In the Dark(unfinished)

He had been searching for his flashlight for ten minutes. Frantically he grabbed it from under his pillow and turned the switch. Suddenly, shockingly, the beam cut through the darkness, reaching as far as the closest trees. Quickly the light stretched itself into oblivion, into the deep tangled forest. But the only thing seen was dim images of leaves, dead branches, and dancing shadows. Of course Rebekka didn’t look. She was afraid. Always afraid of what she might see. That’s why we were out here, so she could get a feeling of what life was. But it didn’t seem to be working to well on her psyche. She was so freaking stubborn. Only doing what she wanted to.
He was surprised when she gave into his plan in less than a week. Though being her best friend gave him the advantage over most people. He has known her since second grade. And sure they had our differences but that never stopped them from doing what we wanted to. They always had a way of fixing things before they got bad.
The beam, cutting thickly through the darkness, didn’t seem to bother what was making that noise. A growl and short snuff came from the right. He flipped the light over in his hand quickly and shone it in that direction. It was a low, quiet growl now, seeming to come from the other side of the ravine. He stood up. There had to at least be three of them.
He didn’t know where to shine the flashlight. He twisted around hoping to at least get a grasp of what they were up against. But everywhere he turned there was nothing. No glowing eyes or quick movement in the shadows or anything to give anything away.
The growls, never ending snarls that came from large animals kept in a cage too long never ceased. He envisioned something big. Something with lots of teeth and a bad attitude as it crouched in the bushes, feeling intruded upon—
There it was again. More insistent this time, edged with anger. A snuff and yelp. They were moving. All of them.
Then, of all the things he could have heard, a strange hissing kind of whistle, kind of like a teapot at a whistle but bigger, louder, warbling a little. It sounded like it was far up the opposite side of the ravine. It could have still been moving…
Another whistle answered the first one. This one was much closer, somewhere on his right. Between the pounding of his heart he barely heard when Rebekka screamed. He jerked to the sound. She was lying on the ground but her position registered that she was in pain. He pounced as fast as he could to get to her. Leaning protectively over her though was the largest creature he ever saw. He shrieked back in fear. Though it wasn’t hurting her, it was afraid for her. The only thing he knew was going on was that it was whimpering. It was whimpering. He was amazed. The only logical reason he could conjure up was that it thought she was dead. That meant she couldn’t move. Move. Move DON’T MOVE!
“Rebekka…” He whispered. “Rebekka if you can hear me, please don’t move. It thinks your dead. Don’t move.” He whispered as reassuringly as I could.
She would trust his judgment. He studied animals. That was his profession. He studied hundreds of kinds of animals before this trip. He knew what he was talking about. Didn’t he?
Yes, yes of course he did. He always knew what he was talking about.
The beast never moved from its stance. He couldn’t do a thing until it moved. His thoughts were scrambled. Not knowing what would happen next was the only thought that he could manage. And that wasn’t helpful at all.
Then something came my way leaving heavy, munching footfalls on the dead needles and twigs. Bekka looked at me then. He will never forget the look she gave me. Her eyes were wide and frantic. He could tell her lower lip was trembling and her hands were shaking in the mud. He panicked. Nothing else left to do. He panicked. Without thinking he threw the flashlight at the beast leaning over her. It jerked back and glared at him with red glowing eyes. Those eyes were the only things he could see in the immense darkness. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The strangest sound then. A whimpering so strong it could only be coming from one place. Him. As he realized that the whimpering was coming from himself, he also realized something else. A black beast was leaning over him. This was the same beast that was previously whimpering over Rebekka, but instead of whimpering this creature, this thing was snarling. A hideous sound. So loud that he quailed back in fear.
Where were the other ones? There were more of them he was sure of it. There had to be. All that noise couldn’t come from just one animal. No matter how large that animal might be.
This trip was designed to make life easier. His employees could handle the office while he was away. They had done it many times before. But Rebekka was here for help. She was always crammed up in her apartment, always working with her sister's twins. Sara was the worst mom imaginable. Rebekka was her only help, so she helped. She had an open mind; she wrote poems and short stories for a magazine. But she hated the outdoors. Since she was a kid she had always been afraid of being alone in the woods. He was trying to cure that by taking her on this trip. Before this it was going good.
They had laid out our supplies. They only had the bags on their backs and a sleeping bag for each. So there really wasn't that much to keep track of. This started out as a pleasant outing; even as they were setting up camp the mood was light and cheerful.
God it had to be at least four o'clock in the morning. This beast, or monster, whatever it was, was still leaning over him. He was petrified. Even his bones were shaking. Whatever it was it wasn't backing down. Everything about its stature made him think it was going to rip him apart at any moment. He was trembling. His hands were going erratic and his eyes felt like they were going to buldge out of his head. It was so dark. He wishes he still had the flashlight.
Then, without warning, the thing started whimpering. It was looking around. Its glowing red eyes were shifting from side to side. The creature was noticeably getting nervous. It still wasn't going to back down but its stance was now in defense mode. It was going to defend itself...from what?
Before he knew it the thing standing over him was thrown across the ravine and into a tree. The roar of explosion was so loud his ears were ringing. Whatever threw it was now standing in front of him. A Man?? How could it be? We were deep in the forest and at least a mile from the nearest trails.
"Bekka." He barely whispered. He couldn't bear the thought of causing whatever that man-thing was to turn on them. "Bekka come here."He heard slight shuffling and branches crackling then she was with him.
"Micah, Micah I'm scared."
"I know. Don’t you think I know that??" He felt bad for snapping at her but he couldn't help it.
The beast was trying to get away. It was yelping and whimpering as if to signify to the others that something was wrong.
The leaves were rustling loudly and small trees were cracking and breaking. The man dropped its shoulders and turned to face them. All was quiet.
Then, without warning, the beast swept next to him and snatched Rebekka off the ground. It dashed into the trees behind him without a second to spare. He stood up, everything just a blur as he found the flashlight that Rebekka had thrown as she was lifted off the ground and turned it on. He first shone it on the newcomer. The strange man that was now staring at him with questioning eyes. Then turned full force into the trees behind him.
He dashed across the stream, frantic, seeing only the thick tangled forest. “No,no,no!” he thought to himself ignoring the tears on his cheeks as he ran faster. Then he saw it in the distance, its blackness and size far greater than he had ever seen before. But as fast as he ran he knew he would be too late. He should have waited for morning. The shadow moved so fast he lost it. He searched, waved his light about. But the blackness was too much. His light caught one fleeting image of her body being swept around like a toy, arms limp, long brown hair flying.
The shadow enfolded her like a blanket. There were heavy, loud, footfalls up the bank and then…
Nothing.
He kept searching.
When he broke into a meadow where the stars were visible and the bright moon was finally rising, he collapsed to the ground with a quiet whimper. Tired and totally spent, his head was hanging and thoughts were completely scrambled.
She’s gone.