Ghost Hunters, but Make it College Students

In the Woods

Hello! Apologies for the lack of updating, I've been dealing with school and soem mental health stuff, but I'm back!  Thank you to Buzzfeed Unsolved and this quality meme for inspiring this chapter. By the way, Rowan smokes and drinks a lot, I don't condone this, but sometimes the characters take charge-- Ariel O_o

The sun was starting to set as Rowan pulled up to the outside of the forest, he put the car in park and surveyed the area. He hopped out of the car, Tyler did the same. "So, Nicholas, what'd that Wikipedia page say this freak looked like again?" He asked, pulling a pistol out of the trunk of the car.

"He's got red eyes," Nicholas began, pulling out his phone as he spoke. "And he's about seven feet tall. He shouldn't be too hard to spot."

Rowan loaded the gun. "Alright, let's go get this bastard." He led the three of them into the main part of the forest, shining a flashlight to light the way. Mud sloshed under Rowan's heavy boots, he looked down disgustedly and shook his head. The woods were filled with strange noises: creaks, calls, rattling. It made Rowan shiver. Ever since that run-in with a Wendigo about a year ago, he couldn't stand the woods. But, here he was, up to the tops of his Doc Martens in mud, looking for the Mothman.

And he was gonna find him.

"He's supposed to make a noise similar to a mouse, kind of loud and squeaky," Nicholas informed Rowan.

Rowan nodded, he squared his shoulders before cutting his flashlight off. "Alright, everyone start looking for some glowing red eyes, if you see any, lemme know." He began slowly walking around, shaking his feet to try to get rid of some of the mud.

The only sound for a while was the rustling of leaves, quiet chatter, and the occasional chuckle from someone. Rowan sighed and cursed when he hadn't seen anything. He turned his flashlight off and leaned against a tree. He knew that this thing wasn't going to be real, then again he had thought the same thing about the Wendigo, that had been a mistake. He had scars to prove it. Rowan continued to ignore the trivial sounds that surrounded him, he leaned against a tree, and felt for his gun in the back of his pants. He felt the cold sting in his hands as they brushed against the metal, Rowan groaned and straightened his back. He started back down the path he had (somewhat) established and stopped dead in his tracks. There was large-winged figure standing in front of him, eyes as red as flames. Rowan felt the gun shift in the back of his jeans, he wanted to reach for it, but was too afraid to move.

So, you are real, he thought, and I'm the one who found you. Rowan smirked proudly, he wanted to dance around in celebration, but knew if he moved, so would the Mothman. Rowan slowly shifted his arm behind his back, but with a flash, the Mothman vanished. And then Tyler screamed. Rowan jumped up and ran as fast as he could, he nearly tripped over a tree root, but quickly regained his balance. "Damn woods," Rowan muttered, trying to catch his breath while running, "I'm gonna end up breaking my neck." He double-checked to make sure he still had his pistol, luckily he did. When he came upon Tyler, he was scrambling off of the ground, just like Rowan had been.

"I saw him!" Tyler yelled, pointing to where the cryptid had just been.

"Yeah, I got that!" Rowan shouted, he was agitated. "Come on!" He grabbed Tyler and the two of them began running to look for Larissa and Nicholas. Tyler was a bit discombobulated, but he regained all of his consciousness rather quickly when they heard a scream, which was proceeded by a thud, which was then proceeded by a string of frantic cursing from Larissa.

Rowan and Tyler ran in that direction, dodging tree roots and stray limbs that covered their path. Tyler found the source of the ruckus and saw Larissa helping Nicholas back to his feet. "What happened?" Tyler asked Rowan quickly ran up behind him, he was panting.