Spring Park

(7)

Ok, I got it on. I think I left off at the tunnel being covered up. They searched the rest of it and then filled it with concrete. I showed them the files I found and they also found more evidence that whatever was happening down there was still going on, and that it had to be shut down. But, unlike all the other times, things didn't go back to normal, things got a lot worse. It started up again with about a dozen people disappearing. It wasn't all at once, but the disappearances were within a few days of each other. Within a week, the town was thrown back into panic with people quickly moving out in fear of dying. The police couldn't find out anything about who they were or why they had been chosen other than the fact that they were "new" in town, or as new as something can be in this town. Since Delma and Mallory no longer lived in this town, we could no longer live in there house which had been quickly overrun by trees. One of the people who disappeared just so happened to be living in our old house from when we were kids, and since they were pronounced dead, we moved in. I started to notice certain people out of the corner of my eyes that would stand just out of view of everyone who wasn't paying attention to their surroundings, and seemed to be serveying where people went. I'd see them down alleyways, on roofs, and the edge of the forest, and stuff like that. One day I saw one that was inside one of my neighbors houses. I could see blood on them and they were wearing a pink hoodie and blue jeans. Their hair was orange and curly and they stared directly at me. I called the police who arrived only to find my neighbor, well, most of my neighbor. There were two sets of bloody footprints which trailed into the house, and then a streak of blood that trailed back out of the house. One of the tracks of  footprints were someone walking on their hands and feet, and the other is who I saw. The corpse had been eaten and the bottom half had been torn off and presumably dragged off into the woods. The man I described was identified as a cannibalistic serial killer, and a search team was sent out, but they didn't find him. It was also assumed that he had been responsible for all of the recent disappearances around town. The next day, John called me and asked me whether or not I had been in his backyard. I informed him that I hadn't and he asked me if I could come over to keep him company so he doesn't lose his mind. I walked over to his house, which he had gotten from his parents after they left the town due to the disappearances. The second I entered his yard the familiar scent of cigarette smoke filled my nostrils. He invited me in and then led me to the back of the house and pointed out that a trail of footprints leading from his fence to his house. He also explained to me that he had tried calling everyone else, but no one had answered. There were no dirty footprints inside though, so there wasn't much we could follow. He armed himself with a flashlight and I got my knife and we began checking rooms. All of them were empty and there was only one place left to be checked...the attic. The door to it was slightly ajar, but the attic itself completely void of light. John grabbed the lever, and pulled it. The staircase came down and hit the ground with a loud thunk. Dust flew across the room as me and John began up the stairs. I surveyed the large dark dusty basement and then clicked open my switchblade. John joined me fully in the attic, flashing his flashlight at every nook and cranny in the large room. I walked over to the pieces of furniture that littered the room and started searching for the intruder with the assistance of Johns flashlight. As I searched behind a couch, I heard a muffled yelp from John and then the light went out. I ducked behind the couch and tightened my grip on the blade in my hand. I felt someone grab my shoulder and then shove a towel over my mouth. I inhaled the chloroform and then kicked my attacker in the leg. The man howled in pain and collapsed to the ground, and then two other people emerged from the shadows. Before I could do anything, a fourth person tackled me to the ground and tied my hands behind my back and then put a bag on my head. I breathed in the smoke again and tasted blood on the hood. The bounds were tight and uncomfortable. I was carried to a car and placed with a few other people in the back of the truck, wiggling as hard as I could the entire time. I could tell where they took us, but it was bumpy and uncomfortable. We reached an area where there was no sound. The long silence was interrupted by the people getting out of the car. I heard the car doors thunk close, followed by footsteps and then the back of the car opening. We were carried a few feet and then tied to chairs. The chairs were cold and metal and the restraints were rope and had been tied tightly. They pulled the hoods off of us one by one, starting with me. I gasped for air, no longer tasting blood. I breathed in the smoke and then immediately began coughing. We were somewhere on the edge of the forest, far from the town and nowhere near any other sign of civilization. Everyone else soon regained consciousness. They attempted to free  themselves, all except Aaron, and then after a few minutes diverted their attention to our kidnapers. I recognized most of them as people from around town, as well as the person who had killed my neighbor, as well as a few other people I didn't know. There were ten of them in total, just standing in front of us in a semicircle. "Where are we?" Alex yelled at them, threateningly. No one answered. An eleventh person emerged from the trees. