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The sound of tree limbs and bushes thrashing about grew louder. Ed grabbed Claudia’s arm and pulled her to his side. “Get behind me.” He cautioned. He slowly moved his hand inside his jacket to reach for something. His movement was cut short when Vincent emerged from the forest swinging a large piece of a broken branch.
“What the Hell’s wrong with you creeping up on us like that? A visibly perturbed Ed asked. “That’s a sure way to get yourself killed.”
Vincent laughed Ed’s remark away. “I seriously doubt that.”
Claudia was not amused by Vincent’s actions either. “He’s right, Vincent.” She double-downed. “What’s so important that you felt you had to smash your way through the forest just to stalk us?”
Vincent didn’t back down. “Well, since you asked me so nicely, I’ll tell you...it’s to let old Ed here know ‘one thing.’”
Ed kept his hand inside his jacket and asked. “And, what would that ‘one thing’ be, Vincent?”
Vincent looked directly at Ed. “Just this - You’re not getting away with it.”
Ed was taken aback. “Not getting away with it? Getting away with what?”
“Don’t play dumb, Ed. I know for a fact you’re mixed up with Eric’s little extravaganza here.”
Ed dismissed Vincent’s accusation. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t, huh? I know quite a lot about such things. Who do you think helped set up all his previous little excursions?
Upon hearing Vincent’s revelation, Claudia became angry. “You?? You were responsible for the skydiving mishap?!” She grew even more infuriated. “You son of a bitch! Angela almost died!?”
Vincent fired back. “Now, wait a minute. Don’t put that on me! She was specifically told to pull her ripcord at a specified time! But, no, Angela being the daredevil she is, ignored those instructions. So, that was clearly on her.”
Claudia criticized Vincent. “You knew she was a daredevil and that she would take chances!” Her accusations angered him, and he defended his actions.
“We all did, but it wasn’t even supposed to be her chute. No one realized she had finagled her way onto the drop plane by taking Stacie’s chute. It was her chute that was supposed to mal....”
Ed realized Vincent’s anger had led to him giving away more than he had intended. “Go on, continue. Ed said. “Finish your sentence. You said It was supposed to be Stacie’s chute that mal...malfunctioned?”
Vincent realized his anger got him caught up in a sticky situation. He tried to explain his way out of it.
“That wasn’t my idea. It was Eric’s. I told him he had started taking things a little too far. I warned him to back off.”
“A lot of good that did Angela.” Ed pointed out.
“She’s lucky to be alive,” Claudia announced.
Vincent fired back. “Don’t you think I know that? I told him if he didn’t stop, I was going to expose his little fun and games. That little confrontation almost got me fired.”
Ed asked, “So, what’s that got to do with me? I only started around that time.”
“Precisely! And now, all of a sudden, here you are. With you suddenly being added into the equation, the question has to be asked - What did Eric tell you to do? Hire these mountain men to invent a horror story, then go around and frighten the group?”
“And what if I did?” Ed admitted.
A look of disappointment flashed across Claudia’s face. She asked Ed for the truth.
“So, the whole petrified man legend is a fake? Just like the Cardiff Giant?”
Claudia mulled over the events that had transpired over the last few hours and what subsequent events had played out due to them.
Vincent turned the tables on Ed. “If you knew the petrified man was a fake, why run from it as the rest of us did.”
Ed smirked. “I’m surprised you even asked me that! Like you, I had little choice but to play along with Eric’s little charade.”
“You made a lot of people angry tonight!” Vincent responded.
“Oh, so now you’re angry about a fake monster? Is that what we’re supposed to believe?” Ed reciprocated.
Vincent became quite angry at Ed. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about some Petrified Man! It’s a back-stabbing man that I’m pissed about, Ed - It’s you! What did you think you were going to do? Put yourself in a position to take my job?” Well, that ain’t gonna happen. I worked and suffered too long under that asshole to let you come along and boot me out!”
Ed made a fist and made a threatening move toward Vincent. But Vincent caught Ed off guard and whipped out a gun.
“Stay where you are.”
Ed started to move, albeit ever so slowly. But, Vincent was attuned and anticipated his next move.
“I said, stay where you are!” Ed had little choice but to comply with Vincent’s order. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen.” Vincent declared.
