Courtney gave a slight sarcastic chuckle,"Um, no thanks.If we start telling ghost stories Terrence will use that as grounds to pull more pranks.And I swear to God if he does I'll mace him."She said the last but in a irritable tone.
"Lighten up, Princess."Abby said mockingly.
"Oh, shut up."Courtney hissed at Abby.
"How about we all just sit quietly until Mark and James fix the generator."
Makaya said aloud.
Nobody said a word.
Suddenly Terrence's voice rang out from the top of the stairs,"Uhh we have a problem.I can't find Paulie."
Courtney rolled her eyes and Haley shifted around uncomfortably, then called out,"Terrence stop it.This isn't time for any games."
"It's not a game Haley,"Terrence called back in a totally serious tone,"I can't find him anywhere.His notebook was laying in the hallway, but I couldn't find him."

Terrence came walking hurriedly down the stairs.Makaya spoke up,"Could he have maybe tinkered with the generator as a prank of his own?"
Terrence responded,"Naw, he hates practical jokes, I found that out the hard way.I think he might be hiding or ran outside."

"What?Why?"Courtney demanded.
"He's absolutely terrified of dark rooms and houses.He legitimately will have a shock induced attack spell."Terrence replied.

"Oh, just great,"Courtney said irritated,"now we'll have to spend the rest of tonight looking for him and getting him to chill out."
"It's not that big a deal, he can't help it, besides, friends always try to help each other."Makaya replied back sharply.

"Look, I'm going up into the secondary upstairs hall and check all the rooms.You guys watch the stairs in case he gets by me, you might have to run him down."Terrence said turning back toward the stairs.

Hazel glowered into the darkness. This was getting ridiculous.

"I'll come with you." She stood up and went up the stairs. "I'd really rather not just be sitting around. Besides, I've got some quick reflexes. You saw."

After getting out of earshot, Hazel added quietly, "Besides, the sass levels downstairs are Olympic level. I can't compete."
She shined the flashlight and her phone down the darkened hallway. "Should we check all of the rooms in this hall again? I don't think it would make sense for him to run into another dark hallway if he's freaked out by the dark." Then again, she had no idea what kind of condition he had. They couldn't rule it out.

Terrence shined his phone light down the hall as they topped the stairs.
Suddenly a slamming sound could be heard from the bathroom.
Terrence motioned for Hazel to stay put and he moved toward the bathroom, and opened the door.
He stepped inside and left the door open behind him.
Not even a minute later Terrence called back,"I found him.He's locked himself in the bathroom closet."
A rattling could be heard, followed by Terrence's voice,"Come on man!Come out of there!It was just a blackout, chill out."
A loud sob, presumably from Paulie, could be heard, following another plead by Terrence,"Hey, look, I've got a light and Mark and James are heading to fix the generator.Open up and come out man!There's nothing here to hurt you!"

"No!"Screamed Paulie loudly from the closet.
Terrence sighed and stuck his head out and spoke to Hazel.
"Go tell them I found Paulie and that he's locked himself in the bathroom closet.Hes got his phone light on, I can see it under the door.Go on and tell them while I try to get this fool out."

"Here, another light might make him feel better." Hazel gave the flashlight to Terrance and turned around to go back down the stairs. She was grateful phone lights were so strong.

Once she made it back down the stairs, the new logs had gotten the fire up and roaring very nicely. The living room was cast in plenty of dim light between the fire and four phone lights, quickly joined by the fifth light of Hazel's phone.

"Paulie is in the bathroom closet. Terrance is trying to get him out. Not sure how well it's going to work, but he's trying. I left the flashlight with them in case it helps. Any sign from the boys yet?" She asked, looking to see if any new snow was tracked in.

"Nope."Abby said, leaned back against the couch next to Makaya, while Haley had taken up Mark's chair and Courtney was still stretched out on the couch.
________________________________________________________________________

"What the hell?"Mark gasped.

