Full transcript
0:00In today's story, three young travelers
0:02find an old flyer for a hidden RV park
0:05deep in Appalachia. The slogan reads,
0:07"Welcome the little ones." At first, the
0:10place seems strange but harmless. Broken
0:12lawn ornaments, quiet campers, and a
0:15naked man named Cleave. But by the next
0:18morning, their tires are flat. One of
0:20them is missing. And the people who live
0:22there already seem to know what's
0:23coming. But before we get into it, if
0:26you enjoy scary stories like this, be
0:28sure to like and subscribe so you never
0:31miss any of our weekly uploads. Now,
0:34let's get into today's story.
0:39All of this happened the summer I turned
0:4123, right around the time that being
0:43young and carefree had started to lose
0:46its luster. I'd decided that I was going
0:48to have one last great adventure and
0:50then I'd settle down, stop sherking my
0:53responsibilities, and get serious about
0:55being an adult. The problem was, I had
0:58no idea what that great adventure should
1:01be. While I waited for something to
1:03materialize, I made ends meet by working
1:05at a dingy music shop downtown. And that
1:09was where I met May. I was shelving some
1:12records when she stopped to ask about
1:13one of the band patches on my jacket.
1:16She was a big fan, she said, and wanted
1:18to know if we had any of their albums in
1:20stock. I stammered some reply, unable to
1:24believe that this beautiful girl shared
1:26my exact taste in music. We chatted for
1:29the rest of my shift and then kept right
1:31on going, walking around that sad,
1:34rusted out side of town until we were
1:36both hungry and exhausted. We got some
1:38tacos, shared an awkward hug good night,
1:41and made plans to meet in the park on
1:43the weekend. I couldn't wait. I had to
1:46see her again. That Saturday dawned
1:49bright and clear, perfect for the picnic
1:51that May had suggested. I whistled as I
1:54walked up the [music] hill where we'd
1:56arranged to meet. In my head, I was
1:59already planning our future together.
2:01Then I spotted her sitting on a plaid
2:03blanket in a yellow sundress with a
2:05bright smile on her face. She wasn't
2:08alone. The guy beside her introduced
2:11himself as Jacob. May explained that he
2:14was another friend she had met recently
2:17and that they were planning a road trip
2:19together. I tried to ignore the adoring
2:21way that May looked at the guy while he
2:23explained what he had in mind. Jacob
2:26said he wanted to see the side of
2:27Appalachia that wasn't featured on any
2:30postcard. He said he wanted to get back
2:32to his roots and visit the hollers his
2:35grandparents had called home. I was
2:37skeptical. Jacob's ancestors might have
2:41been mountainmen, but the guy himself
2:43was a skinny redhead from Cleveland
2:45whose only accomplishment in life, as
2:47far as I could tell, was an unfinished
2:50English literature degree. His plan was
2:52to fix up one of his uncle's broken down
2:54vans for the journey. Secretly, I was
2:57relieved. Jacob struck me as the type
3:00who was too lazy to light his own blunt,
3:02and I didn't think he had it in him to
3:04renovate a vehicle. Then a few weeks
3:07later, I got a call from May. Jacob had
3:10invited us both out to his uncle's farm
3:12to take a look at something. The
3:14battered blue van didn't look like much,
3:17but inside we found foldout beds, wall
3:20storage, even a mini kitchen, handsewn
3:23paisley curtains hung in the windows.
3:26May was more smitten with Jacob than
3:28ever, and even I was grudgingly
3:30impressed. Together, we sat down to plan
3:33our route. [music] We poured over old
3:35maps and battered library travel guides,
3:38searching for possible destinations and
3:41places [music] to spend the night. If
3:42anyone had told us that in a few years a
3:45cell phone would be about to do it all
3:47for us, we never would have believed
3:49them. We left town the following
3:51morning. With warm cups of coffee in our
3:54hands and dawn still a few hours off,
3:56the empty roads felt like they belonged
3:58to us. As cozy as it all was, I couldn't
4:02help but second guessess myself. On the
4:04other side of the rain splattered
4:06windshield, familiar landmarks gave way
4:08to empty countryside and tiny towns with
4:11odd sounding names. How well do I really
4:14know these people? I wondered. And had I
4:17made a mistake by trusting them so
4:18quickly. An arm wrapped around my neck.
