I Will Kill You

[Mak Taru]

IMPORTANT NOTE: "I Will Kill You" is just the title of this story, and does not represent an actual death threat against any living, non-fictional person. I'd normally believe that everyone would find that to be obvious, but the mods here are so ridiculously uptight that I feel the need to include this note.

Day One

I enjoy solitary walks through the woods. I have for quite a long time. I try to pick areas that are isolated, untrodden by human beings. Sometimes I follow trails made by animals, and sometimes I make my own. Rarely do I cross paths with another, and I prefer it that way.

Today, though, was different. I had been hiking since sunrise, making my way slowly through the snow-covered pine forest, when I heard a voice.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

I turned to look. There, not twenty meters away, was another hiker. A man, judging by his voice. The large coat he wore made it difficult to tell any other way. The man was panting with exhaustion when he finally caught up to me.

"Do you need help? You're not lost, are you?"

I stared at him impassively. A wrinkled face and a few whisps of grey hair poking out from under his hood told me that he was at least sixty, though his eyes showed a surprising amount of vitality. His expression became puzzled as I refused to answer him, and just as he was about to speak again, I replied.

"I'm just out for a walk."

"I didn't know anyone else came this far out this time of the year. Aren't you cold?"

He gestured to indicate the disparity between his thickly insulated winter coat and my lighter garb.

"I'm fine. It's not that cold."

The man gave me another odd look, but then shrugged.

"If you say so. My name's Sam, by the way."

He extended his hand, which I just stared at. After several seconds, he withdrew it and gave an awkward laugh.

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't want to take your hands out of your pockets in this weather. Where are you from?"

Tiring of this, I ignored him and resumed my hike.

"Fine, we don't have to talk if you don't want to. As much as I love the great outdoors, it's nice to have some human company for once."

He began walking alongside me, matching my pace. He obviously wasn't getting the hint.

"I prefer to be alone. You should stop following me."

"Just tell me where you're going first. There's not much in terms of civilization in this direction. Even if you're not lost now, that doesn't mean you won't be soon. These woods are enormous."

I turned, fixing the interloper with a stern glance.

"Leave me, or I will kill you." My tone was level and serious.

The man called Sam nearly choked, his eyes widening with fright. I expected him to run, but instead, he did something unexpected. He began to laugh.

"You're a funny guy, you know that? You really had me going there for a second!"

I felt his hand lightly strike my back as he continued to laugh.

"I'm going to be hiking here again tomorrow. Maybe we'll run into each other again."

With that, Sam parted ways with me, returning to the path he had previously been traveling down. I watched him leave and shook my head before picking up my pace again. Quite an odd person.

 

[hughmann]

Banned for toxic language.

Jokes aside this is an odd enough premise. Let's see what you got boyo.

 

[Mak Taru]

Day Two

I considered taking a different route today. If that annoying man was going to cross my path again, perhaps it would be better to avoid him.

I ultimately decided against it. Some may consider it petty, but I don't like to let others dictate my actions. I was not going to change my plans because of one old man.

Still, I was silently hoping that he wouldn't show up. Several hours into my hike, that hope was dashed.

"Hey stranger! Glad to see you got home safe yesterday! I was really worried that you'd end up lost out here."

"I told you I was fine."

"Yeah, I guess I should have trusted you, huh? I'm just glad to know you're okay."

I paused, turning to look at him for the first time since I had heard his voice that day.

"Why?"

The man shot me a confused look that I was beginning to become familiar.

"What do you mean, why?" he asked. "I see a fellow hiker and I don't want him to get hurt. Isn't that just basic human decency?"

I chose not to reply, instead resuming my pace. Sam followed alongside me. After several seconds of awkward silence, I spoke.

"Yesterday I warned you to leave me be, or I would kill you."

"Yeah, but you were obviously joking. You haven't tried to kill me yet, after all."

"You seem so certain in your conclusion. Did it ever enter your thoughts that you may be wrong? What if my threat was genuine?"

Sam sighed, smiling wistfully.

"To be perfectly honest, I probably wouldn't care all that much. It's not like I have that much to live for these days."

He paused, as if expecting me to question his statement. I did not, but he continued anyways.

"I have no living relatives. At least, none that I know of. I was an only child, and my wife and I never had kids. She died years ago, and I've been alone ever since. The only thing that really brings me any joy anymore is these hikes. I try my best to stay in shape, you see, but I'm not as young as I used to be. I know it's just a matter of time before I won't have the stamina to keep this up anymore. You know it's funny; when I was younger I used to think that retirement would be idyllic, but nowadays I find myself longing for my old job. At least there were other people to interact with there, even if not all of them were what you'd consider pleasant. There was this young intern who always pissed me off. Every day, without fail, he would be using the coffee machine right when it was time for..."

He went on like that, talking about his job, his parents, his wife, his hiking experience, and various other mundanities. I tuned him out for the most part. Nothing he was saying was of any interest to me. He didn't seem to notice, though, as he continued to prattle on. For some inscrutable reason, though, I was not nearly as irritated as I expected myself to be. I certainly didn't enjoy Sam's constant chatter, but I found it to be... tolerable, somehow.

