Angel

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

Lex scrunched her eyes to try and make out the full shape of the cabin through the small specks of snow falling in front of her. She knew this spot on the trail used to belong to a trail angel- a safe rest spot created for weary backpackers, but she was almost certain that this one had been cleared out for years. At least, that’s what she recalled from her reading in preparation for this leg of the trip.

Properties like this always operate up and down the Pacific Crest Trail, but the last time her party had received any trail angel help was back near their last stop in town -near 200 miles ago. The old hippie couple that ran that last house had been much closer to civilization. They had a bustling property with 40 or more hikers passing through at any given time. At group dinner in the hippies’ large and crowded kitchen, Lex remembered overhearing the group next to them say something else about the old man with a cabin farther along who had passed away a few years ago… or had he gone missing?

She shook her head, she couldn’t remember.

“What do you reckon that is?” Said Copper as he too spotted the faint light flickering through a half-smashed pane of glass still hanging in the window frame. He scratched his overgrown, auburn beard and turned towards his companions.

“It’s probably just another hiker hiding from this storm before it gets real nasty,” added the trio’s youngest and newest member, Quirk.

“I remember hearing that the owner died,” Lex added quickly. She could feel her heart begin to beat faster. “I have a bad feeling about that. I don’t think we should go near it.”

Copper grabbed the pack of her shoulder strap to steady her. “We don’t have time to go around it and find a trail that is actively disappearing in the snow. If we want to make it over the next pass before the snow gets too deep, we will have to go now.” The stern notes in his voice were enough to convey how serious he was.

Lex caught his gaze with her worried eyes. She and Copper had been together from the beginning of this trail at the Mexico/California border. He had never let her down, and he wasn’t wasn’t about to start now.

“Let me check it out quickly before we pass it” Copper said. Lex got a feeling he might be a little worried about it too, but if he was, she couldn’t tell from his stern and unchanging face.

Quirk turned to Lex and rolled his dark eyes. He pulled the heavy, ragged pack from his back and slumped it to the ground as Copper climbed ahead of the group. Quirk took a big swig of water from his canteen and ran his hands through the shaggy crop of black hair over growing his forehead.

Lex remembered how short Quirk’s hair had been when they found him a few hundred miles back- and now, she still knew very little about him. He had joined the pair when Lex and Copper found him passed out in the shade by a banks of a heavy river crossing, out of food and in need of help.

Big Q, as they affectionately called their newly adopted trail brother, had been with them ever since. The only thing they really knew about Q was that he was making the 3,000-mile journey as part of some self-prescribed mourning process, travelling alone all this way to feel closer to someone he lost. Lex had a lot of respect for that. She had gone alone into the back country before just like Q, but it always gave her a sense of insecurity in the dreadfully silent darkness. By herself, she always felt eyes watching from somewhere.

She guessed that Q was in his early 20s, but it was hard to tell with the haphazard facial hair spackled about his face. Lex couldn’t remember the last time she had seen either of the boys with a razor.

“Seems empty inside to me,” Copper announced as he trudged back to the group through the swirling drops of new snow dancing slowly to the ground.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea. Who knows what could be squatting inside?” Lex could feel her inner sense of self-preservation (and her mother’s voice) echoing in her head.

“Who said anything about going inside?” Copper patted Lex on the shoulder and broke her focus on the flame in the window. “We will have better luck if we can make it over the next pass before the snow sticks enough to cause an avalanche.”

The group began to ascend together to the top of the pass, but as they came close to the cabin, Lex’s chills got worse. Upon further inspection, she saw the other windows which appeared to be boarded up. The wild, unruly California brush crawling up the walls was well into overtaking this once tame space. The flame and broken front window disappeared as they passed around to the back of the cabin.

Suddenly, as they walked on the part of the trail closest to the cabin, Quirk sheared himself off from his friends, as if in a trance, and reached for the bent knob on the cabin door. Black paint peeled off into his hand as he desperately twisted at the broken metal.

“Q, what are you doing?” Lex cried out. Her edginess was turning to full heart-racing terror.

The thick forest to the left of the cabin began to rumble, deep and low. Lex turned to see a slight rustle in the trees.

Click

She heard the latch to the door open and flipped back to see the door fling open. One flame burned brightly in the doorway, and a second came into view.

She closed her eyes and tensed her body, bracing herself for whatever was inside.

Suddenly, she felt a cold shock of wind in her face and opened her eyes. Lex shrieked aloud- She was at the top of the mountain pass where the snow was thick and heavy, roaring into her face. The cold snapped at her skin and stung her eyes as she looked around hopelessly for her companions. The uneasy ground below her began to slide and she quickly grabbed onto the nearest rock face to steady herself.

“COPPER!” She desperately cried out. “QUIRK!”

The howling wind issued the only reply. She could see the fog lingering on the mountain below her, the bottom- how far down the fall would be- was completely obscured by the inclement weather.

Lex could feel a great sense of dread climbing up from her toes into her stomach. The feelings took root in her throat, and she tried to gulp them down to no avail.

She began to shuffle carefully down, slipping into the snow that was just starting to crumble down the mountain pass. With every step she gingerly caught herself, trying not to disrupt the drift enough to cause a fall.

“LEX!” A shrieking voice sounded from behind her. She stumbled back and was immediately engulfed in a rush of falling snowdrift. The sound was so loud in her ears that she could not hear her own screaming. She could feel the ice and rock scrape through her skin as her body tumbled like a rag doll down the mountain.

