The First One That Got Away.
- A Wrong Turn short story -
By TimeTraveller-1900.
Miranda was unsure how she had managed to get this far. As she woke up from behind the waterfall at dawn, the young teenager cupped some water in her hands and drank some. The cool natural water went down her throat, and she felt better than she had for hours.
For one brief moment, Miranda allowed herself to relax.
Happy with the sensation, she cupped some more water into her hands and drank some more water, being careful about not being spotted. The waterfall had protected her during the night, but she knew it was possible for someone nearby to see her silhouette. Miranda had been tense and she'd had a truly uncomfortable sleep, waiting for one of the deformed hillbilly freaks who had been hunting down and killing everyone who had taken a wrong turn and was eaten to kill her just like they had slaughtered the others.
Miranda closed her eyes feeling sick just thinking of the way the others - Hannah, Bret, Sarah, and Violet were all killed. Violet and Bret had stayed by the car after their tires were shredded, causing them to veer off the road, and crash into a tree, and Sarah was killed shortly after they had made their way to a creepy cabin where the outside was piled high with cars, motorbikes, vans, and all sorts, let to rot and rust in the open air.
Miranda really did have to fight the urge to be sick. She had not eaten for 24 hours and she was starving hungry but she hadn't seen any fruits she could eat or any other kind of animal (not that she was entertaining any thoughts of eating meat; in fact, if she ever survived this horror movie, she would almost definitely turn vegetarian). The forest seemed virtually devoid of any kind of animal life besides one or two birds in the air.
But thinking of that cabin and the filthy conditions inside. The table and the tops were covered with plates and bowls full of stinking congealing messes and the plates hadn't been cleaned in what seemed like forever. But that was nothing compared to the horrors within the fridges in the back. They were full of jars and plastic Tupperware boxes full of human remains and organs and the bathtub itself was full of human hands. If that was not bad enough then the sight of Violet's body being brought in covered in drying blood while more was leaking out of her wounds, being cut open, her shirt and bra torn off and then dumped on the ground while the cannibals sliced off her legs and then ate the flesh was disgusting.
The girls had only just managed to get out, but the cannibals, knowing they were there now, came after them. But Hannah, Miranda, and Sarah had managed to get away. They had found an old map of the forest thanks to finding an old ranger tower, but while the radio was useless and there were no weapons, they had found enough resources to help them. Or so they had thought.
When they left, Sarah was killed with an arrow that went through her eye. And then Hannah was killed with an axe thrown into her back with such force the blade itself actually pierced her flesh on her chest from the back.
Miranda was the only survivor.
She was alone now.
She was alone and terrified. She knew she would have to leave this waterfall sooner or later. It could only protect her for so long, and she had to try to find a place to escape to. She had the map, and now it was daylight she looked at it using the light from the dawn to help her. To her relief, she quickly found the road with the fork, which had led to where she was now. The other road veered off but it didn't magically send anyone who travelled down it to safety. The two roads were only separated by a few miles.
No. The real wrong turn was much further back.
Plus the road was virtually useless. Miranda knew she would have to find some way of using the road to get back, but she couldn't venture onto the road itself. She'd be seen and killed easily if she did that. And who was to say there wouldn't be a cannibal watching? They had a truck. It was old, but it worked still.
To her relief, she found out where the ranger tower was. She had seen a name and number for the tower when she was there with Sarah and Hannah, so finding it on the map was easy, and she also found the waterfall she was using as a shelter easily enough. Good. As she examined the map, Miranda found she was a long way from the fork in the road, but she had found it so that gave her something to do. But at the same time, she knew she had to find some way of escaping the cannibals. She had seen them hunting her and her friends down last night, and she had no idea what they were doing right now. For all, she knew one of them could be right outside. It was a grim thought, but it was reality.
Miranda sighed and rubbed a hand over her shirt, her fingers brushing up against her cigarette lighter. She didn't smoke, but she had always been told to be prepared. What if she set up a large forest fire and used that to distract the cannibals? It was plausible and it would give her the confusion she would need to get away. But still, she knew there was no way for her to tell how long it would take for a major blaze to really get going, and she didn't want anybody else to be slaughtered like pigs in an abattoir because of her.
But what she really didn't know was how the cannibals would react.
And a fire was perhaps her best option for escaping, and if she met anyone coming to assess the blaze for putting it out she would easily be able to warn them of the dangers.
