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Chapter 8: The First Kin

I wandered through the fog relying only on my sense of touch as I felt around the trees for the blood splatters.I kept looking ahead to try and get my eyes adjusted while I had my hand wrapped tight around the axe handle in case something snuck at me from behind.

I heard a faint sound of running water and the further I got to it the thinner the fog was.Soon I was free from the fog and I could see a small river with a weak looking bridge stretching across it.

A text arrived on my phone.

Water is what purifies our vision unfortunately sometimes it can also cloud our world around us.Place your head in the water my son and see what I have seen.

I sat on my knees next to the river and I took a deep breath then plumged my head in.I looked around the inside of the river only seeing dark black.I switched my sight angle and looked down to find a wooden slab in the dirt with words carved into it.

I dusted off the mud and pulled it out of the river when a skeleton hand emerged from the riverbed.I screamed but made only a muffled noise and some bubbles then toke my face out of the water.

The back of my head hit the ground and I felt a bruise appear on my wet scalp.My hair fell in front of my eyes and water flowed down my cheeks.I pulled my hair back and blinked out the water to try and see the wooden slab.

I read the slab and it said
Farthing: The Haven In The Dark.

The skeleton arm floated up to the top of the river and washed up on the mud.I examined the arm and it seemed to be burned bone.The whites of the palm were charred and brittle.

RING!
I turned on my phone.

Do you see the burn marks Flare? Didn't your mother even tell you not to play with fire in the forest! Go across the bridge to find your little friend Dalton....

Once I read the word Dalton I took no time in to limping across the bridge and pushing my way throw the shrubs.Just like the text said Dalton was sitting in a clean patch of forest with his arms and legs tied behind an old chair.

"Dalton!" I shouted out to him with utter happiness.
Dalton lifted his head and squinted his eyes.
"Flare is that you?" He shouted back.
"Yeah man are you alright?"
"If fine but watch your step!"
I stod still with my foot hovering above the leafy ground.
"What?" I bellowed.
"Watch where you step there's traps in the dirt and always look forward because there's wires in the trees!"

"Can you tell me where the traps are?"
Dalton shoke his head.
"Sorry man I can't say there's to many."
"I have an idea!"

I unzipped my orange jacket and used it to fan the leaves off the ground.The leaves went up in a cloud and came falling back down further away.

I scanned the ground and sighted numerous pressure plates with mud dumped on top of them.
I stepped around the plates and continued on toward Dalton when my shirt was snagged by an invisible branch.

"Oh shit!" Dalton cursed.
I quickly let go of the shirt and dove to the ground as a metal tipped arrow was fired out of the trees straight into the middle of my jacket.
I crawled on my knees panicking just a little and I pressed my palm against a pressure plate.

"Fuuucccckkkk!" I pounced across the ground just in time for a net to come shooting off the ground capturing a pile of leaves.
"You sure are quick on your feet I'll give you that."
I gazed behind me and there sat Dalton in his chair.

I stod up and toke a little breather then began to untie Dalton's restraints.It toke me while to undo the knot but once I did I immediately regreted it.
The ropes for Dalton's restraints were actually wires that when undone they activated a trap.

The leaves around us started to slither and shake.It wasn't until I looked down I realized I had stepped into a snare trap.
"We'll son of a bi-" I was yanked up in the air by a noose around my ankles and now dangled upside down.

Dalton fell out of the chair and peered at me from on the ground.
"Flare are you still conscious?"
"With all this blood running to my head how can I afford to pass out?"
"I can reach you did you pick up something I could use to cut you down?"
"My axe is over by the bridge if you can get it."
"Thanks man stay right there."

I folded my arms and spun lazily in a circle overlooking all of the forest.I folded my arms and waited patiently for Dalton to retrieve the axe.

RING!

my phone vibrated and fell out of my pocket on the ground.
"Dammit" I wailed and swiped my hands at an invisible ball of yarn trying to grab the phone.
Dalton came rushing back to me and he used the axe like a boomerang to slash the rope.

I tumbled to the ground on my head and the axe shanked into a nearby tree.
I massaged my head and inspected the message.

If you think that was hard Flare you just wait and see what I've got for you next.

In my pain ridden state of mind I texted him back.

You motherfucker I'll come and kill you when this is all over!

After the text I awaited the man's hate filled text back but what he sent me back wasn't a text it was a picture of Nash with his arms and legs in bear traps with a saw hanging over his neck.

The man attached a text with his gruesome picture.

Mock me again and I'll kill the little fucker and that would be a shame to because he's the next one you gotta save and he's carrying and important piece of the puzzle.

I put my phone back in my pocket and sat in the chair.I buried my head in my hands and Dalton sensed my dread.
"What's up Flare? How did you find me?"

"When I woke up I was at the campsite and you guys were gone.The engine for the car was stolen and I got a text message from some guy.It turns out that he is the man you kidnapped you and a the others.He told me that I had to play along with his little game or he'd kill me and you guys.I had to follow his instructions because he kidnapped the lady I called last night to pick us up and there was no other way I could go."

"I was forced to fight a mental man with an axe and to dig through a riverbed to find a wooden sign but they weren't useless items.The man continued to text me and apparently these items are part of a story that the man experienced.
All the items tell of a town or some place called Farthing Woods.Something happened in that town Dalton and I think the man's trying to tell me of how it one day disappeared."

"The only thing about the town's disappearance I could come up with was it probably burned down or some shit.I have a hunch that there's more to the story then what people know Dalton.The man want's us to listen but we won't so he has to force us."

Dalton read my expressions and then handed me a tore piece of news paper.
The headline said
Oil discovered in rural town of Farthing.

"I found it in my pocket when I went to get the axe, does it help at all contributing to the story?"
"You know what Dalton I think it tells more then we needed, let's go find Nash!"

I walked to the forest lining and tore the axe out of the tree.Dalton went back and equipped the arrow then I asked
"You ready bud?"
"You don't wanna hear my response Flare believe me."
I shrugged my shoulders and announced
"Let's find the twerp and get this over with."