The Last Rebels

She turned off the engine and tried to see something outside of the car. But all that Eliza could see were the silhouettes of trees that were moving along with the wind. Unwillingly she had to admit that the setting was creepy and definitely too adventurous for her taste.  Now would be the best time to turn on the car and leave this place, she thought to herself.  The same idea crossed through the mind of the other two passengers, but none of them spoke it out loud. Whose idea was it anyways, to change their regular routine of cooking, watching a movie and playing billiard into hanging out at the lake in the middle of the night?  More than 2000 years of trying to build the comfort zone and here they were, fighting against mainstream Saturday night ideals. True 21^st century rebels.  

Aric shifted towards the car door and looked to the other two friends of his, sitting in the front:

“Shall we?”

Ethan nodded and stepped out into the night, Aric and Eliza followed. She locked the car and looked at both guys, slowly moving in the darkness. Aric was going on her left, his white collar was nearly shining in contrast with the woods that they were crossing. Ethan on her right stepped on a stick and all three of them winced at the sound. An idea popped in her head to start a conversation, but she shut it up just as quickly as it appeared. Voices may drag attention, but most importantly they could miss other sounds and don’t see something approaching them. Or more frightening, someone. Eliza shoved her hands in the jacket pockets and cursed silently. She knew that the moving shadows and sounds were only her imagination, there was nothing and no one out there, she was sure of that. Their town was too peaceful and quiet for something bad to happen. And she was sure that her friends could forecast a danger coming. After all, Aric and Ethan acted according to their logical thinking, a thing not so often used by Eliza.

Truth be told, neither of the leading young men felt comfortable in this specific moment. Aric regretted letting this plan to get this far and Ethan was still surprised that both of his friends agreed on his spontaneous idea to go to the lake and just hang out there. Somehow he felt confident about their safety, it was just the surroundings that made it hard to stay calm. From the corner of his eye he saw how Eliza was praying for rain, wind or even apocalypse just to have an excuse to turn around and get back in the car. Aric saw that too and both of them smiled at the sight.

They were going downhill for quite some time now, all three watching at their feet, flashed by their phones. No one talked, no one even bothered to glance at each other. There were only the sounds of their steps hanging in the air, gravel shifting and moving under their shoes. Suddenly the trees above their heads went thinner and thinner and soon enough they were standing in an open field down by the lake. But they weren’t here alone, there was a fireplace build and still burning with full strength on the right side of the pathway that they were standing on.

“Tourists.” Said Eliza, it was supposed to be a statement, but it sounded more like a prayer.

It was too far for them to see clearly how many people there were, they still couldn’t hear any voices. Now would be the second best time to turn around and get back to the car, Eliza thought to herself. Their steps weren’t so certain any more, they lost their speed as well, and it seemed more as if they were thinking of joining the group than trying to get to the lake. Ethan was a bit further than his friends, moving towards the lake. Eliza was still watching the fireplace, moving and crackling in the suddenly so cold wind of June. And while Aric was keeping an eye on their friend, she saw something that bothered her more than she wanted it to. Her heart beat raised and her muscles got all tensed. Without leaving the fire with her eyes, she said to her friend:

“Aric, there is no one at the fireplace. And it’s still burning.”

“Maybe they are swimming or they had to go to the loo.”

But he was missing the normal security in his voice. He felt as if something wasn’t right, there were no bags near the fireplace, no sign of anyone. The wind blew from the lake side and they shivered. Aric softly pushed Eliza towards Ethan:

“Let’s get him and we’re leaving at once. I don’t like it here either. It’s too creepy.”

Eliza walked besides him and was screaming inside. It was one thing when she thought it was only her imagination, but Aric stating the same ideas meant it was over. Something was indeed strange here. Ethan was already going back to them, clearly not as fascinated by the situation as he thought he would be. Behind his back the lake was still as a black mirror, reflecting white moonlight.

