ã€ŠWillows Peakã€‹


 Prologue

    When twenty year old Grant Mercer took the job as a Search and Rescue officer, he never thought he¡¯d find himself in the situation he got into in Blackreach forest. He found a job that he loved. He was a woodsman his whole life. When he and his family would travel to the White Mountains to visit their grandfathers every summer for two weeks, he and his older brother would spend hours out in the woods. They would build forts, play manhunt, track deer for fun, hop on the rocks in the river and climb trees. His dad was also in the Army for many years and he would teach Grant many things about outdoor survival. Things you can and can¡¯t eat, how to track someone, how to build shelters and make weapons out of sticks, how to build different types of fires, he taught him everything. Grant had heard whispers about Search and Rescue when he got into his mid teens, so he spent his highschool years doing free online search and resume tests to gather knowledge. It wasn¡¯t until he graduated high school that he started going to paid classes and taking tests and finally becoming certified. A week after his twentieth birthday, he went in for the interview, greeting a woman sitting behind the counter on a computer.

    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here to interview for a Search and Rescue job. I had made an appointment over the phone with a man named Liam,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Oh yes, have a seat and he¡¯ll call you in soon,¡± the woman said.

    Grant sat down in the empty seats. He had been the only one there for Search and Rescue. He looked around at everyone hard at work on their computers or doing paperwork, or even answering phone calls. A few moments later, a door opened and two men exited. One of the men walked past Grant, nodding his head with a smile as he passed by, Grant responded with a head nod. The other man stood at his door.

    ¡°Sarah, anyone else?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Liam will see you now,¡± she said to Grant.

    ¡°One more,¡± she said loudly to the man as Grant approached him.

    Grant stepped inside of the office and shook hands with the man who introduced himself as Liam Hayes. He was a man who was about six feet tall with short brown hair and beard. He was in good shape too. Liam shut the door and Grant sat down, with Liam sitting in his chair across from Grant. Liam opened up the file that Grant had given him and began flipping through some papers on Grant. He had an impressed look as he flipped through each page.

    ¡°Well, you seem to have all of the qualifications. You have passed all of the written tests, you¡¯re CPR certified and you passed the physical exam,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°This is the first thing that I¡¯ve found that I''m super passionate about,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Good, because to be in search and rescue, you need to give it your all. Now, you may spend a lot of time away from home. Does your family understand the commitment you would be making?¡± Liam asked.

    ¡°Yes. My girlfriend understands and supports my decision,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Excellent. Now, to what extent are you willing to risk your life to save somebody else¡¯s?¡±

    ¡°Everyday out in the woods is a risk, but I¡¯d make it my goal to lower the risk as much as possible to make sure myself or my team doesn¡¯t get hurt. If we get hurt, then no one is getting saved,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°What¡¯s your goal in the future with Search and Rescue?¡± Liam asked.

    ¡°To do it as long as I can,¡± Grant replied.

    ¡°You certainly are making this easy. Most people come in here and dish out a few half assed responses and then mosey along. Most don¡¯t even come with the right qualifications,¡± he said as he pointed down to Grant¡¯s papers as they both chuckled.

    After a few seconds, the smile slowly faded from Liam¡¯s face, and it was replaced with a serious look.

    ¡°Now, there¡¯s something I have to tell you. Sometimes things¡­happen out in those woods. The things that happen, sometimes can¡¯t be explained,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Grant asked.

    ¡°We¡¯ve had people disappear and be found in places they shouldn''t be found in. We had a man a few years ago go missing. It took the boys days to even get a trace. Even the dogs couldn¡¯t find him. But when they did, they found the man hanging from a tree. Not from a low branch, but from the tip of the tree. The tree was too tall and too impossible to even climb. We couldn¡¯t even climb it, we needed a helicopter to get him down,¡± Liam explained.

    Grant just looked on with confusion.

    ¡°Another time many years ago, a man went hiking and never came home. We couldn¡¯t find him. We searched for weeks and never even got a trace. No scent, no footprints, no nothing. So we abandon the search, as that¡¯s sometimes what we have to do. Eight months later the man was found in two different trees,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°What, how?¡± Grant asked.

    ¡°One half of his body was in one tree and the other half was in another,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Inside of the trees?¡± Grant questioned.

    ¡°Yup. Something had hallowed out the inside of these trees and stuffed each half of his body in them. On trees that were almost a hundred feet tall, and each time he was found near the top. No one should be able to climb these trees and hollow the inside of them out. Oh and did I mention that these trees were miles away from each other?¡± Liam explained.

    Grant had no words, he just kind of looked confused. He wondered if this was some sort of hazing thing to scare potential new hires.

    ¡°That¡¯s the kind of thing I mean. Weird things happen out there. Things that most of the time can¡¯t be explained,¡± Liam said.

    Not wanting to back out and to show that he was dedicated to the job, Grant reassured Liam that he wanted the job.

    ¡°Life is full of weird and unexplainable things. I guess the trick will be to find missing people as fast as possible, and that¡¯s what I¡¯m here to do,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°I knew I liked you for a reason, welcome to the world of Search and Rescue,¡± Liam said as he held his hand out.

    Grant stood up and shook his hand, excited that he had just been accepted. He got back into his car and grabbed his cellphone to call his girlfriend Maria. She answered after just two rings.

    ¡°Hey babe,¡± she said.

    Maria was a gorgeous girl with black hair that Grant had known since he was in kindergarten. They had grown up together, and had been together forever. In first grade, Grant had asked Maria to be his girlfriend, simply because that¡¯s what he thought was the cool thing to do. His older brothers had girlfriends, so he thought having a girlfriend was the cool thing to do. Maria said yes due to her first grade brain having a similar mindset, but the two continued through life as a couple. Going all through elementary and into middle school, where they started to truly consider it a relationship. Then by high school, they were taking it very seriously. The two went through everything together. The separation of Grant''s parents, deaths and low points mentally. They were made for each other.

    ¡°Hey gorgeous, I just wanted to let you know that they accepted me,¡± Grant said with a smile on his face.

    ¡°Really? Yay!¡± Maria said with excitement.

    ¡°Yup, the guy loved me,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°I¡¯m so proud of you! We have to celebrate!¡± Maria said.

    ¡°Absolutely. I¡¯ll be home in about a half hour and we can go out to eat,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯ll get ready!¡± Maria said.

    Grant hung out and backed out of the parking lot where he drove onto the road and headed home. Things flowed through his mind. He was excited and anxious about his new career that he would be starting. But one thing kept going through his mind. When Liam was telling him about the creepy stuff that had happened in the woods, specifically about that guy that had been found inside of the trees, Liam had used the word ¡°Something¡± instead of ¡°Someone.¡± It stuck with Grant the whole ride home, but once he got home and was greeted with a hug and a kiss from Maria, it left his mind. She was dressed in a beautiful outfit. A white shirt, black jacket and jeans with black boots. They got in the car and drove to a restaurant to celebrate.

    About a month later, Grant had been out on two jobs. Nothing serious, in fact it was quite the opposite. One had been some moronic teenagers playing manhunt and one ran too far, getting lost. The other was another dumbass teenager who had brought his girlfriend out for a hike and had gotten them lost. They were both very easily found, with Grant being the one to find them. This had impressed Liam.

    ¡°Wow son, you¡¯re doing great so far,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Well, to be fair, we haven''t really had anything too difficult, just some idiots who don¡¯t have a sense of direction,¡± Grant said.

    The two shared a laugh.

    ¡°Very true, but remember, every missing person is just as important, no matter how they got lost,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Grant replied.

    Later, Grant was hanging out with Tommy, his childhood best friend.

    ¡°Hey, how¡¯s that search and rescue thing going?¡± Tommy asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s going great, it¡¯s fun. You should go in for an interview,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°You really think I should?¡± Tommy asked.

    ¡°Hell yeah, I¡¯ll even recommend you,¡± Grant said.

    Tommy had been just as much of a woodsman his whole life as well. He would sometimes go with Grant and his family on vacation and be out in the woods with Grant and his older brother. He also was also taught a lot about the wilderness by Grant¡¯s dad, and he was always with Grant, and Grant¡¯s dad treated Tommy like he was another son. A few days later, Grant was talking with Liam.

    ¡°Hey, I wanted to ask you something. I was wondering if you had any other open spots for my best friend Tommy?¡± Grant asked.

    ¡°Tell me about him,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°He¡¯s very much like me. We grew up together. He has the same knowledge of the wilderness that I have. He just doesn''t have the certifications,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Have him get those certifications and then have him come in, I¡¯ll get something done,¡± Liam said.

    Grant told Tommy to sign up for the classes, and with some help from Grant, Tommy enrolled. He found the written tests to be the hardest part, but the physical test was favorite part. He wanted to retake it simply for fun. He passed and got the certifications and got CPR certified. He came to Grant¡¯s house one day to show him the certificates.

