Don't turn around

Elizabeth followed Oliver, folding her arms over her chest. "I want to go home already." She complained, keeping an eye out for footprints.
Nikki sighed. "Let's hope so." She said, looking around. For their entire trip, she had been scouting for animals. But there were none. That was very suspicious. Usually birds, snakes, bugs, all of those creatures roamed woods... "This forest is odd... no other living creatures are here..." She said.

The man laughed. "Because I make them stay!" While he spoke, the trail that lead to the parking lot was suddenly blocked by a thick, perfectly healthy tree falling across it. Joey winced, and looked at the man.
"Can we please leave?" he asked, brown eyes locked on the fallen tree.

Kyle nodded, but that worsened his headache, so he spoke. "Yeah. It's just a headache. I'll be slow, but I can walk. Now, let's get back up this stupid hill." He already started to climb back up the hill, using the rocks on the ledge as makeshift rock climbing tools. His right arm protested at this gesture, but Kyle wasn't about to delay their getting out of the forest. Once they were out he'd whine like there was no tomorrow, though. "Over the river and through the woods~" Kyle started to sing, as a way to both lighten the mood and distract himself from the pain.

Vince looked around, "You're right. There aren't any animals." He said, "There must be something repulsing them away." He said, thinking of anything that could scare an animal enough that it would never return.
Dominic's face whitened at the sight of a fawn, laying on the ground. It was clearly dead, for its carcass was opened to reveal rotting intestines. He looked at the preciseness of the opening, "This is not the work of any carnivorous animal. It's too...exact." He said, becoming sick to his stomach.

Alice whimpered some more, "Where are Blair and Kyle?" She demanded, "I know you did something with them." Her voice trembled with anger and fear.

Blair began to crawl up the hill alongside Kyle, "I'm sure Nikki brought a first aid kit. We can tend to whatever wounds you have when we get back." Suddenly their situation dawned on her once more, "If we do get back." She added under her breath with a sigh. She listened to Kyle's singing and was slightly comforted again.

"Yes, i'm not su--"
Nikki cut herself off when she saw the carcass of the animal. She screamed a little bit, mostly because she was an animal lover and this animal obviously had not been killed in a humane way.
"W-w-who could have done this?" She asked, voice shaking. Oliver looked down at the animal. "it's been dead for a really long time. Might've been someone who needed money. Cut it open, sold the organs."
Elizabeth hid behidn Vince at the site, not wanting to throw up. "Ew, ew, Oliver, bad mental images!" She complained.

The man shrugged. "Oh. You mean the blonde and the redhead? They're cute, aren't they? I think they're in the river about now..." He stroked his beard, the ghost child whose hand he held stared blankly at Joey and Alice.
"River? What?! There's a river here?" Joey asked. had this man drowned the two?!

"We'll get back. And Nikki'll be her responcible self and help." Kyle assured, reaching the top. He hoisted himself up. He examined his arms. They were hurting something fierce, but were fully functional. "You must be swift as a coarsing river~" he started to sing a song from Mulan, backing away from the edge of the hill, while waiting for Blair to reach the top.

Vince shook his head at Oliver, "Doing this to a fawn is completely illegal. They couldn't have even sold the organs." He said, rubbing Elizabeth's shoulder.
Dominic hugged Nikki, "Somebody, or something cruel resides in this forest and they have tormented the animals and people who have visited." He swallowed, "Hopefully Blair and Kyle are okay."

Alice turned pale, "Th-the river? Are they okay?!" She cried. She looked around fiercely for any sign of a river nearby.
Blair smiled at Kyle's singing, "Mulan, eh?" She asked. She looked in the direction they were supposed to be going, "ALIIICCEEE!" She called out again, even louder.
Alice heard Blair's voice faintly. Her face lit up, "I think that was Blair!" She cheered, giving a glare to the ghost.

"Just because it's illegal doesn't mean people won't do it on the black market." Oliver said. Elizabeth shivered. "This is the worst camping trip ever."
Nikki placed a hand on her forehead. "Oh, I really hope they are... I don't like the signs of this at all.."
Suddenly, her pocket began buzzing. It was the walkie talkie. She pulled it out. The static was going crazy. Amung the static, Nikki could pick out a few words: it sounded like a little girl screaming for help. But halfway through she started to giggle. It was neither Joey nor Alice.
"W-what is this?" Nikki asked, offering it to the others for investigation.

"BLAIR?" Joey yelled back. The ghost simply smiled at the others and vanished. Joey shook it off and yelled again. "KYLE?"

"Yeah mulan, it's a great movie." Kyle said, listening to the return call. "I heard Alice and Joey! We're really close." he said, limping towards the direction that the voices came from.

Vince shivered at Nikki's walkie-talkie. Suddenly his went off as well. The sound of a woman humming a creepy tune came through along with static. He threw it to the ground. The force broke it, but for some reason, the humming continued to come through, "What the hell!" He exclaimed.
Dominic picked up Vince's walkie-talkie and ripped its battery out. The humming continued.

Blair cheered and began trotting towards their voices, slow enough that she wouldn't lose Kyle, "KYLE AND I ARE OKAY!" She cried out again.
Alice clapped, "It is them!" She yipped, smiling now that the ghost had left.

Elizabeth stomped on the walkie talkie with her boot. The hummign still continued. She hid her face, feeling as though the humming was right behind her.
Nikki looked around. "W-who's there?" She asked, looking around.

Kyle laughed. "Finally! We can hear them!" he said. His ankle was really bothering him. But he ignored it, and pressed on, seeing the campsite through the trees. He grabbed Blair's arm and leaned against her, disguising the lakc of strength for relief. "See, there they are!"

