Hunted After Dark

Mara Quinn began to think this trip had been a stupid idea the moment the pavement disappeared beneath her tires.

Google Maps still stubbornly insisted she had seventeen minutes to go, but what stretched ahead of her could hardly be called a road anymore. Two narrow dirt tracks cut through the pine forest, littered with rocks and exposed roots, growing darker with every mile even though it was barely past four in the afternoon.

- Great.

She slowed down and leaned toward the phone mounted on the dashboard. No signal, of course. Mara gave a small laugh to herself, but the sound felt strangely unnatural inside the quiet RV.

She had wanted somewhere remote. No emails. No phone calls. No conversations where she had to pretend she was still doing fine. Everything that had happened over the past year had left her exhausted, disappointed, and dangerously close to giving up on all of it.

Her mother, the only family she had left, had died of breast cancer earlier that year. Then there was her job. After eight years of struggling to build a stable career since graduating from college, she had finally secured her position as an editorial secretary at a newspaper, then only to watch it get handed to someone else, who happened to have a close relationship with the editor-in-chief.

One by one, her friends had drifted away. And the mortgage payments on her dream house had become another weight pressing down on until she felt like her head might explode.

So she’d said screw it and sold the damn house. After settling everything she still owed, Mara bought herself a used Thor Four Winds 25V, the very RV she was driving now, and decided to take it on a journey with no real destination, searching for something that might feel vaguely like freedom.

Just her, an RV, a small campfire, a few cans of beer, and a few hundred acres of forest. It wasn’t a bad way to start over. Or at least, it hadn’t sounded like one.

The Four Winds jolted violently as a front tire rolled over a rock. Mara cursed under her breath and tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Beyond the windshield, tall black trunks of pine crowded together like a wall. She hadn’t seen another vehicle in nearly forty minutes.

That should have made her happy. It was exactly why she’d chosen this place. And yet, when a faded wooden sign finally appeared beside the road, BLACK PINE CAMPGROUND - 2 MILES,Mara found herself letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Two miles later, the private campground finally came into view. It was little more than a small clearing beside the lake: three weathered picnic tables, a wooden outhouse, and several patches of level ground for tents. No staff, no cabins, no other RVs.

Mara suddenly had the distinct feeling that the man who’d introduced himself as the campground manager had seriously ripped her off. This wasn’t some peaceful little campground. It looked like a forgotten patch of wilderness where no one had bothered to throw a party in years.

She killed the engine. Silence rushed in immediately. Not complete silence, exactly. Wind whispered through the tops of the pines. Water lapped softly against the rocky shore. Somewhere in the distance, a bird gave one short cry and then went quiet.

But after hours of listening to the engine, the stillness made Mara feel as though she’d stepped into a room where everyone had stopped talking the instant she opened the door.

She sat there for another few seconds before shaking her head at herself.

- Well, at least it’s quiet. And I did see a few hikers along the way. Maybe this place isn’t quite as deserted as it looks…

She opened the door. Cold air swept in, carrying the sharp scent of pine resin. The place was beautiful, actually.

The lake stretched between forested mountain slopes, its dark surface smooth as an enormous sheet of glass. Late-afternoon sunlight slipped through the clouds and painted a pale golden streak across the water.

Mara chose the spot closest to the lake. She cleared the area and got a campfire going fairly quickly. Fifteen minutes went into rebuilding the existing stone fire ring and getting the charcoal lit, followed by another ten spent wandering around collecting enough dry wood to last the evening. By the time she finished, her hair was a mess and her hands were freezing.

But she felt better. Doing something was always better than standing still and thinking. Mara pulled a beer from the cooler, dropped into a folding chair, and stretched her legs toward the small fire she’d built.

Darkness came quickly. That was the first thing she hadn’t planned for. By six o’clock, the forest behind her had already dissolved into deep, shapeless patches of black.

Late October.

Halloween was only a few days away.

Mara had never really believed in ghosts, demons, or anything supernatural. Still, there was something strange about this time of year. Things that sounded ridiculous in June somehow became a little harder to laugh at in late October. Especially when you were sitting alone in the middle of a forest without another light in sight.