    ¡°See? I knew you¡¯d do great,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Well, the CPR part I wasn¡¯t crazy about. I didn¡¯t love wrapping my lips around a plastic dummy. It tasted like cleaning supplies,¡± Tommy said.

    ¡°That¡¯s probably preferable to kissing your ex-girlfriend,¡± Grant said as the two began to laugh.

    Tommy made an appointment to go and interview with Liam. Grant went with him for support, and with some glowing recommendation from Grant, Liam accepted Tommy. Both of them were excited as it was their dream to work together and they achieved it. They spent the next few years doing search and rescue, becoming stand out officers and two of the most highly skilled ones. It was extremely rare that they didn¡¯t find somebody, it had only happened once and it bothered Grant more than he wanted it too. It was supposed to be simple. A man went out for a jog, he had jogged through these woods for years and never had a single issue, but this time he never came home. His girlfriend called him missing. They searched for days, sometimes even staying out all night and they couldn¡¯t find him. The dogs had a scent but lost it about a mile up the trail on the first day. Both Grant and Tommy were bothered when they called off the search. They sat at Grant¡¯s house in silence, just wondering how they couldn''t even get a trail. Then, that conversation with Liam that Grant had popped back into his head. ¡°Something had hallowed out the inside of these trees.¡± There was that word again, ¡°Something.¡± It floated in his mind for a while, sometimes even keeping him up at night. Did this so-called ¡°Something¡± get a hold of this guy while he was out there jogging? Grant could never come to a clear conclusion, and he couldn''t let it sit in his mind any longer. He had to move on and hope that eventually, the man would be found safely.

    It had been a little over two years since Grant and Tommy had become Search and Rescue officers. The now twenty two year old began to feel the stress. Being out in the woods, dealing with the mental stress of finding people, and dealing with some unexplainable things began to affect Grant and Tommy¡¯s personalities. They went from joyful to very serious about everything. Everything they experienced out in the woods weighed down on them.

    One day they were out on a job, a kid had wandered off and got separated from his parents while they were out hiking. Liam got in contact with Grant and he took his crew out there, with Tommy by his side. They spoke with the parents, with the mother being too hysterical. She was sobbing and barely even able to catch her breath. She stayed with Liam and the paramedics to try and calm down and collect her thoughts, while Grant spoke with the father. The father described the situation. They were out hiking and while stopping to take a picture, they looked back and saw that their son was missing. Grant asked the man if he remembered the location they were in, so Grant and his group followed the man while Grant had Thunder, one of the canines with him. During the walk, Grant asked the man a few questions. Like how old he was, has the kid ever done things like this before, wandered off at the park or at the mall? Was he very easily distracted? Things like that. The man answered each of the questions, stating that he was eight years old, he had never wandered off before, and he does get distracted by things. They finally arrived at the location. It was a small part of the trail that had a view of a small waterfall.

    ¡°That¡¯s what we were taking a picture of, the waterfall. When we turned around, he was gone,¡± the man said.

    Grant scanned the area.

    ¡°Ok, Austin, walk back with him. We don¡¯t need anyone else going missing,¡± Grant said.

    Austin, one of the members of his squad, walked back with the man while the others began to spread out and look for the child. Grant ruled off any area where the kid couldn¡¯t go. He wouldn¡¯t have gone backwards, as they would¡¯ve seen him for sure. He definitely didn¡¯t go over the ledge, they would have heard him fall, and he didn¡¯t go up the trail, cause that would require him to pass by his parents, and once again, they would¡¯ve seen him. So the only possible way he could¡¯ve gone was to the right. into the profusion of trees. So Grant rallied his squad and headed in that direction, trying to find any footprints. As they searched, he and Tommy discussed the situation.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it, why would a kid just wander off like that?¡± Tommy asked.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°Well, he¡¯s eight. My guess is, he saw something that caught his attention, and he went to investigate. You know how kids are. They¡¯re like damn cats. Always so nosy and curious about everything,¡± Grant said.

    Grant found footprints, while at the same time Thunder got a scent. Grant loosened his grip on the leash and let Thunder out in front while they followed him.Grant still kept his eyes to the ground, looking for footprints. They searched all day for this kid, calling out his name while still following the trail. Grant figured that the kid must¡¯ve been moving away from them still because there is no way the kid could¡¯ve gotten as far as he did in the time it took them to get there. With them hot on a trail, they should¡¯ve found him by now. They were thrown off when the trail ended. No more footprints, no scent, nothing.

    ¡°How does his footprints just stop?¡± Tommy asked.

    ¡°Unless he grew wings and flew or he¡¯s Danny Torrance and backtracked his steps, I have no idea. And neither of those things happened,¡± Grant said.

    They searched well into the night, which was not common and came up with nothing. They couldn¡¯t find the kid. This frustrated Grant to no end, and having to tell the parents was no better. His heart nearly shattered when he heard the sobs of the mother and saw the tears roll down the fathers cheek. Grant almost quit on the spot. He apologized to the parents and left the site without uttering a single word to Liam, Tommy or the paramedics. He left in silence, and drove home in the same silence. No radio, no open windows, just his racing mind. The sounds of the mothers cries relayed in his mind the whole ride home. They were just as loud and as heartbreaking as they were in his memory. He got home and sat on the edge of the couch, head in his hand, staring at the floor. He became disassociated and wouldn¡¯t even speak to Maria, mainly because he couldn¡¯t hear her at first. Everything was quiet, until he began to hear her muffled voice. Finally she got through to him, asking him what was wrong. He stood up and buried his head into her shoulder beginning to weep. The thought of a deceased child that he couldn¡¯t find, and the thought of the mental anguish those two parents would face proved to be too much for his psyche to handle. He felt responsible as it was his job to find the child, but he failed to do so. Any ray of hope that he brought to the parents upon his arrival had to be stripped away by him as well as he told them they couldn¡¯t find their son. He voiced this to Maria who comforted him. The mental exhaustion brought on by the whole experience, caused him to almost pass out as soon as he laid down. He awoke, fifteen hours later still feeling the weight of the gloomy situation. He spent the next week feeling very mentally exhausted and stressed. Maria began to worry about his well being.

    About a month later, Grant was out with Tommy and his squad searching for some drunk teenager that had gotten lost while trying to play manhunt with his friends while they were hiking. This sort of thing happens all the time. A few asshole teenagers get together to go camping, and they get too drunk and someone always gets lost. Whether the alcohol caused an argument that makes them storm off and get lost, or someone tries to play a prank by hiding and they get lost. Drunk teens and woods do not match, and it got to a point where Grant would begin getting annoyed each time they got one of these calls. Grant arrived with his squad and got all the information he could from the other teens. They traveled into the woods and found their composite, which was less than a mile from the entrance to the woods. Grant found a trail and they all followed it. The trail led to a small rocky river that went underneath a wooden bridge. That¡¯s where they found the teen, near the water. He was ecstatic about being saved and hugged and thanked them, profusely. As they walked back, Grant berated him for being dumb and drinking underage.

    ¡°See? This is the type of shit that happens when you morons come out here to drink underage. Cut that shit out,¡± Grant said.

    Tommy, who was walking behind Grant and the teen began laughing to himself, as Grant was always like this. When they were teens and Tommy would get drunk, Grant would grill him for six hours about how stupid it was to drink. Grant noticed this when he looked back at Tommy because he heard him snicker.

    ¡°What are you laughing at?¡± Grant asked with a smile.

    ¡°No nothing. Hey, you should never drink underage,¡± Tommy said to the teen with a smile.

    ¡°Oh yeah, listen to double A Andy back here. You were drinking at what? Thirteen?¡± Grant said.

    ¡°No, I was not thirteen. And I didn¡¯t drink that much, come on,¡± Tommy said.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kid yourself. You could¡¯ve played Nicolas Cage¡¯s role in Leaving Las Vegas,¡± Grant said.

    The group, including the teen all roared out in laughter as they walked back to the entrance. As they were walking, there was a moment of silence. Grant stopped everyone as he listened. He looked into the woods and saw someone quickly pull their head back behind a tree. Grant slowly approached the tree and as he turned the corner, he saw a kid cowering behind the tree. But it wasn¡¯t just any kid, it was the kid that went missing about a month ago. Grant called out the kids name and he looked up. Grant helped him up and carried him back to the entrance where the paramedics were. The teens were excited to see their friend back safe and few paramedics took him to check him while the others took the child. Liam looked over and his eyes nearly shot out of his head. None of them could believe the kid was alive. He had been out there for a month, and he didn¡¯t even look injured or malnourished. They tried to ask the kid what had happened but he was very reluctant to speak, probably because being out in the woods for a month would put anyone in a state of shock. The kids'' parents were called and they arrived looking overjoyed, as they should¡¯ve been. They thanked Grant over and over, though he felt they shouldn¡¯t as he still felt he failed them by not finding him the first time. He couldn''t imagine to mental torture the were enduring this past month.