The crashing stopped when Lex opened her eyes. She was in the dark, but she was not buried by snow. In fact, she was dry and felt unharmed, save for a splitting headache. She lifted her body by one elbow and barely made out that she was inside on a hard wood floor. The smell of rot lingering in the stagnant air stung her nose. A grey, stormy light barely illuminated the dark space. It was coming from a broken window.

She was inside the cabin.

Dread filled every heavy breath in her chest as she caught a glimpse of the candlelight coming into focus. Something was wrong with it. There was no candle, or wick, only a disembodied flame floating near the window.

She felt the heavy grip of thick rope on her ankle. Before she could scream, she felt a hand slap over her mouth.

“Shhhhh!” She heard a desperate voice in her ear. “Don’t move. Don’t panic. It attacks when you panic.” The hand removed itself from her face.

Lex caught the form of another woman in her peripheral vision. “What is it?” She asked the stranger in the quietest whisper she could muster.

“I don’t know. But its hungry.” She heard the woman let out a little gasp of pain. Lex slowly turned to see the woman’s lower leg was torn off. She had to stop herself from crying out in surprise at the sight of it. Lex examined the rest of her disheveled form, but wiry, unkempt hair blocked her face. That’s when she noticed a missing arm, too.

“Oh my god.” Lex’s mind was reeling. She noticed the rough amputation wounds were not openly bleeding. In fact, it was black and burned at the end. “Did someone cauterize your wound?”

“He did, he is trying to keep us alive for as long as possible. Keep us fresh.” Lex was haunted by the lack of fear in the woman’s voice. “I can’t even remember how long I’ve been here.”

“Who did this to you?” Lex demanded. She could feel the wetness of tears on her face, but she couldn't feel herself crying.

The cabin door swung open, and Quirk stepped through the door. Copper was slumped heavily over his shoulder and Quirk let him collapse to the ground with a sickening crunch. The door closed again, and the darkness consumed them.

“Finally. Let’s get this over with.” Quirk’s agitated voice boomed from the entryway.

“Quirk, what is going on? Did you hurt him?!” Lex felt the desperation in her own voice as she gulped down the sheer horror bubbling up in her throat. He couldn’t have. Q wouldn’t hurt anyone. She and Copper had saved him. Hadn’t they?

“He is still alive, for now.” Quirk answered in a frank and uncaring voice. He shot a look of pity at the woman cowering in the corner and grabbed her by the arm, dragging her into the center of the room next to Copper’s unmoving form.

“Why are you doing this?” Lex sobbed. She watched the stranger curl up in defeat.

Quirk sighed and rolled his eyes, just like he always had. He gestured to the cabin walls around him. “The old trail angel who lived right here - he took care of everyone. He gave them shelter, water, food, supplies. Everything.” He shook his head and became more serious. His tone was emotional, borderline nostalgic. “He saved lives. He saved my life five years ago. I would have died without water if he hadn’t taken me in. I stayed with him. I was the only one who stayed with him. Everyone else was just passing through. Hundreds of through hikers every year- maybe thousands- drank his water, ate his food, and let him take care of them. And when he died, none of them came back."

As soon as Quirk reached to wipe his eyes, Lex took the opportunity to shoot her hands out into the darkness to search for something, anything with a sharp edge.

"You wouldn't have cared," he continued. " None of them cared at all.” Quirk’s eyes darkened. “Except for me.”

He strolled towards the disembodied flame, reached down, and yanked on a rusty chain. The flame began to float up towards the ceiling. Then, a second flame inches away from the first, emerged. Both lights moved together from out of the darkness. The flames blinked like eyes.

The chain rattled and the creature trudged into the feint light. It was roughly man- shaped, but ten feet tall with a gaping, open mouth. Black, gnarled skin covered its entire body. Sharply curled teeth sprang from rotting gums, and the small flames burned where eyes should have been. At the end of mangled, bloody arms were fingers that curled into claws.

Lex watched the thing tilt its head up and sniff the air. Then, it let out a demonic screech. The woman couldn't help but shriek in fright. Lex closed her eyes.

With a horrible snap, the shrieking stopped.

Quirk had tears of joy rolling down his face. And a big, proud smile. “I brought him back by sheer willpower- my thoughts, my dreams. He is my manifestation. Truly, he is an angel of service, and he shall be repaid in death.” Quirk turned his smile to Lex. “His sacrifice becomes your sacrifice.”

Quirk yanked the chain again and the monster began to move its dripping maw towards Lex. She fiercely clawed at her binds with little budge.

“LEX!” Copper shouted as he shot up from the floor. He threw something towards Lex and it clanged against the wall next to her. Quirk and his monster turned to Copper and he held their attention long enough for Lex to find the object.

She felt a jolt of hope as her fingers twisted around something small and cold. A pocket knife.

Copper stabbed Quirk in the hamstring with the small blade. Quirk screamed and the tulpa turned toward the men. Lex sawed manically at the rope on her leg. Copper kicked the door open and turned to tackle Quirk in the direction of the gnashing teeth. “RUN!”

Lex didn’t need to be told twice.

She snapped the remaining rope and sprang past the tussle. It felt like she was running through molasses, like she wouldn’t make it out in time. She heard crashing behind her as she bolted out the door and flung herself down the steps and onto the snowy path.

She winced as she heard Quirk scream out, then Copper. Then, silence.

Her pack, her trail, her friends- all left up in the High Sierras to face the elements.

Two small flames, like those of a candle, slowly appeared in the broken window behind her. They moved as they watched her sprint down the mountain.

She didn’t turn around to see it.