Hunt

Chapter 34: Turning of Tides

"Kyle? What's going on?" I hear Julie ask from behind me. Her voice almost drowned out by the wind and rain.

I continue to scan the forest, motioning for Julie to be quiet. Nothing. No more movement out of place, no creeping sensation in the back of my head. Whatever was in there was either gone, or it was aware that I knew it was out there now. "It's... Gone now. It's nothing. C'mon let's go," I say, not stowing my handgun as I begin leading Julie back down the trail.

Maybe it was just a deer. Something normal. I hope, knowing I'm never that lucky. Normal wildlife have never given me that instinctual  feeling before.

Julie was glued to my back as we make our descent, following so close to me that it was almost inconvenient. But with the forest growing darker by the second I wasn't gonna let her go far. The black thunderclouds overhead make it nearly impossible to see the trail ahead of us, the cold rain stinging my eyes as the wind drives it sideways into my face. Moving as quickly as we can safely move we make short work of the trail we had trudged up not even an hour ago. The whole time down the mountain I can't seem to shake the feeling that something is watching us, following us. When we get to the bottom of the switchback section of the trail I stop. Trying to listen for anything back up the way we came.

"Kyle—" Julie begins to ask before I stop her, keeping her quiet as I try to listen.

"Shh." I motion for silence. A bright flash of lightning illuminates the forest around us. A still-frame of freezing rain and wind-tossed brush. But as the world descends back into darkness I manage to catch reflections from the bushes back the way we came. A hundred meters or so back up the mountain three distinct sets of eyes watching us. I couldn't see bodies but they were animal by the way they reflected the light.

I don't have the time to identify whether or not they were just normal animals or something more dangerous. Either way I wasn't going to sit around and take that chance, especially with how bad the conditions were getting out here. I wouldn't be able to fight, let alone protect Julie should it come to that. "Run. I'm right behind you," I order Julie, my adrenaline already beginning to spike, making me feel more paranoid than I already am. My words are almost drowned out by the deafening crash of thunder.

"W-what?" Julie asks nervously, frantically looking around that darkened space. She hadn't seen what I did.

Pushing her ahead of me down the trail I shout, "Run! Now!" She doesn't argue further as she takes off like a shot down the trail, and I'm following right behind her, barreling quickly down the trail at a very unsafe speed for the conditions.

Twisting and turning we race towards the parking lot, muddy water splashing up on us as we sprint down the slick hiking trail. Chilled to the bone and soaked through to my skin I try my best not to slide out on the slick muddy trail, not daring to even attempt to look behind us. But I know whatever was back there was following.

Rounding the final corner I can finally see safety, my car parked alone in the nearly pitch black parking lot. Julie sees this too and begins to slow down, causing me to slam into her. I manage to keep her standing but at the cost of my own footing, collapsing and sliding on the slick mud I fall to my knees and spinning around 180 degrees.

"Kyle!" I can hear Julie's shout from over my shoulder, who is turning back around to get me. Another flash of lightning preludes a thunderous boom from above, illuminating another still frame of the much less dense forest. Again I can spot the three sets of eyes reflect the flash of the lightning. Much closer, a lot closer than I had thought they'd be. Too close. Outlines of canine-like bodies visible slinking through the underbrush, bright eyes reflecting the flash of light, sharp teeth bared in silent snarls.