The Trespasser

Dry Autumn leaves crunched softly under Lance’s boots as he crept forward through the forest. He rolled his feet as he took each step, reducing the noise of each footstep. His hands nervously clenched the wooden stock of his rifle. It was an older weapon, a surplus M14, a gift from his father before he had left. He held it in a low ready position as he stalked through the forest, ready to raise it at a moment's notice. His eyes flickered energetically between the forest in front of him and damp forest floor before him, watching for any signs of movement and any obstacles. He paused suddenly as his eyes caught sight of a small puddle of blood on the ground. He carefully knelt down, still being cautious to not make any noise. He dipped two fingers in the shallow puddle, examining fluid. It was red, bright red, and still watery and thin. It was fresh, he had to be close.

His head snapped up as he heard the sound of a branch being broken, his blue eyes, shaded by the brim of his stetson, moved back and forth as he searched for its source. He carefully moved forward, putting his back behind the trunk of a large oak. He could hear something moving around, disrupting piles of fallen leaves, it was big. It was only now that he realized that his heart was racing, his hands starting to get clammy. Each beat of his heart felt like the beat of a drum inside chest. Lance took several deep, controlled breaths as he tried to calm his racing heat. He could hardly hit his target if his hands were shaking. “Okay,” he whispered to himself, attempting to stem the flow of anxiety that was starting to flow. He wasn’t entirely sure what was on the other side of the tree, but he told himself that he would be ready for it, no matter what.

With a sudden burst of energy he wheeled around the trunk of the oak, leveling his rifle at the shape that was on the other side of the tree. The shape let out a surprised yelp before falling onto it’s rear. Lance let out a breath he just now realized he had been holding and quickly removed his finger from the trigger of his rifle as he laid eyes on the shape. It was a girl, about his age, her grey eyes wide in surprise and shock as she looked up at him.

“Who are you,” Lance asked. He had meant for the query to be forceful, but it came out more as a confused question. “Who are you,” the girl countered, equally confused. “I asked first,” said Lance. “Fine, I’m Samantha,” she said curtly, “And you are?.” Lance bristled at her tone, it had more than a hint of superiority in it. This was his family's land, and here she was, trespassing and demanding answers from him. “ Lance, why are you on my dad’s land?” He asked, lowering his rifle as he did, she wasn’t the apex predator he was expecting, even if she was rather demanding. Samantha waved her hand dismissively, “I was just looking for something, I honestly didn’t know this belonged to anyone.” Samantha then paused and looked up at Lance. She flashed him a smile, extending a hand towards Lance. “I apologize for trespassing on your land, Lance,” she said very politely. Lance hesitated as he looked down at her, he couldn’t quite tell if she was mocking him or not. Eventually he slung his rifle and met her hand with his, pulling Samantha to her feet, deciding it was the polite thing to do. “Apology accepted,” he said as he pulled her up. Lance watched as she casually dusted herself off, cleaning off leaves and dirt that had stuck to her during her fall. 

Once she was up she seemed to give him a once over, eyeing his clothes and face. He half expected her to give some snarky remark about his appearance. She was clearly from the city, and he had never met someone from the city who hadn't come with a superiority complex. They seemed to always look down on people like him and his family, rural folk. Instead she asked him a question, "Have we met before, your face seems familiar." "What? No." he responded quickly, he was certain he had never met this girl before. She seem to study him for a few more moments, her brow furrowing as she looked at him. She seemed almost....disturbed by him, which hardly boosted his confidence. 

 “So what exactly are you looking for out here on my land,” Lance asked suspiciously. He was tired of being studied like some sort of peculiarity. Samantha turned her head to the side, a sheepish grin forming on her face, “I was, am, looking for…uh…a Wendigo.” Lance blinked in confusion, “A wendigo,” he said, rather bemused by her admission. Samantha shrugged her shoulders, “Y’now, a Wendigo, the cryptid.” “I know what it is, but that’s just a myth, and besides, why would it be on our land?” Lance asked, his confusion only deepening as the conversation developed. “Welllll, as I’m sure you know, Washington is a hotspot of paranormal, supernatural, and extraterrestrial activity. This place was pretty close to where I live and I heard that some pets and livestock have gone missing, so I decided to look here,” Samantha said matter of factly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Right, well I think you should leave. I don’t know about any wendigos, but there’s bears, elk, and wolves out here, and it’s not really safe to wander around here alone. I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never seen any cryptids” Lance said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Samantha grinned and tilted her head to the side playfully, “Maybe they just hide from you.” “Very funny,” said Lance, far from amused. “So,” Samantha started, “What are you doing out here, do you just patrol your land for fun, pointing guns at anyone you see? Do you fancy yourself a cowboy or something?”