Mara shivered, then laughed softly at herself. “Don’t start scaring yourself. If there’s anything worth worrying about out here, it’s bears, wild animals, or maybe a couple of drunk hunters. Not some serial killer straight out of one of those cheesy B-movies they play all through October.”

The thought had barely crossed her mind when…

Crack. A branch snapped somewhere behind her.

Mara froze and glanced over her shoulder. Then came the faint sound of a footstep. Slow. Careful.

- Hello? - A cheerful male voice suddenly broke through the silence. Mara jumped so hard she nearly dropped the beer in her hand.

A moment later, a man stepped out from behind the trunk of a large pine. He was a little over five-seven, with a lean, wiry build, dressed in a camouflage jacket and light khaki pants. The hunting rifle slung over his shoulder and the professional-looking gear he carried made Mara assume he was a local hunter familiar with the area.

His hair was short and dark blond, his eyes a pale blue. There was a slightly gaunt quality to his face as he approached the fire with casual confidence, a polite, friendly smile still fixed on his lips.

- First time camping around here, huh? That’s a pretty nice RV you’ve got. You out here by yourself?

- No. I’m here with my boyfriend. He was exhausted from driving, so he went inside to get some sleep. I’m just sitting out here enjoying the scenery for a while - Mara paused - And you are…?

Her guard remained firmly in place. Mara had invented an imaginary man on the spot, hoping to conceal the fact that she was completely alone in the middle of nowhere. The stranger looked ordinary enough, just some guy who happened to be passing through.

But looks meant nothing. Bad situations could happen anytime.

- Ah, gotcha. Oh, almost forgot to introduce myself. Wade Mercer. Thirty-eight. I’m a hunter around here - He gestured loosely toward the surrounding woods - Actually, this campground is on private land owned by the Mercer family. I was passing through and figured I’d stop by and say hello to our rare guest. Everything okay so far?

Some of Mara’s unease faded. The name Mercer sounded familiar.

- I see. I think the manager I spoke with earlier was a Mercer too.

- That’s my older brother, Dale. We inherited this forest from our parents. Dale’s been wanting to turn part of it into a campground for years, make a little extra money for the family. Our house is only a few miles from here. If you ever need anything, just head southeast.

- Right. Of course. Thank you - Mara offered him a small smile - I’m Mara Quinn. I’m the new guest who contacted your brother yesterday. This place seems pretty empty, though. You guys don’t get many visitors this time of year?

- Honestly? Not really - Wade scratched at the dark baseball cap on his head - Neither of us knows a damn thing about marketing. Doesn’t help that we don’t have much money to invest in fixing the place up, either. So you’ll have to forgive the rough edges, you and your boyfriend both. But hey, the scenery makes up for it, right? Can’t beat that lake.

- That’s definitely a plus. It’s quiet, and the air is clean. I just want to make sure the electricity, water, and dump station are all working properly.

- You don’t have to worry about that. All the basics are covered. We want you folks to have a good enough experience that you’ll come back, and maybe spread the word to a few new customers while you’re at it - Wade laughed - Ha-ha…

They exchanged a few more casual words before Wade reminded her to be careful with the fire and said goodbye, explaining that he was continuing his night hunt. By the time he left, Mara’s impression of him had improved considerably. He seemed friendly enough. Hospitable, even. If this was their idea of customer service, it wasn’t half bad.

Mara felt a little more reassured now. The trip was beginning to resemble what she’d originally wanted after all. She had found somewhere genuinely quiet without being completely cut off from civilization.

No matter how sick of life she might have been lately, Mara had no desire to meet some horrible end in a place where no one even knew where she was.

As for the lie about the boyfriend, she gave a small shrug and justified it to herself. The people managing the campground probably weren’t going to pry too deeply into the private lives of their guests anyway.

Feeling calmer, Mara carefully put out the fire and made her way back to the RV. She took a shower, got herself ready for bed, and eventually crawled beneath the covers.

There was, however, one thing she never noticed. Far beyond the campground, deep within the black wall of pines, a figure remained perfectly still watching.

Through a compact pair of binoculars, he patiently followed every movement inside the RV. It took him some time to properly fix his attention on his prey. Then the corner of his mouth slowly curled into an unreadable smile.

A moment later, he slipped back into the darkness, swallowed by the night until nothing remained but the occasional distant cry of some solitary creature lost among the trees.