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I cursed. Loudly. More because I felt like the surroundings were too quiet than because of anything else. There was no one here to hear me. The rustle of the forest raised to die away almost imminently. I left my car stuck in the mud further into the woods and came to the nearest crossroad. Nobody was there. “What a surprise.” I thought. It's nearly 2 am and I am in the middle of the forest. “Well... ok, shit happens”, especially when you think that driving on some dirt roads in the middle of a forest at night is a good idea. I felt really uncomfortable standing here like that, a bit too far away from my car, just hoping some other car would drive through. I had this feeling that someone was observing me. That really creeped me out, but I forced myself to ignore it. It wasn’t the first time that I had that feeling, but the first time with no people around, just me, myself and I.
Actually, it's kind of my fault. This whole car situation. I thought I could go across muddy forest roads easily. I was really, really wrong.
After a few moments of standing at the crossroads, anxiously wondering if I should sprint back to my car or act like a person who never saw any horror movies and just stand here until someone comes this way, I started to hear a car engine but saw no lights. “Oh, bless you”. I thought. The noise was getting louder with every passing second, but I still couldn’t see any car lights. I was a bit relieved but wary of why they would have the lights off. I walked on the edge of the road to be a little more visible. A few seconds later I could see a car coming out from behind the trees. Luckily driver saw me too and slowed down.
It was a little odd of a situation. Like... everyone is talking about how people are invisible for a driver during the night and all. It doesn’t seem to be a problem for this one, despite me having a black hoody and dark trousers. Like I said - a little weird. The car stopped not too far away from me. It was a big off-road car. The doors on the front passenger’s side opened. Someone stepped out of the car and started to walk towards me, but stopped after a few steps, not getting too close. I couldn’t really see much in the dark beside the silhouette of this very tall man standing halfway between me and the car.
- It’s not very safe, walking around in the middle of the forest by yourself at night. - The man said. I notice that he was wearing some kind of military uniform, but I couldn’t see what kind exactly. I assumed this might be some kind of a military or border patrol going around the forest, we were relatively close to the border after all. I saw a small shift in the man’s stance as he shifted his weight on his other leg, maybe a little nervously and raised his hands in a calming gesture. - Don’t worry, I was just joking. - He said and I realised I gave no response to what he said before. - What are you doing here? - He added quickly.
- My car got stuck in the mud further up this road, if you want to go this way you will have to help me get it out. - I finally responded.
- Oh, that’s not good. - He replied with a worried look. Come here. We have to discuss it. They can’t suspect anything. A very strange feeling, voice at the edge of my conciseness, someone else's thought echoing through my mind.
- Wait here for a sec. I'm gonna go and tell the driver what you told me. - He said and turned back towards the car. The conversation between him and the driver didn't last long. A few moments later he was back.
- We have no free space in our car to drive you to yours, so they gonna go by car and start pulling it out the mud. Just give them your keys, so they can manoeuvre it a little - Giving my car keys to someone I just met was hardly ideal. - Don't worry, we aren't going to steal from you. - He said laughing, seeing my indecisiveness.
- Lovely. Wasn’t worried about that before, but now I actually might be. - I said half-jokingly.
- We're going to that castle up top, you know, the one a few kilometres away from here? You’re going there too, right? This road only leads to that place. Did Gregor invite you? I’m asking because he invited us too. - The man tried to lighten the mood with a chat. “Ok, maybe it isn't the brightest thing to do, but I won't argue if Greg is their friend too”.
- Yeah, I’m going there to visit him. Was hoping the road will be all right for my car, but I think the rain made those roads a little hard to drive through with a normal car - I said waving my hand in the direction of the off-road car and took the keys out of my pocket to hand them to the man, so he can give them to someone inside the car. - We thought that it might be a good idea for me to go with you on foot. We don't want you to be eaten by werewolves or something. - He said smiling when he got back to me.
- What?! - I said, surprised. - Werewolves? Are you mad? They do not exist. Even if they do exist, I am pretty sure they would not be here. Besides this forest is too small and too close to people’s houses. - I was surprised by my own reaction. I don't know what made me react like that. I think he just wanted to scare me or make fun of me, but the stress of standing in the forest all by myself for a while before they got here was catching up to me. The man was still smiling, only now it was a smile that you make when you know you scared a child and feel kind of sorry, but also amused that the kid believed whatever you told them. Well, he got me there. I did not feel comfortable with this whole situation.
- Ok, whatever you say. - The soldier ran his hand through his hair and gestured to the car to start moving. It slowly drove past us in the direction from which I came and the man started to walk as well. I followed.
We walked side by side. The car disappeared behind trees on a turn a few minutes ago. Moon was somewhat bright, it was a full moon actually, but with some clouds covering it. Now I make out what my new companion looks like. He was a tall man, like I said before, around 1,90m, he didn’t look old, maybe in his mid-30s, had fair hair and a serious, now without a smile as he focused on walking through the muddy road. He also had very unusual eyes, in a weird bluish tint, I could see even in the dark, they looked as if they had some sort of glow to them. “Probably just the play of lights”. I thought. I think I could call him handsome even. It seemed that he noticed me staring at him for a moment too long. “Yeah, he definitely noticed”. I quickly snapped my eyes back to the road in front of us, but I managed to catch his smirk before I turned my head. I wanted to say something to divert his attention from catching me staring, but before I could something deeper in the forest drew my attention. It was moving, like a shadow, but in a more physical form. Sadly, or maybe luckily, it was gone before I took a better look. I could feel myself becoming stressed again.
