Chapter 2:

Every year the Howards always went on a week-long camping trip, to them it was a family tradition at this point. 

Rick and Dianne were entertaining themselves in front, singing along to the music on the radio. Josh was already fast asleep while Zaya and Zayn were playing a game of cards, using the space between them. 

They had long left the city and were now on the lonely highway. 

"Yes! I won again," Zayn exclaimed. "Let's see you call it luck this time."

"Playing cards is a game of luck, okay if it was shuffled any differently you wouldn't have the cards you would need to win."

"Just admit I'm a better player," he remarked.

She stuck her tongue out as she started to shuffle the cards again. 

Rick adjusted his rearview mirror and looked back. "You two have been at it for like an hour, aren't there other activities you can try?"

"No because our phones are dead, also it hasn't been ours that it's just been like forty five minutes since we started playing," Zaya pointed out. 

Rick nodded. "Figures."

Zayn stuck his head forward, "are we there yet because at this point I'm pretty sure we've left all civilization behind like twelve kilometers away."

The car was moving around a very narrow and curvy road which led up to the mountains. They were surrounded by dense forestry and there was hardly any sign of other motorists or people around. 

But it was usually like this, Rick knew that in the camping site they would meet a few others who also liked to go camping this time of the year. 

"Don't worry we're almost there, just give it a few minutes," he said.

Zaya let out a deep breath as she rested her head against the seat. She generally hoped that the relaxed atmosphere of the camping site would help her and perhaps reduce the nightmares. 

At the end of the day maybe that was what she needed, some rest and relaxation. 

"What are you thinking about?" 

"We're twins so aren't you supposed to know?" 

He snorted. "Since when did twins start having telepathy? Did I miss the memo?"

Finally, the view for the camping site came into their line for vision even though it was just from a distance. 

Rick slowed down as they approached. This was a sparsely populated suburban neighborhood and the family actually owned a property here. 

Rick and Dianne's love for vacations had made them purchase this property many years ago, and now they were gladly using it for their camping trips. 

They drove to their vacation house and then everybody started getting down from the car. Rick moved to the front door and unlocked it. 

When he stepped inside he scanned the sitting room with his eyes, they had used a white tarp to cover almost everything to prevent dust from settling. 

One by one they all entered dragging their bags behind them. "Looks like we have a little cleaning to do," Dianne remarked, swiping on the surface with her fingers to check how dusty it was.

"Alright everybody you heard her go drop your bags and come back so we can clean this place up."

Groans escaped from the kids as they dragged their feet towards the rooms. Unlike in their normal apartment back in the city they didn't have their individual bedrooms here as this was a two-bedroom. 

So instead they shared a room which had one double bar bed and then one single bed. Typically Josh and Zayn will take the bunk while Zaya would take the single bed.

"I call dibs on the top bunk!" Josh yelled, throwing himself on it before Zayn could get there. 

The old metal frame of the bed groaned under his weight. 

"Yikes, looks like dad has to check that out," Zaya muttered. 

"Are you kids ready to come downstairs and clean!" They heard Dianne's voice ring from down stairs. 

Reluctantly they dragged their feet downstairs and they were helping to clean up the things and remove the white tarps. 

Thankfully there wasn't much to clean because the last time they had left they didn't leave a mess.

As they were still in the business of tidying up there was a knock on the door. Rick raised his head. "I'll go check it out," he said and then moved to the door he pulled the door knob, slowly revealing a part of his face. 

"Oh Frank, it's been such a long time," he greeted with a huge smile on his face. Dianne craned her neck to see who her husband was talking to. 

Frank was an old friend that they had made some time ago in one of their previous hikes, just like their family Frank's family also used to hike around the area. 

"Oh my god Frank, so nice to see you again. What has it been like two, three years now? Are you here with Sophia and the kids?" Dianne asked, tossing aside the rag she was holding. 

Frank forced a small smile as he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Well actually Sophia and I are divorced."

The news dropped like a bombshell and there was an awkward silence in the room before Rick finally cleared his throat. 

"Things happen and I'm sure it was the best for both of you."

"Yeah I suppose it was, the divorce has really given me time to grow as a person. But anyway I'm here with the kids, lovely seeing you people here too."

"The pleasure is ours, maybe we can even come over and visit one of these days."