The generator sat in the small shed that was used to shield it from the elements.
Or at least it did.what was left of it and the shed lay in a big pile of wood and metal.
The shed and the generator both were completely demolished, nothing but rubble.
The wires leading up to the house from the generator were also cut in half, their was fuel from the demolished tank leaking out onto the the snow.
"W-was it a bear?"Asked James.
"Why would a bear demolish a generator, it's steel and smells like gasoline, not fish."Mark replied curtly.
"So what now?"Asked James.
"I-I..."Mark stuttered.
"Hey!"James snapped.
"I don't know!"Mark snarled back.
"Look, we need to get back inside and call the cops or somebody."James responded.
"No power and no phone service, professor."Mark replied irritably.

"W-"James was cut off by a loud Pow!.
Both of them jumped in shock, another Pow! rang out.
Gunshots.
Both of them turned and began sprinting with all they had back to the lodge.
Another shot rang out.
They rounded the corner and rushed up the front steps and bashed through the front door, slamming and locking and latching it behind them.

Hazel's head snapped toward the front door when the first sounds of shots came through. Muffled by the falling snow, she thought perhaps it was something else.

She jumped when it was followed by several more. James and Mark burst through the door, and she knew that it was exactly what she thought it sounded like.

"Terrance and Paulie are upstairs. Who the hell else is there to keep playing these stupid pranks?" Hazel snapped. Her temper was starting to flare. "They're probably just firing blanks trying to scare you away from the generator. Who else did you invite?"

Both guys were out of breath and slouched over.
However, on hearing Hazel's remarks, Mark straightened up and replied,"I'll have you know I invited exactly eight people.No more, no less.You, James, Terrence, Paulie, Haley, Courtney, Abby, and Makaya.You said Terrence and Paulie are upstairs, the rest of is are down here, so it's no one invited.
And las time I checked, destroying a power generator connected to an old lodge in the middle of Alaska isn't exactly a prank."He snapped.

James stood up and nodded, still breathing heavily, he spoke up,"He's telling the truth, the generator is smashed to bits, so's the shed, it looks like somebody run over it with a bulldozer.Theres no fixing it."

"Did I just hear you right?"Came Terrence's voice, they turned to see him coming down the stairs alone.
"The generators been smashed to pieces, it can't be fixed."Mark said to Terrence.
"B-but...how?"Stammered Courtney.
"Who would do that?"Asked Haley.
"Was it you?!"Courtney snapped nastily at Terrence.
Terrence threw his arms up and replied,"I was upstairs trying to get the nutcase out of the bathroom closet, which I failed to do, besides, do you really think I would do something like that, Courtney?"

"Well you've always been one for pranking people, Terrence."She replied, her voice shaky and her face red.
"Stop it,"Makaya said standing up,"accusing each other isn't going to get us anywhere, we need to get help, now."

"How?"Demanded Abby.

Pow!Pow!
Two more rapid shots rang out, they sounded like they were right out back.

The blood drained out of Hazel's face. If it wasn't someone he knew, then it was someone who meant to hurt them. If the generator was out, then they were going to freeze to death without help.

She ran through a checklist in her head- They each had a phone. She looked down to see what her charge was like. 70%. Good, but not full. They didn't need five lights, so she turned her flashlight off to keep the power usage down.

There was food, but no electricity to work the kitchen to cook it. There was wood for a fire, but she didn't know how much was outside. With the snow, it might be too wet to burn properly at first. They needed lanterns and flashlights, and a first aid kit and blankets-

The gunshots made Hazel whirl around. "They're not wasting bullets on nothing. What's back there that's worth destroying?" She asked Mark.

"N-n-nothing!,"Mark stammered,"the only thing back there was the generator.And it wasn't bullets that destroyed it.It was torn apart, like I said, with bullets all you would have to do is shoot the gas tank.Which at worst would blow it up, or just drain out the gasoline.And we never heard an explosion."

James spoke up,"I've got an idea, somebody take the dirt bike in the shed and go to Deadhorse for help.Or maybe the snowmobile."

Terrence shook his head,"Deadhorse is half an hour away by car, it would take an hour by snowmobile or dirt bike, provided you drove fast, and with these icey roads and the snowstorm you'd just crash and probably get killed.And you can't afford to go slow, not with a gun hand outside blasting away.Was he shooting at you two?"He asked the other two guys.

