It may surprise you to know that almost 90% of Maine is covered in forests. Even in this modern age there is true wilderness that hides mysteries to be explored. It’s one of the reasons I became a park ranger. The chance to be in the outdoors, to enjoy the wild untamed wilderness. I know better now. I know better than to explore that which should be left alone and now I warn you.

After getting my dream job I was assigned to a small ranger station up in northern Maine. The area was stunning in its natural beauty. Trees hundreds of years old grew to touch the sky and rocky terrain led to a wonderful landscape of hills and valleys. Ever since I was a scout as a child I had imagined being able to enjoy this serenity as my actual job and here it was in reality.

The ranger station was a converted log cabin which gave me an instant feeling of rustic warmth. Inside a fire was crackling and an older man was tending to it. I walked in hand extended “Uh hi, I’m the new ranger assigned here, glad to meet you.” I waited in awkward silence and dropped my hand as the man ignored me for a few minutes before turning around and standing tall. He was a stout and portly man with graying hair who looked me up and down before walking away from me over to a table with a coffee pot. I sat in silence while he poured himself a cup and let the steam rise as he sat down in a large wooden chair.

“So you’re the new whelp they’re sending me.” The man took a long drink from his mug. His voice was raspy like he’d smoked a pack of cigarettes a day.

“Uh, yes sir, Ranger Parson here and ready” I uttered almost giddily.

Another silence as the portly man glared at me “That is way too much energy for this time of day.”

“Sorry sir, just excited.”

“No more of this sir stuff, name’s Hicks so please use it.” He put his mug down and got up from the chair grabbing his coat off a rack and gestured for me to follow. Hicks led me to the ranger truck and gestured for me to get inside. “Come on whelp, let’s get you acquainted with the woods here.”

We drove in silence for a while as we navigated the truck through some rough dirt roads weaving through the thick forest as I admired the beauty of it all. “So listen up Parson, this job is life and death for folks so you need to be alert and ready at all times.”

My back unconsciously sat upright and straight. “Yes Hicks, of course.”

We arrived at the top of a ridgeline looking out over a vast swath of forest. Hicks got out and I followed walking to the edge where he was standing. The sun was going down and the red sky made the area look like something out of a painting. My admiration for the natural beauty was broken when Hicks shoved a pair of binoculars in my hand and gestured out to the vista.

“From here you can see the three fire lookout stations” motioning to the three specs of light in the now darkening forest distance. “We’ll get you acquainted with the fire watchers as we’ve had some issues recently.”

I dropped the binoculars, “Issues?”

Hicks nodded “Some folk tales tell of something that inhabits these woods that kills or causes people to go missing. All nonsense of course but kids and weirdos have been certain it exists and have been combing this place for proof causing hell and being destructive to the environment.”

Spooky folk tales were hardly anything new to me. “Something?”

“Oh some such nonsense that started with tales of people going missing in the woods only to have people swear they see them later. The main culprit for this silliness was a group of hikers who were found dead back in the 70s though I guess there’s been tales of similar fates for years before.”

I admit I swallowed a bit hard, “what happened to them?”

Hicks rubbed his hand the back of his head recalling, “unfortunately, a bear, a big one it seems, had clearly gotten them as there were claw and bite marks that ripped through them and their tents. Nasty stuff. To this day we’ll get reports of people claiming they saw a bloodied hiker or even an old frontiersman calling out for help with those who go looking for them not returning.” Hicks cleared his throat and his raspy voice returned. “Idiots have come out here littering and almost starting forest fires looking for signs of these ghost people or monsters or whatever they are, especially ever since that true crime podcast “The Deep Forest” came out about the camping incident speculating wildly about what really happened.” Hicks gestured to get back into the truck and we began to drive to the ranger station.

“I’m not familiar with that podcast.”

“The damn thing put this area on the radar of every wackadoo out there and makes our jobs miserable as we often have to go rescue the idiots who don’t properly prepare for actual wilderness.”

I sat and took in what Hicks had said watching the now dark forest go by, illuminated only by the truck’s headlamps. “Question, has anyone actually gone missing after seeing these lost people in the woods?”

It was a surprise to hear Hick’s hesitation after his otherwise completely dismissal just a few minutes before. “The woods here are old, very old, and unforgiving for those who don’t treat it with respect. People have gone missing but all can be explained by getting lost or having an unfortunate encounter with wildlife.” He sighed and gave a forced laugh “No monsters are out here.”

***

The next few months were delightfully uneventful other than the occasional idiot, as Hicks always called them, getting hurt and needing help. I became friends with one of the fire watchers at point alpha by the name of Iris. Her soft voice often called over the radio just to chat at night about the stars whom she stared at fervently while on her watch. The other two towers checked in but seemed to relish in the isolation, never wanting to engage.

