The Return To Wayde Woods

The truck tires spun, spraying mud everywhere.

"Good job dumbass," Alen yelled at Jerry. "You got the fucking pickup stuck!"

"Will you shut the fuck up already?" Jerry yelled as he exited the cab.

"Well now what?" Alen asked, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"I don't know asshole, it was your idea to go camping," Jerry replied.

"Yeah, but it was your idea to take this makeshift trail through the woods, and now we're stuck," Alen pointed out. "So it looks like we get to walk."

"Whoa..you mean walk away? Dude, this is my dad's truck. He'll fucking kill me if something happens to it!" Jerry replied.

"Well we ain't getting it out of here like this. Look we'll just get home and come back with my truck and pull it out," Alen offered.

"I don't know," a nervous Jerry replied.

"Fine look, if you're afraid that something will happen to the precious truck then you stay here and guard it and I'll go get help." Alen suggested.

"Are you sure you want to go out there alone?" Jerry replied, more nervous about being alone himself then fearing for his friend's safety.

"Don't be a bitch Jerry," Alen replied. "I'll be fine."

Alen grabbed a beer out of the cooler and started heading back the way they had come.

* * *

"Wait Megan, hold up!" Dusty hollered at Megan.

Megan stopped and turned back to face him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just out of breath," Dusty replied. "I think we're safe now. You okay?"

"I don't know," Megan replied. "I think so."

They had been running for a long time. Fear fueling them as they tried to escape The Hunter. They had seen no sign of him for awhile, and Dusty had to rest. Letting out a moan, he sat with his back to a large tree. Megan sat down on an old fallen log a few feet from him.

"Fuck!" Dusty hissed, hitting the ground with his hand. "That goddamn..thing..I shot it. I shot it Megan! Shot it five fucking times and he barely blinked!"

"This is just like before," Megan said. "We hung the bastard and he just cut himself down. Ben blasted him with a shotgun and apparently he lived through that. I don't think he can be stopped."

"No," Dusty shook his head, "When I shot him he bled. If something can bleed, it can die. It's just a question of how."

"Cut his fucking head off?" Megan offered.

"Think you could get close enough?" Dusty asked.

Megan paused then replied, "No, probably not."

Dusty put his head back against the tree and sighed. "Goddamn I'm too old and out of shape for this shit," he thought out loud.

"Me too," Megan joked with a half smile.

Dusty looked up to see her expression, and copied it. "You're too young to be feelin' as old as me."
"Dusty, what time is it?" Megan asked.

"Hmm?" Dusty said, then looked at his watch. "It's four o'clock. Why?"

"No reason," Megan lied. She was worried about her dad right now.

* * *

Hank Wilson pulled into the police station. After his conversation with Ben ealier that morning he had begun to worry. He called Mr. Silvio and found out that Megan never showed up for work that morning. After hearing that, he called everyone that he could think of to call. Any person or any place that Megan could be. No one had seen her.

He called Mr. Silvio back and he had told Hank about Dusty harrasing Megan the day before. He also suggested that Hank went to the police. It was a suggestion that Hank completely agreed with. His heart was pounding in his chest, nerves shot thinking that harm might have come to his daughter. They had only just begun to have a relationship again. To truly be a father and daughter. He didn't want to lose her now. He couldn't lose her now.

Pulling into the police station, Hank exited the car and charged into the police station. There was a receptionist desk with a young blonde girl behind it. He walked straight toward her.

"Miss, I need to see the sheriff right now!" he almost yelled.

"Sir, calm down. Is this an emergency?" she asked.

"Goddamn right it's an emergency, my daughter is missing!" Hank slammed his hands down on the desk.

Alarmed by the noise, Sheriff Joe Perry came out of his office. "What the fuck is going on here?!"

"Sheriff!" Hank shouted, turning to face him. "Sheriff it's my daughter, she's missing!"

"Okay calm your shit Mr. Wilson," Joe instructed, placing his hands on his hips. "How long has she been missing?"