    ¡°Thank god you guys found that kid. Thinking of a deceased child makes me depressed,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°I second that,¡± Grant said.

    Later on at home, he had a weird feeling. But, seeing the parents happy again removed the cloud of gloom that had been following him, but this was replaced with a sense of confusion. How did this kid survive for so long, without being injured and not being malnourished. Surely he wasn¡¯t hunting and feeding himself at eight years old. He discussed the situation with Maria.

    ¡°It¡¯s weird. The woods, it¡¯s almost like they are another realm. I¡¯m so happy the kid is safe and back home, but I just can¡¯t help but think, how the kid survived, or I can¡¯t stop thinking about what other anomalies can happen out there,¡± Grant said.

    The job was really stressing Grant out, he became irritable at times and sometimes argumentative. Whenever Maria tried to talk things out, he was always dismissive. This caused a rift between him and Maria and not one that was easily fixed. Maria finally spoke up and wanted Grant to leave search and rescue and go and get a real job, since search and rescue was volunteer work that he didn¡¯t get paid for.

    ¡°We are struggling to pay for the house. You can¡¯t keep doing little side jobs for friends and your uncle, and keep search and rescue as your permanent career. Those little side jobs do little to alleviate our financial woes,¡± Maria said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe this, ever since I first mentioned the idea of search and rescue when we were teenagers, you have supported me. Now when things get a little tough, you¡¯re telling me to abandon my passion?¡± Grant replied.

    ¡°Your passion doesn¡¯t pay for bills, or for groceries. I don¡¯t make enough money as a waitress and those side jobs you do aren¡¯t enough. You need to take your old job back as a mechanic, they¡¯d love to have you back,¡± Maria said.

    Back when they were in high school, Grant had an afterschool job as a mechanic at a small mom and pop shop in the city. Working on cars was another passion he had been taught by his dad. It was his first passion in life and something that he was seriously working on to be his main career. He wanted to become ASE certified and own his own shop. This passion became a secondary hobby after Grant discovered Search and Rescue.

    ¡°I can¡¯t just leave my passion Maria, I worked years at this. I¡¯m not gonna let those years go to waste,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Then put it aside, take a break for a year and save up some money. You need to, it¡¯s stressing you out. It¡¯s changing you. The stress is eating you alive. You aren¡¯t getting enough sleep and your mind is always scrambled,¡± Maria said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving search and rescue, and if you can¡¯t accept that, then I guess we have a problem,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°What are you saying?¡± Maria asked.

    There was a moment of silence, Grant didn¡¯t respond. More like he couldn¡¯t respond. He didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m saying. I gotta go,¡± Grant said as he grabbed his jacket.

    He opened the front door and closed it behind him as Maria called out to him. He ended up staying at Tommy¡¯s for a few days. He walked inside and Tommy handed him a beer.

    ¡°Still having trouble with Maria?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yeah. She won¡¯t stop man, she wants me to leave search and rescue. But I can¡¯t. I worked too hard to achieve this, I can¡¯t throw it all away,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Nah man, I agree with you. She¡¯ll come around. You two always iron out your problems,¡± Tommy said.

    A few days had gone by with neither of them contacting each other. This was the first time they had gone multiple days after a fight without even texting each other. Grant assumed that it was over. He figured he went too far, and his passion led him too far astray from his personal life. But now, there was no choice. He had lost the love of his life, now all he had left was his passion. They spent a few days doing nothing. Hanging out at the house, playing some video games, having some beers, ordering pizzas, and not worrying about anything. One night, they found themselves at a bar. It was a quiet little bar, one that very rarely had live music, and the music that played over the speakers wasn''t too loud. It was never crowded nor was there ever any drama. It was the only bar that Grant would go to. All the other bars were too extreme, similar to clubs. Assholes that are drunk and jumping around, bumping into you, spilling their drinks on you, yelling and screaming. All stuff that Grant hated, so he avoided clubs at all cost. Grant had just racked the pool balls. He lifted the triangle, and let Tommy break. The triangle of balls broke into different directions, with only the maroon seven dropping into the corner pocket. Tommy took another shot, but was unable to hit anything due to his position.

    ¡°You messed up by giving me this shot,¡± Grant said with a smirk.

    Grant lined up his shot, and sank the blue two, meaning that he was solids. Because he hit the white ball at the bottom, it added backspin so as soon as it hit the blue ball, it spun backwards. Grant looked up at Tommy, still with a smirk. The game went on, Grant had just missed a shot. He hit the yellow one, but it missed the corner pocket, so it was Tommy''s turn. Tommy was beginning to run the table, sinking striped ball after striped ball. Grant found himself tuning out the game. Everything almost became quiet, as he stared at the floor blankly, holding his pool stick against the floor with both hands. He was thinking about Maria. Wondering if he had gone too far. Not once did he and Maria ever have a fight this big, because they always found a compromise. But this time, Grant thought was being too stubborn. He snapped out of it when Tommy shook him and called his name.

    ¡°Grant. Are you alright?¡± Tommy asked.

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah I''m fine,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Alright, it''s your turn,¡± Tommy said.

    Grant immediately focused on the game. He lined his shot up, and sank the yellow one in the corner. He turned around, and hit the orange five into the side pocket.

    ¡°Opposite side pocket,¡± Grant said.

    He lined up the shot, and sank the eight ball into the opposite side pocket. He had won. He and Tommy shared a laugh and sat down to have one more beer. The rest of the night, Grant''s mind drifted, thinking about Maria. Tommy noticed his distance, and didn''t intervene.

    The next day, Grant got up early and went for a walk. He found himself at Wentworth Park. A big and breathtaking park that was surrounded by hedges, making you feel like you were in another realm as you couldn''t see the street when you were in this park. There were small hills around the park, with a long walking path that people would use to walk laps. There were benches placed around the park along the trail, a few cool statues and a small pond with a fountain in the middle. Grant would commonly go here. Whether he had something on his mind or not. It was a common place for all of them to go. It was very stress relieving sitting on the bench and hearing the water fall back into the pond from the fountain. It was therapeutic, and helped him wrangle his thoughts. After being there for about an hour he heard someone call his name. Tommy was walking up.

    ¡°What''s going on?¡± Tommy asked as he sat down.

    ¡°How''d you find me?¡± Grant asked.

    ¡°When you''re missing, there''s really only one place I can find you,¡± Tommy said.

    There was silence for a moment as the two of them stared at the pond.

    ¡°Thinking about Maria?¡± Tommy asked.

    ¡°I am,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Come to a conclusion yet?¡± Tommy asked.

    ¡°I think I should do what she wants. I think I should give up search and rescue. I mean, I got here, right? I succeeded and put in a few good years with it,¡± Grant said. ¡°What do you think?¡± Grant asked.

    ¡°I think you''re right. You did what you wanted to do. You got into search and rescue, and you were able to love it for a few years. But nothing is worth jeopardizing your relationship with Maria,¡± Tommy said.

    ¡°You''re right. Alright, I''m gonna do it. I''ll call Liam later tonight,¡± Grant said.

    Later that day, he was at Tommy''s playing a game. His phone began to ring. He looked down and saw that it was Liam.

    ¡°Hey Liam. I''m actually glad you called. I got something to talk to you about,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°What is it?¡± Liam asked.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m sorry to say, but I¡¯m stepping away from search and rescue,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°No, really?¡± Liam asked.

    ¡°Yes, I want to thank you for the opportunity, and the respect you¡¯ve given me. You even gave me the position of a squad leader. But, there¡¯s too many things going on in my personal life, I can¡¯t keep my mind focused on search and rescue,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°I respect you Grant, thank you for all you¡¯ve done for us. You¡¯ve saved countless lives, I wish you luck in the future and remember, You¡¯ll always have a spot here,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Thank you Liam, I appreciate everything,¡± Grant said.

    He hung up the phone and looked over at Tommy.

    ¡°So that¡¯s that?¡± Tommy questioned.

    ¡°That¡¯s that,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°It¡¯ll be for the best,¡± Tommy said.

    Grant went back to his place to see Maria. She opened the door with an aggravated look.

    ¡°What do you want?¡± she asked.

    ¡°To talk to you,¡± Grant said.

    They walked through the house and onto the deck out back.

    ¡°I quit search and rescue,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°You did?¡± Maria asked with a sense of hope in her voice.

    ¡°Yes. After a few days at Tommy¡¯s place, I realized that you are more important in my life,¡± Grant said. ¡°I''m sorry I was putting work before you. I won¡¯t ever do that again, I promise,¡± Grant continued.

    Maria smiled and hugged him, letting go of all of her anger she had towards him, happy to have him back.