"Sure," Frank said and then backed away. "I should get going now, you never leave kids alone for too long."

"Awkward," Josh said under his breath.

"Every family has the things that they're going through so let's not judge. Anyway, Zaya, Zayn, I need you to go get some camping gear for me from the old cabin."

"Hey I want to go out and get some gears from the old cabin too," Josh said in protest. 

"You are going to stay here and help me around." He faced the twins. "Make sure you get the tents, flashlight, stove and the sleeping bags."

Dianne looked up. "Ah yes, sleeping bags are very important," she emphasized. 

"Anything else? You're sure you don't need us to… I don't know, maybe bring a buffalo while we're at it?" Zayn remaked.

And Zaya let out a short laugh. They dragged their feet out of the house. "That cabin is a bit far, why doesn't he just let us drive the car there?"

"Dad, let you drive his truck? He would have to be dead first," Zaya commented.

They dragged their feet forward, moving towards the cabin. There were lots of dry leaves on the pathway, and with the way vegetation had increased here it was obvious that people rarely moved about in this area. 

The small cabin student plane site, surrounded by tall trees.

Zaya jiggled the keys in her hand as they got close. She unlocked the Old rusty padlock and opened the door.

"Sheesh, it is hot in here," Zayn started, scanning the place with his eyes. "I found the tent," he said, pointing to a large folded cream colored tent in the corner. 

Zaya crouched. "These are the flashlights," she said, grabbing them from a box." She smacked them by the side, trying to flip the switch. "Are you sure they still work?"

"Well they use batteries so let's hope that dad bought some batteries."

They stared at each other. "What else did they ask us to bring?" Zayn asked. 

"I should probably call," Zaya said, pulling out her phone. "Shoot, no service."

Zayn squinted his eyes as he tried to think. "Oh I remember I think mom said we should bring the sleeping bags." 

They pulled them out from the corner.

"I'll carry the tent you hold the flashlight and the sleeping bags."

Even though it was a lot for Zaya to try to balance she did not want to come back here a second time so she made sure to pack everything at once.

Zayn was locking the door to the cabin when all of a sudden, a Shadow whisked past Zaya, over her head. 

The hair on her skin rose as the pricking sense of fear resurfaced. She tilted her head up, looking to the tall trees that formed the canopies, there was seemingly nothing.

"What are you looking at?" Zayn asked when he was beside her. 

"Nothing, I thought I saw somebody."

They started to march back to the house. Zaya was deeply contemplating the nightmares that she was having and at this point she felt like she needed to share her plight with somebody. 

"Zayn," she started.

He hummed a response.

"Have you ever had–"

She was cut off when the sound of rustling leaves met their ears from above them, this time they both looked up. 

They cut a glimpse of a black streak, moving through the trees. 

"What the hell is that?" Zayn asked. "Is that a monkey or something?"

Zaya instinctively looked to the side, she saw a beast like creature that was pure black with glowing red eyes rushing towards them.

"It's not a monkey run!" 

She bolted forward as fast her legs could carry, dumping the supplies she was holding on the ground.

Zayn had also turned for a split second and he had gotten a glimpse of the creature so let go of the tent and started to run.

They pushed their bodies to the point where it felt like the ground was shifting and they were going to fall. 

However the efforts proved futile as the creature gained on them with each passing second. Its growls grew louder.

The twigs and branches behind them snapped as the creature leaped from tree trunk to tree trunk.

Zaya screamed, her heart in her mouth as adrenaline coursed through her. 

Just when it seemed like all hope was lost and that the creature they were running from was going to catch up with them and attack they ran smack into a solid figure, causing all of them to topple over and fall to the ground. 

"Oh my God! What's wrong?" Rick asked, getting on his feet. He was less concerned about his fall and more concerned about the kids. 

Zayn and Zaya still got up looking petrified, they were ready to make another run for it but then Rick held them down by blocking their path with his arms.

"What is happening, can someone explain?"

Zaya was still too out of breath to explain anything to him and so she crouched, placing her arms on her knees as she panted loudly. 

Zayn kept looking over his shoulders but there was nothing there anymore. "There was a– it was huge– it wanted to kill– we sa–" his speech was incoherent.

"Just calm down and tell me what you saw," Rick spoke, interjecting him. 

