Chapter 3 - Man in the Woods

"Let's not startle a natural predator, hmm?"

Prisana glanced over at the shotgun holstered onto one of his shoulders. Then, her gaze panned over at remains of animal fur dripping wet with blood thrown over his other shoulder. She took a step torward the bear.

Compared to the bear, her stalker appeared to frighten her more with his caveman like features and mere shotgun at his disposal. Her spine stiffened as the feral beast crunched over a log. The bear regarded them with disinterest. It crawled over to her satchel of items.

"My belongings!"

Her masked stalker shook his head and stuck his hand out to prevent her from approaching the bear.

"Too late. You should have thought twice before venturing out into these woods alone like this."

The masked stalker now stepped closer to the bear, cautiously raising his voice.

"Shoo, go away now."

"Didn't you just say—"

"I said not to startle it. I'm being assertive."

"Oh for Christ's sake! It's a bloody bear," Prisana hissed.

"It's a coward. You could scare off a bear with a stick. Statistically, you could get killed by bees out here."

He continued to lure the large black bear into the forest; her phone, wallet, and keys being carried away with it. Prisana looked down at the only valuable thing she had left which was ripped and soiled wet.

By now, her wedding dress could pass as a Halloween costume, the corpse bride. Ironic considering it was custom made by designer Laura Wade. However none of that mattered anymore.

What mattered now was the terrifying stranger before her, his scarred face covered only by the thin layers of a ski mask. Terrifying albeit the fact that he was out in the woods during a raging storm killing innocent animals and putting them on his back to take home.

Or worse.

He could be burying bodies in disguise! Her heart told her to go, go, go somewhere far away from this man. Yet her mind told her that if he wanted to kill her, he didn't have to rescue the day by warding off the bear.

"T-Thank you. Where you w-watching me somehow...f-following me?" Prisana asked, scouring the areas for a possible exit in case the worse possible scenario struck.

"Both," the masked stalker brazenly admits this. "It was to keep you from expiring out in these woods. This is my property. I noticed a body flailing about in the waters on my cameras."

"T-Thanks. I-I'll be f-fine now."

"You're shaking."

"C-Canoe flipped. T-Then that whole o-ordeal with the b-bear. G-God I'm so cold."

His fingers threaded lightly around her back. "Follow me. You need to be indoors."

Prisana flinched away from the warmth that pooled from his fingers. Her arms helplessly wrapped over her chest to generate warmth, but to no avail. Raging storms had eased up over trickles of raindrops. Still, her body continued to fight against the chill air intermingled with the ice cold water melting along her skin.

"I am no more than enthusiastic than you are about this whole affair but we would both regret it if you develop hypothermia and die out here in these woods—My woods. I don't need a dead body on my property."

She managed a bitter smile. A real smile for the first time in months.

"H-How very h-hospitable of you."

"Come, follow me."