wasn’t hard to guess what he was doing. He was retrieving his fallen chainsaw.
John tensed at the realization. Any second now the chainsaw would roar to life. John couldn’t help it—this time he did begin to panic. He couldn’t just keep lying here in the mud, waiting to die. Still, he was scared to move. The maniac was still very close. But a moment of truth was coming. John decided that if he heard those footsteps start back in his direction, he would get off his ass and start running.
The man did start moving again…but the sound of his footsteps soon receded. He was headed in another direction. John opened one eye, risking a peek at the retreating figure’s broad back. The glimpse was enough to verify two things—that he had indeed retrieved the chainsaw, and that he was going after the girl John had at least temporarily saved. That big gap between two of the trees he disappeared through was proof of that. The girl had gone that way, John was sure of it.
And he was just as certain of something else.
The maniac would catch her.
The man likely knew these woods well. It was a reasonable assumption, anyway. He wouldn’t be randomly walking around out here with a chainsaw. But John reminded himself that this was regular-world logic. Those rules might not apply to…wherever the hell this was. The dude was like something out of a cheap slasher flick. The kind where there was no kind of real logic at all. Just a series of excuses to knock off scantily clad starlets in the most gruesome ways possible. Could be John and the girl had been sent to some twisted alternate reality governed by a similar lack of logic. Could also be the chainsaw guy’s whole reason for existence was to chase pretty girls through these damp woods.
Jesus, it made his head hurt just thinking about it. All he really knew was he had to help that girl. He thought of Marie, lying there butchered and nude on their bed. Brutally murdered by some other psycho motherfucker while he’d been passed out drunk. He would never forgive himself for that. Marie was dead because he had failed her.
He wouldn’t fail this time.
Or if he did, he would die trying to do the right thing. For once.
He got to his feet and took off running.
Darkness swallowed her. It was as if instead of running into the woods she had run straight into the enormous mouth of some great beast. A beast that had now closed its mouth and soon would suck her down its gullet to its stomach. It was an easy enough thing to believe, thanks to how all of existence seemed to have been replaced by a formless, endless black void.
The impression was unsettling, but she didn’t allow it to slow her down. Though she couldn’t see anything, she could still feel the ground beneath her feet. That was enough to keep her anchored to reality—or to what was passing for reality now. And the still-stark memory of what she was running from was more than enough to keep her in motion.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t go nearly as fast as she wished. The darkness was impeding her speed, of course, but so were the stylish shoes she was wearing. They simply weren’t designed for running blindly in the dark. She kept slipping on the wet ground, but she mostly managed to remain upright by flailing for—and grabbing on to—the abundant low-hanging branches of the many tall trees around her.
Sometimes, though, her hands grabbed nothing but air and she would go tumbling to her hands and knees. But every time she was able to claw her way back to her feet and get moving again. She was even able to establish a decent half-running pace after a while. She was moving fast enough that for the first time she began to feel the first real ray of hope. If she could just stay focused and keep moving, she might survive this insane night after all.
Then she ran into the tree.
The blackness was so complete she never saw it looming in front her. She ran right into its wide base at a pace just short of
John tensed at the realization. Any second now the chainsaw would roar to life. John couldn’t help it—this time he did begin to panic. He couldn’t just keep lying here in the mud, waiting to die. Still, he was scared to move. The maniac was still very close. But a moment of truth was coming. John decided that if he heard those footsteps start back in his direction, he would get off his ass and start running.
The man did start moving again…but the sound of his footsteps soon receded. He was headed in another direction. John opened one eye, risking a peek at the retreating figure’s broad back. The glimpse was enough to verify two things—that he had indeed retrieved the chainsaw, and that he was going after the girl John had at least temporarily saved. That big gap between two of the trees he disappeared through was proof of that. The girl had gone that way, John was sure of it.
And he was just as certain of something else.
The maniac would catch her.
The man likely knew these woods well. It was a reasonable assumption, anyway. He wouldn’t be randomly walking around out here with a chainsaw. But John reminded himself that this was regular-world logic. Those rules might not apply to…wherever the hell this was. The dude was like something out of a cheap slasher flick. The kind where there was no kind of real logic at all. Just a series of excuses to knock off scantily clad starlets in the most gruesome ways possible. Could be John and the girl had been sent to some twisted alternate reality governed by a similar lack of logic. Could also be the chainsaw guy’s whole reason for existence was to chase pretty girls through these damp woods.
Jesus, it made his head hurt just thinking about it. All he really knew was he had to help that girl. He thought of Marie, lying there butchered and nude on their bed. Brutally murdered by some other psycho motherfucker while he’d been passed out drunk. He would never forgive himself for that. Marie was dead because he had failed her.
He wouldn’t fail this time.
Or if he did, he would die trying to do the right thing. For once.
He got to his feet and took off running.
Darkness swallowed her. It was as if instead of running into the woods she had run straight into the enormous mouth of some great beast. A beast that had now closed its mouth and soon would suck her down its gullet to its stomach. It was an easy enough thing to believe, thanks to how all of existence seemed to have been replaced by a formless, endless black void.
The impression was unsettling, but she didn’t allow it to slow her down. Though she couldn’t see anything, she could still feel the ground beneath her feet. That was enough to keep her anchored to reality—or to what was passing for reality now. And the still-stark memory of what she was running from was more than enough to keep her in motion.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t go nearly as fast as she wished. The darkness was impeding her speed, of course, but so were the stylish shoes she was wearing. They simply weren’t designed for running blindly in the dark. She kept slipping on the wet ground, but she mostly managed to remain upright by flailing for—and grabbing on to—the abundant low-hanging branches of the many tall trees around her.
Sometimes, though, her hands grabbed nothing but air and she would go tumbling to her hands and knees. But every time she was able to claw her way back to her feet and get moving again. She was even able to establish a decent half-running pace after a while. She was moving fast enough that for the first time she began to feel the first real ray of hope. If she could just stay focused and keep moving, she might survive this insane night after all.
Then she ran into the tree.
The blackness was so complete she never saw it looming in front her. She ran right into its wide base at a pace just short of
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