    Two months later, Grant had just gotten home from working with his uncle. Maria was out that day so the house was empty. Before he could ever shower and get something to eat, there was a knock at his door. He opened it to see Tommy and Liam.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s up guys!¡± Grant said with excitement.

    He shook both of their hands and stepped outside. They talked for a few minutes, just catching up. Tommy had been promoted to squad leader, taking over for Grant. Jobs were successful and things were going good.

    ¡°Good, I¡¯m glad to hear it,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°But unfortunately, our good streak has run out,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Grant asked.

    ¡°Something pretty serious has happened,¡± Liam said. ¡°A family has gone missing, and we need your help urgently,¡± Liam continued.

    ¡°You know I can¡¯t, I promised. I put that behind me,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°I understand. But son, a family has gone missing in Blackreach Forest,¡± Liam said.

    Now he had Grant''s attention.

    ¡°And two search groups have already gone missing,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Guys, I can¡¯t. Tommy, you know I can¡¯t,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°I know, and I told Liam that. But he insisted that I come along,¡± Tommy said.

    ¡°Liam, I¡¯m sorry, but I can¡¯t do that. My personal, is more important than search and rescue right now, I can¡¯t,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Fine, I understand. I just figured I¡¯d come by and ask,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Good luck guys. I know you¡¯ll find them,¡± Grant said.

    He shook hands with both of them and he went back inside as they left. Grant sat on his back porch and just stared out into the yard. He knew the stories that came out of Blackreach, and he kept imagining the family lost out there. He would think back to how just two or so months ago, this was his job, to go and find missing people, and now he was turning it away. He almost didn¡¯t feel right about it, but he had to try and justify it to himself. When Maria got home, she found him on the deck, still pondering. She knew that something was wrong.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong Grant?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Tommy and Liam came by today,¡± Grant said.

    The look on Maria¡¯s face almost instantly changed.

    ¡°A family has gone missing in Blackreach forest, and they wanted my help,¡± Grant said.

    Before Maria could even say anything, Grant spoke up again.

    ¡°But I told them I couldn¡¯t go,¡± Grant said.

    The angry look left Maria¡¯s face.

    ¡°Well good, they will find the family. It¡¯s their job,¡± Maria said.

    ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right,¡± Grant said.

    She kissed him and went back inside to shower and change. Grant stayed on the deck, pondering. After another hour outside, Grant finally came back inside. He and Maria ate supper together before getting ready for bed. The thought of that family was eating Grant alive, keeping him up for hours before finally falling asleep. The next morning, Grant had showered and eaten breakfast. He was on the deck again just thinking. He couldn''t get the idea of the lost family out of his head. He looked up, he had made his decision. He walked inside and found Maria. He just looked at her.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± she asked.

    He didn¡¯t reply, he just stared at her. She stared back at first, confused until finally she realized. HJer eyes widened.

    ¡°No,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯m going,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°No, Grant you can¡¯t!¡± Maria said.

    ¡°I have to Maria! I can¡¯t leave them out there!¡± Grant said.

    ¡°You left this behind! I thought you said you would never put work before me again!¡± Maria said.

    ¡°I¡¯m not! I¡¯m not doing this for me or my benefit! I can¡¯t leave that family out there, knowing that I can help find them! If they are found dead, I will never be able to live with myself! And, I can¡¯t leave Tommy out there either!¡± Grant said.

    ¡°This is ridiculous Grant, when are you gonna grow up and start making the right decisions!¡± Maria said.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing. This is the morally correct decision,¡± Grant said as he walked out the front door.

    He drove away from the house and called Tommy, who told him to meet him at his house. Grant picked him up and they began driving.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re doing this,¡± Tommy said.

    ¡°I can¡¯t leave that family out there. So, let¡¯s do this last job,¡± Grant said.

 Chapter One

    They made the long drive up towards the mountains to make it to Blackreach.

    Blackreach Forest was a large stretch of woods surrounding parts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Parts of Blackreach Forest were largely believed to be haunted, such as Willows Peak as creepy things had happened there. Sightings of figures, hearing noises coming from in the woods at night, and even bodies being found in the woods. Grant and Tommy were no strangers to Blackreach Forest, but they attempted to stay away after some creepy things had happened to them. Such as the feeling of being stalked, and seeing shadows. It was June 27th, a hot summer day. They drove the hour and a half drive to an entrance to a hiking trail where they would set up base camp. Other Search and Rescue officers were on the scene as well. Grant turned the car off, and he stepped out into the hot summer air. He locked the door, and he and Tommy approached Liam, who looked shocked to see Grant.

    ¡°Grant, you¡¯re here?¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here. I couldn¡¯t get the image of that lost family out of my head. So, let¡¯s get in there and find them,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°Thanks for coming, I really appreciate it,¡± Liam said.

    ¡°Sure. So, how much information do we have?¡± Grant asked.

    It was there that they found out more information about the family. It was a father, his wife, and their two kids. They had heard rumors about a certain section of Blackreach being haunted, and they thought it would be a fun camping trip to take. But they never came home, and the father''s sister reported them missing.

    ¡°Grant, since you are returning, just for this job, I¡¯m reinstating your position as squad leader. Tommy, are you alright with that?¡± Liam asked.

    ¡°I love that idea,¡± Tommy said.

    With Grant back in charge of Squad A he looked around for the rest of his group. He found them getting ready. All of the guys were excited to see him, even the guys in the other groups. Theo, Johnny and plenty others. The squad was Grant, Tommy, Austin, and Jordan. They all immediately began setting up a plan. Tommy mentioned that it might be best for them to team up with another group. Grant agreed and asked Liam if they could take another squad with them. He allowed it, so Grant went around looking for a group. All the squad leaders stood around with their groups talking. He asked Theo, who was the leader of Squad C, if he would be interested in teaming up with his squad. Theo agreed with the idea. So, they began getting their gear together. Flashlights, two-way radios, GPS systems and First Aid kits for immediate medical attention. Grant always carried a knife on him as well. The supervisors began handing each officer a map, with the area the missing people were supposed to be camping in circled. The squad leaders got together and talked amongst themselves. They needed to make sure they all weren''t gonna take the same path. Grant said he and Theo would go right, which led more towards Willows Peak. Willows Peak was the name of a mountain and the surrounding area of the forest that was known to be the deepest part of the forest. It led to another forest that would be miles and miles of wilderness. Once each of them had a plan, they were given some last-minute information. Each member had bandanas they had to have on them to signify their role in the group. Grant had a blue one which was the color for a squad leader, he had to dig it out of his old backpack and bring it with him. Theo had one as well. Tommy had a gold one, which was to signify that they were the second in command to the leader. Glenn, a member of Theos'' squad also had one. Austin had a red bandana which showed he was an experienced member. Jordan had a yellow bandana, as well as Scott who was also a member of Theos'' squad. A yellow bandana showed they had less experience, you would be considered a ¡®private¡¯ if they were in the military. Then there were the rookies, which were the least experienced of them all. Rookies were officers that had been on less than five jobs. Grant and Tommy remember being rookies just two years prior. All the rookies wore green bandanas. Each squad was assigned at least two rookies so that they could get experience, but because Theos'' squad was missing one guy, they assigned a third rookie to Theo''s squad. So after Grant and Theo were assigned their rookies, they then set off into the woods. All the squads entered the woods and split off into different routes, with Grant and Theo leading their groups off to the right, towards Willows Peak. Walking through the woods during the day wasn''t supposed to be creepy. The forest during the day is supposed to be a healing place. A walk through nature was a cure-all for anxiety or depression. It was also great exercise, and if you were out on a trail, it was a little harder to have any fear, as there were other people around. But the walk through Blackreach Forest felt creepy even during the day. It was a barren and hollow feeling. Even Grant and Tommy who spent their childhood in the woods and didn''t scare easily felt slightly uneasy. It could''ve been due to the stories that surrounded Blackreach that made it creepy. The stories plus the few creepy experiences they had at Blackreach in the past caused paranoia. But, they couldn''t let it bother them too much. They had a very important job to do.

    "In a perfect world, we would hopefully find them before nightfall," Grant said, knowing the possibility of that was slim.