"When I woke up this morning she was gone," Hank replied, trying to stay has calm as he possibly could in this situation. "I've caled everywhere she could be. No one has seen her!"

"I see," Sheriff Joe replied. "Well I'm sorry Mr. Wilson, but it's not a missing person case until she has not been located for fourty-eight hours."

"What?!" Hank said in shock. "WHAT?! SHE IS FUCKING MISSING! THAT GODDAMN FUCKING FUCK DUSTY CONNER TOOK HER!"

The sheriff scratched his nose with his thumbnail before continuing. "Did you see Mr. Conner taking her?" he asked.

"Well..I.." Hank stuttered.

"Did anyone see Mr. Conner take her?" The sheriff asked.

"No," Hank replied in disgust. "No one saw a goddamn thing."

"Well then like I said, fourty-eight hours," the sheriff said.

"Fuck this," Hank said, turning to leave.

"And hey Hank," Sheriff Joe spoke up.

Hank turned around to face him.

"The next time you come into my station with that attitude, I'll lock you up," Joe informed him.

Hank turned and hurried out. He rushed over to his car and got in, slamming the door. Enraged, he pounded his fists against the stearing wheel. Every ounce of him wanted to go back in there and beat the fuck out of Sheriff Joe Perry, but that wouldn't help his daughter. If she was still missing at the fourty-eight hour mark, he would need the police's help. So instead, he drove away.

* * *

"We should probably get going," Dusty told Megan. "Try to get back to the cabin before it gets dark."
"Right," Megan replied. "Any idea which way that would be."

"Umm..." Dusty looked around them. "Fuck, I don't know. We ran so many directions I lost track. This way...I think."

"Well, lead the way Captain," Megan told him.

* * *

In Bob's mind, nothing in the world was prettier than a sunset. And there was no better way to enjoy it than with a fishing pole in hand. Well, perhaps with his grandchildren. Luckily, he was getting the best of both right now.

His eyes shifted from the pretty sky over to the young ones. They had slowly migrated away from him, competitively searching for the best fishing spot. Now they were arguing in that way that all brothers and sisters do.

He was overjoyed that he had listened to them and did this camping trip the right way. They had the woods, they had a fishing pond and they had this beautiful sunset. The perfect little camping trip.

"Hey kids," Bob called to his grandchildren. "About done fishing? It's getting dark and we have to cook our fish now!"

Bob walked over to their campsite. He got out the frying pan and the stand to keep it over the fire. Soon the children arrived, carrying their fishing rods.

"Grandpa, can we go fishing after we eat?" Timothy asked with excitement.

"Now it'll be too dark then," Bob laughed. "But I'll tell you what, tomorrow morning we will get up bright and early and hit it then."

"Alright," Timothy said with a mixture of slight dissapointment but excitement for the next day.

"Alright, let's build ourselves a fire, then I'll clean the fish and cook 'em," Bob planned out loud.

* * *

"Holy shit," Megan said with an exhausted tone. "There's the cabin."

They had been walking for a very long time, unsure rather or not they were even headed in the right direction. The sun had completely dissapeared by now. Only traces of its light still visible in the sky.

"Couldn't have got back a moment too soon," Dusty observed. "I'd hate to be stuck in those woods in the dark."

"Me too," Megan agreed. "Let's get inside."

They went inside with a level of caution, making sure it was safe before fully entering. Once satisfied, they hurried in and shut the door behind them. They both knew the cabin wasn't truly safe from The Hunter, but they both felt a sense of safety from being out of the woods. The woods was not their territory, it was is. Occupying them was a necessity, but it made them vulnerable.

"Would you like some dinner?" Dusty asked.

"Sure," Megan responded. She wasn't very hungry, but knew she must eat.

Dusty pulled various canned goods from the backpack he had left in the cabin. Along with them he pulled out a can-opener and utinsels. They both grabbed a can and sat down. Silence fell over them as they ate. For ten minutes no words were spoken. Dusty brok the silence.

