Twas a chilly day in mid February with patches of snow still clinging to the hillside as I lit out hunting with my dogs on the far end of our property. Them fields lay barren and unused except for cutting hay. But the hay ain’t been cut in ages and the grass was tall, full of brush and bent over from the recent floods. The fields lie on the edge of the woods all thick with briars, yet the trees stood bare and dormant. Nary a soul pass through these parts this far out in the sticks. 

Five years before this past November when hunting for deer, my father, cousin Raymond and I stumbled upon the corpse of large grey animal half eaten near the tree-line. Bloody guts strewn about through the tall grass. At first it appeared to be the kill of a bear, or cougar until Raymond found the head of a deer skinned and tied to a tree atop two front legs crossed in an X. Below it were scrawled the words refero, and belua in blood. None of us knew what the words meant. We wondered who would have done such a thing. We ain’t been back here since that day. Papa forbade us from ever setting foot here again. Yet on this day I decided to disobey that rule.

The three coon dogs ran ahead as I sloshed through mud and grass beside a small stream running right down the middle of the holler. A tall gray stump of this long dead tree stood alone by itself. It was the one familiar landmark that had remained all these years since me and my cousins used to wander these backwoods. 

I noticed a faint banging sound like rocks hitting together coming from the woods, and I stopped to listen. The dogs looked up and cocked their heads. Ain’t nobody been this far out in ages. Only people who come out this far are hunters, but they ain’t known for making noise. Cautiously, I crept towards the tree-line. The hounds ran past me through the thorny bushes and briars. The banging stopped and I heard cracking branches of the dogs. Suddenly the dogs began frantic barking and howling as if they’d treed a coon. Running until I could no longer hear them, I continued uphill and heard a yelp, then a rustle of leaves coming towards me. I aimed my rifle towards the sound thinking it must be a bear. Suddenly Daisy, my blue tick hound limped towards me out of the thicket. Her face and front paw covered in fresh blood.

“Daisy, come here girl.” I whispered

There was a deep gash across her muzzle and cut on her paw with exposed bone. It was a bad wound. I took off my shirt and tore it into strips, wrapping the pieces around the wound to stop the bleeding. I called out and whistled for the other dogs, but there was no sound. With my rifle cocked and ready I crept further up the hill through the brush. 

I came to a small clearing and found a strange pile of rocks upon the bare ground surrounding it. At the base, lay a pool of fresh blood and blood splatters heading off into the woods. My hands shook as I gripped the rifle tightly. Daisy limped beside me looking back for reassurance. I followed the trail deep into the brambles. I heard a faint rustling up ahead. I crept closer and stumbled upon a moaning creature lying on its side trying to look up at me. I was shocked to see the glistening pink flesh moving and those bare orbs staring back at me, but I realized that it was one of my dogs that had been skinned alive. I spent my entire life on a farm and saw death, but I found the site so horrific that I puked at the site. Daisy limped over to the pitiful creature and licked its head. I cried and called Daisy away. I knelt beside my dog not knowing which one it was and pulled out my hunting knife and shoved it into its skull putting the poor creature out of its misery. This weren’t the work of an animal, but something evil. 

I hollered at Daisy to follow me, my voice all shrill from panic. My knees shook, but with a burst fright, I bolted  and ran back through them woods and down the hill in a sprint. I didn’t even bother to look for my other dog. I figured what ever had got ‘em had killed the other’n as well. 

Once we were past the tree-line, I heard the banging of rocks again behind me. We ran back through the muddy field and passed the familiar dead tree. This time, there was a crude image of a man upside down in the shape of an “X” with a small circle to indicate a head was scribbled in blood on the stump of that long dead tree.

The blood was fresh. It wasn’t there when I first passed the tree, and it must have been smeared on while I was in the woods. A feeling of dread poured over me. At that moment I realized that whatever did this was close by. 

“Come Daisy, let’s go!” I said in a forceful whisper.

Something hard struck me from behind knocking me to the dirt. I heard Daisy yelp, followed by a whining. As I struggled to my feet, a hand or claw grasped my right ankle and drug me through the mud and tall grass. That was the last thing I remember before I blacked out.

