The Trail By Ryan Stratford
Chapter 1
“What the hell, Dan?” Tim yells at Dan from the backseat of the jeep. “Look I have this, okay? The fucking GPS is just taking a detour.” Dan yells back as he drives the run-down jeep down the dirt road somewhere in the cool forest of Mount Lemon. “A detour, on the mountain?” he asks sounding thoroughly not impressed. The two were on a journey, a somewhat strange and unprecedented journey; they only packed as much as they can into the small space in the back of Dan’s jeep for this trip. They have received an anonymous tip from a paranormal enthusiast such as themselves, claiming that there was a specific trail up north of Mount Lemon that was haunted by the souls of those who have died trying to hike up this mystery trail.
This anonymous tipper had sent them an email, giving instructions on how to get there, where to park, and what they will need to survive. This email also included detailed instructions on when to go. Apparently there was a specific time that these “spirits” show themselves. For reasons unknown, they prefer to come out once before sundown, twice at midnight, and three times at dusk; the spirits repeat this cycle on and on, supposedly haunting this trail on a very unorthodox schedule.
Dan and Tim had thought it to be complete and utter bullshit, but after an hour researching the disturbances of the trail (which goes by the name “The Devil’s Trail”) they were convinced by all the stories, news articles, and YouTube videos regarding these hauntings. Being that this was a spur of the moment thing they only packed half of what they were told to pack: an EMF detector, cameras, notepads, pencils, sleeping bags, tent, matches, flashlights, and the crew’s specially made FLIR detectors and tape recorders. The other half of the list was food and water supplies along with a couple of first aid packs and extra clothes. To which the two of them stopped by McDonald’s and a Circle K for food, water, and First Aid. Then they stopped at a Thrift Shop to pick up some clothes. They originally had an emergency fund for this type of stuff but due to the circumstances they had to dig into their own budget for extra clothing and a tent. As they ride along the rough terrain Tim feels pressured to get there, for they were approaching dusk and would miss the first appearance of these apparitions.
“Look we will get there I promise; we just have five more miles of dirt road to drive through and we will be there.” Dan shouts to the back at Ted as he taps his finger on the bright three-dimensional map that was the GPS. Tim was unamused, the both of them left their two bedroom apartment (or as Dan liked to call it: Their HQ) with the promise of a haunted trail and an opportunity to film it and become famous for revealing to the world of skeptics that ghosts were real. He wanted this badly, he even went days without sleep on his previous adventures with Dan, trying to prove the existence of all things paranormal. But now Tim was becoming skeptical himself, he thought that maybe this was all one big prank to try and get a rouse out of him and Dan. He almost wanted to call the anonymous prankster on his bullshit and turn around but at the same time felt hope for this “Devil’s Trail”. He thought that if this mystery tip was solid then both then the two of them will have had their own ghost-hunting show on Sci-Fi in no time.
Dan however, wanted all the things Tim wanted but was a little less serious than he; honestly he was in it for all the excitement and thrill of being scared shitless. He was one of those guys who got high off of fear and adrenaline. He was a classic horror fan at heart but was even more adaptable to fame, if he had gotten famous for filming and getting scared shitless, it would be a dream come true for him.
It was drawing closer to sunset and the sky had already started to turn a light orange as the sun drew closer to the horizon where the sky line met the mountain. Tim pulled himself to be right next to Dan’s face and points a finger to the orange sky ahead of them. “See that Dan?” He asks. “What?” Dan says. The road starts to grow increasingly bumpy and the trees seem to grow closer and taller blocking out some of the sky that Ted was pointing to. “That sky is orange; we don’t have much time and if we miss out on this first part of the cycle we will have to spend more time here than we intended and I am not looking forward to sleeping in a tent all week!” He says. Dan stands up for himself and talks back. “Look, I am not the one who suggested we go I just said it was possible we could go today.” “You basically insinuated it.” Tim replied back. Dan ignores this and continues. “We didn’t have to go today we could have stayed at home and planned ahead; you never think things through Tim!” In Dan’s defense he was right. There is always tomorrow and they were informed that these spirits haunted on an unusual schedule they don’t come and go whenever they please. But in Tim’s mind there was no tomorrow, it was always now or never, no matter how often these ghosts appeared, he was hell-bent and practically ignored Dan’s reasoning. “Just drive-” Tim ended the conversation as the GPS had announced that they were two miles from their destination. Equipment rattles in the back as Tim tries to keep it all steady. This was sensitive equipment; one pothole is all it would take to mess up a screen or accidentally lose a microchip. If that were to happen then this entire investigation could be jeopardized.
“Steady man, steady!” Tim warns. “Sorry, I’m just trying to get us there.” He replies irritated, “-Well can you get us there in one piece?” Tim asks, Dan just mumbles to himself in frustration.
“Holy shit!” Dan yells as he slams the breaks, Tim is launched out of his seat into the back of Dan’s seat. There was little to no harsh impact so he wasn’t in pain more so than he was annoyed by the sudden stop. The breaks squeal as the jeep scrapes off the gravel from below its tires. “What the hell!?” Tim yells. Dan begins to grin from ear to ear,it was a slow wicked grin that assured itself that there was indeed something to be happy about. “Dude look!” He says. Tim regains his senses after his brief run-in with the back of Dan’s seat and looks ahead of him outside the windshield.
There it was- the Devil’s Trail. It was a tall almost completely dark forest, the trees branches intertwining with each other making the forest seem almost infinite, as if this giant spread of green was all one tree shrouding and spreading amongst the forest. Before Ted and Dan’s jeep was a sign hanging by a nail upon one of the many trees arching over a clear path that was untouched by rock. The sign read: “the Devil’s Trail” in dried up red paint. Around them was a line of trees surrounding the jeep and the dirt road behind them, almost as if it was a giant dam, keeping the rest of the world out of Devil’s Trail.
“Get the tent and backpacks, I’ll get the equipment.” Without another word the two springs into action and grab whatever was necessary for setting up camp and recording paranormal activity. Dan grabbed all the food and water needed along with clothes for the two of them packed into two camping packs, one blue and the other one red.
Ted spent the time trying to get the basic equipment started up and grabbing the silver suitcases full of ghost hunting equipment. The basic stuff included a camera and the night vision lens. Ted had strapped both silver suitcases full of tech to a harness on his back and carried his giant film-making camera that he had gotten for his 19th birthday in the front, and just like that he was a walking tech crew. “You ready?” Tim asked. Dan closed the trunk and held the two packs in both arms. Dan nods and with that they embark on their journey into “the Devils Trail.”
Hells Reject 