Storyteller

Ellie chocked back tears as she stood before the two monstrous men, bating her breath she sniffled, the man in the door way stood firm as the other approached her slowly, Ellie swung around as the approaching man giggled in excitement, she stared at him, his head covered by a tatty old hat, his clothing dirty and thread bear, but worst of all his face, twisted and disturbing, half of his upper lip missing, his skin looked bubbled and reddened raw, chapped skin, Ellie backed away slowly, holding out the weapon she had found she raised it further, trying to threaten the men who had surrounded her, she whimpered and sobbed as the man edged closer to her, she suddenly ran towards the door, throwing her body at the firm man, he faulted for a moment but ultimately gripped Ellie, she screamed ferociously as she tried to escape, he threw her back and she fell to the floor, opening her eyes she saw the man in the hat stood above her, she tried to move but as she did she felt a sharp pain to her head, the other man stood upon her blond hair, she struggled to move but her scalp tore, a few hairs from her head snapped from her skull and she screamed in utter pain, suddenly the man in the hat lay on top of her, his weight crippled her, she again tried to move her body away but the pain was horrific, both men laughed creepily as they tormented Ellie, she tried in vain to push the man away from her but his face grew ever closer to hers, his mouth met hers, Ellie clamped her mouth shut as he licked her lips rabidly, her eyes welled up as he violated her, laughing still the man standing oh her hair crouched down, he pinched her nose and laughed as Ellie tried to struggle away, her head bleed as further hair ripped from her scalp, anguished Ellie let out a deep breath, she could not hold herself any longer, as she opened her mouth one of the men pushed her disgusting fingers inside her mouth, his fingers fumbled with her tongue and teeth, he salivated and slobbered onto Ellie as he pushed his fingers around her mouth, suddenly she snapped her mouth shut, catching his fingers he roared in pain, blood secreted from Ellie’s mouth as she spat the end of his finger out, the other man laughed and pounded Ellie on the chest heavily, she heaved in pain, but before she could regain her breath she saw his boot falling towards her, his boot smashed heavily into her face, knocking Ellie out cold.

MEANWHILE

Alice called out for her friends, ‘DAN!’ she shouted but she knew they would not hear her above the music, she had only ventured a few yards away, but she had a bad feeling about the woods surrounding her, the fog had gotten worse and she was feeling quite frightened to be on her own. she began to retreat when she heard a rustling coming from a close by patch of bushes, she peered at it inquisitively for a second, in fear Alice backed up and began to run back to the near by gathering, suddenly out of nowhere Alice crashed into another person, both fell backwards with a huff, Alice flicked her hair back and saw familiar face, Lou was kneeling on the floor, Alice looked at her for a second and Lou started to sob, her eyes seemed empty, Alice rushed over to Lou and comforted her, suddenly once again, Mika stumbled from the tree line, her clothing being so bloodied made Alice’ jaw drop, Mika stared at Alice, Lou slowly stood up and looked at Alice, she quickly embraced her friend, hugging her with all her strength she heaved, Alice stood in total shock as Mika watched on, Lou broke away and ‘we need to get the others and go, now!’ she demanded, Alice furrowed her brow and blinked at Lou blankly, Lou gasped and held onto Alice’s hand, ‘Let’s just go and we can explain, we have to find the others, right now!’ she again demanded, Alice knew Lou, she was very placid and not easily spooked, so she followed as Lou and Mika lead her back to the thudersome party scene. As they reached the back drop a huge blast echoed in the distance, the music stopped as did the hordes of people, looking back Lou saw a large fire and billowing smoke engulfing the woodland, an explosion forced everyone to duck for cover, people could he heard screaming and crying in fright, a few people ran past the girls and as they did Mika heard them shouting worriedly about their cars, Lou broke away from Alice and followed the crowds heading towards the blast.

