Chapter 5

Thump! Thump!

The sounds of feet hitting the ground, rapidly as they move through the woods.

Crash! Crack!

The sound of branches breaking as the body forcibly breaks through them, a choked sob as Bella ran through the woods tears washing her face pale.

The waning sunlight penetrated through the gaps between the trees, illuminating the path she has taken many times. Body moving subconsciously to her private space, hidden within the woods surrounding the town park, where she usually went to cry.

Before long, she makes it to a clearing hidden behind the ancient Harlin trees. At the centre of the clearing was a rock house, made when she was younger with the help of her grandfather, decorated with Ivy and surrounded by flowers of every colour and hue. It was a picturesque scene.

However, she felt too upset to take in the spring scene or reminisce about her time spent with her grandfather here.

Bella ran towards her stone home, trampling some of the flowers on the way, and slipped as she got within arm's length of the door. She fell, hit her head and elbow, and twisted her ankle. Sprawled on the floor dazed, May tried to get up, only to fall for a second time. She pulled out her phone and called the emergency services, and described her accident in the woods.

"Aid is on the way, can you stay on the phone until our staff arrive? Also, try your best to stay awake." said the man on the helpline.

"I will try..."

They spent the next ten minutes talking about inconsequential things, as they waited for the ambulance to get close to her area.

"Alright sweetie, the ambulance is going through the park, could you describe how to get to the clearing?"

"Yes," she said, then gave detailed instructions towards the clearing.

"Bella! Bella!" she heard from a distance, as she stayed on the phone with the emergency serviceman.

"Bella! Can you hear me?!" said a female voice, louder than the first."

"I'm over here. I can hear you, I'm over here."

"Alright Bella, they can hear you, I'm going to stay with you until they get you safely onto the ambulance, alright?"

"Yes. Can I say, this has been a real shitty day?" Bella says, with a wet chuckle.

"I believe that you can say whatever you want after this and no one will blame you," he said with amusement, as the sound of footsteps got closer to the clearing,

"They can see the stone house you described, sweetie, give them a shout to let them know that you are there."

"I'm over here!" she said as loud as she could, channelling her pain into volume.

"I can hear her, she's over here!"

"Bella! Bella!"

"I'm over here!" Bella said as loud as she could, waving her uninjured arm frantically.

As she did so, two figures ran into the clearing, both in the identical uniforms of the Harlin Emergency service. The woman, a blonde with green eyes, ran to her side, being careful of the area around her as she did an initial scan on her prone form. As she did so, her male colleague, a brunette with brown eyes, came forward with a stretcher necessary to move her in the forest terrain.

Everything seemed to go on quickly, as she found herself strapped onto the stretcher as they moved back to the parked ambulance less than a mile away. The female paramedic talked and complemented the clearing as they moved to keep Bella talking, while the male was ahead to lead the way back. They eventually got back to where the van was parked and get into it for a trip to the nearest clinic for further treatment.

The drive out of the woods was quiet, as the male took a seat at the front as they moved through the timber sea, they eventually came out into the park.

Within minutes they had left the park, heading towards the St.Mary's clinic as directed by the GPS.

As they left, however, the driver looked to the sides of the road briefly as he drove down the road leading towards the highway. Then sharply, he turned back to the side, and looked intently at the woodside on the right-hand side of the car, as he ignored the road ahead. After a brief stare, he turned back to the road and screamed as he jerked the to a stop. The male paramedic asleep at the time, woke up then when he looked ahead, yelled.

The female paramedic looked up from Bella's side, mouth opened to question them, only to stop as a sharp metallic sound came from the sound, followed by a creak and groan from the van. She stood up full of caution as she moved towards the front of the ambulance, slowly and softly, her hairs erect and her blood cold in her veins once she confirmed that they were not moving. She was prepared to look through the small grate located at the top of the metal wall separating the rear and the front but stopped. As she had heard a soft squishy sound followed by a wet gurgling and wheeze before an eerie silence, broken once again by a chewing sound.

Realisation dawned on her face as she backed away slowly. Then, she turned to the back of the van and took a peek out the covered rear window. She was unsurprised to see the full moon.

She took a look at Bella asleep on the medical bed and woke her up gently, holding her hand to her lips when Bella was about to speak. She turned towards the rear window and gestured to the very noticeable full moon shining brightly onto them. Bella's face drained of colour as she realised what the paramedic was signalling, eyes turning red as moisture gathered around her eyes. The two stood silent as the soft chewing sounds stopped, and the ambulance groaned and moaned.

The blonde lady quickly got up and blocked the windows, and turned off the power for the machines and light, before gesturing to Bella to hide as she hid as well.

The groans continued as a shadow blocked the moonlight from penetrating the makeshift blackout cloth, and the vague silhouette of a remarkably tall figure formed on the fabric. Bella, at this point, was crying silently. The female paramedic, on the other hand, took out her phone and took a picture from her hiding spot and uploaded it onto a media site. She crawled out and started a live broadcast to be saved on the media-sharing site, in resignation, she typed out their situation on the comments section. Once people close to her saw the live broadcast announcement and saw the subject of the video, the views skyrocketed.

People in Harlin were shocked speechless at the woman's bravery, as she gave the police vital evidence of the murders that have been happening over the last three months. Her family and friends, however, were in tears as they had to watch her presumed final moments.

Then, someone noticed Bella, who had followed her lead and started a live broadcast of her own, from a different angle. They both hid their phones behind some of the medical equipment, as the broadcast continued, rear cameras pointed towards the back doors. Then, the figure turned around, seemingly facing them before the creaks and groans came from the sides as the person tried to pull the doors off its hinges.

The doors opened with a groan as a shadow fell upon the floor of the ambulance. A beat and they heard dog-like sniffles, unaware that the comments section of their broadcasts were going wild as the mystery killer was revealed to the world. The person walked around the small space slowly, seemingly about to leave, and Bella almost let out a sigh of relief, but they stopped. The person wrenched out the hospital bed in the centre and tossed it out of the open doors. The hidden two were all but holding their breaths as the figure finally walked out from view. The blonde lady signalled that she will check the situation before she crawled out of her hideout.

Bella waited for the signal to leave, she waited for a while, yet no sign came.

Bella was beyond scared and resisted the idea of coming out, face wet with tears, and a bit of mucus from her nose. She waited for almost an hour, then she slowly opened the door to the cupboard she occupied. Bella looked for a shadow or any indication that the murderer was still there.

Then, seeing none, she crawled out and into the open space of the treatment area. She slowly went forward to the open door and was dragged out shrieking and pleading to the open air on the road and the person grabbing her. Then the sound of ripped meat was heard. Blood covered the floor of the ambulance, a hair-raising shriek was heard before her head landed on the red floor revealing to the audience, her face frozen in pain and fear.

Then the sounds of chewing were heard, the audience saw nothing more than Bella's head and blood on the ambulance floor.