It must have been nearly an hour when he finally began to run out of topics to wax nostalgic about. We walked in silence for about a minute, before he turned to me again.

"You're probably getting tired of listening to an old man's life story. I really don't know what came over me; I usually don't talk this much. It's just that you're easy to talk to, you know? Maybe it's just because you don't speak that much yourself, but you come across like a good listener. In fact, I don't believe I've ever told anyone some of the things I just told you. It's kind of cathartic, to be honest."

I kept waiting for him to get to some kind of point, but instead he changed the focus of discussion to me.

"You know, I really don't know much about you. What's your daily routine like? I'm guessing that you're almost as old as I am - no offense - but you haven't stopped even once to catch your breath. I thought that I was athletic for my age, but compared to you I might as well be in a wheelchair. What's your secret?"

I didn't bother responding.

"Okay, if you don't want to talk about that, that's fine. There are plenty of other topics. Do you have a family?"

"No."

"Sorry about that. At least it's another thing we have in common. You know, I never did get your name. I can't just keep calling you Stranger, after all."

I stopped, turning to regard the man with an emotionless gaze. Oddly, I actually found myself answering his request.

"You can call me Hunter."

Sam smiled, extending a hand.

"Nice to meet you, Hunter!"

I stood unmoving, and after a few seconds he retracted his arm.

"I forgot, you don't like to take your hands out of your pockets. Well anyway, I need to be going. See you again tomorrow?"

"Perhaps."

Sam smiled again and left on his own path through the woods.

 

[hughmann]

Man I wonder is he's gonna kill him

 

[Mak Taru]

Day Three

I expected to run into Sam again at around the same time this morning, but it had been over half an hour since the time we had met the previous two days. Perhaps he had taken another path, or had decided to stay home today.

I certainly wasn't disappointed by his absence, but strangely, neither was I relieved or satisfied by it.

As I pondered this, a voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts.

"Hunter! Hunter, is that you?"

Hunter? Ah, yes. The name I had told him to call me by. I turned and saw a familiar figure making his way through the woods towards me. He looked panicked and out of breath.

"Hunter! Man am I glad to see you!"

I stopped walking, but did not reply. He continued on anyway.

"I think there's something following me. It's - I don't know what it is, but... you ever get that feeling that someone, or something, is watching you?" His voice was bordering on hysterical - something clearly had him shooken up.

There are many animals out here," I replied levelly.

"It wasn't an animal!" he shouted. "At least, I don't think it was. I never actually saw it, but I'm sure it was there!"

"What was?"

"I don't know, but I felt its eyes on me, like it was stalking me! No matter how fast I ran, it felt like it was right behind me! And the silence... that was the worst part."

"Calm yourself and start again from the beginning," I found myself saying. I was immediately confounded by my own words. Why did I care about what this man was rambling on about? It was certainly nothing of interest to me. But for some strange reason I had asked, and he was beginning to answer. I might as well listen, then.

"It started maybe an hour ago. I felt like someone was watching me. At first I ignored it, but the feeling kept getting stronger. I must have stopped to look around a dozen times, but I didn't spot anyone. I couldn't shake that feeling though. It was so intense, like a thousand eyes were all staring at me at once. Then I noticed that there was no sound. No leaves rustling, no bird or insect noises, nothing! Just complete silence. It was eerie."

I turned to look up at the canopy above us. Birdsong could clearly be heard in the distance. I looked back to Sam.

"Well, the silence must have stopped, eventually. But it was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced in my life. I ran for what seemed like ten minutes or more, but I felt the thing right behind me the whole time. I know it wanted to kill me."

"I thought you didn't fear death."

"I thought so too, before today! But something about that thing... I'm scared, Hunter. I'm really scared."

"You say you didn't see anything. What do you suppose was pursuing you?"

"I have no idea. But it wasn't any kind of animal I've ever heard of. And I don't think it was a person, either. Something about it - about the whole experience - just felt wrong. Unnatural. Like it was something that didn't belong in this world. I know that I'm probably starting to sound crazy, but I never felt anything like that before."

"It seems like it's gone now," I observed.

"Yes, thank God. But what was it? Do you have any guesses?"

"No." In truth I had many, but I didn't feel like wasting time expounding on them. Sam probably wouldn't enjoy hearing them either, in his current state of mind.

"Maybe - maybe I was just overreacting," the old man sighed. "Now that things have calmed down, I'm starting to realize what I must sound like. I'm sure there was something following me, but maybe it was just an animal - a bear or something. Still pretty scary, but we need to be reasonable here. Monsters don't exist, right?"

I merely smiled in response. Sam seemed to shiver.

We walked together for several minutes, saying nothing. Sam seemed to slowly relax, but he was obviously still on edge.