James shrugged,"We don't know,"he said,"all we heard was two gunshots and we took off running."

Just then a loud pounded came from the door and made everyone jump.
It was somebody knocking, fast and hard.
The pounded knock intensified and a hoarse voice could be heard outside the door,"Open up!"

Hazel looked down at her phone, trying to see what her reception was like in the dim light.

When the pounding started, she bit down on her lip, trying not to shriek. She didn't know why, it wasn't as if whoever it was didn't already know they were in there. The frustrating part was that it didn't matter if they looked out the window. It was too dark to see who it was.

"Where is the closest neighbor?"

"Five miles away."Mark said in a almost dead voice.

"I don't think it's anyone dangerous to us."James said in a low tone.
"Why?"Haley whispered loudly.
"They wouldn't just knock on the door.They'd just kick it in."James whispered back.

"Well let's see who it is."Terrence said.

The person pounded away again, rattling the whole door.
"Dammit, open up!"The hoarse voice called.

Mark rushed over to a nearby table with matching drawers, he opened up the left draw and pulled out a shiny, well polished .22 Pistol.
He popped open the firing cylinder, it was completely loaded with six bullets.
He popped off the safety and aimed it with both hands at the door.
"Terrence, open the door."

Terrence nodded and steadily walked up to the door, he turned to Mark, who nodded in confirmation.
Terrence grabbed the door handle and turned it.
The second the door handle clicked, the door suddenly crashed open into Terrence and sent him reeling backwards, although he caught himself before he collapsed.

In stepped a tall figure adorned in a heavy black snow jacket, khaki like trousers, tightly laced brown snow boots, and a ski mask and goggles to cover his face.

He carried a .375 Ruger African hunting rifle in his right hand.
"Hold on, stop right there."Mark commanded, aiming the pistol at the mystery man's face.

The man kicked the door shut with his left foot and hissed in a raspy voice at Mark,"Get that thing out of my face!"
He swung his left hand up surprisingly fast and slapped the pistol from Mark's hands and sent it flying across the living room.
It clattered to the floor and slid across it, stopping at the bottom step on the stairs.
The man raised his rifle, Mark and Terrence went stumbling back with their hands up.
They slowly backpedaled away from the door with their hands up and toward the living room area where the others all either stood or sat frozen at what they were seeing.
"Now, all of you,"the dark figure commanded,"have a seat.Let me say what Ive come to say."

Hazel didn't see any way out of doing what the man said. She glared at him, but moved to take a seat on the chair nearest to her. She wanted to say so many things.

If you only need to talk, then you don't need the gun.

Why'd you kill the generator?

Just shoot us already and get it over with.

All of those options, plus some of the other half formed thoughts whirling around in her head would have only caused aggravation. She didn't want to die, didn't want anyone else to get shot. She still hoped, really hoped, that this was some awful prank meant to scare everyone that Mark had put together beforehand. She didn't think it was, though, not after looking at Mark's face.

Everyone was sitting as the man had ordered.
Mark sat in his chair, while Courtney, James, Terrence, and Haley sat on the couch, and Abby and Makaya say on the floor in front of the couch.Hazel of course was sitting in her own chair.

The man reached up and slid his goggles down to his neck, and then he grabbed the top of his ski mask and pulled it off, it snapped together in a was as he pulled it from his head .

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He tucked the mask into his front right pocket.

"Who are you?"Mark asked.

The man looked to him, and spoke in his deathly raspy voice,"Amos Sokolov."

"Why are you here?What were you shooting at?Were you the one who fucked up our generator?"Mark snapped, his face flushing with anger.

"I'd suggest you watch your tone and language boy, show some respect.I don't much care for your attitude or you and your little friends trespassing on my land."The grizzly looking man sneered.
"Your land?"Mark scoffed.
"I'm sure that the Spinelli's would disagree."James chimed in.

The man snorted and replied,"Alright, I admit, this land doesn't belong to me no, but I can assure you also, this land sure as hell don't belong to the Spinelli's either.This land belongs to the Tartok."

"The what?"Courtney whispered.
"What the hells a Tartok?"James asked aloud.
"Ay' y'all let's here the man out."Terrance said.

