Cheryl got up, looking out the window for the source of the voice. She was SURE she'd heard it this time, no question about it like before at the cellar door... She got up and put on her robe, going out into the hallway and out the back door, looking around. The lights on the house only illuminated a few feet around the back door, she hesitantly stepped out onto the grass and leaves. "Who's out there?" She demanded.
There was no answer, but she kept hearing the sounds, so she stepped out a bit further, going just to the edge of the light's reach. "I know someone is out here!" She shouted. "I heard you, I heard you in the cellar!"
Her foot drifted forward, passing outside the range of the light and her body soon followed, she somehow felt the need to see what had been terrifying her so much that night... She just couldn't let it go. As she passed into the tree-line though, she felt a thin branch from the tree fall against her shoulder and it held fast. She pushed it away, but another one touched her a moment later, sending shivers up and down her whole body. The branches felt wrong, warm, almost like they were alive as they gripped her body on contact.
Suddenly there were more, from every direction now as they wrapped around her arms and legs. She gasped and pulled back, trying to go back into the light of the cabin's lamp, but the branches suddenly pulled taught, yanking her forward again into the dark. She screamed in fear and tried to pull free once more, but the branches had her now, and they yanked her feet out from under her, pulling her arms up at the same time. She tried keeping herself covered, but the branches actually ripped the robe right off her torso, dragging it away as more moved in to pin her down.
"HELP ME SOMEONE!" She screamed, but she knew nobody would hear her out here. The branches threaded their way around her arms and yanked them away, from her chest, tearing her nightgown in the process and exposing her breast. She screamed louder now. "Please no! NO!" She cried out.
Then she felt it, the branches winding up around her legs, wrapping tightly around them and starting to pull. Her eyes went wide and she looked down, trying to keep her legs closed, but there were too many of the powerful branches, and they yanked her legs open, exposing her. Then another large, thick branch thrust out from the darkness and slide right between her thighs. She tried to scream, but it was too much for her to bare, the pain was overwhelming as the branch entered her, and she writhed around on the ground, her senses overwhelmed by what was happening. She moaned from the sheer helplessness she was experiencing, the fear hit her like a bucket of ice water in the face now, and the smallest, most miniscule part of her consciousness, feeling almost like an outside existence that had just now joined her and tapped into the repressed, wild corner of her being... Enjoyed it. She began to panic.
Feeling a sudden burst of energy, she flung out her hand, grabbing hold of a tree root and pulling. She felt the branches around her legs begin to snap and come apart, and after using all her might, she managed to rip herself free and pull the branch out from inside her. The sensation almost made her throw up, but she forced herself to her feet and sprinted away.
Cheryl screamed bloody murder and didn't even notice all the prickle bushes and thorns stabbing her and scratching her bare legs up, she just didn't want whatever it was back there to catch up to her again. Then there, ahead, she saw the front of the cabin, somehow she'd gone in a total circle. She ran for all she was worth, pumping her arms to get more speed. She reached the door and began pounding on it frantically, slapping her palms against the wood paneling and screamed at the top of her lungs. "HELP! SOMEONE LET ME IN!" She pleaded, but nobody came. She looked back, and didn't see, but FELT the thing out there coming closer. She pounded on the door harder now, panicking. Her eyes wide and darting.
Then she remembered the key ring, and scrabbled up to the top of the door frame, which was a little out of her reach due to her height, so she stood as tall up on her tip-toes as he could, grabbing the ring and pulling... but it was stuck.
...
The thing in the woods drew nearer, it had tasted her, but wanted more. Her terror was so delicious to it, and it hadn't tasted anything in so long that it was like a drug to it... The thing in the woods sped along after her, drawing nearer to the cabin with each passing second.
...
The keys yanked free and toppled to the floor of the porch. Cheryl dropped down, snatching for them as she felt like she could feel the thing's breath on her back now. Then a hand shot out and grabbed hers. She looked up and saw her brother's concerned face.
"Ashley!" She screamed and pushed into the cabin, slamming the door shut.
"Jesus, Cheryl what happened!" Ash asked, grabbing her shoulders. "Did something in the woods do this to you?" He demanded.
"What's going on?" Scotty asked, emerging from the bedroom with Shelly. Linda was standing there behind Ash, having followed him out when she heard Cheryl screaming.
"No! It was the woods themselves! The woods are alive, Ashley! They're ALIVE!" She screamed, grabbing his shirt tightly, then began to break down crying, shoving her face into his chest.