4:21I looked up with a start. May was
4:24pulling Jacob and I into a hug. Until
4:26she met the pair of us, she explained
4:28she'd had nothing to look forward to but
4:30a lifetime of working the cash register
4:32in the grocery store owned by her
4:34controlling Chinese parents. Ever since
4:37she'd graduated high school 2 years
4:39before, she'd dreamed of doing something
4:41like this, and now it was finally
4:44happening. Jacob agreed. He wanted to
4:47sink his teeth into life. He said to jab
4:50his fingers into its guts and experience
4:52everything that it had to offer.
4:55Following his lead, the three of us
4:57scrambled up limestone arches, skinny
5:00dipped beneath moonlit waterfalls, and
5:02polished off more joints and packs of
5:04cheap beer than I could count. Jacob's
5:07willingness to experiment had a dark
5:09side as well, however, one that I didn't
5:11fully become aware of until several days
5:14into our trip. We were camped illegally
5:17at some millionaire's empty lakefront
5:19summerhouse, watching Fourth of July
5:22fireworks burst over the dark water. I
5:24wandered off to drain my bladder, and on
5:27my return, I saw something glint in
5:29Jacob's hand. A pair of syringes. He and
5:33May already had their sleeves rolled up
5:35and their veins prepped. When I
5:37approached, they looked up at me like a
5:39pair of toddlers who'd [music] been
5:40caught with stolen candy. I told them
5:43that I hoped they knew what they were
5:44doing, then trudged back up the shore to
5:47watch the colorful explosions alone. I
5:50wasn't sure who I was more disgusted
5:52with, Jacob and May or myself for
5:55thinking better of them. I had lost so
5:58many friends to opiates already, and it
6:00sickened me to think that Jacob was
6:02about to go down that path just to
6:04[music] see how it felt. I must have
6:07spent hours just staring up at the night
6:09sky, wondering whether I'd made the
6:11right choice by coming with these two
6:13near strangers. By the time I returned,
6:16Jacob and May were curled up in the back
6:18of the van. Whatever they'd taken, it
6:20had knocked them [music] right out.
6:22Before I crawled into my sleeping bag, I
6:24held the back of my hand near their
6:26mouths to make sure they were both still
6:28breathing. The next morning, we [music]
6:31stuffed ourselves with blueberry
6:32pancakes and bacon at a tiny mom and pop
6:35restaurant shaped like a log cabin. May
6:38and Jacob didn't say anything about
6:40whatever they had injected themselves
6:42with, and I didn't ask. They didn't seem
6:45any different. But for all I knew, this
6:48was only the beginning. After breakfast,
6:50we went back to the van to perform what
6:53had become a morning ritual. Laying out
6:55Jacob's huge map and going over the
6:58day's agenda. We rarely stuck to any
7:01plan, but it was important to know at
7:03least where we were going to spend the
7:05night. So far, we'd only found ourselves
7:07riding around those backwoods roads in
7:09search of a safe place to sleep once.
7:12But once had been enough. I still
7:14remember that night. how all of those
7:16winding curves and skeletal trees had
7:18started to look the same. How even Jacob
7:21had gone quiet. We ended up parking at
7:23what seemed like an unofficial put in to
7:26a driftwood choked stream. The sound of
7:28a branch scratching against the window,
7:31if that's what it was, kept me up until
7:33dawn. None of us wanted a repeat of that
7:36night, which was why we decided to spend
7:39the last night of our trip at Shady
7:41Haven's RV Park. All of us could use a
7:44real shower, we figured, and it was
7:46close to the whitewater [music] rafting
7:47tour that we had booked for the
7:49following morning. Jacob had a flyer for
7:52the place, a crumpled psychedelic thing
7:55illustrated with a bunch of eyes on a
7:56bright orange background. Shady Haven's
7:59RV Park, welcome the little ones was the
8:02main tagline, [music] followed by a
8:04description of the facilities, a mini
8:06map, and driving directions from the
8:08highway. Given how remote the place was,
8:12we made for it as soon as we finished
8:13buying supplies around midafter
8:16afternoon. Even so, the sun was already
8:19setting by the time we arrived. If I had
8:22known how important that drive would
8:23ultimately be, I would have paid more
8:25attention to the route. There was a fast
8:28flowing creek to our right for most of
8:30the journey. It was crossed at one point
8:32by an eerie bone white covered bridge.
8:36Further on, we passed a shotgun blasted
8:39marker for a road called Stoka's Fork.
8:42Someone had hung several plastic baby
8:44doll heads from it with fishing wire.
