A/N: So I still dont own the X files...I know, its sad isnt it? Anywho on with the show...
She really didn't want to be here. The sun was constant, unbroken by any clouds, and the air was thick and dry. The two guests behind her were silent, the only sound being the heaving of the horse's breath as they paced up the steep incline. Two guests really wasn't worth chancing The Spray. Not now, not so soon after the attacks.
Two weeks ago people had begun to feel uneasy. Hikers would swear on anything holy that they were being watched, that something less than friendly was lurking in the shelter of the dark woods. And then people began to disappear. One every few days, nothing major, and they would always re-appear; lost, dazed, a few cuts and scrapes, and all turned into a drooling, babbling vegetable.
And then seven days ago a group of 8 campers was massacred. It took the whole police force three days to find and remove the body parts scattered over 8 miles of the mountain. Yet somehow, three days of peace, and it was suddenly safe.
"Safe my ass." Eve muttered under her breath, yanking her black cowboy hat lower over her eyes. Before another thought could cross her mind, Sol came to a grinding halt, his sudden stop causing the two horses behind to plow into them. The gelding's head flung up, nostrils flaring pink and ears cocked forward.
"Ummm, excuse me…" Guest two stammered, obviously becoming nervous as the three horses became more and more agitated.
Eve ignored him, choosing instead to scan the forest around them. Something felt off, and judging by the beast's reaction, she wasn't the only one to feel it. "Easy Sol…" She muttered, stroking his dun neck.
"Hay!"
Twisting in her saddle, Eve jerked around. Oreo, guest one's horse, had begun to prance. The little mare had been sweating before, but now she was positively lathered. Her eyes rolled, and her forelock danced as she tossed her head. Her poor rider looked ready to faint. "Ok, I think this is as good at time as any to turn around people. If you're feeling uncomfortable you can get down and walk for a-"
A low growl erupted through the trees, the sound bouncing around them. A snapping branch to Sol's left was all the encouragement the gelding needed. Eve just had time to register the horse's muscles bunching beneath her before they were bolting off the trail and into the undergrowth. Sol was in a blind panic, the basic instinct of flight taking over; she could only cling to the saddle as screaming; horse and human, erupted behind her. The guests! Oh god, the-
Sol's left front caught on a branch, the horse stumbled, and then recovered, heaving himself up to stand shaking and dragging in gulping breaths, too tired to go on.
Eve sat slumped, less than half aware on his back, a mess of cuts and already forming bruises garnered from the mad dash and the trees biting branches. The forest had gone deathly silent, though the screams still reverberated inside her skull. She needed to….To go back….Get help….Get-
Sol, poor tired Sol, twitched beneath her; his eyes rolling, whites showing clearly. A low rumble seemed to shake the very earth they stood on. Sol tried to bolt once more, his jerky action succeeding only in tossing Eve from the saddle; the horse's wind was gone and he could do no more than take a few stumbling steps to the side, his head bowed, nose almost dragging on the ground. Eve scrambled back, barely feeling the twigs and rocks slicing into her palms as she slid into the bushes.
Black as night, seemingly sucking the light out of the air around it, it stalked towards the trembling horse. Sol's head jerked up once, and then drooped once more. Defeated. Saliva dripped from its mouth, huge body dwarfing the equine as it approached.
Eve bit back a scream as the thing tore into the smooth neck, Sol's screams coming out only as a gurgle, hooves kicking spastically and blood staining the golden hide. Curling into as tight a ball as possible Evangeline did the only thing possible. She prayed.