Chapter 1: The Killing
Thick fog rolled over the hills of southwest San Andreas. The moon was shrouded under thick layers of dark clouds that sped across the sky in the gusts of wind that warned of an upcoming storm. The air was crisp and cold and visibility was low.
Two strangers wandered through the forests of Shady Creeks.
One of the two people, a tall, burly middle-aged man collapsed to the ground in agony. "Oh God, these woods never end! We're going to die out here!"
"You've got to calm down, honey." His wife lifted him up off of the ground, brushing dirt and dust off of him. "We've got to keep going or we're going to freeze to death out here. Maybe if we just keep following this river we'll find some civilization."
"Oh for the love of God, we can't even see three feet in front of us! There might be a town or something right up ahead of us, but we wouldn't even be able to see it! We're doomed!"
"I know, but at least if we keep moving we have a chance. Come on, maybe this fog will clear up soon." The strong woman tugged her husband along as he continued to whine.
"O Lord, why did we ever have to go on this stupid camping trip? God almighty! H-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-p!"
The woman slapped her husband across the face, "Will you just shut the hell up for one second?! Now look up ahead, there's some kind of little house up there. Didn't I tell you we'd be okay, whoever lives there will probably let us stay the night. Come on, you big crybaby, let's go."
With a sigh of relief, the man stumbled along in the grip of his wife.
As the couple walked up toward the house, the wind became stronger and caused an eerie whistling sound. The tall Redwood trees swayed and creaked as the gusts of wind swept past them. The crickets stopped chirping and everything seemed to become darker.
As the couple got closer to the house, the wife began to realize that it wasn't really a house at all.
"Hmm, it looked bigger from farther away but now it looks like it's just a little cabin. I hope someone's there."
As they walked up around the back of the cabin which faced the river, they noticed a little Quadbike sitting by the wall.
"Oh, good. There must be somebody here. I don't think anyone would leave this thing out here alone. It could get stolen. Come on!"
The wife dragged her husband around to the front of the cabin and they walked up the wooden ramp toward the entrance.
"That's weird, there's no door….."
The husband got out of his wife's grip and called out, "Hello, is anyone home?!"
His voice echoed between the trees and died away in the distance.
"Hello?! We need a place to stay for the night!"
Still no response.
Slowly, holding hands, the couple stepped into the dark cabin together.
It was warm inside as the couple searched around in the small interior. The entire cabin was bare and there was no sign of life.
"Well, that's weird. No one's here," the woman said curiously.
"At least we can still stay the night here. It's warm and we can just lie on the floor. It might be uncomfortable but it'll have to do," said the man, gathering his senses.
"You're right. At least we're out of the cold, but I do wish there was a door or something. It's kind of creepy," the woman walked over toward a carved-out window facing the river, "And there aren't any window panes either. I wonder how it stays so warm in here."
The couple stood together by the window hole and hugged each other to keep away the cold air that blew in on them. As they stood by the opening, there was a loud crack of thunder and instantly a downpour of rain began. The rain drops battered against the roof of the cabin with full strength and the couple watched the river beyond the trees not far away as the rain drops caused hundreds of little ripples on the surface of the water. The short outcrop of roof that hung out over the window protected the couple from the heavy rainfall as they continued to watch the river.
Suddenly, a large, dark ripple, bigger than a drop of rain could cause, formed on the surface of the river. It began to move from the center of the wide river toward the banks on their side. All four eyes were pinned to the large ripple as it neared land. In the darkness, the water began to morph as something rose out of the water. The couple stood in fear for one second as a shadow-like figure stood on the banks.
"BOOM," a sudden explosive crack of thunder sent the couple flying onto the floor in fear.
The husband regained his senses first and helped his terrified wife off of the floor.
"Oh my god that scared the s*** out of me, oh," she panted as she tried to calm herself down, "but what was that thing we saw…."
The couple looked out the window toward the river again.
Nothing was there.
A few minutes passed and the rain continued, becoming even heavier along with lashing winds that sent rain drops shooting in through the open window frame.
The couple both took their coats off. The man tossed his in one of the corners of the cabin. "There, we can sleep on that."
"And we can use my coat as a cover," the woman added as she tossed her coat down by her husband's."
"You go get some sleep, honey. I'm not really tired yet. I've never been able to sleep during a storm like this anyway. I'll just sit here and listen to the rain awhile. It sounds kind of nice beating against the roof like that. Just like back at our apartment in San Fierro."
"Well I'm fatigued," said the woman as she lied down on her husband's coat and he covered her.
The man's wife fell asleep almost instantly as he sat up next to her against the cabin wall listening to the storm. Some more minutes past and the man thought about what they had seen outside, "What the heck was that thing," he whispered to himself, "it looked like a monster or something, but…. Well, maybe we were just imagining it…." The man's head began to droop as he slowly started to doze off.
No sooner had he dozed off then he was abruptly wakened by a loud motor sound.
He shook himself fully awake and stood up, listening.
Again, a loud revving motor sound, but this time it seemed louder and closer.
"What the f*** was that," he blurted out loud as he began to panic.
Again and again he heard the noise, the sound seeming ever closer.
Now, between revs, he could hear a quieter, but continuous motor-like sound.
He squeezed tightly up against the wall, filled with fear. A rustling noise came from outside and he looked toward the window across from him. A shadow sped by the window like a phantom.
"Oh, my god! Who's there, what do you want?!"
The motor sound revved louder than ever and he heard footsteps on the wooden ramp outside of the house.
The man panicked completely, kicking his wife awake.
"What's going on," she yelled.
"We have to get the f*** out of here, jump out the window, hurry, do anything! Something's coming!"
A figure appeared in the doorway, but neither of them looked back and neither of them escaped.
Two agonizing screams echoed through the forest and then everything went silent, the rain stopped, the clouds dispersed and a full moon appeared in the night sky. The crickets began to chirp again and the air became calm once more. A ghostly shadow fled from the cabin, speeding off through the woods, disappearing in the distance.
The crisp air settled in the newly calm night under the moon which shone onto the Earth below.