Alice jumped up at the sight of Kyle and Blair. She ran to give them both a hug. Blair smiled and embraced the small girl back.
"You guys are okay!" Alice yipped. She looked at Kyle up and down and frowned a bit, "What happened to you?" She asked.

Dominic shook his head, "Just ignore it." He said, continuing on, still a bit unnerved by the humming that now sounded like devious laughter.

Joey ran over too, taking in Kyle's appearance. "You look like you walked through a shredder and peed yourself."
Kyle laughed. "Close. I rolled down a hill. It was an adventure, you should do it sometime." He ruffled Joey's hair.
"Nikki and the others went to find you..." he said, taking out the walkie talkie. He pressed the button.
"Nikki?"
No response.
"Nikki? Are you here? Wierd... it's like the walkie talkie is off..."

Nikki also continued, swallowing a lump in her throat. "W-we shoud go back to the campsite in a half hour... and we can continue searching in daylight..." she said, not wanting to get lost.

Alice looked at Blair and Kyle again, "What happened anyway?" She asked.
Blair sighed and laughed a bit, "Well...we went to get firewood, then this creepy dead girl showed up and we ran away, getting a bit...well, lost in the process. Then a bunch of other scary ass shit happened..but let's not think about that now." She said, with a smile, embarrassed at her earlier scared behavior.
Alice blinked, "Weird stuff has been happening here too." She looked to where the others had left, "If they aren't too far...I might be able to contact them telepathically." She concentrated her thoughts and stared intently into the woods. 'Can anybody hear me? It's Alice. Blair and Kyle are okay and are back at the campsite.'

Dominic hear another voice in his head, a familiar one. Alice. Her voice was a bit broken up, but he heard the last part distinctly.
Vince looked at Dominic, raising his eyebrows, "You okay, man?"
Dominic nodded, "Alice just talked to me. We should go back to the campsite. Blair and Kyle returned." He said, a smile forming on his face.

"Really?!" Elizabeth burst, a smile forming on her face. "Thank god! Let's go bakc and get out of this creepy forest right now!" She ran ahead, using her flashlight to see. Oliver followed, and Nikki stayed in step with Dominic. "That's a relief." She sighed.

Kyle shrugged. "Yup, pretty much what Blair said." Kyle said, cracking his back. "Now, if you'll excuse me i'm going to sleep." Kyle limped to the boys tent, crawled in, and took off his shoes. Nikki had brought two first aid kids, and had placed one in the boys tent and one in the girls. He took the one in the boys tent, sat att he tent door, and sent to cleaning his wounds, taking his shoes off to examine his bruised ankle.

Dominic nodded, "We need to get out of this place as soon as we can." He said, still holding Nikki's hand and keeping close to her.
Vince walked next to Elizabeth.
Blair watched as the others approached. She grinned, "What an eventful night, huh?"
Alice cheered, "They got my message!"
"So...the question now is, should we leave tonight or stay until tomorrow morning?" Dominic asked.

Nikki sighed. "I'd say tonight.... I don't trust these woods..."
Kyle cleaned up all of his cuts and bruises and came out looking slightly better, but still beaten up. Joey sighed and ran his figners through his hair, metal arm providing cool relief to his forehead. "I agree with Nikki. Tonight."
Elizabeth nodded, grabbing onto Vince's arm despite the fact that it wasn't scary anymore. "Still scared." She said. "I also vote now."
Oliver shrugged, neutral.

Blair looked at Kyle, "Are you sure you can drive?" She asked, "We can alternate driving on the way home." She said.
"Since when can you drive?" Dominic queried, his eyebrow raised.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Blair spat, "Just because I don't own a car."
Vince put his arm around Elizabeth, "Everything's okay now." He reassured, "We're leaving this creepy place, and never coming back."
Alice nodded in agreement to Vince, "I agree. Let's tell the government to leave this place alone. It's issues are clearly too complex for any of us to fix."

Kyle shrugged. "I'll be fine. It's not too far away from here where I live. And Joey's house is close."
Joey nodded. He was already packing up the boys tent and his things. Oliver, inside the tent, was gathering his backpack he never even unpacked. He exited the tent and walked down the path from whence they came.
Elizabeth smiled. "That's a relief!" She said. "I'll jut grab my backpack and head back..." The blonde crawled into the tent and pulled out her bag, checking herself out in the mirror. Her hair was messy, but her makeup was fine. She came out of the tent and headed back.
Nikki did the same thing, adjusting her glasses with a sigh. "I'll inform the government when we get back..." She stated.

Blair nodded and grabbed her back pack. She hadn't unpacked anything, so she was all set to go.
Alice picked up her cutesy back pack, realizing how tired she was, "Who is driving me?" She yawned.
Dominic took whatever he could from the campsite and began to trek to his car. Vince followed him, carrying his large duffle bag.

Kyle stretched. "If you don't mind, i'd like to drive as little people as possible. I know i'm taking Joey."
Joey nodded, grabbing his bag. Nikki fished in her bag for her keys. "I'll take anyone who needs a ride... Oliver and Elizabeth, you two coming back with me?"
Oliver nodded, but Elizabeth seemed to think for a minute, her eyes flashing to Vince before she slowly nodded. "Dominic, you brought a car, right?" Nikki asked.

Dominic nodded, "Yes I did, can fit up to five other people." He said, "I know I'm bringing Joey."
Blair raised her hand, "I'll go with Dom since he has the most room."
Alice trotted over to Nikki, "I'll go with you." She said with a bright smile.

Joey scratched his head. "Ok wait who am I going with?" he asked, reaching the parking lot. he was thankful that fiasco had ended. Nikki smiled at Alice.
"Okay! That's all I've room for." She said. She, Oliver, Elizabeth, and Kyle all reached the lot, all feeling much more relaxed now that a road was visible.