Trouble in the Forest

Vacation Gone Awry: Chapter 5

Once the Parker's all finished eating, they packed up and started their hike back to the lake house. Not long after starting their journey back, Jamie noticed there was a path of blood leading off the trail they were walking on into the woods.

She pointed at it and asked, "Mommy, what is that?! It looks like blood."

Anna, William, and Josh, all followed Jamie's gaze and saw the same bloody trail. Tentatively, William stepped forward and approached the blood. He bent down to take a closer look at it and leaned forward to sniff it, searching for the familiar metallic smell. William quickly picked up on the metallic notes of it and withdrawn, his nose upturned in distaste.

He looked at his family and noted, "It is undeniably blood, but more than likely an animal somehow got hurt. There does not appear to be a lot of blood so my guess is it was a smaller animal. I'm sure it was nothing else. "

Just as William expressed his hypothesis, a giant droplet of blood splattered on his forehead from above and slowly dripped down between his eyebrows.

Jamie screamed and jumped back behind her mother. Anna reached behind her to hold Jamie and Josh stood still, completely shocked.

William looked above to find the source of the blood and let out a cry of his own when he noticed where the blood had come from.

Dangling high above his head in the trees, was an adult deer. The deer was hanging upside down and had a rope wrapped around its legs, tying it to a tree branch. It had bullet wounds across its torso, exposing the delicate tissue underneath. Scarlet red blood seeped through the bullet wounds, dripping down the deer's torso and over the underlying branches and ground.

Anna gasped when she saw the deer and quickly turned around to prevent Jamie from seeing it. However, it was too late. By the time Anna covered Jamie's eyes, Jamie had already gotten a peek at the deer. She began to sob and buried her head into Anna's chest while she held onto her mother tightly.

Josh slowly backed away, feeling his stomach churn at the sight. He felt acidic bile rise in his throat and turned away quickly with his eyes squeezed shut, trying to rid his brain of the image.

William staggered away in a haze and used his sleeve to wipe the blood on his forehead away.

Unnerved, he shakily said, "There must have been a hunter who came through here recently. Between the tree trap and the bullet wounds on the deer, it appears somebody must have been hunting. I am positive it is nothing more than a seasonal sport."

Anna agreed in an attempt to reassure her children and the Parkers began to steadily continue their walk home. For the rest of the way, Anna and William walked side by side with Jamie on her father's back. She was still upset after seeing the dead deer and she was tired from walking for hours.

Josh, on the other hand, trailed behind his family. He could not help but be alarmed by the dead deer. It did not make sense. If a hunter went through all the trouble to set a trap and then finish off the deer by shooting it after, wouldn't the hunter take the deer down and either eat it or bring it elsewhere? Why would they leave it there in the tree dripping blood? Josh felt sicker and sicker the more he thought about it. There was no doubt in his mind that something weird was going on.