8:46None of it was any stranger than what
8:48we'd already seen in the backwoods so
8:50far, but I couldn't help feeling uneasy
8:52as we turned down the steep gravel track
8:55that led to Shady Havens. The kitschy
8:57brown and white sign beside it made me
8:59feel like we were going to summer camp,
9:01but there was nothing bright or sunny
9:03about the view through the windshield.
9:05The leaf cover overhead was so thick it
9:08felt like we were driving through a
9:09cave. Even though it was mid July, the
9:12air was damp and cool. There was no
9:15sign-in station or office that I could
9:17see. Only a moldy wooden notice board
9:20that featured a donation box and the
9:23same information we'd seen on the flyer.
9:25Welcome the little ones. I read again,
9:28this time on a hand embroidered cloth
9:30banner that dangled from the board by a
9:33single nail. If that odd message implied
9:35that Shady Havens was kid-friendly, it
9:38wasn't very successful. When Jacob
9:40rolled down the window to slip a $5 bill
9:43into the donation box, I didn't hear the
9:45excited shouts of children at play. In
9:48fact, I didn't hear anything at all. I
9:51wondered whether we were the only ones
9:52here or if the place was even still in
9:55business. The trees were so thick and
9:57tall that seeing more than just a short
10:00distance was difficult. But as we
10:02rounded the bend, I realized that I was
10:04dead wrong. Tents [music] were pitched
10:07in several of the campsites, and at
10:09least eight RVs of varying types were
10:12backed into the overgrown parking
10:13spaces, although I couldn't imagine how
10:16they had made it all the way down here.
10:18Through a gap in the trees, I spotted a
10:20small washroom and a picnic shelter,
10:22their roofs overgrown with moss. Further
10:25along was a rocky creek, which I
10:27supposed was the headwaters of the
10:30stream we'd seen earlier. Jacob parked
10:33in an empty space near the washroom. We
10:36spent several minutes just listening to
10:38the sounds of the place. Burbling water,
10:40bird song, the wind in the canopy high
10:43above. Shady havens lived up to its
10:46name. The gully had already sunk into
10:49the blue glow of twilight, and I doubted
10:51that any place down here ever received
10:54full sunlight. Maybe it was just the
10:56quiet or the gloomy light, but there was
10:58something skittish about how we began
11:00[music] exploring the place. Like small
11:02prey animals hesitant to leave their
11:04shelter. Shady havens, it seemed, had
11:07been decorated by someone with the same
11:09taste [music] as whoever had hung those
11:11broken doll bits from the Stoka's Fork
11:13road sign. Gnomes, fairies, and other
11:16more unusual lawn ornaments were
11:18everywhere, but none seemed to be whole
11:20or cared for. The pink flamingos were
11:23missing legs. The colorfully haired
11:25troll dolls looked as though they'd been
11:28scattered by a hurricane. Mushrooms grew
11:30from the empty eyes of a pair of
11:32miniature terracotta children.
11:34Windchimes [music] and psychedelically
11:36painted prayer flags hung from the
11:38branches overhead. The washroom and
11:40[music] the tiny foot bridge which
11:42crossed the stream were about as
11:44decrepit as the rest of it, but they
11:47still clearly saw a lot of use. I was
11:50wondering who maintained the place, and
11:52so few donations were enough to do it
11:54when someone stepped out from behind the
11:55dumpsters ahead. He was very large, very
11:58hairy, and wore nothing but a necklace
12:01of orange beads. The naked stranger
12:03introduced himself as Cleave. He said
12:06he'd been living at Shady Havens for 7
12:08years now and hoped we would enjoy our
12:11stay. Cleave gave us a big wink and
12:14reminded us that the grounds were
12:15clothing optional. Then he invited us
12:18back to his battered [music] leafcovered
12:20trailer. Jacob was considering the idea
12:23when May and I grabbed him by the wrists
12:25and led him away. Cleave gave us a big
12:28toothless smile as he waved goodbye. I
12:31wasn't sure how we managed to make it
12:33back to the van before bursting into
12:34laughter.
12:36The twilight [music] deepened.
12:38Campfires, bug zappers, and colorful
12:40patio [music] lights flickered to life
12:42among the trees. We got to know Barry
12:45and Ethel, a retired couple [music] two
12:47sightes away from our own, and a young
12:49German backpacker named Eileene, who
12:52spent the night knitting by firelight.