I woke up naked and shivering in the cold. My ankles and wrists tightly bound with twine to a wooden cross. I stood slumped over my arms outstretched like Christ. Somewhere behind me a bonfire burned with crackling and popping. I saw flicking lights on the trees before me. Something was creeping up behind me. A rank odor of human shit and body odor so foul made me gag. An old woman wrinkled with age grabbed my shoulder with claw like hands. Old rotten clothes hung from her sagging flesh. She looked me over with cataract eyes and bent down taking my cock in her mouth. She forcefully sucked and stroked me though I remained flaccid. She looked up at me angrily and did it again. She wailed and screeched her disapproval. She stood and walked away later to return putting a sharp blade to my throat. She looked deep into my eyes and forced a kiss, but the smell caused me to vomit, but it didn’t deter her. She pressed the blade further drawing a small trickle of blood as her hand reached down to stroke my cock. Her tongue forced something down my throat and soon I was overcome with a throbbing erection. She squatted down and resumed sucking me until I ejaculated. She stood holding it in her mouth, then walked behind me to the fire where I heard her spitting it out. She let out an ungodly scream. She them mumbled in some strange language. I tried to free myself, but the restraints were much too tight. She returned and cut my arms loose. I fell forward on my face. She snatched my left hand and drug me to the fire. Atop the fire sat a black kettle and hanging upside down from a tree was the skinned body of one of my dogs. It’s blood dripping into the pot. As I lay helpless on the ground, she took a ladle and dipped it into the kettle. She came to me pried my mouth open and forced me to drink the bitter thick mixture. 

I felt dizzy and drunk. Images of demons danced in the flames. She returned to the fire and pulled a glowing red wire from the embers in the shape of a star and pressed it into my chest where it sizzled and crackled. I screamed in pain as she laughed. My burnt flesh smelled of pork. I must have passed out from the pain. 

I woke again to find her drawing images on my skin with black soot from burnt sticks. Once finished, she chanted some spell and drank from the cauldron until her belly was swollen. She stripped naked, doused herself in blood, and danced around the fire screaming loudly. Demons leapt from the flames and joined her. I watched in disbelief as she transformed from an old ugly hag into that of a young beautiful woman rising high above the flames. As she was dancing, I untied my ankles and crept away. I stumbled blindly through the dark woods. My bare feet getting cut on sharp stones and briars. I was nearly to the edge of the woods when I heard a rustling behind me. I froze in my tracks, turned my head looking back to see if something were behind me. I saw nothing. When I turned back to the tree line, she stood inches from me. Her shapely silhouette traced in moonlight.

“Dost thou find me comely?” she whispered. 

                                Chapter 2

A ray of light shone in my eyes. I woke upside-down, my ankles and wrists bound to some wooden cross in the middle of the woods. Gasping for breath, I struggled against my bindings. My muscles and tendons ached from exertion. I cried out, “help me!” over and over, but no one heard me. The birds chirped around me and I could see the shadows growing longer. Soon I could no longer scream, my throat was dry and my thirst was overpowering. I knew death would soon come for me. I thought of my family and cried. As darkness fell, I shivered in the cold and begged for death to take me. 

Sometime in the night, I heard hounds baying in the distance and men yelling, “Daniel, Daniel,” I thought it was a dream, but the sound grew louder. I heard footsteps and then dogs were licking my face. Some man’s voice called out, “I found him! Come quick!”

I was cut loose and laid out upon the dry leaves. Lanterns cast their bright lights into my eyes. I was too weak to move.

“Who did this to ya boy?” said a big man peering down at me.

“Oh my God, Daniel,” said the voice of my sister.

Someone held my head up and attempted to give me water, but I almost choked being that my throat was so dry. I drank forcing the water down.

“Hold on boy, not so fast,” one of the men said pulling the cup away from my lips.

As soon as I drank more water, the men propped me up against a tree. I sat staring into their curious eyes. 

The big man asked me again, “Who did this to ya boy?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a scream. I couldn’t find the words to describe the events that I could recall. I screamed until there was no more voice left in me. I watched as my poor mother dropped to her knees unable to contain herself.

My mother took my hand and said, “Daniel, my dear boy, don’t die.”

“What happened to me? How did I get here?” I said.

“We’s hoping that you’d tell us son. Somebody crucified you upside down and left you fer dead,” said Papa. “Whoever it was put all these weird markings all over your body.”

“I thought it was just a bad dream. It was horrible. Oh my God! What it did to my dogs,” I said bursting into tears. 

“Tell me boy, what happened?” he said.

“I can’t tell you in front of Ma,” I said covering my eyes.

Papa had the rest of the family leave as I explained in detail the gruesome events. Papa’s eyes grew red and angry. He looked at me in horror and disbelief, shaking his head. He bent down and hugged me tight.

“Whoever did this to you is gonna pay. I swear to God,” he said grabbing his jacket and shotgun.

Ma walked to Papa and asked to be told, but Papa sternly said that she could never learn what happened. He left vowing to get the sheriff and other men to track down this witch even if they have to search the entire woods.