Then the day came when a motley group of 6 younger folks made their way up to the ranger station. I say younger as if I’m an old coot and Hicks was clearly rubbing off on me. Almost all were on their phones casting to TikTok or other social media. The guy leading them was lean and sported a short beard and walked towards Hicks and I while his compatriots streamed their entry to the woods.

“Get ready,” Hicks’ gruff voice mumbled to me. “What brings you here today son” he called out to the young man approaching.

“Hey there officers, we are just filing our camping plan” who tried to shove some papers in Hicks’ hands but he was not bemused nodding over to me to take them.

“We’re not officers son, we’re park rangers. Are you sure you folks are ready for a few days in these deep woods? This place ain’t exactly easiest to camp in.”

The young man looked almost hurt, “that’s exactly why we're here officer, we’re doing an on location episode of our podcast. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, The Deep Forest.”

Any hint of amusement now left Hicks, “I see. And what exactly will you all be doing out there?”

By now a few of their group had walked over to the young man and a young woman called out, “Josh, everything okay? I want to get some recordings before we set up camp.”

“Yes, no problems just letting the officers know where they're gonna be out here.” He gestured to the two of us as the young woman took out a small microphone attached to her phone. “Cammy, let’s start with these two officers. Would you two tell us what you know of the mystery of the The Deep Forest Seven, the campers who met grisly ends out here in the wilds back in the 70s” shoving the microphone in Hicks’ face.

Hicks shot daggers in the girl’s direction who seemed oblivious. “Listen here good, Josh was it? You and your little cohort will respect the rules or I will personally throw you outa these woods. Do not camp within 100 feet of any water source, do not under any circumstances violate the campfire rules, and I better not hear of you all vandalizing these woods. You are expected to return them as pristine as when you went into them. And most importantly do not dig anywhere.” Hicks then turned and walked away back into the cabin leaving them with me.

“Well he was no help, what about you officer, what strange things have you seen out here? Ever seen any previously missing campers out in the woods?”

“As he said, we are rangers not officers. Nothing strange here, just beautiful but true wilderness, so be safe out there.”

The girl previously called Cammy pulled the microphone away, “I think that will be a good intro as we cut to our next segment talking about how the campers thought everything was safe too before being killed.”

Josh nodded, “well hey officer, we’ll keep the forest all nice and neat and we’ll see you back here in 5 days. There’s a special spot we are going to be camping at. Supposedly it’s where the center of the forest is.”

Jogging back to the others Josh and Cammy joined the cavalcade of social media posting as they began to journey into the woods.

Walking back into the cabin Hicks was at the coffee pot, as he so often was, shaking his head muttering “idiots” over and over. “Parsons, make sure you keep regular patrols as I have a strong feeling they’ll need someone to come save them from skinned knees sooner or later. I’m going to head into town for a supply run. Radio me if there’s anything out of the ordinary.

Something in Hicks’ voice was off, it was something I hadn’t seen before, fear.

***

Alone in the ranger cabin that evening I heard the familiar crackle of static on the radio as the soft voice of Iris came over the line. “Ranger station this Fire Watch Alpha, you awake?”

A smile came across my face hearing the call as I radioed back putting down my coffee, “this is Ranger Station. What’s your status Alpha?”

“All quiet tonight Ranger Station, the sky is clear and you can see a beautiful view of Mercury from up here.”

“You know, one of these times I’m going to have to come up and look through that telescope of yours and see what you see Alpha.”

“Ranger Station, is that a proposition because this is strictly a solo job up here.”

“Well, when your assignment ends then we’ll have to meet in person.”

A giggle came across the radio “I think we can do that. I’ll bring my telescope and…” the line cut to static.

“Alpha I lost you for a second, you still there” as static buzzed back.

“Alpha this is Ranger Station please respond,” as only static greeted me. “Iris are you okay up there?”

When the radio came back on I heard screaming and crying in the background as I shot up. “Ranger Station this is Alpha, I have an emergency, please respond.”

“Alpha this is Ranger Station, what’s going on up there?”

“A girl just burst out of the woods to my tower screaming hysterically covered in blood, you need to get over here now.”

“Hold on iris, I’m coming.” I grabbed my jacket and first aid kit and hopped into the ranger truck revving it at full speed up to the fire watch tower. The damn idiots as Hicks called them must have fallen or done something stupid and gotten hurt. After a tense drive that felt like eternity I arrived at the base of the tower and headed up the stairs to find Iris holding the girl Cammy I had met previously. Iris gestured to me to come as I rushed forward with my medic kit.

“What the hell happened here” I called out examining the younger girl. Her right arm appeared shattered, hanging and jiggling from the skin and not bone, slashes across her face and chest gushed blood as I pulled out gauze to hold the wounds closed.