12:54She didn't speak much English, but like
12:57the rest of our quirky campmates,
12:58[music] she seemed friendly enough.
13:01Exhausted as we were from the day's
13:03travels, we decided that showers could
13:05wait until [music] morning. As we fell
13:07asleep to the noises of frogs and night
13:10insects outside, May turned toward me
13:13and interlaced her fingers with mine. We
13:16were used to waking up to the sound of
13:17Jacob making breakfast on the foldout
13:19range behind the van, but there was no
13:22sizzling bacon or bubbling oatmeal that
13:24morning. I rolled over with a groan to
13:27find that his sleeping bag was unzipped
13:29and empty. What little I could see of
13:31the sky outside looked gray. With a sick
13:35feeling in my chest, I slid open the
13:37side door and circled around the van.
13:39Jacob stood by the hood, staring down at
13:42two flattened front tires. I knew right
13:45away what he must be thinking. The
13:47downhill drive into camp had been rough,
13:49and it was perfectly possible that one
13:51wheel had struck something sharp along
13:53the way. But both of them without anyone
13:56noticing. While May continued to doze,
14:00the two of us set off through shady
14:01[music] havens in search of help. The
14:03first person we met was a gaunt tanned
14:06guy in a straw hat and tan suspenders.
14:08[music]
14:09He appeared to be collecting mushrooms.
14:11Jacob, easily the most charismatic of
14:14the three of us, approached him with a
14:16smile and tried to explain the
14:18situation, but the man just stared. It
14:21didn't seem to matter what either of us
14:23said or signed. He kept glaring at us,
14:26bugeyed, until we [music] backed away.
14:29Eileen approached us and pointed at the
14:31man in the straw hat. "To," she said,
14:35[music] patting the side of her head. I
14:37looked over my shoulder at the stranger
14:38and squinted. It was difficult to say
14:41for sure at this distance, but it seemed
14:43as though where his ears should have
14:44been were only a pair of mangled, poorly
14:47healed holes. Despite the language
14:50barrier, Eileen was eager to give us a
14:52hand. The only problem was that she had
14:55hiked in and had no vehicle to get us
14:57out. The retireese's RV was shuttered
15:00and silent. When we knocked [music]
15:02beneath the wreath on its door, there
15:03was no answer. Cleave, cheerful and
15:06naked as ever, told us that he would be
15:09happy to take us into town, provided we
15:11could wait. He wouldn't be leaving Shady
15:13Havens until the time was right,
15:15whatever that meant. Jacob and I made
15:18another loop of the main drive, but
15:20didn't find anything apart from more
15:22dilapidated figurines and trippy
15:24artwork. The other RVs were as quiet as
15:27Barry and Ethel had been. One had a
15:29screen door that stood open, squeaking
15:32in the gentle breeze, but there didn't
15:34appear to be anyone inside. Several of
15:36the tents, too, were half toppled and
15:38coated by leaves, as though their owners
15:41had been gone for quite some time. When
15:44we returned to the van, we found May
15:46sitting in the open side door, staring
15:49into space. I asked what she was looking
15:51at. She shook her head and told us that
15:54she wasn't sure. Her reaction to the
15:57news that we were stuck here wasn't what
15:59I expected. Rather than her usual
16:01cheerful, go with the flow attitude, it
16:04was more like panic. May clearly wanted
16:07very badly to get out of shady havens.
16:09But no matter how we pressed her, she
16:12refused to say why. For the first time
16:14since I'd known him, Jacob too was
16:17beginning to lose his cool. He paced
16:20back and forth on the gravel behind the
16:21van, pulling his hair, scratching his
16:24beard, trying everything to pry loose an
16:26idea that would get us out of this. When
16:29I offered to try to get help on the road
16:31above, both of them looked relieved.
16:33None of us actually believed that a car
16:35would stop for me, but it felt good to
16:38be doing something. even if it meant
16:40walking up that isolated, overgrown road
16:43alone. By the time I passed that
16:45mouldering notice board, I was already
16:48regretting my decision. The woods felt
16:50different today, watchful somehow, and I
16:53couldn't shake the feeling that
16:55something big was about to happen. Or
16:57maybe it had already started, and I just
17:00hadn't noticed it. I tread lightly and
17:03jumped at every little sound in the
17:04undergrowth. Something was moving out
17:07there. Although I didn't see any
17:08squirrels or birds, it was a relief just
17:11to see the cracked black asphalt up
17:13ahead. It served as a reminder that the
17:16same boring world was still out there. A
17:19world without mushroominfested lawn
17:21ornaments or orange and purple banners
17:23[music] emlazed with wide open eyes.
