I was sure I was going to have a hangover, there was no way I drank that much beer and wasn’t going to pay for it in the morning. Yet, my head felt as if my lips had never even touched an alcoholic drink in months. While my memories of the night before hung clouded in a fog, the pain usually accompanied with the haze was absent. I couldn’t quite believe my luck. I would’ve taken longer to appreciate this moment until flashes of the night before began to flood my vision, the crackle of the fire, the feeling of peace, and that strange light.
I shook the must be dream from my head, when I realized the house was quiet. No snoring from the other three, no real movement at all. The sleeping bag on the couch across from me was empty, and a quick glance into the darkened bedroom showed beds lacking occupants. Where the hell were they? I sat up and put my boots on, something about noticing the backdoor was slightly open unnerved me.
The sun felt like an aunt you don’t see often smothering you with a hug at a family event. It was early morning, but already a stark heat had gripped the day. Birds chirped, and fluttered through the surrounding trees, had I not noticed the other three down by the creek I would’ve taken a longer moment to enjoy the nature around me. Almost as if some unseen force knew I was coming, a gut wrenching odor invaded my senses as I took my first step towards the trio.
My eyes watered, stomach turned, and a lot more beer than I thought I had in my system suddenly evacuated it. Collecting myself momentarily, I peered through the tears and covered my nose with shirt. The stench felt more like a solid material than air as I struggled to reach the others. “Don’t worry, we threw up too”, Seth said once I was within ear shot of hearing him. “It’s not so bad down here, oh and watch your step.”
He was right, arriving at my destination, the smell seemed to evaporate, my nostrils rejoiced to inhale fresh air again. Seth hadn’t moved his eyes from whatever it was he was poking with a stick. Paul and Charley looked over his shoulder almost nervously, occasionally glancing at each other. Finally I was able to get close enough to the object of attraction, or rather objects.
It was shit, literal shit. There were about half a dozen piles of it in various different sizes. I don’t know when they had been left there but flies were already swarming the mounds like sharks to a feeding frenzy. “What in the fuck?!” I said unable to hold in my surprise.
“Yea, definitely not bears,” Seth said flatly and almost at a whisper, jamming the stick in and out of the messy pile.
“Hey! Check this out!” Paul shouted, the volume of his voice felt like a violation and instinctively the three of us shushed him. Charley and I made our way over to Paul, subconsciously scanning the wood line as an uneasy feeling settled upon us. Paul was crouched down now looking at his feet then following an imaginary line across the creek and up the embankment toward where I had seen the X’s the day before. Paul looked at us startled and quickly waved his hand to stop. Charley and I turned to statues immediately, “Look down, don’t mess them up.” Paul whispered a grin almost forming across his face.
I’m not sure why but for some reason in that moment, my muscles did not seem to want to comply. Something nagged at the back of my mind, the answer was inches from my face but in that moment I was perfectly content with not knowing and simply walking the other direction. “Oh..” I heard Charley say next to me. As curiosity made me look down, my brain and eyes took what seemed like minutes to get on the same page. I had seen this before, while traversing late night rabbit holes of the internet diving into the unknown, but I had never seen one in person. My boot looked small dwarfed by the clearly visible five toed footprint left in the soft earth.
“That’s not all,” Seth’s voice broke the scene, “The tires are flat on the trucks.”
“Mine’s got a spare.” Charley’s voice was shaking, his eyes glued to the footprint in frontt of him.
“No, all of the tires are flat. Oh and there was this.” Seth tossed something between Charley and I onto the ground. As if staring at the footprint was hard enough, recognizing the lower jawbone and teeth of a human was even harder.