I dreamed I had died that night bound to that cross, but I woke up in bed the next morning and not a mark on me. People acted as if it never happened and it was never mentioned again.

                              Chapter 3

17 years passed by, and the incident in the woods had long been put to rest. I had bought a little piece of land in the next county over, and had married and started a family with Corrine, the neighbor girl. I was plowing the field on my property one cloudy morning in February, when I saw the strange words “refero belua” scrawled in blood on the side of my barn. A cool wind blew out of the north and carried a strange smell I hadn’t noticed in years. I unhitched the mule from the plow and walked towards the barn. I touched the blood which appeared to be fresh. A chill came over me and I turned towards the direction of the woods that lie on the outskirts of my childhood home and started walking.

My wife and two kids were away visiting relatives. Something on the winds compelled me onwards. I walked all day long through the fields of neighboring farms until I reached the old homestead that lay empty. The property belonged to my brother who became a drunk and let it go to waste after the death of our mother. it was late in the day as I passed the cabin and the old barn I wandered back into that field that bordered the untouched woods. 

I saw the familiar white stump of the old dead tree. In the distance I saw the dark silhouette of a woman standing on the edge of the woods waving to me. There was a part of me that was terribly afraid and begged to run away, but something dark and primal awakened deep within me. It was a longing that urged me onward. I felt my penis swell, growing stiffer and pressing against my britches. 

As I got closer I noticed it was a familiar young woman, standing pale and naked in the moonlight. She was rubbing her breasts with one hand while the other slowly crept towards her genitals. She closed her eyes and moaned gently. I walked up and faced her. I could feel her body pressing against mine. I bent my head towards her neck and breathed in her scent. She put her mouth beside my ear and whispered, “Doest thou find me comely?”

She led me deep into the woods. In the center of a bare patch of Earth, she had made a blazing fire and hung from three supporting poles was a black cauldron containing some boiling liquids. Three dead dogs hung from the trees, skinned and dripping with blood. She danced about the fire like a sprite speaking in a language I didn’t understand. She went to the cauldron and poured some of the liquid into a wooden bowl and handed it to me. 

“Drink this,” she said reaching down to feel my erection. 

I did as I was told and drank. It was thick and sweet. “Mmmm, more,” I said.

“Yes, more,” she whispered rubbing my belly. She danced around me and got leather straps and tied me to a wooden cross, teasing my cock as she kissed me.

She filled bowl after bowl and made me drink until my belly was painfully swollen, but the more I drank, the hornier it made me feel.

She took a branding iron and held it to the fire. “I want to make you mine. She held my throbbing cock in one hand while she pressed the glowing metal in the shape of a star against my chest. I heard it crackle and sizzle, but I felt no pain. “You are mine, and I am yours,” she said. She then took soot from burnt sticks and drew images all over my naked body. When she was finished she kissed me and wrapped her legs around me and rode my erection screaming in ecstasy. I shot deep inside her and collapsed.

She walked over to the cauldron and drank until her belly swelled big and tight like mine. Then she picked up the bowl of blood and poured it all over herself screaming and chanting. Suddenly she transformed into an old crone wrinkled and ugly. I screamed and tried to break free of my restraints. She walked over and felt my swollen distended belly that grew bigger and bigger as she chanted. Her own belly grew as well.

Suddenly she turned the cross I was tied to upside down and I watched as she grabbed a large knife and walked towards me. I screamed and fought. Then she took the knife and sliced me open from my crotch to my chest as the blood gushed out covering my face. She pulled out something big and wrapped it in cloth. Then with the same knife she cut her own belly open and pulled something similar out and carried it along with the other object and buried them both in a hole she had already dug beneath a large tree. She then walked to the fire where I saw demons dancing in flames and stepped inside with them. She screamed and was consumed by the flames as I watched her fall into ashes. 

                               Chapter 4

A ray of light shone in my eyes, as I awoke bound and immobile in some sort of cocoon. Gasping for breath, I tore out of some chitinous shell and emerged from the forest floor like a cicada.

My muscles and tendons ached from exertion. My legs were wobbly as I stood atop wet dead leaves and mud, naked and peering down at the crevice beneath a recently fallen tree. I could tell it was spring or early summer from the budding branches dripping of rain. It was still a bit chilly as I wandered out of the woods. 

I peered out over fresh green fields for anything to use as clothing. Twas no longer February and I recall terrible visions of a demonic woman who violated my person and killed my dogs. I don’t remember how or if I escaped her. I shivered down the dirt path, my arms folded across my chest. Mom must be worried with grief, I thought.

