MonsterVille
Two

Have you ever been cruising down a road late at night with no street lights, and the sliver of moonlight cutting through the clouds doing little more than casting eerie shadows over the landscape? River could have sworn he saw things moving out in the woods as they drove by. Just fleeting images, shimmers of shifting darkness, but they seemed to move with purpose, flowing between the trees like liquid and keeping pace with the SUV.

Every now and then he thought he could almost make something out but then shadows vanished and new shadows stretched out to take their place. He knew it was nothing, just the woods, maybe a nocturnal animal or two out and about, but even from his place wedged between his two frat brothers he felt a chill run down his spine, as if someone was standing right behind him, watching him.

River shook the feeling off and tried to block out Eric’s snoring and Danny’s music. Danny had his head phones plugged in but the sound must have been cranked as high as it would go since death metal cries filled the back seat. It was probably the only way he could block out the raucous coming from Eric. Seriously how could a kid that weedy snore that loudly? It was the not-so-muted rumble of an earthquake.

“So,” River said quietly, “any idea where we’re headed yet?”

Kieran shook his head softly, “Nope.” He replied just as quietly, it appeared he and River were the only ones still awake, even Derrick had his head pressed into the window as he dozed peacefully. “Don’t think it matters much,” Kieran added.

River supposed he was right, any stretch of dark woodland where they could pitch a couple of tents and get a fire going would do. It would be nice if there was a lake nearby too, a little fishing, a little swimming. River was surprised by how much the idea of getting down to the basics appealed to him, no cell phones, no computers, tablets, labs, just him, his friends, nature and beer. A lot of beer. Given Minnesota was the land of 10,000 Lakes River didn’t think the lake part would be too much of a problem.

“Ah Kieran?” River asked, “Do you smell that?”

Kieran sniffed and frowned. It smelt like burnt metal. A second later there was a crunch, followed by a groan, a sputter and a sudden deceleration that jerked everyone forward.

River was ready for it, braced, but Danny, Eric and Derrick cried out at the whiplash, snapping back into their seats with various blasphemous cries as the SUV ground to a halt in the middle of the road.

Smoke was rising from the engine and that faint burning smell filled the SUV with its stench. They bailed out of the car in a frantic rush as flames licked up the hood; a pale dancing stream of red and orange that sent the boys scuttling back.

River hit the ground as he piled out, his foot getting caught in his seat belt and causing him to slam into the rocky road. Pebbles sliced through his skin like it was butter and a hot rush of blood flowed down his legs as he tried to stand up. His head was spinning and he wondered if maybe the guys really had slipped him a roofie, although it was just as likely he had drunk till he passed out and they had carted him away.

River rolled over and looked up at the hood of the SUV which had gone from smoking, to flaming, to an inferno.

The engine/hood was engulfed and as he stared up at the pretty dancing lights someone grabbed him, an iron grip that would leave bruises all over his arms as he was hauled to his feet and shoved forward. River stumbled and Danny grabbed him again and yanked him away from the burning car as it went critical. The entire SUV went up to the sound of Eric’s wailing cries and the stunned disbelief of the rest of the frat brothers. River blinked over and over again trying to make sense of it, trying to figure out how in the space of a minute they had gone from cruising down the road to being stranded by the woods as their car inexplicably burst into flames.

“What just happened?” Danny asked as they stared at the burning wreckage. Kieran and River exchanged a look that said everything and nothing, Kieran shrugged and River frowned.

“My car!” Eric wailed, “My car!!!”

“It’s ok man,” Derrick said as he patted the younger man on the shoulder, “It’ll be ok.” Eric shook the comfort off and turned murderous eyes on Kieran. Under normal circumstances that would have been funny seeing as Kieran was six foot three, built like a professional surfer and was all round muscle, while Eric was five seven and weedy like a weasel, oh he wasn’t unfit by any definition but he was a small guy who hit the gym once a week as opposed to an athlete that surfed, swam, rode, hiked and ran miles every morning.

Kieran was as laid back as a guy could be when the vehicle he had been driving had just burst into flame for no reason, but that still meant he was frazzled and a touch distracted while Eric looked like he was ready to break rocks with his bare hands.

