The squeal and stutter of the tires reached me as I gripped the seat cushion to stay upright. My fingers clawed into the upholstery like a frantic cat being lowered into a pool of water. Aaron had turned onto what I assumed was a dirt road. It wasn’t as rutty or bumpy as the road to Aaron’s house, but we had left the smooth surface of asphalt.

An unfamiliar sound made my ears perk. A crunching noise registered, but it wasn’t rocks that the wheels crushed as we bounced about.

“If they come into these woods, they’d better know them better than me,” Aaron muttered, as he glanced back.

His statement let me know that we’d entered the woods and it was twigs snapping under the tires as we drove. Although the windows were rolled most of the way up, I could still make out the low whine of insects and the sweet melody of birds’ songs welcoming us. The earthy scent that crept into the trucks interior was another clue that we were under the cover of leaves and branches.

Aaron was betting on the fact that he knew the woods well enough to beat whoever the hell was chasing us. He was leading those that hunted us out back. If there was one thing Copper County had a lot of, it was out back.

After minutes of bouncing over the rugged terrain of the wooded path we’d taken, the view that swallowed us was of trees whose willowy limbs, heavy trunks, and fat shimmering leaves allowed only flickers of light to peek through. Leaves and pebbles rained down on the truck as we rolled towards our destination.

The sun had already started to make its descent since it was late evening, and its orange glow made it appear that we were on the reverse side of a nature painting. The deeper we went, the darker my wooded view grew. The thickening of the trees dimmed the light and allowed darkness to take over. Another sharp turn sent my body careening again before the squeak of the brakes brought the truck to a sudden stop.

“Come on, Megan, follow me,” Aaron called back after he slung his squeaking door open.

The first thing I did was grab the gun I’d taken from the glove compartment before I climbed into the seat, hopped over the center console, and followed Aaron out of his door.

He shoved one of his guns down the back of his jeans and kept the other aimed and ready to shoot.

“I saw you take a gun. You still have it?” he asked without glancing down at me.

“Yes,” I answered, my breath rushing too fast out of my mouth as my feet raked over the grass and twig-lined surface below.

“Good girl,” he called back to me as he took off towards the back of his truck.

He opened the bed cover of his truck, reached in blindly and dragged out a large duffle bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder and left the hatch of his truck open. He walked back towards me, adjusting some object in his hand. When he shut the driver’s side truck door behind me, the interior light went off, leaving us in darkness.

“Let’s go. Stay close,” he directed. “If you see anyone that’s not me, shoot the motherfucker.”

“Okay,” I said without protest, although I wondered how I was supposed to shoot at anything in the dark. The night hadn’t taken over, but the trees were thick enough to cast our surroundings in enough shadow that it could very well have been night.

Aaron navigated the dark, uneven terrain smoothly. Insects continued to call even as my trampling steps disturbed their homes. Although Aaron wore heavy boots, his footsteps were as light as a sneaky cat’s. We hiked about two hundred paces away from the truck before Aaron directed me into some type of dugout or ditch. How he saw anything was beyond me because I could hardly see my shadowy hands in front of my face.

“Here, Megan, lay here flat on your stomach. I’ll help you put these on.”

I climbed into the hole, which wasn’t as deep as the dark view had led me to believe it was. About two or two and a half feet deep, the hole was wide and long enough for me to fit and lay comfortably inside.

The soft roar of engines and the crunch of twigs and leaves snapping under tires alerted us that multiple vehicles were approaching. I couldn’t tell if there were two vehicles or five, but I was certain there was more than one. They must have cut their headlights off because the engine noises indicated they were close, but I didn’t see any visible light.

When Aaron slipped something plastic and metal over my head and dropped it over my eyes, I didn’t move. I didn’t even breathe because I had no idea what was going on until he flipped a switch. A low wheezing sounded before my dark view turned into a green one.

Night vision goggles? What the?

This was how Aaron could see. What was he doing with this type of equipment?

Careful twig-breaking footsteps and the unmistakable clicks of weapons being charged was what funneled into my ears. Sounds seemed different here in the woods—more sharp, crisp, and distinct.

Aaron placed my hand on what I discerned was a metal knob.