Ash didn't know what to do, his sister was weeping uncontrollably and she'd been ripped to shreds by something. "Cheryl, maybe you should come lay down." Linda said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I'm NOT lying down!" She screeched at Linda, then turned to Ash. "Please Ashley, take me back to town, I'm not staying here tonight!"
"Wait, I sure as hell am not leaving anyplace tonight!" Scotty insisted.
"Look, Cheryl," Ash said, trying to keep his voice calm to help her do the same. "just think about how this sounds-"
"I don't care how it sounds!" She said. "Are you gonna take me to town or not?"
Ash looked around at the others, then back at Cheryl. "Sure, of course I will, just think about this on the way-" He started, but she turned and went for her room before he could finish his sentence.
...
Later, outside, Cheryl made her way to the car, now covered up by a heavy coat as Ash led her to the car carefully. He opened her door, putting her into the vehicle and then going around to get in as well. He looked at Linda, who was standing on the porch. "I'll be back soon," He said. "don't worry, she'll be fine."
He shut the car door and put the key in the ignition, turning it. The car didn't turn over though. He frowned, the car hadn't ever done that before, it had always started up for him... So he tried again, letting it rev for longer this time, but it still wouldn't start up.
"You see? It's not gonna let us leave..." Cheryl said to him, as though she was about to cry once more. Ash gave her a look like she was being crazy, then tried once more, and the car started right up like usual.
The others looked on as Ash turned the car around and headed up the dark dirt road back towards the bridge. With the headlights only illuminating a few yards ahead of them, Ash took the road slow, and Cheryl shifted uneasily in her seat the whole way. Ash wasn't sure what had happened to her, but it was definitely more than what she was telling them, and with the way her clothes were torn off like that... Ash began to worry that he'd left his girlfriend up at the cabin with a rapist running around in the woods. Maybe he would talk to the cops in town just in case...
Suddenly, up ahead the bridge sign caught his attention, but it was leaning to the side, and one of the supports was bent horribly out of shape. Ash stopped the car, frowning.
"What?" Cheryl asked. "What is it?" She asked again, her eyes darting around in fear.
Ash didn't reply, getting out of the car and heading forward, towards the bridge, slowly so he didn't step in any holes. He heard Cheryl behind him "Where are you going?" and was about to answer, when he saw it...
...
Cheryl was on the verge of panic in the car. She was alone again, and Ashley wasn't responding. She buried her face in the coat, her legs pulled up to her chest, clamped firmly together. She felt a sickening sensation as she recalled the event with the trees... What disturbed her the most though, was the sensation from the back of her mind while it had been happening... She'd liked it. As small a part as it was, as alien as the idea felt to her then and now... It had still crossed her mind, and since it happened, that nagging feeling of enjoyment had grown into a twitchy craving... She was horrified with herself beyond recognition.
She finally couldn't stand to be alone anymore and got out of the car, storming in Ashley's direction. She froze though as she saw what he'd seen; The Bridge supports were ripped out of position and bent up and towards the car like claws. Cheryl's eyes went wide and she stepped back in awe and horror at the implications. "What the hell could've done this?" Ashley asked, mostly to himself, as he hadn't even noticed Cheryl yet.
"Oh God no!" Cheryl screamed, "Its not gonna let us leave!"
Ash turned, trying to calm her, but she just started crying again and her legs seemed to give out, so he jumped forward, catching her. Her arms thrashed around uncontrollably as she continued to scream and cry. Ash looked once more at the bridge, holding Cheryl closely to comfort her. How the hell were they going to get out of here now?
...
"I know now that the book's passages are more than just superstitious writings..." Knowby's voice said. "I've seen the dark shapes moving in the woods, and I know that whatever I've unleashed unto this Earth is sure to soon come calling... For me."
After the incident at the destroyed bridge, Ash and Cheryl had returned to the Cabin to tell the others. Since then, Cheryl had been sitting off by herself, staring out the window and Ash had just let her recover, knowing she'd come talk to him when the time was right for her. In the meantime though, that bridge had made him think about what Cheryl had said about the woods coming to life... That steel had been bent like rubber, not a feat easily done, so maybe there WAS something unnatural going on. "I fear that the only way to stop those possessed by the book is through the act of bodily dismemberment." Knowby finished, a twang of disgust in his voice.
Now, seated in the main room of the cabin, with Linda and Shelly trying to get Cheryl to come out of her shell and Scotty outside chopping wood, Ash was playing more of the tape, trying to figure out what was happening. Ash had a strange feeling that he and the professor were getting to understand one-another, even though to Ash, he was just a voice on a tape. Still though... He couldn't keep away the notion that the recordings were speaking right to him... Shelly and Linda meanwhile had a deck of cards, and at first had been playing rummy, but it had devolved now to Shelly making Linda think she was psychic by having her guess cards and telling her she was right each time. "Two of... Clubs?" Linda guessed.