Lance set his jaw, tilting his head down so the brim would hide his annoyed expression,“Well, not that it’s your business or anything, but one of our sheep is missing, I found a blood trail a ways back and I’ve been following it.” A smile beamed across Samantha’s face at his words, “I bet the Wendigo took it,” she said, excitement bubbling up in her words. Lance sighed and pinched his brow. She was really starting to get on his nerves. “No, it’s more likely a wolf took it,” he explained, barely held back aggravation in his voice. Samantha leaned in conspiratorially, a pleased grin on her face, “You don’t think it’s a little weird we both ended up here, close to your blood trail”

Lance’s head shot up to meet her gaze at her words, “Hang on, what trail have you been following, there’s no way you’ve just been wandering around the woods all day,” he said, his eyes narrowing in uncertainty. “I’ve been following the smell,” Samantha said casually. “Smell, what smell…” Lance started to say before sniffing the air. He paused as a reeking stench hit his nostrils, it smelled like copper, blood, and sulfur. “What the hell,” he said, his brow furrowing. He had never smelled anything like it before. He had smelled plenty of dead animals before, but this was different. It was like someone had poured feces over a week old corpse and then lit it on fire. “So you do smell it,” Samantha said, equal part excited and smug. Lance ran a tired hand over his face, “How did I miss that?” “That’s because you weren’t looking for it!” said Samantha. “That doesn’t make any sense,” Lance said, crossing his arms. Samantha responded by placing her hands on her hips, “Fine then mister skeptic, you follow your trail and I’ll follow my nose.” And with a turn of her heel she turned to walk deeper into the forest, her sandy blonde ponytail whipping around behind her. Lance started after her, “Hang on, you shouldn’t go tromping through the forest alone, there’s obviously some sort of predator out there.” “You have a gun, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Samantha said, turning her head to talk to him as she walked. “We? Who says I’m gonna help you find this Wendigo,” asked Lance as he followed her. “Well you are following me aren’t you?” she said, a mischievous grin on her face. “What? I’m not following you, I’m following the blood trail!” exclaimed Lance, stopping in place. He was very quickly losing control of the situation. “Well either way, it seems we’re heading the same way,” replies Samantha. Lance sighed, she was an infuriating girl, but he wasn’t about to let her wander around here in the woods alone. He continued walking, catching up to Samantha and walking beside her. “So are you some sort of journalist or amateur researcher or something?” He asked, trying to figure just why she would be out here, on his family's land. Samantha replied with a bashful chuckle, running a hand through her sandy blonde hair, “Uhhh, I'm more of a hobbyist I suppose.” “So you’re running around in the woods, looking for potentially dangerous creatures for fun?” Lance asked skeptically. Samantha, for the first time, looked a little uncomfortable, looking away awkwardly, “Uh, yeah”

“Frankly, that's a little weird,” Lance said, shooting her a suspicious look. Samantha snapped her head back to look at him, her ponytail whipping around with equal aggression. She raised an authoritative finger, pointing it at Lance, “You listen here Cowboy, I'm….”

