Chapter #5: The Sacrifice

Darrel

I've been running for the past hour, breath ragged, body aching, and eyes wavering from exhaustion. But I won't stop. I know that fucking thing is still out there, searching for me, searching for Chris and Arabella. But I can't think of them right now. I need to focus on getting myself out of this forsaken forest, and back to town. Back to help. I know that nobody will believe me if I say a fucking Witiko, a monster, has been picking us off one by one. But if I tell them it's a demented cult of killers, they should leap to our aid. Especially if I mention that he was wearing a hooded white robe and burning a cross, since the four of us aren't white. At least… I'd hope. You never fucking know now and days, it could make them stop the investigation altogether and pretend like it never happened.

I haven't heard anything for a sec, so I know it went after Chris and Arabella. Chris is the one with the most knowledge about the demon, so I'm hoping that even if they're hurt, they'll still be able to pull through the night until I can get help. I lost one brother on this goddamn journey. I'm not losing another. I'll run until my feet bleed and my lungs are about to burst. Even if the beast comes back for me, I'll keep running. I'm not stopping. I'll do what is necessary to keep everyone else alive, and bring the manpower to destroy that monstrosity…

Chris

"Chris… Hey. Wake up," Arabella whispers firmly, shaking me awake. I jump awake, only to lie back down in immense pain, my back screaming out at me. I moan in excruciating agony for about a minute before she speaks. "It's back again."

"How… ugh… how long was I asleep?" I question, looking around to see it's still night, the overwhelming dark still looming over us.

"I'm not sure… maybe three or four hours? It was hard to keep track, but it's been a while," she responds before repeating. "But it's back now."

I search for the beast, finding it sitting about 15 feet from us, on the other side of the campfire. It smiles wide at something in its hand. It moves the object around, giggling to itself. I slowly prop myself up to a sitting position with Arabella's help, and try to make out what it's holding with no luck. It glances up at me, grinning again.

"Would you like to see?" It inquires, holding out its palm. It's hard to make out at first because of how far it is from the light, but once my eyes adjust, I feel my heart sink and my blood run cold again. "I just wanted to savor the last bit."

It's two fingers that the demon keeps rolling around in its grotesque hand, both a beautiful dark brown, with the white of the bone poking through the bloody chunks of flesh dangling from the stumps. From how jagged the edge of the bone is, I can tell it wasn't bitten off, but brutally broken off from the hand. It picks them up and winks at me before slurping down the fingers like spaghetti noodles, grinding down the bones before swallowing.

"Always love that nice crunch at the end," It chuckles to itself, casting a gaze in my direction. I don't respond, glaring back at it with intense hatred seeping from every pore of my body. "Why Chris… you look angry. Are you mad that you're out here all alone now? No help coming?"

"I see that Darrel hurt you pretty bad. You've got another mark on your chest," I point out. His chest, still healing from the embers I had sprayed on him hours ago, now has a new large black mark, much like the one I left on its cheek. The mark is so burned through that two of its ribs are visible, though instead of them being ivory, the bones are eerily ebony. The smile vanishes from the Witiko's face as it covers the wound.

"Don't get cocky bruh," It mocks with Darrel's voice. "You'll never be able to kill me. These are mere scratches to me."

"Really? Because you sure did scream like a little bitch all yesterday when I was fuckin' you up," I retort angrily. It scowls, baring its teeth again.

"And you wept like a scared child after I ate your friend and mauled your back. But heed my words boy, you can't hurt me like you're thinking. I'm a God amongst you livestock. You are nothing but food for me to live on, Forever, to quench this unending hunger constantly ripping at my insides. You Are Nothing."

"YOU are nothing. You are no God. And even if you are, I will kill you," I vow. It guffaws hysterically at my claim, edging closer to the campfire.

"You don't have a chance homie," Juan's voice creeps through the demon's lips before changing over to Darrel's. "You won't ever make it out of these woods."

