The sun was setting as the three stepped across the tree line into the woods. Bitter cold was already biting into the cracks in Omar’s outfit. The case on his back was heavy, but not so heavy that he wouldn’t be able to last a few hours.
“We’ll be there before you know it,” Whitney assured him. “By the time we get there, you’ll probably feel so invigorated that you’ll want to do this again.”
“I doubt that,” Omar admitted. “I’m hoping that in the morning I’ll be able to catch a ride back to Wilmington.”
Wallace said, “I’m sure that you will. One bad day isn’t going to be enough to ruin the rest of your week.”
“Yeah, that’s a good way of looking at it.”
They were trying to keep his spirits up. Omar appreciated the gesture. The two of them really seemed like good people. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad, after all.
“Why are you so determined to get back tonight, though?” he asked.
“Oh,” Wallace replied, “you see, we told our daughter that we’d be back today, and we don’t like to keep her waiting. Too much time alone, and she may become lazy or reckless.”
“Oh, I… suppose,” Wallace replied.
What an odd thing to believe. Did they really not give their daughter free space? He’d heard correctly, hadn’t he, that she was about his age?
“Aubrey is volunteering at the hospital to help with the outbreak, though,” Whitney added. “At our insistence, of course. But it’s in her best interest. It should have kept her out of trouble while we were gone, and it shows people that she’s professional and dedicated to helping others.”
“I just wish she was a little more ambitious on her own,” Wallace said. “We won’t be there to help her for her entire life, after all.”
Omar squirmed and told him, “I’m sure she’s doing fine. People don’t need structure around every single thing they do in life.” It felt wrong to let these two speak that way about their own daughter, especially when it reminded Omar so much of how his own parents would speak to him. “What does she do when she’s not volunteering?”
“She works in coding,” Wallace said, frowning. “Spends all of her time in her room and almost never goes outside.”
“Aubrey doesn’t have a lot of friends,” Whitney added. “Not real friends, anyway. Just people she meets online. It’s good for her to get out of the house and do something useful with her life from time to time. Hence, volunteering at the hospital.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little too harsh on her?”
Both Wallace and Whitney turned to glare at Omar.
“I’ll ask you not to question the way that we parent our daughter,” Whitney said sharply.
Omar fell a few steps further behind them after that. He sincerely hoped that his own relationship with his parents was skewing his perspective of the situation. Otherwise, poor Aubrey. She deserved loving parents, didn’t she? Especially if she was Omar’s own age. He couldn’t imagine still being under his parents’ thumb after all this time.
He shook his head. Omar’s parents hadn’t been that bad, right? Time had made it seem worse than it was. Wallace and Whitney were a bit strict, and easily as cold as the snow, but probably not as bad as Omar imagined. Better not to press the matter. It wasn’t any of his business anyway.
Still, Omar wasn’t too keen to know more of this couple anymore. He’d just keep his head down and stay quiet for the rest of the hike. Then they’d depart and he’d never have to think of them again.
There was a snapping noise off to the left. Omar turned his head, but there was nothing out there in the darkness. Something must have just stepped on a branch. A deer or something. A normal animal and nothing else.
He shivered. Maybe it was a deer, but a deer the size of a truck with blood dripping from long fangs. But that was stupid. Only normal animals lived here. Except for the Snowstalker. No, no; the Snowstalker wasn’t real either. There were no monsters in these woods.
Omar folded his arms and took a deep, chilly breath. As long as he focused on what was in front of him, Omar would be okay. That was all he had to do. Ignore the monsters in the corner of his eyes.
The crunch of snow and occasional gust of wind was the only other sound in the woods. Whitney fell behind Wallace a little until she was keeping pace with Omar. Omar nodded, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge her.
“I can see that you’re upset,” she told him. “The woods can be a scary place for people who aren’t used to it. But trust me; everything is going to be fine. Look.”
She unzipped her jacket and flashed the handgun she was wearing at her hip. Omar’s eyes widened in surprise and his breath caught in his throat. Whitney flashed him a smile before zipping up her jacket again.
