Game One

[Tweek]

A small group crowds around a roaring campfire. It's a chilly October night in the Maryland woods. It had taken most of the day to hike to this spot and everyone is weary. The smell of burnt marshmallows and vienna sausages wafts through the air.

TWEEK looks around at the giant trees and sighs softly. This is the spot, he says to himself. This is where we'll find Elly. He pulls his stickman beanie cap down over his ears and flashes an excited grin. Yes indeed.

[wanga]

Optimism had never been Wangas strong point and his loud sigh epitomised everything he had been thinking for the last 3 days of the hike. In his heart he knows its a lost cause but after all that has happened, to give up now would only make things worse. He had already seen enough in the short time they had been in the woods to keep him in nightmares for the rest of his life, he could not give up now, vain hopw was the only comfort he had.

[Tweek]

Our guide, an elderly man from Burkittsville, had gone straight to his tent as soon as we reached the campsite. Hardly a word had passed his lips during the hike up here. The old guy seemed nervous. Fearful even. Maybe the others didn't notice or didn't care. But TWEEK did. That guy's the only one who knows the way back. I better check and see if he's ok.

TWEEK walks quickly past the campfire and stops at a small tent set up away from all the others. He pulls back the tent flap and shines his mag-lite flashlight inside.

The tent is empty.

[Scardy]

Scardy had here camera out. There had been several nervous grins at the use of a video camera. She reckoned if they were to go like the last group, at least they might be able to offer more clues. She was not happy with this reckoning. In fact, with her poisen ivy already acting up, she was cursing herself for coming here in the first place.
"Is the guide around?" She asked Tweek, adjusting her ball cap.

[Tweek]

"No" replies TWEEK. "Not here. Must be getting more firewood or something."

TWEEK turns away quickly so Scardy will not see the worried look on his face. He heads back toward his own tent. The group near the campfire erupts into loud laughter as someone makes a (bad) Heather Donahue joke. A barking dog can be heard in the distance.

TWEEK enters his tent and begins to dig through his backpack. He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a neatly folded map.

[Dan]

"Grab one for me if you can spare it Tweek, cheers," I ask.

Only the pop and crack of the fire break the silence.

It's cold. Dramatically cold. Exaggerated by the woods, and the darkeness, I suspect.

[Tweek]

TWEEK puts the map away, then emerges from the tent and tosses Dan a new pack of smokes.

"Hope you like menthol, dude. All I got."

He approaches the campfire, then sees something on the ground that grabs his attention. TWEEK picks up a shiny object and quickly stuffs it in his shirt pocket. He then seats himself near the fire and stretches out his hands to warm them.

The barking dog is silent now. Thick clouds obscure the full moon overhead, casting even more darkness into the woods.

[Scardy]

"Jezz guys," Scardy coughed, "Do you have to light those things up? I can't stand thew smeel." She moved up wind of them. The group by the fire was laughing. She filmed their smiling faces, remembering ironically, the smiles of Heather, Mike, and Josh before they disapeared only a few days later, lost inexplicicly in these very woods.
Scardy had been feeling a growing sense of foreboding, and wanted to head back soon.

[Tweek]

One by one the others head to their tents for a night of sleepless rest. Wanga, TWEEK, Scardy, and Dan remain around the fire.

"You guys see anything creepy during the hike today? When we crossed that big log over the creek this afternoon I could swear we were being watched from the opposite side. I could feel eyes on me. Probably just curious locals, right?"

TWEEK looks away from the campfire suddenly and squints at the darkness north of camp. After a long moment his gaze returns to the dancing flames.

"Thought I heard something" he says in a voice barely above a whisper. "Footsteps."

[Scardy]

"Man Tweek, this is how it started out for those filmakers. We should never of come out here. We're tempting fate the longer we stay out here." Scardy put down her camera. "I've been getting the creeps more and more." Scardy shuddered as she listened to the footsteps. She picked up her camera again. She couldn't see anything in her viewfinder.

[LunaSea]

A light bobs along in the trees. Everyone freezes in place - hoping it is their missing guide.

"Heyyyy....all. It's just me," Luna calls as she steps out of the trees and into the glowing arc of the fire's light.

The huddled group voices their greetings and surprise that she had hiked out to them alone. At night.

"Well, I decided at the last minute to join you afterall," she announces, turning her flashlight off and laying her backpack down heavily. "Heh....lucky I found you at all. These woods can be a bitch to navigate in the darkness. It's scary how fast the light fades...."

Finding a place to settle in around the fire, Luna pulls her gloves off and fumbles for the cigarettes in her coat pocket.

"Ohhh, btw....did you lose someone from the group today? I could have sworn I saw someone wandering around in the woods earlier. The light was bad - but someone - or something was moving out there - towards town, it seemed. I called out and got no reply. I thought that was odd."

[Tweek]

TWEEK nods to Luna.

"Yeah. The guide is missing."

He takes a long drag on his cigarette and slowly exhales. The fire pops loudly and a glowing ember lands near Wanga's feet. He doesn't seem to notice.

"Isn't that why we're out here, Scardy? To see something? I'm ready for it. Bring it on!" TWEEK says.

He looks into her camera and makes a funny face.

"How are the batteries holding up in that thing? Getting any good footage?"

I swear I can still hear footsteps, he thinks. Soft crunching sounds in the leaves. Is somebody else out there? The old man maybe? Or could it be Elly...?