With that, it skitters over to a nearby tree and crawls backwards up the bark, disappearing under the cover of darkness. I take a deep breath and stare into the fire. Darrel is dead too. That fucking monster murdered both of my brothers. It didn't just kill them, it ate them whole. And I couldn't do anything about it. I can't even save myself at this point.

"Chris," Arabella says, her eyes cast down at the ground, face contorted with concern. "Are we gonna die here?"

"No," I respond sharply, coming out harsher than I mean for it to. But I fucking refuse. After all the shit we've been through the past 24 hours, I am not going to die at the hands of that fucking monster. And I'm not letting her die either. Otherwise Juan's death would be in vain. "We're gonna make it out of this cursed fuckin' forest. We're gonna live…"

Darrel

"AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" I scream out as I press the bleeding stumps against the knife I heated up using the flame of the torch. My screams cry out into the empty night sky, as I sear the leaking wounds shut. For a moment, the world spins, and I almost fall, feeling myself losing consciousness, barely managing to catch myself as the pain roars out again. I try my hardest to stifle the rest of my screams as I bandage the now charcoal ends of my pinky and ring fingers on my left hand. I'm fucking glad I'm right handed.

"That fuckin' demon bitch is gonna burn!" I growl as I take a small sip of alcohol, trying to save as much as possible. I only have about a fourth of the bottle left after my run in with the Witiko about 30 minutes ago.

I could hear it coming up behind me, but I didn't care, I thought I'd be able to catch it off guard and get a good hit in. And while I wasn't necessarily wrong, I didn't calculate that it would be able to get a piece of me as well. It leapt out of the forest and snarled gleefully as it tried to take off one of my arms. Since I'd been running, this is exactly what I was anticipating, so I dashed to the side and swung back hard. And while I did catch it off guard, bashing it square in the chest, the piece of shit also got me, snapping its arm up and grabbing hold of my fingers, ripping them clean off at the base.

I ended up howling in pain as I tried to beat the demon while it writhed on the ground. It quickly saw me coming after it and skittered down the road, back towards Chris and Arabella. And now here I am, exhaustion bearing over me from being awake for nearly 48 hours, and running the past three. I know I'm close to the town now. I can see the dim lights glowing above the tops of the trees, the faint sounds of civilization finally able to reach my ears. I hobble along for another fifteen minutes or so when I spot the flash of blazing lights making their way onto the road.

"No way… HELP! HELP!!! HELP US!!! PLEASE!!!" I shout, waving my hands and the torch frantically to get their attention. The car heads past me at first and I drop to my knees. As I fall, it hits the brakes and slowly rolls back, stopping beside me, an unhappy older caucasain man cracking his window as little as possible before asking, "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

"Please help me! A m… a killer is out in the woods and is after me and my friends! It already killed one of us, and I got separated from the others! Can you please help me get back into town so I can get the police to go help my friends before it's too late?!" I ramble off frantically, showing the man my hand where the stumps are, to which he grimaces.

"S-sure! Get in quick!" the man says shakily, peering around the darkness to see if he can spot any of the 'killers' hiding in the darkness. I make my way over and roll the torch in the dirt, taking it in the car with me. Have a damn sentiment attachment to the thing now. I close and lock the door, letting my emotions get the better of me as the man flips a U-turn back towards town, my sobbing startling the poor man. He tries to comfort me, handing me some water to drink from, but nothing really works. The relief rushing through my body is unexplainable. All the tension of the past two days in this forest is releasing, the immense fear, the anxiety, the sorrow, the anguish, the horror, it pours out in waves as the shock takes over. I'm going to be okay! I'm going to be able to help my friends!

"What's that? Is that one of your friends?" the man asks, slowing the car down again.

"HELP ME!!! I'M HURT!!! MY FRIEND CAN'T WALK ANYMORE" I hear Chris' voice call out to us through the windows. The car stops to a halt, the man about to get out to search for any other wounded people. I grab his arm, stopping him from exiting the vehicle.

"Those aren't my friends… It's the people hunting us…" I tell him, a terrified look plastered on my gaunt face. "Don't get out."

