That cave they put me inside of had a thin entrance, but it looked extremely big on the inside. As well, it was on a decently sized hill.
At school, Aubrey smiled as he talked with his friends, thinking about the fight against the Skinwalkers. Once class was over, he went to eat lunch with Sienna and Catherine.
"Oh my gosh, Aubrey," Sienna began, smiling and laughing as she looked at Cath. "So, you heard of this new urban legend that was actually real?"
"The Black Wraith?" Aubrey asked, to which Cath covered her hands with her face as she laughed.
"Yeah, that one! I thought it was really creepy, and Cath told me about it. But she's really into that kind of thing, and so she showed me art she found online of the Black Wraith, but it was, like, super weird!"
Aubrey leaned back in his chair, taking a bite of pizza. "Hm? Can I see?" He mumbled while chewing, and Sienna got Cath to show him.
Upon seeing the picture, Aubrey felt deeply disturbed, seeing himself being drawn in such nasty scenarios.
"Nah man, that's weird. The internet is weird," Aubrey said defensively, and the girls laughed.
"Yeah, but that's what happens when you're an internet urban legend," Sienna replied, speaking the truth.
"He's even got a lot of fangirls, weirdly enough," Cath said, to which Aubrey looked repulsed.
"That so? Huh. Hm. Why? Like, genuinely, why?"
"Mostly dumb little kids who probably shouldn't have unsupervised internet access think it's hot to be watched in your sleep."
Aubrey continued chewing.
Though, if Sienna watched me as I slept… yeah, I'd be awfully happy. Really happy.
"So," Aubrey said as he swallowed his bite, "if The Black Wraith appeared in your house, what would you do?"
"Hm…" Sienna thought, looking cute as she seemed puzzled. "I don't know… I actually don't know. I might need to sleep with a knife under my pillow, since he's still out there!"
"Mm, I'd probably scream," Cath answered. "Since it's a dorm room, that should keep me safe."
Aubrey nodded his head. "Yeah, that makes sense. If I were The Black Wraith, I feel like someone who actually screamed and got a bunch of people's attention would be the worst."
"What about you?" Sienna asked. "What would you do if you woke up and saw The Black Wraith staring at you?"
"That? Hm… I'd tell him to knock it off. He seems polite, not harming anyone even though he easily could have. So I feel like he'd listen to me."
A sensible answer, even for the women who did not know the truth.
Aubrey sat up in his chair, looking at Sienna with a silly smirk. "Don't worry though; I can guarantee you, you wouldn't have to worry about The Black Wraith sneaking into your house. Unless, by chance, you wanted him to."
"Pfft, why would I want that?" Sienna laughed.
"Just sayin', just sayin'," Aubrey mumbled, a slight pink tint from completely air-balling that abominable "pickup line."
The group's chatter continued until lunch ended.
…
With the school day over, Aubrey unfortunately had to decline Sienna's wishes to hang out, though he promised he'd hang out with her over the weekend, stating that he was simply busy that day.
Scouring the internet, Aubrey thought up a pretty simple plan, though it would take some supplies. He went to the HCP, picked up some packages and brought it all down to the forest.
Fear has a smell, right? Yeah, I'm scared. But I'm not scared either.
I'm terrified of what they did to me. I'm terrified of what they'll do to me if I mess up.
But I'm also determined. In the end, I'm going to win. I don't care what has to be done. I'll make it.
Hyping himself up, Aubrey reached the entrance of the cave and hid behind it. He took out several tanks of propane he'd trucked along, and set it near the entrance. Then, going on another trip through the woods, sprinting with Stealth, he brought back a few backpacks.
With a thin entrance, it's not that hard to seal it.
He lined up several pounds of TNT along the corners and inside of the entrance.
It's deeper on the inside, and a decently lengthy passageway in. They won't hear me, and they won't smell me. Not my fear, anyways.
Setting up the TNT, Aubrey grabbed the tanks of propane and launched them into the cave, breaking them open and spreading the gas throughout the cave. The skinwalkers got up, with Aubrey taking a step back and looking at them.
Alright! Now, I'll seal off the entrance, and they'll be stuck there; dying of suffocation without any escape!"
Aubrey ran away, detonated the TNT, and—
BOOM!
Ringing. The sound of ringing filled his ears. It would not cease, and overpowered every other sense he had. He rolled over slowly, looking down and seeing blurry black.
He remained still for seconds, minutes, hours, days—what did it matter?
Eventually, he got to his feet, forcing his creaking knees to rise. He looked back to the cave, seeing bright orange engulf the world in flames.
The world was on fire. The center of his world was ablaze, consumed with his stupidity.
The ringing in his ears faded slowly, slowly, until he saw dozens of skinwalkers emerge from the entrance of the gaze, their silent shrieks rampaging through the forest wind.
Ablaze. Each and every single one of them was on fire.
The initial plan was to use the propane to suffocate them. But he was an idiot and forgot that propane was flammable. The resulting disaster was placed entirely upon his stupidity.
Though, due to being a good distance away from the propane and TNT, his damage was not lethal. So, when he saw the burning, painful destruction he'd inadvertently unleashed upon his enemies—,
"Kh, hah."
It wasn't the dramatic, over-the-top laughter of a villain. It was the annoying snicker of having a mildly easy victory.
"The, ghhh, forest…"
Hardly audible due to the sound of flames scorching their bodies, the skinwalkers spoke.
"I… absolutely…" Aubrey choked out, his breaths labored by his damaged body, "...cannot wait."
Taking his hatchet, Aubrey ran forward and split the skulls of the skinwalkers with his blade.
…
"Ooh, hothothothothot—!"
Devouring the flesh of the skinwalkers, Aubrey quickly rushed to swallow, the pain of eating their still-burning bodies before they vanished into oblivion sending him into a frenzy.
I can only assume the traits of the skinwalkers I eat are those of gaining the animals they can transform into. Unfortunately, I'd hate to turn into anything other than a human being, so I see no need for that.
Aubrey gulped down just enough flesh to heal his ruptured eardrums and body, eventually looking at the mess he'd made. The forest itself had caught on fire due to his stupidity, the skinwalkers who held the trees igniting the bark with their flames.
He dropped the temperature drastically in an attempt to somewhat ease the fire, but didn't pay much attention to it outside of that.
After all, to Aubrey, a burning forest was well worth it if it meant killing the frightening monsters of the world.