The forest felt wrong.
There was a different feeling under the birch trees recently, and Alex and Maya couldn't make out what it was.
They were conservation officers for the Birchwood University nature reserve. Maya has been on the job way longer than Alex and was seasoned in her work.
Maya walked a few steps behind her partner, Alex, scanning the dense bush with her flashlight. The forest had been quieter than usual—too quiet. Birds that should have been singing had gone silent. Dear tracks ended abruptly in patches of disturbed earth, like something had dragged them away. Even the wind seemed hesitant to move through the white-colored bark of the trees.
"I don't like this," Alex muttered, pushing a low-hanging branch out of his way.
Maya sighed. "You've said that five times already." Her voice carried a firm edge, her demeanor steady and strong.
"And I'll say it again." Alex stopped, crouching near a cluster of rocks. "No prints, no droppings—hell, even the bugs seem to be missing. Something's not right."
Though still present, Maya was partially in her thoughts. All this had started around the same time the school announced some students missing. She couldn't help but think this was connected somehow.
She glanced around. "Maybe a predator moved in. A really large bear or even a pack of cayotes?"
"You know, over the years I've learned to trust your intuition, but predators don't make everything disappear." Alex exhaled. "And what about the noises? I swear we're being followed."
Maya had noticed it too—that nagging sense that something was just beyond their sight. The bushes rustled, but when she pointed her flashlight towards it, there was nothing. No movement. No eyes catching the light. Just empty space.
"We're on edge. Probably just the wind," Maya said, though she wasn't sure she believed it.
Alex stood up and dusted his knees. "Let's just finish up and go; I'm looking forward to your chicken soup tonight."
Maya felt a slight blush creep onto her cheeks, but she maintained her strong demeanor. "Yeah, yeah, let's—"
There was a sudden sound.
Not an animal. Not the wind. A soft, delibrate tap-tap-tap against the forest floor.
They both froze. Maya turned her light, cutting through the darkness, but nothing was there. Just trees and silence.
"Okay. Now that wasn't the wind," Alex whispered.
The tapping stopped for a moment. Then continued again—closer this time—tap-tap-tap.
Maya's skin crawled, her heart pounded. She turned to Alex. "We should head back."
Alex nodded, but before he could take a step, something moved.
Something big.
They remained frozen in silence, gripped by fear.
Then, in an instant, while Alex wasn't looking—Maya was yanked backward.
Her scream barely had time to leave her throat before she vanished into the darkness.
A dull thud followed as her flashlight hit the ground, its beam now aimlessly illuminating the empty space where she had stood.
Alex staggered backwards. Quickly, he picked up the flashlight and swung it wildly in that direction. And for a split second he saw it.
A tall, dark figure with limbs bending unnaturally. It's bones were compressing, and it's hollow eyes locked onto him. It's mouth was not on it's face, but a large opening on it's abdomen with tentacles or tendrils sticking out of it, pulling something in. He saw Maya's boots disappear into it's cavernous hole of a mouth.
Then there was silence.
Alex took off.
He ran fast—as fast as he could, his feet pounding the dirt path. Branches whipped his face but he did not stop. The tap-tap-tap followed—faster now, catching up with him. The jeep. He just needed to get to the Jeep.
He threw himself into the driver's seat, fumbling with the keys. His hands were shaking too much. "Damn it, focus!" He yelled.
The forest around him remained still, but he could feel it watching.
He turned the key. The engine roared to life. His headlights flared on, slicing through the dark.
Then he saw it again, just above the edge of the light. It was impossibly thin, folding out from behind a tree; it's body shifting and reshaping.
Alex didn't wait to see what it would do next. He slammed his foot on the gas, the tires kicking up dirt. His breath was heavy, his heart racing as he attempted to run it over.
But the creature moved with an unnatural speed, twisting and folding itself mid-air before vanishing behind a rock. The rock was large, but the thing was larger. Its body shouldn't have been able to fit behind it, yet somehow, it compressed, contorted, reshaped itself as though space itself bent to accommodate it.
His mind screamed at the impossibility of it, but survival instincts overruled logic.
He didn't dare lift his foot off the gas.
The Jeep sped down the path.
Maya was gone. She was his best friend and a mentor, and now she's gone.
His eyes were filled with tears. He pulled down the glove compartment, revealing a wedding ring.
"Damn it all! I wanted to do it tomorrow!" He yelled.
That thing is out there and it took her—ate her.
That unholy entity.
That thing that shouldn't exist.