"The hell are you talkin' 'bout boy? If there's others out there that're hurt, I'm goin' back to get them," he responds snidely, taking the keys with him as he exits the car. I hurry and lock all the doors, climbing over to the driver's side. I peek up to see the man disappearing into the wooded area to my left.

"God, I hope this works," I damn near pray, jamming the blackened knife deep into the ignition key and wiggling it around until it gives way, letting me turn it and flip the starter, the engine roaring back to life. Thank God he owns an old Toyota. I look back for the guy once more, still finding nothing, not even at the sound of the car starting up. I focus my attention forward again to hear an unmistakable crack, just like what we heard this evening, and feel my stomach drop. I put the car in reverse and floor it, peeling out in time to watch as a tree comes down from the left where the man entered the forsaken forest. It's nowhere as big as the last one, but it's definitely enough to stop a car from passing through. I start banging my right hand on the steering wheel furiously, the frustration taking over.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERY FUCKING TIME WE GET CLOSE!!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!" I scream.

I hear laughter from outside the car and glare up, just in time to see the man's decapitated head bounce across the concrete, rolling to a stop just before me. I gaze over to the right, spotting the Witiko poking its head out from behind a tree, just like the very first time I had lain eyes upon it. I floor the car in reverse again, whipping it around and driving furiously back down where I had come from. If I can't get past the barrier, then I'm going to at least get the others. The three of us together will be better than just me trying to make it past the demon.

Chris

It's been an hour since the beast left. The pain my body is going through is unbearable. My hand is shaking uncontrollably, my body is sweating intensely from the campfire heat and shock. My face is sore and numb, and my back damn near makes me pass out every time I'm forced to move with how immense the pain is. Arabella just had to rebandage it again as the blood had soaked through. She told me it was the last of the bandages, and that only about a third of the bottle is left.

"Well that's great…" I groan sarcastically.

"You don't look too good… Maybe you should try to get some more sleep," she suggests, staring at me with great concern.

"It's that bad huh?"

"What're you-"

"Don't treat me like I'm dumb. You're lookin' at me like I'm dead already. Just tell me how bad it is," I respond sternly, peering into her eyes.

"It's so gouged out that I don't think we'll be able to make it back into town. Either we try to stay here and let you rest a bit more, then try to get help in the morning… or I'm gonna have to leave you here if you get any worse, and try to make it there on my own to get help for you," She says solemnly, her face dropping as she admits it aloud. We sit in silence for a while, not sure what to say or do.

"I really don't wanna split up again, especially after all the shit from yesterday…" I admit. She nods, probably feeling the same way. Not to mention that she can hardly walk, and I don't think I'd do much better with how torn my back is. No matter what, we're both fucked now.

"CHRIS!!!"

"Great… the fuckin' thing is comin' back to taunt us again," I grumble unhappily, searching for the beast lingering in the forest, only to be blinded by bright lights in the distance, followed by blaring honking.

"CHRIS!!! BELLA!!!! ARE YOU OVER HERE!!!" We both hear Darrel yell, from far away, his honking still a while off, but coming closer.

"DARREL!!!!" I cry out, pulling myself up, the adrenaline taking over as I pick Arabella up, have her grab the torch and pack, then slowly start making our way toward the road. But before we get anywhere near the road, we hear a deafening screech, followed by a hard BOOM!

"What was that? It wasn't another tree, was it?" Arabella questions.

"No… I think that was the sound of a car crash…"

Darrel: Ten Minutes Ago

"Are you fucking kidding me?!?! Get the fuck off!!!" I bellow at the demon. Right after I had to swerve around Juan's funeral pyre, still burning surprisingly, I heard something heavy drop onto the roof so fucking hard that the roof indents, causing me to swerve again. I brake hard, hoping the Witiko will fall off, only to see it dig its horrendous nails into the metal to hang on.

