, every footstep was deafeningly loud, and every shadow made you jump. You walked through it as quietly as you could, not daring to hardly breathe. It seemed abandoned, and you were on high alert, hoping nothing had taken residence here. For some reason, whether it was a mix of exhaustion or fear, you felt like a light static was creeping into your brain. It was almost unnoticeable, a faint, hovering buzz that filled your head slowly. Something inside of you wanted to rest, to just let the buzz carry you off to a dreamless sleep. You were so tired, you had been walking in this creepy ass forest for god knows how long, and you were beginning to question whether you would make it out alive at all. Your grip on your knife loosened.
‘What’s the harm in taking a nap anyways? I need to conserve my energy…’ you thought to yourself. But something, some little nagging thought in the back of your head was screaming at you. It felt like that voice was being drowned out in a void of static, a violent hum that washed over your thoughts.
You slow steps almost came to a stop, and it was only when your eyes started to feel like it had pins and needles around it’s corners of your vision that you felt something. That something, was just off enough for you to tell it was there. The static still buzzed in your head, but the subtle presence behind you woke you up for your shallow dreams. You barely managed to dodge it, something was fucking buried in the wall of where you were previously standing. The buzz was no longer a quiet sea meant to subdue you, now it was an angry hornets nest, obscuring your vision and attacking your brain from the inside.
“What the fuck?!” You shouted. You looked to the source of what just hurtled a fucking knife at your head and boy did you find the fucking source. A person was standing there, in a blue mask with deep black hollows for eyes. Dark brown hair hang over the front of the mask and peaked out the sides, it was a man, and he was holding a bigger knife than the one you had. You stared in horror as you looked for an exit, there were two hallways on either side of you, one leading to a dead end and the other was dark and could possibly just be prolonging the inevitable.
The figure stared at you in complete silence, head tilting slightly at your narrow dodge. Your gut and eyes told you straight up— this guy looked fucked up. Hell, you had your fair share of mental problems but not the ‘oh let’s murder people’ kind— at least you didn’t think you did. You weren’t waiting around for him to starting walking towards you so you booked it down the hallway. The static was still strong, you could barely see through it, but still you were running for your life. You had a flashlight in one hand, and an all purpose hunting blade in the other, and you were hauling ass through this creepy ass abandoned building.
The figure silently chased after you, he was keeping with your pause just a few feet back. You heard a loud THUNK as he must have dislodged his machete from the wall. You were running for your fucking life, taking sharp turns and praying you didn’t reach a dead end. Thankfully, you reached what must have been another exit, and booked it into the empty forest. You heard the man’s footsteps way behind you, exiting the building a little after you had. You turned your flashlight off, praying to fucking god he couldn’t hear you. You looked around, running as fast as your feet could carry you. You decided to take a slight left to the path you were heading, looking for a tree or something that you could hide in. In your panic state, your ankle decided to contribute to your horror movie situation by twisting itself on an uneven piece of ground. You fell, your hand slicing itself on the knife due to your grip slipping. You had to get up though, you were not about to die in these fucking woods from some homicidal maniac who couldn’t have the decency to show his face.
Luckily enough or not, you eventually came across an opening containing huge Gas Tanks. You debated running, but for now your legs were burning, and you desperately needed to rest. You chose one that was second farthest from where you entered. The static didn’t leave you, you felt it waver with you as you were running. You held your breath, breathing ever so slightly so you could calm your beating heart. You were listening, trying your hardest to listen to any sound of footsteps, creaks, or any noise alerts that would signal you that you needed to run. You sat for what must have been 10 to 15 minutes, not daring to make so much as a peep. Slowly you began to relax your shoulders. Exhaustion was setting in, and surely enough you began feeling the cold air, the ache in your body from walking and running for hours,the throbbing in your ankle. ‘Fuck, I can’t walk anymore,’ you thought bitterly. You weren’t going to get very far in this state, so you decided you would you take this as a much needed break. You ripped your pants, taking the denim off and ripping it up to your knee. You slowly took your shoe off just enough, and used your knife. to cut the fabric into a makeshift bandage. You wrapped it tight, and put your shoe back on, taking great care not to ding anything. You were fighting sleep now, your adrenaline was starting to wear off, not enough that you entered a dead sleep, but enough that you were slowly nodding off.
