Chapter 2

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?:? ?

(After what happened I'm lucky to be alive!)

I sat in my car, heart racing still trying to grasp what had just occurred. I know I skidded off to the shoulder of the road, that white light enveloped my car, and now I was somewhere else that didn't have a speck of Internet or phone service. While I was sitting I noticed it was unusually warmer out than before the light got me, so I decided to take my leather jacket off and use it as an umbrella to keep me dry.

I decided the best thing to do would be to check my car and try to find help A.S.A.P. But after what happened I was hesitant to leave my car. I slowly opened the door, checked to see where I was stepping and after seeing the ground I slowly set my foot down amidst the heavy rain.

*Splisg*

I figured I was okay to walk around so I popped my trunk to get my flashlight out of my bag.

I shuffled through my bag quickly so nothing got wet until I got my flashlight out and shut the trunk. I flicked the light on and decided whether or not I should go now or try for the police.

After a few minutes of thought, I shut off the flashlight and went back into my driver's seat and pulled my phone out.

"Somebody better be out there!" I said to myself as I put in the numbers.

*9-1-1*

*doooooot*

*doooooot*

*Doo-Doo-Diiing*

That last chime made my heart sink a little knowing a connection wasn't to be found.

"We're sorry, the number you are trying to reach is unavailable or is outside of your calling area-"

'Shit, that was my last life line.' I thought as I reached for another cigarette before venturing out into the cold, dark, rain drenched unknown.

As I stepped out I caught a whiff of a dirty, synthetic odor coming from under my car. I looked down to see that the fluid lines for my car were damaged and leaking.

"Fuck me sideways." I said to myself knowing my car was in for a load of repairs once I was found.

I looked around and found a relatively clear pathway I could take to look for some help, so I took a deep breath and walked on into the dark of the night.

It was about ten minutes into my search and still no service of any kind, I searched the sky frantically looking for any signs of lights reflecting on the clouds above as a beacon for rescue, but nothing was in view for miles except the dense forest that I had become trapped in.

I then came to a clearing that seemed to have a small dirt road in it, but it had become overgrown with tall grass and saplings.

I figured one end would lead me to a more traveled road where I could hitchhike (best option right now). The road lead to a more overgrown area of the forest and eventually a sight of relief, an old repair garage of some kind was just a head. It had two floors in addition to the large layout of the building so it would make for a sizeable shelter so I knew at this point I was lost somewhere near civilization and not flung into the prehistoric by some chance.

I approached with caution and saw a lock on the door then, I immediately began thinking whether or not to break in, but the rain began to grow heavier and I was getting soaked despite my umbrella jacket, as did the wind so I began looking for something to break the lock or the door.

After trying some rocks and large branches that proved too small for the task, I reached for another but noticed that it held more weight.

I shined the light on this "stick" to find that it was an old rusty crowbar!

I then went back to the door, raised the crowbar and drove it into the doorframe to pry it open.

*CRUNCH*

*SPLINTER*

*CRACK*

I gave my all for one last heave and forced the bar towards the door without me going through the glass.

'Grrrr, c'mooooon!'

*POP*

"Yes!" that sound was all I needed to hear to know that I was in.

A gentle push opened the door into the darkness as I felt the wall for a light.

*Click*

I had braced for a blinding light only to be met with small, low watt light allowing me to at least see where I was walking. There were only desks, tables, a few chairs, a bunch of filing cabinets and some toolboxes. I nosed around and saw a landline phone, I grabbed the receiver only to hear the "dead line" signal.

'Dammit.' I thought missing out on another chance for help.

I thought that since I was here I should look for something that could help me call for help like a flare gun or something. I then turned my attention to the staircase across the room and though that venturing upstairs would yield something. I slowly walked up the creaking stairs with my flashlight out scanning for anything that would be living up here.

I reached the top and found some offices, a bathroom and a room with a sofa bed. I looked around and found a desk in what seemed to be the manager's office, papers littered the floor and things were scattered across the room including a clock which wasn't working, go figure. I checked the desk drawers and in the bottom left drawer was a bottle that was closed and unmarked, first thing that came to mind was that someone here had some moonshine at one point.

'Ooh what have we here?'

I examined the bottle and found a brownish liquid inside and thought it was something else, so I popped the cork and took a sniff, but what I smelled had to have been whiskey of some kind.

'Awesome, best thing to happen so far tonight!'

I decided to save it for later and to tell no one of my little find. So I then turned to the top right drawer and saw nothing else in the desk.

Feeling a loss of hope, I sat down in the chair wondering what to do next. I could put my car in neutral and try to push it here, but that would be too much work in the rain. I then thought of starting a bon fire to try and signal a fire department, if there was stuff I could risk burning and some petroleum based fuels to start it up fast. If I wasn't going to bring my car the least I could do would be to bring my bag and set up camp for the night.

