Serlock Pines

Five

Caleb paused the video again. So far he had paused it four times. He was leaning up against the dead oak tree. He had already vomited the first time he atttemoted to watch it. Ever since then he'd been trying build up his confidence, mostly unsuccessfully. He eyed the ground for a long time trying to build up his confidence. The dense cold soil that seemed to muffle all sound seemed to stare at him as if it were a hopeless abyss. Still it was better than seeing his friends in danger, he hated the thought of it, and of watching it, and he hated that he had no choice in the matter.

The video was distressful almost immediately. He breathe a deep breath and cleared his kind. He needed to focus. He kept his eyes close until his breathing had calmed and started the video over once more.

This time Caleb sat all the way through, though that didn't make him any less horrified. The video started with the two of them being awoken in the night to a sound, a fierce growl that Caleb had no recollection of.

"What the fuck was that? Caleb! Caleb!" Adam shouted but Caleb didn't answer him.

The camera whirled around to joes face, it was a mix of anger and panic. A look Caleb had never seen on Joe before. Joe was always known for his masculinity. He was always intimidating in social situations, he amongst never showed signs of fear or weakness. That spoke volumes to just how afraid he was in the moment.

It appeared something else was going on the video wasn't capturing. The two seemed distress and in constant motion with no real goal. They were both heavily breathing and frantically going through their packs, the growling getting louder. Whatever the thing was had been getting closer. The two seemed to recoil and looked sickened every time the thing growled, they fell back to their knees and grabbed their heads in pain. It was as if the things sound was actually physically harming them. An odd sight indeed, Caleb thought at least.

Was it because I fell asleep?

"Open the door! Open it!" Joe then shouted and the two of them were shuffling around in the tent trying to get out.

They then exited the tent, Adam's camera recording in hand, and the two of them were immediately knocked over. Adam rolled to see Joe wrestling with a dark humanoid bring but much taller. He got up to run towards it but the beast screamed a horrid nouse and Adam stopped and fell to his knees screaming in pain. The being used the pause to hit joe over the head knocking him out cold. The being then slung joe over his shoulder and carried him into the woods. Adam was breathing heavily, looking all around for Caleb and even called out to him a few times but Caleb was nowhere to be seen, a fact that startled Caleb more than a little upon watching the video. Adam then stood and chased after the bring following it's tracks before the video ended.

It appeared some creature took Joe into the woods and Adam followed it. Since Caleb found the camera with a shattered lens he could only conclude that Adam had now also been captured by the being in question. Furthermore to Caleb's curiosity, why wasn't Caleb himself there in the video? He woke up just outside the tent. Where could he have gone? Caleb shifted uncomfortably and felt a wrenching in his stomach at that question in particular. He shook his head trying to think about something else, but it still lingered in the back of his mind, baring at him and his need to have questions answered. This damned forest was such a headache.

Caleb let out a long and tired sigh. Partially out of fear. He had no idea what to do or where to go now. He was lost in the depths of the silent forest. The silence of which was only driving him more mad by the minute. Then a thought entered his mind that he hadn't considered until now. He truly had no idea where he was or how he could get out of here. It had already been hours and the situation showed no discernible signs of ending well, or ending in any type of way safely at all for that matter. To make things worse his longtime friends were taken and likely in danger or even killed. It was quite possible Caleb could die here. He blinked at that. He didn't want to think it but still, it was true. Not only true, but increasingly probable, which made his neck hairs stand on edge even more, which seemed impossible at the time. Caleb couldn't shake himself of the thought and accompanying worry, he could die here, alone cold and lost forever.

Caleb's heart began to race uncontrollably. He started to shiver and pace with anxiety, he hated the thought of it. He couldn't stand the idea of this accursed forest being his tomb. Just as the anxiety started to make his toes and fingertips tingle, tears firmed in his eyes. With nothing else to do Caleb slumped back over to the dead tree and cried, his tears rolling down his cheeks and falling inyo the thick soul beneath him.

Some time passed before Caleb collected himself. He had stopped crying and feeling pitiful, but unfortunately still had no direction. Then he heard the caw of the single bird once more. He wondered why the bird was in the forest to begin with and he seemed to always hear it. A lone owl at night. An owl that gave off a faint distant who from time to time, though he only heard it once back at camp. There was the sound from the owl and the caw from the lone bird, either a crow or a raven it must have been, in the day. He heard the caw of the bird much more often, almost constantly so he figured at this point.

Is the bird following me? He wondered.

Then  he paused and thought for a moment. Could it be possible that the bird was actually communicating with him? Is that why he could always hear it? He heard the caw once more and stood up trying to assess the direction. With one more caw Caleb deduced it was coming from his left. With no other leads and no other direction to go, Caleb walked yo his left in pursuit of the silent forests lone bird.