"I know this sounds crazy but it was a huge, black, scary monster. It was chasing us."

"A bear?" He asked. 

Zaya had caught her breath so she raised her head. "No it wasn't a bear, it was in the canopies first before it came down and chased us."

Dianne was also rushing out to meet the kids. "What happened?" 

"They said they saw a monster," Rick replied.

"A monster? What?" She said, coming to a stop in front of them as she visually examined them. "Are you two okay?"

The twins were still looking back, it didn't make sense how something that was just so close to them had suddenly disappeared.

Rick placed his arm on his waist. "Look, you left the camping gear on the floor," he said, gesturing towards it in the distance. 

"Dad no!" Zaya screamed. "What if it's still out there."

"Relax, there's nothing out there." He moved forward, making his way to where the tent was lying. 

Nothing happened to him. 

Dianne moved forward, "You two just stay here I'll go help." 

Zaya and Zayn stood in the background, hearts still pounding in their ears as their parents picked up the camping gear that they dropped on the floor. 

"You didn't even bring the stove," Rick remarked, tugging against the tent. Dianne cautioned him under her breath to cut them some slack. 

"Here you go," Rick said to Zayn, shoving the tent into his arms the moment he was near him and then he turned around to head back to the cabin and get the stove himself, muttering something about how if you wanted something done then you had to do it yourself. 

"Dad be careful," Zaya warned. 

"I know," he shot back without even facing her. Dianne placed her hands on her shoulders to guide them back towards the house. Zaya still couldn't help but look back at the spot that they were leaving as a sense of dread formed in her stomach. 

When th

When they got back into the house Josh was making fun of them. "I can't believe you guys are running from imaginary things now," he teased.

"Josh you shouldn't make fun of the twins, maybe they saw a beast in the woods. And this should be a warning to everybody, you should all be careful because we don't really know what is lurking outside."

Dianne made her way to the kitchen, she was going to prepare some steak for them tonight so she had to make sure to marinate the meat. 

Zaya grabbed her brother by the arm and pulled him to the corner. "Everybody is acting so weird about this but I'm very sure of what I saw, and I know you saw it too."

"Yeah it was like… I don't know how to describe it but it had long teeth and glowing red eyes… I feel like I've seen–" Zayn quickly closed his mouth and didn't bother to complete his sentence. 

Her eyes widened. "You feel like you've what?" she asked, meeting his eyes.

"It's nothing, forget I said anything."

She squinted suspiciously at him, but decided not to press further on the matter. "Have you noticed how dismissive they are? Especially Dad."

Zayn shrugged. "Maybe they think it's crazy talk, I mean… we claimed to see a beast chasing us."

She folded her arms but she was still unsatisfied. "I don't know there's something weird about this," she remarked before making her way back to the sitting room. 

"Awwn mehn," Josh muttered, raising his phone up in the air. "There is no signal."

Zaya gasps and checks her phone as well, "Damnit, how, am I supposed to stay in touch with Chloe now?' she remarked.

Dianne craned her neck from the kitchen area. "Well then you should tell Chloe that it's family time, keep the phones away for a little while and enjoy nature."

Zaya scoffed, "Yeah right, nature almost tried to kill me." 

Rick told the twins to help out with moving things to the truck since they were going to have their first night out today. 

"Sometimes I don't understand why we would have a place to sleep in and then decide to sleep in the woods," Zayn commented as he moved the box of supplies outside. 

"It's called camping kiddo," Rick replied. 

It wasn't too long before they had started to set up outside and Diane was roasting the steak just by the frontage since she was using a grill. 

The truck was already loaded with all the supplies they needed and by now the sun had already begun to set slowly dipping below the horizon, painting the skies with an orange hue. 

To appreciate the moment, Josh took a picture of the sky. 

"I'm almost done, just give me a minute," Dianne said, flipping the meat. 

"Aren't we supposed to do this over a campfire?" Zayn asked. 

"Have you ever seen anyone roasting meat on a campfire? A camp fire is for smaller things like marshmallows and sausages."

"Well realistically if you were stuck in the woods and you had to hunt down an animal to kill you would roast it over a campfire," Zaya interrupted.

Rick sighed, face palming himself as he moved back inside. When Dianne was done packing the food, they loaded everything they would need to carry into the car and they were ready to leave

He started the engines. "So let's sing the camping song."

