CHAPTER 8

I lay on the floor, looking at the moon and realizing how close to death I was. I laid on the floor for a long time and then got up on shaky legs.

"Oh shit!" I curse under my breath and stumble back into the bus. I grab the phone with one hand and Carmen with the other and run out of the bus.

What the hell? I think to myself.

I switch on the phone and immediately speed dial anybody in the group. The call was not going. There was no cell service.

"What did I expect?" I mutter angrily, pulling Carmen behind me. She followed me meekly without saying anything. Her legs were not firm as she walked but she did so without us over.

Maybe I am going to die out here. Alone and in the cold. And mauled by a creature that I thought was a from fictional story.

I pull Carmen behind me and we both march back the way we were just coming from.

There is no way I am going to wait in a fucking bus for the creature to come back. I choose not to admit to myself that it is the books I had read come to life.

This is not a half man, halfwolf animal that fed on only females. But I can not think of any reason it did not eat me, neither could I explain why a "wolf" was in this part of the world.

I feel a trickle of sweat run down my neck and onto my back. I snap around to look behind us. I see nothing suspicious, just darkness and mist.

A mist is rolling in.

I pull on Carmen's hand but she snatches her hand back and digs her foot in.

"What the hell, nerd?" She asks in her usual sharp voice.

I almost jumped on her in relief. "You're awake!" I yell.

"Was I asleep?" She asks me, looking around. "Where is Jeff? What are we doing outside?"

"You don't remember anything?" I ask. I look around. We should not be out here, standing in the open. I felt like an easy blind target.

"What should I remember?" She snaps back.

Yeah, she's back.

"We should keep walking?" I say and start walking forward but she pulls on my collar and stops me.

"Where is everybody?" She asks adamantly. "Where is Jeff?"

I sigh. Should I tell her Jef does not care about her as much as she's asking about him?

He literally did not turn back or even care about her when he walked away with the others.

I sigh again. "We should keep walking. I will explain everything on the way."

She pouts and nods. She is a slow walker so we walk at a slower pace than before. I am not comfortable walking slowly in the open like this but I figure that even walking faster would not save us if that –

"So?" Carmen breaks into my thoughts.

"So what?" I ask.

"So what are we doing here? Why are we alone?"

She does not sound like she is going to let this issue go, so I answer her.

"They went to look for help," I say.

She snorts. "I take it that you were too scared to follow them."

"Can you shut up and even wonder why you are with me?" I snap at her.

She shuts up for a minute and seems to consider what I just said. After a moment, she asks "Why am I with you?"

"Because you fainted!" I say. There is no other way for me to explain it. How do I tell her that she blacked out, or "whited" out? I chuckle slightly.

"What's funny?" Carmen snaps beside me.

"Nothing," I say with a small smile tugging on my lips.

"I have never fainted before in my life," she says softly.

"There is always a first time for everything," I reply.

"We should have stayed on the bus," She rubs her arms. "Why did we leave the bus?"

I ignore her.

She looks around and knows the road. "Why are we headed back to the village that sent us away?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions," I grumble.

"And you don't answer a lot of them," she counters. "I don't think you are as smart as you make people think."

"Is that so?" I ask.

"Yeah," she nods. I heard her head move rather than saw it. "I think you're just as dumb as the rest of us. But you try to look smarter by dressing in those old clothes and glasses."

I scoff. "You don't know what you are talking about," I say.

"You know I'm right."

I open my mouth to snap at her, but I stop. The bushes beside us rustle slightly. A deep growl reverberates through the air. I felt the vibrations on the ground.

"Fuck!" I exclaim, running blindly. "Run!" I yell at Carmen. I had run only a few yards when I noticed I was alone.

I turn to see Carmen standing, frozen where she stood. The blacks of her eyes had disappeared. Her eyes were white and slightly closed. She is swaying slightly.

"What the hell?!" I stop and stare at Carmen. She seems to be possessed. The deep growl vibrates the air around me again. I ran back to where she stood, grasped her hand in mine, and yanked her out of the trance.

I have no idea what is happening.

* * *

"THE VILLAGE SEEMS pretty normal to me," George said, spinning around.

"I know right," Licas nods. "Hey, Jeff. What did you say was wrong with the town again?"

Jeff didn't reply. He listened hard, trying to see if he would hear the barking dogs again. But there was only silence. No dogs.

"Here, let's find some people to help us," George said. "We will have to split into groups."

"Isn't that the way people die in horror books and movies?" Tristen asked.

They all fell silent and gave him accusing stares. They were already scared enough as it was.

"Good thing we are not in a horror book or movie," George said. "So… we are going to break up in groups."

"I'm with Grace," Lucas said and winked at her.

George scoffed and said, "Yeah, whatever. I and Jeff will go together."

"I and Emma will go together," Sophie said, moving closer to her friend.

They all turned and looked at Tristen, who stood alone.

"Uh, I'll join the girls," he said.

George nodded. "Now we are into 3 groups. I and Jeff will go forward. Lucas, Grace, you will go to the west," he pointed left.

"Sophie… you and your group will go east." He pointed right. "We should meet back here in an hour. Any questions?" He looked at the faces of each of them.

They shook their heads.

"Okay, let's move," George said. "And hurry."

The group broke up in a search party.

Tristen felt a little apprehensive about the whole thing. He knew Henry had a good reason for trying to stop them from coming here, but if there was a chance that there could be help here, he had to take it with the others.

"Put on your torch," Tristen whispered to the girls.

"Why don't you put on your torch?" Sophie snapped back.

"My phone is with Henry back at the truck," Tristen said. "Now put on your torch. We might see some clues like footprints that will help us find help."

That seemed to convince Sophie because she brought out her iPhone. It was the latest iPhone and put on the torch.

But there was no footprint or sign that anybody had been in this village for the past 50 or 100 years. Instead, they saw that a thick mist had settled over them, it limited the power of the torch light so they were still in a semi-darkness.

Tristen suddenly felt a deep sense of dread in his heart. "

He swallowed saliva to wet his dry throat and said, "Let's keep searching,"