For several minutes, everyone walked down the path leading away from the campsite with their eyes focused straight ahead. They didn’t dare look to see what, if anything, was hiding in the trees around them.

“Okay,” said Xiumin eventually. “So what exactly is the plan from here on out?”

“Well, it’s still light out, so we should hopefully be able to make it out of the woods before sunset,” Chen elaborated. “Kris has already taken the car, but there’s a fork in the road a few kilometers from here, and if we take a left instead of a right, we should eventually end up near a bus stop instead of back in the parking lot. It’s not too much longer of a hike, and we should even be able to bypass some of the steeper hills if we go that way.”

“Wow, Chen; I’m impressed,” praised Luhan. “That’s quite the plan you managed to come up with.”

“Gotta be able to think on my feet,” replied Chen happily. “How do you guys think I come up with all my pranks?”

They continued on in silence after that, checking over their shoulders every dozen meters or so for a presence that never seemed to materialize. It seemed that they were safe - for the moment, at least - as they made steady progress in traveling deeper and deeper into the uncertain woods.

«««

The screaming started after they had been walking for about thirty minutes. It started out very faint and distant, and sounded like it was coming from the direction of the campground. Luhan was the first to hear it, and he stopped and cocked his head, causing Chen to trip over the rough forest floor.

“Sorry!” yelled Luhan as he quickly adjusted his grip on the stretcher in an attempt to keep Lay from falling.

They had been making good time, but were nonetheless being slowed down considerably by having to carry Lay, who had still not woken up. The fact that they were now walking partially off the trail in an attempt to take a shortcut only made matters worse, as the ground was easy to stumble over, and everyone knew that they could not afford another injury.

Luhan brushed off the noises - choosing to believe that they were being made by some sort of large bird - and the troop continued on with him at the front of the stretcher, Chen at the back, and Xiumin walking beside the both of them. Several minutes later, however, they heard another, much more distinct scream. It was fairly high-pitched, and accompanied by some unintelligible shouts in a voice that was not quite Tao’s. The noises sounded almost panicked, though the boys were sure that whatever was making them wasn’t nearly as frightened as they were.

“Maybe we should stay off the trail for a bit longer,” suggested Xiumin nervously.

Everyone agreed, and for the next hour they kept just off of the marked trail - close enough that they could follow it, but far away enough so that they could only actually see it once every few minutes. They walked with caution over the surprisingly rocky ground of the forest while listening for more screams, which would come every five or ten minutes. Each burst of noise went on for about two minutes at a time before fading out. The shouts were always somewhat far-away sounding, but they had definitely gotten louder since Luhan had first heard them.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think that was one of you two out there getting lost like you always do,” said Chen in an attempt to lighten the mood. They had all stopped momentarily to catch their breath next to an old, rotted log.

“Whatever is making those noises sounds almost scared,” commented Luhan as he gazed blankly into the woods in front of him.

The screams were more like shrieks in that they were sustained loudly and lengthily, and had started to take an almost frustrated-sounding quality to them before trailing off.

“Can anyone make out what he’s saying?” asked Xiumin.

“I thought I heard it say ‘wait’ once,” offered Chen.

Luhan nodded. “I heard that, too,” he said. “And also something that sounded a little like ‘come back.’” He furrowed his brows in concern, but didn’t stop staring aimlessly ahead.

“Well,” Chen said as he stood up and brushed off his pant legs. “I can tell you that I’m certainly not waiting around for it or going back there. Let’s get moving; I think we’re just about halfway out of here by now.”

He looked around. The forest was just beginning to darken as the afternoon light struggled to pierce through the trees, but Chen guessed that they had at least two more hours before it started getting really hard to see. Everyone was eager to get out of the forest, so there were no complaints as Xiumin and Luhan lifted up Lay before the group continued on its way, determined to not spend another night in the cursed woods.

«««

It was starting to get cold, so Chen took off his jacket and used it to blanket Lay. They had put a pair of sweatpants on the injured man before leaving the tent, but hadn’t wanted to risk pulling off the multiple cloth bandages that were applied to his chest by trying to get him into a shirt. Lay stirred slightly as the fabric wrapped around him before shrugging under the sweatshirt and falling back asleep.

“I’m worried about Yixing,” admitted Luhan. “He’s been asleep for almost the entire day.”

“Not that that’s entirely unusual,” joked Chen from beside the stretcher.

“Let’s just focus on getting out of here,” mumbled Luhan.

“Hey!” Chen said, perking up. “Didn’t you say that Suho texted you earlier, Xiumin hyung? Maybe we could try calling him now that we’re away from the shape shifter.”

Xiumin shook his head. “My phone is out of battery,” he revealed. “No one else has theirs on them, right?”

“Yeah,” said Luhan. “I left my phone with everyone back at the hotel. Didn’t think I’d be needing it, I guess.”

“Same,” sighed Chen.

They walked on. It had been about twenty minutes since they had last heard the creature screaming when suddenly a different noise came from the stretcher. Lay emitted a low moan as he tried to get up, nearly causing him to roll off the makeshift cot.