Running for a few minutes she was met with groups of people standing on a slight hills, looking downwards, Lou pushed her way through the people, some were audibly upset and cursing, Lou looked down to see a huge fiery pit, filled with cars, all on fire, she spied Tyler jeep and gasped, it had been moved from their parking space and was now blazing on fire, all around people were panicked, ‘how are we going to get home?’ complained one guy, his head shaved, he looked on worriedly, Lou stared at him and his friends but suddenly one of them fell abruptly to the floor, almost everyone quickly stopped talking and looked at the girl lying in the floor, the guy with the shaven head ducked down to the floor to help his friend but their was an arrow embedded in her skull, the crowd began to panic further more as girls shrieked in fright, suddenly a loud thump and commotion behind Lou made her look back and as she did blood splattered onto her face, she looked onward as people screamed and pushed past her, one of the mountain men stood meters from her, brandishing a large machete he slammed it’s thick blade into the revellers, blood sprayed into the air as he hacked at people randomly, Lou tried to move but the human traffic was struggling as many people tried to escape, suddenly she burst through a gap in the sea of people and ran into the clearing, following the crowds of people she sprinted with the crowds of scared people, many of them screaming she just kept with the majority crowd, not knowing what direction she was heading.

The darkness of the night filled the small dingy room, three unmade and uncared for beds cluttered the room joined by empty food packets and soda cans, heavy breathing the only noticeable sound, that is until in the distance there was screaming and shouting, although muffled the screams were obviously of somebody who was truly terrified. Suddenly the door burst open and moon light filled the once darkened room, a gigantic in stature man threw a person to the floor, as she hit the floor she winced and curled up into a ball, trying to protect herself as the man kicked her in the head and chest and grunted at her to shut up, quickly the man retreated from the room, only looking back inside to ignite a lantern hanging by the door, quickly the young woman tried to pick herself from the ground, she held her ribs and wined as she clutched onto a near by make shift table to aid herself to her up to her feet, it was Ellie, as she pulled herself up something fell from the table onto her, she quickly crawled to her feet and ran to the door, still clutching her ribs she pulled on the door handle, again and again, she slapped the door powerlessly and chocked back tears, she looked back into the room and could see but mere darkness, she reached up and pulled the lantern from the wall, holding it a few inches in from of her Ellie slowly walked into the room, terrified but hoping to find an escape, suddenly she reached the table and under her feet she felt something, she lowered the lantern and her eyes met with a gruesome sight, she screamed out loudly as she jumped away from the teeth under her feet, human teeth, she gagged but looked around further, the room seemed to be a bedroom and kitchen she thought as she saw the beds and a small and grotty refrigerator, again the sights she saw were unimaginable, lying on the shelving were human remains, ears, fingers and even flaps of skin were sitting atop the dirty surfaces, Ellie breathed heavily as she choked back tears of anguish, she tried to breath slowly and keep calm, she exhaled slowly but heard a louder exhausted gasp for air somewhere in the room, rattled, Ellie out stretched her arm and jolted the lantern in all directions, she swallowed hard as she tried to peer into the darkness to see the source of the gasp, Ellie took small steps further into the room, her legs trembled, she felt as though she would collapse she was petrified – she lifted the lantern into the air and slowly moved it around, suddenly a hand grasped at her wrist and a high pitched snarling sounded in her ear, Ellie quickly turned and saw a deformed man wailing at her, his eyes bloodshot, boiling in the light of the lantern, he gasped loudly and pulled Ellie sharply towards him, wrapping his foul mouth around her wrist and pushing his teeth into her flesh.

