Return to New Arden

The circular track

The trail had been closed for years, so long that bracken had grown over the path and trees had fallen across it. There had been a few unfortunate accidents and disappearances in its former life but that was now so long ago that the pictures of the people were only to be found on the micro phish in New Arden's Library.

The locals knew to stay away from the area, they told their children to stay away and even though their children were as rebellious as any others there was something about the dark forests around New Arden National Park that had them turning back before they ever reached the trail. The spirits that lurked there were alone able to play in the dark thickets and narrow passes all by themselves. That was until a bright spring day when the leaves budding green. That was the day Todd Reacher set off with his camera slung around his neck and the idea that he would take pictures of the trail and tell its strange story. He was tall and lean, a man used to hike but a little reckless in some of his adventures.

Todd arrived at the main camping ground of the park early in the morning. Even the birds were just starting to stir, greeting the rising sun with a chorus of loud song. He quickly found his camp site and started to set up. Later he would go to the ranger's office and sign in. By mid-morning other campers had begun to stir, rolling their tired bodies out of their tents and accompanying children to the toilet block. It was rustic and civilized all at the same time. Todd chatted to a few neighbours close by as he drank his coffee. None of them realized that this would be the last sighting of him. Going onto the old trail was technically illegal and so he didn't tell the ranger's office instead he told them he was on another trail altogether, one he hoped to hop off at a spot that brushed close to the circular track.

The first trail was like any other, he met folks going out and others coming in, there were fair stretches alone where it was just him and the forest but always this was eventually broken by a meeting. Secretly the idea of being totally alone in the wild is what thrilled him about the circular track. When he was a boy Todd had done some orienteering and it was this knowledge, he called on now to identify where to leave the first trail and get onto the circular track. It did involve breaking every rule and stepping off into the wilderness going down a steep slope for a fair way. Images of twisting an ankle out here flashed through his mind but he didn't, and it was with some pride that he eventually came out onto the hidden trail. The circular track was so called because originally it had been created as a large loop that started at the park. Just where it originally started was well disguised however and Todd couldn't ask without revealing himself. It was almost a miracle that he had found an old map tucked away in New Arden's library.

Now here he was on the track itself, it was everything he imagined, green and a little treacherous. It seemed to have that eerie haunted quality that many things that are abandoned by human beings have. He stepped over rotting fallen logs, stepped around shrugs that had invaded the trail and pushed his way forward. Every so often he would stand and take a picture when something caught his eye. He snapped pictures of large fungi seats, fallen leaves and the green tunnel of the trail. Todd came across a rotted sign telling him how much distance he had covered and how far there was to go. There was a hatchet embedded with some force into the wood and Todd worked it until it came free. He did not know exactly why but he felt better carrying the blade. He came across the waterfall the trail was famed for and sat gazing at the sparkling water while he munched happily on a sandwich.

As he sat there the clouds above crossed the sun and the light in the clearing dimmed, in the background cicadas had been singing loudly but now they dropped to a minor key. This change made Todd focus more on the sound and he heard a heavy crack and then another as if something was stepping heavily through the woods. He turned and craned his neck this way and that but could see nothing but a jumble of trees. Finishing his lunch Todd got back to the trail but now he felt strangely nervous, he had the distinct prickling sensation that something was watching him. Every so often he would hear the crack of a branch and stop to listen but then no other sound would follow.

Evening was drawing closer and Todd began to wonder if he had somehow misjudged the trail for, he should have been reaching its end by now. Then he came across a rotting sign and with a shock realized it was the same sign as he had passed before. Angry he slammed the hatchet back into the wood so that it stuck there. Todd had missed the turn off to reach the campground entirely and was now back in the loop. He went on a little further scanning the trail.

It was then that he came across a startling discovery, it was a man crawling along the track. He heard Todd's approach and tried to go faster but it was too much for him and he sank to the leaf litter gasping. Todd came up beside him and sank to his knees. At first, he thought the man was very old but then he realized that he was just gaunt with hunger, he had a scraggly beard and was covered in grime as though he had been lost in the forest for some time. Even so, there was something oddly familiar about him. Todd felt for a pulse, it was thin and thready, he realized he couldn't carry the man out of there alone, he would have to fetch help

Todd set off at a jog figuring that if he set a faster pace, he could escape the trail before dark. He noticed as he ran that the cracking sounds came closer and appeared to echo his pace. "I am being hunted" the thought rose into his mind. Unable to help himself Todd broke into a run and somewhere in his panic missed the turn off again. He was back at the sign. Thinking about whatever was following he eased the blade out of the wood.

At first he thought he had come back around to the man he had found before but then he realized it was a more gruesome discovery. The tattered remains of a hiker. There was no way this was the other man, not enough time had passed to cause this much degradation to the corpse. Gingerly he examined the few remnants of clothing attached to the body and found that in a bizarre twist of fate the man was dressed pretty much as he was right down to having the same water canister.

He was desperate to escape the trail by now but as with last time he could not find his way out. Some part of him half expected to find a skeleton next. This time round there were no bones Todd paused again sure that this was the place. There was a sudden crack behind him, and a hatchet swiped down across his back. He staggered as the blade came down over and over. The hatchet stuck his wrist and he dropped his own weapon to the ground. His attacker's relentless blood streamed down into Todd's eyes and blackness overwhelmed him. He was gone for a few seconds and then miraculously he was back only this time he was standing with a blood soaked hatchet in hand looking down at his own butchered body. Todd knew then that he could not escape the circular track, there was only death here. Here he could die slowly of starvation or quickly by the blade of the hatchet. With a combination of resignation and determination he set off towards the waterfall, it was time to hunt.