I peel off, keeping it preoccupied with just trying to hold on so that it doesn't tear the roof off and try to bite my goddamn head off before I have the chance to find anybody. I search the front seats desperately, checking the middle glove for anything, but only finding a couple of thousand-year-old country tapes, and so many napkins in it could make a fucking suit and hat from them all. I check the other glove on the passenger side, seeing a philips screwdriver poking through all the papers and even more napkins.

"I said, GET THE FUCK OFF YOU BITCH!!!" I erupt, stabbing where I can see the fingers pointed towards me through the thin metal top. It roars, black blood seeping down into the car around the screwdriver until the beast manages to rip its hand free, poking its head over the front of the car to snarl at me through the windshield. I yank out the screwdriver and jab up again, getting its second hand this time.

Then I hear the most satisfying sound I've heard all fucking weekend. The demon shrieks wildly, which is followed by multiple thumps as it rolls off of the back of the car and collapses onto the ground. I peek through the rear-view mirror, seeing it skittering after me, yet still falling behind, eventually leaping over to the trees. I breathe out, rolling down the window a bit to get some fresh air, before I start calling out for the others.

Of course, I'm only calling out for about two or three minutes until I hear another thud on the top of the car. Before I can even react, the demon tries to shove its hand through the crack of the open window I had left open on the driver's side. I roll the window back up in the hopes that it'll keep it caught long enough for me to stab it again. Unfortunately, the Witiko had other plans, removing its left hand before punching a hole into the top of the car with its right, almost reaching my shoulder. I yelp out and l lean close to the closed window, glancing up to see the demon smiling sinisterly at me through the hole it had ripped in the roof.

"Why did you leave me boy?!" It screams in the man's voice I had left for dead. While I'm distracted with its fucked up face, it shatters the driver's side window, spraying glass all over, feeling a couple of them puncturing the sides of my face. I shout out in shock until I feel it claw at my face, slicing near my cheekbone, all the way back to my ear, cutting so deep that I can feel my ear split in two across the middle. I cry out, swerving hard to the right and trying to see where I'm going, finding us heading straight for a tree I can't avoid. I brace for impact, only to watch the world turn black…

Chris

We make it onto the road after a few minutes, my back burning white hot as I help Arabella along. I search the area, spotting the car much closer than we'd expected, smoke burning into the sky, the headlights lighting up the area for us.

"There it is, it has to be Darrel," I pant, hurrying along the desolate road with Arabella.

"Wait, Chris, what the fuck is that?" she asks, pointing at something on top of the car, tearing away at the roof to get to whatever is inside.

"You're gonna be worth the trouble you horrid little piggy!!!" It growls hungrily. The demon then proceeds to tear off the entire roof of the car like a can of sardines, and grabs out a limp Darrel from the inside, grinning wildly the entire time.

"Bella, take the torch, and run," I tell her.

"What the fuck are you talkin' about out. I'm not gonna-"

"Bella please. It's like you said before, right?! We can't both make it out of here. So, I'm makin' the decision for us now. Go help my friend, and both of you get the fuck out of here," I explain before pushing her away. She stumbles over into a tree, holding onto it before nodding and making her way over to the car as quietly as she can, taking the pack and extinguished torch with her, leaving me just the knife.

"HEY!!!" I call out, the demon snapping its head in my direction. It looks back and forth between Darrel and I, before finally making its choice, dropping him back into the car. "COME ON YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME?! YOU CAN'T DO MORE THAN HURT ME!!!"

It stalks towards me with its paper-thin lips curled back, curved teeth snapping happily in anticipation. I try to steady the knife in my hand as I limp forward, eyes focused solely on the beast. My breath is ragged, vision blurring from either loss of blood or exhaustion, of which I'm unsure. All I know is that this is the last stand. And I'll do everything to save them. I point the tip of the blade at the demon's head, glaring hatefully at the travesty in decayed skin. I can see that it's leg was hurt from the crash as well, slowing down it's movement too, though I doubt as much as mine, but at least enough to give the others a good head-start on it. That, along with all its other wounds, makes me smile, knowing that even if this is where I meet my end, I'll have hurt this "untouchable" beast enough to make it weak.

"I'm ready to die… Are you?"