Amos shouldered his rifle by it's strap and began speaking.
"This land is sacred land to the Inupiad natives of Alaska, and so is that mountain across the River, the one that the old sawmill sits at the base of, where that terrible tragedy back in the seventies occurred at.The mountains is called 'Dark Mountain', for the Inupiad legends say that evil spirits and wicked demons make their home in that mountain.The most dreaded of which is the Tartok.An evil spirit that has a hunger for human flesh and the ability to possess a human and seize their mind and will as well as their body.
Well I'm here to tell you this; it's no legend, this land is sacred, that mountain is an evil place, and the Tartok is as real as you and I are."

The man stopped to take a breath while everyone say frozen, unmoving in their seats, listening to this increasingly wild tale this strange man was telling.

He continued,"The Tartok preys upon the weak minded, they are easy pray for it.It enters their mind, and swirls around in their head like an evil fog, slowly driving them more and more insane.Once their minds are broken, it asserts itself and seizes total control of their form.It hunts down and slaughters any living creature, and feasts upon it raw.It has a favored taste toward the flesh of humans.Supposedly, consuming human flesh helps it sustain the body it is occupying, otherwise the powerful presence of this dark spirit would deteriorate the human body it presides in."

Amos nodded toward Mark and continued speaking,"You wanna' know what I was shooting at?It wasn't you two that's for sure.It was the Tartok.It was stalking you boys from nearby.I was up in a tree when I spotted it, it was already moving towards you from the cover of the trees.If I hadn't opened fire on it, you two would be dead right now."

Mark and James both were as pale as ghosts.
"That's right,"Amos stated,"it also destroyed your generator.It was attracted to the sound.When it realized that it wasn't live prey it destroyed it, so then it wouldn't be working and making noise to confuse it from the real thing."

"Your lying!"Courtney cried out, snuggling up close to James.
"No, I'm not."Anos replied.
"How do we know that?"Demanded Terrence.

A sneer crossed Amos's face,"Go outside and jog a lap around the house while singing 'Yankee Doodle'.If you make it back inside I promise not to say I told you so."He said nastily.

"Y-you mean..."Abby stuttered motioning to the door.

"Yes,"Amos said,"he's right outside.He was drawn in from all the noise of you kids' activities here today, along with all of your combined smells.Hes outside right now, stalking around."

Hazel was hit with a mess of mixed emotions.

One side of her, with her cultural heritage that included honoring the dead and the spirits in the land, held sympathy. So did the side that found value in native cultures and beliefs through history, their legends and mythology. Another side felt anger, thinking this man was in some way making a mockery of that culture. Another side felt just nervous enough about the man with the gun to want to go along with it, whether he was telling the truth or not. If he was telling the truth, well... that would be really horrible. And if he wasn't, he was unstable and likely to shoot. Neither of those options sounded good to her.

"Alright, so we stay inside, stay together, and do what? Call the police? If what you're saying is true, it would just possess them. We can't very well mask our scents entirely. And why hasn't this thing come out here before?" Hazel looked to Mark. "Has your family ever had problems like this before? I can't imagine this is the first time you've ever stayed out here."

Mark, half frozen with shock at the idea of nearly being eaten alive, took a minute to finally respond to Hazel,"N-no.This is my first time coming here alone.Every other time i-it's been me, mom, and....d-dad.We never knew anything about this.We've never ever heard something like this t-this bef-before."

Amos spoke up again,"The Tartok only hunts at night, from sunset to sunrise.It also can only possess one form at a time.So right now, with the spirit confined within the foreman's body it poses no danger along the lines of possessing others.Only devouring them.As for how to hide yourself from it, well, that's both simple and complicated at the same time.The Tartok's scent and hearing are like that of a wolf or a bear, very enhanced.
It can hear a squeaking floorboard in another room and pick up your scent over a hundred yards away, trust me, I know.Its vision is weaker however.It relies on motion and heat signatures both at once.So there's no use in trying to trick it with a bonfire or a moving manican."

"How do you know all of this?"Makaya asked.

"Because,"Amos replied,"I've been tracking the thing for thirty-five years now.I won't rest until I've destroyed it.