Ellie screamed so loudly, her head felt like it would explode, the pain was horrifying, she struggled with him as she felt the pain of her skin rip away from her bones, she pushed her foot against the seat and pulled away from him just as her skin tore away from her body, as she stumbled backwards she dropped the lantern onto the floor and the gasoline shattered onto the floor and the light exploded into a fire, the grotesque man screamed at Ellie as she backed away from the fire burning in front of him, she clutched her wrist as blood pumped from the wound, the fire quickly filled the room, Ellie got up and reached for the door handle, she looked back and in the fire the man sat staring at her silently, even though fire had started to creep up his legs, he was enormously fat and bloated, his skin red and sore, but his eyes pure evil, Ellie grimaced at him and pulled oven the door, the night sky shone on her face and she stepped outside, all of a sudden a metal bear trap fell from above the door way and snapped shut, Ellie tried to avoid it by dropping to the floor, she screamed as the heavy trap fell onto her, snatching a small amount of her hair in it’s spiky teeth, she struggled to get up, realizing she was trapped she tugged at her hair, snapping the hair away from her skull, she cried silently as the hair pulled away and blood dripped from her head, as she felt the relief of being free Ellie found her way to her feet and limped into the surrounding trees.

Lou ran as quick as she could holding onto the hand of the tall shaven headed man, he led her with a small group of people but the two of them has become lost, neither spoke a word but she felt quite safe with him, Lou sighed heavily, the man looked at her and stopped, ‘are you alright’ he asked, his voice deep but friendly, ‘No, no I’m really not’ said Lou nodding her head lightly, he put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, Lou breathed heavily as she thought about her friends, the guys face looked glumly at Lou he began to speak ‘I’m To-‘ but before he could finish his words an arrow crashed neatly into the side of his head and he fell sharply to the floor, for a second Lou glazed over, his death was so quick it failed to register to her, she gasped and pushed herself against a near by tree, not knowing where the arrow had come from she panicked but held her nerves enough to creep over to fallen tree and hide beneath it’s leaf covered exterior, she peered at the guys dead body, his eyes were still open, Lou bated her breath as a man approached the body, he kicked the body quickly and laughed, for a second her fell to his knees and tied a rope around the bodies ankles, with a sharp tug the body disappeared from sight and Lou cried lightly, tears sticking to her blood stained face, she stayed on the floor for a few minutes and then dared to come out of hiding, she silently crept from tree to tree, looking out for the killer mountain men on her way, suddenly she smelt smoke fill her nostrils, she gasped and held her shirt over her face, she suppressed herself coughing and looked into the distance, a raging fire, she stopped and thought for a second and she ran towards it, maybe the fire department had been called, she quickly made her way to the inferno, suddenly out of nowhere Lou was grabbed from behind, before she could react the person hushed her by gently placing their fingers over her blood stained lips, it was Tyler, suddenly the fire near by exploded into a fireball and erupted, the explosion was loud and hurt Tyler and Lou’s ears, but they slowly approached a tree and saw the hut billowing smoke and covered with a raging fire.

The wood of the building collapsed little by little, then just as Tyler and Lou turned to leave they heard a scream, for a second they both paused, Tyler ran from the trees and saw Ellie sitting on the floor below him, maybe two miles away, there was blood pouring from her mouth as she dragged herself along the floor, she reached down to her lower leg and screamed out in agony, tugging on a large shard of glass, dislodging it from her flesh, she looked in agony. Lou held Tyler back as she knew the mountain men would surely have seen the raging fire and heard Ellie’s screams, she dug her nails into his shoulder as she saw three of the men emerge from the smoke from behind the hut, they mumbled and shouted to each other in communication until one of them saw Ellie frantically pulling herself into the shrubbery to avoid being seen, they all watched her menacingly drag herself away from them, two of them slowly approached her, making enough noise to alert Ellie to their presence, taunting her like a cat taunts a mouse. She looked back and screamed in sheer terror, she tried in vain to get to her feet but her legs were too badly injured, her terrified screams seemed to entertain the men, who by now were closer to Ellie, one brandished his dirty knife, covered in clotted blood, towards Ellie, jabbing it towards her trying to scare her further, he let out a humiliating cackle as Ellie begged for her life, he brandished the knife menacingly and thrust it close to her face, Ellie reacted by pushing him away, laughing harder the man pulled Ellie from the ground, she screamed but did not struggle, she had nothing left, suddenly with a burst of energy Ellie pushed the man away, he grabbed her wrist to stop her escape, quickly she clenched the glass from her leg in her hand and smashed the shard of glass into the mans neck, with a childish cry she let go of Ellie, stumbling to the floor she used all her might she pushed herself from the ground but as she did so the other man grabbed her by the hair and plunged a small pen knife into her arm, she dropped to the floor and cried out in agony, Tyler watched on as his girlfriend was tortured, ‘we have to help’ he said angrily, Lou quickly relented and kicked her shoes from her feet, I’ll distract them, go get her!’ she said heroically, jumping to her feet she screamed at the top of her lungs; ‘hey, motherfuc..’ as quick as she started to talk an arrow shot past Tyler and plunged into Lou’s face, the forced of the arrow threw her backwards.

