It was Saturday afternoon when Jenny took off to head to the camping location, which was located just outside the city in a large forest. Despite the fact she could just fly to the location, she wanted to ride her motorcycle there to serve as a power bank to plug into at night. This was going to be the first time she'd ever sleep somewhere away from home, after all.
Riding the roads leading into the forest, she didn't see any other people anymore since she left the city. There was a faint stench that'd been getting slightly more pronounced as she rode on, but she couldn't tell what it might be. This place really felt removed from civilization, which made the whole camping trip a tad more exciting.
As she rode deeper into the woods, the strange smell eventually went away, and she had to leave the road into an unpaved section leading to the eventual campsite. She arrived at the coordinates she received from Saturn and found an old station wagon parked with two tents already partially set up next to it. They waved at her as she strolled up, and Plural's eyes started sparkling at the sight of what Jenny was riding.
"I didn't know you were this cool! You don't need riding gear?" she asked.
Jenny wasn't sure what to say, Saturn spoke up instead.
"She's bulletproof, y'know?"
Plural scanned her luggage, noting how it wasn't that much.
"Is that really everything you need?"
Jenny was shutting off her bike and opening her luggage cases on the back. From one, she took out a single backpack containing her essentials: a change of clothes in case she got dirty, and a first-aid kit. From the other, a tent and inflatable mattress.
"I've never been camping before…" Jenny answered, analyzing her own luggage.
"I thought this was a lot…" she said.
"Whatever floats your butt!" Plural said with her mouth half occupied, inflating her mattress.
Jenny took hers out, put the rubber valve on her mouth and inflated the whole thing in one continuous breath, taking less than five seconds. Her two companions had never seen anything like that before and stared at her wide-eyed. Saturn looking more excited than confused, like he was finally able to witness what he'd only ever seen footage of online. If Plural ever had any doubts about Jenny, they'd be dispelled now for sure.
Then, she started setting up her tent. Maybe it was because she didn't like being the center of attention, but she took a far more normal approach to putting it together. She still finished her tent before the others and spent the rest of the time sitting at the entrance of her tent, looking at the other two work, wiggling her feet. Any other Saturday, she'd be spending alone, bored, the same as always. Even just sitting here with them was much more fun.
When the other two finished, Saturn grabbed three fishing rods from the car and handed one to Jenny.
"Know how to use this?" he asked her.
"We're going fishing???" Jenny excitedly asked.
"There's a river nearby, Saturn and I need to catch our food," Plural replied.
"I wouldn't want you to feel left out," Saturn added.
♦
Saturn was the first to make a catch and was reeling it in when he noticed Jenny's face next to him, and the way she looked at the poor fish. Her eyes looked like they were cheering for the fish to jump off the hook and free itself. It was like she was begging him to let the poor creature go, but she never looked at him, just at the fish.
Saturn stopped reeling it in and looked at Jenny with a confused expression, hoping she'd say what was on her mind, but she didn't. After some seconds, he looked at Plural, who looked away from him, blissfully ignoring the scene. He looked back at Jenny. Then, after some hesitation, he continued reeling the fish in, prompting a small reaction from Jenny. She was still looking at the fish the whole time. Saturn stopped again and looked at the sky, hoping some deity out there would tell him what to do. When the gods didn't respond, he looked back at Jenny.
"Look, I gotta eat…" he said.
Jenny perked up, like she was pulled out of a daydream caused by the fish.
"Ah… No… It's okay…" she said with her hands up in front of her.
Plural moved her head forward to look at Jenny.
"Are you vegan or something?" she asked her.
Jenny looked like she had to think about what the answer was.
"No… Maybe…"
She looked at the sky with her index finger on her lower lip.
"I just like animals. They're cute," she added.
Saturn looked at the fish on his hook.
"You think he's cute?" he asked her.
"I do!" Jenny responded with a serious face.
Saturn looked at the fish and moved his head sideways a little.
"I could see it…" he mumbled.
"I guess you're vegan if you don't eat or drink," Plural said.