17:26Wind sighed through the branches. If I
17:29closed my eyes, I thought I could almost
17:31hear the ringing of the chimes down
17:33below. Hours passed, but I didn't see a
17:36single vehicle. Was there even anything
17:39beyond Shady Acres to get to? I had
17:42backpacked long distances before, but
17:44the distance between where I now stood
17:46and the Stoker's Fork road sign felt
17:48[music] dizzying. Around midafternoon, I
17:52finally gave up. My feet achd, my throat
17:55was parched, and I was holding on to a
17:57secret hope that Jacob and May had
17:59discovered some other better solution in
18:01my absence. I was so eager to reach the
18:04van that I barely noticed how all of
18:06those tiny sounds I'd been hearing in
18:08the undergrowth had disappeared
18:09completely. I didn't see anyone on my
18:12walk back through camp, but that didn't
18:14strike me as unusual. It was the middle
18:17of the day after all, and anyone at
18:19Shady Havens was [music] probably either
18:21out on the trails or napping at their
18:23campsite. The van's doors were all wide
18:26open. Something dangled from the edge of
18:28the mattress by the side door. It was
18:30May's right hand. She lay limp and face
18:33down, so still that I thought she was
18:35sleeping until I felt how cold she was.
18:38[music] I sprang backward as though I'd
18:39touched a snake. And in a way, I suppose
18:42I had something underhanded and deadly
18:44that had been traveling by my side all
18:46along. The blankets had all been kicked
18:48into a pile in the corner, and on the
18:50base sheet, I spotted a few drops of
18:52blood beside the base of May's barefoot.
18:55I could already imagine how it must have
18:57gone. Jacob must have invited May to
18:59take the edge off with some of his
19:00secret stash. Probably the same stuff
19:03they'd injected themselves with up by
19:04the lake. Under such stressful
19:07circumstances, he might have messed up
19:08the dosage or the potency. And now, my
19:11hands clenched into fists. I no longer
19:13cared about getting out of shady havens.
19:15All I wanted to do was find Jacob and
19:17bash his skull in with something heavy.
19:19As I crawled backward off the mattress,
19:21however, something caught my eye. A dark
19:24puddle beneath May's neck. full of
19:26foroding. I flipped her over. May's lips
19:29had been neatly severed as if by a
19:31razor, and something thin but razor
19:33sharp had been stabbed through her
19:34jugular. That, I figured, was the origin
19:37of the blood stain on the mattress.
19:39Suddenly, I imagined a different
19:41scenario. Maybe instead of shooting up
19:44and collapsing onto the mattress, May
19:46had awoken from a nap to find a stranger
19:48in her bed. She tried to scramble away
19:51only to be killed and mutilated. Her
19:53skinless mouth seemed to be laughing at
19:55me. I shuddered and looked away. I
19:58thought of the gaunt man in the straw
19:59hat and Eileen's warning about him. I
20:02wondered again where Jacob was, not to
20:04hurt him now, but to protect him if I
20:06still could. Something pattered against
20:08the leaves beside me. It took me a
20:10moment to realize that it was tiny
20:12pebbles that had been thrown from deeper
20:14in the woods. Another bounced painlessly
20:16off my cheek. If I squinted, I could
20:19barely make out a squat shape crouching
20:21in the gloom. The brush here was thick,
20:23and I had to practically crawl as I
20:25pushed it aside. Then, without warning,
20:28something lunged and clamped a hand over
20:30my mouth. It was Jacob, his eyes wide
20:33with fear. "They're here," he hissed.
20:36While Jacob warned me to keep quiet and
20:38lie still. My eyes frantically searched
20:40the campground beyond, wondering what he
20:43was talking about. There was no one to
20:45be seen, at least not at first. Jacob
20:48beckoned me to follow him through to the
20:49other side of the bower he'd hidden
20:51under. We had a clear view of Cleave who
20:54was sitting in front of his trailer in a
20:55lawn chair. His feet perched on the edge
20:58of an inflatable pink kiddie pool.