But the cannibals were still a worry. Would they panic because of the fire? Would it trap them and keep them isolated? Would Miranda herself become trapped because of the flames? Miranda was a bookish young girl, and relatively smart, but with a forest this large she was having trouble working out just how long it would take before a fire took root. One hour? Two? More? She didn't know. She knew if she ran around setting things alight, she was bound to be caught.
Miranda sighed as she considered her options. She didn't want to use the river, she didn't have anything buoyant enough to keep her head above the surface as she went along the river's fast-moving currents, and besides, she had no idea how far the cannibal's territory extended. For all she knew, this one group might be just one of many.
No, if she was going to escape, she would need to find a way that would get her clear away. She went over the idea of using the forest fire, but she quickly worked out she could only reasonably set it at night if she wanted the flames to really spread. In the daylight, she would be seen. She had seen that last night the cannibals used lit torches, but they were probably just as good at hunting without them. The good thing was she and her friends had put a lot of distance between them before they stopped off at the tower. For a moment Miranda wondered if she should just use the ranger's tower as a little hideaway, but she quickly decided against it. The best way she could get away was if she could get back to that clearing near the cabin, find a car which still had its keys, and then high tail it away. But hadn't Sarah said all of the car keys had been kept in the cabin? She didn't know but she didn't want to go back there.
They were out there, the cannibals. They knew she was on her own. They would be hunting her down right now. She had to find some way of getting out. She was a sitting duck here.
X
Miranda snuck out slowly of the waterfall and took a deep breath. She knew this was her only real chance of escape. And she made her way as quietly as she dared in the direction of the road, patting her mobile as she went. She kept herself crouched down low while she looked around, listening for any sounds of movement, breathing, anything. So far there was nothing, but the cannibals were quick and stealthy.
For what seemed like hours, Miranda was living by her nerves as she moved from tree to tree, listening closely while she tried to keep to the rough, general direction of the road using the direction of the waterfall.
Finally, Miranda looked over her shoulder, and she saw to her horror three moving flaming torches moving behind her. The cannibals! For a moment she nearly jumped out of her skin and raced away, but she quickly caught hold of herself, and she saw the three cannibals were moving in the opposite direction.
Miranda kept very still. It was going to be dangerous moving with them so close. For a moment she wondered to herself if all three of them were there, but she saw that the third torch was some distance behind the first two. They weren't playing any kind of game, but she still kept still for a moment before she quietly sneaked away.
She found the road and followed it down to the fork, and she finally stepped out in the road, and moved to the other side for extra cover, before she went along slowly and as quietly as she dared. By the time morning crept in, Miranda was exhausted. She hadn't eaten for 48 hours now, and she was tense and strung up.
To her surprise she heard a car, seeing it in the distance coming down the curve. Miranda gasped and she jumped out and waved her hands urgently. The car braked hard and swerved to a stop. A woman and a man leaned out of the windows, and in the back, Miranda saw to her horror, two children, a boy and a girl. The girl looked like she was three years old.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The man demanded angrily.
Miranda was shaking her head. "Don't go down any of the roads, whatever you do?"
"What're you talking about?" The man sneered.
The woman however took in Miranda's appearance. "Dave, look at her. She's covered in dirt and blood."
"I am. But look," Miranda pulled out her smartphone as well as Sarah's and Hannah's. She had recorded some of the most brutal of the cannibals' kills with her phone camera. And she had just enough power in her battery to show this family what would have been their fate. The man and the woman watched much of the footage in horror. They saw Violet's body being sliced up, and they saw similar footage and photos taken quickly by the other phones.
"How did you get out?" The man, Dave, asked her.
"I almost didn't. We have to go. Where were you guys headed?"
"We were heading for a quiet place in the woods where we could set up a camp. But we're not doing that now," Dave looked haunted and angry at the thought of what had nearly happened to his family. "Come on, we need to get you to a doctor, and we need to tell the authorities. With luck, the police and the army can bring those ugly bastards to justice. Or better yet, kill them all."
Miranda nodded, not at all bothered by the dark anger in Dave's voice. "We'd better get out of here. I don't know if they hunt this far, but it's possible."
"Right, you'd better get in the back. Tom, you'd better squeeze up," Dave said, and after a few moans from the boy, Miranda was squeezed into the car and soon they were turning around and driving back the way they'd just come.
Miranda, who had been fairly relaxed when she had seen the car, was now worried again. She only relaxed when they cleared the junction and headed for the nearest town. When she got there, she showed the authorities the phones, and she gave them ideas about how many more cannibals might be out there.
But all she wanted was to go home.
