Story: Uncle Tom's Holiday Home in the Woods

Uncle Tom’s Holiday Home in the Woods

A group of teenagers laughed on a camera screen in a gleaming observatory.  Workers watched the proceedings while typing down notes and muttering orders into headpieces.  In the back of the room, a bald man stood with his hands on his hips.
“Sir?” a scientist asked.
The man slowly nodded and suddenly all of the cameras turned black.

“What just happened?” Julie screamed.  All of the lights had suddenly gone out, even the bare, dim bulb by the stairs.
I quickly turned on my phone’s flashlight to add some more light to the room.  As I did, I noticed that there was no cell signal anymore.
“Um, wasn’t there like four bars here before?” I piped up.  “I’m suddenly not getting any signal at all.”
 “Yeah, and there’s a cell phone tower right there!” George pointed out.  I looked out the window, and sure enough, there was a bright red blinking over the hill.  Except this light was a lot more orange than most cell phone towers and was it coming closer—
“That’s not a cell phone tower!” I yelled.  “The woods are on fire, come on, we have to get out of here!”

“Launch,” the man said quietly.

Just as we all dashed out of the cabin, a fireball slammed into the far wall, completely obliterating it.
“What the hell, how was that even possible?” Julie yelped.  “Where did this fire even come from anyway?”
“Man, Uncle Tom is going to be furious,” Ryan sighed.
“Come on, we need to get out of here,” Alice said.

“They’re ready to be released, sir,” the technician said, swiveling around in his chair.
“Good,” the man replied.  “On the count of three—1, 2, 3.”
And in the dark, the cage doors slowly creaked open and growls filled the air.

“I don’t remember seeing this part when we arrived,” Julie muttered, staring wide-eyed at the forest around her.
“I think we came up on the other side,” Ryan said, although he too looked confused.
“You tell us, man, haven’t you been coming here since you were six?” George asked.
“Well, actually—“ Ryan started when suddenly a projectile of some sort dive bombed his head, luckily veering off and missing at the last second.
“What was that?” Alice screeched, and then all hell broke loose.
A million of those projectiles—birds, I suddenly realized—burst from the trees, squawking and batting our heads with their wings.  Everybody immediately took off running in completely different directions, leaving only me to try and get everyone to stay together.
“Guys, wait we can’t split up!  We can fend them off if we work together!”  Unfortunately, nobody was listening anymore.  Cursing, I took off in what I hoped was north.  Maybe there were some people that could help.

Julie dashed off hysterically, batting at the birds and screaming at the top of her lungs.  Finally, however, they left her alone and flew off, probably to torment some other people.
Speaking of other people, where were her friends?  Oh, wait, someone was right there, and she waved frantically at him, but wait was he happy to see her or was that an axe—
“AHHHH!!” she screamed as the axe came down in a spray of blood.

The ground in front of George suddenly gave way to what looked like a swamp, complete with reeds and creepy logs.  He sank further and further and tried to turn around, but it was too late; his legs were stuck deep in the marsh.  As he struggled to free himself, masked and robed figures poured out of the woods, chanting ominously.
 “Hello?  Hey, seriously, this isn’t funny, come on, I really need—blrgh,” he pleaded, as he sank below the surface.  Their chant continued unheeded as his hand grasped frantically at the air and then finally stilled.

As a former track runner, Alice had been off like a firing gun and she ran and ran and ran until finally she tired and stopped to catch her breath.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
She glanced around for the source of the noise, but could find nothing except a strange blinking, and oh crap—
The ground exploded underneath her, and for a few seconds it rained blood and flesh.

Finally, I had escaped the birds and spotted a dark building in the distance.  Things were finally picking up, or so I thought when something hit my head.  Except this one stayed on my neck and I suddenly felt a sharp bite—
“AUGH!” I screamed, and tore it off, not even feeling the tear on my skin.  A horde of these vampire bats came out at me then, and I ran for the safety of the building.
I ripped open the door and ran in, hearing the thuds of the bats on the other side.  Gasping, I looked around, and saw instead of a dilapidated building, what looked like a gleaming medical facility with cages and cameras everywhere—
Suddenly, everything went black.

When I came to, I was bound and gagged next to Ryan who was still out cold on a giant stone altar.  In the distance, a giant flame flickered multi-colored, first blue, then purple, and on and on.  Black robed figures held hands and danced around it.  Beside us, I could see Julie’s decapitated head, George’s body encased in mud, and a finger with Alice’s favorite nail polish on it.  I turned my head and threw up, the sounds finally waking up Ryan.
“Hello, boys,” a deep voice said.  “How are you doing, Ryan?”
“Uncle Tom?!” Ryan gasped, as the man stepped out of the shadows.  “What is happening here?”
“Ritual sacrifice to appease the gods.  I didn’t want to have to do it, but, you know, gotta preserve the world.”
“But, I’m your nephew!” Ryan pleaded.
Uncle Tom shrugged.  “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.  Goodbye, kids.”  As he stalked away, the figures surrounded us, filling the air with our screams.

Author's Note:  I took the inspiration for this story from the movie Cabin in the Woods, a horror movie spoof that revolves around the typical group of teen cliches stuck in a mysterious cabin.  Rather than using the movie's host of monsters, however, I used Tom Gauld's map to flesh out the horrors my characters would encounter.

Bibliography:  "Map of the Area Surrounding our Holiday Home," a cartoon by Tom Gauld from his book ROBOTS, MONSTERS Etc.  Web Source.

Image Information:  Cabin in the Woods movie poster.  Web Source.