    They walked along through the woods. Not only were they on a call and looking for missing people, but Grant and Theo had to train their rookies as well, as it was required. Even during a call, they had to train the rookies. Grant kind of took the lead of Theos'' rookies as well, because Grant was a better trainer, and since he wasn¡¯t sticking around,he figured he could try and give the rookies the best training in the short time he¡¯d be with them. Grant moved along, stopping to give a small lesson to the rookies. Telling them what to look for. Like the distance between each footprint, to signify if the person had been running, or walking at a steady pace. Checking for bits of clothing or hair stuck on branches or bushes, overturned leaves and broken twigs. Things of that nature. They moved through the woods, at a slow but steady pace. They had to move slowly so they could look for footprints. Grant was a master at tracking people and was always able to find footprints. Liam considered Grant the best tracker he had ever met. Even the vets who had done this for thirty or more years considered Grant a better tracker than them. He just had a gift for it. He walked along slowly, looking for overturned and broken leaves, soft dirt that would absorb the print of a shoe, or broken twigs. Grant felt confident that they could find the family. Grant shared tracking tips with the rookies, giving small lessons while they walked even with a few laughs sprinkled in. They moved along through the woods, searching for a few hours and hadn''t found anything. Grant began to feel annoyed, as it usually doesn''t take him this long to pick up a trail. They stopped in a small area and spread out to look around. Tommy called out to Grant. Grant walked over to Tommy who was standing in front of an old sign. It was a wooden sign in front of a tree. The sign was covered by vines and bushes that had grown over it. The sign could barely be read. The only word that could be read was the word Banish. They found that to be weird, but it didn''t help them in their search. They moved past it. Despite the creepy feeling they felt, the sounds of the forest were pleasant. The sounds the animals were making strangely made them feel better, knowing that there was other life out there, going about their day-to-day lives while these men searched for missing people who possibly had something terrible happen to them. The sun disappeared and dark clouds formed. Sometime after, a light rain had slowly developed. It was so quiet in the woods, even though it was light rain, they could hear it hitting the trees. The gray clouds that had formed also changed the atmosphere. It went from bright and sunny to gray and dingy. Grant stopped the group when he thought he could hear something. Everyone looked around, but there was nothing in sight but trees. Grant laughed it off, stating that the creepy stories must be making his brain play tricks on him. They came upon an old trail. The trail was no longer used, and it had been overgrown with grass and filled with leaves. Grant found a footprint in the leaves. He called for everyone''s attention. They followed Grant, who was following the trail. The trail led to an area squared in by four trees. They saw stones sticking up out of the ground. As they got a little closer, they saw it was an old gravesite.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    "It''s kind of strange to find an old gravesite in the backwoods, don''t you think?" Tommy asks.

    Grant just continues to follow the trail, which stops at an old stone. They make their presence known, calling out to the missing family, but they get no response. Grant bends down to read the stone.

    Hershel John Roy. Born:1841. Died:1902.

    The group fans out to inspect the area, calling out for the family. Grant stands up to join them when he notices something out of the corner of his eye. He saw a man, standing up against a tree. He was a skinny, older gentleman. Grant turned around to call for his group, and in that split second Grant turned his head, the man vanished. The group followed Grant who immediately ran to the tree. He looked around the whole tree, even looking up into the branches. Grant began telling Tommy and the group about the man he saw.

    "He was right here, I was just staring at him."

    Grant looked up and across from them, by another tree was the same man. Grant pointed and called out for the group to look. They called out to the man.

    ¡°Hey you! Are you ok?¡± Tommy asked.

    But the man didn''t respond. The man took three steps back, and then one step to the side behind the tree. The group ran to the tree, going around each side. Again, there was no one. They began looking all around.

    "No. There''s no way he got away. We came around the tree from both sides. We would''ve seen him," Grant says.

    Grant looks around confused. The weird creepy feeling overtook him, and he didn''t want to stay there a second longer.

    ¡°Come on, let''s keep moving,¡± Grant said.

    Grant marked the area by hammering a nail with a piece of colored cloth on a nearby tree. They walked away from the gravesite, with Grant looking back over his shoulder, unable to shake the uneasy feeling it gave him. Tommy asked him if he was alright, as he noticed him constantly looking over his shoulder.

    "Look, it''s not creepy to be in a cemetery. But where this one is placed, out here in these woods. And when I saw that man, it put a feeling in my chest that I don''t like," Grant says.

    A call came in over the radio. Grant answered. It was other groups asking if they found anything. Grant looked over at Tommy, and they stared at each other momentarily before switching his gaze over to Theo briefly. He answered, telling them they haven''t seen anything. The groups answered back, giving similar answers. The search continued, with the rain beginning to pick up. They could hear it hitting against the leaves harder than it was before. It had gotten darker as well. Each member stops, to pull out their waterproof coats they had in the backpacks. They were light coats that provided not much warmth, but would prevent them from getting as wet. They were more like waterproof windbreakers.

    "If we don''t pick up a trail soon, this is going to become infinitely more difficult with the rain," Grant says to the group.

    The day goes on, and the group becomes increasingly aggravated, especially Grant. Once the sun begins to go down, he informs the group.

    "Ok, within the next hour. We are going to stop, and set up an area to sleep," Grant says.

    The sun began to go down quicker and quicker as the day was coming to an end. Grant stopped the group, and he, Tommy, and Theo grouped up to discuss areas to camp. They found a spot they all agreed on. It was off tk the side, with not too many trees. It would be a good place to stop and rest. They told the group to stay within a certain area, and they began setting up their tents. By the time the tents were set up, the daylight had decreased significantly, and it was at the point where they would need a flashlight to continue searching. So, they ended day one of their search and crawled into their tents. Grant zipped up his tent and took his boots off. It felt good to lay back in his warm and comfy tent. He radioed in and told all of the other leaders that he and Theo''s squad were ending their search for the night. He then grabbed a journal he kept with him, and began to write.

    Journal Entry #1

    A family has gone missing out in Blackreach. I''m not too sure why they felt the need to go camping out here when they have heard all the stories and rumors that surround this place. So we have gotten called out to search for them, that''s our job after all. Well, I decided that I needed to come back and help. Maria was not pleased with me, not one bit. But I can''t in good conscience let this go. If something happened to the family, knowing that I could''ve helped find them and I didn''t, I wouldn''t be able to live with myself. I also need to keep an eye on Tommy. I wouldn''t let him come here alone. We are in an area of Blackreach known as Willows Peak. It''s a deep part of Blackreach, and the easiest area to get lost in, and it was supposedly the area the family was heading in, so I figured that this would be the place we would find them in. This is the end of our first day, and we haven''t found anything, which upsets me. I pride myself on being very good at finding trails, and we spent a whole day, and I didn''t even find one. Well, I did find one. I found myself excited when I found the trail, hopefully, we would find one of the family members. But sadly, it didn''t. Instead, it led us to something a bit more disturbing. We found an old backwoods cemetery. All old stones sticking up out of the ground with names on them. I looked up and saw a man standing against a tree. When I called out to my group, he was gone. We searched all around the tree, and he wasn''t anywhere. Nor were there any footprints around the tree. I was confused, but my confusion was only heightened when I saw that same man across from us. He was up against another tree. He took a few steps back and disappeared behind the tree. We immediately rushed to the tree from both sides, and there was no one. No footprints again. There was no way someone could''ve gotten away from us, I was looking at the tree the whole time. We weren''t far from it either. He didn''t climb it, or run away from it. There wasn''t even anyone standing there at all. Well, there was. But, it wasn''t a human, that much is for sure. It put a feeling in my chest. I don''t like feeling it, it makes me feel uneasy. I''m hoping a good night''s sleep will clear my head, and I can shake the feeling. A clear head and a rested body will make tomorrow an easier day. I also hope for some better luck tomorrow, we need to find these people. A father, a mother, and two kids. They can''t be out here, we have to do our jobs and find them safely.

 Chapter Two

    Grant awoke the next morning to hear talking. He unzipped his tent to see some other officers were already up and getting ready, talking about miscellaneous things. After Grant felt awake, he began waking up the remaining officers and they started packing up their stuff. Once they were all packed up, Grant radioed in to the other groups to let them know that Grant and Theo''s groups were resuming their continuation of the search. Only a few of the other officers radioed back, showing that not everyone was awake yet, as it was very early. The rain had stopped, and they had bright blue skies, giving them plenty of light. They began to walk further into the woods, hearing the sound of doves and other birds chirping away. It brought that comfortable feeling back. Grant resumed teaching the rookies how to search for people. At one point, Theo and a few others walked ahead of Grant and Tommy. They stopped and bent down to investigate something on a tree. Grant picked up a rock and looked over at Tommy.

    ¡°Watch this,¡± Grant said quietly with a smile,

    Grant threw the rock and it landed a few feet in front of Theo and the others. Theo and the other two that were with him jumped. The reaction caused Grant and Tommy to begin laughing. Theo turned around and laughed along with them, realizing he was just messing with them.

    ¡°What the hell man? Don¡¯t we have a job to do?¡± Theo asked with a smile.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just trying to ease the tension. If we don¡¯t laugh, we¡¯ll all go crazy,¡± Grant said.

    He walked over to see what he was looking at. There were two big scratch marks on the tree.

    ¡°What could¡¯ve caused this?¡± Theo asked.

    Grant touched the marks.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but my guess would be a bear,¡± Grant said.