The horror on Zaya's face mirrored that of her twins. "No please not the camping song–" 

She was interrupted mid speech when Rick started to sing it at the top of his voice and was quickly backed by Dianne and Josh. 

Throughout the entire ride the twins tried every possible means to block their ears and look away as they cringe with embarrassment. 

After a ride of almost thirty minutes Rick arrived at a clearing and parked the car. The trees here were less densely packed and there was more space. 

It was almost nightfall so as they were getting down from the car they hurried to set up with whatever little natural light was left before it would be fully evening. 

Josh was finding it extremely difficult to set up the tent and eventually he had to ask for help from Zayn after being trapped inside the collapsing. 

By the time they had fully set up it was already dusk, they had two huge tense setup behind them as well as some supplies.

Rick and Zayn had made sure to arrange the dry free branches that they could use as firewood and they had also set up near a fallen tree so they could use its trunk as a seat.

The hooting sound of owls from the canopies over their heads echoed in the air. Zaya was cradled inside the tent on a video call session with Chloe. "... I don't even know what I'm going to do about the bugs."

Josh stuck his head in. "Mom and Dad are looking for you, they want everyone to come out."

She groaned, still on the video call as she emerged from the tent. She turned the phone to show Chloe a view of everybody. "Everybody say, hi it's Chloe."

Dianne smiled warmly. "Hi Chloe," she greets. 

"Hi Mrs Howard, you look stunning in that new bob cut."

"Why thank you so much Chloe, at least somebody noticed," she jabbed her elbow into Rick's sides. 

Zaya turned the phone back to herself. "So far the trip seems fun, I just hope we don't get attacked by a bear or something."

Chloe suddenly squinted her eyes, moving closer to the phone screen. "Uh… is there something behind you?" 

Without asking questions she whipped her head back, a shiver running down her spine. There was nothing behind her, but she could swear that she just heard something move in the distance. 

"I didn't see it but I heard something, what did you see Chloe?"

"Oh I don't know it's a bit dark but I think I saw an outline of something moving, maybe it's just a bird that flew by."

Zaya shook her head slowly. "I think there's something watching us," she said to her friend. 

Rick sighed. "Oh come on Chloe now you're going to feed into her delusions," he replied, overhearing their conversation.

"I'm not being delusional, I know what I saw—" she abruptly got up and then headed back into the tent. 

"Aren't you going to have your steak?" Rick asked. 

"I'm not hungry!" She shot back from inside the tent. 

After a couple of minutes she got off the phone with Chloe and then when she was just sitting her phone on silent and trying to prepare the sleeping bag, someone unzipped the tent and it was Zayn. 

He had a disposable plate in his hands which he gently shoved inside as he entered. "I brought some steak for you, figure you were hungry either way."

She moved to slowly take the plate. "Between me and you, I was. I just find it annoying how dad doesn't even want to hear us out, like we know what we saw."

He folded his legs. "Do you think that thing, whatever it was, is still out there?"

"Well I hope not," she replied, rubbing her elbows.

An awkward silence stretched out between the both of them as she started to eat. It was already getting late and everybody was growing tired so they went to sleep. 

Josh joined them later, and the three went to sleep in their respective sleeping bags.

Zayn was deep in sleep when he started to turn his head from side to side. Making mumbling noises. 

He was having a bad dream. Zayn found himself inside the cabin from earlier, but it seemed larger than usual. 

It was pitch Black and he had to reach for his phone to turn on the flashlight. He could tell that there was an ominous presence with him in the room, he just didn't know where.

Then there was a thud from the corner, he turned to face that direction. "Who's there?" he asked, his voice slightly hitched.

A huge shadow cast over his face and it seemed to grow larger with each passing second. All color drained from his face as his eyes widened. 

"Argh!" He screamed, shooting up from his sleep, his chest tightened and he could feel his blood coursing through his veins at a higher pressure. 

He looked over his shoulders and realized that his sister wasn't in her sleeping bag, however Josh was still fast asleep. 

"Zaya?" he muttered under his breath, "Zaya!" He jumped on his feet and immediately unzipped the bag, stepping out into the cold night with nothing but a torch. 

The hairs on the back of his neck stood erect as he made his way forward, trying to point the torch in the direction of this vision.