“What are you talking about?” Queried Ed.
“We’ll...I’ll tell you what I’m talking about, Ed; it’s you getting accidentally shot.”
At this, Claudia had had enough. She gave Vincent a piece of her mind. “You’re talking crazy, Vincent.”
Vincent shook his head in bewilderment. “Crazy? I’m not crazy. Now old Ed here, he’s the crazy one.”
“Crazy enough to know you’ll never get away with it!”
Ed exclaimed. “Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. You see, all I need to do is tell the authorities I found out about Eric and your plan to get us up here how it would place us in grave danger from these mountain kooks. And, when you realized I had discovered your plan, you tried to kill me, leaving me no choice but to shoot you. That, and after I discovered you had killed Claudia.”
Claudia firmly said, “You’re out of your friggin mind! You’ll never get away with something as unbelievable as that!”
“You don’t think so?” He asked.
“No, I don’t. You see, you didn’t think this through. You forgot about one important thing, witnesses.” She confidently stated.
“Witnesses?” He asked. While holding them at bay, Vincent cautiously looked around to determine if anyone else was around. Nearby, he noticed a large boulder; he ran and jumped on it. From his vantage point, he looked carefully in all directions. “You see any witnesses? He sarcastically asked. “I don’t see any witnesses.” He pointed out. Vincent cupped his hand over his mouth. “Hey! Are there any witnesses out there?!” Vincent said as he taunted and laughed at Claudia and Ed. Then, he aimed at her.
With that, a large lump formed in Claudia’s throat. She tried to swallow but found she was unable to. The realization her life was about to end brought forth an appeal to him.
“Vincent, we...we’re friends. Why would you....”
Vincent cut her short. “Friends...friends, Claudia? He became irritated, “You should have stayed behind with the others. It would be best if you had listened to Stacie. She was right; there ‘is’ strength in numbers. Unfortunately, for you and Ed, two isn’t a big enough number.”
Vincent moved his gun and aimed it at Ed but moved back to Claudia. “Almost forgot. You have to be shot first.” He cocked the hammer. “I’d close my eyes if I were you.”
Suddenly, the rock beneath him began to wobble back and forth. The unusual movement caught Vincent off guard. “What the-?!” He exclaimed.
Then the rock abruptly thrust Vincent upward and tossed him to the ground. Shaken, he felt incredulously stunned and was slow to raise his head.
He couldn’t believe what was unfolding before his eyes. The rock began to unfold and open up, not too dissimilar to how a flower would. As it did, it quickly took the form and shape of the Petrified Man.
Vincent’s eyes, as well as, Ed and Claudia’s were instinctively drawn to its demonic dead hollowed-out eyes. They glowed red as they seemingly pierced their very souls. It was as if the Monster’s eyes could petrify them with fear. But, before any of them could react, the Creature moved toward Vincent.
He tried to run but screamed as its outstretched hands had already snared his arms and pinned them to his sides. The Monster then spun him around and snarled him by his jacket lapels. He lifted his body high off the ground, where it was left to dangle.
Ed ran up and tried to pull Vincent away from its goliath tight grip, but it tossed him aside like a rag doll into a tree. As Ed tried to get up, he discovered his leg was bleeding.
Claudia noticed and cried out, “Ed! Ed?”
“I’m ok.” He answered. Ed pulled out his gun but did not fire. “Shoot it, Ed! Shoot it!” Claudia screamed.
“I can’t! I’ll hit Vincent.” Ed replied. Ed ran around and aimed at the Creature. He shot multiple times into the Petrified Man’s back until a deep channel had been burrowed and formed.
Ed stopped when he heard Vincent gasp. Its grotesque, stone-like fingers had burst out from his lower back. The evil menace then shoved his fingers through Vincent’s stomach. As blood oozed down Vincent’s back, it appeared almost as if the Creature was smiling at Vincent’s suffering.
His lifeless body hung high from the Creature’s protruding arm. Claudia grabbed Ed, “Come on! Let’s get out of here!” They ran off as quickly as they could. They stopped and turned around just long enough to see the monstrosity thrust his other hand into Vincent’s gut.
Claudia was sickened at the sight. She looked at Ed. “What are we going to do?!”
“The only thing left for us to do....run!”