    ¡°A bear? I haven¡¯t seen a bear in years,¡± Tommy said.

    ¡°Yeah they¡¯re out here, they just avoid this area because we aren¡¯t too far from the hiking paths,¡± Grant said.

    They moved on from the tree and moved further into the woods. After the first few hours, Grant was hoping to pick up a trail, but they didn''t. There was nothing. Tommy began theorizing that maybe they had overlooked it.

    "Tommy. There are four people lost in these woods, in this area mind you. How is it that none of us have found even the slightest trace?" Grant asked with an agitated tone.

    Grant continued, with the rest of the group following. Tommy was slightly worried as he had never seen Grant act like this before, sure stresses would take over him at home, but Grant was usually stoic on the job. Grant kept walking, looking at the ground and checking for footsteps. Twigs snapping under the weight of their boots, the sound of animals in the woods, birds, and such brought some much-needed background noise to the otherwise silent group of search and rescue officers. Grant was focusing, avoiding distractions, and not wasting any time. As the day went on, they noticed the sky began to turn gray once again, as the rain began falling. It started lightly, but picked up fairly quickly, just as it had done the day before. They stopped to put on their jackets to deflect the rain.

    "What the hell is with the weather?" Tommy asks.

    "Yeah, pretty strange how two days in a row it rains at the exact same time," Grant replies.

    Night approached. Grant began looking around for a place to set up camp. He couldn''t find an area with any seclusion. He took the group a little further, and as they rounded a corner, Grant''s flashlight caught a glimpse of a structure in the distance. They got a little closer and saw that it was an old house.

    "Since when was there a house out here?" Tommy asked.

    "I have no idea, but this place looks old," Grant replied.

    Tommy suggested they check it out and stay there for the night if the place checked out. Grant agreed. They found it hard to approach the house at first. That dark house in the middle of the woods, looming over them behind a hail of raindrops. It was ominous, and they feared the worst, but they had to approach it. They approached the front door, and Grant told a few of the guys to try and get it open while he walked around the property. Grant went around back and saw a back door. He tried to open it, but it was jammed shut. He looked through the glass, shining his light in but he couldn''t see anything inside. It looked like there was something pushed up against the door. Grant walked back around the front where he saw Tommy and Theo trying to open the front door. Grant tried to help, but the door was locked. He looked through the front windows, but he couldn''t see much. It was too dark to see anything from outside, and the windows had what appeared to be four inches of dust caked onto them. Grant didn''t feel right about smashing one of the windows or kicking the door in. They had one more place to check before leaving, and that was the hatchway entrance Grant saw when he was out back. Grant led them to it. The first thing he noticed was how rusty the doors were. The second thing he noticed was the scratches on the door. Grant didn''t pay much attention to it and he grabbed the handle and pulled but the door didn''t move. Tommy bent down to look, and he told Grant to keep pulling. With each pull, Grant felt the door get looser. Tommy grabbed the other side and helped pull. Finally, the door broke free and opened up.

    "These damn things are so old they must''ve rust welded themselves shut," Grant said.

    Grant took the lead and walked down into the dark basement, and the group followed behind. The sound of thousands of raindrops hitting the trees faded away until becoming muffled once they entered the basement. The group had to navigate the dark messy basement. If they didn''t have flashlights, they wouldn''t be able to make it through the basement. There were shelves knocked over, and tons of boxes piled up. Some of the boxes were ripped open or had fallen over on the ground revealing old dirty clothes, boxes of food that had been torn open by mice or some other animal, and other everyday miscellaneous items. The group finally made their way to the stairs, after tripping over multiple things on their way there. They climbed up the stairs, and Grant grabbed the doorknob. He turned it and was surprised when the door opened. Grant entered the old dirty house. It was just as dirty as the basement. Pieces of wood and parts of the ceiling had fallen and built up on the floor, Furniture had begun to fall apart, chairs were thrown about, parts of the walls were missing allowing them to see into other rooms and the place was covered in what seemed like eight inches of dust. The front door was locked but there was also a bunch of old furniture up against it. Old chairs, a table, an old couch. There was a doorway that had a wooden beam that had fallen from the ceiling blocking it. So Grant grabbed it to move it. Tommy helped. As soon as they moved it, the weight of the beam slammed against the other side of the doorway and dust fell off of it. The two began to cough as they waved away the dust that had showered down onto them. The next room was the kitchen which was a complete mess. The table in the room was covered with items. Dirty plates, cups, papers, utensils, and a milk carton. None of them even attempted to go near it. The smell would¡¯ve killed them. The back door was covered by a big cabinet, as well as a few chairs and an old drawer. The group went upstairs, and each step creaked, scaring the group, thinking that any second, the stairs would give out, forcing them to fall through it. Grant stopped and tested each stair. He would keep his foot on one step and take his other foot and slam it a few times against the stair above to see if the stair was strong enough to support them. The group went up the stairs. The three bedrooms were all good-sized. They were messy. Grant told the group that He, Tommy, Austin, and Jordan would stay in one room. The others would split to fill the other rooms. They entered the room. There was a window in the room that was broken. They had to clean the rooms a bit. Each member took a corner of the room and cleaned out the corner. Throwing items into the middle of the room. They laid their sleeping bags on the ground and crawled in. Grant was having trouble falling asleep. He thought he could hear sounds coming from outside. It was hard to hear over the rain, but it sounded like tapping. It was slow, but it sounded like every few seconds, someone was tapping something against the wall. Tommy heard it too as he was awake. It weighed too heavily on their minds, their curiosity got the best of them. They had to see what was making that noise. They both got up and quietly made their way downstairs and outside into the rain. They ran to the side of the house. They could look up and see the window to the room they were in. Along the side of the house on the ground were footprints. They couldn¡¯t see them well as they were being washed away by the rain. They looked at the house and they saw holes in the house. There were four sets of holes going up the side of the house. As well as mud in between all of these small holes. The rain made it hard to see much of anything else, so they went back inside. They tried not to pay attention to it and quietly made their way back through the house and into their sleeping bags. Grant''s mind raced, but the slow tapping had ceased, and all that was left was the light rhythmic tapping of the rain that had gotten heavier pounding against the house. The sound of rain was the only reason he was able to drift off to sleep.

    Grant quickly opened his eyes, not knowing if he actually fell asleep, or if he was just starting to. He thought he heard something. He looked around the room and the room was darker than before. It was still raining outside. He realized that the moonlight from outside was no longer pouring into the room, and the sound of the rain was louder, and not muffled like before. He looked up at the window. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust, but when they did, he almost screamed. He saw a head leaning in through the window, peering at him. His heart sank and sat at the bottom of his stomach like a heavy boulder. Chills filled his body.

    "Holy shit!" Grant yelled as he got out of his sleeping bag. The guys in his room woke up immediately, but whatever was looking at him through the window was gone. Tommy was the only one who saw a slight glimpse of something. The guys down the hallway all woke up and came barging in. Grant and Tommy looked out the window, but there was nothing in sight. Grant shut and locked the window, while Tommy grabbed an old dirty blanket that was laying around and they pinned it up on the wall over the window. Grant didn''t want to freak all of the guys out, so he just told everyone to go back to sleep and to sleep with one eye open. It didn¡¯t take long before they heard sounds coming from outside again. It sounded like someone was walking on the roof. It was loud, heavy footsteps. Everyone heard it because the bedroom door opened and all the guys walked in. Everyone was awake now. They heard a loud muffled scream come from above them, and then they heard banging coming from up above. Everyone quickly grabbed their things and ran downstairs. Instead of going back through the basement, tripping over everything, they decided to go out the back door. Everyone helped Grant move the things out of the way, with the old cabinet being the heaviest thing. They had trouble trying to move it. They heard the sound of a window being smashed followed by footsteps coming from above them. They moved faster and moved the cabinet just enough for them to get the door open. The door opened up, and they all ran off into the woods. The run through the woods was a stressful one. They were tired and freaked out. Once he thought the group was far enough Grant stopped, and the guys stopped behind him. Everyone was bent over, taking big breaths of air. Everyone had a scared and desperate look. Grant looks to his left, and then to his right. He then grabs his radio and calls in to the other groups. But none of them responded. Grant looked at his watch. 1:33. "Yeah, those guys are asleep," Grant said.

    Grant tells the group to set up. As they were setting up their camp, Tommy walked over to Grant.

    "Hey, what did you see earlier, when you yelled?" Tommy asked.

    Grant and Tommy walked a few feet away from the rest of the guys.

    "I saw the head of something looking in at me," Grant said.

    "Do you think it was the same thing that we just ran from?" Tommy asked.

    "I don''t know," Grant said. "But I''ll tell you one thing. I think I know what those holes in the side of the house were," Grant continued. ¡°And the thing I really didn''t like was the window was open. Whatever it was, opened the fucking window from outside,¡± Grant said.

