The rain came hard and the rain came
fast. And it was quite unlucky for Ryan as he'd hiked several miles
into the woods. Not wanting to turn back he charged forward, hoping
for a thick pine or rock shelf to hide and weather it out. As he
turned the corner it loomed above him through the trees. His shelter.
A large cave. It looked inviting in the twilight downpour so he
charged in with haste. Being caught in the rain with your hiking gear
wasn't any way to spend the day.
The cave seemed to go on forever. Ryan
snapped a glow stick and held the low green light above his head. It
wouldn't penetrate the back reaches of the cave but he could see all
he needed to see. In the center of the large area in front of him was
a circle of rocks. Scattered around it was wood, enough wood for a
fire. Dry, seasoned wood. The best kind of firewood.
It didn't take him long to make the
wood into a nice warm fire. The man was always prepared for almost
any eventuality. Except rain the weatherman had assured wouldn't
come. But no matter. Ryan had a nice roaring fire and he settled in,
ready to spend the night.
The overcast sky had fooled him into
thinking it was later than it actually was. It had been a half hour
or more since he had entered the cave. And while he was sleepy and
relaxed, he was pretty sure it should have been dark by now. Shadows
flickered on the wall and strange noises echoed from the back of the
cave. Strange but somehow normal in this weather. He eased back onto
his pack and slowly but surely fell asleep.
A loud pop erupted from the fire and
Ryan shot awake. He looked around confused, unsure of where he was
for a minute before he laid back down and took a deep breath. He was
still in the cave. Still safe. Drier than he had been when he fell
asleep. He sat up and looked outside into the forest. But he couldn't
see a thing. Getting up and moving closer to the mouth of the cave he
realized that it had gotten dark. Pitch dark. He shrugged and turned
back to the fire, to see how much time he had left of his cozy flame.
But it hadn't changed.
The wood was still the same as when he
started the fire. Each log was just as fresh as when he stacked it in
there. Ryan sat down on his pack confused. Maybe it hadn't been that
long. Maybe the sun did go down really quick. In an attempt to get
his bearings he picked up his glow stick and went to go outside. But
it no longer had a glow to it. How many hours did it have? He wasn't
sure what the package had said but he was sure it was longer than the
wood would have taken to burn.
As he looked down at his hand
something caught his attention. His eyes darted to it and realized it
was shadows on the wall. They moved eerily. Like people, moving about
the fire. He turned around and realized they danced on all the walls.
They moved. Each one getting bigger and bigger. He tossed the glow
stick down and turned, trying to catch glimpse of something,
anything, that wasn't covered in shadow. But the shadows were
growing. The cave was getting darker. Ryan didn't know which way to
turn. Each pathway just offered him more darkness. There was no way
out! His breath quickened in his throat as the shadows seemed to peel
off the wall to close in on him. He felt them brush his neck. He
cried out and covered his head with his arms. In a final desperate
attempt to dispel them, Ryan kicked his campfire to put it out.
That's when they made their last move. They rose up from the ground,
and tore him apart. The ripped his flesh from his bones. Limb by limb
he was devoured. His scream echoed in the cave, reverberating off the
walls deep inside. And as the last note faded away, the shadows did
too. The rain stopped. And the wood sat still. Enough wood for a
fire. Dry. Seasoned.
The best kind of firewood.
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