Your body shudders beneath another deafening crack of thunder. The storm rages and your feet begin sinking deeper into the ground beneath you with each step. Soon, your legs feel exhausted. You struggle desperately to lift the growing weight of the muck that clings to your boots. Up ahead, you can see a small shaft of flickering, yellow light breaking through the trees. It delivers a surge of fresh energy, giving you just enough strength to jerk your feet from the ground. You feel a sudden sense of familiarity. You know this place. It’s the edge of the woods. The light is coming from a warning sign sitting at the end of the dam you’ve been working on. Only a few more steps and you’ll be at the edge of the river. You could jump in and swim straight to camp. It’s less than a mile downstream. You could make it in no time at all. You smile, thinking about the dry clothes in your trailer. A few more steps and you involuntarily begin to laugh. Maybe nobody would even know you left...
But just before your hands enter the light, your body suddenly stops as if it had just been turned to steel and stepped on a giant magnet. Your head snaps forward as you feel your chest begin to collapse and then your lower jaw begins sinking into the front of your neck. Your eyes shake in their sockets and you can’t lift your tongue high enough to scream.
It’s the Witch! She’s got you!