21:00Something was [music] hunched over his
21:01toes. It was a tiny man. Shiny black
21:05boots and belt, blue tunic and bright
21:07yellow trousers. I blinked, trying to
21:10convince myself that all of this was
21:12just some kind of horrible acid
21:13flashback. But the grimace of pain on
21:16Cle's face convinced me otherwise. The
21:18little figure was prying the nails off
21:20of his toes one by one. At first, I
21:23didn't understand why Cleave didn't just
21:25punt the little bastard sky high. Then I
21:27thought about May. With enough speed and
21:30strength, even something so small could
21:32do a lot of damage. For all I knew, the
21:34consequences of fighting the things
21:36would be even worse. Jacob tugged on my
21:38sleeve. We crawled through the
21:40undergrowth, our hands and knees stained
21:42by [music] the rich black mud of the
21:44place. No birds or chipmunks scured away
21:46at our passing. Even the insects seemed
21:49frozen with fear. Although Jacob hadn't
21:51said a word since our meeting, I
21:53understood what he had planned from the
21:55direction we were taking. We'd keep to
21:57the cover of the trees and sneak out of
21:59shady havens without a single look back.
22:01It didn't matter if we had to walk two
22:03dozen miles or more to find help.
22:04Anything was better than staying here
22:06and waiting to be cut up by the little
22:08ones. Through a gap in the trees, I
22:11could see Barry, the male half of the
22:13retired couple we'd spoken to earlier.
22:15He was stretched out on a yoga mat. Two
22:18more of those tiny people stood on his
22:20cheeks. They seemed to be scooping out
22:21his right eyeball with a pair of
22:23spoon-like implements. Barry's wife,
22:25Edith, crouched beside them, eagerly
22:28sketching the whole thing. Wonderful,
22:30wonderful," she muttered as her pencil
22:33danced across the page. Barry,
22:35meanwhile, chomped hard on the stick
22:37between his teeth to smother his cries
22:39of pain. A wave of nausea swept over me.
22:43"They had known," I realized. Everyone
22:45else at Shady Acres had been aware that
22:47this thing was coming and had accepted
22:49the gruesome price for the experience of
22:52welcoming the little ones. "What the
22:54hell were these things? Why were they
22:56harvesting parts of people? and why were
22:58their victims allowing them to do it? I
23:00told myself that I could wonder about
23:02that a day or two from now. Up ahead was
23:05the moldy signpost and the stretch of
23:07bare gravel road that we would need to
23:08cross in order to continue. Jacob, who I
23:11had always considered so impulsive,
23:13halted and forced me to do the same. We
23:16squatted in the mud for a long while,
23:18listening to the quiet. Nothing stirred
23:20on the road beyond, and almost in
23:22unison, we looked at each other and
23:24nodded. Jacob and I moved fast and low
23:27to the ground. In less than a minute, we
23:29would reach the cover of the woods on
23:31the opposite side. Silence was so
23:33important that I held my breath, but it
23:35wasn't enough. The man in the straw hat
23:38saw us a few seconds before we saw him.
23:40His eyes locked on us. There was no time
23:43to react as he pulled out an ivory white
23:45whistle and blew three long hollow
23:47sounding blasts. Thus done, he slipped
23:50the whistle back into his pocket and
23:51waited. The ferns rustled. Something or
23:55a lot of somethings sped toward us. The
23:58little ones were no less disturbing up
23:59close. Their cheerfully colored clothes
24:02stood in harsh contrast to the grim
24:04expressions on their sharp, hairless
24:06faces. They observed Jacob and I with
24:08the seriousness of a group of tiny
24:10surgeons about to perform a critical
24:12life-changing operation. And from the
24:14looks of the instruments tucked beneath
24:16their arms, that wasn't so far from the
24:18truth. There were scalpels, pliers,
24:21bread knives, and even plain old sewing
24:23needles. All of those sharp edges
24:25glinted violently as the group crowded
24:27and whispered together, their voices as
24:30soft as wind through the branches.
24:32Something appeared to have been decided.
24:34A tiny man in a bright green tunic
24:36dashed toward Jacob and climbed
24:38gracefully up his leg. Jacob flailed and
24:40swatted as though he were being attacked
24:42by a very large fly. The tiny man didn't
24:45like that at all. He sprung onto my
24:47friend's shoulder and stabbed a
24:49screwdriver through his jugular in three
24:51swift motions, leaving no doubt about
24:53the force that the little ones were
24:55capable of. I turned to run, but five
24:58more of them had already cut off my
25:00escape. Three little ones approached me,
25:02carrying a small hacksaw between them. I
25:05looked at Jacob, shuddering in his death
25:07throws as he bled out onto the gravel.