I looked for the old familiar landmarks, but things seemed different. The little creek still ran through the tall grass, but the lone sycamore wasn’t where I remember. Past the plowed fields I came to a gate to a house I’d never seen before. Children were playing in the front yard, but when they saw me, they ran screaming.

“Mom! There’s a naked man in the field coming towards the house!”

A fat red headed woman in a long blue dress ran out to the fence waving her arms. 

“Who are you and where are your clothes young man? You can’t be walking around these parts buck naked.”

“Sorry ma’am, but could you spare some rags to cover my nakedness? I woke and found myself in this unfortunate condition.” I said while trying to cover my genitals with my hands.

“You stay right there. I’ll see what I can find.”

The little kids stood at the fence giggling and pointing at me. The woman returned a short time later with a pair of britches and shirt. 

“Here, put these on. They are some old things I was saving to make into a quilt.”

I thanked her and quickly donned the garments.

“Where do you come from boy? Are you alright? Should I call the sheriff?”

“I’m not quite sure what happened to me ma’am. My name’s Daniel Webber. I’ve lived here my entire life, cept I don’t remember a house being in this spot. This is supposed to be a cornfield and my family’s cabin is just on the other side of that there hill. Surely you must know my parents Harold and Elizabeth Webber.”

“Can’t say that I’ve met them, but you’re right about there being a little cabin out back. We use that as a tool shed.” 

“Please ma’am. Something is terribly wrong. May I get a look at the cabin.”

“Uh, I suppose. Grace stay here and watch the kids. I’ll be right back.

She led me through her back yard walking briskly.

“Webber huh? You wouldn’t be related to old lady Webber that lives down by the bridge? They say that some Webber’s used to own most of the land around here, but that was years and years ago back when I was just a little girl. My name is Edith Caswell and I married Frank Caswell, and we’ve lived here in this house nearly fifteen years.”

I scratched my head and stared at the ruins of my family’s home. My face contorted and I dropped to my knees. Everyone I knew and loved were gone. The woman reached down and touched my shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay young man?”

I hung my head and wept.

                                 Chapter 5

“What you are claiming young man is fantastic and impossible. People just don’t fall asleep in the woods and magically wake up a hundred and seventeen years later. I think there is something you are not telling us.” said Sheriff Richard Tate scratching his balding red hair.

“I don’t know what to tell you sir. My name is Daniel Webber. I was born in 1832 in that cabin behind the Caswell’s house. There weren’t no town in these parts except for local farms. My pappy built that cabin in 1785.”

“So about this woman who attacked you in the woods. Is she there now?” 

“I don’t know. I crawled out of some type of shell.”

“Can you take me to this place?”

“Yes, I think so.”

The sheriff and Frank Caswell followed me back towards the woods. Many of the landmarks that I knew had long gone away. When we got to the woods, I recognized a certain tree leaning at a steep angle.

“Here, I remember coming out of the woods here. Nearly half way up the side of this hill there is a large oak that had fallen over with it’s roots ripped from the earth. There is where I crawled out.”

We climbed up the hill through the brush and brambles. Soon we located the tree and there was indeed a small cavernous space. The sheriff bent down with a strange device that put out a beam of light and shined it down the hole.  He pulled out some tough flexible amber shell. The inside was coated with some sort of jelly.

“Frank, have you ever seen anything like this before in your life?” said Sheriff Tate.

“Can’t say that I have. Darndest thing I ever saw,” Frank said scratching his head, “Seems to be some sort of cocoon, and here’s another one.”

“This is where I woke up,” I said.

                             Chapter 6

I was taken to the police station in his metallic horseless carriage. Magical lights light up the streets. I was amazed by all the marvelous inventions. Once we got to the police station, the little girl was taken away and I was brought to a room and with other policemen and asked the same questions over and over.

“What were you doing naked in the woods?”

“I told you already. I woke up there with no clothes on.”

“Why were you in the woods to begin with?”

“I was hunting in the woods with my dogs. An old lady killed my dogs and tied me to a tree.”

I sat on the cot thinking of my mother, my day, my brothers, sisters, and cousins. It was hard to believe they were all dead. It was just starting to sink in that I was all alone. No one alive on this planet remembers me. It’s as if I never existed. I wished it was just a bad dream that I could wake up from. “Oh lord, please don’t let this be real,” I begged. I sat on the edge of the cot and cried.

A few days later, the sheriff brought a woman doctor who wanted to take my blood. I fought the doctor when she tried to poke me with a needle. She said he could tell more about me from my blood, so I finally cooperated.  The sheriff said they couldn’t locate any records or birth certificates of a Daniel Webber around my age, however strangely enough they did find an archived news report of a 34 year old man named Daniel Webber who had been found brutally murdered and hung upside down on a cross.