“I always carry a gun on these trips,” she explained, “just in case we ever run into some aggressive animals or… unsavory types in the woods.”
“That’s… uh… well…” Omar wasn’t sure what to say. This wasn’t exactly soothing, nor did it really make him feel safer.
“Wallace doesn’t know, of course,” Whitney continued, “and I would prefer to keep it that way.”
“Yeah, of course,” Omar replied.
There was a rustle from off on the right. Omar turned to look, and so did Whitney. There was nothing over there. Omar took a deep breath, trying to relax. To his surprise, Whitney looked a little surprised as well. A bud of anxiety pushed it’s way up his throat, but he swallowed it back down.
“We’ve camped in these woods for a long time,” Whitney said. “This time of year, all the large animals are hibernating or gone for the winter. The worst you’ll see is a deer, and they’re more afraid of you than you are of them. Anyway, Omar, what do you do for a living?”
“I’m in med school,” Omar admitted.
“Respectable,” Whitney said. “Hopefully, you’ve already accomplished more than my daughter has.”
“Missus Whitney—”
“Missus Jordan, please,” she interrupted.
“Missus Jordan, I’m sure that Aubrey is doing her best with what she has.”
“My daughter was given everything she needed to succeed in life,” Whitney replied. “It’s up to her whether or not she chooses to apply herself.”
Omar couldn’t help it: he was reminded of his father. He had refused to give Omar an allowance until he could work for his own money and had always expected perfect grades despite never providing Omar assistance. His father had even refused to pay for a tutor when Omar really needed it for math, forcing him to figure it out on his own time.
Somehow, Omar doubted that Whitney’s understanding of her relationship with Aubrey was authentic. It sounded like the poor girl hadn’t been given any of the emotional support she needed, especially if she wasn’t even able to find somewhere else to live. Omar shuddered; what would his father have done if Omar hadn’t been able to move out after high school?
Omar took a few steps forward to start walking closer to Wallace. There was no path, but Wallace seemed to be taking them through the least rocky parts of the forest. Still, Omar had to be careful where he put his feet. Wallace was mostly focused on his compass, but glanced up when Omar got close.
“You don’t need a map?” Omar asked.
“No, not this close to town,” Wallace replied. “As long as I have a compass, I can get us where we need to go.”
“That’s amazing.”
“Well, I was an eagle scout,” Wallace said, chest swelling with pride. “It installed a very strong appreciation for surviving in the wild. Were you ever in the scouts, Omar?”
“Ah, no, no I was not. But it’s impressive that you were, sir.” He heard what sounded like tumbling rocks in the distance and refocused his attention on Wallace. “It must have been very hard.”
“I accomplished it by the time I was sixteen, actually,” Wallace boasted. “And those skills served me well later in life when it finally became time to start my own business. Of course, my greatest accomplishment was always getting a full set of Captor Cards when I was eleven. Do you remember Captor Cards, boy?”
“That monster collecting card game?” Omar asked.
“That’s the one. Back then, there was only two hundred cards. If I’d kept collecting, I’d have well over twelve hundred, now. It would take a better man than me to keep up with something that big. I’ll stick to something simple, like running a business.”
Wallace continued, “I grew up in the suburbs around Chicago, but after college I wanted to move somewhere less crowded, where they still held on good good, strong, old-fashioned values. You know what I’m saying?”
“I might…” Omar said slowly, chewing on his tongue.
“It was hard work, but I managed to make my way up to regional manager, and thanks to some smart investments I had enough money to start my own little business. And, with the Lord’s grace, I’ve been successful enough to have a hand in local politics, keeping Saffron on the straight and narrow. But enough about me, what of yourself?”
Omar released a long, deep breath.
“I’m pre-med,” he answered simply. “Working at a lab in my spare time. That’s how I got this assignment.”
“Your parents must be proud,” Wallace replied. “I always pressed Aubrey to do her best, and I’m disappointed that she hasn’t risen to the occasion. She could easily become a doctor or a lawyer if she applied herself. Perhaps I was too easy on her because she was a girl.”
