Let's begin in the heavily wooded mountains of Northwest Pennsylvania, near Franklin.

The fire crackled loudly and smoke filled the campsite air. Two of the three couples that had spent the entire day hiking and enjoying the northern Pennsylvania woods were sitting quietly staring at the flames.

"Robert, what are they doing in there?" Tracy asked.

"Have you guys really been married that long, Tracy?" Steve, another camper, chimed in.

Smiling and drinking her beer, Tracy laughed. "No, I just mean still. Those two have been going at it for a while."

"Yeah, they have, and I can't wait to let her know that she sounds like a motorboat while she's moaning."

"Melinda, don't say a word. We came out here to get away from things and bond. Hell, I didn't even bring a cell phone."

"You brought one, didn't you, Robert?" Tracy asked.

Robert sat up straight in his lawn chair, reaching into the cooler for another beer, and answered, "Me? No. I thought this was a get-back-to-nature thing."

"I'm sure that Gary brought his. He's such a nerd that he couldn't go twenty-four hours without surfing the web."

"Hey, Melinda. Why don't you peek in their tent and ask him? I think they are taking a break."

"Maybe you'll get a glimpse of that hammer he's packing."

Steve and Robert attempted to do a high five when Steve tipped over in his chair. He sat on the pine needle-covered ground, laughing hysterically about spilling his beer.

"Very funny, Steven. Are you okay?"

Wiping his eyes and gathering himself, Steve went on a different tangent instead of answering his girlfriend's question.

"Maybe it just looks so big because he's so short. I mean, if you put my dick on a body that small, I would be John Holmes."

Tracy and Melinda looked at each other and laughed.

"Hardly," the girls spouted in unison.

Steve and Robert are both the outdoor types. They each enjoy camping, boating, and hiking; and they have been friends for as long as they can remember. They look almost like brothers too. Robert is slightly taller at six foot two, with dark hair and a heavy beard. The six-foot tall Steven doesn't have quite the same beard, and his hair is not as black, but in high school, the football players told every girl they ran into that they were brothers. For the most part, it worked. The chicks fell all over themselves trying to impress the two jocks.

Tracy is a slender five foot three former cheerleader that still has some spirit. Her athletic body is perfect for a weekend like this. Melinda, on the other hand, would prefer to stay in a hotel, but she figured Tracy got Robert to pop the question by doing all of this tomboy shit. Maybe it would work for her. She's taller than Tracy, with short dark hair that she has tucked into her ball cap. She and Tracy had been friends since graduating, but before that, they really spent no time with each other. I guess you could say they had different interests. Melinda was more of a party girl in high school, but then without the intense peer pressure to influence, the pair may have really become good friends. The other pair was comprised of Gary, a short, stereotypical nerd that Steve and Robert looked out for throughout high school. His newfound girlfriend, Michelle, is definitely not the outdoor type. She stands about five foot five and is a little on the heavy side, so outdoor activities are very strenuous for her. She is certainly more at home, living the city life in Pittsburgh, but Gary talked to his steady girlfriend into a weekend outdoors. From the sounds of their humping, Michelle has found something she likes about the wilderness. The couples finished their beers, and Steve found a tree before going through their tent to relieve himself, and Robert followed suit.

Tracy and Melinda called the men show offs and complained loudly about having to hike to the rest area. Despite promises from both men that they would not watch, the girls took off. The communal bathroom and shower house was about fifty yards away; however, it seemed further in the dark Pennsylvania nigh, with all the twists and turns of the pathway. The women held hands, not just for safety, but also for balance. The silent campground, except for the chirping crickets, frogs, and soft mumblings of other campers, added to their uneasy feeling. You would think that being intoxicated would give you a feeling of invincibility, but in this case, it didn't. Maybe it was the darkness closing in around them, but the two did not converse much along the way until Melinda spotted the carcass of a recently killed raccoon. The varmint was torn to shreds; its insides splayed out onto the asphalt path.

"Goddamn, Tracy, what was that?"

"Looks like it used to be a raccoon."

Melinda agreed and nervously asked, "What do you think could have done that?"

"It could have been anything. Maybe a fox or a cat of some kind. Remember the Penn State Nittany Lions? Well, they live around here. Come on! We are almost there."

"We should have just gone back at the campsite. Those two would not have watched."

Melinda, I could care less if they watched if I just had to pee, but you know."

The dim, yellow light on the side of the shower house beckoned each of them in. The screen door squeaked loudly as Tracy pulled it open. It was not helping with the combined stench of the old bathroom and the cleaning supplies mixture, which was hanging heavily in the air.

"Pew! it's awful in here. I'm going to do my business, and then I will meet you outside."

Tracy heard the door squeak open and then slam shut behind her, and she knew her friend had left. While taking care of what she had to, Tracy read the scribbling on the back of the stall door. She thought silently to herself that there was everything from phone numbers and addresses and what sexual acts they would perform to warnings about snakes rising up to bite your ass. However, she paid particular attention to one warning, and it read: This forest belongs to Felix.

She tried rationalizing the warning anyway.

Are they talking about the cat? Is there a large puma roaming around this forest? That would explain the shredded carcass. It looked worse than a student's failed biology project.

Tracy started thinking back to the carcass and the precision in which it was carved.

Her mind flashed to other possibilities—all of which involved a madman escaped from one of the nearby prisons. She could feel her skin getting hot and her heart trying to pound out of her chest.

There's no way that was a predator, she reasoned. The cuts were too straight, and it was lying so close to the walkway. It was like it was supposed to be found by someone. Maybe it's a warning to just go home. Maybe there aren't really big cats roaming on these mountains. Maybe that is just a rumor made up by the escaped inmates, killing these poor animals or, worse, people!

Tracy finished up, but by then, she had talked herself into an ax murderer roaming this forest. She washed her hands and pushed the door open slightly with a creek. She stuck her head out before committing fully.

"Mel," she whispered for her friend, "are you out there? It's so dark. I can't see anything."

She heard nothing from her friend and nothing on the other side of the door, except an owl hooting. She pushed herself to exit the safety of the concrete block restroom, thinking she was safe no matter how bad it...