But Lance wasn't listening, his eyes had caught something moving up ahead in a nearby clearing. He crouched low, grabbing Samantha by her shoulder and bringing her down with him. “Shhhhh,” he whispered as his knee hit the leaf covered ground beneath them. “What’s the big idea?” Samantha hissed, her anger barely contained. Lance merely pointed towards the clearing ahead of them, “There’s something moving around in the clearing ahead of us, and it sounds big.” The anger and annoyance on Samantha’s face gave way to excitement and intrigue. “Well what are we waiting for, let's go see what it is,” she said as she started moving forward, making sure to keep low as she went. Lance stayed crouched, a look of sheer confusion on his face as he watched her move carefully towards what was likely something quite dangerous. “Turn around and leave,” he thought to himself, “She seems crazy enough to fend for herself, dad did always say looking for trouble is a fool's errand”

After another moment of hesitation he found himself moving forward after her, “Dammit, you’re an idiot” Lance mumbled to himself. He followed her as they crept through the brush, wincing each time Samantha stepped on a pile of leaves or a branch. The way she walked, he wondered if she had ever been in a forest before, she was doing a poor job of moving quietly. His hand nervously clenched and unclenched around the rifle in his hands, an outlet for his fraying nerves. Her talk of wendigos and cryptids had gotten to, even if he wouldn't admit it. He almost wanted to laugh at himself, getting scared by tales meant to frighten children, it was ridiculous. 

Soon enough the two reached the edge of a clearing, hiding in the middle of a cluster of shrubs and bushes, which provided excellent concealment. "Whatever it is, it's in this clearing up ahead." he whispered to Samantha. She gave him an energetic nod, barely hiding her excitement.  Together the two of them peeked over the top of the bush. Lance's face went from that of surprise, to shock, to horror at what moved in the clearing. Samantha's, on the other hand, was filled with elation and triumph. 

What sat in the middle of the clearing was a creature that was a horrible mix of human, animal, and corpse. It was tall, Lance could easily tell despite the fact that it was crouched over. It had to be at least eight feet tall. Thin wasn't sufficient enough to describe it's build. It was gaunt, a withered thing ghostly pale skin stretched painfully over bone. On it's head it wore the skull of buck, large antlers jutting into the sky. 

Lance instinctively flipped the safety on his rifle to fire, his finger settling on the trigger. "What the hell is that," he hissed. He hated how shaky his voice was, and he definitely didn't care for the look of excitement written on Samantha's face. "That.....is a wendigo," she said as she scribbled jargon into her notebook.  "This is so exciting I’ve never seen one before in person, this’ll be very informative." Lance just stared at her in disbelief and concern. This thing was straight out of his nightmares, there was nothing worth studying about it except how to kill it. 

His eyes were drawn back to 'wendigo' and what it was crouched over. He could make out the bloody form of a butchered sheep, an ewe. "Dammit, I guess I found Teeny,” he muttered solemnly. She had been the newest addition to their ranch, he had helped deliver her. 

Lance had seen enough, he was ready to leave, an equal mix of fear and disgust driving him away. “C’mon we should probably get…." he started to say before the flash of a camera cut him off. He whipped his around to the source of the light and noise. Samantha had a camera raised, aimed at the murderous creature crouched in the clearing. Before he could unleash a flurry of curses at her, the creature looked up at them. 

Two red, glowing eyes stared at them from under the skull. Lance's skin crawled as he realized that it's head was not a skull, but merely wearing it as a mask, an eerily human trait. "Maybe it didn't see us," whispered Samantha unhelpfully. The creature's jaw unhinged to a length that would kill a normal person and let out a roar that sounded like a mix between a human scream and an elks dying cry. 

Lance stood and shouldered his rifle and fired two rounds into the creature before grabbing Samantha by the hand and pulling her behind him as he broke into a sprint. She let out a surprised yelp as he gripped her hand tightly. "Stop pulling me, I can run on my own!" she shouted at him, her voice fully of annoyance. She twisted around as he led her through the forest and raised her camera. She took another shot on her camera, admiring the shot before looking up. Another roar echoed through the forest and they both glanced back to the see the wendigo tearing through the woods after them. 

Samantha broke into a run, quickly over taking Lance as she realized the gravity of their situation. At least she was starting to appreciate how much danger they were in, even if it had come a little late. They sprinted through the woods, their fear and adrenaline pushing them on. They slid down embarkments, jumped over brooks, doing their best to make it out of the woods. "We're almost out of the woods!" gasped Lance as he saw the trees begin to thin. 