25:09And I did, as the signpost and flyer
25:11suggested. I welcomed them. I don't
25:14think I'll ever forget the sound the
25:16saw's teeth made as it cut through me.
25:18At some point, the combination of pain,
25:21shock, and blood loss must have made me
25:23pass out. The next thing I knew, strong
25:25arms were pulling me toward the warmth
25:27of a fire. That sense of comfort only
25:30lasted a second. Seearingly hot metal
25:32was pressed into the center of my face.
25:34My hands shot up instinctively to swat
25:36away the source of my pain, but the
25:38brand had already pulled back. And when
25:41I touched the place where my nose used
25:43to be, all I found was a charred and
25:45ragged hole. I recognized the dirty bare
25:48feet beside me. Cleave. It was he who
25:51had dragged me here and burnt my wound
25:54to prevent further bleeding.
25:56"They're building the perfect man,"
25:59Cleave informed me calmly, as though we
26:01were having a casual fireside chat. "But
26:04they need more pieces to make them. You
26:06should feel honored that they chose such
26:08an important piece of you." Honored. I
26:11gurgled through the bloody snot running
26:12down my throat.
26:13>> What the hell are you talking about?
26:16>> The big man collapsed back into his lawn
26:18chair and cracked open a beer.
26:20>> See, it doesn't matter if you're a
26:22nobody in the world up there. It's Shady
26:25Havens. We're all a part of something
26:27larger than ourselves. They told me so.
26:30I groaned, rolled over, and spat. I
26:33scanned the treeine for any sign of
26:35brightly colored clothing or those
26:37wideeyed pinched little faces. But
26:39Cleave and I were alone beside the
26:41bonfire. In the distance, I could hear
26:44someone sobbing, or maybe laughing
26:46softly. It was difficult to tell which.
26:49Although the danger had passed, I
26:51couldn't stand the idea of spending
26:52another moment in shady havens. In spite
26:55of my wounds and the deepening darkness,
26:57I staggered back toward the road above.
27:00Jacob's corpse no longer lay face down
27:02at the base of the hill. I wondered with
27:04a shiver what the little ones had done
27:06with it. The full moon rose above the
27:08trees, transforming the crumbling
27:10asphalt road into a stream of silver. To
27:13my fevered mind, the rustling leaves and
27:15shifting shadows were living things with
27:17wills of their own. I had been walking
27:20for several hours when I spotted a pair
27:21of golden eyes in the roadside weeds. A
27:24cougar. It took a few silent, [music]
27:26stalking steps toward me, then sniffed
27:28and moved back. I had already been
27:31marked, it seemed, as the property of
27:33the most dangerous thing in these woods.
27:35The sun rose. Inertia was the only thing
27:38that kept me moving. I spotted a gravel
27:40driveway. The trailer at its end was
27:43half crushed by a fallen tree. It looked
27:45abandoned. An engine rumbling made my
27:48heart race. Help was here. I was finally
27:51going to encounter a rational ordinary
27:53person. Someone who would understand
27:55that I needed a doctor as quickly as
27:57possible. A rusty red sedan appeared
27:59around the bend. I moved to the center
28:02of the road, waving my arms and
28:03shouting. The driver swerved around me
28:05and sped over the hill in a cloud of
28:07diesel smoke. By noon, black spots were
28:10flashing in front of my eyes. My throat
28:13was parched, and even the blisters on my
28:15feet had gone numb. The road ahead of me
28:17seemed eternal. A peel of high-pitched
28:20laughter called my attention to my
28:21right. An old man and two blonde
28:23children were fishing in the sparkling
28:25stream below. I cleared my throat, or
28:28tried to. The elder in the fishing hat
28:30looked up. The younger child shrieked
28:33with fear. From their perspective, I
28:35must have looked like a monster
28:37lumbering out of the woods. The old man
28:39stepped protectively in front of the
28:41kids. For the first time, I noticed the
28:43glinting barrel of the shotgun propped
28:45beside his fishing gear. I tried to call
28:48down to them to explain that I was hurt
28:50and needed help. The second child tugged
28:52on the strap of the old man's waiters. I
28:55couldn't make out exactly what she said,
28:57but I did catch the words happening
28:59again. he muttered something in response
29:02and the boy and girl began to clean up.
29:04The old man trudged up the hill and
29:06tossed me a rag.
