The Night Of The Cryptids

Day 3

At this point, all five of the campers were pretty on edge.  

"What even was that thing?"  Mary asked.  

"Well, Mark thinks it might be something called the Skunk Ape.  It's some sort of mythical creature from Florida"  Matthew replied.  

"It's called a cryptid"  Mark added.  

"Well, whatever it was, and whatever that thing yesterday was, I don't like it.  What kind of place are we camping in?"  Ruth asked.

"So.  Are we still going to try to have fun this weekend, or are we just going to try to get the tire fixed so we can get out of here?"  Jane asked.  

"Are we really going to let a couple of made up monsters scare us away?"  Matthew asked.  

"Yes.  Yes I am" Mary replied. 

"Well, I'm not ready to tuck tail and run yet, so I say we buckle down and make the best of the situation" Matthew said.

Although still uneasy from the goings on they had encountered so far, the group ultimately decided to finish their trip and try to have some fun doing so.  After a lively discussion, they group decided to forgo any hikes along the trails through the woods, and instead stick to a much easier path to follow.  They decided to walk further up the road to see what was farther up the hill. 

"Are we really sure this is that much safer than the trails through the forest?" asked Mary.

"I mean, at this point, not really" Mark started, "but, if we're going to stay up here and try to have fun we're going to have to do something.  We can't just sit in camp all day without falling asleep from sheer boredom."

"I guess that's true" Mary responded.

The five got back out to the road, and started following the pavement further up the hill.  So far, Maxon's Hill had been quite full of surprises for the group, but it wasn't done yet.  As they continued further uphill, several of them started catching glimpses of some sort of creature that appeared to be watching them from a ways into the woods.

"Guys, is anyone else seeing something over there?"  Ruth asked as she pointed in the direction she had last seen whatever it was.

"Yeah, I saw it too.  I don't know what it is though." Jane responded.

"Well Mark, you seem to be our local cryptid expert, what do you say?"  Mary asked.

"I'm not sure.  I haven't gotten a good enough look at it to be able to recognize it." Mark responded.

They continued even further up the road, at this point, they guessed they were less than a mile from the summit.  They continued for a while longer until they came upon a small clearing that revealed the summit of the hill.  After enjoying the view of the surrounding mountains, and they valley they lived in, they started back after an uneventful bit of time in the clearing.  As they started to make their way back down the road towards their camp, they started catching glimpses of the same creature they had noticed earlier on the way up the hill.

"Okay, there it is again.  It is clearly watching us, what the hell is it?"  Matthew asked.

"You guys stay here on the road and make a bit of noise, I'll sneak into the woods a little bit to see if I can get a closer look and maybe figure out what it is" Mark suggested.

Matthew, Mary, Ruth and Jane agreed, and stood on the road having a fairly loud conversation, and occasionally picking up an throwing rocks, or kicking a few.  While they did so, Mark crept closer to the creature.  A few minutes later, the group saw Mark headed back their way, walking very slowly and looking like he had seen a ghost.

"Well, what is it?"  asked Mary.

"I...I'm not completely sure.  But I think it might be a thing called the "Jersey Devil."  Mark said dryly, as if he was half in a trance.

"I've heard of that, but what is it?" asked Ruth.

"It's another cryptid.  Obviously it is from New Jersey originally.  There isn't much solid proof it actually exists, so it's hard to say what it really is, or what it does.  But, the sightings of it have reported that it has the body of a deer or some sort of animal like that, the head of a goat or sometimes horse, hands with long sharp claws, cloven hooves on its feet, and leather like wings."  Mark explained.

"Should we be concerned about it?"  Jane asked.

"I haven't heard of any real stories about it attacking actual people, well, none that weren't disproven pretty easily anyways."  Mark responded.  "From what I know about it, it mostly only poses a threat to animals, and usually small animals at that, like dogs and the such."

Although all of them had been convinced by Mark that the creature didn't pose any danger to them, they still hurried back to the camp instead of the leisure walk they took up the hill.  Once back at camp they cooked some dinner, talked a bit while they ate, and got ready for bed.

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