Shelly looked at the card, it was the Queen of Hearts. "That's right!" She shouted excitedly.
"Wow! Ash, I keep guessing the cards right!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah, truly amazing, Linda..." He replied, focusing on the headphones he was using for the recorder.
"I dunno, maybe its like extra telepathy or something, like ESP?" Linda said, mostly to herself.
"Guess another one." Shelly said.
"Um..." Linda began, touching the sides of her head.
"Queen of Spades..." Cheryl mumbled off to the side.
Shelly looked at it and frowned. "Hey, that- that's right." She said, showing Linda.
"She has it too?" Linda asked.
Shelly flipped to another card. "Four of hearts." Cheryl mumbled again, not even glancing in their direction. Right again. Shelly flipped it again. "Eight of Spades." Shelly stopped flipping the cards and they looked over at Cheryl, concerned. "Two of Spades, Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Clubs!" She shouted, then spun around to face them, her bandaged face was now deathly pale, with an almost gray tone to her skin, and her eyes were blank, white spheres in her eye sockets and she growled at them viciously.
The others all jumped up in surprise, including Ash, who hadn't heard the rest, but now saw her turn. Cheryl suddenly floated up off the ground, levitating above the floorboards, her arms contorting and her head lolling back and forth.
"Why have you disturbed our sleep, awakened us from our ancient slumber?" Cheryl's mouth said, but her voice was distorted, deeper and sounded like there was more than one coming out of her. "You will DIE!" She screamed. "Just like the others before you. One by one we will take you!"
As everyone shrank back against the wall, Scotty came walking in, still holding the axe from wood chopping, and recoiled from her in fear as well. Cheryl's head rolled around and a dull, wet groan came bubbling up from inside her throat as a light green liquid came dribbling from her lips. Then she toppled forward, knocking her art supplies from the windowsill and spilling them onto the floor.
For a moment, nobody knew what to do, Ash could scarcely believe what he'd just seen happen, but he had to check on his sister... So he approached. Scotty and Ash slowly made their way over to where they lay on her back, eyes closed, not appearing to be breathing. Ash looked at the others and Linda approached too, just as concerned as he was.
Suddenly, Cheryl shot up from the ground into a sitting position, raised one of the fallen pencils over her head and rammed it with all her might into Linda's ankle. Linda screeched with horror and agony as Cheryl twisted the writing instrument around in her foot, then ripped it out to stab her again. Ash was faster though, and grabbed Cheryl's wrist to stop it, but she simply back-handed Linda across the face, sending her tumbling backwards into the small lamp table by the door, where she fell to the ground unconscious. Cheryl then grabbed Ash by the throat and sent him flying clear across the room into the bookshelf by the bedroom doors. He hit the shelves hard and inadvertently pulled the shelving unit down on top of himself as he fell.
From underneath the heavy shelves, Ash shook his head to clear the dizziness from it, and saw his sister approaching him, her dead, colorless eyes staring straight at him and she made dark, cackling sounds from her throat as she made her way towards him, her limbs moving in jolting, stiff motions. She raised the bloody pencil into the air again as she drew nearer, but Ash was helpless, pinned under the heavy furniture on top of him.
Scotty rushed forward and grabbed Cheryl by the shoulders. "Cheryl, what the hell are you doing!" He demanded, trying to hold her in place, but she spun him around and shoved him forward, face-first into the hallway door.
Just as Cheryl reached Ash and prepared to strike though, Scotty lunged forward, driving the handle of the Axe into Cheryl's stomach, shoving her away from Ash. She toppled backwards next to the open cellar door and tried to sit back up, but Scotty kicked her in the face, sending her rolling backwards down into the cellar, where she struck the steps.
Scott didn't waste any time, he grabbed the open door and slammed it shut, but Cheryl's hands came up and shoved it back open, grabbing his legs and pulling them out from under him. "JOIN US!" She screamed, yanking on his feet. He struck out with the axe handle again though, striking her in the face and knocking her back against the steps, then hit her again to knock her down them. He slammed the door shut and jumped on top of it, quickly running the chain through the latches nailed into the floor and snapping the lock shut. Below, he could feel Cheryl pounding on the door above her, and even with his weight on top of it, he felt it jolt up with each hit. Finally though, she stopped, and all was quiet again.