The wind whipped my hair into a frenzy. With all four windows down in my dirty blue-green ‘05 Chrysler 300 Hemi C, a rats nest of hair was inevitable. I cruised at an easy sixty miles-per-hour, winding along the back roads I knew like the back of my hand. Although I was almost twenty-one, I’d only been driving for a little over a year and I was out here so often these roads were like a second home.
I knew a particularly long stretch of straight road was ahead and I loved to push Trotsy,  that is, my Chrysler, as fast as I was daring. I knew no cops patrolled this area and there weren't any driveways or other roads connecting to this one for a few miles so I had an unobstructed personal racetrack. I’d maxed Trotsy at one-oh-five not long ago but I knew she had more to give. A lot more.
I rounded the last curve, sticking close to the inside, and floored it. I felt more than heard the engine growl in answer and we shot off like rocket, gravel flying. I gave a Whoop! of excitement, the speed feeding my adrenaline-junkie soul, and cranked up the stereo. With the bass turned all the way up the paneling on my doors rattled and shook.
The sides of the road were heavily forested, towering oaks with their arms stretching up and out, saplings vying for the attention of the sun. Shrubs and brambles tangled together, covering the dirt floor in an impenetrable green mass. Wildlife lived in there, I knew, but I never saw them.
Horror stories surrounded the old forest, telling of creatures no man has ever seen or wishes to see in his lifetime. Those who had gone in to find one of the supposed creatures never came out again. Supposedly. I was doubtful. There wasn’t any proof supporting or discrediting these Things so there was no way of knowing for sure.
Still, no one came around these parts to check.
So this is my area, the one place I call mine.
The speedometer climbed higher and higher, passing my previous record and climbing higher still. My blood rushed. My heart pounded a beat to match the drums reverberating around me. I pressed harder on the gas pedal, pushing one-fifteen. A new record!
Something flashed in my rear view mirror.
I glanced back quickly, not seeing anything.
Something flashed in front of me.
The fading rays of the sun peeked out over the treetops but didn’t reach the road ahead. My headlights cut through the creeping darkness, landing on a dark, disproportionate figure further down the road. 
I stomped my foot down on the brakes. Tires screeched and tar burned but I was still going too fast. I couldn’t make out what the shape ahead was, but I knew two things right off the bat: It was big and it wasn’t moving.
Gasping, I jerked the wheel hard left, the rear of the car swung around so that I was flying down the road sideways. My tires caught and I flipped, rolling over and over in the air and on the ground. My world twisted and shifted and I cried out as my forehead connected with my steering wheel. Blood gushed across the right side of my face, oozing in my eye and dribbling into the corner of my mouth.
The screech of metal rending ripped at my eardrums. Glass shattered, tumbling around me, digging into my face and arms. I tried to cover my head as the car finally rolled to a stop against a tree, lying on the passenger side.
Stunned, I hung limply from my seat belt for a moment as the world tried to readjust on its axis. Then I fumbled with the latch on my buckle and finally worked it loose from its clasp, barely managing to keep myself from taking a headfirst dive onto the glass-strewn ground below.
Not bothering to open the door, I hoisted myself through my shattered driver side window and tumbled out, landing in a shaking heap a foot away from the underside of my poor Trotsy. The smell of gasoline filled my nostrils and I had enough sense to clamber to my feet and stumble haphazardly away as fast as my battered legs would carry me.
It wasn’t far enough.
The blast slammed into my back and threw me bodily across the road and into the line of trees on the other side. Branches snagged and clawed at my clothes, ripping through cotton and abrading the flesh underneath. I landed with a thud on my back, my head cracking back against a tree root that had unearthed itself.
My ears rang, my sight was blurry, and it felt like every bone in my body had shattered ten times over. I lay there, surrounded by dirt, leaves, and my own blood, gasping for even the slightest breath.
Shadows flickered in my peripheral vision.
I couldn’t even turn my head to see. A moan bubbled through the blood at my mouth. The breath rattled in my lungs like a frightened bird in a cage. My heartbeat slow in my ears.
I was dying. I could feel it and it wasn’t going to be fast.
The shadows moved closer, circling.
My eyes darted around, my breath becoming shallow and quick. A dark shape shot out suddenly and, with a sharp crack, the rest of the world blew away.

Something dug hard into my gut,  making it difficult to breathe. The ground, a good four feet away from my face, swayed back and forth, forth and back, threatening the contents of my stomach. My hands and ankles were bound and hanging limply.
