PROLOGUE

"Come on, Dad, we're almost there!" he called out eagerly.

Travis was ten, it was summer time, school was out, and he had been waiting for an eternity for this little camping trip. The state game and camping grounds were literally their back yard, and although Travis and his friends from school often played in them, there was something unique about the woods today, during this rare outing with his father. He always seemed to be at work, even on the weekends while he was home. There was hardly ever any days free to spend some quality time together.

Today had been a real treat. The pair went fishing in the lake about two miles away from their house. The catches weren't really that terrific, but of course, no one had to know that. Travis was already coming up with little white lies about giant, man-eating fish that he and his father wrestled onto the shores of Mekinwah Lake. The thought that no one would believe his story about such monsters here never occurred to him and did not matter.

They had now been walking for miles through the woods, well beyond where Travis's parents would let him and his friends go play because it was just too far from their house. He ran quickly up to the top of a small hill, waiting impatiently for his father to catch up to him.

"Slow down, son! Take it easy on your old man," his father called out.

He took a deep breath and hiked up the hill, wondering how he got stuck carrying two fishing poles, tackle boxes, the Styrofoam box full of soda cans, and two back packs full of sleeping bags, chips, and little plastic action figure heroes. He smiled all the same and caught up to his son.

"Well, whaddya think, Trav? Is this a good spot?" He asked his son while glancing around off the hill and dropping the load he carried.

He stopped and absorbed the trees, rocks, and lake that created nature's beauty all around them. The red dirt glistened in the early dusk light, and birds and crickets chirped from the trees and grass around them. Beyond those trees, the lights on the city's skyscrapers were visible, which did slightly ruin an otherwise serene view.

"Oh yeah!" Travis said.

They unrolled their sleeping bags and sat down on top of them, watching the sun setting just beyond the crest of another hill. Travis munched away on some cheese curls, while his father drank a refreshingly cold soda. The heat was almost unbearable. Georgia summer times were always hot, of course, but adding in the exercise factor on top of the ninety plus degree weather, he was glad to sit down and drink something cool. One doesn't seem to get into shape driving a Lincoln Towncar into the city and walking from the parking garage to the elevator, he thought vaguely.

Despite the hot air, it felt great to get out into the open with his son. He didn't bother himself to think about how his boy felt, hardly ever having his father around. Hopefully, he thought, Travis would come to understand. Work was stressful and time-consuming, but he had to work to survive. It was the way of the world. He worked hard to provide for his family, and he provided well, and was successful at his job. He would always love to spend more time with his boy, but life couldn't stop because there was a soccer game on a Saturday afternoon. He was glad, though, to take this weekend off, since work was slowing down just a bit, and spend some quality time with his son.

Like any parent, he wished that his boy would grow up and see a better world, a world where Wall Street, and profit and money weren't as important as they were today. Perhaps even in that world, a person could simply get up and travel from place to place, and not have to worry about a job, or expenses.

"So come'ere then, and spend some quality, non-hiking, time with your Dad."

Travis grinned and slid over to his father.

"Where should we hang up those monster fish trophies of yours, after we get them stuffed?"

"I dunno, Dad," Travis said, reaching into a cooler and pulling out the chain with four less than half-pound blue gills strung on it. "I don't think there's a wall big enough for them."

"Yeah," his father laughed, "right."

"Ahh!" Travis screamed. "It's got me!" He had a finger shoved into on of the fishes mouths, and was rattling the chains, pretending that the fish had come alive and was beginning to devour him.

"You're silly," his father said. "Watch out, they have four-inch fangs in their mouths," he teased.

They filleted the fish and started up a small fire. By the time the fish had been cooked, there was such little meat to eat, it hardly seemed worth all the effort, but it was the enjoyment of catching them that had made the time worthwhile. The meat didn't last long, and soon, father and son were eating the real food, the remaining chips and store-bought goodies they had packed.

"Guess we wouldn't fare well on Survivor, would we?"

Travis glanced at his father and shrugged as he pulled out a hand held video game system form his backpack and popped in the game cartridge, Blood Fight III. Travis paid half-attention to the game and talked to his father the whole time as well.

