It was dark. It was always dark. The bright moon shone through the trees, giving the illusion that there might be a sun that would eventually come up. 

“Watcha doin?” my younger brother, John asks. 

“Nothing, just thinking.” I say 

“Okay” John responds, disappointed

We haven’t talked much the last few days. We haven’t done much either. Just trekking through the cold woods, lost in the abyss of trees. I don’t remember how we got here, part of me feels like we have always been here, but that can’t be true. 

“Where are we going again?” he asks 

“I told you, I don’t know. We just have to find some sort of civilization and we’ll be fine.”

“But how will we get home, we don’t even know where it is?”

“I don’t know- We’ll worry about it when we get there.”

John lets out a sigh

Silence followed. We walked along, always walking. Leaves crunched under our worn boots. Then we heard it again. It was different every time. It was just loud and close. Grunts, howls, snarls, they surrounded us. It felt like they were everywhere, but we couldn’t quite see them. 

“It’s back again.” my little brother quivered 

“Let’s walk faster, it didn’t hurt us last time.” I responded, as calmly as possible.

Then, something happened that I didn’t think could. I...saw them. They ran on all fours but were unlike something I had ever seen. The darkness covered them well but you could see their skin. That was the worst part of them. Their skin was splotches of fur, scales, and human skin. I grew sick to my stomach. 

“Climb the trees,” I said urgently

“What?” 

“Climb the tree.” 

We scamper up a large oak, branches high enough that I have to stretch to reach them. The beasts circle in, their silhouettes blocking out the trees behind them. 

“Come on, get up!” I yell down.

I grab my brothers arm and hoist him the the lowest branch. We keep climbing until we’re halfway up the tree. Their grunts becomes clearer. It almost seems like a language. They speak back to each other, and talk in sentences. It still sounds completely animal, yet there’s something that makes it seem like more. I can also see their figures outlined now. They have long snouts like wolves, yet it sticks out more. Their teeth are sharp and pointed, but extremely long, probably about the length of a pencil. They have arms, yet walk on all fours. There is a difference between their hands and feet, but it’s hard to make out. Their skin still is a mess of parts of other animals that have been mashed together. The only thing that I can’t make out is the face. It seems foreign and familiar at the same time. 

“What are they?” John whimpered

“I...I don’t know.” I said

We stayed there for hours backs to the trunk. There was nothing we could really say. After an eternity, they left without a sound. We waited, then slowly climbed down. 

We kept walking in silence, there was nothing else to do but keep walking. John walked about 50 feet in front of me, hoping to get a glimpse of something. Suddenly he started running. 

“Come on! I see something!” he shouted

“Wait up! I say back, picking up my pace.

But as I kept going faster, the further away he got. 

“Hey! Slow down!” I say urgently, John almost being gone from my view now. 

Sprinting, I try my best to keep up with him, but he’s gone. I’m panicking, I’m alone now, trapped in the woods. I keep running towards where he went, but there’s nothing. Whatever he saw is gone now, along with him. 

Hours pass, the creatures are back now, louder than ever. I go back to the tree, but this time I see something. One of them is looking at me, like directly at me. The others are just scratching at the tree or looking up-ish. Now I see it’s eyes, what was once invisible is now all too clear. Even from dozens of feet up it’s black abyss pulls me in. I feel myself leaning forward, unable to stop myself. Just as I’m about to fall off, I catch myself. And in an instant, they’re gone. 

I slowly make my way down the tree, rattled by what just happened. It’s getting much colder now, it seems to be shifting from fall to winter, the once colorful leaves on the ground are changing from vibrant to brown. My coat isn’t enough to keep the freezing air out anymore. My legs are growing stiff, and just as I’m about to sit to take a break, I see a light. It was small, but the first light I had seen in days; I ran towards it as fast as I could, running faster than I ever had in my life, yet barely feeling tired. 

I know I have to get there, yet I don’t know why. I no longer care about the woods or my brother. I just keep running.