They broke from the forest and frantically vaulted the fence that met them. They collapsed on the other side, looking up at the wendigo. Lance figured they were finished, if Samantha was feeling anything like he was, his lungs burned and his legs felt like jelly. But a brutal death didn't come. The wendigo simply stood on the other side of the fence, staring at them. After a few moments it turned and stalked back into the woods beyond the fence line. 

Lance glanced over at Samantha, who met his gaze with a look of equal confusion and shock. They both stood shakily as they caught their breaths. "Wow, that was close huh," Samantha said is shaky voice as she ran a hand through her tousled hair. Lance shook his hands as he felt the stress releasing from him. "Why did you do that, why did you take that photo!" he shouted as he clenched his fists in anger. Samantha flashed him a guilty smile,  “I’m sorry, but what did you expect, I told you I was out here to study them, photos are important, besides, we survived, so no harm no foul, right?” 

Lance let out a harsh laugh as he processed her words. “I get it now, at first I thought you were just a little weird but now I see that you’re just full blown crazy!” Samantha stared at him, a hurt look on her face, and Lance felt a pang of guilt for yelling at her. Then an angry look formed on her face. Then she shoved him hard, the sudden act catching him off guard.  He stumbled back into the fence, the wooden post breaking his fall. "I am not crazy!" She shouted, pointing an accusational finger at Lance’s chest. "You can call me weird, or stupid, or.....or, I don't know, but don't call me crazy!"

Lance stared at her,  dumbfounded, his hat askew in a way that probably made him look even stupider than he felt right now. For the hour or so that he had known her for, Samantha had seemed relatively  collected and now here she was berating him with the hints of tears in her eyes.

Samantha blinked, seeming to realize the extent of her out burst, and turned away from him, rubbing her arm shyly. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Lance clenched his teeth, ready to go on a tirade of his own. He wanted to call her an idiot, a selfish, stuck up prick. But instead he let out a breath, calming himself before he said anything stupid. “I think we’re both clearly a little shaken by….whatever we saw,” he said, not quite accepting her apology, but not accusing her either. 

An awkward silence fell over the pair. The Autumn wind whipped around, sending a myriad of colors leaves twirling through the air around them. Eventually Lance's polite upbringing got the better of him and broke the silence. “So how did you get out here?” “I drove, my car is parked next to a grain silo near the forest,” she said, pointing off into the distance. The silo wasn't anywhere near where she was pointing, but Lance figured that now was hardly the time to correct her. “I think I know where that is, do you…….need a lift?” he asked. Samantha glanced up from the spot she had been intently staring at, her eyes meeting his. "Oh....that would be nice," she said as an embarrassed blush formed across her face. 

Lance started walking towards his family's ranch, “C’mon, my house isn’t too far from here,” he said as he waved for her to follow. The two walked in silence for a bit, the silence broke only by the howling wind. Stalks of wheat danced wildly around them as they walked side by side through the prairie. Samantha glanced over at Lance, rubbing her neck awkwardly, “I never did say thank you for pulling up back there, it probably would have gotten me if I had stayed." Lance didn't meet her gaze, simply staring ahead as he walked. He was still annoyed with her and collected himself before he spoke.  “Yeah, you sorta said the opposite in fact." 

Samantha glanced down at the ground, idly pulling a head of grain from it's stalk. “Again, I’m sorry for my outburst, I just….don’t like it when people call me crazy." “Well then maybe don’t act like a crazy person, normal people usually run when they see a predator,” Lance replied, his eyes still locked forward. He saw Samantha stop in her in her tracks and looked over to see a withering scowl forming on her face. Lance held up his hands defensively, bracing for another shove. “Right, right, sorry."

Samantha kept walking, her head held high a little more imperiously now. “Right, well most people don’t have something to prove,” she said, not bothering to check if Lance was following her and apparently not caring that only he knew where they were going. “And I apparently have a lot to prove,” she continued. 

“Why are you so determined to prove cryptids exist? Why not just believe in them and keep quiet,” asked Lance as he caught up with her. By now the pair had made it back to Lance's ranch. The old ranch house stood proud over the prairie, barns and sheds scattered around it. They raised mostly sheep, but kept a few horses around for riding. Lance's mother had loved horses, so his father had kept them around for her.

