Chapter 5 - Into the Woods

“Jack, have you gone nuts?” Alicia yelled.

  It’s obvious that Jack followed Lucas home and it’s quite obvious that Lucas didn’t harken to Jack’s warning when he asked him to stay away from Alicia. Something about Jack is, he never listens either. He takes advantage of his father being a congressman to behave like a 'jackass' Alicia called him. He gives no listening ear to the school rules or even respects the law. He wants to let his anger out on Lucas for getting him suspended and for still hanging out with Alicia. He drags Lucas to his feet and landed him another punch.

  Alicia wanted to help but he pushed her towards Philip. “Take her to the truck!” said Jack. He makes his way to Lucas and dragged him up once more. “I told you to stay away from her, didn’t I?”

 “You will not get away with this,” Lucas mutters. He is used to Jack’s beating but this very punch is times two of what Jack has been giving him.

 “You are wrong; I have already gotten away with this!” Jack held Lucas to the wall and punched him severally on his abdomen. He brought his face closer to Lucas' and whispered to him, “Your father will never save you from what I have in store for you.” He dragged Lucas out of his apartment like a beat-down criminal.

  Jack made sure no one was watching as he dragged Lucas to the truck. After he pushed Lucas into the truck, he drove out.

 “What is wrong with you?” Alicia yelled. She was seated in the back seat of the truck with Lucas who was still trying to catch his breath. Philip was seated at the front with Jack on the wheels.

  “You shouldn’t have called off the relationship because of him. You betrayed me and now you are with him, huh!” Jack snapped back at Alicia. Although he still loves her, he is filled with the rage of anger. He wants Lucas to pay for getting him suspended and not listening to stay away from Alicia.

 “Don’t do this, whatever you think you want to do,” Lucas squeezes out a few words in his dying breath. He is still feeling pain from the punches and kicking he received from Jack a while ago. No one has an idea of where Jack is taking them but someone should better talk him out of this madness before it gets too late.

 “Keep your mouth shut!” Jack yelled as he gazes at Lucas from the rear mirror. He was driving as fast as he could.

 “Where are you taking us to?” Alicia asked in a faded tone. She couldn't believe what was happening at the moment. This time, Jack has gone far.

 “Sit tight love, you don’t want to be part of this,” Jack replied focusing on the wheels.

SOME MINUTES LATER:

     Driving about two miles to the wooded area, Jack was fast enough to see a police patrol car ahead. The patrol car seems to have pulled over and the officer seems to be giving out a ticket to over speeding driver. He didn’t want Lucas and Alicia to scream for the officer's help so he quickly swerve into the woods with the hope of finding another route but unfortunately for them, he followed the wrong way. He didn’t know he was heading for a greenish swarm of alligators.

   Jack’s blue truck rammed into an almond tree. The almond tree prevents the blue truck from diving further into the greenish swarm. Too bad Jack and Philip hit their head so hard as a result of the rough crash into the almond tree. There’s no one to get help for them. The patrol officer didn’t see Jack swerving off the road, they are all alone and it was already getting dark.

    Lucas realizing what has happened tried to open the door but the door was stuck. “Are you alright?” he glanced at Alicia.

  “I will live!”Alicia replied in a tiny little voice of her.

   Lucas hastily tried the left door to see if it would open but the door was stuck as well. “Oh no!” he cried out. “This is your doing Jackass!” he hauled insult on Jack. There was no response unlike Jack that would reply to everything said to him.

  “Something is not right,” said Alicia as she quickly removed her seatbelt. She began to shake Jack but he isn’t responding.

      Lucas didn't pay much attention to Jack or his buddy Philip. All he could think of was how to get out of the mess with Alicia. An idea came to him. Good thing he has seen a lot of movies and how people in his situation got away. With his elbow, he broke the windscreen. “We need to find a way out first and get help.”

    “I can feel his pulse but he isn’t moving.”

   “What about Philip, can you feel his pulse too?”

   “Yes, and they are both bleeding from the nostrils.”

   “Reach for their phone, we could use it and call for help.”

      Lucas isn’t with his phone and neither is Alicia. They were pulled out of the house without anything on them. Lucas slowly climbs out and gestures to Alicia to get their phones and climb out.

    “They have no phone on them!”

   “No! No! This can’t be true. Check again!”

   “I have but there’s no phone.”

   “Check the pigeonhole!”

    Alicia hastily pulled open the pigeonhole but there isn’t any phone in there too. It’s already dark and the full moon appeared from behind a blanket of dark gray clouds. They could barely see with just the source of the light from the moon.

       Alicia cast a terrified glance at Lucas and whispered in a frightened voice. “We need to get help from the roadside, help me out.”

       Lucas didn’t hesitate, he draws closer to help Alicia out but as the moon cast aside its cloudy veil, she caught a glimpse of the glowing half-green eye of a hairy beasty creature staring from behind an oak tree a few paces away from them. Its sharp fangs and claws glistened in the dark. “Lucas, turn around,” she mutters in a frightened voice.

    “What’s the matter?” Lucas asked as he flicked around.

    “Something is watching.”

   “I can’t see anything.” Lucas’ eyes were fixed toward the direction of the oak tree but didn’t see anything or anyone.

    “Maybe it’s gone.”

   “Is an illusion because you are afraid of the dark, we need to get to the roadside and get help.”

      Lucas helped Alicia climb out of the car. She firmly held Lucas as they both made a turn toward the roadside.

      Heading towards the roadside, they were a loud growling from their behind. This growling pierced through their ears and caused their heart to skip. Slowly they turned only to behold a 12 feet tall hairy beasty creature with half-green eyes before them. The creature has a snout, fangs in place of teeth, and claws in place of fingers.

    “Run!” yelled Lucas.

      The moon peeped through the oak tree leaves and faintly lit up the dark path ahead. Alicia flicked around and ran as fast as she could, thinking Lucas was right behind her. Before Lucas could flick around to run too, the 12 feet tall hairy beasty creature pounced at Lucas. The creature buried its fangs into his neck and its claws into his lower abdomen. Pulling out its claws and fangs from Lucas, the creature scratched his chest and then fanged him on the chest. The pain was so excruciating that he had lost his voice to even scream out loud.

       Lucas’ eyes began to close slowly as he fights through the agonizing moment of his life. His thought flashed back to his late mother whom the police department believed was killed by a wild bear. Perhaps his fate with her mother is the same. It’s quite clear now that he has to die like his mother.

        Alicia let out a loud cry. She became paralyzed in fear that she couldn’t move. The loud cry drew the creature’s attention toward her as the creature switched its attention to her. The creature growled sniffing out smoke from its nostrils.