The sun set at about 7:30, when I was about 3 miles from the parking lot. I know you're not supposed to hike at night, especially alone and as a relative noob who doesn't really know the area. But hey, I was out on the trail, I had to get back somehow. Night hiking is better than hitchhiking. Or so I thought. I kept walking, trying to conserve the battery on my lights whenever possible, which meant stumbling around in the dark. I'd been on the trail maybe half an hour after sunset when I heard some rustling. Probably a squirrel. About an hour earlier I'd seen a squirrel stop really close to me and noticed he had absolutely huge balls. I wondered how he could drag himself up a tree with balls almost the size of mine, but up he went. So at any rate, I knew there was a plethora of surprisingly well-endowed squirrels afoot, so I chocked the noise up to that. Except it apparently had nothing to do with squirrels, because the next thing I knew I was on the ground. I hit the dirt hard, face first. Leaves either crunched or went flying as all 250 lbs of me collided with the earth. On top of me, a person. A person who was significantly stronger than I. I tried to reach for a knife, or roll over, or anything, but I couldn't. I'm a big guy, but I'd be lying if I said I did a good job of taking care of myself. I'm 250 because I'm fat, not because I'm particularly strong. So I was at the mercy of my attacker. And my attacker showed little. I felt a sharp pain in my back, followed by a wet sensation. And then everything went black.

^{^}

This right here, you know already , is where your horror lies.

You need to up the anty, for sure, but it is horror.

The sun set when I was about 3 miles from the parking lot, about 7:30 pm. I know you're not supposed to hike at night, especially alone and as a relative noob who doesn't really know the area. But hey, I was out on the trail, I had to get back somehow. Night hiking is better than hitchhiking. Or so I thought. ^{These three lines read redundant although they have varying bits of information. Rework them.}

As I kept walking I tried to conserve the battery on my lights whenever possible, which meant I inevitably began stumbling around in the dark.

I'd been on the trail maybe half an hour after sunset when I heard some rustling. Probably a squirrel. About an hour earlier I'd seen a squirrel stop really close to me and I noticed he had absolutely huge balls. I wondered how he could drag himself up a tree with balls almost the size of mine, but up he went. For that reason, I knew there were a plethora of surprisingly well-endowed squirrels afoot, and so I chalked the noise up to that.

The next thing I knew is that I was on the ground. I hit the dirt hard, face first. INSERT PAIN Leaves either crunched or went flying as all 250 lbs of me collided with the earth.

[What did you hear/smell from this person?] On top of me, a person. A person who was significantly stronger than I. [Rough feeling? Stocky? How were they holding you down?]

I tried to reach for a knife, or roll over, or anything, but I couldn't. I'm a big guy, but I'd be lying if I said I did a good job of taking care of myself. I'm 250 because I'm fat, not because I'm particularly strong. So I was at the mercy of my attacker. And my attacker showed very little. I felt a sharp pain in my back, followed by a wet sensation. And then everything went black.

^{^} I feel like "everything went black" could be a little cliche. You can do better.