"Why?"Asked Terrence.

"Personal reasons, plus, that thing has murdered a lot of people these past forty years just to satisfy it's dark craving for human flesh.It must be destroyed, so that the evil spirit will return to Dark Mountain."

Hazel narrowed her eyes at the man. She didn't trust him. but she couldn't put her finger on why. Lots of possibilities were running through her mind, each one more far fetched than the last.

But this whole thing was pretty far fetched. Like something out of a horror movie.

"So what is it you've done to avoid getting eaten by the Tartok? I think that would be important information to share with us if you intend to help us get through the night. I'd also like some kind of assurance that you're not possessed by it and just trying to trick us. I mean, let's be honest, the only threat we've really seen so far if the guy with the gun forcing his way into the house."

Amos immediately responded,"Trust me, I'm not.Im far to handsome and linguistic to be the Tartok.The Tartok itself looks like a half rotted corpse, since that's what it is.A mindless un-sustained cadaver housing an evil spirit that controls the body itself.It cannot talk, it has no emotions, no lingering sense of humanity, no empathy nor morality.Its a demon possessed shell."

Amos pulled a small book from his back pocket, and began madly flipping through the pages till he found what he was looking for.

"Here."He said, holding the book out for them all to see, it was a sketch of the Tartok.

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"Jesus..."James muttered.
Courtney and Haley both grabbed their mouths in fear while Makaya was forced to look away.
"That thing is outside right now?"Mark asked, now paler than ever.

Amos nodded and continued speaking as they looked,"I've used a number of self taught techniques to elude the beast when on the defensive end, and help from my brother, my former partner."

"Former?"Terrence asked, though he already knew what the man meant.

Amos simply nodded.

Hazel put her head between her knees and her hands on the back of her head. It was what she had been taught to do when she was nauseated as a child. That image definitely made her feel nauseated. She listened quietly, focusing on her breathing.

"Are you the only person who hunts it then? No one else believes in it?" It didn't seem like a question that really needed answering. She couldn't really believe it herself.

Hazel looked to Mark and on to Terrance.

"I think we need to try to get Paulie out of the closet again. It's going to be hard to explain all of this over." She stood up. I can try to help bring him out? Or maybe Abby?" Hazel felt weird suggesting it, but Abby was the only thing that anyone indicated Paulie liked. It was worth a shot, maybe?

"Come on Abby, we'll go get him."Terrence said.
Abby nodded meekly, she rose from the floor and followed Terrence who was already heading up the stairs.

"Who are they going after?"Amos asked.

"Paulie, our other friend."Haley said.
"Why is he upstairs?"Amos demanded.

Mark explained about Paulie and his mental based eccentrics, listing off and revealing for the first time to Hazel that Paulie had ADD, Aspergers, Bipolarism, Elevated Anxiety, Depressive Flashes, and anger management to boot.
It was noticeable that with each condition Mark listed, Amos's face grew more and more grave.
"Dammit,"he hissed,"well, we'll worry about that when it becomes a reality?"
"What does that mean?"Makaya demanded.
Amos simply responded,"The Tartok only preys on the weak minded, people like your friend.Meaning that if we destroy the creature, the spirit will be free and searching for a new host.By bringing him up here you've provided it with a new host for when it's current body is destroyed."

"What!?"Squeaked Haley.
The others were all deathly silent.

"We've got a problem."Came Terrence's voice.
"Paulie's gone!"Abby yelled down as she ran up to the railing.

Terrence stepped up beside her and called down,"The bathroom window was wide open.Looks like he opened it and jumped down outside."

"How do we protect ourselves?" Hazel demanded, turning to face Amos. "You haven't told us yet. We have to know."

This whole thing was so messed up. Hazel was beginning to think she was in a dream. Was it normal for your hands and feet to get so cold when you were facing a flesh eating monster? She wasn't sure. "There are so many of us, we should be able to keep each other safe. Safety in numbers and everything." She walked past Amos to her boots by the door. If it was going to be this cold and getting colder all night, she wanted them on. Especially if anything might force her outside.

"And I suggest we all get bundled up in what we can. I'll have to go upstairs to get my stuff."