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Lilith said, walking to the center of the semi circle. "What do want with us? Why us?" Lizzie cried. "I chose you six because you are survivors. You can survive in that forest and that is why we need you to help keep this town alive." Lilith explained. "What are you going to do? Kill us? If your going to kill us, then do it already!" I yelled. "No, I'm not going to kill you. We need you. Here, let me explain. Long ago, this town was constructed for military use. After a false nuclear bomb threat, I and a few other scientists retreated underground for the next ten years. We created monsters so evil that it would make even the bravest people freeze in their tracks. We realized after a while that the monstrosities we created were weak and easily killable, so we started messing around with nuclear radiation from the device we used to make the monstrosities and created fifty new test subjects. At the time, we didn't know what we had opened by using the device that created them, but after the device stopped working and we had to repair it, we realized that we had created some kind of portal. We had to flee our safe bunker due to what came out of what I call, the void. We then realized our mistake and that not only were all of our creations useless since the Cold War was over by the time we reemerged, but also that what we had created was free to escape and roam the forests. After they killed off the entirety of the town, the government helped us by creating a cover up and wiping the town off the map. The excuse was that it had been overrun by mutated bears and everyone believed it. We then set to work to create one more creature, the fifty first monstrosity. It was different in the fact that it was supposed to be controllable, but it went rouge. I escaped to, what was now know as Spring Park, and made my way back to the town. I soon learned that the creature was doing what we wanted it to, which was clearing out the forest, but at the same time, it was killing off innocent people. The void cannot be sealed, the only thing we can do is feed the monsters. We feed fifty one so that it won't kill us and will continue to kill the forest, it is the only way. The only problem is, soon we won't be around to keep feeding the town and we need someone new to help feed the beast, and those people will be you. You either join us, or you die. I already know that Stige over their is too chicken to come home and join his family." Lilith said, a sickening grin coming across her face. I looked at Stige who was completely terrified. He tried to get away from Lilith, but to no avail. Lilith and the rest of those psychopaths laughed at his struggle. I finished cutting the restraints around my wrists. She put her cigarette out on his forehead. I had had enough of it, and had been cutting myself free with the blade I still had in my hand. "What do you mean, family?" John asked. Lilith asked. "You see, this little disappointment used to be my son." She growled before kicking Stige's chair backwards. "But he said he was too kind, so I had to get rid of him. I stabbed him right in the throat, straight through the vocal cords and then dumped his dying body into the forest. He wouldn't join me so he had to die. But the forest saved him. He didn't deserve to live, but it healed him and kept him from dying. They put him somewhere I could never get to, but now, I have him right back into my arms and I'm going to finish the job." Lilith yelled. She pulled a gun out of her pocket and pointed it at Stige. "Wait!" I yelled. "What makes you think that any of us will want to join if you kill Stige? If you kill him, none of us will want to help you and then this town and all the rest of the world will die." I threatened. "Why'd you even help us in the first place? Why did you help us in the bunker? Why'd you give me a knife, why'd you do everything you did, gasman?" I snarled. "I saved you brats because your the only ones that could replace us. Be glad your still alive. Be glad you aren't suffering." Lilith yelled back at me. "You haven't done shit. You have given us less suffering, you've made us suffer more." I finished cutting the rope around my ankles. She pointed the gun in my direction but I jumped out of the seat just in time to dodge the bullet. Most of them looked scared and were frozen in fear. The cannibal ran for the truck, followed by the rest of them who all scratched at the door to the car. The truck sped down the road and out of sight. Some of them ran away but most of them attempted to get the situation under control again. I quickly untied John who then helped free Alex, Lizzie, and Aaron. One of the people ran up to me with a syringe and two others grabbed my arms and attempted to hold me back. The syringe stabbed into my neck and they injected the fluid into my veins, but it didn't stop me. I kicked one of them and then stabbed the other in the shoulder. They scrambled away into the forest, but didn't make it far. Lilith pulled Stige up out of his chair and put the gun to his head. "Back off or he dies!" She yelled, backing into the forest. There was a loud screeching sound, and then something tackled Lilith to the ground. It looked like a human, but random parts of its body seemed to be sewn on. It tackled Lilith to the ground and began slashing at he and tearing her apart. She screamed and was dragged away into the forest. "Damn." Alex said. "Karmas a bitch." We split up after that. They found the nine bodies of the people who had fled into the woods, including the body of Lilith who had been identified as James Parker. Stige left the town to go be a cop elsewhere. I don't remember where John, Alex, and Lizzie moved to, but me and Aaron stayed in our childhood home. A few weeks later I received a letter to spend a night in Spring Park for five hundred dollars, but refused it. Aaron moved out a week ago, he said it was time he moved on and went somewhere else. I can't leave now, it's too dark outside. I learned the day after he left that Lilith was right. We are no longer protected by the woods. At night, I hear them outside my house, during the day, I see him in my backyard. I don't have much time left, but right now, Lilith's invitation... doesn't seem so bad.