I went back downstairs and noticed another door, it had to be a door to the basement so I thought of doing one last look before getting my things. It was locked so I picked up the crowbar and got ready for another jarring when I heard a fluttering sound come from the other side.

*FTLFTLFLTLFLT*

*eep squeak eep squeak*

I began to wonder if I should or not, I was scared something was down there like big possum or something else carrying rabies.

'Okay, whatever comes out of there, I'll just smack with the crowbar if it comes at me. One, Two.'

I was one motion away from opening the door as I braced myself for the worst as my heart thundered in my chest.

"Three!" I shoved the crowbar and the door swung open to reveal a massive squeaking, screeching, and flapping black cloud as I realized I just unleashed a swarm of bats.

"YIPE!" I dove under a desk and covered my head until the bats left through the door.

*SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUAW*

The squeaks ended and after a few seconds I slowly looked up and searched the first floor to see if any were left but thankfully there were none. It was now time to venture into the basement, I searched for a light and it came on much to my relief knowing I wouldn't have to search around in the dark with just a flashlight.

I peered down into the basement to find old gas tanks, tools, a blowtorch and a floor covered in a thick layer of guano (Yuck city).

I took the gas cans that were filled upstairs using pieces of desks as stepping planks through the sea of bat crap which stunk to high heaven even in the cool night air, and after bringing up the blowtorch with the rest of the supplies for making a signal I turned off the lights and went to get my supplies with the mystery liquor in hand.

"Of all of the things a guy has to go through for visiting his dad, this never happens to anyone I know they all just get stuck in traffic."

It felt like it had been hours since my last cigarette so despite the wet weather I lit one up and walked on, though it became a bit of a strain on me since I was shortening my breath with each puff.

'Yeah, that was smart. Hey if you don't die of cancer when you turn sixty and become a withered old bone bag you'll die of stupidity now and save your sorry ass some grief and aggravation!'

"Shut up, you're the one giving me grief and aggravation!" I said to myself.

*snap*

I turned quickly at the sound and shone my light towards the sounds direction only to find nothing. I was panicking once again and was taking longer, deeper drags on my cigarette as I started going faster.

I saw the two big rocks I passed earlier so I was at least on the right track to my car, then I saw it sitting right where it was and I noticed some of the vegetation around seemed to have been burned. I also noticed some of the tree branches were burned as well and the burnt plants all seemed to be around my car forming almost a circle like in Terminator.

"Was that from that light earlier?" I knew that it had something to do with me, somehow.

I opened the trunk and grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder, shut my trunk and locked the doors.

"What the fuck is goin' on?" I whispered to myself.

I looked back at my car wondering if it would be alright or what it would cost to fix it, I then looked at the bottle in my hand and decided to try a sip after I finished my cigarette.

With one last drag I cast it into a puddle and opened the bottle, and I took a sip of the liquid within. My mouth was met with a dry, earthy and aged taste accompanied by the tingling of the alcohol.

'Well, so far I got it down now lets see if I die or puke.'

I gave it a few minutes to settle, I felt fine so I decided to walk on with another, larger sip of the mystery whiskey.

"I dunno what you are, but man do I like you." I said talking to the bottle before taking another generous sip from it.

"If anybody found out I was out here drinkin' I'd be in so much trouble." I continued to ramble until I heard rustling from the vegetation.

With a quick (drunk) glance I saw the rocks again but this time they seemed to have dirt or mud on their tops unlike before, like somebody was walking on them or something.

'Well I think it's time to head straight back to the garage before there is an actual blair witch thing that happens.'

So I immediately got my head together the best I could and made a beeline right for my shelter.

So I reached the old garage despite my stumbling, and turned on the lights again and made sure the bats didn't come back or that anyone else came in. After that I closed the basement door, put my things upstairs and got one of the garage doors open and began moving the firewood out under the awning in front of the doors and got ready to throw some gas on when I thought of just waving my flashlight in the air.

'Woah, that saved me some time and aggravation and the fire probably would've burnt down the only shelter I had. Plus, the awning wouldn't have shown a lot of the fire's light any who.'

So I barely managed to open the roof hatch and climbed out with my flashlight in my teeth and began to wave it, the things LED and rechargeable so as long as the electricity held out, so would a source of juice for my light.

Ten Minutes Later

My left arm was getting tired, and so was I. So I turned it of and went back inside to dry off and check the plumbing. I didn't have any plans to use the bathtub anytime soon so I went to the sink and found only cold water coming out of the faucet. I the reluctantly turned my attention to the toilet which I feared to even go near, I slowly lifted the lid with the crowbar prepared for something horrendous.