Saturn rocked his rod around.
"Look, it's…"
Saturn took the fish that was still on his hook and wiggled it around. It didn't move anymore.
"…already…"
He looked at Jenny again to find her looking at the fish with a cold stare.
"Hey. Don't you, like, kill aliens?" he asked her.
Jenny looked down at her lap and touched her two index fingers together.
"That's different…"
Saturn grinned, took the fish off the hook and dropped it into a basket between himself and Plural. When he looked back at Jenny, she was smiling, to his surprise.
"What's the matter?" he asked her.
"You guys are kinda like animals," she said.
♦
"So what else do you do during camping?" Jenny asked curiously.
They'd returned to camp with a decent haul.
"We-" Plural paused and reached into her backpack and grabbed some plastic bag.
"-roast marshmallows," she continued.
Jenny looked at her aloof. Plural reached into her backpack again.
"And we get wasted!" she held a six pack of beers.
Jenny had the same look.
"Ah… I guess you can't…" she noted, seems like she forgot that quickly.
"Idiot…" Saturn called her out.
"We brought some games we can play," he continued.
"And we try not to get eaten alive when we're surrounded by darkness!" Plural followed up.
She held up her hands like claws and looked teasingly at Jenny. Surprisingly, she really did look spooked at the idea. Jenny started worriedly looking around her into the woods again like she did on her way here.
"Wait, you can still get scared of stuff like that? I was only joking," Plural said.
"I've seen a lot of scary movies," Jenny replied.
She continued; "What kinds of animals live here anyway?"
"I've heard bears live here," Saturn replied.
"What do you do to protect yourself, then? Without me?" Jenny asked.
Plural and Saturn looked at each other and didn't look like they had a good answer for her.
"There are bears here???" Plural asked him in surprise.
"I uh… usually just light the campfire and consider it safe," Saturn said.
Jenny giggled and said; "I guess you shouldn't wait too long then."
Her two friends suddenly stared at her in horror and grabbed on to each other, spooking Jenny.
"I-Is he part of your joke???" Plural asked, shaking.
Jenny looked behind her and saw a large bear taking his time sniffing her head. He probably had no idea how special the creature was that he was sniffing.
"Cute!" Jenny exclaimed.
The bear took a couple of steps back in response. Saturn could swear he saw actual hearts form in Jenny's eyes, like some sort of cartoon character. Jenny stood up and started making the kinds of sounds you would make to get a cat to come over. She didn't need to crouch to make herself smaller, considering she was already shorter than the average woman.
Saturn really wondered what would be going on in that bear's mind right now, he didn't seem like he wanted to eat Jenny or even considered her a threat. Despite Jenny's apparent disregard for the danger the bear normally posed, she at least seemed to be aware of how vulnerable her two human friends were and positioned herself in between the bear and them. Was she trying to pet it? It was still looking confused as ever and shifted its attention to the two meat bags behind her instead.
"You do this often?" Saturn quipped.
"Me?" Jenny replied.
"Uhm no, Mr. Cuddles, sir?" he replied, tilting his head to the side and looking straight at the bear this time. Jenny gave a bit of a laugh and took a step towards the bear.
"C'mere Mr. Cuddles!"
"W-What are you gonna do?" Plural asked.
"I wanna try to pet him. Never seen a bear before in my life," Jenny replied.
The bear approached Jenny again and stood on his hind legs, maybe he wanted to see what she would do. She held out her hands in front of her as if to double high-five it, and the bear gave her a growl and brought his weight down onto his front paws, accepting her challenge. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on who you ask, Jenny's body did not submit to the bear's weight when her paws met his. She simply smiled and started moving her hands back and forth, like some sort of dance.
"This is kinda cool, you gotta admit," Saturn whispered to Plural while still visibly tense. They were still clutching onto each other. She did not reply.
The bear probably realized he couldn't win and backed away from her, turned around and strolled off. It was not in her nature to try and force it to submit to her, so she let it go. She seemed happy with the way this went, the bear probably wouldn't return to their campsite again with her there.