“I don’t know” Iris called out trying to shout over the screaming girl. “She ran out of the woods looking like this.”

As I tried to apply first aid the girl was wailing and screaming not from pain, but fear. Over and over she called out “it killed them, it killed them all”

“What killed who?” I tried to ask as the girl flailed in Iris’ arms. Her wounds got worse with each thrashing.

I pulled out a benzodiazepine sedative and injected it into her working arm which slowly calmed the girl as Iris and I both sighed as the moment passed. Over the next half hour we worked to apply what first aid we could.

“I radioed for a helicopter medevac but they won’t be here for at least an hour.” I looked down at the poor girl, her body battered and broken. “I also can’t seem to get a hold Ranger Hicks. Just what the hell is going on?”

Iris wiped off blood from her hands but it seemed like a futile effort considering it was everywhere else on her. “Jesus what the hell happened to her?”

“Given the slash marks and force trauma it looks like a bear attack but we haven’t had any reports of one around here in months. Can you stay and look after her until the medevac arrives? I need to go look for her friends as I’m guessing she was not the only one attacked.”

Iris nodded, the shock of it all setting in. “Before you go I need to tell you something.”

I was halfway out the door but stopped and turned back around.

“The last few nights I’ve been seeing something in the dark move out there. I thought I was crazy but it definitely has been walking around the tower, like it was scoping it out. I didn’t say anything as I had no proof and the eyes play tricks but after this…” she trailed off looking at the bloody girl on the floor.

I paused thinking of what to say and nothing came and just nodded like that was the solution. “It’s a bear, the marks and strength have to be one.”

Iris screamed and fell to her knees, “It wasn’t a goddamn bear! There’s something out here in these woods. It looked at me, it was watching me and it clearly got them too.”

“Just wait for the medevac, the others out there likely need help” as I ran out down the stairs back to the truck grabbing the rifle out of the back and heading the direction the girl Cammy was said to walk from. The forest was dense and this would have to be an exploration on foot.

The forest had never seemed darker, like the canopy above had wrapped itself over the world and blotted out all light above. Over and over I called out on the radio “Hicks, pick up,” “Hicks pick up the goddamn radio” but was met only by silence. The heavy Maglite illuminated my path forward as I followed a trail of blood left by Cammy. In the dark, the feeling of a forest path becomes almost infinitely liminal, feeling like you’ve traveled nowhere and for miles simultaneously.

A stretch of blood on the ground led me to the tell tale smell of wood burning and I came to find a campsite. I immediately turned away in abject disgust upon entering the perimeter as half a human torso was lying on the ground, it was mangled but the face of Josh was barley attached to the head. Tents were ripped and torn and at least one more body was lying prone with long claw marks raking its length with no sign of breath or life. Another was impaled on tree limbs above like it was thrown from the ground. Of the others I could see nothing. I pulled the rifle off my shoulder feeling like it was the one thing of control I had in the moment but I was nothing but terrified and each step was labored to take moving forward.

A twig snapped and I turned to face the direction of the sound, gun noticeably shaking my hands. “Hello?” I called out as if that was a great question in the situation. “Is anyone there?” From behind a tree a figure fell and thudded to the ground as I rushed over.

In the light of my flashlight the portly frame of Hicks was on the ground, bleeding from a large stab wound in his stomach. “Oh hell Hicks, what are you doing out here” as I pulled off my jacket trying to place it on his wound as he coughed up blood.

“I’m sorry Parsons, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop it. I followed them and tried to scare them off but I couldn’t stop them.”

“Stop what Hicks?” as I saw the extent of his wound which punched through seemingly to the other side. “What happened?”

“These idiots, they disturbed the it, they awoke it before I could contain it. I tried to stop them but I was too late, I can’t believe they found it. I’ve spent all this time up here trying to keep it hidden and I failed.”

“Hicks, you're not making any sense.”

“This forest is old, ancient old Parsons and a being lives here. It is primal wrath and anger and violence” coughing up more blood and trying desperately to point to something at the campsite. “The sigil there, it sealed it and they disturbed it just like the people before.” He grabbed my shirt and pulled me forward “it’s going to kill every human in this forest now that it’s free, you need to get out of here” as a clot of blood splattered out and Hicks’ breath stuttered to a halt as his eyes sank back with his body going limp.

I think I held Hicks’ lifeless body for a good twenty minutes before coming back into myself and finally laying him down on the ground. Finally standing up I walked to the area Hicks had pointed to in his last moments. The ground was rough and torn with dirt and leaves and sticks showered everywhere. Running my hands through the disturbed soil a stone effigy of a face was buried in the ground. As I ran my hands over it more of the stone carving presented itself. It was a carved face made of leaves. The visage was terrible and gave me revulsion upon viewing it. It cracked down the center as I tried to refocus on it as something was pooling out of the cracks. I touched it and pulled my fingers into the light to see fresh red blood oozing from the ground, like the forest itself was bleeding. My examination stopped when I heard a scream in the distance and darted away from the campsite towards the sound.

