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"Well this looks…" Steve trails off, staring at the little cabin in front of them where they're going to spend the night.
"…haunted as shit," Eddie finishes for him, slinging his bag over his back.
"Yeah."
The cabin's deep in the West Virginia woods, off some back road that had led to a dirt road that had led to a forestry track that they'd barely gotten the van up but here they are. There's no neighbours. No internet. No cell coverage. In short, if anything goes wrong, they're well and truly on their own.
Steve's not worried, though. He's got Eddie and Dustin with him, and he trusts the two of them with his life - they'd already saved it once before, after all.
"So, we remember the rules of Appalachia?" Dustin asks them gravely.
"Yeah, no singing or whistling, right?" Steve checks as they grab the last of their gear from the van and start to walk up to the cabin.
"Uh huh."
"And if you hear whistling coming from the woods, no you didn't," Eddie contributes, his voice low, gravelly. "If you hear your name being called, no you didn't. If you see something you can't explain, no you didn't."
"Right, right, don't acknowledge that stuff." Steve nods. He frowns as they head up the three half-rotting steps up to the door. "But how are we supposed to do an investigation without responding to any of that stuff?"
Eddie grins, hand on the doorknob. "We're gonna have to break a few rules, big boy."
"Great, that sounds…safe."
"We'll be careful about it. Sensible. And, we're prepared." He holds up his backpack pointedly. Steve knows it's full of salt, of crystals, of herbs and incense, of white ash to protect from the skin walkers that supposedly inhabit the mountains here. While Eddie was still his same old daring self, he was more cautious these days of the dangers that could lurk in the dark. He swings the door open, steps aside, bows with a flourish. "After you."
Rolling his eyes but full of fondness, Steve steps past his boyfriend and into the cabin. As advertised, it's certainly…bare bones. A fireplace with a stack of wood beside it, an old kitchen table with a few rickety chairs around it, a sink, a radio up on the windowsill. There's a ratty-looking couch and an armchair opposite the fireplace. In the next room are two sets of bunks, and Steve's a little grumpy at the prospect of not being able to share with Eddie - the beds are way too small.
"Dibs on the top bunk!" Dustin hollers, tossing his bag up there to claim one.
"I want the other!" Eddie calls after them.
Steve shakes his head, amused, not at all disappointed in taking one of the lower bunks. He gives the bunk a little shake, dubious at the creaking that comes from it. "Yep, you guys go right ahead. I'm happy down here."
They wouldn't be doing a whole lot of sleeping, after all.
He heads on outside again as Eddie and Dustin unpack their cameras and devices. In the instructions from the cabin owner, they'd explained how to get the generator running - they'd need to get it going for a few hours to allow the battery to charge, and then they'd be able to use the lights and the water. Steve would very much appreciate a flushing toilet, so he quickly sets about getting the generator started.
It's creepy, out here on his own.
His breath clouds in front of his face in the cold. The woods are at his back, silent and endless.
Watching.
Several times, he turns around to look at them suspiciously.
There's no one there, but it sure as hell feels like something's looking back at him.
With a shiver, he starts the generator engine, adjusts the choke, and flips the breaker switch to 'on'. The machine rattles to life successfully, and Steve dusts off his hands and heads back inside.
"We have power?" Dustin asks him excitedly.
"Not yet, it needs a few hours to charge. By the time it's dark we should be able to use the lights." He hopes. He really hopes, because without lights this place would be ten times creepier than it already is.
The fire is next on his list. It's autumn, and while not as freezing as it would be in winter, it's still very chilly. Steve's shivering under his jacket, and he knows Eddie feels the cold more than he does, so he gets to tossing kindling into the fireplace.
But, as well as warmth, he also knows that fire acts as a repellent for skin walkers.
"You should leave more space between the wood, because the oxygen needs room to circulate," Dustin tells him.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it, dude." Steve waves a hand at him.
"Some of these windows don't have curtains," Eddie comments, frowning at said windows.
"Does it matter?"
Eddie shrugs. "Well, I guess not, since we're gonna be breaking rules."
Steve's brow furrows. "There's a rule about curtains as well?"
"You're supposed to close them from dusk till dawn," Dustin pipes up. "So that, if anything from the woods comes looking, they can't see in."
A comforting thought.
Steve glances at the bare windows above the kitchen bench, expecting for a moment to see a pair of eyes staring back at him.
There's nothing.
After dark, it might be another story.
Dustin munches on a granola bar. They'd eaten a big lunch before heading out here, knowing they wouldn't be able to make much more in the way of hot food than instant noodles and only after the power kicks in.
