Chapter 2: Preparation

Jesse's voice cut through the panic like a knife. "Pack. Now."

The command was so uncharacteristically cold that everyone moved without questioning. Elijah grabbed the first-aid kit. Phoebe started shoving gear into bags. Chase moved their food supplies.

Juliet noticed Jesse's hand never left his weapon, his eyes constantly scanning the darkness.

Once the van was nearly packed, Jesse pulled Leo aside. Their conversation was a low, urgent whisper.

"That wasn't human," Jess muttered. "Those shots should have dropped anything. Anything normal."

Leo's eyes were hard. "I saw its movement. Wrong joints. Wrong everything."

"We can't tell the others," Jesse said. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a statement.

Elijah approached, overhearing the last part. "Tell us what?"

Jesse's face transformed instantly—back to his typical cocky grin. "Nothing. Just discussing emergency routes."

But his hand never left his weapon.

The darkness outside the van seemed to pulse. Watching. Waiting.

The van's engine roared to life, Chase's hands tight on the steering wheel. But Jesse's voice cut through immediately.

"Stop," he commanded. "We're not driving blind."

Leo was already pulling up something on his phone—satellite maps, terrain views, emergency routes.

"There's a ranger station about twenty miles east," Leo said. "Straight shot, but through dense forest."

Juliet leaned forward. "You think whatever that was will follow us?"

Jesse and Leo exchanged a look. A look that said more than words. Something had changed. This wasn't just a random encounter.

"We stick together," Jesse said. "No one goes outside alone. No one."

Elijah's voice was shaky. "What exactly did you guys see?"

Silence.

The darkness outside seemed to press against the van's windows. Something moved between the trees—too fast, too fluid to be natural.

Phoebe grabbed Elijah's hand. "Drive," she whispered to Chase.

The van lurched forward, headlights cutting a narrow path through the endless pine forest.

Chase's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The van's headlights carved a tunnel through the darkness, pine trees blurring into a solid wall of black and green.

"Something's following us," Leo muttered, turning in his seat to look out the rear window.

Jesse was already there, handgun pressed against the window, scanning the treeline. "Not something. Plural."

Juliet saw it then. Shadows move between the trees. Too fast. Too coordinated.

"How many?" she whispered.

"At least three," Jesse responded, his voice flat. "Maybe more."

Elijah's hands were shaking as he pulled up the digital map. "The ranger station is still sixteen miles out. We're not going to make it."

A sudden thud on the van's roof made everyone freeze.

Then another.

Then a scraping sound—something dragging across metal.

"Don't stop," Leo said to Chase. "Whatever you do, don't stop."

Phoebe's breath caught. "What is that?"

Jesse's response was chilling in its simplicity. "Something that isn't supposed to exist."

The scraping continued. Getting closer.

The scraping suddenly stopped.

Total silence.

Then the passenger-side window exploded inward.

A shape—dark, impossibly long-limbed—started to reach inside. JJ's gun fired instantly, three rapid shots that struck the creature with precision.

It recoiled. Black liquid—not quite blood—sprayed from the wounds. The creature screamed, a sound that was part animal, part something else entirely. Not human. Not anything they recognized.

But it didn't fall.

It pulled back, wounded. Hurt. But very much alive.

"They can be hurt," Jesse shouted, his voice a mix of warning and something else. Excitement? Determination?

Leo was already moving, his weapon drawn. "But not killed. Not easily."

Another creature appeared at the van's rear window. Elijah's flashlight caught its movement—all wrong angles, too many joints, skin that seemed to shift and move like a living shadow.

"Drive!" Juliet screamed at Chase.

The van swerved, tires squealing against the forest road.

The wounded creature followed. Limping. But coming.

And it was bringing friends.

Chase pushed the van to its limits, the engine screaming as they tore down the forest road. In the rearview mirror, the wounded creature moved with a horrifying grace—limping, but somehow keeping pace.

"How is that possible?" Elijah muttered, his voice trembling.

Jesse reloaded, his movements mechanical. "Not human. Not anything close to human."

Leo was already pulling up something on his phone—satellite maps, emergency routes. "There's an old logging road about two miles ahead. Might give us some cover."

The creature that had been wounded earlier let out another sound—part scream, part something else. A call. A signal.

More shadows moved between the trees.

"They're communicating," Juliet said, her voice low. "Coordinating."

Phoebe grabbed Elijah's arm. "What are they?"

No one answered. No one knew.

The van hit a pothole. Something scraped against the roof—not just one something. Multiple somethings.

"They're on the van," Leo said, his gun already drawn and pointed upward.

Jesse nodded. "Get ready."

The first limb punched through the roof.

A sound emerged from the darkness—not quite speech, more like a vibration that cut through the van's metal frame. Something that is recognized. Something that hunted.

"Leo," it whispered.

"Jesse," another voice responded.

Both men tensed. Jesse's hand instinctively tightened on his weapon. Leos's body coiled like a spring, ready to strike.

The others noticed their reaction. "What?" Sarah demanded.

Chase glanced between them. "You guys know what that was?"

Leo and Jesse exchanged a look. A look that said everything and nothing.

"Drive," Jesse said simply.

The shadows outside seemed to pulse. To watch. To hunger.

Something about Leo and Jesse was different. Something that made these... creatures focus solely on them. Like predators recognizing specific prey.

Elijah leaned forward. "What aren't you telling us?"

Silence.

The darkness continued to follow. Watching. Waiting. Hunting

Another scrape against the van's roof. Another whisper.

"We know you," the voice said. Not threatening. Almost... intimate.

Phoebe noticed something first. Jesse's hands were shaking. Not from fear. From something else. Rage? Anticipation?

Leo's eyes had gone cold. Calculating.

"Stop asking questions," he muttered to Elijah and Juliet, who were still staring.

The creature outside seemed to laugh. A sound like breaking glass and distant screams.

Chase's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "What the hell is happening?"

No one answered.

The shadows outside moved. Coordinated. Purposeful.

Hunting something specific.

Hunting them.

The van finally rolled to a stop at an abandoned ranger station. Miles from where they'd started. Miles from those... things.

Jesse was first out, scanning the perimeter. Military-precise movements. Leo is Right behind him, covering the opposite side.

"Clear the building," Leo commanded, his voice brooking no argument.

The others watched, stunned. This wasn't the Jesse and Leo they knew. These were two people who had seen something. Who knew something?

Chase started to speak. Leo cut him off with a sharp gesture.

Jesse checked the windows. Secured doors. Moved furniture to block potential entry points.

"We're setting up a defensive position," Leo said. Not asked. Stated.

Elijah noticed their weapons were now out. Fully. Casually. Like extensions of their arms.

Juliet was the first to break the silence. "What. The. Hell. Was. That?"

Jesse and Leo exchanged a look. A look that said they would decide what would be shared. When it would be shared?

"We're safe. For now," Jesse said.

But his eyes said something else entirely.