It was nothing, nothing at all, just a figment of her imagination. Or then again perhaps it was something…the wind…surely it was the wind, the wind could make such a noise, couldn’t it? Such an unfamiliar noise, a warm, wet, popping, splintering kind of a noise that sounded as if it were right next to your ear… almost like a dog eating raw chicken bones. The kind of noise that made you sick to your stomach. Or maybe it was some sort of small animal. A raccoon perhaps? Some animal that would pay her no attention .Or the breathtaking fear that paralyzed her to this very spot. A single high pitched moan escaped Chelsea’s throat. She had to leave, she had to move. Something was out there and it was getting closer.
I should have listened, I should have stayed. The thoughts kept echoing in her head. She had no reason to be out here, away from the safety and warmth of the fire. Why did she go to look for the others? Surely they would be back any moment. Chelsea ventured to take a step, but froze when she heard it again. It was moving, the noise was coming from behind her. The breathing more ragged now. She expected to feel warm breath on the back of her neck at any moment. She hoped for a breath rather than the teeth she knew must belong to the noise...


More to follow soon...

Hey, guys, Im stuck on this story...please feel free to add on!

She stopped, stood still. She knew she wasn't that far from the safety of the empty house she just left, she urged to make a run for it...but that unrecognizable noise froze her in her tracks. She instinctively refrained from yelling to the others (where DID they go?!), but the noise might make whatever was out there turn and realize her presence.

Feeling she was rooted on the spot and not breathing from hours, she realized only a few minutes must have gone by. Chelsea was unaware of her clutching at the coat she threw over her shoulders on her way out until she felt her own nails digging into herself. Shocked back into action, she turned her head left and right, fast yet silently, as the noise seemed to have stopped.

It was worse.

Without any noise, she had no coordinates. She felt watched, hunted, something just a few feet away from her just waiting for her to make a sudden move, and attack.

Terrified, she couldn't stand there any more: she made a run for it, and screamed while her feet flew over the uneven ground, but she couldn't hear herself. Push, turn, run...faster, faster, don't turn around, just go, go, go!! and in a flash she was flying face first into the mud: scrambling, panicking, screaming, her foot trapped by something - she pulled without turning her head, kept yanking that foot that wouldn't budge, and finally turned her gaze upon...upon...

'...F..Fr..Fra...FRANK???' She stuttered.
'Yes, it's me - I...I seem to have lost the others. What are you doing out here? Thought you said you didn't want to, you didn't...you said you were cold - what's happening? Are you alright?'. He stood above her with a strange calmness, an unnatural aplomb considering the circumstances. Frank was her lifelong friend, Chelsea knew him very well - and he just wasn't LIKE that...