A town named Winter

Jake

A blood-curling scream cuts through the dead night like a razor. It was clearly male. Apparently everyone else heard it to because we were all up and out of our sleeping bags within seconds.

"What the fuck was that?" There was a tinge of fear in Adam's voice.

"I don't know man. Who's not here?"

"Todd!"

We rush to put on our boots and grab flashlights. We are all barging out the door in less than a minute. There are clear foot prints to follow. Kevin is running ahead and reaches the end first. The human tracks lead us to the tree line and beyond. We end up reaching the end of the prints a few yards away from the clearing. The only thing left by the last of the footprints was a flashlight and a thick, dark smear painting the ground. It's a stark contrast to the beautiful white snow under it.

I hear running coming towards us from the town. It's all the girls coming this way. Amy was first to approach the scene.

"What happened? We heard a scream?"

"We aren't sure yet. We just got here ourselves. Todd is missing though."

Kevin reaches down and picks up the flashlight. It's still switched on. And the beam of light rests on hoof prints close by the smear.

I lean down and look at the smear closely. It's dark but I could swear it had a red tint to it. Adam kneels beside me and looks at the stained snow. Adam goes to speak.

"This is blood. And it looks very fresh. It's still warming the snow."

"Then what are we doing just standing here? Let's find him!"

"He may be hurt. Let's split up and search the area."

The girls all stayed together and looked around the town and in the buildings. The guys split up and checked the surrounding area. It was just me, Ryan, Adam, and Kevin walking towards the woods following the hoof prints.

"If this is another one of your half ass pranks, then you better speak up now."

"I swear I had nothing to do with this."

"Then why the hell is it the same color red as the stupid pentagrams you left at the last campsite?"

"You still are blaming me for that shit? I had nothing to do with it!"

"Bullshit!"

"I'm telling the truth!"

Kevin did not look convinced. He was almost fuming. Ryan came to my rescue.

"He was in the room with us when we all heard it. Besides, you saw those hoof prints. Maybe it was an animal attack?"

"If that's the case, then we need to hurry. Todd could be hurt."

"Todd!"

"Todd! Where are you? Can you hear us?!"

We stand and wait. We listen closely to the woods around us. Nothing. Only a deadly silence is answering our calls.

I may have pranked the group last night, but if this is a sick joke from Todd then it has went too far.