"Don't eat them all too soon, they've gotta last," Steve reminds him.
"Ghost hunting requires sustenance," Dustin replies through a mouthful.
And Steve can't really argue with that.
"Everything's set up," Eddie announces. "REM pod's by the door, we've got cameras covering each room, and I've switched out the batteries in everything."
"I've got the thermal imaging camera facing the main room. Spirit box is ready to go if we want to try an Estes session, although I'm not sure how much radio signal we're gonna get out here." Dustin's eyes wander to the radio in the kitchen, and he grabs it, fiddling with the buttons.
Static blasts for a minute, startling all three of them.
When Dustin finally manages to tune into a station, music warbles out of the old speaker. It's nothing any of them recognise - old-timey, classical, a lone piano and a wailing, haunting female voice.
"That's enough of that," Dustin decides quickly, slapping the power button off. "What kinda creepy shit do they play out here?"
"Well, it's no Sleep Token." Eddie rummages through his bag, grabs out their little hand-held camera. "We've got a little while until it's dark, so shall we film an intro?"
*****
"Hellfire Club, we are coming to you from the depths of the Appalachian mountains, out here in this remote cabin we're staying in overnight." Eddie sweeps his arms out, showing the cabin behind him as Dustin films. "This mountain range is over four hundred and eighty million years old, and there's no end to the stories originating from right here. Missing people, strange noises heard in the night, sightings of creatures, voices calling out your name…the list goes on. We're here to see if we can communicate with anything out there in the woods, and find out what really haunts these mountains."
Dustin flips the camera around to face himself. "You guys have been asking for us to visit here for a long time, so we really hope you enjoy the video. And we really hope we don't die."
"We're not gonna die," Steve groans behind him.
Of course, he knows that's not entirely out of the realm of possibility, not after what they'd been through last year - but he hams it up for the viewers, knows they love the back-and-forth between the three of them.
"Lucky for us, Stevie managed to get the generator and the fire going," Eddie croons, swanning over to plant a kiss on his cheek. "So we won't freeze to death, at least."
Steve flushes, dipping his head.
Eddie grins, then looks back to the camera. "But that's not to say the skin walkers won't get us!" he cackles, slaps his palm over the lens, and Dustin cuts the camera.
Around the table, they eat instant noodles as darkness starts to fall outside the cabin. The fire casts a warm orange glow across the small room, crackling occasionally. The generator had started to kick in, but the lights were flickery still, the power supply weak.
"It's quiet," Dustin says softly, his voice still seeming too loud in the room.
Outside feels oppressive against the walls of the cabin. Like it's pressing against them. Wanting in.
Dustin's right, Steve thinks. Apart from the occasional pop from the fireplace or slurp of a noodle, there's no sound. No birds, no animals scuttling around despite their location at the edge of the woods. No traffic, no wind noise, not even a creak from the trees.
Nothing.
Steve shifts in his chair, uncomfortable. He looks to Eddie. "You getting any…feelings from this place?"
"It's heavy," Eddie replies, then nods towards the window. "It seems like there's a lot of…something out there. Waiting for dark, waiting to be invited in, I'm not sure. There's a lot of eyes on us."
Steve nods. He's been thinking along the same lines.
When they finish eating, dark's just starting to fall. Eddie smears a protective symbol on the door using white ash, a potent deterrent to skin walkers. Yes, they want to get some sort of activity for the video, but they're also not idiots - despite Eddie's earlier announcement about breaking some rules, Steve knows he's not about to go inviting something into the cabin with them.
Propping the camera up on his shoulder, Steve waits for Eddie's small nod, and then starts to film.
Eddie claps once, vibrating with energy, in his element. "Ready to get this investigation started, Hellfire Club? We've got devices set up all over this cabin, but to kick things off we thought we'd start with the Hexcom, and see if there's anything out there feeling particularly chatty." He holds up the small device and gives it a wiggle. "So, without further ado…we call out to any spirits, any creatures that live in this cabin or in the woods and that would like to talk. I'm Eddie, this is my little genius friend Dustin and the pretty man behind that camera is Steve."
Steve snorts a little at that.
"We don't mean any harm or offence, and would just like to talk. Is there anyone here with us?" Eddie pauses, holding out the Hexcom, waiting for any words it might generate.
Silence.
"Perhaps one of the creatures that supposedly stalks these woods?" Dustin asks. "Skin walkers, people say."
There's no response.