Samantha sighed as they walked over to his truck, it's metal painted the same blue as the evening sky. They got in, Samantha slamming the door to his truck particularly hard. “When I was a kid my parents took me on a trip to England, we saw the sights, Big Ben, The British Museum, Buckingham Place. But for a few days we stayed in a castle out in the countryside. One night I got up to use the bathroom and saw a woman in white walking through the halls. She wore an old wedding dress and she was transparent and glowing, like a hologram.” Lance drove in silence, listening intently to her story, not wanting to interrupt.  

“She stopped and turned to look at me, I don’t know how she knew I was there, but she knew. I was so young that I actually waved at her and you know what?" Lance looked over to see a large, excited grin spreading across her face. “She smiled and waved back at me and then she just walked through one of the walls." The smile faded from Samantha's face, and she looked down at her hands. “The remaining two nights I stayed up, hoping to see her again, but I never did. I told my parents about it, but they thought I just dreamed about it or that it was an imaginary friend, I told my friends about it, but they thought I was just playing a joke on them, the rest of the kids at school just laughed and called me crazy." 

Her shoulders sagged as she sighed again. “Every few years I’d slip up, and tell people at school and then the jokes would start flowing, not everyone was mean, but enough were." She looked up, determination written across her face. “So I decided then that when I got older, I would find genuine, solid, undeniable proof that ghosts, cryptids, and the supernatural exist and prove everyone who laughed at me wrong, prove to them that I am not crazy.” 

Lance let out a breath a she finished her story. He felt a little guilty now for calling her crazy, this was her life's work, even if it was odd. “Well, that’s some motivation for risking life and limb in the middle of the forest."

Samantha blushed, her finger playing with a loose strand of blonde hair. “I guess it does sound a little ridiculous when you say it out loud, but hey, at least after today you believe me." Lance put the truck in park as he rolled up next to what he assumed was her car. Her coughed awkwardly and looked away.

"Wait! You don't believe, even after today!" She exclaimed loudly, throwing her hands up in exasperation. Lance rested his arm out the window and ran a hand through his hair, “Listen, I don’t know what I saw, could’ve been a sick buck, could’ve been a bear with rabies, I don’t know." 

Samantha scowled at him, crossing her arms, "Oh come on!, That was clearly a bipedal creature, and the way it moved? No animals moves like that." "Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree," Lance said. He heard Samantha mutter out a, "Whatever," before stepping out of the truck.  She walked around the front of his truck, stopping at the window. She placed her hands on bottom of the window, her fingers tapping nervously. "I never actually said thank you.....so, thank you, you know, for pulling me away." Lance turned to look at her. The way she had said, it seemed like she wasn’t used to actually having to apologize to people. "Yeah, no problem," he said, honestly unsure what else to say. She stood there for a few more moments.

“So uh…it was nice to meet you Lance,” she said awkwardly. “Yeah, I’ll see you around…I guess." It was all he could think to say. He instantly wanted to hit himself for saying such a clumsy goodbye. It wasn't like he was going to see her again. He wasn’t sure why he cared, she had been nothing but a pain in his ass. She did seem like a decent person though, if a little driven in an odd way. He gave her a nod and put the truck in gear. She flashed him a pearly white smile as he drove off and his mind raced as he processed the days event.

Samantha watched the truck drive away, letting a quiet, "Yeah," in response to his goodbye. He didn't seem so bad, even if he was a critic. She was glad that the nightmare she had the other night hadn't come true. He hardly deserved the fate that had become him in her dream. She shuddered as she remembered fragments of the dream. His rifle laying broken in the snow, his Jean jacket stained red with blood, the creature hunched over him, digging through his carcass. 

She barely took note of it when she woke up, just another bad dream fueled by a bout of late night snacking.  But now.....surely it was just a coincidence. She shook the thoughts from her head and climbed in her Jeep. Today had been a good day, a productive day, there were still photos to develop, notes to write down. Excitement replaced the creeping dread that had been building in her. She was one step closer to achieving her dream.