He threw himself at Kieran who never saw the kid coming. They collided in a meaty smack and Kieran went down hard, he cracked his head across the road with a disquieting thump and lay very still as Eric started hitting him. River was frozen in shock, he just watched the scene unfold as Eric merciless beat his fists against Kieran’s face screaming bloody rage right up until the instant Danny wrapped the kid up and yanked him off. He essentially picked Eric up and threw him to the ground in a dizzying motion. Eric was back on his feet in a heartbeat and Danny forcibly restrained him while Derrick dropped down beside Kieran.

An expert touch came away with blood seeping out the back of Kieran’s skull. Derrick had been pre-med before he switched out, which wasn’t as good as having a doctor on hand but was sure a hell of a lot better than the rest of them could do. In movie-esque fashion Derrick stripped off his tank top to expose himself to the chilly night air as he bunched up the shirt and used it as a bandage for his dazed friend.

“River.” Derrick said, his voice was calm, controlled and River responded to it instinctively, “hold this.” He gestured to the improvised attempt to stem the bleeding and River found himself kneeling before he could think about it. He had never been in a high pressure situation like that before, never held a friend’s life in his hands while stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Later, when he was thinking clearly, he would thank god for Derrick. River was terrified if it had just been him there he would have stood around gawking while his friend bled to death. Maybe he was being melodramatic, but that was sure as hell the way he felt right then.

Blood seeped into his hands but River held the shirt against the wound while Derrick did something. Something was the most articulate way he had to describe it since he was only half noticing, he was so fixated on his part which could have been done by the ground if River had just leant Kieran back into the bandage and let the road hold it in place. That was something else River would realize later. Derrick had involved him just to snap him out of the fugue he had fallen into.

Derrick expertly checked pupil dilation, checked Kieran’s pulse and after a very long minute he sat back with a sigh. He rolled his head, cracked his neck and leant back.

“Is he ok?” River finally asked.

The sounds of Danny and Eric struggling behind them had abated during the examination.

“Why don’t you ask him?” Derrick suggested.

“What?” River exclaimed as Kieran cracked a lazy smile.

“All good bro,” he mumbled, “help me up?”

“Easy.” Derrick cautioned as River took Kieran’s hand and slowly helped him to sit up. Kieran may have said he was fine but the improvised bandage was thick with the stark red of his blood.

“Scalp wounds bleed a lot,” Derrick said when he saw the direction of River’s gaze, “it’s probably nothing to worry about.”

“Probably?” River asked.

“I’m a mathematical genius man, not a doctor.” Derrick paraphrased with an impish smile, “And I didn’t bring my portable MRI with me today, sorry about that.” He joked, “But yeah as far as I can tell he’s responding normally, he’s just a bleeder.” Kieran looked at the two of them sheepishly as if deciding whether he should apologise for that.

“I’m cool, I’m cool!” Eric said loudly and River flicked his attention towards the freshman who was waving Danny off, “I’m sorry,” he said, hands spread out in a peaceful gesture, “I didn’t mean to do that. I mean, I did but, I didn’t. Heat of the moment?” he offered weakly.

“We’re good bro,” Kieran said. “All good.”

“I really didn’t mean to hurt you, I just—” he looked towards his burning SUV.

Regardless of the circumstances most guys would still have been pissed that they had just been decked and would most likely have knocked Eric on his ass just to prove a point or level the playing field but not Kieran. Apology offered, apology accepted, as far as he cared it was over with, done.

There were a lot of people out there who would have paid dearly to have that kind of zen. River chalked it up to the surfing, for whatever reason surfers always seemed to have that zen attitude to life. Personally River found surfing to have the opposite effect on him, he got knocked off the board so often he might as well just bury himself in the wet sand and be done with it.

Kieran took over holding his own bandage and River was left with nothing to do but look around and realise they really were in the middle of nowhere, a dark deserted road between two stretches of dark, vast, woodland, a sliver of moonlight was their only source of light and even that was being over taken by thick broiling clouds.

The SUV was toast, their clothes, food, water, phones, everything was burnt or burning while they watched and oh yeah Derrick was half naked, Kieran was bleeding, and River was scantily clad in a cheerleaders outfit that did nothing for modesty or warmth, not to mention that unlike his frat brothers he was bare foot. With the adrenalin surge wearing off he was starting to feel every biting inch of the cold scraping along his feet, edging along his stomach. Chills were racing across him and goosebumps were rising on every inch of exposed skin. River breathed out and his breath rose like mist in the icy night air. He looked enviously at Danny and Eric who were both fully clothed and most importantly wearing shoes.

