The Cabin

Others Stories | Mar 1, 2016 | 4 min read
44 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
A cold wind blew around the darkened cabin, the only light coming from the small fire. Max was able to get lit in the fireplace. Stella was hunched down in front of the fire, sitting on a wobbly stool. She pulled her coat around her tighter.

Max walked from window to window, straining to look round. The full moon offered some light. The limbs of the surrounding trees waved in the wind, some bowing and scratching the roof of the cabin.

He looked over at his wife. She wasn't moving or talking. The hiking trip had been her idea and he had been enjoying the brisk hike until the noises began.
Shouts and guttural noises suddenly surrounded them, but what or who was making the noises was unknown. They were spooked and had plundered into the woods, lost, until they ran into the cabin.

"Stella are you okay?" Max asked in a low voice. The only answer was a nod of her head.
"What were those noises and yells?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"I don't know, but I wonder if it wasn't a bunch of kids with some sort of electronic gizmo trying to scare people." He offered.
"It worked." she said flatly.

Max had just about convinced himself that he had the right idea when he heard a noise that wasn't the wind. Gooseflesh popped out on his body. It was moans and the sound of men talking and even the neighing of horses. He went to the window and looked out, but he saw nothing. Stella had left her stool and had slipped up behind him, looking over his shoulder.

"Can you see anything?" She asked with a quiver in her voice.
"Not yet, but it's getting louder." He said and felt her hand squeeze into his arm. She didn't let go until he wheeled and began to search the room.
"What are you doing?" She squealed.
"Looking for a weapon." He answered. She began to look too, but all he could find was a piece of old wood that wouldn't last but for one hit.

Suddenly, he heard a bush breaking and the voice of someone giving an order to halt. He looked at Stella. Soldiers? Had someone known they were lost and sent someone looking for them. Cautiously they moved as one to the window and looked out. He felt the scream that was about to issue forth from his wife and turned just in time to clamp his hand over the mouth and pull her down to the floor. The urge to scream was rising in his chest but he pushed it down. He hadn't really seen what he thought he saw. Couldn't have, but looking at Stella's face he had seen as she had. He put a finger to his lips and indicated for her to remain still. Hunching down, he duck walked to the window and carefully looked out. His mouth went dry as his eyes looked at the horror outside.

"Max?" Stella whispered. He waved his hand for her to be quite, but in a moment he felt her at his back.
"They are soldiers, Stella. Confederate soldiers." He whispered.
"What?"
"Yes, Confederate soldiers."
"Oh Max, maybe they're re-enactors." She sounded relieved.
"I don't think so Stella." he said slowly and in a hushed tone. "Look."
She looked as he directed and gasped, then hid her face in his chest, shaking. He peeked back out the window, holding his wife.

He watched as a man on a horse gave orders. There were soldiers on foot who were carrying other soldiers that looked to be either mortally wounded or dead. Some were missing hands, legs, or massive pieces of their bodies. The dead were laid side by side. The wounded ones that still lived were moaning or screaming. Soldiers surrounded the cabin.

"Max, it's a hallucination, please tell me so."
"Well I know their not real." Was all he could offer.
"Are we going to die?" She asked, but he left the question unanswered.

The soldier on the horse got down and walked among the men. He gave a sign and a group of ten soldiers began to dig graves and one by one the dead were laid in the newly dug graves. Then slowly the mortally wounded began to die, some screaming out in agony as they took their last breath. As life left their bodies, they were laid beside their comrades. When the last one was in the ground, the soldiers gathered together and marched towards the cabin.

Max grabbed Stella by her coat and pulled her to the corner next to the fireplace. He placed himself between her and the room. Her body trembled violently now. He heard the sound of boots as the soldiers stepped on the porch. He waited for the door to crash open, but instead the sound of boots and the clip clop of the horse continued, but instead of the door crashing open, the large black horse passed through the door and walked on until he passed through the outer wall on the other side. Foot soldiers followed, five in a row, shoulder to shoulder, rifles on each shoulder. Each soldier passed by, looking straight ahead, following the officer on the horse.

Max breathed a sigh as the last few men passed by. Maybe they hadn't seen them he thought, but just as the thought was gone, he saw the last of the soldiers, turn and lift their hand to their ragged cap and then hurried to catch up.

After a few minutes, his shaking had calmed down just a bit. They stayed in the corner, wide awake, until the first light of day. Then with a mutual consent they slipped out the door headed back through the woods until they found a ranger, who guided them back to their car.

"Hope you guys are okay, you know, with spending the night out there?" The ranger asked, nodding his head in the direction from where they had come from.
"Yeah, we're fine. We found an old cabin and stayed their last night." He answered, but he didn't mention the activities of the night.
"Oh yeah , the old cabin." The ranger sighed. "Yep, that cabin is supposed to be torn down soon, you know." He continued. "The man that built it over an old civil war cemetery, you know."

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