AFTERMATH [until dawn]

Prologue

The sun was rising. The two men could glimpse the sunlight far away—but very faint, as they were in the deep mines of Blackwood Mountain. Down there, it was dark, moist, and the only source of light was the faint brightness emitting from the two flashlights. Their boots were silent on the muddy ground. Planks of broken wood and some random items were littered on the floor around them. They approached cautiously, both shivering from the cold—but mostly fear.

"Goddamn," the first ranger said. "What the hell happened down here?" He squinted and pointed his flashlight at the walls around them. "Are those—fucking bloodstains?"
The second ranger, walking slowly, did not respond. He was absolutely terrified of the abandoned mine. His eyes scanned the walls, the path, the darkness, searching for any sign of danger. If the teenagers who'd escaped were telling the truth, there were horrors better left unspoken down here, lurking in the darkness, waiting for them.

"I don't know." He shook his head. "W-why would they only send the two of us down here? Didn't the teenagers warn them? It's dangerous down here!" He said, stuttering from the fear. His partner gave him a sideways glance and smirked.

"Man, you scared? Don't tell me you believe the kids' bullshit about the monsters and cannibals. They probably got drunk, hurt themselves messing around, and made up stories to fuck with us." The first ranger rolled his eyes and continued on. The second ranger did not respond. They walked in silence for a while, observing the broken-down structures of this once-lively place, both wondering what happened that could have utterly destroyed the mines. Maybe a storm, the first ranger wondered. Some kind of freak storm. A tornado, or something. Or maybe just a cold winter that froze everything.

A sudden exclamation jolted the first ranger out of his thoughts. He turned, and saw the second ranger pointing his flashlights at something.

"Holy fuck shit!" He stumbled backwards a little. "Do you see that?" He said, his voice quivering. The other ranger looked. The beam of the flashlight illuminated something near the wall of the mine. The "wall" seemed like a rockslide—smooth and diagonal, connecting to the ground above. The ranger looked up and squinted, but couldn't see the top. The second ranger was shaking, as his flashlight beam that pointed at a rock on the ground also quivered.

"A rock?" The first ranger glanced at his companion, who was slowly retreating backwards with fear evident in his large eyes. He turned back to the rock. "Oh, it's got a jacket on it. Must have been left behind by one of those kids." He started to move towards it, meaning to pick it up and return it to the survivors in the station later, when the second ranger yelped.

"N-no. Look—on-on the ground. Beside it." The second ranger looked like he was about to cry.

The first ranger looked down and saw something beside the rock. He couldn't see what it was, and pointed his flashlight at the thing on the floor to see it clearer—
"Motherfucker! Shit! Fucking—" The first ranger fell backwards with a thump, still crawling backwards as fast as he could away from the "thing" on the ground. "That's a fucking head!"

On the ground next to the rock was a severed head, the skin pale and dirty from perhaps years in the mines. Short hair framed the face, with bands covering her forehead. Her eyes were blank, her mouth frozen in a silent scream as she stared at the two rangers from her dead eye sockets. From her neck hung several pieces of skin that looked like they had been torn off by an animal.

The rangers calmed themselves as best as they could and moved as far away as they possibly could. The second ranger collapsed onto the ground, chest heaving as he struggled for breath. The first ranger, shaking his head, searched around the decapitated head with his flashlight.

"Man," he shouldered the other ranger, causing him to flinch. "There's—there's no body. It's only the head. Must have been placed on the rock before someone pushed it off..." His voice trailed off as he struggled to process everything. "Didn't we get all seven of the kids? Who's this one?"