A howl broke through the night and the silence that had fallen over them was shattered. They each looked nervously towards the surrounding woods as a second howl pierced through them. It wasn’t close, probably miles away, but it set them all further on edge and drove home the dire nature of their situation.

“So uh, we should get moving.” Derrick suggested, he cast another look at the burning SUV and swallowed hard as he glanced towards the woods, “All in favour of figuring out what happened to the car in the light of day?” It was a rhetorical question but they all raised their arms anyway and Derrick nodded before promptly turning and beginning to stride down the road.

“Where are you going?” Eric asked, more than just a hint of panic in his voice.

“I’m going that way.” Derrick said as he pointed down the long road in front of him.

“Why that way?” Eric asked.

“Because we already know there’s nothing behind us for fifty miles at least,” Derrick explained as he walked. “So I’m hoping there’s something ahead of us.”

“What if there’s not?” Eric pushed. Derrick glanced back with an expression that screamed, ‘ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.’

“Then I’m probably going to die of exposure before morning,” Derrick retorted.

From the way his eyes flicked over River and the set of his frown he was including River in that assessment, he just didn’t want to say it out loud. But it was ice cold, had to be close to three degrees and they weren’t exactly dressed for the weather. Their breath rose as mist into the night and Derrick was rubbing his arms for warmth before he broke into a light jog on the spot.

“You guys should follow as quickly as you can. I’m going to jog ahead, see if I can replace some help.”

“We shouldn’t split up,” River said immediately.

He didn’t want to sound like he was afraid but that feeling on the back of his neck, that sense of being watched, was still there and he could swear the shadows were watching him. Every time he looked towards the woodlands on either side of the road it was as if the shadows were flowing around his line of sight, moving just far enough back that they were indistinguishable. It was just nerves, he was sure of that, just nerves, but in that primal part of his brain, the primal flight or fight reflex, the piece of him that hailed back to the days of old when men lived in caves huddled around their flames and feared the night, feared the darkness. That part of him screamed he was being watched, that something in the darkness was just waiting to gobble him up.

River looked back at Derrick—who had started jogging—and that recess of his mind, that dark little corner knew with absolute certainty if Derrick got out of sight they would never see him again. The night would swallow him up without a trace. River gulped. It was a crazy kind of thought, but even so…

“I’m going with him,” River said suddenly. “We shouldn’t split up. But since Derrick is being all noble one of us should stay with him,” he looked towards the woods again and shuddered. He didn’t miss the way the others gave the woods the exact same look. It was just the freaky way the night had gone, the inexplicable fire in the car, they were all scared and on edge but River would swear when the others looked at the woods they got the exact same feeling he did.

That same sense of dread, of being stalked. As one they looked towards Derrick’s disappearing form and gritted their teeth.

“Yeah,” Kieran said quietly. “Yeah,” he repeated, “we’ll be right behind you.” Kieran was leaning against Danny for support and River swallowed again, they wouldn’t be moving very fast, it was too cold and Kieran was in no shape to run, or even walk at a brisk pace without support. Eric looked around nervously before he slipped Kieran’s other arm over his shoulder.

“Right behind you,” Eric echoed and Danny nodded.

River gave them one last look, that sense of dread washing over him again. For reasons he couldn’t explain he didn’t think he was going to see them again. It was a queer feeling, coming from that dark part of his brain that was screaming at him to run from the darkness. To run until he dropped.

“Go.” Danny added.

“Don’t split up.” River said, “I mean it, do not for any reason leave each other, ok?”

“We’ll be fine dude, I mean it’s not like we’re in the middle of nowhere with the big bad woods all around us.” Danny meant it as a joke but he didn’t sound like he was joking, he sounded nervous, “Seriously man, go while you can still catch up to him.” They didn’t want to say it either but River would have bet they had the same feeling he did, that same sense of dread.

“Don’t split up.” River said again, “I’ll see you guys soon.”

With that River turned and pelted down the road, Derrick already had a lot of ground on him and he needed to catch up. Safety in numbers.