Tyler watched as her limp body flew to the floor, he gasped for air and moved from his hiding spot quickly, Ellie screamed and wailed as she recognized her friends voice, ‘NO!’ she screamed repeatedly, she scrambled to her feet and tried to run but as she got to her feet she saw the man she injured swung his huge knife at her, instinctively she held her hands up in defence and the knife sliced through her skin and bone with ease, the pain was horrific as Ellie’s severed fingers dropped to the leaf covered floor, she held her hand gently as she cried and blood squirted profusely from her hand. Suddenly the man grabbed her and held her back to his chest, he held her tightly as she struggled to escape, suddenly Ellie stopped moving as the man plunged the knife into her back, she quickly spat up blood and wretched as the knife crunched and squelched, the blade severing her spine in two. He quickly dropped Ellie to the floor as she gasped for air, her breathing erratic and pained her body lay limply on the ground and her eyes seeped with tears and panic; Ellie was now disabled and helpless. The uninjured man smiled and grabbed Ellie by her blond hair and dragged her across the grassy flooring into the wild, grunting his orders at the other man, as if obeying an order he quickly trudged up the hill towards Lou and Tyler’s hiding spot, he picked up Lou’s dead body with ease and threw it over his shoulder, as the turned to leave he heard a crack, a branch snapping, he looked around for a second and began down the hill quickly, Tyler lay near by and watched the man take her away as soon as he went out of sight Tyler cautiously made his way from the area.

MEANWHILE

Alice and Mika had joined a group of people walking along the roadside, Mika was weak and could hardly walk, Alice held her up and the group of six people wandered down the dirt road, the group kept walking until they came to a huge open field filled with cars, some looked old and were rusted, others were new, as the group wandered through the wrecks Alice noticed blood over some of the cars, hand prints on the windows and clothing and items on the grassy floor, including children’s toys and baby rattles, she closed her eyes gently and thought for a second, all the cars in the surrounding must have been from victims of the mountain men, men, women and even children must have fought for their lives in these woods. Mika clung onto Alice, her cuts were weeping heavily and blood dripped from her ripped clothing, a discussion began in the group that maybe they could hot wire one of the newer cars in the yard, Mika and Alice rested on a near by car, a few of the group members searched close by cars, Alice left Mika at the car as she helped search the cars for a car which had not been wrecked, Mika stood up and looked inside the car she sat upon, she swung the door open and looked inside, rummaging in the papers and trash inside she found a lighter, pushing it into her pocket she sighed heavily and reached down to her wounded body, her cut had become numb with cold, she pushed her shirt over the cut just as Alice came back, holding a tire iron, she swung it into the air showing she could hit somebody forcefully. Just then a car started up, Mika and Alice quickly walked over, one girl seemed very jittery as they waited to get into the car, ‘We are not all going to fit in there’ said Alice, ‘we have to find another car’ said another group member, ‘No! we need to leave, now’ said the jittery girl, ignoring her everyone searched for another salvageable car, Alice and Mika helped near by, as everyone looked they did not see the panicked girl climb into the hot wired car, the engine already turned she slowly closed the car door, as she did so two others noticed and ran over, banging on the window they screamed her to stop, ‘fuck you!’ screamed the girl as she wheel spun the car, obviously in desperation she has selfishly left the others behind.