Saturn retrieved some logs of wood from the car and created a fireplace in the middle of the camp. It took him some time to get an actual fire started, even though he had a lighter to do it. Jenny sat and looked at him work. She would be able to start a fire immediately by lasering the wood, but decided not to interfere.
As the sun went down, the entire forest was gradually coated in darkness. There were no street lights or anything like that in this area. From the camp, you would only be able to see silhouettes of the surrounding trees, and of any larger animals like bears if there were any. The three were sitting with their backs facing the car, and Jenny and the fire were plenty of protection against anything that could come visit. They'd been frying their fish above the flames and there were two opened beer cans. Jenny couldn't eat or drink, of course, but she was content just being in their company. Looking back, this was exactly the kind of thing she'd been longing to do, and she'd gotten to it a lot sooner than she thought.
"Let's get back on topic," Plural said. "You like scary movies? Do you scare easily?" she asked Jenny.
Jenny looked away and didn't answer verbally.
"Do they scare you so much you're afraid to go to bed? But then you watch more anyway?"
Jenny pinched her eyes shut and aimed her head away from Plural.
"Go easy on her, Plu. We need her in case the Shadow Snatcher comes for us," Saturn said.
Jenny opened her eyes again and looked at him with great interest.
"You know the story," he said unconvincingly.
She looked eager to hear it now. Plural interrupted them with a cough, making it clear she wanted to tell the story. Saturn raised his hands in surrender.
"It's a local legend, Jen. Surprised you don't know it."
"Aha… Maybe I already fought it and won!" Jenny blushed.
"It's said to roam around these very parts," she pointed her index finger down at the ground. "The dark woods and the region surrounding the city."
"I'm sure you've noticed, but these woods aren't lit. It must be five kilometers to the nearest lamp post. We're in the heart of its hunting grounds."
She gauged Jenny's reaction, but she just looked like someone was pointing a gun at her and demanding her wallet. Plural wanted more.
"The Shadow Snatcher hides in the shadows and snatches people with its disgusting tentacles!", she imitated a grabber with her hand now. "It only appears at night because the sun burns it. People disappear here all the time! It's known!"
"Yeah, Plu and I've been dying to meet it," Saturn butted in.
Plural looked at him like he was ruining the tension she'd set up. Jenny didn't look impressed with the story. Maybe she didn't find things so scary anymore when they stopped being so mysterious.
The darkness of the woods still creeped her out, even though there was no logical reason to be scared. She'd never lost a battle against anything, and no animal in this area could do anything to her anyway. But the same could not be said about her friends, and maybe she feared not knowing what might be in the darkness out there.
This fear was made worse by the sudden return of the stench she smelled on her way here. It was maybe five kilometers before she arrived, and at the time it clearly came and went when she rode past it. Now the smell slowly came back and only got more noticeable by the minute, was whatever was causing it moving? Was it coming here?
"Are you guys smelling that?" Plural asked.
So she wasn't going crazy…
"Smells like rotting corpses," Saturn noted.
Jenny anxiously looked around the woods again, trying to see anything out of the ordinary, the smell didn't come from any one direction, but seemed to surround them instead. She tried to see further into the woods by using her night vision, but her heart sank when she realized she couldn't see anything past where the campfire's light stopped, even with night vision. Any thoughts she had about her friends pulling a prank on her were immediately dispelled.
"Is this normal? I can't see shit out there…" Saturn said.
"This smell is just getting worse… This isn't one of your pranks, is it?" Plural was pinching her nose by now.
"I like to think I'm a little more tasteful than this!" he replied.
Jenny still hadn't said a word since the smell returned, she was visibly terrified at this point, as were her friends. Deep inside she'd always been scared of the dark, but this was so bad it froze her completely…
"Hey uh, Jen? Are you still with us?" Saturn touched her shoulder trying to get her attention.
