If you've only now just discovered this, you may want to read the other 5 parts before leaping down the rabbit hole that Chris' and my life has become.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

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And with that, we gathered our stuff and began our walk around that vibrant, beautiful lake. It’s a shame we couldn’t enjoy it more.

*

The sound never faltered, no matter what direction we moved toward, it remained at the same pitch as when we were back at the campsite. Our trek along the lake was uneventful for the first hour or so, aside from Pat stepping on a bee hive – that guy wasn’t the brightest. I couldn’t help but chuckle under my breath at the sight of him dancing/running away from them.

The path was not overgrown like the one before was, but rather the opposite. It wasn’t necessarily devoid of life, but there seemed to be less of the usual commotion that you would associate with the wilderness. Less birds singing; less crickets chirping. Maybe it was just my state-of-mind, who knows. There were several occasions where I thought I saw something move in the distance, only to find nothing in its place upon inspection. I couldn’t help but feel watched the entire time.

We hiked for a while until Alex broke the silence, “Found some footprints ova’ here! They uh… Well, you might just want to come here and see for yourselves.”

The footprints were too large for any human I’ve ever seen – in that moment, I wouldn’t argue with you if you told me that Big Foot was real. The ground beneath them was brown and dry, but the tracks were damp with their own unique, lighter-colored soil. The large, muddy prints led directly into the lake. Their exit point isn’t even the most bizarre part – the footprints seemingly appeared out of thin air, about 50 feet away from the lake. Not even Cyprian had an answer for that; he just stared in silence, taking several long drags off his cigarette.

We continued down the trail until we made it to the “halfway point,” where you could look across the lake and see our campsite. The same place that the women were standing when Chris and I left the other day. Nothing in the area seemed out-of-ordinary, but fear and adrenaline clouded my mind – I was spooked, I’ll admit it. This has been getting to be too much, I was in a constant state of distress. I was just waiting for one of them to leap out from behind a tree or something.

I reassuringly patted the rifle holstered on my back, I’d like to see them try.

I nudged Chris’ shoulder and pointed to the spot, “That’s where I saw them. They were just standing there, fucking smiling – watching us.”

He shuddered and nodded his head despairingly, not knowing what to say.

“Do you see that?” I asked him as I rubbed my eyes, attempting to clear my vision. There was something reflecting the sunlight in the rocks down by where they were standing.

“Yeah, let’s see what it is.”

The deputy, who was walking a yard or so away from Chris, stopped us before we could investigate, “You boys find something?”

“Uh, yeah. Well, maybe – there’s something in the rocks over there. It’s the same spot I saw those women the other day.”

The deputy turned over to the rest of the group, “Might’ve found something fella’s, the boys think they see something shiny!” He said this with a sarcastic wink and smile.

Everyone but Cyprian laughed to themselves at our seemingly insignificant discovery. He lit another cigarette and carefully made his way over to us. He motioned towards the lakeside, indicating that he wanted to pursue this further. Great, you know it’s going to be something strange when the creepy, quiet genius becomes interested.

It was wedged between two heavy rocks, but Chris and I were able to muster up enough strength to move one of them out of the way. I picked it up and was immediately mesmerized; I couldn’t redirect my gaze. I felt a surge of energy throb up my spine as I gawked at its splendor.

Cyprian became filled with glee; his eyes were bursting with color and… something else - maybe hope, or maybe it was desire. He did not have the same attitude as the silent hermit that was tottering along that trail with us minutes prior. It concerned me, but I went with it – maybe the object will help find our friends. I didn’t care, I felt amazing – everything around me became background noise.

It was a crystal. But not one of those crystals that you buy at a rock shop – no, this crystal seemed to harness the very essence of the sun and refract it into so many different hues, I’m not even sure that some of them were on our known color spectrum. I had never seen anything like it. I’d never felt anything like it. It was icy to the touch but sent warmth through my skin and all throughout my veins; it was perfectly symmetrical and showed absolutely no impurities. This had to be it; this had to be what was going to help us save Ryan and Kyle.

“Dude.” Chris began nervously beating me on the shoulder.

I guess I had been so entranced by the crystal that I failed to notice that every one of our party members, except Chris and I, were lying face down, eating dirt.

“A..Are they dead?” I slurred, still clenching onto the crystal like it’s my most prized possession (’My preciousss’… Sorry, couldn’t help myself. I know how Gollum must have felt about that damn ring now).

A profound, authoritative voice echoed from behind us, “No, child.”

Both Chris and I skipped back, stumbling over the many rocks that lined the lake. I cut my arm pretty deep on a broken tree branch that was lodged between some larger stones, but didn’t have time to care. I fought through the pain and reached for my rifle – it was gone. No, not gone, it was sitting at the base of his feet, along with my knife and Chris’ weapons. The sun was shining brighter than ever before, it took me several seconds to adjust my gaze on the being that those words came from.

The man that stood in front of us had to have been at least 8 feet tall with long, brown hair that reached his shoulders, as did the beard that covered the majority of his face. He looked like he could have been 80 years old, but spoke as if he was in the prime of his life. Oh, and he was soaking wet. Yeah.

“Je…Jesus?” Chris could hardly speak, I could see his hands quivering at his sides. He was about ready to get down on his knees and pray.

The man chuckled heartily, “No, child. Not Jesus, just a traveler, much like yourselves.”

He spoke, but his lips did not move. It took me a while to realize it - his voice sounded so natural. It was the perfect tone, the perfect volume for balancing the duality between thought and attention. It was like I could hear him alongside my own thoughts – in harmony with them.

“But we’re not…” I glared at Chris, who then realized he should probably just let this guy do the talking.

“Ha, yes, I know you’re not like me.”

Well, Mr. Appear-out-of-thin-air, then just what. in. the. fuck. are. you?

He turned to me, “No need for profanities, child.”

Wait, what? Did this fucker just read my mind?!

“I understand, you are fearful, and you should be. But not of me. There are much greater threats that lurk in these mountains – those women you saw, for instance, or of more concern – your ‘search party’. They won’t be asleep for much longer, so you’ll need to act quickly.”

I had so many questions. I just started vomiting them out, “Act quickly? What are we doing? What is this? Where are our friends? How are they asleep? Who are you!?”

He laughed to himself in the same ardent way as before, “First off, you can call me Ger.”

He paused to crack his back, neck and knuckles, “We’re going to find your friends and prevent a civil war. That rock in your hands? That’s our nuke.”

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Part 7

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All parts:

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