‘BITCH!’ screamed Alice kicking the floor with her sneakers, ‘what the fuck are we going to do now? As soon as those things notice her ride outta here they are going to know where we are!’ said one guy, his face filled with worry and anger. ‘We have to get another car started’ replied another person, realizing it was the only option they all began searching again, Mika kept her distance as the others searched the cars and vans strew across the field, she was hurting and even the slightest movement caused her discomfort, she mildly searched a near by car and saw pictures cluttering the back seat, she picked up a picture and studied it, her face stared back, in the picture she looked happy with a small group of her friends, she choked back tears as she held the picture happily, she swept her hair behind her ears and wiped her face quickly, in the distance she heard a rumbling sound, a slight chugging, instantly she knew it was the mountain men, she dropped the picture to the floor and shouted lightly, ‘hide, they’re here!’ she ran over to Alice and led her behind a rusty old car, she shuffled under it and bated her breath as the car drew closer, huddled with them were two other survivors, both guys and all four kept quiet as they heard the black truck came to a stop, Mika was the only person with a clear view of the truck and she watched two of the men emerge from the it, she instantly recognized one, looking quickly at the rear of the vehicle she saw the girl who had taken the car slumped in the back, her throat clearly cut open, she closed her eyes in disgust and lay in wait, the two men wandered around grunting to each other and pointing to different areas to search, one of the men grew impatient and started to slam the cars around and kick them and as her kicked the trunk of the car Mika had once drove in a small black container fell from the spare hanging on the door, Mika gasped lightly and bit her lip, the spare key was in that box, Alice slowly moved next to Mika and looked at her puzzled, ‘what?’ she asked quietly, Mika glanced at her and motioned over to the box and mouthed ‘keys’ to her, Alice looked once more at her friend and without hesitation she quickly scrambled from under the car, Mika tried to grab her to stop her but Alice was too quick, she eased up from the floor and glanced around, the men were both just over ten feet away but she knew she had to do this, she crept slowly into the clearing between the cars and ran quietly over to the box and snatched it from the floor, as she did so her jacket zipper caught the aluminium body of the car and made a slight noise, both men turned quickly but just in time Alice hid from their view to the side of the car, breathing heavily she could see them walk towards her, Mika gasped as they drew closer to the car until the reached it and looked down where Alice had hidden only to find nothing, she had quickly moved to the front of the car to avoid them, suddenly Mika realized the two guys had gone, she looked around quickly and saw them both scramble from beneath the car and make a break for the tree line but before they could make it a gun shot echoed into the darkness, and one of them fell to the floor, the other froze in terror as his friend fell to the floor dead, his leg twitching as he lay dead on the floor, one of the men grabbed him by his neck and pushed him to the floor in front of the car, Mika watched as her pushed the innocent guy to the floor, the cannibalistic man grunted as her knelt by the young guy, he glanced Mika watching but he never gave her away, he barely moved, Mika watched in horror as the evil man stuck the stem of a gun into the guys mouth fiercely and bluntly, causing him to cough and splutter, Mika could see him spit up blood and there was nothing she could do to stop it, she was powerless as he repeatedly abused the guy, suddenly as the man pulled the gun from his mouth once more and blood tripped from his lips he begged for his life, ‘Please god, he cried softly holding a cross around his neck, as he said this the man stuck the gun inside his head and emptied a bullet into his skull, his head almost exploded as blood and brain matter splashed all over Mika, she closed her eyes quickly and tried not to vomit or make any noise as the sadistic killer laughed to himself, Alice saw and gulped hard, the darkness hid the men well and unbeknown to Alice one stood behind her watching as she crouched silently on the floor, he glared down at her out stretching his arm to delicately touch her hair, so delicately she never felt his presence until he gripped her by the hair and picked her up, she screeched in agony as he threw her across the bonnet of the car.