    He didn''t say anymore, he went back to setting up his tent. Tommy couldn''t find any words on the situation. They all set up their camp, and Grant laid back to get some sleep. Usually, he was one of the last ones to go to sleep, but because of how frustrated and tired he was, he was the first one to sleep. He was laying down in his tent before some of the guys in the group had finished setting theirs up. He closed his eyes. He awoke, at first feeling rested and ready to get searching but that feeling soon faded when he realized it was still dark out. He looked down at his watch. 3:55. "Son of a bitch, " he said to himself. He felt the urge to go to the bathroom so he put his boots on. But as he grabbed the zipper on the tent, he began to hear a noise. It sounded like footsteps. A thought crossed his mind. He wanted to go out to see if maybe it was one of the missing family members. He felt himself slowly unzipping the tent, but he stopped himself when he heard another noise. It was a loud inhumane screech, or roar or scream, or whatever it was. He quickly pulled the zipper back down the two or three inches he had unzipped. He heard his radio and he grabbed it. Someone whispered his name, it was Tommy.

    "I know, I fucking heard it too," Grant replied quietly into his radio.

    They both were hearing the footsteps around them. Heavy and fast footsteps.

    "I''m gonna try and take a look," Grant said.

    "No. What are you, stupid?" Tommy asked.

    Grant ignored Tommy. He grabbed the zipper, closed his eyes, and shook his head, knowing this was a bad idea. He took a deep breath and pulled the zipper up. He pulled it up about maybe five or six inches. He laid down and peeked out. At first, he didn''t see anything, but he began hearing the loud and fast footsteps again. He quickly pulled the zipper down, as he heard the footsteps stop right outside of his tent. Grant just sat there silently. He heard loud but low raspy breathing outside of his tent. He then heard something, like something being scraped across the cloth of the tent. He saw the zipper moving like something was trying to get a hold of it. Grant felt his heart rate increase, and he got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He sat in fear, almost freezing up. But he was able to raise his radio to his mouth. He clicked the button.

    "Tommy, make a fucking noise," Grant whispered.

    The zipper on his tent began to slowly rise, as Grant grabbed his knife, gripping it tight.

    "HEY!" Tommy yelled.

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    The zipper stopped, and he heard footsteps sprint in the direction of Tommy''s tent. They heard another roar or screech. Grant unzipped his tent and ran out, yelling and trying to get the things attention. He ran in a random direction off into the woods, as he heard the footsteps begin following him. As they got close to him, he felt his heart sink. But felt slight relief when he heard Tommy yelling. Whatever was chasing Grant turned around. By the time Grant looked back, there was nothing there. He immediately ran back in the direction of Tommy, yelling his name. He ran through the woods, trying to keep himself calm, so he wouldn''t lose his sense of direction. Finally, a voice came through on his radio. It was Tommy.

    "Tommy, where are you?" Grant asked.

    "Head in the opposite direction of the camp for a few minutes, you''ll see a giant log laying in the middle of the woods, go there," Tommy said.

    Grant ran back towards the camp. As he got there, he saw a few other officers outside of their tents including Theo. Grant told everyone to get back inside their tents, and not make a single noise.

    "What''s going on?" Theo asks.

    "I have no idea, but I have to go find Tommy. Stay in your tents," Grant says.

    He goes in the opposite direction of their camp and walks through the woods, freaked out. He tried to avoid using his flashlight, as he didn''t want to draw any attention to himself. Finally, Grant saw a huge log. He told Tommy he was at the log, and asked where he was. He saw Tommy stand up from behind the log, so he ran over, and together they hid below the log.

    "Grant, what the hell was that?" Tommy asked.

    "I have no clue but I''ll tell you one thing. We won''t be able to outrun it. That thing moved so fast, I couldn''t even get a look at it," Grant said.

    "Yeah me neither," Tommy says. "I don''t even know how I lost it," he continues.

    "You didn''t lose it¡­it left you alone for some reason. Whatever it was, left us both alone,¡± Grant says.

    "Is this the thing we saw at the house?" Tommy asked.

    "That would be my first guess," Grant said.

    They sat there quietly for a moment. Before finally coming up with a plan.

    "Our best bet is to just get back to camp, and stay in our tents," Grant says.

    They stood up, but not before checking to see if the coast was clear. They stepped over the log and began moving in the direction of their camp. Their bodies were filled with adrenaline when they heard the footsteps again. Instead of leading it back to camp, and risking everyone''s life, Grant decided to run in the opposite direction, and Tommy followed. They didn''t want to use their flashlights too much and give away their position. Because they were running through the dark without flashlights, every low-hanging branch and log on the ground tripped them up. The footsteps behind them pumped their bodies filled with more adrenaline. Finally, the two of them got some distance between them and whatever was chasing them. Grant spotted four little cabins and they ran over to them. The cabins were all run down, but they needed cover so they ran into one. The door opened with a loud creak. Grant shut it behind them, and they hid inside. The two of them used their flashlights to navigate the cabin. It was bigger than they expected. There was even a second floor. The inside was a mess, similar to the house they were in earlier. Parts of the walls were decayed, the furniture was all flipped over, the tables were broken, and the floors were filthy. There was dirt all over the floor, along with other items that were in the cabin. Books that were once on shelves and dishes that were once in cabinets were now spread all across the floor. They went up the stairs, making sure to be extremely cautious. The wood seemed like it was ready to give out. Each time they took a step, they feared falling through the stairs. The upstairs wasn''t any better than the downstairs. There were three bedrooms upstairs. Grant and Tommy went down the right hallway first to investigate the first two bedrooms. One of them was a decent-sized room, with a bed in the corner. The blankets were hanging almost all the way off and the bed was angled weirdly. Like someone was pulled out of the bed forcefully. The other bedroom was a small room that had nothing but a dirty sleeping bag in the corner of the room. There was no other furniture in the room. The final room was down the other end of the hallway. Grant and Tommy approached the room and entered. This room was laid out as a room for a couple. There was a big bed in the room, a closet, and a desk in the corner with an open notebook on it. Grant shined his light on the notebook to read it, while Tommy checked the closet.

    We have been here for a few days. Elizabeth and I intended to stay up here for a week, but I think we need to leave now. The other campers have already left, we are alone here. We keep hearing noises, and the kids hear them too. While we were out in the woods the other day, we felt the presence of being stalked. I couldn''t see anything, but I definitely would hear branches snapping and I just had a feeling something was out there with us. Our fear rises every day, and we are thinking about leaving either tonight or tomorrow morning. I just need my family safe," Grant read.

    "Oh so this must''ve just been a campground where you rented these cabins," Grant said.

    "I hope they all got out of here," Tommy said.

    "I do too, but why would they leave this notebook here?" Grant said.

    Before Tommy could say anything, they heard a screech come from outside and it sounded close. Grant ran over to the window and looked out. He could see the other cabins and he saw the silhouette of the creature walking through, looking around.

    "Shit," Grant whispered.

    The creature ran out of sight behind another cabin.

    "We gotta get out of here," Tommy said.

    "I know. Let''s go out the back door, and head straight into the woods, then circle back around to create as much distance between us and it," Grant said.

    Tommy agreed with the plan, but when Grant looked out the window to check, his heart dropped when he saw the outline of the creature looking up at their cabin. They quickly ran to the back door, but they couldn''t get to it. The walls had collapsed due to years of decay and forced the door shut, jamming it. They heard the front door forcefully open, and the two of them ducked down. Grant and Tommy leaned against the wall. Grant motioned for Tommy to lean against the right side of the wall, while Grant leaned against the left. They could see whichever side the creature decided to go. They waited, holding their breath trying not to make any noise. Grant saw it turn toward his direction and quietly, he and Tommy moved the other way. They moved slowly but quietly, and eventually, they made it to the front door, which had half closed behind the creature. Tommy went to open it, but Grant stopped him, remembering how creaky the door was when they entered earlier.

    "What?" Tommy asked quietly.

    "It''ll make too much noise, we gotta hide upstairs," Grant said.

    With no time to argue, they quietly made their way up the stairs, hoping they didn''t make any noise. Their entire world felt like it died when Grant placed his foot down and heard a creak in the silent house. They could almost hear the creature spin around and shuffle in the direction of the stairs. Grant looked around and saw a storage cabinet on the landing of the staircase. They climbed the remaining few steps quickly and Grant bent down and slid it open. Tommy climbed in and Grant could hear the heavy footsteps fast approaching behind him. Grant climbed into the cabinet and slid the door shut, but leaving about an inch open so he could see. It was a tight fit, but that didn¡¯t bother them, because they were hidden. The creature got to the stairs and began ascending. Each slow heavy footstep made Grant''s throat feel tighter and tighter. Time ceased to exist, and after what felt like eternity but was only really about ten seconds, the creature came into view. Its long shadowy figure stepped in front of the cabinet and looked around. The raspy breathing filled their ears. You could almost hear the beats of their hearts as the creature stood in front of them. Finally, it went upstairs and turned out of view. But just when they were gonna slide the cabinet open, they heard the heavy footsteps again, so they stopped. Thank god they did, because the creature turned the corner only seconds later and began descending down the stairs. The creature finally passed them, and they watched as it disappeared out of view. They saw its long pointy tail dragging along behind it, making a thud sound as it dragged off of one step and hit the next. Grant peeked his head out and saw that the creature was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Making it impossible to move.

