Stranding

2 | The Forgotten

The darkness hung thick in the air, swallowing the faint glow of the moon. The forest felt like a living thing—its dense trees pressing in around them, every sound amplified, every shadow a potential threat. The wind whistled through the branches, carrying with it a low, eerie whisper that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

Jake, Mia, and Raj stumbled through the underbrush, their breaths coming in ragged gasps. Mia clutched her injured arm, wincing with every step, but she kept moving. There was no other choice.

"What... what was that thing back there?" Raj muttered, his voice trembling as they moved deeper into the trees.

Jake didn't answer. He couldn't. He had no idea what that growling had been, and the last thing he wanted was to fuel Raj's growing panic. The only thing keeping them going right now was the thin thread of hope that if they moved far enough from the wreckage, they'd be safe.

But safe from what?

"I don't know," Mia whispered, barely audible. "I don't know."

They stopped when they reached a small clearing, the faint light of the moon finally breaking through the canopy of trees above. The silence was unnerving, like the forest itself was holding its breath, waiting for something.

Jake dropped to the ground, his legs shaking from the adrenaline crash. Mia and Raj followed suit, their faces pale, their clothes torn and dirty. The reality of the crash was beginning to settle in, but there were no answers. No plan.

"What do we do now?" Raj asked, his voice breaking. "We don't even know where we are."

"We wait for rescue," Mia said, her voice calm but hollow. "They'll come looking for us."

"Will they?" Jake muttered under his breath. He didn't mean to say it out loud, but the doubt was gnawing at him.

Mia shot him a sharp look. "They'll find us. We just need to survive long enough."

Jake looked at her, the optimism in her voice strained and fragile. She was trying to hold onto something, anything that would make sense of the situation. But deep down, he could tell that even she wasn't sure.

The wind rustled the leaves, and for a moment, the forest fell silent again. That was when they heard it—footsteps. Slow, deliberate, approaching from the direction they'd come. Jake shot to his feet, the others following, their eyes scanning the shadows.

Raj's breath caught in his throat. "What is that?"

Jake's heart pounded. "Quiet."

The footsteps continued, getting closer and closer, each one snapping a twig or crunching a fallen leaf. Then... silence. Total, suffocating silence.

"I don't see anything," Mia whispered, her eyes wide. Her voice was barely a breath, but even that seemed too loud in the oppressive quiet.

Jake strained his eyes, scanning the treeline. His gut twisted. Something was watching them. He was sure of it.

Then, out of the shadows, a figure appeared.

A man, or at least something that looked like one, stepped into the clearing. He was dressed in tattered clothing, his face obscured by a hood. His posture was stiff, unnatural. But what was more unsettling was the way he moved—jerky, like a puppet on strings.

The group froze. No one spoke. No one dared to.

The man stopped at the edge of the clearing, his head tilted as if listening. His chest rose and fell in ragged breaths, a wheezing sound escaping him.

"Hey," Jake called out, his voice tentative. "Are you... are you okay?"

The figure didn't respond. It stood there, swaying slightly, its head still tilted, as if it couldn't quite comprehend what Jake had said. Then, slowly, it took another step forward, revealing more of its face beneath the hood.