Stay Out of the Woods

Part 1

1809 - Lima, Ohio - Blaire Woods.

She was running. Running as fast as she could, the trees whipping past her. All she could hear was the sound of her own distressed panting and the snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves under foot. The night was darker than ever and the stars had refused to come out tonight. Her long white dress was ripped, and catching continuously on the rough land beneath her. But she had to run, it was the only way to escape, to get out. She leapt over fallen trees and darted around stumps, feet aching all the while. The darkness seemed never ending, and the terror in her heart was winning. Consuming her into hopelessness, and driving her closer to the edge of despair. She never had a chance.

Present Day - 2011 - Lima, Ohio - Outskirts of Blaire Woods.

'Why the hell are we doing this?' Quinn asked, as she and the rest of the McKinley glee club were standing on the side of the road, staring into a dark wood. 'Because,' Puck answered, 'we need some fun, and us guys like to camp so.'

'So you thought you'd drag all of us girls too?' Santana looked at him and then added; 'and, Kurt, of course.' Because there was no way Kurt would ever choose to spend a weekend in the muddy woods.

'Mr Schu said we need to bond over the summer, so here we are, bonding.' Finn said, as he was unloading his mother's truck, which she had allowed him to borrow. They had to bring three cars to fit all of them and their camping stuff in, so Finn's, Santana's and Puck's cars were all lined up along the road.

'Yeah but we could have bonded just as easily not in the creepy ass woods.' Tina stated, hanging on to Mike's arm.

'And what about Artie?' Brittany sounded sad, 'He couldn't come bond with us.'

'Yeah we should have done something we can all take part in, it's not fair to have left him behind.' Artie wouldn't have been able to navigate the rocky terrain in his wheelchair, but the guys had spoken to him beforehand and promised to make it up to him.

'I agree, we could have had a perfectly nice weekend in my dad's Oscar room, where you guys could have listened to me sing songs for next years nationals.' They all rolled their eyes and groaned.

'Now camping looks appealing.' Santana joked, as she and Brittany were getting their tent out of Santana's car. 'San,' Brittany looked up at the brunette who was passing down the tent from the boot, 'the woods freak me out.'

'I know babe, but it's only for one stupid weekend and I'll be with you all the time, okay?' She smiled, and jumped down from the car.

'Yeah, okay, but you have to protect me.' Brittany smiled, and Santana laughed, wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist. 'Always,' she whispered, before planting a soft kiss on her lips.

'Okay,' Kurt said, walking past them, 'If that was allowed I would have brought Blaine.' The girls laughed and broke their embrace, turning to the rest of the group still holding hands.

'So you fellers do know that Blaire Woods are haunted?' Lauren asked.

'H…haunted?' Sam said, looking around at them. He hadn't lived in Lima for as long as most of the glee clubbers so didn't know about the stories involving Blaire Woods.

'Oh yeah,' Lauren continued, 'lots of creepy things have happened in these woods over the years.' She winked at him, and he swallowed, not the biggest fan of ghost stories.

'That's a load of bull,' Puck said, grabbing Lauren's hand; 'they're just stories babe, not true.'

'Yeah, they're pretty out there,' Quinn started; 'my mum used to tell me one about a woman who lived in the woods, and if I was being bad she would visit me in the night and drain all of the blood out of my body.'

'That's, sick.' Mercedes rightfully said, looking towards the looming trees in front of them.

'Yeah, my dad told me that one too,' Santana confirmed, 'but there have been loads of other ones.'

'Yeah well. They're all garbage, now are we camping or not?' Finn protested, as they all still lingered on the road.

'We're here anyways what's the point of going home over some rumours?' Puck pointed out, and they all nodded, I mean these things were only rumours after all.

'Great,' Finn smiled, picking up his pack and throwing it over his shoulder. The guys were carrying the tents on their backs, along with their own things, Finn the first one to take a step into the woods. The rest of the group followed, Lauren holding Puck's hand, and Brittany clinging tightly onto Santana, who had one arm over the blondes shoulders. Rachel had jogged to the front of the pack to fall into step beside Finn, although she was practically jogging next to him as well because of the height distance. 'How far do we have to go in?' She asked, looking around their surroundings cautiously.

'Just until we find a flat space, and then we can put the tents up.' He smiled down at her, 'relax okay, this is going to be a fun weekend.'

'Yeah,' she smiled back, unconvincingly, and then looked to Quinn who was walking closely behind them

next to Sam. Quinn gave her a reassuring grin, but Rachel couldn't help but feel paranoid.

'So,' Tina asked as she walked next to Mike in the middle of the group, 'what do boys do whilst camping?' She grinned, kicking the leaves under her feet.

'Well, we make camp fires and tell scary stories. Do a little exploring. Have you not been camping before?'

'Only in my back garden,' she laughed, and then Mercedes cut in.

'Well I for one hate camping.' She popped her head between them as they walked, Kurt agreeing with her straight after. 'Me Too, who would want to spend the whole weekend covered in dirt?' He couldn't get his head around anything pristine, and Mercedes laughed back at him, nodding her head.

'Guys would.' Puck said, as he and Lauren walked hand in hand behind the two divas.

'Yeah, my guy is all about the rustic.' Lauren informed them, stroking the side of his face.

'Well I'm afraid I'm not a rustic kind of guy, so I think I'll be spending most of this weekend in the tent.'

'I'm with Kurt.' Mercedes said, as they all walked in twos deeper into the forest.

'You okay babe?' Santana asked, as she and Brittany walked side by side at the back of the group.

'Yeah, but you know the elves that live under your porch?' Santana amused her and nodded, 'well, I think they've followed us here.' She looked genuinely worried, flinching every time she heard a noise out in the forest, and Santana didn't know why she found it so endearing. 'It's okay B,' she laughed, 'it's just a combination of trees and wind. I promise there are no elves here.'

'Good,' Brittany said, allowing a smile to creep onto her own face.

'Hey! Frankenteen!' Santana yelled, making her voice louder than ever to reach the front of the line. 'How much further?'

'Not long,' He called back. 'I think I see a clearing up ahead.' And he was right. Through the trees there was a small patch of land unoccupied by the large trees and foliage, perfect for setting up camp.