Pierce watched the hills of the Appalachian mountains approach as he looked out the window of the bus the school had rented. It was gorgeous; the hills were covered in trees, and Fall was beginning, giving the eye a pattern of greens, oranges, and golds. He sighed, wondering how much it would cost to live up here. He'd loved nature since he was a little kid. His dad had taken him white water rafting right by here almost ten years ago, but he could still feel the spray on his face.

  He wondered if the place they were heading to had any whitewater rafting opportunities. It had been forever; maybe he could convince Fiona to go with him. He sighed. Come on, man. You just got out of a relationship. Let it lie for a while. He shook himself and shifted the tweed jacket from on top of his bag. Of course, his mother had bought it for him and said it would keep him warm. He sighed again.

  He could practically hear his resident class clown Nate say, "Mr Adams, I think you need to join the 21st century, given you dress like a library book."

  "Thanks, Nate." Pierce said inwardly, "I'm glad a stand-up gentleman like yourself has made many lengthy contributions to society."

  Pierce sank in his seat and broke out the beef empanadas he had fried last night, with sides of collard greens and a chimichurri dipping sauce. Say what you will, but he could still whip up a solid meal. As Grace once said, it was his leading redeemable quality, although it now had a slightly different meaning.

  He initially believed she was joking around with him, but given the whole thing about sleeping with his best friend, she meant it more than he had thought. He picked up one of the empanadas and dipped it into the Argentinian sauce, remembering the first time he had one at his childhood friend’s house. Having not eaten since early this morning, he devoured the rest, collected the trash, put it in the ziplock container, and put it back in his bag. A paper was sticking out, and Pierce picked up the brochure the HR rep named Ms.Garcia had handed them as they left. He'd forgotten about this and gave it a quick scan.

  Horace Overlook is an excellent venue for group bonding and personal development. We welcome individuals from diverse backgrounds to engage in our wide range of activities, such as spa treatments, ropes courses, and the beautiful outdoor trails that traverse our property. You won't regret choosing Horace, and we look forward to seeing you in the future.

  He looked through the pages of activities and noted some attractive options: trail hikes, wood craft classes, and maybe the spa as well—it was long overdue for some relaxation. He heard Grace laugh from the front of the bus and saw Dean and her messing around and chatting about some stupid movie or book. He had once laughed along with Grace, talking about upcoming plans, who was coming for Thanksgiving, and so on. Now, it seemed that was their thing. He returned to the brochure and flipped through, trying to find a whitewater rafting section. The place appeared to have none, so Pierce sought another distraction.

  Looking across the aisle, Pierce saw Fiona reading a book. She was a colleague of Pierce's, and they had a good working relationship. If Pierce was honest, he found her very intelligent and quite pretty. He whispered across the aisle and said, "Hey, Fiona, do you know how long we have until we get to the retreat?" She looked up at him with her light brown hair slightly askew. She had held it behind her ear as she was reading, and her blue-gray eyes gave him a disgruntled look as she said, " I think about twenty minutes. I just talked to Principal Howard, and he told me thirty minutes ten minutes ago, so yeah. Now, could you leave me alone? I want to finish this chapter; the main character just made friends with a demon while wearing a dress, and I like the look of this book already."

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Alright, fine," Pierce chuckled. That did sound entertaining.

  The rest of the time on the road flew past, and Pierce occupied himself with daydreaming and admiring the landscape when they finally arrived at the front portico of the hotel. Pierce gathered his belongings and helped Fiona grab her suitcase from the rack above her. She thanked him, and they got into the line, exiting the bus with the two most incredible people ever leading the front, Grace and Dean. He prayed to any god that would listen not to get a room near theirs. Knowing his luck, he would likely share a room with them. The line moved forward, and they all disembarked into the sunlight of a slightly chilled afternoon.

  Principal Howard gestured for everyone to form a half-moon around him as he spoke, " Hey folks, hope the journey was good, and I hope you are all well this afternoon—just a couple of housekeeping things to get out of the way. First, room assignments are random, so do not expect to be with anyone except the partner you brought on this journey. Second, if there are any problems with your room or anything going on with amenities, please get in touch with me or the front desk, and we will try to resolve it -- but don't try to bother me too much." he flashed a crooked smile."Now, let's all have a little fun, shall we?"

  Everyone moved into the lobby and admired the modernist touches throughout. It had a delightfully cozy feeling, with some apparent Victorian inspiration. After Principal Howard got the block of rooms and sorted out the keys, the teachers set off for their rooms to settle in.

  Pierce found his room, numbered 112 in big brass numbers, and unlocked the door to a spacious interior, complete with a bathroom and a queen bed with all the expected amenities. He opened a sliding door onto a little patio and breathed in the fresh air. This beat a classroom's air conditioning any day of the week. He unpacked and went downstairs to find someone to point him toward the trail hike starting spots. He was desperate to move his legs after sitting for an hour and a half.

  He was 6'0 and weighed in at about 190 pounds, which didn't put him in the incredibly muscular category, but he kept up with running and working out occasionally. Pierce wouldn't say he was fit but had a strong foundation. The front desk worker, a tall young woman in a pantsuit with a name tag that read April, gave a bright smile and pointed him toward a set of stairs outside leading down to a couple of trailheads. He decided he was going to take the trail labeled as the Copperhead Trail, given it was a loop, and he could make it longer if he wanted to. So he started down it, admiring the foliage and sounds of wildlife as he went. At one point, he saw a deer cross the trail and bound up the slope.

  He felt at home in this environment. He had always talked to his ex-best friend Dean about settling in a forest, building a log cabin in the middle of nowhere, and hopefully bringing a significant other. He shook his head as he realized he had put his then-girlfriend Grace in that position. But he supposed that was just the romantic in him. Now, though, it felt like a part of him had broken off after that relationship had ended. 4 years together and for what? That dream had petered out with the realization that she didn't love him anymore. Dragging himself out of his melancholy thought process, he wandered deeper along the trail till he came upon a crossroads. The path down the right looked less traveled, but he supposed this was the extended loop you could take if you wanted to. He decided that he did want to and took the sloping path down toward what looked like a bit of a clearing.

  The afternoon quickly turned to mid-evening as Pierce winded down the hill, less convinced about his chosen path as the light shining through the trees darkened around him. He sighed, thinking he should probably turn around, when he saw something move behind him out of the corner of his eye.

  "Who's there? I promise that I know some extraordinary skills to kick your ass if you jump me."

  He got no response; well, this is just great. He knew nothing extraordinary except for a great recipe for these cheesy potatoes, which the French called au gratin. His mouth watered, and he refocused on the task at hand. It was probably just a squirrel or something, right? There's no way it would be a giant bobcat that would be too unlucky. Consoling himself, he turned back around to trudge back up the hill, and that's when the giant scaly head sunk two teeth into his arm.

  "Oh fuck."