Time zoomed by, the sun had set, and before they realized, it was half past eleven o'clock. They were both getting tired, and it was going to be a long hike back home tomorrow, so the two decided to get some sleep. They fluffed up their backpacks into pillows and lay down on top of their sleeping bags. There was almost no point in even bringing the bags, as it was obviously going to be far too hot to sleep in them, but the satin lining felt cool against their bare legs anyway.

The sky was dark and the stars were out. For a while, the two lay staring up at the night sky, talking about anything that came to mind until they both ran out of words.

"Can we do this again, Dad?" Travis asked after a silent pause.

"Of course we can, son," He replied.

He didn't know exactly when, but he would try to get some more time off work eventually so he could spend more time with his son. He sighed and slowly shut his eyes and fidgeted his position to get more comfortable. He opened his eyes quickly for a moment just to reset the shuffled backpack under his head. He glanced over his shoulder and found that Travis had already fallen fast asleep. He laid his head back down. A glimmering light from an airplane in the sky caught his attention, but he shut his eyes and ignored it.

"Dad," Travis whispered as he shook his father's shoulder. "Dad."

"Wha? What is it?" he said licking his lips as he pulled his head up and squinted as a bright light flooded into his brain.

Travis held out the only flashlight they bothered to bring with them and was nervously shining it in his father's face at the moment.

"There's something out there. I think maybe a bear or something." Travis said as his father pushed the light out of his eyes.

"Trav, there's no bears out here."

The alarm in his son's voice, however, made him stop and listen, staring into the woods long enough to at least indulge the nervous boy. Nothing seemed to be moving, and no sounds were coming from the woods. Travis panned the flashlight through the trees, illuminating more trees and some rocks, nothing else.

"I think it's your imagination. Must be too many scary movies."

"I heard something," Travis said seriously.

The boy was spooked. His voice was squeaky and rattled, but his father was sure that whatever he had heard, if he wasn't imagining it, had passed. He glanced at his watch. It was just after two in the morning.

"It was probably some other campers, Travis. These are public lands, you know," his father reassured him. "Go ahead back to sleep."

Travis seemed contented by his father's response and calmness, and he did lie back down. In a few moments, he had fallen back asleep as his father scanned through the trees a few more times with the flashlight.

When no evidence of anything or anyone could be heard or seen, he returned to his own sleeping bag and laid his head down. Again, an airplane light caught his attention. He glanced up at it. It was definitely an airplane. It was ascending. He shut his eyes and soon fell back asleep, never thinking about how strange it was for an airplane to be ascending away from the state game lands, when there was no airstrip anywhere near there.

"Hey, pal…" A voice said. "Pal! Sssppt!"

Travis and his father woke up upon the sounds of the strange voices.

"Who are you?"

"Name's John. Heard some weird noises and came to see what was up."

"Noises?"

"See, Dad, there was a bear!" Travis said.

"Bear," John said. "Oh, I don't think…."

A woman appeared at the campsite from the woods, she looked scared.

The trio looked up.

"Deb, where's Tom and Shell?" John said.

The woman's eyes widened and she started crying hysterically.

"What's going on?" John insisted again.

He glanced at the boy and his father and noticed that they looked confused and startled by all the early morning commotion.

"Are you all right?"

The woman did not respond, instead she just dropped to the ground, fainted. John ran over to her and tried to wake her, but she was out cold.

"Ummm…you don't have a gun on ya, d'ya? John asked the father.

"No," he said. "What…"

He didn't finish his sentence. There was no need to. It was obvious by the look on John's face that he no more of a clue what had happened than he or Travis did.

"Something had to happen to them," John said, glancing over his shoulder into the woods.

"I'll bet the bear gottem," Travis said.

"That's enough!" his father barked at him.

"Bear…."John whispered to himself. "Oh shit, we need a gun…we should call someone or something…. call 911."

"Let's just see if we can't find them first, no need to call 911 before we know what's going on, or where your friends are."

John nodded at the stranger, and gently put his friend's body down on the ground. "Should we just leave her here?"

"For the moment, I guess so. Travis…" he said, turning to his son. "Stay here with this woman, we'll be back in a few minutes, OK?"

