Although he already knew the answer, Kyle found himself asking Katie if she had had anything to do with the removal of the creepy monument.

"Honestly, I wish I did. Then this wouldn't be the scariest moment of my entire life," She gulped.

"I was up the whole time since she clocked off guard duty. There wouldn't have been enough time," Jess confirmed.

"Maybe she did it when we were all asleep?" Matt suggested, also knowing how unlikely it was.

"Guys I might be crazy but I'm not a psychopath!" Katie cried in frustration.

No one spoke then for a while, like they were all already exhausted from fear for what could be happening to them. Finally though, Kyle reassumed the position of spokesperson.

"Alright, we have to get out of here. If we leave right now then we can be home and safe by lunchtime."

"But what about our stuff?" Asked Matt.

"Screw our stuff!" Jess cried. "We can't stay here! I'd rather stay alive, thank you very much!"

"Yeah you maybe do but it's not like I have much to go back for, is it?" Matt sighed.

"You know what Matt, I'm sick of this," Jess told him, the frustration clear as day in her voice.

"Of what?"

"You had a go at me last night for bitching and moaning about nothing but now you are doing the exact same thing! What happened to you and your family was awful, there's no denying that. But that doesn't give you the right to just give up like this! Just because your brother made a stupid decision to throw his life away, doesn't mean you should either. Sure, your parents are struggling right now but at least they're trying to inject themselves back into society. They aren't hiding out in the woods risking their lives for nothing!"

"And look how they're being treated for it!" Matt argued back.

"And they still aren't giving up!" Countered Jess. "So why should you?"

This time Matt didn't reply, either giving up once more or simply admitting to himself that Jess had a point. Once again, Kyle was the one to break the silence. This was something that was becoming somewhat of a tradition for the group.

"Katie, wait up!" He called as he watched her advance deeper into the forest instead of retreating like he'd suggested. Jess and Matt joined him in following after her, their argument seemingly forgotten already.

"Relax, I'm just checking something," She assured them, crouching down at the crevice that had been left after the scarecrow's removal. Despite the small clearing, the scarecrow was nowhere to be seen.

"What are you doing?" Jess asked.

"The flowers are gone too," Was Katie's answer.

"Be careful," Matt told her once they all realised where she was specifically looking.

"Well that's weird."

"What is it Katie?" Kyle asked. "What do you see?"

"There's nothing here except an old note or something." She said as she pulled several crumpled up pieces of paper from the dirt and handed it to Kyle who was waiting with the illuminated flashlight of his cell phone.

"It just says "Save us" "He read.

"From what?" Matt asked them loudly.

"There's an old newspaper cutting here too," Kyle continued, turning his attention to an old and yellowed sheet which was almost shredded at the edges. "It's from Nineteen-sixty-five," He read, "Something about another murder".

"What? Here? In Falls Peak?" Katie asked in confusion.

"I think so, it doesn't really say". Kyle scanned the article further to see if it held any more clues. Clues to what though, remained a mystery.

"Julia Ross, aged twelve was reported missing by her parents and was eventually found dead at the bottom of the Falls Peak waterfall," He put some added emphasis on the last sentence so as to answer Katie's earlier question. "Her body was cut in half!" Kyle's hand flew to his mouth as if ready to catch the bile that had risen to his throat from spraying out.

"Oh my god." Jess sobbed, her hand also covering her mouth.

"This is nuts! Why didn't we know about this before?" Matt cried. "All the research I've done into the Gorgoya and this somehow doesn't come up!?"

"I think you were looking in the wrong place for this one Matt." Katie replied.

"What do you mean?"

"Looking up the Gorgoya . . . I think you were looking for the wrong species of monster" She explained.

"It says the killer hasn't been caught," Kyle finished reading the article, or at least what he could manage of it. After spending so long buried underground, a lot of the original print had been smudged beyond any recognition.

"But that's from the sixties," Jess pointed out. "I mean, they could've caught the killer since then right?"

"It's possible." Kyle admitted, yet it was obvious that he didn't quite believe it himself.

"Seriously guys, what the hell were we thinking coming out here?" Katie sighed.

It did seem that just when the severity of their situation dawned on them; it wasn't long until there was an even more startling reminder forthcoming.

"I think it's time we get out of here. For real this time," Kyle reiterated.

The teens all shared a look amongst themselves, their mutually agreeing expressions only visible through the blue-white hue of Kyle's phone.

They turned to leave once more, returning the way they'd came when their attempts were quickly interrupted once more by a loud scream. However unlike the last time, this scream was definitely not human.

It sounded to Kyle, like what a dinosaur would have millions of years ago.

"Run!" He yelled before taking off with the rest of the group in tow.

Perhaps against their better judgement, the group paid little to no attention to which direction and which routes they were taking as they sprinted away. With this in mind, it was almost unsurprising when Jess tripped over something in the dark foliage surrounding their feet.

"Jess!" Kyle called, turning round and running back to help her back up.

Upon reaching her, and asking if she was alright, he pulled her up after she told him that she was. They took off at pace again, hoping to catch up with Matt and Katie once more. Within what seemed to be mere seconds, their companions were back in sight again and Kyle and Jess felt as though they were gaining on them at an extraordinary rate.

"Wait a minute," Kyle muttered to himself. This was too good to be true. "They've stopped." He gasped after reaching his horrifying conclusion.

"Just keep going, don't wait for us!" Jess called to them, knowing that they'd only be slowed down. Contrary to what she'd told Kyle, she wasn't feeling ok. Something about the way she'd landed when she tripped was seriously bothering her now and it was only getting worse.

Despite Jess' plea though, they still didn't move.

"What are they doing?" She angrily asked Kyle, but he didn't know either. At least not until they caught up a little further.

"Oh my god." Jess gasped as she saw what had forced their friends to stop.

Heading towards them were a group of maybe six or seven people, only visible by the flaming torches being carried above their hood-covered heads.

"What the hell . . ." Kyle was in awe, despite his terror.

"What should we do?" Matt asked, looking to his adopted leader after he arrived and stopped next to him.

"Hide?" Katie suggested before Kyle could mumble out an answer.

"Better than any other idea," He admitted fearfully. "Come on."

The group turned round to search for a suitable hiding spot and were immediately frozen in place when they were confronted by a very similar group coming towards them from the opposite direction.

"Shit!" Katie panicked.

"They've trapped us!" Jess moaned, tears almost bursting through her ducts.

"This whole thing was a trap," Matt gasped, reality setting in on him, perhaps for the first time since the group had begun their trip. A trip he felt was all his fault.

Kyle too had finally figured out the truth too and no matter how quickly his mind was working, no escape plan was forming for him.

"And we've spent all weekend walking straight into it".

Although the situation was dire enough for them, it perhaps still wasn't the worst part of their current situation. That dubious honour was reserved for one truly scary fact.

For the first time in his life, Kyle Brennan looked to have given up.