After it seemed like she didn't react to his gesture, she finally released a single shriek when the flap of hair-disguised antenna on her head started slowly beeping and emitting a red light. Her two friends shrieked with her in response.
"Aaah…. It's my alarm… Something's really here!" she exclaimed.
"W-What's here!?" the two replied in unison.
"It goes off when there's danger, either the station at home detects something or my own sensors do… Red light means the latter!"
"Wait, you're saying there's like, an alien nearby!?"
"Has to be! But…"
The antenna would normally point in the direction of the enemy, but this time it just spun around.
"It's all around us…"
The beeping, which started slow, had just been getting faster and faster, meaning it kept getting closer. Jenny could make an estimate on the distance based on how fast it beeped. She wouldn't need to, however, as the source of the alarm made itself known to them via a horrifying screech in the distance.
"You're really freaking me out here, guys…", Plural said. She wasn't that familiar with the kinds of things Jenny faced whenever this thing went off. The screech sounded more like a victim than a predator, like the kind of sound a mountain lion makes, but more human.
"We're gonna be alright, Plu. Jenny's gonna park this fool and we'll be right back to-"
He found a scared Jenny hugging his arm instead. Both girls were, with him sitting in the middle, he didn't like what that meant.
"Don't tell me you're scared of the dark…" he said.
He had no idea. This might've been her greatest fear unfolding in front of her. If she went into the darkness by herself, she wouldn't be able to say for sure what would happen. She wouldn't get hurt in a literal sense, but maybe something could take her away from her friends? They were in no position to defend themselves, she had to protect them. What could she do?
Another sound came from the darkness, this time it was more like a moaning man with broken vocal cords, and it was a lot closer than the last one.
"It's a little more than just dark! Something's clearly wrong…" Plural retorted, still pinching her nose.
They heard another sound to their left, it seemed to come from Jenny's bike, which was sitting near the edge of the darkness and was only partially illuminated by the fire. It seemed as if it slightly nudged towards the darkness on its own. All three were simply staring at it wide-eyed.
Then, in a more violent move, the bike was immediately yanked into the void and completely disappeared. The three held each other tightly and let out a scream in unison.
At this point her sensor was beeping as fast as it could, Jenny knew this meant the threat was close enough to potentially be standing just beyond the edge of the darkness. She was upset about the bike but probably didn't get a chance to use it again with the way things were going. She had to make do with the energy she had left.
"I-If we survive this, p-please take my body back home and plug me in…" Jenny parted some hair above her ear to reveal a small socket. The two stared at her in disbelief. Saturn looked at where the bike used to be, then back at her.
"Don't tell me you're about to run dry," he said.
"No, but I don't know what'll happen," if she could look pale, she certainly would've.
They were interrupted by a twig hitting the campfire, slightly disturbing the flame, like it was thrown from the darkness. They looked spooked and realized what was going on, then another larger branch hit the flame in much the same way.
"It wants to kill the fire," Saturn said in a defeated tone.
They looked at the source and were able to spot two light dots at the edge of the darkness, like two eyes. They sat at about a height like someone was crouching, but the two dots started moving up in an inhuman manner, not at all like someone getting up. In fact, they kept going up until they settled at about three meters in height, looking down at them.
"I can't leave you guys here," Jenny said at a low volume, like she didn't want it to hear. She stood up, like she was finally able to gather some courage after being presented with an enemy she could hit.
"Leave us alone or you'll regret it!"
All she wanted in this moment was to get her friends to safety, she felt strangely vulnerable with them here. She wasn't entirely bluffing either when she threatened the creature. The two dots in the darkness didn't move, didn't blink either.
Seconds passed in silence as they stared each other down. Jenny's face angered up and she lasered a point in between the two dots for a split second. The balance between light and darkness was slightly upset and the two dots were no longer clearly visible, although her laser eyes weren't nearly enough of a light source to make the veil of darkness go away.
"Woah…" from Plural and Saturn. Despite the extremely short burst, they could feel a little bit of heat in the air.
