Abyssus

Prologue

The morning was surprisingly still in Flagstaff, Arizona, as Nathan Gatcomb drove his truck along a quiet highway. With his rock music loudly blaring through his car radio, Nathan sipped his coffee and rolled down his window. He sighed to himself. He loved the feeling of fresh cool air on his face and coffee on his tongue. This is an amazing morning to hunt, he thought to himself as he sipped his coffee. Nathan also loved coming to the forest in the early mornings, when there was hardly anyone to scare the animals away. He had been doing it for years in the same spot, and always found fair game. Nathan saw a sign up ahead and he turned onto the exit toward the forest. The road toward the forest was one way, and only an idiot could miss it. An idiot like my own mother, he thought to himself. He smirked as he remembered the last time he had gone hunting. He had made the mistake of bringing his mother to hunt with him. She believed that the road didn't feel right and that it would be better to hunt in a new spot. Wait a minute, Nathan thought to himself. A change of scenery might be welcome. After all he had been hunting in the same spot for 5 years! As Nathan progressed on the road, his truck began to shake and Nathan winced. His truck was at least 10 years old, and it definitely could not handle the infamous dirt road. His truck had broken down multiple times on this damned trail. As Nathan's car sputtered and shook, he slowly came to a stop at a sign that read "Welcome to Levi Forest! Enjoy the scenery!" Nathan always thought of the sign as ironic seeing as a gruesome incident had happened in that very forest.  Nathan's truck came to a stop at the empty ticket window and opened his car door and stepped out. Nathan stood at a petite 5 foot 10, and wasn't any taller then his truck. He was slightly overweight, and most of it showed on his face, as he sported a double chin. He had messy brown hair, and a pair of blue eyes, similar to that of his mother's. He wore his usual hunting get-up, a camouflaged shirt with a leather jacket at least 2 sizes too big on him. Nathan also wore regular dirty blue jeans that were definitely worn down. Nathan stepped up to the empty ticket counter and went around the back. He took keys out his pocket and slipped them into the locked door, and opened it. Phil Baker, the usual ticket counter operator lent him the keys for the counter, as he knew Nathan liked to hunt early in the mornings. The ticket booth looked like a normal booth, with the maps and cashier all in place. A half- eaten box of pizza lay open on the desk, obviously fresh. Nathan stepped up to the controls for the counter, and began raising the gate that blocked his truck. Nathan peered at the pizza box on the counter. Oh what the hell, he thought to himself. I can't let perfectly good pizza to go to waste. Nathan grabbed the box, stepped out of the booth, and drove his car past the gate. He stepped out of his truck and went into the ticket booth, closed the gate, and locked the booth. As he headed back to his car, he noticed something peculiar about the forest. It was full of fog. Weird. This place is usually clear in the morning. Nathan shrugged it off and stepped into his car and began driving toward the parking lot. The fog inside the forest began engulf Nathan's car as he drove into the forest, like an hungry monster devouring prey. As the fog grew thicker and thicker, Nathan could barely see three feet in front of his car. "Oh come on what the hell s this!" Nathan shouted angrily to himself. All of a sudden, he felt his car lurched forward, and it came to a stop. His engine heaved one last breath of exhaust, then completely died. Nathan angrily slammed his hands on his steering wheel. "What a great day this is. Useless piece of shit." He stepped out his car and slammed the door shut. The sound of his car door echoed ominously into the reaches of the fog. He couldn't see 10 inches in front of his face in this fog! And his engine had died! Nathan had to feel his car to get around it to the front of his hood. He lifted the hood of his car and smoke immediately poured out of his engine. Nathan winced and looked into his hood. He was surprised to find that his engine was just as terrible as when he found it. The engine looked burnt to hell, but that's how it had looked for the past few months. In fact, his entire hood looked to be in working condition. Nathan shrugged it off as a strange car issue and slammed his hood. He felt around to his door, and got back into his truck. "What the hell was that about." Nathan said to himself puzzled. Ready to check to see if the fog had cleared up, Nathan adjusted his mirror and peered behind him. But the only thing Nathan found in the mirror was a pair of white eyes staring back at him.