"Maybe the spirit of someone who went missing in these mountains?" Steve tries.
Still nothing.
Eddie looks to the camera and shrugs. "Maybe they're shy," he suggests with a grin, then adds, "Or maybe you're just not strong enough to communicate with us, is that it? Or maybe all the stories are just stories, and you don't exist at all?"
He's goading, Steve knows. It's a tactic that sometimes works, that draws out a reluctant spirit.
"Come onnnnn, we heard so much about this place," Eddie continues, walking a slow lap of the room. "Show us what you can do, hmm?"
Footsteps.
Heavy, slow.
On the front steps up to the porch.
Eddie catches Steve's eye, confirms he's heard it too.
Steve swallows, holds the camera steady, turning it in the direction of the continuing footsteps.
The thing makes its way around the cabin.
The footsteps slow, and stop.
Right outside the curtain-less window.
"Oh, shit," Dustin whispers.
Eddie stares intently at the window. "There's something there," he says quietly.
Behind the camera, Steve closes his eyes and reaches out with his mind. Cautiously, gently.
Until he brushes up against the strange dark figure standing at the window.
Since he started investigating with Eddie and Dustin, Steve had come across a huge number of spirits and the occasional demon; this felt like neither. It seemed…older. More primal.
Sucking in a breath, he quickly withdraws his mind, jostling his camera a bit.
"You ok Steve?" Dustin asks.
"Yeah," he murmurs. "Eddie's right though, there's definitely something. And I don't think it's a spirit."
"Skin walker?" Dustin's eyes widen.
"Maybe."
"To whatever's out there, thank you for joining us," Eddie says loudly, his voice remaining steady - Steve always admires that ability in him. "You're welcome to stay out there and communicate with us, we have devices that will be able to help. But you need to stay outside, you're not welcome to come in here with us."
Footsteps resume. A slow drag away from the window and towards the front door.
DING DING DING DING
Dustin jumps at the blare of the REM pod they'd left just outside the door. "Whatever it is, it must be right at the door," he hisses.
"Hi," Eddie says in its direction. "Can you step away from the device by your feet, please?"
A shuffle. The ringing stops.
"Thank you. So, you can step towards it and activate it for yes, and step away for no, do you understand?"
The REM pod stays silent, and Steve's not sure if they've been understood.
"Step towards the device if you can hear us," Eddie continues.
Several rings as the REM pod activates, then stops again.
"Good, ok. Are you a spirit?"
Silence.
"Did you come from the woods?" Dustin asks.
The REM pod bleeps twice.
"Are you a skin walker?" Dustin questions.
"I mean, how would it even know that word?" Steve points out.
"Well I don't know," Dustin faces Steve, throws his arms up. "Maybe it's a very self aware skin walker."
"Did you come here just to talk to us?" Eddie asks, but there's no response. "Or do you mean us harm?"
"Oh, don't ask it that," Dustin mumbles.
The REM pod blares. Loud, incessant.
Chills spread down Steve's spine. He shifts his grip on the camera, his palms growing a little clammy.
"Well, I think you'll find we're well protected," Eddie responds, yelling over the REM pod that continues to beep loudly. "So you might not have much luck. You can talk to us, though. Make noise, do something, show us what you're capable of. How about you start by stepping away from the device again, so we can talk?"
The creature lingers, ignoring Eddie's request, and the REM pod blares non-stop.
Steve closes his eyes again. Forms his familiar wall and nudges it outwards, inch by inch, until it encounters that strange figure again.
Like this, he can only see the outline of it. It's tall. At least seven feet, with elongated limbs, clawed hands stretching down to almost drag across the porch.
He pushes up against it. Just slightly, shoving it back.
The creature hisses and retreats several steps, and the REM pod stops.
Steve pulls away again, his only intention having been to demonstrate to the creature that they could fight back if they needed to, to make it think twice about causing them any sort of harm.
"Thank you," Eddie says, even though his eyes are on Steve, knowing his boyfriend had just intervened. "Like I said, we're protected. Is there more than one of you here?"
No response.
"Do you have anything to do with the people who have gone missing in this area?" Dustin asks.
Nothing.
"Have you always been here, on this land?" Eddie questions, but the REM pod stays stubbornly silent. "Steve, I think you hurt its feelings," he says, eyes shining as he looks at Steve over the camera.
The REM pod bleeps - once, twice, three times, then shuts off.
"That's the no battery alert," Dustin says, frowning. "But I charged it right before we came here and checked it when I was setting it up, it should last all night."