29:07>> "Hold that over your face," he told me.
29:10"You're scaring my grandkids." I opened
29:12my mouth to offer an explanation, but
29:14the old man shook his head. "I saw the
29:17direction you came from," he warned me.
29:19"And I don't want to hear it. Not one
29:21word. Understand? Otherwise, we'll leave
29:23you for the vultures." I nodded and
29:26followed him back to his pickup truck.
29:28Throughout the whole 2-hour drive to the
29:30hospital, the only sound I remember
29:32hearing was the rattling of the muffler.
29:34I do recall, however, the way those
29:36children stared at me after their
29:38grandfather dropped me off in front of
29:39the emergency ward. Two freckly faces
29:42pressed up against the window glass like
29:44they were staring at some beast in a
29:46zoo. Next came admission, tests,
29:49anesthesia, and surgery. I lay with my
29:51eyes closed, trying not to think about
29:53the alien feeling of the IV drip in my
29:55arm or what my face must look like.
29:57Before I drifted off, I overheard one of
30:00the doctors commenting on my mutilation
30:02with something akin to admiration.
30:05Whoever had done it, she said, must have
30:07had a lot of experience. Then came the
30:10moment I'd been dreading since I'd been
30:11admitted to the hospital. A pair of
30:13plain clothed detectives knocked on the
30:15door of my recovery room and walked
30:17inside without waiting for me to wave
30:19them through. Their presence made May
30:22and Jacob's deaths feel all the more
30:24real. And besides, I'd never felt
30:26comfortable around cops. Those
30:28wraparound sunglasses and clenched jaws.
30:31Those black and white cruisers that had
30:33always reminded me of hunting sharks.
30:35I'd run from them while dumpster diving
30:37and been awoken by the proddding of
30:39their nightsticks while sleeping in
30:40public parks. Considering how insane my
30:43story sounded, I felt sure that the
30:45blame for all of it would fall squarely
30:47on my shoulders. No such thing happened.
30:50The detectives did indeed investigate
30:52Shady Havens, and they found Jacob's van
30:55exactly where I had said it would be.
30:57There was no sign of my friend's bodies
30:59or possessions, and most of the people
31:01who had been present during that fateful
31:03day had moved on, the rest weren't
31:06talking. It slowly dawned on me that
31:09apart from the sporadic days when the
31:11little ones chose to appear, Shady
31:13Havens was just an ordinary run-down
31:15campground. The quantity of substances
31:18found in my bloodstream and Jacob's van
31:20was enough to change the authorities
31:22perspective on the case completely. From
31:24their point of view, Jacob and May were
31:26just a pair of hippies who'd wandered
31:28off into the woods on some idiotic
31:31vision quest and never came back. The
31:34county didn't have the time or money to
31:35waste on a case that began and ended in
31:38the middle of nowhere. And besides, who
31:41was going to miss a group of vagabons
31:43like us? The pleas of my friend's
31:45parents fell on deaf ears. As for me, I
31:48was just happy to be avoiding life in
31:50prison. The prosthetic I got fits my
31:53face almost in the right light if no one
31:56is looking too closely. It isn't the
31:59stairs that bother me, however. It's the
32:01movements that I notice sometimes. These
32:03tiny dark shapes at the edge of my
32:05vision. Like even after all these years,
32:08the little ones are still checking up on
32:10me. In my dreams, I'm often at work. One
32:14of the overnight packing or shipping
32:15gigs that are the only jobs I can get
32:17these days. The lights are dim. It's
32:20foggy. And somehow I'm alone on the
32:22loading dock. No semi-truck engines
32:25rumble. It's so quiet I can hear the
32:27footsteps of whoever's coming. They move
32:30with an uneven gate as though their legs
32:32are two different sizes. beneath their
32:34hat and trench coat. It's difficult to
32:36see them clearly, but I'd swear I've
32:38seen their eyes someplace before.
32:41Eileen's long golden hair hangs down
32:43over their shoulders. Quick, rustling
32:45movements in the darkness distract me,
32:48and when I turn back towards the
32:49stranger, they're mere inches away from
32:51my face. I recognize May's lips stitched
32:55along with my nose onto Jacob's rotting
32:57face.
32:58>> Don't you see? They finally made me
33:00perfect. A cold, dead grip made from a
33:03composite of uneven fingers closes
33:06around my throat. Sometimes I wake up
33:08before it starts to squeeze, but not
33:10always.
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