Until Dawn [SideMen Interactive Story]

Return To The Beginning [Part 3; Choice 2]

Nicole took a step forward when she heard a loud noise up ahead. It was a not-so-pleasant sound of an animal, as if it were being hurt. A loud screeching sound, almost like a high pitched scream, followed.

Okay, that did not sound so good...

She had to make a choice:

1. Try and find a way around the noise.
2. Quickly go straight through and continue on.

She didn't want to deal with whatever was ahead she quickly just went on. There was a small that she had to climb over, but it wasn't that big of a problem. She climbed until she reached the top and when she dropped down she could have sworn she had seen someone off into the distance.

"Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone there?"

There was a slight rustle in the bushes.

"Hello?"

There wasn't an answer and she was already creeped out so she just kept going. Maybe it was just a bear or a moose or something; there were probably a lot of animals out on the mountain at night. And since the lodge was usually vacant, it made sense for animals to take over in the night time. The only thing is that Nicole had never heard animal make a sound like the one she had heard earlier. What kind of animal screams like that? Or better yet, what kind of thing would make a sound like that?

Walking along there was another rustle from somewhere off in the distance and Nicole began to shudder. There was definately someone or something out there that she wasn't seeing. It was like she was being stalked, but animals don't humans... unless they were prey. But even so, there was no animal in the mountain that would even concider trying to mangle with a human unless it was pure accident. So what was following her?

"Guys?" her voice quivered. "If this is some kind of prank to get back at me for telling you guys that I coming, this isn't cool."

It was silent for a second, nothing but absolute stillness...

And then another one of those death defying screams. With all the mixed emotions she was feeling Nicole didn't know what to do. So she started to run, catching more and more speed with every step. She ducked under branches and jumped under rocks until she finally manged to stop and catch her breath. She cougheda bit, dropped her bag, and took tried to calm herself down. She was probably just psyching herself out over nothing, it was probably just a deer or something getting eaten... by another animal... that screams like a bitch about to get killed in a chick flick.

Either way, whatever it was, it was gone now and she wanted to remove the thought from her mind before she drove herself completely insane over something stupid.  So, that was exactly what she did. Grabbing her bag from ground, Nicole quickly continued on the path towards the cabin, hoping that whatever she had heard in the woods before would just leave her alone.