"You're draining our devices, huh?" Eddie clicks his tongue several times.
"Did you just tut at the skin walker?" Dustin's eyebrows are raised.
"Knock."
Steve jumps as the HexCom still in Eddie's hand vocalises the word. Eddie holds it up, turning the display towards the camera for Steve to zoom in on.
"Knock," it repeats.
"Weird," Dustin comments. "It doesn't usually repeat stuff like that, especially after it's been silent this whole time."
"Knock."
There's a tap on the door in front of Steve.
Another.
And another.
"Holy shit," Dustin breathes.
"You're not welcome inside," Eddie says. Loud, confident, firm. "Knock all you want, you're not coming in. There's white ash on the door, and if you get any closer you won't like it."
"If it's a skin walker," Steve points out quietly.
Eddie's jaw visibly clenches.
Footsteps resume. A slow, dragging gait back down the porch steps and away, until they fade into the night.
"Is it gone?" Dustin asks, a little pale.
Steve reaches out into the dark.
There's nothing there.
He nods, and Dustin exhales in a rush. "Well that was creepy as shit."
Even Eddie's hands are shaking, just slightly.
Steve cuts the camera, sitting it down on the table and approaching his boyfriend. "You alright?"
"Yeah. Just, whatever this thing is, it's intelligent. And it seems…really old. Ancient. That's the feeling I get."
"Me too. I got a brief look at it, and it's not like anything we've seen before. Skin walkers usually take on the form of an animal, right? But this wasn't that, it was like…tall, with really long limbs -"
"Like Slenderman?" Dustin pipes up.
"What?"
"Slenderman."
"Just repeating the word doesn't help, Dustin."
Dustin rolls his eyes. "Seven feet tall, no facial features, long limbs, usually depicted wearing a suit -"
"No, no, it didn't have a suit."
"Whatever it is, it's gone now. Anyone want to…go out and get the REM pod?" Eddie eyes the two of them, turning to Dustin with a grin. "You're it, Dusty Buns."
"Why me?" Dustin whines.
"It's your REM pod."
"Fine, but if Slenderman drags me into the woods and impales me on a tree and removes all my organs I'll blame you."
Steve blinks several times. "That…happens?"
"It's not Slenderman, dude," Eddie sighs.
Dustin stomps to the door, takes a deep breath, and opens it lightning-quick, grabbing his precious device and quickly slamming the door again.
Steve reaches across him and bolts the lock. "Did you see Slenderman?" he teases.
"No," Dustin grumbles. "There's nothing there."
They take a short break with the lights on. Steve chews on a granola bar while Dustin checks their devices and Eddie smudges more white ash, this time on the windows.
"Should we do an Estes session?" Dustin suggests. "Eddie, it's your turn with the headphones if we do."
Eddie shrugs. "Sure, why not? Might as well try to talk to our friend again."
They set up - Eddie with the noise-cancelling headphones on sitting on the couch, Steve and Dustin across the room some distance from Eddie so he won't hear their questions.
"So, for any new viewers, Eddie is listening to a radio scanning backwards through stations," Dustin explains to the camera. "He can't hear our questions, so he can't make up responses. He'll pick up words or short phrases from the radio, and these are supposedly responses from whatever we're talking to. So, to begin - is anyone here with us now?"
Eddie stays quiet, eyes obscured behind a blindfold.
"The being that was on the doorstep, can you hear us?" Steve tries.
"Get out," Eddie announces.
"Who are we talking to?" Dustin asks.
"OUT! It's really yelling."
"Why do you want us to leave?"
"Now."
"Are you warning us or threatening us?"
Eddie stays quiet.
"Or are you trying to make us go outside because we're vulnerable out there?" Steve asks.
"I can hear laughing," Eddie says.
"Are you alone?" Dustin questions.
"Never. Many."
"There's many of you? Can you tell us…what you are?"
"It's just garbled, I can't make it out."
"Do you live in the woods?"
"Woods."
"Yes! That's where you come from?"
"Ours."
"We understand these are your woods," Steve says. "We're not here to threaten them. A lot of people have gone missing here before, though. Were you involved in that?"
"It's laughing again."
"I'll take that as a yes. So did you…take these people? What for, do you need them for something?"
"Probably for dinner," Dustin mumbles.
"People."
"Yes, the people," Steve repeats. "Why take them?"
"Fun."
Steve's stomach drops.
"It's whistling. It's…fuck, it's loud," Eddie yells over the noise in his ears. "Many. Strong. Whole forest."