“No one is sitting at the fireplace, something’s fishy here. Let’s get out of here.” Commanded Aric and lingered, waiting for the other two to join him on the way back.

Ethan’s eyes shot to the fire and he shook his head.

“But there IS someone out there, don’t you see?”

Eliza whined quietly, but she couldn’t help but look in the same direction.

“There, behind the fire, he or she is covered with the rising smoke… Hello?..”

Aric and Eliza looked at their friend trying to figure out if he has lost his mind. But both were waiting for an answer, for a sound, anything. But nothing came. Just silence and the same cracking of fire. The worst part of it was that now all three of them saw something behind the fire. It was sitting there, lurking and not moving. Ethan put a step towards the fire, but Eliza pulled him back by his jacket and gave him a look, suggesting that if he will repeat the same action, if not that thing, then she will kill him.

“We are leaving. Now.”

“Agreed.” Aric responded.

The three teenagers started to move back to their car on the same path as they came. Under other circumstances they would have at least made some whiny jokes about having to go uphill. Now they were just happy to have a path to get out of here. The woods sucked them in once again and they were already running. Don’t lose them, don’t lose them, please, don’t lose them, Eliza was thinking to herself watching their friends moving in the dark. All of them had their phones out, to see where they were stepping. Maybe it was a mistake to drag the attention to them so much, but it didn’t really matter anyways. While the rest of the world seemed to have stopped in silence, the three of them were making as many sounds as a train would make. The gravel was flying to the sides, their clothes swooshing in motion and their fast breathing were not even the only problem. Aric’s light collar and Eliza’s white sneakers were not helping as well.

Out of nowhere they heard a big crack on the left side of the path. Eliza let out a silent cry and all three of them pointed their phones into the dark, where the sound came from. You could see that the flashlights were shaking, the logic and dignity were a lost cause already. Ethan moved slowly closer to his friends and whispered to them:

“Guys… I think I see something. It’s still far from us, but I can see it.”

“Don’t say that!” Eliza whispered angrily back to him. “Let’s just keep on moving, we have to make only about 500m to the car.”

“Running won’t help, we are making too much sounds. Let’s turn off the lights and move in silence towards the car.”

As Aric spoke, he took Eliza’s scarf of her and put it on, covering his collar. Not too happy, but thinking that being alive and barefoot sounded better than dead and stylish, she kicked off her shoes and put them in the middle of the path. Without their phones and the moon, which was suddenly hidden by the clouds, it was impossible to see each other. It was so dark, that Eliza’s shoes truly made you think that someone was standing in the middle of the path, which made a perfect distraction.

“Let’s stand in a circle, while touching our backs, so that everyone can observe different directions.”

Eliza and Ethan listened to Aric, soon enough they were moving uphill in a tight triangle. Ethan and Aric were more or less facing the top of the hill, Ethan looking to the left side and Aric to the right. Eliza was walking backwards, having the view at the path itself. The wind was getting even stronger, so the trees were swaying further and further to the sides and for her great horror she could see the fireplace through the spaces between the trees. She moved her gaze back to the path, trying to see anything, but more likely hoping that there was nothing to see. And then it hit her - her shoes were scattered differently than she had left them be. Eliza couldn’t help her anymore and grabbed Aric’s right and Ethan’s left hand. Surprisingly, both of them felt thankful for a warm gesture.

“Did something happen?” Asked Aric.

“My shoes. Someone’s moved them.”

Both hand grips were tightened at instance and they recovered their running pace. Eliza was slowing them down, since she had to run backwards, but no one wanted to sacrifice two observing eyes for the speed. Unexpectedly Aric tripped on a huge rock and broke the hand bond with his friends. Both of them ran to him, stumbling due to lack of light. Eliza grabbed his hand and lifted him up.

“Forget the bloody circles, we’ll make it so faster. It’s getting closer.”

None of the guys disagreed, now they were running out of breath, they could already see their car, waiting of them to bring them back home. Eliza felt Ethan pulling his hand out of hers.