And everything hurt.
At least I wasn’t dead.
But why was I not dead?
I was pretty sure I had some broken bones, some definite burns, and an indeterminate amount of cuts and bruises, maybe even a concussion. I could feel every gash, every broken bone, every trickle of blood with sharp clarity while my vision was still blurred and my ears still had a faint ring. Considering the wreck I just went through there should’ve been way more damage to my person.
I could hear the crunch of leaves, pants and yips and growls. I tried to look around but couldn’t. Every move sent waves of fire through my body. I gasped.
The yips and growls intensified. I knew I was in trouble. Something had me and no one knew what happened to me. No one goes in that area. There is no one to miss me.
I focused on whatever had me now. From what I could tell it looked and felt like a cotton t-shirt. So that must be a shoulder sending bolts of white-hot pain through my body with every jolting step.
It brought tears to my eyes.
Was this a hunter? If so, why did he tie me up instead of help me or call the police? And what was he hunting? Surely not women. What if he’s a rapist? I’m so screwed.
Adrenaline shot through my veins, overpowering the pain and fear, and I struggled against my bonds and my captor.
He stopped and dropped me on the ground. I landed with a thump on my back, pain searing my head, my ribs, my legs. I screamed and jerked. Huge, dark shapes circled around me, lunging and snapping massive jaws. A shadow fell over my face.
“Are you going to stop struggling? I can do this all night but I don’t think you’ll last half that long,” he growled.
All I could do was whimper.
It was too dark for me to make out any features other than the slightly luminescent eyes and hulking figure.  He grabbed me by my wrists and jerked me up roughly, tearing a cry from my bleeding lips. I stood on shaking legs and watched the dark shapes circle closer. A few even reared back on their hind legs and walked closer. I shook my head hard. I’d seen dogs able to walk on their hind legs but this seemed too human.
The creatures lifted their muzzles and sniffed the air around me. I flinched. The big man made a gesture and the creatures backed off a little. Then the man wrapped his big hands around my waist and threw me back over his shoulder.
I wheezed as all the air was forced out.
The wheezing became coughing that made my whole body convulse.
The man lifted me off his shoulder again and set me on the ground where I promptly fell to my knees and spat blood on the leaves and the man’s dark shoes.
I knelt there on the ground, shaking. The man bent down and took my chin in his big hand and forced my head up. I gave him my fiercest glare as he leveled me with one of his own.
I would not back down to this guy.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Classic Bad Guy. “The less you struggle the less pain you will have to endure. Do you understand?”
In response, I leaned forward and spat another glob of bloody saliva in his face. Not that my defiance got me anywhere.
The man wiped the goo off his face and snapped, “Daniel!” One of the shadowy shapes emerged from the pack and stood, his muzzled face casting wicked shadows on the ground. Suddenly, with a rippling shimmer, the beast disappeared and in its place stood a man. He had broad shoulders, floppy brown hair and dark eyes. He wouldn’t quite meet my eyes as he slowly approached me, putting one arm around my back and the other behind my knees.
He lifted me gently, cradling me against his warm, massive chest. Although he was careful it still hurt. A lot. When I whimpered he looked down at me with these huge puppy dog eyes and I couldn’t help the little bud of warmth I felt looking at him. Whatever he was, I didn’t think he was bad.
Not this one at least.
The other man made a gesture and started forward again, stomping angrily through the leaves and brush. Daniel followed the big man and the shadowy shapes followed us. We trekked through woods at an unnaturally fast pace. I couldn’t even focus on the surrounding greenery without getting motion-sick. If I had been walking I would’ve fallen ten times over onto my face.
I closed my eyes and tried to endure the throbbing mass that was my body. I think I may have dozed off because suddenly I was very aware of my surroundings and the area had changed. Instead of just forest we had come upon a rocky area with sporadic shrubs and smaller trees. There was a large mountainous pile of boulders ahead of us with a dark opening towards the top and I guessed that was where we were heading. As the terrain began its ascent the comforting sounds of the forest faded until all I could hear was Daniel’s heartbeat, crunching rocks, and the other creatures still surrounding us.
The closer we got to the cave the more I noticed piles of white sticks. No, they weren’t sticks, they were...bones. I could hear more that see little shapes darting from pile to pile and when one of the creatures leading us darted out to snap one of the little shapes up between his sharp, glittering teeth my brain had finally had enough shocks.
I passed out.