You'll Never Catch the Bunny Man!

The sedan’s headlights cut through the night, taking each turn of the winding road at a terrible pace.

“Slow down, or we won’t even make it! I don’t want to get stuck out here.”

The car reduced speed as yet another turn closed in.

“We’ll be there within a few minutes. I can’t believe we almost missed them. They’d better still be there.”

One final turn approached and another vehicle came within sight.

“There they are. Park next to them.” A grumble came from the car. And another spoke.

“I can’t believe we lost this.”

“We don’t know that.”

The sedan parked and settled abruptly next to the other. Car doors opened and let its passengers out. They all looked over at the vehicle they had parked next to and then at the trail in front of them. Flashlights were handed out and brought to life.

“Okay,” Louis informed the others. “They need to be there, both of them, at the end of the bridge with the handkerchief tied around the tree branch where poor ole Marcus was found.” The others nodded. “That’s the rules.”

The presiding silence, unfamiliar to them, hung as uncomfortably as a noose around a neck, but they paid it no mind. The three were on a mission. And, with that, they broke through the foliage.

“C’mon,” Henry stated. “I know a shortcut that’ll get us there much quicker.” With safety in numbers, the three moved leftward through the brush and low-hanging tendrils of branches that raked at their hair like they had with the preceding adventurers.

“You sure you know where you’re going, Henry,” Sue inquired as she checked her watch. “We don’t have time to get lost. There’s only twenty minutes left to make sure they’re still there.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be there in five.”

The three picked up their pace, flashlights pointed at the ground before them. The night was blacker than coal, but they weren’t concerned about any impending hazards. They took confidence in Henry’s knowledge of the woods. He had grown up around them and, though they had never been out there during the night, they were confident that he had and that he knew the terrain well enough to venture through it in most troubling conditions.

“We don’t have time to get lost.”

They were just over five minutes in when Henry stopped in his tracks. The moonlight shined through the trees in a thin spot of canopy, dotting the solitary structure in front of them. They had arrived at the covered bridge. Henry looked over at Sue.

“Told ya.”

“Never doubted you for a second,” Sue murmured under her breath.

The three moved in. Louis announced their arrival.

“Time’s almost up you two. You’d better be there or you’re out a hundred fifty!”

The three walked up through the brush and found themselves staring at the end of the bridge where Martin and Kelsey were stationed. The tide of moonlight was out and that part of the bridge was concealed; obstructed by night.

“Hello! You there,” Louis called again before looking at the other two. There was no response.

“Maybe they chickened out,” Sue stated. “Let’s go see what’s up,” Henry added.

The three moved forward, their flashlights revealing kept the path, but also kept them guessing. When they arrived they stopped at the divergence between soil and wood. All scanned their lights to the right where the two were supposed to be. In the near distance they saw something that caused their hearts to momentarily jump into their throats.

“Louis,” Sue stuttered. “Louis, is that…?”

Louis took a couple of steps forward and bent down, his light shining on the planks.

“It looks like… blood.” Louis dipped his finger tip into the substance and held it up to the flashlight. He swallowed hard and his stomach twisted grotesquely.

“Blood?” the others asked.

“Yea. Yea I think so.” Louis panned the light to the left. Something winked at him and he bent forward to pick it up.

“What is it, Louis,” Henry asked. “What did you find?”

Louis turned around and held it in front of their lights. In his hand he held a blood-stained ring. Kelsey’s ring. Louis smirked and even chuckled. The other two looked at each other in a quandary. Then they turned to Louis, who was nearly laughing.

“What,” Sue spoke up. “What is so damned funny?”

Louis looked up and shook his head.

“They’re messing with us. They’re trying to pull our legs.”

“But what about the blood? There’s blood. A lot of it,” Henry pointed with his flashlight, illuminating the space where it collected.

“It’s got to be ketchup or syrup or something,” Louis argued.

“You said yourself it was blood,” Henry retorted.

“Well, what the hell do I know? I’m not a doctor or a cop. I’m in high school for Christ’s sake.” Louis shook his head.

“I’m not going to let them get to me. They’re not here. They still have a few minutes. They’ve lost the bet.”

“Well, what about the ring,” Henry insisted. “What do we do with that? It looks expensive. I don’t know why Kelsey would leave it here.”

“Well,” Louis replied. “Maybe it slipped off her. I don’t know. Either way, she’s not going to get it back for free.” Louis laughed and stuffed it into his jeans pocket. “Serves them right.”

Louis walked back to join the others. “Let’s get the hell out of here, it’s cold and creepy out here.”

The others agreed and headed back along the way they came. As the three descended along the other side of the hill, Sue lost her balance when she stepped on something loose. Her body tumbled down the hill and her flashlight fell forward, tumbling at carefree speed down the slope in front of her.

“Shit! Sue, are you okay!?” Louis and Henry skidded down the hill after her. Sue lay flat at the base of the hill, groaning in pain. “Sue!”

At the bottom of the hill, Sue shook her head loose of the disorientation’s grip and reached for her flashlight. She stretched her arm out to grab it, her fingertips scraping its handle to inch it closer to her. It rolled and stopped shortly next to her. Louis and Henry were less than five feet away when they heard her scream.

“What, what is it?”

But Sue didn’t answer, she just mumbled something incoherent. Her lips jerked erratically as she gripped the flashlight, staring blindly at its focus. Henry and Louis put their hands to their mouths and stumbled back. There, in front of Sue, was a bloody shoe and, sticking out of it, was a blood-stained sock, mangled flesh and jagged bone jetting out from it.

“C’mon,” Henry mumbled. “C’mon.” He slapped Louis on the shoulder to snap him out of it. He shook his head and bent forward to pick Sue off from the ground. Henry grabbed her left side. As they got her to her feet, a sickening silence filled the air. The three looked around, as if an omen of great ills were to shortly arrive. In the distance there was a rustling of foliage.

“Go. Go now! Run!”

The three darted off at breakneck speed. They ran so fast and forceful they felt that they’d either take flight or break through any tree that had the misfortune of standing in their path.

“This way. Quick!” Henry pointed and the rest followed.

The three jumped and barreled through brush and brambles and low-hung branches until the found themselves launched through the air one final time, landing next to their car.

“The keys, the keys!” Louis threw his hands in his pockets in desperation to pull them out. All of their bodies burned with each breath they took. Their limbs felt numb and their hearts felt too big for their chests, threatening to violently burst out of their bony prisons. The three gasped for air inside as Louis thrust the car key into the ignition and cranked it forward, bringing the car to life in an eruption. And just as quickly, the three were out of there, speeding along the asphalt and taking each turn of the winding road at a terrible pace. No one complained.