I started to regain consciousness after the sudden attack. I was inside a small room, looked like a storage closet. Behind me was Paul. He was gagged and had zip ties around his wrists. As I looked around I noticed I was in the same situation. Me and Paul were in chairs within the dark storage closet back to back. Soon after awakening a massive headache came. My head pulsed with such intense rhythms, the slightest motion of my head caused me to feel devastating pain. I don't know how long I've been in the storage closet but after awhile the door opened. I was faced away from the door and heard Paul stir behind me. I heard Paul start struggling as he was dragged out of the room. After him I was also dragged out of the chair. Upon being pulled from the closet I was dragged only a couple of feet before being in the living room. My vision was a little blurry from the blunt pain and intense light. I found myself next to Paul before I noticed the three men sitting on the sofa in front of me. It was kind of funny, even though I was in a life threatening situation. The three men looked like a circus troupe, there was a fat man, a deathly skinny man, and a strong man. The strong man looked nervous while the fat man and skinny man looked excited and bored respectively. They all seemed to be in their late teens with only the fat man sporting a small beard and glasses. The strong man spoke first with a heavy twang "Tom, what's the plan? My cell service ain't workin' so what're we gonna do?". The fat man then spoke in a child like excitement "Ya Tom. We're like vigilantes now, are we going to turn him in? *Gasp* Maybe he's a major criminal and we're gonna get his bounty, oh that's so fucking cool!".
The skinny man who I can safely assume is Tom started to grab his own face "Don't be a dumbass Mason. We don't even know what's going on. Hey you *Snap*". He started to snap in my face to get my attention "What're you doing in this forest dude? I don't recognize you from the VFW so what are you doing skulking about with this?" Tom then proceeded to pull out my revolver from the sofa cushion. He seemed to be unaware of gun safety as he pointed the revolver at me. He didn't cock it but It made me nervous just having the thing pointed at me. I nervously spoke "Don't point that thing kid, It's loaded." Tom rolled his eyes and then cocked the gun. I started to sweat and he seemed unbothered that he was pointing the thing all over my body slowly and deliberately. I pray I didn't just run into a serial killer in the making. He chuckled a bit "Yah right dude. I do airsoft, this is just a toy replica. Nice try though but your gonna have to pay for lying to me". He started to make gun sounds with his mouth while faking recoil. The strong man looked nervous "I think that's a real gun. My pa has one just like it. If its a fake wouldn't it have a bright cap or somethin' right on the tip?". Tom laughed "Jack, you have to stop being so fucking gullible. Mr. Midlife crises here obviously took off the cap to scare people watch." And to my absolute horror he pointed the gun at my head before pulling the trigger.
I clenched my eyes shut and began whimpering *Click*. I excepted to hear a loud bang but only heard a click followed by Paul's intense screams. After a few seconds of shock Jack grabbed the gun from Tom and stood up off the couch. He flicked open the rotating cylinder before he started to go pale before closing it and pocketing the gun "Tom, you are not getting this back, you almost killed him, Jesus!". I was in a cold sweat trying to process what happened, It didn't sound like a malfunction but I loaded all 6 chambers...I think. I guess god's on my side for now. Paul's screams died down as he looked around between my head and Tom in confusion. After getting the gun grabbed from him, Tom looked annoyed, "Jack, you know I don't like people ripping shit out of my hands, don't fucking do that again.". Jack's nervous demeaner shifted and he began staring at Tom, his body getting tense, his eyes shaking with contained anger. After a second or 2 Tom stopped looking into Jack's eyes and began nervously staring at the floor.
After that Mason wasn't smiling anymore and just seemed stressed as he nervously looked back and forth between Jack and Tom. A few minutes passed with no talking, it felt suffocating; I was knocked out, tied up, and now almost got killed by this little shit stain with my own gun all the while the wolf is out there trying to hunt us down. It feels like the world's crashing down upon me due to other forces and I'm unable to stop it. After those few minutes I broke the stale silence "Why did you guy's do this to us?". Jack responded first, "I saw you through the window. You were pointing that thing at him *points at Paul* and looked very aggressive. After I knocked you out that guy *Points to Paul again* started to scream and looked was all kind's of hysterical so I knocked him out and put you guy's in the closet. I kept checking up on you guy's for a couple of hours before you both woke up.". Jack then stared at me intensely for a few seconds, "Now it's your turn. Why you walkin' out here with a revolver? It wouldn't matter to me normally, this is America. However you were waving that thang around all willy-nilly and looked ready to use it.". He seemed to be looking for a specific answer. I started to brainstorm, trying to figure out what he wanted but his stare became more intense over time and after 30 seconds I replied with a half-truth, "I used to live in Eaton Rapids before moving to Missouri. Came back recently and decided to visit the VFW; had a friend who killed himself here. I was walking around and eventually walked inside this forest to go down memory lane.". A look of sympathy flashed in his eyes as I continued, "But when I walked inside the exit behind me just vanished as though it were never there. I've-", I was then interrupted by Tom who seemed to overcome his nervousness and with a look of triumph stared at Jack, "I FUCKING TOLD YOU. This is all just some stupid prank, some smoke and mirrors shit. This guy must have a camera somewhere or maybe some show production crew." Jack gave Tom a hard, stern stare the latter of which nervously got off the couch "I'm gonna look for cameras upstairs.". Tom then proceeded to leave the living room and walked past a corner. I heard a door open, Tom walking a few steps into the room and then I heard footsteps going up.