"I shouldn't have brought you here," he said, stabbing the food in the can with his fork and setting it on the floor. Leaning forward he put his head in his hands and rubbed his face. "It was wrong. I have put you in danger. Make that, back into danger. I shouldn't have put you back into danger just because you survived and my daughter didn't. Now I very well might have two deaths on my hands."

"Dusty, it was wrong to kidnap me," Megan began. "But you needed help and experience. You knew I wouldn't have come otherwise. And you're right, I wouldn't have. I understand why you did what you did. However you did me the chance to leave. I chose to stay. What happens to me is no longer on you, it's on me. And Suzette chose to come on this trip, and we chose to all go get help instead of someone staying with her. Her death, if she is dead, is not on you."

Dusty stared at her for a moment, surprised and comforted by her kind words toward him. "You're right Megan, I did give you the choice to leave. And I'm giving it again. You still have your keys, go now. Get out of here. Or go in the morning if you don't want to travel in the dark. This is my fight now."

"No," Megan stated firmly. "This is my fight as much as it is yours. The only way I was able to sleep at night was by convincing myself that the bastard was dead. I can no longer do that obviously. As fucked up as it sounds, If I ever hope to live a normal life I must watch him die."

Dusty smiled and walked over to Megan and knealt down by her chair. "Alright, then we are a team. Let's make a pact that we will look out for eachother out there. That we will both leave these woods in one piece. And that we won't leave until we watch that bastard die."

Dusty extended his arm in that way that guys do. Almost like he was getting ready for an arm-wrestling match. It was a symbol of "brotherhood." A symbol that they would be a team and would have eachothers backs on matter what. Megan accepted those terms and gripped his hand.

"Tomorrow we kill The Hunter," Dusty said with a smile.

* * *

"My fish is tastier!" Tina so matter-of-factly informed her brother.

"How do you know, they were all cooked together?!" Timothy retorted.

"The one I ate was yummy so it had to be mine!" Tina shot back.

"Now, now kids," Bob tried to calm them. "We both know your grandpa's fish is the best."

The kids both giggled. Bob smiled and set down his plate. With a tired but happy sigh, he pulled out his pipe and put some tobacco into it.

"Grandpa, tell us a story," Timothy requested.

"Yeah, a scary story!" Tina piped in.

"Oh I don't know kids, awfully close to bed time. Don't want you up all night scared half to death, we have a big, busy day planned tomorrow."

"We won't be!" both the kids chimmed in.

"I don't even find scary stories that scary," Timothy informed his grandpa.

"Liar!" Tina responded. "Last week you saw that movie and wet the bed!"

"You're not exactly helping your case their sweetie," Bob told his granddaughter. "But alright, I'll tell one. Once upon a time there was these woods. And right next to the woods lived a little boy and a little girl whose mother told them never to go into the woods. Now these kids were good kids so they made sure to listen. But one time they were playing catch, and the boy was such a good pitcher that he through that ball clear into the woods. The girl, being the adventurous one who, let's face it, was not as well behaved as the boy..."

"I like her," Tina interrupted.

"You would," Bob told her. "Anyway, she started to go in after the ball. Her brother told her to stop, he reminded her that their mother has said not to go in there. But she wouldn't listen. The boy wasn't sure what to do, but he wanted to resume their game of catch so he followed. So into the woods they went. Before long they were so deep into the trees looking for the ball, that they had no idea how to get out again. So they wandered for hours, lost in the woods. Their mother and father were worried sick at home, but had no idea where they had gone. Suddenly there was the crunch of stick breaking. The little boy and little girl stood frozen with fear. They were waiting silently. When then...when then...BOO!"

He sudden yell caused both children to jump and scream. Bob chuckled deeply and tried to calm the kids. Realizing there was no danger, both kids calmed down.

"That wasn't funny," Tina informed her grandpa.

"It was a little funny," Bob shot back at her.

They sat silently then and the children finished their meals. Bob puffed on his pipe, a smile still on his accomplished face. Then from in the woods their was the sound of sticks cracking as something moved toward them. The children were frozen with fear.