Travis looked frightened and uneasy, and it was obvious to his father that he did not want to remain behind at all, but the boy stayed quiet and nodded and the two men turned on their heels and marched into the woods.

"Tom! Shelly!" John called repeatedly as they walked. "Where are you!"

The woods were easy going, but there were some uplifted roots here and there, and the two men had to move cautiously as they searched. It was possible there were two injured people in the woods somewhere, and if they weren't careful, there could easily be two more, and that would do no good at all.

"What did you say you heard last night?"

John glanced at the helpful stranger and shrugged.

"Not really sure. We heard noises and saw some lights… thought someone was out here on some kind of ATV."

"They're not allowed in these woods."

"I know…that's what…wait."

John's words drifted off as he closed to a halt just before a clearing.

"Now, I could swear there used to be a lot more grass here"

The small clearing had always been there, but the grass that used to be there had been completely torn up. There was a deep spot in the center of the clearing, as though something like a big boulder had fallen and imbedded itself into the ground, but upon closer inspection, the men found a set of tracks and kicked up dirt all over the place.

"Maybe somebody was four-wheeling it."

"Tom? Shelly?" John called again loudly as the morning sun rose higher and higher.

They began to follow the tracks away from the small pit and entered the woods on the other side of the clearing. Suddenly, they could hear voices and footsteps.

John called for his friends again, but the voice that echoed back was Travis's.

"Dad!"

"Travis! I told you to…." he started, but stopped again when he saw that the fainted woman was with him. She looked like she had seen a ghost, but at least she was walking and had stopped crying.

"Jesus, Debbie…" John said, "Where in the hell are Tom and Shelly?"

Debbie shook her head and bit her lip, trying to hold back another nervous breakdown. She pointed forward, indicating at least that the small search party was on the right track.

"Come on," John said, holding out a hand to Debbie.

She held her ground and would not approach. Instead she backed away. "Don't go….let's get outta here," she whispered.

"What?" John said with a surprised tone in his voice.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Is there a bear in there?"

The woman looked between John and the father and son campers but said nothing. Tears started down her cheeks again and she looked tempted to bolt away or pass out, it was hard to tell.

Suddenly, something moved in the woods behind the group. They could hear leaves and sticks rattling on the ground. It sounded like nothing more than a rabbit or some other small creature rustling around beneath the shrubs. The sounds grew more numerous and closer.

The two men hunched their backs and leaned forward, trying to locate the source of the noises.

"Dad…" Travis whispered nervously.

"Shhh," his father said quickly, trying to hear the noise.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God…" Debbie started whispering repeatedly, hysterically as she stepped backwards, away from the clearing, and away from the two men.

John glanced back to her and frowned. Suddenly, the noises from the ground sounded a lot closer and faster. John whipped his head back around as Debbie screamed and the boy's father clambered backward, and fell flat out on the ground. John did not have time to notice that something unidentifiable and horrific seemed to be attached to the man's face. The only thing John noticed was the long fingers that had reached out from the bushes and grabbed his own face.

"Dad!" Travis shouted and dropped to his knees, sliding up to his father.

The frantic woman screamed hysterically, torn between running to grab the boy away or just running. She whipped around and began to run, but she did not see the tree root at her feet through her tears and fell flat on her face.

"Dad!" Travis called again.

He grabbed the thing that was choking his father and tried to pull. Whatever the thing was would not budge. He looked over at the other man. He was lying face down, but there was the same thing on that man's face as well. Travis's own tears began to block his vision and he never noticed that Debbie had stopped screaming because her neck, mouth, and face had become the resting grounds of another of the horrible creatures.

Travis quickly reached into his father's pocket and pulled out the cell phone. There was enough tower reception to get a signal through. He punched three digits and hit the send button as total panic set in. He didn't hear the numbers being dialed, or the phone ringing, because his attention had been drawn towards the edge of the clearing he sat dangerously close to. Another creature, with no face to hug, was moving quickly through the set of ATV tracks on the ground. Travis screamed to scare the creature away, but it seemed to only egg the animal on. The crab-like thing leapt into the air and Travis fell backwards.

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" The woman's voice on the other end of the phone said. "Hello? Nine-one-one, what's your emergency? Hello?"