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Tommy very quietly whispered.

    ¡°Give me a second,¡± Grant responded in a similar almost inaudible whisper.

    He laid back, looking out at the stairs through the small one inch gap of the door. The creature was out of view, but it was to his left, as the bottom of the stairs. He could still hear the raspy breathing. Grant noticed something. On the ground, he saw a small piece of wood. It looked like it had either fallen from the roof or the wall. He crawled out of the cabinet, with Tommy attempting to protest against it in a whisper that fell on deaf ears. Grant leaned halfway out of the cabinet and reached for the piece of wood. He could see the creature standing at the bottom of the stairs. He reached, with it being just an inch out of his grasp. He crawled out a little bit more, allowing him to grab the piece of wood. Only his legs were inside of the cabinet now. He crawled backwards, but as he was doing this he accidentally scraped the piece of wood against the floor. He quickly pulled himself back in and slid the door shut. The creature spun around and quickly walked up the stairs. It bent down directly in front of Grant. He could see the side of its face come into view in between the one inch gap. It was investigating the spot where Grant had slid the wood across the floor. Grant stared at it, the raspy breathing, the drool falling from its mouth. It almost seemed like things were going in slow motion due to the fear. Finally, it turned its head and began walking upstairs again.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Grant whispered to Tommy.

    Tommy nodded. So as the creature was halfway up the stairs, Grant slid the door open and threw the piece of wood as hard as he could. He immediately slid the door shut and he heard the piece of wood hit the wall and then the floor. An ear piercing shriek came from upstairs, as the heavy footsteps ran down the stairs. He saw the creature pass by him. As soon as it passed by, he and Tommy exited the cabinet and quickly moved upstairs. Once upstairs, the two ran into the big bedroom at the far end of the hall on the left.

    "Why didn''t we just make a run for it out the front door?" Tommy asked.

    "Because that door would''ve creaked. That thing is fast, and it was right next to us. We wouldn''t have made it more than five feet," Grant said.

    They heard the creature coming up the stairs. With no time to even think, Grant immediately ran for the big closet. There was only enough room for one person. So Grant entered the closet, while Tommy crawled underneath the bed. The bed had an old dirty sheet hanging down, so he was hidden. After only a few seconds, the creature entered the room. Grant saw its shadow block the moonlight that shined in from the window as the creature passed by him. The creature walked over to the bed, and Grant feared that it would lift the bed, but it didn''t. The creature turned around, and looked like it was heading for the door, but turned and slowly walked over towards the closet. Grant ducked down. He looked through the slots at the bottom and saw as its legs approached the closet. It had skinny legs, with sharp nails. It almost looked like the creature''s feet were high heels, and it was standing on its toes. But it looked like it could flatten out its foot to be able to run on all fours like an animal. He stared at the creature, holding his breath. He saw the bedsheets lift out of the corner of his eye, and he saw Tommy looking out. He hoped Tommy wouldn''t do anything stupid. Grant sat in fear, waiting to see if the creature would open the door. He felt his heart race, and his throat felt tight. He almost felt himself start to hyperventilate but he stopped himself. The creature stood outside of the closet door, breathing that very raspy and growly breath with drool dripping. He wondered what it was doing. Did it know Grant was in there and was he tormenting him before killing him? Did it have a great sense of smell and was it smelling for him? Was it listening? It was hard to tell. Then he felt the weight of the world rise off of him when he saw the creature''s legs turn and walk out of the bedroom. He waited a few seconds and opened the closet door, and Tommy emerged from under the bed. They ran over to the window and opened it. There was an awning below the window and they climbed out onto it. They jumped down and ran off into the woods. After a few minutes of running, they slowed down to a walk. Grant had a bad feeling and he stopped moving and held his hand out in front of Tommy. Tommy looked at him with a slightly puzzled look. Grant could feel that something was wrong. He felt a sense of fear in his body. He looked around before finally spotting something. It looked like a dark shadow. It was the silhouette of something. It was leaning out from behind a tree, with one hand holding onto the tree. From the looks of the silhouette, it was that same creature. Grant grabbed his flashlight. He was fueled with adrenaline and anger. He wanted to see what this thing was, but he also figured that maybe the light would scare it away. Even though it wasn''t attacking them, he still felt an intense feeling of fear. He aimed the flashlight at the silhouette and turned it on. As soon as the light hit it, it screamed and ran. Grant and Tommy took that opportunity to run back to the camp. They both ran into Grant''s tent and zipped it up. They began gasping for air. Tommy was lightheaded, and Grant''s lungs were empty. They were both in good shape, so it wasn''t running that necessarily made them lose their breath, it was the fear that made them lose their breath.

    ¡°How did that thing catch up to us without us even hearing anything," Tommy said.

    "These woods are its home. This thing chooses when it wants us to hear it," Grant said.

    They sat there quietly for a few more minutes before Tommy unzipped the tent to go back to his. Grant went with him and together they moved Tommy''s tent closer to Grant''s. It made them feel safer. Grant went back into his tent and grabbed his notebook to write down his thoughts for the day.

    Journal Entry #2

    Another day of nothing. I have been doing this for a while now, and I have never been on a case like this. We haven''t even found the slightest sign of this family yet. We spent all day walking around hoping for something, but we couldn''t even find a single footprint. But I can''t give up. I can''t imagine the fear this family is experiencing. Especially after what just happened. We decided to call it a night and were going to set up for the night. We found an old house and we searched it. It was an ancient house. But other than it being dirty there were no signs of anyone living there. We decided to sleep there for the night. We figured it would''ve been better than sleeping in a tent in the woods. I broke everyone off into small groups and had them pile into each room. I was having trouble falling asleep, so I was awake to hear a noise coming from outside. Luckily Tommy was awake as well, and he heard it too. It was a napping noise. Every few seconds we would hear a tap on the walls. Tommy and I ran outside. On the side of the house underneath our window, we saw four sets of holes going up the side of the house. They went up as far as we could see. But the rain was making things hard to see. Since we couldn''t see anything else, or hear anything, we ran back inside and tried to ignore it and go back to sleep. I awoke not too long after. I know that I heard something, but I just didn''t exactly know what it was. I noticed that the slight moonlight that was shining in the room before was gone. It was darker. I looked at the window and felt my heart sink. Something was leaning in through the window, staring at me. I saw its head. I yelled and looked to see if the guys woke up, they did but when I looked back at the window, the damn thing was gone. Everyone came rushing in, asking what happened. I didn''t want to freak everyone out, so I just told everyone not to worry and go back to sleep. Tommy and I covered the window with an old blanket. We all tried to go back to sleep but I heard sounds again. We all did. It was the sound of someone on the roof, walking around. There were loud heavy footsteps followed by banging. It was time to leave. Everyone packed up their things quickly, and we ran downstairs. We decided to go out the back door. Everyone had to help to move all of the stuff out of the way quickly. The crash that came from above gave us the motivation to move more quickly. Finally, we got everything out of the way and ran off into the woods. Once we ran far enough away, I stopped everyone and we set up camp. I was dead tired, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. I awoke in the middle of the night and I had to take a piss. I stopped myself, as I heard loud footsteps. I tried to look, but I almost got myself killed. Tommy saved me by making a noise, giving me a chance to run. I returned the favor by drawing this thing away from Tommy''s tent. He then got its attention again as it was chasing me. It was unbelievably fast, but we got away. Because it let us get away. As we were on our way back, we heard it chasing us again. We ran as fast as we could, and eventually, we made some distance. We found some old cabins and hid inside. This thing made its way to these cabins. It entered ours and we had to hide upstairs. I was in a closet, and Tommy was under a bed. The thing walked right up to my closet. The feeling of fear I felt was intense. My heart was beating so fast, I''m surprised this thing didn''t hear it. But luckily, it left the room. Once it left the room, we went out a window and ran off into the woods. We thought we lost it, but on our way back to camp, I saw something looking at us from behind a tree. It was this creature. I tried to get a good look with my flashlight, but this thing was too fast. I couldn''t even get a rough idea of what it could be. I now know what the holes in the side of the house were. This fucking thing must''ve climbed up the side of the house. I don''t know what it was, but all I know is, this family is in real danger and we need to find them fast.