The dots became visible again as they moved to the left, once again in an inhuman way, its "face" almost looked like it pivoted around a central point as it moved sideways, but its movement wasn't like that of a machine either. Jenny was again visibly freaked out. If she couldn't laser her enemy, she was back to square one. Was the darkness protecting it from all harm? Has she finally encountered an enemy stronger than herself? This was a first for her.
Her sensor was beeping as fast as ever, and still rotating in all directions, even though Jenny herself could tell where the creature was. The stench was also at its most intense. The dots in the darkness settled down lower to the ground like before and remained that way.
Jenny positioned herself between the dots in the darkness and her friends, like she did with the bear, but she didn't know what to do. She was forcing herself to stand up, even though she wanted nothing more than to wake up in her cozy bed. Saturn looked at her pained expression and caught on.
"Would you be able to fight freely if we weren't here? Can't you teleport us out of the woods?" Saturn asked.
"I can't go that far in one jump, especially with you both in tow," she said, looking frustrated.
A long silence followed where nobody really said anything or moved at all. Plural was the first to break the silence;
"What if we just wait until the sun comes back up? It'll go away, right?"
"I'd say so…" Saturn replied.
"I can't just sit around and stare it in the eyes!" Jenny looked back and replied, irritated.
Then as if to taunt her, a larger object hit her head, throwing her to the ground at her friends. As they came to her side, they saw the object in question, it was a severed bear head.
"Mr. Cuddles…"
Jenny looked like her heart just broke. She didn't even look at the creature anymore, just kept staring at the head as if she recognized the exact bear. Did the creature actually want to taunt her? Why didn't it use the head to try to kill the flame while she wasn't looking?
Jenny looked at the head like she'd somehow failed the bear after, in her innocent mind, making friends with it. It made her realize the possibility that her friends may suffer the same fate tonight, leaving her as the only survivor.
They did not get long to mourn before the rest of the bear entered their peripheral vision, catapulted from the darkness and heading for the campfire this time. Jenny looked up and got into position to kick it away and stop it from extinguishing the flame, however tasteless it would be. She didn't get the chance, though, when Saturn instinctively pulled her away from the body's trajectory. She was confused at this, didn't resist him either. Did he see something she missed? Unlikely. Was he making a mistake here without thinking about it?
It seemed that way. Plural could feel Jenny land in between herself and Saturn as the last bit of light of the surrounding woods was extinguished by the larger part of the late Mr. Cuddles. Now everything was pitch black, she couldn't even see the stars, which should've been easily visible in this kind of darkness. The only thing she saw was two resentful dots staring at the three of them, sitting at three meters tall again. She had terrible trouble breathing and couldn't even move a finger. For an entire second nobody did anything, she could hear Saturn's heavy breathing and nothing coming from Jenny.
After that second, the dots moved closer and she could feel Jenny getting to her feet and grabbing her hand. For about half a second, the ground beneath her rumbled, ramping up until she heard and felt a bang. She could feel her body dropping down to the ground a couple of centimeters, still holding Jenny's hand. The two dots disappeared from her view completely, instead she saw blue sparks around her, fading away the farther away they got.
She did not get long to take it all in before the same thing happened again: ramp up, bang, hit the ground, blue sparks. The rumbling felt like something was charging up, it came from Jenny. The bang sound could be described as a muted gunshot, but it clearly wasn't a gun, it was coming from herself. The interval between each repeat was about three seconds and went on for a number of times, she didn't keep count.
Besides the repeating bangs, she could hear Saturn was also there, and Jenny seemed to be the one doing whatever this was. She sounded like she was having a hard time with it. In addition to what she could hear, she noticed that with each repeat of the thing Jenny was doing, the stench got significantly weaker.
Suddenly, from one instant to the next, Plural could finally see light again. They were now on a road with a street light, and the world had never smelled this good before. She recognized the location as the part where Saturn turned onto the unpaved road further into the woods when she was in the passenger seat, where the artificial lights ended. She looked over, and Jenny was lying collapsed beside her, holding both Plural and Saturn's hands.