I slowly peeked and with a sigh of relief I saw only old, browned water. But I was still going to use something over the seat, or I'd just hold it in. I then went back into the room with the sofa bed and saw a dusty old radio.

'Contact with the outside world, at last!' I quickly began to fumble with the knobs after I plugged it in trying to find anything on the airwaves, and on one last section but nothing came from the speaker.

I then blocked the doors down stairs with the desks and locked the big doors after I found the keys so I didn't get any unwanted visitors. I then got some of the couch's cushions together for the hideaway bed in the couch.

I took a few more sips from the bottle and started feeling somewhat tipsy, I thought I'd give the office one more look around before trying to get some shut eye.

I checked the other cabinets and found some glasses for drinking.

I began to think of what I could do tomorrow to get help with my car and where I was. I laid on the bed wondering how I was going to explain myself and if would ever be found, but then I took a swig from the mystery bottle and began feeling very loopy.

'Woah, better stop now, don't wanna' blow chunks and not have somewhere to wash off.'

I thought I'd try my MacBook and see if it could pick up anything but to no avail, I could only access what was on my hard drive.

Twenty Minutes Later

I managed to ease the effects of what I was drinking and thought I'd have a smoke outside, I stammered down the steps and went outside and lit up a cigarette. It was then I began to wonder the alcohol content of what I had been drinking. So I got one of the glasses, filled it with some of the liquid and slowly lowered my cigarette towards it to see if it would ignite.

'Oh man if I've been drinking something with a lot of alcohol, I'm putting my liver and everything else in serious shit!' I thought to myself.

The orange embers reached closer to the brown liquid but then a flash of light and the liquid was burning like a lantern!

"Woah!"

I looked at the flaming glass then to the bottle I had been clutching.

'No more tonight that's for sure!' I thought as I put it on a spare desk and locked up for the night.

I wallowed in the bed with no sheets and only the darkness of the night and the sounds of the rain to keep me company. I became scared as to what would become of me, if I was going to starve to death or go broke fixing my car, but soon the alcohol began to work its magic and slowly lulled me ever closer to slumber. I watched the walls in my state of inebriation and saw the lines on the wall slowly wiggle and squirm and the wood floors moved like ocean waves. 'Seriously what was in that stuff?' I began to wonder if a hallucinogen was added to the drink at one point.

*P'crash*

I was almost asleep when I heard a crash like someone had broken glass.

I arose too quickly and fell out of the bed, then I grabbed the crowbar ready to bludgeon the would be intruder. I was stumbling and the room was still a little trippy as the walls were wiggling only adding more trouble to my motor skills. I grabbed the crowbar and went towards the stair well. I heard footsteps so I peeked and saw nothing at first but then something cut across what light came through the windows.

'Oh man, this night went from fucked up to Royally fucked up!'

I pulled out the flashlight, but as I turned it on it fell illuminating the light switch. I knew whatever was in the room with me would get me if I went for the light so I took a look around and saw one of the windows were broken and nothing in the center of the room since I used all of the desks and other objects to block up most of the doors and windows.

I took a second look and noticed that the basement door was cracked open, so I slowly worked my way to the door so as not to alert the intruder and slammed the door shut.

*WHAM!*

I then made a dash for a spare chair and propped it against the doorknob. I turned on the light and saw nothing else in the room except the broken glass and a few muddy footprints leading to the basement door. Upon closer inspection I noticed that they were paw prints with a good amount of mud on them and that they had claw marks. There were three on the front and what seemed to be a fourth towards the back a little almost like a thumb.

I heard hissing and growling from the basement so I could only assume that I had a big cat trapped down there, probably a Mountain Lion or something but it didn't explain the way the paw prints looked.

*BASH BASH BASH*

I heard the basement door shake as the creature that broke in began to wail on the door.

"Shit!" I didn't know what I caught in the basement but I didn't want it to come out while I was around so I grabbed another desk and braced it against the door along with a filing cabinet that I had to "walk" over to the door.

*BAM BAM BAM*

*GRRRRrrrrrr*

I knew for a fact whatever was in there wasn't going to be too happy when it came out, if I ever let it. About ten minutes and a cigarette later the growling and slamming ended and I decided to take the risk of going up to bed with a few more barricades to the doors so that creature didn't kill me in my sleep.

"Okay, definitely no more of that stuff if it's going to be messing up my mind like this." I said to my self as I made a weak effort to get some shut-eye. I could hear the rain continue its downpour as I slowly drifted to sleep and I couldn't help but wonder what was in the basement waiting for me, and why it sounded so feline?