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Untitled I

I.

     The car rolled to a stop at the end of the road. The scent of wilderness creeped in as the four friends got out. They had planned to camp out in the wilderness for four days. The trees seemed to tower above them, asserting their dominance on this land.

     "This is it, huh?" Jack said, surveying the forest ahead of him, "Four days without any technology stuck with you guys. Great."

     "Come on, it can't be that bad, right?" Bryn exclaimed, "I mean, camping is fun! Wait, Daren, why are you wearing that wig?"

     "Well... I mean..." Julian stuttered, glancing nervously around at Bryn.

     "No, it really isn't. Why did you drag me along on this trip? I'm starting to regret it." Daren proclaimed loudly. "Wait, what wig?"

     "The wig on your head, stupid!" Bryn exclaimed, laughing.

      "What?" Daren said, hearing repressed snickering behind him. "JULIAN! WHY DID YOU PUT A WIG ON ME?"

     "Hey, don't blame me!" Julian said defensively as Daren ripped the wig off his head. "It was Bryn's idea, not mine!"

     "Yeah, that's enough. Did you bring the tents?" Jack asked Bryn skeptically, doubting that she brought it.

     "Yeah, of course I brought the tents," Bryn said, annoyed, "I'm not dumb, ok? Did you guys bring everything else?"

     "I think," Jack responded, hesitating, "Yeah, I did, or rather, we did."

     "Let's go then, it's a long way to our final destination!" Julian said, practically sprinting to the camping spot.

     The rest of the group slowly followed, chatting casually as they gradually made their way to their destination. As they approached the camping spot, a small clearing in the woods that was surrounded by trees that loomed above them, seemingly taller than the ones they had saw previously.

     Once everyone had arrived, the group began to unpack everything. Jack had, unsurprisingly, forgotten the matches. Luckily, Julian came to the rescue, pulling a spare box of matches, and saving the day. Daren and Bryn scrambled around the perimeter, gathering dead branches and logs for the fire. Jack assembled the wood, arranging it so it would burn on as the night continued. Just as Julian lit the logs ablaze, they heard a strange growl coming from inside the woods.

     "Woah, dude, what was that?" Julian said, looking a bit frightened.

     "You sure this was a good idea?" Daren added, looking equally as frightened.

     "What do you mean?" Jack asked, "I heard nothing. You sure your ears are working correctly?"

     "Of course, nothing's going to go wrong! That was probably a wolf or something" Bryn patiently explained.

     "Ok, ok, sure... But I'm still not sure that this was a good Idea. Let's get the tents set up already!" Daren exclaimed.

      They then proceeded to set up the tents, however, not in an orderly fashion. They had brought along four tents, one for each person. However, none of them knew how to set them up. When they finally figured it all out, it was already dark. It had taken them three hours.

     "Well, this is it. We finally set everything up! Now, what shall we do?" Jack said.

     "I don't know, what should we do?" Bryn asked sarcastically.

     At that moment, all of them except Jack heard another strange growl, this time louder and closer.

     A large shadow appeared amongst the trees, seemingly lumbering and clumsily walking around them. The shadow appeared to be an enormous bear with vicious claws and wings. The beast seemed to relish this, enjoying their fear immensely. Its message was clear. This was its territory, and they were invaders. The creature clearly wanted them out. But to the group, this was not clear at all. They were paralyzed with fear.