- Did you see something? - My unexpected reaction drew my new friend's attention. He looked in the same direction I was looking a moment ago.
- Yes, no, maybe, I don't know. - I sighed. - It was just a shadow, a tree probably.
- A werewolf, perhaps? - My interlocutor asked and laughed quietly.
- Perhaps not. What's up with you and werewolves anyway? - I asked irritated.
- I don't know. They’re popular right now, no? Like in TV shows? - He shrugged. - They're kinda funny, don't you think?
- Funny? I never thought about them as funny. Unless we talk about those vampire-werewolves moves for teenagers. Then I think, I can agree. They're a little funny there. - “How far my car is? It seemed way closer when I was alone” an irritated thought passes through my mind
- What about vampires? - The man asked. I saw a glimmer in his eye as he said that.
- What about them? - I couldn't resist teasing him a little. He seemed to be very curious about what the answer is going to be.
- What do you think about them? - He replied impatiently. “Yeah, he was definitely curious”.
- Well, I always cringe a little when I watch movies about vampires. - That seems surprised him, but I continued before he could say anything. - I have this thing where I can’t help but imagine a real vampire watching those movies and being like, “what in hell is this!? That's not how it works!”, They're always so easy to recognize in some way and I think that someone human would notice and tell everyone rather soon, people can't be that dumb. If they exist, they have to be unrecognizable or at least very hard to recognize. Oh, and they can't walk around and randomly kill people. That's too risky and they always do in those movies! - I went on a rant as my companion was looking at me with clear amusement on his face and I couldn’t stop myself from continuing. - And all that thing with "I could kill you if I’d wanted to". I mean, yeah sure, so does literally anyone if they’d want, like my dog or any other person, but they don't because they don't want to, you aren't special at that point. Anybody could kill anybody if they really wanted to. - I caught myself rambling a little.
- Hmm, I didn’t think about it that way. - The man said laughing, clearly really entertain by my rant. We finally started to approach my car. There was one man behind the wheel of my car and one standing next to it, both in the same uniform as the one walking with me. The car was almost pulled out of the mud.
- But you aren't a vampire, are you? - I asked, a little ironically and a little seriously. The other soldier standing next to us looked at my companion with some disapprovement but quickly concentrated back on the car. “Maybe he doesn’t like vampires. You never know.” I thought and looked at the man I was talking to. He gave me no answer except a quick shrug.
A few moments later my car was completely out of the mud. A man from behind the wheel got out of the car and gave me my keys back.
- Thanks. I am going to pull over so you can pass through and go first and maybe pull me from the front if I get stuck again. - I said to him. This one was not as tall as the man I walked with, but still pretty tall. I even noticed some military stripes on his uniform, but I couldn't tell what they meant.
- Sure. Do you mind if Johnny drives with you? - He said pointing at my companion and just now I realised I didn’t ask for his name. But neither did he about mine. - You know, just in case. He has contact with us in case something goes wrong again. - The other man said pulling me out of my thoughts about if it was impolite for me to not ask for a name earlier.
- I see you want to get rid of me, captain? - My companion, Johnny, said towards the man who just gave me the keys back. - If that’s so I do not want to go with you either. - Johnny said jokingly and turned dramatically to walk towards my car.
- Good. - The captain said, paying no attention to the other man’s dramatics, he turned back and walked towards the off-road car. I couldn't help myself and laugh quietly. Johnny looked at me acting offended but said nothing. I could tell that they were joking.
- You didn't even give me a chance to say what I think about him driving with me! - I said towards the captain, whose name I did not know and watched him raise his hands in an I-don't-care type of gesture. - Whatever. - I thought and got in the car behind the wheel. I turned on the engine and moved the car to the side of the road, so the other car could pass us, and I followed after a moment.
Johnny turned out to be a very talkative person, once he wasn’t trying not to slip on a muddy road. He also had that rare ability that allows him to talk almost without pause about everything, yet say nothing about himself. So during the conversation, I learned about pretty much everything about my car and some other random facts. Nothing about vampires this time.
- So what do you think about that? - I heard a question coming from the passenger seat. I wasn’t paying attention to what Johnny was saying, hoping he wouldn’t ask any questions, but here we are. - You didn't listen. - He said seeing my slight confusion and not hearing an answer to his question.
- Not really, what was the question? - I asked politely but did not hear the answer. Instead of this I almost hit the trunk of the car in front of me. I didn't notice when we reached the castle and the car stopped. The clock was showing half past three in the morning. We had no "in case" situations, but Johnny's presence helped me not fall asleep during the drive. I started to leave the car, but something prompted me to look in the rearview mirror. I froze. There was the same shadow as before, only now way closer and clearer. I could see it moving in our direction. I looked at Johnny, he was checking something on his phone and didn't seem to notice anything until he looked up at me.
- What happened? - He asked with concern. I don't know if he could see how scared I was in my eyes, but he surely started to freak out as well. - What?! - He repeated.
- It's this shadow again.
- A werewolf?
- Stop joking like that! - I yelled. - It's not funny! - People in the car in front of us opened their doors, a strong light turned on automatically at the movement, lightning up the driveway and the edge of the forest. I looked behind the car again and so did Johnny. The shadow was gone.
- I don’t see anything. Don't scare me like this. - Johnny tried to play calm.
- Something weird was there. I saw it move! - I tried to argue, but a knock on the car window stopped me.
- Come out. - I heard a muffled voice from the captain and reluctantly got out of the car. It's going to be a very interesting stay. I thought. And I couldn't be more right about it.