The person walks past your hiding spot.

You exhale slowly, relief flooding your veins. Your knee takes a moment to remind you that you injured it quite ferociously. Ignoring it, you strain your ears to hear how far away the footsteps are. The last thing you want is for whoever it was that was chasing you to come back around and catch you slinking back to your car.

After a pretty solid wait time, though it's hard to tell for sure without a watch out here, you peek cautiously out of your hollow tree. First, to the right. No sign of anyone over there. Then to the left, back the way you came.

Pain blossoms over your scalp. Someone has your hair. You cry out as they pull you from the hollow tree with sheer force.

Your legs drag in the soft ground. Whoever has you doesn't let you go. They lift your face up roughly, and all you can see is the wicked glint of a smile in the darkness. You're pretty sure it's a male, though, by his stature and broadness, but your eyes are watering from the pain now.

You reach out, trying to get his hands out of your hair. He wrenches you closer, and lifts his other hand. He's holding something solid in it. He swings it down at your head.

Luke shimmers into being next to him. He reaches out, trying to grab the man by the arm. The man's arm goes right through him.

The last thing you hear before you're knocked unconscious is Luke, crying out your name.

You're just another person who went into the mountains, and never came back out now.

**********

[END]

Ending Achieved: Night Terror