“Adjust the sight using this knob. Stay low and if it doesn’t look like me, aim for the head in case they’re wearing armor, and don’t hesitate. Shoot,” he instructed in a low tone.

Before I could get a word out, he was climbing out of the hole I was in. The night goggles gave me the ability to see him running back towards his truck or towards what could well have been an army of men.

The view through the goggles was green, glowing, and unsteady, and I didn’t know enough about them to know if this view was normal or if it needed further adjusting. Nothing had distinct or crisp shapes or colors. Everything was glow-light green and seemed to float across my vision.

“Fuck,” I murmured when I felt something slithering across the backside of one of my legs. My teeth sank deep into my bottom lip before I went stock still. Thank God, I’d changed into jeans. In the background, I thought I heard the rambling sounds of a fight, but my mind was consumed with the creature on my leg.

I didn’t know if what had crawled onto me was a snake, a rat, or some other woodland creature that ate human flesh. A stabbing chill ran up my spine, and I fought a shiver as the thing lingered at the back of my left thigh. Was it burrowing itself into my leg? My mind exploded with panic.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What is it?

Adrenaline pumped through my body so thickly, I’d become one massive heartbeat. I couldn’t help my reaction. I couldn’t lie there and give the thing time to decide what part of my leg he wanted to take a chunk out of.

I heaved my body sideways, gritting my teeth with the force and effort I’d put into the turn. My movement sent whatever the hell it was on my leg someplace else. My ears perked at the sound of it scurrying away, its claws scratching the ground as it ran into the darkness.

As soon as I was rid of my attacker, a loud series of body damaging cracks sounded in the distance. I nearly twisted my neck off my body, my head snapped around so fast, scanning for where the sound was coming from. I prayed that it wasn’t Aaron who had received that bone-breaking strike.

Loud angry grunts sent my head to the back of Aaron’s truck. Two green figures were back there, fighting. Their loud heaves and grunts echoed through the dark. Their pounding fists connected with flesh and registered even louder as the two glowing green masses continued to scuffle.

I didn’t know if it was instinct or blind luck, but when the hairs on the back of my neck stood like a ghostly hand had passed across them, I turned and found a green form creeping its way in my direction with his weapon aimed and at the ready. Aaron’s sharp words replayed in my brain, “If you see anyone that’s not me, shoot.”

So, I aimed. And I shot. The person stood frozen for a moment before they dropped to their knees. They appeared to be holding their neck. A gurgling sound followed, confirming that I’d shot them in a place that affected their breathing. I lifted the gun to shoot again, but the body tumbled forward and remained still. To ensure it stayed down, I shot again at the unmoving mass on the ground.

I turned back to the fight that was still in progress behind the truck. Since it was difficult to tell one person from the next, I couldn’t tell who was winning the fight, Aaron or the bad guy.

An unworldly squeal sounded and brought my stabbing chill right back. One of the green figures repeatedly jammed a sharp instrument that must have been a knife, into the head and neck region of the other man.

A loud throat rattling humph followed each stab. The stabber kept stabbing until his adversary stopped making sounds and then hunched low next to the victim. The only logical explanation was that it was Aaron waiting for the rest of them.

My nerves were wound so tightly, I didn’t bother to slap away a buzzing insect as it fussed near my ear. My roving eyes remained on who I’d convinced myself was Aaron until he eased up and ran deeper into the woods. His silent stride didn’t match the energetic movement of his body. The large dark body of the truck obstructed him the further away he went, causing him to disappear from my view.

A quiet moment that felt like a lifetime passed before an eerie series of moans floated through the darkness, but there were no green figures in sight for me to match with the sound. The sound grew more intense and heart wrenching. The haunting cries filled the air with a creepy stillness that had goose bumps running up my arms. I knew that sound. I’d heard it before. A death moan. Someone was dying, and I prayed it wasn’t Aaron.

On the verge of calling out to Aaron, I pinched my lips shut. My eagerness to go searching for him intensified, but I fought it and inched my body lower behind the packed dirt of my hiding place. My body ached with the need to see if Aaron was okay, but I had to believe that he was alive.

Another moment of chilling silence enveloped the woods. The insects stopped singing, the animals stopped calling, and even the leaves had stopped their low chorus of swaying melodies. I held my breath for what seemed to last a lifetime as only the sound of my fluttering heart registered.