“Whoa, whoa! Hang on a second, Yixing,” gasped Luhan as he and Xiumin lowered their friend to the ground.

Lay’s eyes fluttered as he twisted and the forest floor. He coughed, and then sat partially upright. As soon as he did, he clutched his abdomen and let out a hoarse scream. His three companions tried to shush him as Xiumin started dragging everyone deeper into the woods, pulling on each of their arms in turn. Fearful that Lay’s screaming, which was growing louder and more steady, would alert the shape shifter to their presence, Chen joined Xiumin in tugging Lay away from the trail. By the time they were thoroughly out of sight, Lay had started to calm down, although he was still breathing frantically and spouting nonsense.

“Yixing! Yixing! Lay! Calm down! Please calm down!” Luhan projected over the noise.

“Where -? What the heck am I -? Where are -? Ow!” Lay stuttered before clutching his chest. “What is happening?” he demanded as the pain sobered him.

“Shh,” Luhan quieted his injured friend. “Please be quiet, Yixing; we’re in trouble.”

“Someone please tell me what’s going on!” hissed Lay.

“You got hurt, Yixing,” said Xiumin. “Do you remember how you got hurt?”

Lay looked down at his chest and peeled back one of the bandages. He gasped when he saw the scratches, and swooned a bit before steadying himself with his elbow.

“He’s going to faint again!” cried Chen as he dove to catch Lay, who had already recovered from his slight fall.

“I’m not going to pass out!” Lay sounded angry, but his eyes were wide with fear. “Would someone please just tell me what the hell is going on here?! Stop dodging my questions!”

Everyone sighed and stared at the ground. After several seconds, Luhan looked out into the empty forest, then at Chen and Xiumin, and finally down at Lay before starting to recount all of the events that had befallen their group over the past few hours.

«««

“So you’re telling me that some evil shape shifting monster is chasing us through the woods because you tricked it into playing a game of Hide and Seek after it attacked me during the night,” repeated Lay. “And that Kris left by himself to get help, but hasn’t been back. And that that wasn’t really Tao who came to our camp last night, but was instead said evil shape shifting monster?”

“Yes,” answered Luhan.

“We know it sounds crazy, but -”

Lay cut Chen off mid-sentence. “I don’t believe any of that.”

The four men were gathered around a tree in the fading afternoon light. Lay was on the ground, propped up against the trunk, with Xiumin and Luhan kneeling next to him. Chen stood above them all with his arms wrapped tightly around his own abdomen. He stared at the ground, looking dejected.

“You have to believe that,” said Luhan as he looked at Lay seriously, “because that’s what happened. I know it sounds insane, but as far as we can tell, that thing really wasn’t Tao.”

“Something’s been following us for the past few hours,” added Xiumin. “Screaming.”

“Of course he’s been screaming!” yelled Lay. “You left Tao alone in the woods! He’s afraid. He’s alone. And you all just left him behind!”

“Yixing hyung, you have to believe us,” said Chen as he bent down and grabbed his friend’s shoulders. “That was absolutely not Tao. The real Tao is back at the hotel. The real Tao texted Xiumin a picture of himself with Jongin and Sehun while that imposter was sitting right next to me. Whatever that thing is - if it’s human or devil or otherwise - it is not Huang Zitao.”

Lay looked at each of his friends with a mixture of confusion and distrust. “Show me the picture then,” he said.

“We can’t,” sighed Xiumin. “It was on my phone, which is now dead.”

“This is ridiculous,” growled Lay. He wasn’t angered easily, but found himself growing furious now. “Your story doesn’t add up at all. You have a picture, but you can’t show it to me; you want me to believe in shape shifters, but you can’t tell me why. How would that thing even know what Tao looks like? If this so-called ‘shape shifter’ came out of the woods, then why would it be able to perfectly mimic Tao, who was never even here?”

The others’ eyes grew wide as they considered the implications of Lay’s statement. It was true that Tao had never been anywhere near the woods, which raised the question of how the shape shifter was able to imitate him not only in terms of appearance, but in personality as well. Was it possible that the creature had been stalking them before they left? They didn’t have time to consider this point for long, however, because Lay was starting to stand up, supporting himself against the tree as he zipped up Chen’s jacket to cover the bandages.

“Yixing, stop!” cautioned Luhan as he reached for Lay’s elbow. Lay yanked his arm away with a sharp grunt.

“No. I’m going back for Zitao. We can’t leave him alone in the woods at night.”

Lay took two steps before stumbling and clutching at his leg. He gripped his thigh as he fell, screaming, to his knees. Everyone else rushed to his aid as he rolled on the soft leaves, whimpering at the pain that was shooting up and down his leg.

“There’s something else we should tell you…” began Xiumin.

Lay had already shimmied partway out of his sweatpants, revealing the bandages wrapped around his leg wound. He wasted no time in tearing them off, and when he saw what they were covering, he gasped weakly. He covered his mouth with one hand, and with the other he gently probed the swollen area around the wound. His flesh had molted into a sickly, gray-ish color near the bite, and the veins around it were visible, making a twisted blue and green braid just under the surface of his skin.