"I'm sorry for freaking out on you like that. But I have to admit, I'm pretty damn spooked right now. Would you mind walking me home? Even just until we get out of the forest. If that thing comes back, I don't want to face it alone."

"I have other things to do."

"Oh. I guess that's understandable. I - I guess I'd better head back home then. Hopefully that thing isn't really as dangerous as I'm imagining."

I watched as he departed, taking a route nearly perpendicular to the direction from which he had arrived. Probably intending to return home without retracing any of his steps. I still didn't understand this man.

 

[Mak Taru]

Day Four

The covering of snow on the ground was thinner today. As I strode through the forest, I found myself wondering if I had seen the last of Sam. Whatever he had encountered had seriously disturbed him, maybe enough to keep him away from these woods.

My question was soon answered as I noticed a figure, covered in a large brown coat, approaching me through the trees.

"Hunter!" he called, none of the panic from our last encounter evident in his voice.

"Sam," I replied, without enthusiasm. He quickly approached and began walking alongside me. Although he seemed to be in better spirits, I noticed that his eyes were darting around nervously, scanning the forest every few seconds.

"I'm surprised that you're here today. I thought that you had been scared off for good."

"Certainly not!" he announced. "I'm not about to stop hiking because of some phantom I never even saw! Besides," he took out an archaic-looking revolver from his pocket, "I came prepared this time."

"That thing must be a hundred years old. Where did you get it?"

"It was an heirloom from my grandfather. He taught me how to use it when I was just a child."

"Does it still work?"

"It sure does. I tested it this morning."

"And now you feel safe?"

"Yeah. Although..." Sam hesitated, as if debating with himself whether to say whatever he was thinking. I took this time to puzzle over why I was being so talkative today. I was rarely ever so outgoing among others.

"I did some research and asked some questions online last night, about what I experienced," Sam continued.

"And?" I prompted, after several seconds of silence.

"A lot of people said I must have just been imagining it. Others said it could have been a bear, like I thought. But there were some stranger theories. Have you ever heard of a Wendigo?"

"Wendigo," I repeated emotionlessly.

He laughed nervously. "It's a kind of monster from Algonquian mythology. They say it lives deep in the forest and has an insatiable hunger for human flesh."

"I'm not afraid of such things."

"Yeah, you're right, it does sound silly, doesn't it? It's just, the way it was described - the atmosphere it supposedly creates before it attacks - it seemed so similar to what I felt yesterday." He carefully inspected his revolver.

"Do you think your gun will stop a Wendigo?"

"Probably not," he admitted, "but they don't actually exist. It's just a scary story."

"Then why mention it?"

"I don't know, I just felt like talking about it, okay? It helps me feel a little better."

Even though he had only raised his voice slightly, I glared down at him in irritation, and he shrunk back.

"Anyway, I had better be going. I don't want to risk being out here after sundown." He chuckled nervously. I said nothing as we parted ways.

Less than fifteen minutes later, I heard two distant gunshots, followed by an agonized scream. There was no mistaking the old man's voice. I took off in the direction of the sounds.

I soon arrived in a small clearing. There was a body on the ground, torn to shreds and missing its left arm. Lying nearby on the ground, evidently useless, was the revolver. I recognized the now torn and bloodstained coat the man was wearing immediately. Crouched over the corpse was a massive yet gaunt figure, humanoid in shape but with thin, decomposing skin and viciously sharp claws. It was facing away from me, gnawing on Sam's bloody arm.

I sighed, taking a step forward. "You know, as hard as it is to accept, I was actually becoming somewhat fond of that man. Perhaps I was even beginning to consider him a friend."

The creature paused, turning to face me. Blood dripped from a mouth full of sharp teeth, in multiple rows. It dropped the arm and stood, reaching its full height, over three meters tall.

It doubtlessly expected me to run, but as I stood there undaunted, it tilted its head to the side, an almost comical gesture coming from such a creature. It took a few steps towards me, raising one of its arms.

When it was less than a meter away, preparing to slash me with an immense, bloody claw, it stopped. Its eyes went wide in terror, and I smiled. It knew.

The beast immediately took off in the opposite direction, knocking trees and brush out of its way as it frantically rushed through the forest. I gave it a few seconds of a head start, then languidly raised my right arm. A tendril of darkness shot out from where my hand had once been, winding its way through the trees at preternatural speed. An instant later, it retracted. At the other end was the Wendigo, held aloft in a net-like web of shadows. I would have smiled as I watched it struggle futilely, but my face was no longer remotely human enough to make such as expression. I could still speak, however.

"A lesson learned too late:" I rasped, my voice several octaves lower than its previous tone. "If you provoke me, I will kill you."

My jaws unhinged as I pulled the beast closer, and then swallowed it whole in an instant.

I turned to look at the mutilated human corpse, still bleeding on the ground before me. I know that humans tend to bury their dead, but that custom was foreign to me. I turned around and disappeared back into the forest. Perhaps I would travel this path again tomorrow, or I might find a new place to walk. It didn't matter that much to me.