A loud metallic BANG startled you out of your hazy state. You felt the air prickle, the static was strong, and you could hear the man’s footsteps. It was silent. The only sounds you could hear were his footsteps in the surrounding area, and your pounding heart. He was searching for you, and it took everything to not even fucking blink. He was about two tanks away from you know, yet you didn’t move. You were keeping an ear out for him, but your eyes were glued to the tree line.
There was something standing there, watching you. You almost didn’t notice it, it stood there unmoving, the only thing that let you see it was a faint glow of moonlight through a passing cloud. It looked like a tree at a glance, but you saw a swift thing of movement and then it was there. It was… arms? And legs? They were impossibly long, and were attached further up to a torso. It looked like it was wearing a suit, but it’s face was covered by the brush hanging over. You could feel it’s gaze on you. You didn’t know it’s intent but you knew it had been watching you all day, and that somehow, whatever it was, was the static. You heard the mans footsteps, too absorbed in making out the figure, you accidentally made the worst mistake you could’ve possibly made in your entire fucking life. You dropped your flashlight. The man dashed towards you, and just as you processed the sound of your flashlight hitting the ground he was on you. He landed on top of you, most of his weight lands g right on your shoulder, or more specifically on the knife he just dug into your fucking shoulder. You screamed out as pain erupted violently throughout your shoulder. The knife was blindingly hot buried deep in your back, with his full weight on it. You had to fight the overwhelming urge to vomit but you needed to start moving, now. Your clumsy footing knocked on your flashlight, it was pointed towards the thing in the forest.
You gripped your knife preparing to fight. Your adrenaline was pumping now, it helped numb the pain in your shoulder just a bit. He wasn’t too heavy, you could probably body him if you weren’t so incapacitated. So naturally, being the badass you are, you stabbed him in his fucking leg with the little wiggle room you had. The man yelled and quickly got off of you. you stood on top of him now, your foot planted firm on him, one hand gripping the knife still in your shoulder. He looked small, much less threatening now that he was holding his thigh in pain. “Oh my god you’re a massive piece of shit,” you spoke. You were terrified, and you were also pissed. “Like seriously, who the fuck just runs up to someone and stabs them in the shoulder? Who the fuck hunts someone in the woods?”
The man didn’t say anything but wince in pain, he was slowly gathering himself.
“That’s why you’re dead built like someone who hasn’t felt the touch of a woman in years,” you stood. You bent down and grabbed his other knife. You didn’t think you would possibly be fighting for you life tonight, but shit happens. The man stood before you and soon began barreling towards you, so you headed for the tree line.
“You are so fucking dead,” The man yelled after you. Weird, he sounded pretty young. He wasn’t exactly the biggest guy but you figured he must be some weird old fuck to be trying to murder some stranger in the woods. Static filled your ears, and you could barely hear the man gaining on you. You saw it, standing 30 feet in front of you now, and everything in you was screaming to make a move, to do something. What you did must have shocked the man, because he stopped. He must have seen the thing too, because he yelled “I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” But you didn’t care.
“FUCK! OFF! YOU ARE LITERALLY TRYING TO MURDER ME SO EAT SHIT,” You screamed as you threw the machete at the thing in the trees. Instantly, as the knife made contact with it, it let out an inhumane screech, flailing its arms and… tendrils? Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuuuuuck. You started limping away from it and the boy. But all you could feel was something thin and slimy grabbing your leg. It dragged you by your bad foot and hung you upside down. What you were greeted with was absolutely terrifying. It was a man, or something wearing a dark suit. But it had no face. The flashlight illuminated it, skin pulled tight over bone, where eyes should have been were empty divots of the skin dipping ever so slightly. It had no nose, no mouth. But you could see that it was angry. You had hurt it, you had pissed it off, and it was going to show you who was really going to hurt who. It threw you against a tree, the bark scratching through your thin t shirt, into the open wound on your back. It slammed you again and again, knocking the breath out of you. It scratched at you with its tendrils, it slammed your rag doll body on the ground and you were barely conscious at this point. Everything hurt, and only at that point did you finally pass out.