“Pressure breaks bones,” Omar muttered.
“It also makes diamonds. Not that a broken bone or two in the process isn’t unforgivable if it helps them learn, right?”
Omar’s teeth were on edge. His mother had a similar, if not quite as extreme, philosophy. She’d never left him with anything worse than a bruise.
These two were nothing but trouble. Of course Omar would be stuck with them, of all people. But it was only for a few hours. They’d be out of his hair before long and he’d never have to deal with them again. Their own daughter wouldn’t be so lucky, sadly, but ultimately it wasn’t Omar’s responsibility and there was nothing he could do about it.
Had people thought the same about what he was dealing with, growing up? Oh, that was depressing. Was the world really that unpleasant? At least Aubrey was an adult; she should be able to escape on her own.
Omar fell back a little so he was in between Wallace and Whitney. Trapped, almost. Both of them looked to be as on-edge as Omar felt. His breathing quickened as the shadows in the corner of his eyes darted about. The sound of rustling had increased tenfold during his conversation with Wallace. But now there was no distraction.
Whitney and Wallace closed in a little tighter around Omar. Wallace kept glancing around. Sparing a look behind him, Omar saw Whitney’s hand in her open coat. He gulped and shoved his hands into his pockets. Blood pounding in his ears almost drowned out the movement in the woods around them.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Omar saw something moving that clearly wasn’t a shadow.
“Did you see that?” he whispered.
“There’s nothing there, Omar,” Whitney said, her voice shaking.
But all the same, she pulled the gun out of her pocket.
“Whitney, what’s that?” Wallace asked, turning around. “What the Hell are you doing with that?!”
“It’s just for safety!” she hissed back.
The group had stopped, and there was a deep rumble coming from off in the distance.
“Safety?! Are you insane, woman! How did you even get that out of the safe?!”
“Guys,” Omar whispered, turning around to try and face the sound.
It felt like it was coming from all directions.
“You should be grateful I did,” Whitney shot back, scanning the woods.
Omar was the one to spot it, off in the distance. A haunched black mass looking in their direction. In place of a face was a deer skull, complete with antlers, cocked to the side as it studied them.
“It’s here,” he muttered, reaching out for either Wallace or Whitney, only to find that they weren’t beside him.
The creature started to lumber forward.
“I can’t believe you, woman!” Wallace cried. “This is easily the most thick-headed thing you have ever done! Don’t you know how dangerous that is?!”
“We should be dangerous, Wallace! We should be as much a threat as anything in these woods are too us!”
Omar wanted to run. He had to run. The monster—the shaytan—was getting closer. But his legs were frozen. Running meant getting lost; getting lost meant freezing to death.
The creature raised its skull and a shrill screech pierced the night. Omar covered his ears. So did the others, alerted to the danger. Then the monster charged.
The sound of thunder erupted from behind Omar. The creature was jerked back, but left standing. After a moment, it darted toward Whitney. Whitney raised the gun again, but Wallace rammed into her, knocking her away just in time for the monster to grab him and toss him. Wallace soared like a stone and hit a tree.
Omar’s spell was broken and he ran. He had to run! He wouldn’t die here! The creature couldn’t have him!
He ran. Cold ate at his lungs. The package pressed hard against his back. It was so dark. Where was Omar going? It didn’t matter. He tripped, but righted himself. The sounds of struggle faded into the distance. They were probably already dead. Snowstalker or not, the monster had barely even been phased by that bullet. Omar didn’t stand a chance.
Finally, he stopped and looked around. There was nothing out here. He was completely lost.
“Wallace?!” he cried desperately. “Whitney?!”
No response, not even the creature’s cry.
Omar was truly, utterly alone in the woods. He had no idea of where he was or how to get out of there. Hell, Omar didn’t even have a compass. How was he supposed to make it to safety?
He might as well not have run.
Spooookyyyyy
Whitney raised the gun again, but Wallace rammed into her, knocking her away just in time for the monster to grab him and toss him.
That's just dumb. Let her shoot him!