Suddenly, violently, Eddie rips the headphones off his head and tosses them aside, pale and shaky.
"What is it?" Steve asks.
"It said your name." He looks at Steve. "Over and over."
On the kitchen table, the cabin radio crackles to life. For a moment, the same earlier, eerie tune resumes.
"I turned that creepy thing off!" Dustin insists.
The tune stops, replaced by the sound of heavy breathing emanating from the small speaker.
"Knock," says a garbled voice.
"Not this shit again," Dustin grumbles.
Steve's got one hand on the camera, the other squeezing Eddie's arm.
"Knock."
In preparation, Steve readies his wall. Dustin inches closer, pressing to his side.
The lights flicker above them, blinking wildly and then winking out completely.
"Knock."
The cabin walls come alive with banging.
From all directions, the sound of fists pounding against the walls, slamming on the door, nails scraping across the windows.
Dustin leaps practically into Steve's arms, shrieking.
Steve sends his wall outwards in a strong pulse.
It catches, progress halted by an army of figures outside the cabin walls.
Sweat beads on his forehead.
Eddie squeezes his hand, lends his own strength, then grabs a handful of white ash and scatters it by the door.
The wall shoves through the figures surrounding the cabin, scattering them. The banging stops. From the radio, there's a staticky hiss, then laughter - a man's, then a little girl's, then voices joining in, more and more until abruptly going silent.
"Is it over?" Dustin whispers, clinging to Steve.
A single whistle pierces from the radio speaker.
Then, nothing.
Closing his eyes again, Steve searches. Stretches his mind out beyond the cabin, as far as he can towards the woods.
He nods. "They're gone. Back to the trees, I think."
Dustin exhales in a rush. "Good, they can stay there. Holy shit. Did we get all of that on camera?"
"Looks like it," Eddie confirms, fiddling with the camera mounted on the tripod in the corner. "Including you shrieking like a little baby," he teases Dustin.
Dustin rounds on him. "I thought we were going to die! I saw you tossing white ash, even Suzie's got a better arm than that!"
"Look, let's just call it a night," Steve suggests, quickly intervening before Eddie can prepare his comeback. "Clearly, whatever here is old and powerful, and we've come into their territory, so we were sort of asking for something to happen. Let's just hope they leave us alone the rest of the night."
"We're…staying? After that?" Dustin questions.
"No way in hell I'm navigating that road at night," Eddie says. "Besides…do you really want to go out there?"
"No," Dustin grumbles. He flicks the light switch repeatedly, but nothing happens. Steve can hear the generator running outside, but apparently they were going to be without power for the rest of the night. "Awesome," Dustin mutters.
A short time later, with the three of them lying in the bunk beds, sleep evades them.
Steve's eyes snap open at any small sound. There's the occasional footstep on the porch, a groaning noise outside, the creak of the nearby trees.
They aren't alone, that's for sure.
"Are you guys sleeping?" Dustin hisses, loudly.
"Yes, I'm fast asleep," Eddie replies, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"This place is creepy as hell."
"Mmm hmm," Steve agrees tiredly.
"I can't sleep," Dustin continues.
"Do you want a bedtime story?" Eddie rolls over in the bunk above Steve, then lowers his arm over the side, fingers wiggling by Steve's face.
He smiles, reaching out to take Eddie's hand.
"Once upon a time, there was a haunted cabin at the edge of the woods," Eddie begins.
Dustin groans. "Something not creepy."
"Sure, ok. There was a cabin at the edge of the woods, and every day the friendly forest fairies venture out of the trees to see if there's anyone inside the cabin."
"What do the fairies look like?" Steve mumbles, voice heavy with sleepiness.
"Hmmm…tall, with stretched limbs and long claws and pale skin -"
"Eddie!" Dustin hisses.
"But they're friendly!" Eddie insists. "They just look scary."
"Fine. Continue."
"They're friendly so that they can lure teenage boys, their favourite prey, back into the woods to meet their leader, Slenderman -"
"I hate you," Dustin complains, shoving his pillow over his ears.
Eddie cackles, thumb rubbing circles into Steve's hand. "Sleep tight, Dusty. You too, Stevie."
"Love you, Eds," Steve murmurs.
"Love you too, sweetheart."
From the opposite bunk, Dustin makes a retching noise. "Enough, I'd rather listen to the skin walkers."
"I'm sure they'll be very obliging," Eddie retorts.
Finally, to the noise of Eddie's slow breathing and his hand in his, Steve drifts off into a restless sleep.