“What the hell are you doing?! Don’t you dare to lose us now!”

“It’s not me! Hold me, please! It’s…”

His mouth was shut by something, Eliza and Aric could only hear him trying to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. Fear and horror were rushing through their veins, the car was so close, they couldn’t give up just now, when they made it so far. Eliza was trying to figure out what to do, she was holding Ethan’s hand, not letting it go, and she wasn’t leaving him there. She felt Aric pulling her and Ethan towards the car and she was thinking how that thing in the darkness could be so strong to resist all three of them.

“Eliza, let go!” Ethan shouted suddenly, he must have removed the hand of someone from his mouth.

“Forget it!”

“All of us won’t make it, save yourselves!”

Eliza didn’t answer, she just tried with all of her strength to pull him to her and Aric. All of a sudden, Ethan nearly fell on her, the thing must have let go of his arm. She sighted in relief, thinking it was over, but at the same moment the thing came in between them and broke their hands, pulling Ethan to the woods.

“No!” Eliza shouted and jumped after him.

She was painfully stopped by Aric’s hand, who was standing still to her right. It felt as she nearly dislocated he right shoulder.

“What are you doing?! He’s our friend, we have to save him, he’s gonna die!” Eliza shouted at the top of her lungs.

Aric let out a strange chuckle, tightening his grip on her hand. For the first time after an eternity as it seemed for Eliza, the clouds moved and the moonlight colored the world in a spooky pale shade. She turned to Aric to angrily shout at him, but instead she let out a loud scream of horror. It wasn’t Aric standing in front of her. It was a man, wearing shabby clothing and having a mad man’s smile on his face. He had a bloodshot left eye and a golden front teeth. Just then she realized that he wasn’t pulling Ethan to them, but he was pulling her away from Ethan. He was still chuckling when Eliza finally pulled herself together.

“Where are my friends, you basterd?!”

“Oh, don’t worry about them, you won’t be seeing them again.”

Eliza looked down the path to search for Aric and Ethan. There was no sight of Ethan, but she saw Aric lying on his back in the ditch, he didn’t seem to be breathing. Pain and guilt rushed through her mind, he was on my side, I had to make sure he was okey.

“Besides, you will join them soon enough.”

The man started to pull her towards him. There was no time for manners or fairness, Eliza kicked as hard as she could between the man’s legs and he immediately went down to his knees, letting go of her hand. It was her only chance, she raced to the car, faster then she has ever run. She has already had the keys in her hand, clicked the security opening button and the car lit up as a safe haven. She didn’t want to leave Ethan and Aric, but alone she couldn’t help them, she needs to get help, otherwise they all will get killed.

She reached for the door and opened it and just about when she wanted to get inside, she was pushed harshly to the car’s side. The man was facing her again and from his furious face she could tell that he wasn’t keen on her fighting methods.

“Leaving so soon, love?”

Eliza fluttered under his big body and wanted to shout something insulting to his face, but a strange thing caught her attention, flashing in a pale grey color underneath the moonlight. It was out there for a second and then it disappeared in her chest. The man let go of her hands and let her sink to the ground, she could feel the warmth of blood, running down her shirt, making it sticky and disgusting. The man turned away and slowly went back to the woods. Eliza wanted to call the police, to scream for help, to climb into the car and drive away, but she couldn’t even bring herself to breathe.

“Let’s do something different. Let’s... let’s go to the lake. We can… we can watch a movie any other night.”

Eliza mumbled between coughs. Soon enough she was spitting blood and she looked up to the sky, the moon was shining bright to her and she knew it was over. This is, undoubtedly, the end of the last idiotic 21^st century rebel.

Reviews

[The Ink Chapters]

Interesting read, good storyline and characters. Needs work on the grammatical errors as well as minor plot faults; for example I didn't understand the readjustment of shoes. Also I felt that the fear should have slowly built in the friends as it would've added to the plot, instead of them instantly being afraid of walking down to the lake. Keep writing though, excellent imagination!