After Tom left, Jack got me back on track "So, I used to live in Eaton Rapi-". Tom then cut me off, "Ya already said that. You walked into the forest and?". "Oh, yeah. I walked into the forest and the exit just vanished. I walked awhile in that direction before turning around and heading further into the forest. The exit definitely vanished, no tricks as far as I could see.". Jack seemed to ponder for a bit before egging me on, "After walking for awhile I came across a bench that me and my dead friend used to relax on. I decided to sit on the bench and then some strange memories that weren't there before flooded my mind. I got up, looked at the bench and I found strange old writing on it. I couldn't decipher it's meaning though. The most I got out of it was something about a wolf and a hut. Walked down the path for awhile then all this happened.".
Jack was silent in thought for a good 5 minutes before turning towards Paul, "What about you? How'd you end up here?". Paul then proceeded to blabber about a range of topics with no correlation, it seemed he was hysterical and terrified from the earlier display from Tom. Jack quickly got Paul back on track. It seems Jack has either some talent regarding handling others or was perhaps taught such skills by his father or mother. Considering the chance he lived in the VFW his parent's must have been involved with a foreign war and taught their son the ways of leadership, maybe the son of a captain or lieutenant? Regardless Paul soon told the story he told me except, in this version he made it to the playset. Why didn't he want me to know that. If he wasn't so terrified right now he might have not fumbled his words. My mind isn't working so well with the throbbing pain from both my head and knee.
After getting a coherent answer from Paul, Jack then thought for a minute before pulling out a knife. I wasn't worried about Jack trying to take my life, if he wanted to he could have done it while me and Paul were unconscious or earlier when Tom was mishandling my firearm. He cut off the zip ties around me and Paul's wrists. Paul got up and started walking back and forth nervously in the hallway where I last saw Tom last, he truly is an unstable man. I got up but then immediately fell onto the wooden floor. My knee seems to be getting worse, "Jack, can you go find some kind of crutch for me? Took a tumble while walking around and now my leg's messed up.". He nodded before helping me up and onto the couch. Jack then went into the storage closet. As I got comfortable Mason, who was also sitting on the couch, just started to blabber about a wide range of topics ranging from cartoons to his favorite kinds of pornography. I soon filtered his words out until he started to talk about when he and his friends walked into this forest with a bottle of whiskey earlier today.
The story started out as normal, the exit was gone when they walked in and the forest was silent, however he never included Tom in the story. He always was talking about either himself or Jack. It was strange. It struck me so strange in fact I began to ask him about himself, "So Mason. How'd you and your friends get here?". He seemed to look confused for a second before his eyes glazed over he then shook his head as if to stimulate his brain, "Me and Jack go way back. I've known Tom for a couple of months, he's Jack's friend from middle school. He's kind of an asshole but you know, what can you do?". His reply confused me as that was not what I asked, I then proceeded to ask about Tom. The more I asked the slower his answers came until eventually he said he didn't want to talk anymore because he was getting a headache. After that Mason stood up and began walking over to the hallway, Jack then came out of the storage closet with a crutch. He handed it over and started talking, "Yeah, I couldn't find a second one sorry. Gotta make do.". After getting the crutch I supported myself up off the couch and, like with Mason, I began to ask him about how he got here. I got mostly the same points. Got to forest, can't leave. But unlike Mason initially, Jack also talks about Tom in a human way.
I heard Mason go upstairs while I talked to Jack, Paul seemed to follow as after talking with Jack I discovered Paul wasn't in the hallway anymore. I started to notice the light dimming as darkness approached. I turned to face Jack, "Alright, it's getting dark so I'm gonna look for a spot to crash. Mind handing me back my gun?". Jack's stern stare told me the answer was no. I tried to think of ways to convince him to hand it back. I definitely can't overpower him with this bad knee, I should try appealing to his empathy, "Look kid, I've just become a cripple and that gun you have was my friend's gun...the one who killed himself. You can take all the bullets out, I just want my gun back.". Jack pondered for a second before opening the cylinder and taking all 5 bullets out and shoving them into his cargo short pockets. He handed me my gun with a look of sympathy before we went upstairs through the kitchen following Tom's path.
The second floor of the cabin had 5 rooms, suspiciously enough for everyone present. I picked an unoccupied room and entered. When I entered the room a wave of fatigue swept over my body, so many things happened in one day that I feel overwhelmed. I hobbled over to the bed then sat down putting my crutch off to the side against the wall. I then pulled out my revolver and searched my jean pockets. I found 1 bullet but it's appearance was bizarre; I could see the names of everyone in the cabin on the bullet, all with question marks on the end. I opened the rotating cylinder and put the bullet in, I then closed the rotating cylinder with sluggish movements. I have no idea what's happening and I cannot begin to understand with this fatigue that assaults me. I then laid down and slept.
As I closed my eyes I found myself stuck in a nightmare. I was hobbling through the woods, chased by a shadow that slowly gained distance over time. I pulled out my revolver and fired but the shadow only got closer and closer until I fell finding myself face to face with the beast. It wore the face of Paul, then Jack until it cycled through everyone's face in the cabin. It then switched to my face as it tore me apart. I awoke in the middle of the night caked in sweat, I tried to swat away the horrible hallucinations that followed and the whispers from the darker depths of my mind before a single thought burned into my head. The bench said there were 4 piggies, but there are 5 in the house...