“Did they mention any other names in this news article?” I said. 

“Yes, it did mention that he is survived by a brother Harold, a wife Corrine and a son William. Mr Hiram Webber claims his brother disappeared from his farm go coon hunting and never returned, wife taken ill with grief,” said Sheriff Tate.

“That is very strange My brother is Hiram Webber, but I never had a wife Corrine. So does this mean you’re letting me go?” I said.

“Yeah, but don’t go around naked anymore. if you do I’ll have to put you back in jail. By the way, I checked out possible relatives you might have. I would start with Beatrice Webber who lives on the other end of town. She’s never been married and used to live with a sister until she died two years ago. If she don’t take you in, come back by here. Me and my wife said we would take you in until you can get on your feet.”

“Thanks kindly sir. I don’t imagine I will be running around naked any time soon. I will check out this Beatrice, but it might be difficult proving that I’m one of their long lost relatives, especially one who is a hundred and eighty four years old.”

                               Chapter 7

I stood on the front porch of a little white house on the far end of town. I brushed my hair down with my hands, straightened up my clothes and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. 

A tall, thin woman with long grey hair came to the door. A tiny ferocious dog ran past her legs snarling and barking.

“Mitsy! Get back in there! Mitsy down, down! Sorry about that young man. I’m afraid she doesn’t like strangers. So what may I do for you?”

“Ma’am my name is Daniel Webber. Sheriff Tate said you might be related to me.”

“Oh yes? So who were your parent’s, dear?

“I’m looking for any Webber’s in the area. Back in 1849 there was a young boy who disappeared or abducted from a Harold and Elizabeth Webber. They used to live in a little log cabin where Frank Caswell now lives. I’m a direct descendent of that missing boy. 

“Oh dear. You’re talking ancient history. My great uncle Hiram Webber was the last one to live in that cabin. I used to visit my great grandfather who used to live on that property when I was just a little girl. I seem to remember him telling me that he had an older brother that was murdered and found in the woods on his family’s property.”

“What was your great grandfather’s name?”

“Timothy. I was just a girl when he died.” 

I started to tear up. Tim was just five when I went out that day with my dogs and now he is long dead and gone too. 

“So who are you staying with in town? Where are your parents?” she asked again.

“They’re dead. I don’t have anyone,” I said with tears forming in my eyes.

“Come here child. You can stay with me until we think of something,” she said giving me a big hug. “You can take my son’s room upstairs. He hasn’t lived here in years. I might even have some of his clothes that might fit you.”

                             Chapter 8

The next day Beatrice drove me into town in her fancy riding machine. She insisted buying me some new clothes. I think she was happy to have someone to care for again. She parked her vehicle in front of a row of brick buildings.  She got out and said, “Come along Daniel Don’t be shy. you act as if you’ve never been in a clothing store before,” she said taking my hand.

“No ma’am, never had such fancy stores like this where I grew up,” I said feeling a bit anxious.

‘“Oh you dear boy. You’re in for a treat today and afterwards I’ll buy you an ice-cream soda.”

Beatrice had me trying on fancy shirts and britches. I would come out of the little dressing room and she would have me turn around to get a better look. When I come out of the changing room, I saw a beautiful young woman with auburn hair who looked oddly familiar trying on a dress. Suddenly she turned and faced me and gave me a slightly crooked smile. It was the girl from the woods and I found my heart beating faster. I tried to duck back into the dressing room, but she’d already seen me. 

I turned to Beatrice and said nervously, “Uh, so what do you think about this shirt?”

“No, try on this grey one. I think it looks much better,” said Beatrice holding it up to my chest.

The girl walked up to Beatrice and said, “Good morning Mrs Webber, who is this fine looking young man. I haven’t seen him around,” said the girl winking at me.

Hello, Lillith dear, this here is Daniel, a long lost relative who has come to pay me a visit.

“So glad to meet you Daniel. Are you staying in town long?” she said touching my arm.

“Uh, uh, not sure yet,” I mumbled. I felt my erection growing and I couldn’t stop it. I turned away holding the shirt in front of my crotch.

“Well I’m sure we’ll meet again very soon. Well I best get back. You have a good day Mrs Webber,” she said smiling. 

“You too dear. Tell your aunt I said hi,” said Beatrice turning back towards me. “Such a nice girl don’t you agree?”

“Uh, uh yeah I guess so,” I said, feeling awkward.

“Great, perhaps I’ll ask Lillith and her aunt over for lunch this week. It would be nice if you make new friends,” said Beatrice raising her head high and smiling.