Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

This is set after the events of Red Canyon ended. Mac survived the fall and in this he destroyed what was left. Walter, Devon, and Reggie were all killed. He escaped there and made it all the way to Harlan County, Kentucky. Prompt fill.


His entire world was defined in differences. A whore and a lady. A sane man and a serial killer. Blood and white linens. The Canyon and these mountains. There was a home in all those and each had a desire for death. Called to him. And he followed because if he knew anything it was himself.

A snap of a twig here and a faltered step there had his pace picking up and a laugh escaping him. He'd left the canyons three years ago and traveled across country. He left the world burning behind and disappeared. He was in the wind. A national manhunt and still he was free. He'd always be free. The path of destruction he'd carved across the continental US would scar and never heal. The families and lives shattered all touched by him and would shake with fear till the day they were put into the Earth cold and dead.

A step too far and she'd be gone. Devil's Backbone would claim her and he'd never get the satisfaction of watching her blonde hair stain with her own blood. He'd never get the satisfaction of the search for a body that would never be found. If the Canyons had a lot of caves then this place was a heaven compared to there. Old abandoned mines, auger holes, natural caves, ravines, valleys, and more unexplored forest than one man could walk in a day. His favorite was the boar hole. It brought a sick satisfaction knowing that'd they'd be lost forever out of reach of the most adventurous.

"RUN!" He bellowed.

A yelp echoed around him and he felt his mouth water. He was running parallel to her but she was to lost in fear to ever see him. Mac breathed deeper pulling in the air that was so much different than what he was use to. It was richer and cloying as it wrapped around you like a lover. Nothing like the dry harsh decayed air that stole life away. These mountains were breathing life into a place that was as bloody as he was.

Moving like the devil was beneath his feet he slammed into her. A scream echoed around the woods and Mac watched her. She was laying limp at the base of a tree. It wouldn't be long before the sun really was down but it'd get dark here two hours before it ever did in town. That was what he loved about Little Shepherds Trail. It didn't matter that it was at the top of the mountain riding the ridge. It didn't matter that tourist loved it here. There were too many ways for someone to go missing here. People here even minded their own business. How many times had he witnessed shady dealings and questionable people doing things to rival his own desires.

Her eyes blinked up at him and he squatted pushing her blonde hair out of the way. It was already staining with blood.

"Mac?"

He chuckled, "Tessa."

She looked around and pushed herself up. Mac watched her and felt the weight of the knife at the base of his back. She blinked stupidly and he knew she had a concussion.

"Where are we?"

"Don't remember do you." Mac stood looking down at her, "Stand up."

Tessa frowned up at him and he jerked her to her feet. She cried in pain and his hand slid through blood.

"Move."

Tessa walked with him unable to see as the sunset. The last of the light flickering and shining through the fall leaves. Mountains lit up in red, gold, orange, and yellow. A mountain range on fire as the sun made everything light up even more The very thing that was attracting people to his favorite place to hunt. It's what lured this dumb bitch here.

"Where are we going?"

Mac tightened his grip on her and slammed her to the ground. Her eyes widened seeing a tombstone.

"Mac what...why?" She looked up to him squinting.

She was nothing but a coffin of a girl he knew and he was going to bury her. He was going to let her disappear into these woods like the hundreds before her. Hell no one would look up here at night anyways. No one came here at night. No one. To many disappearances and it was riddled with superstition. It was the perfect dwelling place for demons and wasn't it just ironic that a lot of people actually thought there was something demonic that haunted these mountains. You didn't get the name Bloody Harlan County for nothing.

"You've known me since you moved here!" Tessa cried out swiping at her face.

Mac walked around her. It wasn't even sexual why he wanted to hunt her. It was her attitude. It was her. It was everything this bitch stood for. She thought she was everything that a man wanted but she was nothing but the piece of ass they could get from her. He figured her mother never told her you couldn't turn a whore into a housewife.

Mac slid his knife free and looked up the incline he'd have to drag her if he killed her here. Hell it wouldn't be hard to get her there. Bitch couldn't way more than a buck twenty soaking wet. Watching as the sun shifted over her casting shadows over her body. Making it look like even the branches and low hanging trees were reaching for her. They knew she was going to die, they were as hungry for it as he was.

Tessa sobbed brokenly as he pulled in another breath. The smell of fresh earth, leaves, rain, and pine met his senses. With his exhale he pulled her to her feet as her body trembled in the perpetual breeze that greeted you this high up on the mountains. He smiled and then leaned into her. Her trembling became violent as the knife skirted up her back and knicked her.

She was a fool. He wasn't a man to pursue. He wasn't someone that needed attachments or wanted them. He didn't want love or crave it. He didn't have the capacity to love and didn't really mourn it. It was her mistake to ever think that him fucking her would be anything more than that. It was in her eyes, it was in her gasped breaths, hiccuped sobs, and trembling. The man she loved was the monster that she feared. He was the cut, the wound, the decimation, the destruction that would never heal.

Everyone thinks that when a knife is driven through you back that a scream is the last thing you'd hear. They're all wrong. All of them. Unless you've taken a life you're nothing to dispute him. Plunging the knife in a sharp upward angle, slipping between the ribs he smiled. A wet gasp was all you got for that knife work as the breath is pushed from their body. No screams.

He held her there before hoisting her up and over her shoulder. He could walk these mountains in the dark with ease. Her body was limp as those wet gasping breaths plagued her. Coming to edge he felt it. It was the pull that let you know you were at the edge of oblivion. It was a lucky find and a lot of loose lips that let him find this place. It was a legend most of the youth here didn't even care to find. Some were to scared to ever look and most were afraid of these mountains to every want to find it. A lot of bodies disappeared here. Sometimes when you went looking for history it found you first.

Stepping to the edge he slid her down the front of his chest. That wet gasp was the last thing he heard as he pitched her forward. She would never be found. Ever. When he'd lowered himself down over three hundred feet and still never found the bottom he knew he'd struck gold. It was when he heard the rushing of water and feel the pull of the wind that was trying to bring him the rest of the way down that he knew this was where everyone talked about. How many bodies got dumped here over time? When they talked about it being researched and that even those people couldn't find where the water was going or came out, or how deep it was only added to it. Body after body being dumped with a never ending tide to clean it all up. He'd heard more than one old timer talking about people disappearing and falling down the boar hole. No one ever fell though...This place housed more people like him than even the canyon had bodies.