Chapter 1
Its hiking day tomorrow, the sun is out and the weather forecast is showing no clouds. Bags are ready to be packed and the shopping trip for snacks and food has just been completed. my dad and I are on are way home singing songs in the car and bonding very well for once. We stop and get take-away for dinner and set off again. The woods we drive by, to get back home, is tomorrow's camp and walking route. no signal or houses for miles, perfect in dad's mind, the trees are tall and skinny and during autumn they look like thick sticks branching off out the ground. We arrive home and upack the days worth of shopping, survival gear, matches, torches and most importantly food. The list of items smushed and packed down into our bags sleeping bags, tents and portable cookers. With bags packed and the take away now a pile of empty tubs and bags, we head of to bed hoping to get enough sleep for the walk tomorrow.
30 miles today son dad announces over a pile of bacon and beans.
i know i reply in a sigh, he had hammered this into for days now 30 miles on day one and 15 on day 2.
I gave my-self a reasonable portion half the size of my dads, better finish that quick dad or we wont make it to the start in time i joked to him hoping to get under his skin.
i know, i know he said digging into his final piece of bacon. The bags where loaded into the back of our pickup and off we set down the drive and on the main road. 15 minutes later the woods entrance came into view. An overgrown opening in the shrub with a wooden gateway barely visible. We suit up and put on our bags. Map and compass in hand we jump the gate and into the woods. Even though its sun out the woods seem to swallow us. Darker and darker it gets the further we walk. We had to use our torches until it got less dense and the sun rays through the trees we're warming. The forest really Began to clear now and there were big open patches perfect for camps. 17 miles from here is camp said dad the area should be like this, perfect.
the woods began to suck up all light again till the point of total darkness. torches out and marching our way through shrub and brambles we pushed on. the forest didn't get much better though for the next 4 miles was all barely visible in the thicker areas. i began to notice carvings on trees, they looked like symbols but i did not know what they meant. The amount of symbols became more frequent. the same stick figure shape with 3 eyes and tall hunched over body. Hey dad, look at these symbols i said coming to a stop.
creepy he said pointing his flashlight at it to gain a better look.
wonder what it means i said
i don't know son, probably just natives that have explored this area.
for the next couple miles i managed to block out the symbols knowing they where there but stopping the urge to look at them. 5 miles from camp and dad stops in his tracks. I look to see what is wrong. A head of a wolf laid in the middle of the track. A crack behind me and a cold gust of air hits my back like someone is stood behind me.