The scream I heard was human and I heard the telltale whimpering of someone in pain. I pushed through the forest brush trying to make my way towards the sounds and when I showed my light I saw one of the young girls from the group before, she was bloodied and crying in agony. I shouldered my rifle and tried to come to her aid. “Hold on, I’m coming” I called out.

The phrase reminded me to check if I still had any first aid supplies and the moment of hesitation saved my life. Claws the length of my arm slashed out in front of me slashing across my face as the girl had vanished and I fell backwards trying to regain my balance.

Looking back up a form stared down at me sharing the same look of the stone figure buried before. A face of leaves with eyes of burning ember shone out as if it peered into my very soul. The long bladed limbs slashed down at me as I rolled aside from the blow grabbing my rifle and wildly firing upwards. I’m no marksman and whether out of luck or skill a shot hit its face and the creature screamed an inhuman howl. I wasn’t going to press my luck and I ran, I ran as fast my legs could carry me dropping the rifle by accident but I couldn’t look back. I didn’t know where I was running in the dark as I just pushed forward, my heart pumping to the extreme with only the flashlight shining ahead.

I hit a tree as I ran and fell tripping over myself crashing into the dirt. Picking myself up I found I was in a clearing, one I had never seen in the woods before. All along the perimeter thick trees seemed to have grown to gargantuan proportions. On every tree there were faces, human faces that screamed in eternal agony encased in the bark of the massive trunks. There were hundreds, thousands, of faces all screaming to the empty darkness of the forest. Behind me I heard lumbering footsteps as the creature had found me. It moved in the darkness of the trees, wherever my light showed it faded and appeared elsewhere. It made not words but sounds that triggered something mnemonic in me, something in me from when the first mammals appeared on the planet. It was the sound of being hunted.

With nothing left to fight with I made my way through the trees with faces and into the deep forest yet again. Behind me, like a breath of death that clung to my neck I could feel the creature's claws closing in on me. Then I heard it, the sound of rotors.

Changing direction I darted over brush and bramble trying to get closer to the sounds. I heard my heart in my ears as I ran. With every step the rustle of leaves came closer. I didn’t even notice what had happened at first until I hit the ground. The adrenaline and shock kept me conscious before the searing pain of being cut across my back finally hit me. It was not just the pain of being cut open, of nerves and blood spraying forward. No, it was the feeling and violence as if such a thing could be quantified stabbing into me. Whatever the thing was wanted so hard for me not just to be cut, but to feel agony and it succeeded.

I fell and heard the rush of rotors and time seemed to stop for me. I was doomed now, I was so close to escape and it was all for not. The forest itself seemed to delight in my pain as if the blood cascading from my back nourished the ground floor succoring on the crimson ichor flowing from my body. My eyes blinked for a moment as suddenly the dark forest was illuminated. A flare. From where I could not see but the last thing my conscious mind remembered was seeing a person standing aiming a weapon at the thing behind me. My world faded into darkness.

****

I awoke in a hospital bed, my sense of time lost. My body was bandaged to the point I looked like I was about to receive a royal burial in a pyramid.

Over the next few days I was interviewed by the local police, the FBI, and I'm sure half a dozen other agencies who's questions I could give no answer to. I had learned the medical crew had found the girl Cammy in the watch station badly beat up but she appears to have survived though in a near catatonic state. The other members of The Deep Woods podcast were either dead or missing. The news media had a feast at the story with wild speculation but it was all chalked up to a bear attack as it had before. Of Iris there was no trace. The fire watcher was missing along with the others presumed to have been gotten by the wild bear.

A massive search and rescue was initiated but no survivors were found. When I was well enough to walk I went with a search party, their gaze on me hoped I had some further secrets to reveal. I took them first to the bloody campground to search for the stone face of leaves buried in the ground but it had disappeared. My fingers became bloody as I clawed into the dirt trying to find it to no success.

I then spent the next few weeks in the woods trying to find the clearing in the woods with the faces in trees. Every drone survey to guide said no such place existed. Eventually I was deemed broken, mad even. My explanations became more evidence it was just a bear attack because of their objective absurdity. I had become nothing more than a joke and the incident was slowly forgotten.

I was in the woods yesterday, staring into the dark thicket when I heard a voice. It was soft and calm and I followed it. I followed it to a clearing I did not recognize and in the center Iris stood. In her hand was an orange flare gun and her clothes were ripped and torn. Her hair was wreathed in leaves and her jaw was unhinged and slash marks were down her body. She stared at me with burning ember eyes, she stared at me with the rage and wrath of the forest.