‘Stop it’ she begged as the man slapped her harshly across the face, she fell silent for a moment, the slap knocking her senses away, she struggled with him as he pushed himself on top of her, he reached down and tried to open her jeans buttons, Alice screamed even louder and tried to escape he laughed menacingly and he tried to pull down his rank and worn trousers, suddenly he gasped for air and he let go of Alice, she scrambled away as he aimlessly shook his hands around his face, he fell to the floor with a thump and Mika was stood behind him holding the tire iron Alice had found, Alice looked at the man lying face down on the floor, blood was pumping from a large gaping wound in the back of his head, she sighed gently as she got from the bonnet of the car, before she could thank Mika somebody stumbled towards them ‘Tyler!’ said Alice running over to him, she approached him quickly and for the first time in hours he smiled as his friend came over but before she reached him he felt a sharp pain in his back, looking down he gurgled slightly as a large metal rod ripped through his skin, Alice screamed as he fell to the floor dead, behind him stood the other mountain man, his mouth upturned showing his rotten teeth, he thrust the dead body of one of the group towards Alice, his chest was open and his ribs poking through his torso, she fell to the floor with the body and screamed as he ran at her with a pick axe, he slammed it towards her head but she managed to dodge his attack, he shouted in rage as Alice got from beneath the dead body, suddenly Mika swung the tire iron at the man, the Steele pole smashed his harshly in the face and he let go of the axe, Alice watched as Mika hit him again across the face, this time he avoided her attack and kicked her in the chest, she fell to the floor and the man lunged at her, Alice quickly lumped on his back and reached her hands onto his face, she stuck her nails into his face and tore at his skin, he roared in pain and swung himself away from Mika, he grabbed Alice’ hands and pulled her away from him, gripping her shoulders he flipped her over his head and slammed her to the floor, she groaned as she lay below him, instantly she rolled away as his boot smashed the floor, he grabbed her leg and with ease threw his body across the ground, she gripped her shoulder in pain as he looked on as she tried to move.

‘Hey fuck face!’ came a voice, Mika was maybe ten feet away standing next to the mans truck, she swung the tire iron at it and smashed it’s head light, the man called out in anger, 'You are the ugliest cousin-fucker I have ever seen, you bastard!' Mika hit it again, denting the side, he ran at her and Mika knelt down on the road beside the vehicle, she thrust the tire iron into the gas tank and the fuel gushed out onto the road, the man reached her and slammed her against the truck, she flopped to the floor and tried to defend herself as he kicked her in the face, she held the tire iron out and smacked him across the legs with it, he yelled and dropped to his knees, Mika ran from him quickly and pulled the lighted from her pocket, flipping open tool she ignited the flame and threw it towards him, but, as it hit the floor the light went out, Mika gasped as the man got to his feet she looked at Alice still lying on the floor, she turned to the man just as he trust a knife deep in her gut, she exhaled sharply as he ran the blade through her skin, she managed to swing the iron into his face and he stumbled back, she held her wound as blood dripped profusely from her cut, she quickly limped over to the man and held the iron up ready to strike him, he wielded his knife and both he and Mika aimed for each other, Alice groaned and caressed her head, she saw as the man lunged at Mika, the knife embedding itself in her neck, Mika swung as he did but not at the man but the concrete road, before Alice could make out what had happened there was an almighty explosion, the truck lifted from the floor as Mika and the twisted man disappeared into the giant flames, Alice ducked behind a car as debris fell from the air, putting her dead in her hands she groaned in pain, she stood up slowly and looked at the damage, the fire was so intense there was no way either the man or Mika has survived.

Sadly Alice hobbled away, she wiped a solitary tear from her eye and she walked into the road, she never thought or looked anywhere but ahead and for hours she walked into the night she saw the sign she has saw Dan looking for the night before, ‘Bitter Creek Mountain’ she said to herself as she picked up the pace, the freeway must be just a mile or so away she guessed, suddenly she heard a noise and she stopped dead in her tracks, she peered into the dense trees and walked slowly away, suddenly she heard a blood curdling laugh and trees moving, Alice ran quickly but before she could reach the sign by the road she tripped, screaming she tried to get to her feet but before she had the chance she got pulled into the darkness of the trees, screaming her last...