[Dan]

"Damn Luna, no one responded? Sounds creepy from the start. You have balls alright.

This is the longest I've gone offline. Not such a bad thing actually. I needed this. Perhaps some inspiration will kick in.

Tweek, this was the greatest idea, thanks bro, thanks for bringing us in.

I smell..... smores...

LUNA! What you packin' babe!"

(huddles in a wee closer, heh heh heh)

[Scardy]

"I'm not sure I wanna see anything." said Scardy. "The guide is missing? Luna saw some one in the woods? Can we please leave before something really happens? Like bloody teeth, goin in circles, blue jelly, running out of marshmellows?" Scardy grabbed the bag and stuck one on a sharpened stick.

[wanga]

Suddenly a loud crack, echoless in the black erupted from somewhere behind the tents. "Shit." Wanga said with an unerving calm, or perhaps it was resignation to the inebitable. "I dont knopw what that was and i dont want to know. For all we know this guide might be a nutter - either that or just playing tricks. Dont you guys remember how this thing got started - those weird phone calls - i thought it was just part of the act but he denied he'd ever made them. "

[LunaSea]

"Smores?" Luna laughs out loud while trying to light her cigarette. "I smell like smores, Dan?" she asks as she bumps his shoulder with hers.

"With the marshmallows here and the chocolate in my bag, I think we could come up with something smore-like...if you're interested. I also have a flask of Baileys in there. Help yourselves..."

Suddenly feeling a bit warm, Luna unzips her coat and pulls it off, and folds it as a pillow to sit on. Her sweater and the tee underneath feel just right with the roar of the fire - and the cool night breeze is welcome against her face.

"I understand your feelings, Scardy...but I don't think I'd want to try to traverse my way back to town in this darkness. Besides, nothing has really happened yet has it? That person I saw out there in the woods could have been a forest ranger, a lost tourist or a serial killer for all I know. Oops...sorry about the serial killer stuff. I have a sick sense of humor sometime. Anyway, maybe they didn't answer because they were upwind and didn't hear me - or maybe it's just my twangy Tennessee accent that they couldn't understand....who knows?

Now, Wanga....what is this about a missing guide? Please say you're talking about a book and not a person.... Tweek?"

[Scardy]

"If they were upwind they wouldn't be able to smell you, not unable to hear you. Scents and sounds work different."
Scardy stopped before she went too far into a scientific lecture.
"And if we wait too long, we may never get out!" Scardy was aware this was all being recorded on the tape. She tested her marshmellow.
"Plus, if you guys can understand my travesty of the english language, then they can certainly understand you."
"Maybe it was a deer... Dum dum dum duum."

[LunaSea]

"Ha! If it was a deer, it was wearing clothes and walking on its hind legs...not a good thing! That marshmallows looks pretty good..."

[Tweek]

"The guide's gone AWOL on us. That guy is sooooo fired" TWEEK says with a scowl. "You'd think for the money we paid him he could at least stick around. Or try to make the trip interesting. He led us right past Coffin Rock today without a single word. I had to stop everyone and point it out. Some guide. Hmmmmf!"

The footsteps had stopped. They were close. Very close. Someone was listening. Or some thing.

"Anyway" says TWEEK in a much quieter tone. "We don't need him. I've seen TBWP enough times to know not to have only one map. I brought my own."

What is making all those noises, he wonders. I should have packed a handgun. Feeling very unsafe right about now. Very.

[LunaSea]

"Yeahhh, good idea, Tweek. I brought a map of my own too. Can't be too careful."

Luna froze in place and pulled a bit nervously at her long ponytail. Her eyes scoured the trees around them.

"Who or what in the hell is making those noises?" she whispered.

[Tweek]

A strange unearthly voice is heard on the wind just then. Whispered words that seem to come from the trees themselves. A woman's voice.

"Seven.... Must.... Die...."

The campfire is instantly extinguished, as if blown out like a candle. The camp is now in total darkness. The sound of footsteps begins again, this time moving away from the campsite.

[Scardy]

Scardy's hair stood on end.She was frozen for a whole two seconds before she picked up the camera and swung it around, trying to pick something up.
"If any one ever finds this, I want all my comics to go to Ash, my cousin can have my clothes, my sister does not get my room, but she can have my DVD player, she and mom can split the books, Lily gets my french notes, my bed can be donated to Rosebud, my stuffed animals and chewed up Barbie dolls go to the Ronald McDonald House, and Kosair and my cousins can split the rest... Sis, I love you, but you can't have my computer, that goes to the librarian."

[LunaSea]

Luna moves closer to Dan and shivers uncontrollably. Time seems to stand still...the seconds frozen in the darkness and the absence of fire.

"Ohhh my God.....," she whispers to everyone and no one at the same time.

The air grows suddenly colder and oddly electric.

Luna can hear Scardy's terrified voice but it seems far, far away.

[Scardy]

Scardy screamed!
Her hair stood up comically as she saw tha image of a hairy woman pass her veiw finder.
"Aug! I knew I should of kept my a$$ at home!"

[Tweek]

The fire is soon lit again, revealing a camp in chaos. Three tents are destroyed, ripped apart and the contents thrown around. No sign of the people that were inside.

TWEEK is standing over the remains of a wrecked tent. "Drag marks" he says, pointing to the ground. "Something just took them..."

Why didn't we hear anything? There should have been sounds of a struggle. Shouting. Or something. All I could hear was that terrible voice.

I never want to hear that sound again. Ever.