Season of Angel Hunting

Chapter 1: The Original Sighting

"News Alert: 3 students have disappeared in the woods. They have been gone for 32 hours."
My parents heard the news alert and were shocked. I have been gone for 32 hours with 2 friends. Yet this isn't there experiences, it's mine.

It's about 2005 in complete darkness. The bully of the school has dared me and my 2 friends Jahmal, and Alex to go into the woods to prove we weren't scaredy cats. Reluctantly we did do the dare. Around the 28th hour we stumbled upon a strange sight.

It was a small clearing. The time was about 4 am so it was still dark out. I stayed hidden in the bushes while Jahmal decided to head out into the clearing to see if any planes or anything was flying around. Alex pointed out something over in the corner of the clearing near a bush. It seemed to be like a human. It looked around 5 to 6 feet tall if it stood in stead of crouching in that corner. It's back seemed to have some kind of fabric or something similar on its back. Seemed as if something that was suppose to be there was removed.
I was about to call Jahmal back to the bushes when Alex covered my mouth. It was too late. It noticed him and stood. It looked less like a human and more like a monster now. It made a screech that sounded like a bird and rushed after Jahmal who was screaming help.

BANG!

A loud sound came from the other side of the clearing. After that the creature fell and we ran up to Jahmal. He was breathing heavy and starting to cry from fear. Turning over to the creature, it seemed to have a hole in its head. Maybe a gunshot? Seemed too large to be from a gun allowed by Massachusetts law.

Another rustle from the other side of the clearing, a large man carrying a large gun stepped into the clearing. At the time I didn't know what kind of gun it was, yet it was a high caliber sniper rifle. Then turned to us and yelled.

"What the hell are you doing here? Your those lost kids. Follow me. You kids need to get out of these woods and not come back."

I couldn't speak. I was too busy looking at the creature's back. It wasn't a fabric on it, it was feathers. I never heard anything about bird people other than one thing. Angels.

The man showed us the way back. While going along the path I tugged on his shirt.

"What kid?"

"Um, so was that an Angel?"

The man sighed.

"Yes and no. True Angels live up above. These things aren't Angels. Their beasts. Carnivores and nocturnal hunters. You 3 walked into their territory. This is why you don't come back here."

"Why are they here though?"

"Every 10 years these things awake. The lost souls of people that didn't make it out of this world convert into those creatures. They usually are most active from August to November. They are harmless to anyone who doesn't provoke or go into any territory of an Angel."

I had nothing else to say to him. My mind was blown. The creature was one of the things I thought were innocent till then.

By the time we got out of the woods it was 7am. We were on the other side of town and the search was only on that side right now. The Man didn't give us a ride yet he gave us a small box of pop tarts and his water bottle and headed home.

As we munched down we heard some barking. Search dogs. And some police too. By this time it was about 8:30am. A large man yelled into a walkie talkie and ran up to us.

"Your parents are worried sick about you 3. Let's get you home."