Chapter 2: Do you Copy?

September 13th - 7:33pm - Forest

The Eds cycled for hours and hours, their enthusiasm to find the red-haired girl that stole their Butterfly got through most of their journey in a considerable amount of time, but unfortunately, Ed began to grow exhausted from all the peddling. They did have some snacks and drinks for lunch, and enough money to have dinner at a local burger joint, which gave Ed the energy he needed to proceed, but regardless, it was growing too dark to continue. Double D unfortunately forgot to bring a sleeping bag or any camping gear, he felt foolish, but thankfully Ed came surprisingly prepared, which Double D was grateful, but felt even more foolish that Ed came more prepared than he did.

The three made a small campfire, pitched up a large tent, and the three sat around the campfire with some marshmallows, the three began to chat about their times together before high school, and laughing at all of them.

"Hey." Eddy continued. "Remember that time you tried to make us well mannered?"

"And you chased us off with broccoli!" said Ed.

Double D laughed. "Yeah! Big mistake that was!"

"Yeah, and look at yourself, now you seem just as rebellious than us, especially with your choice of music." Eddy added.

"I wouldn't go that far." Double D shrugged. "But I have enjoyed my new slightly altered lifestyle."

Ed sniggered. "I just remembered something I forgot. Remember when you tried to fight Jimmy for attention by getting yourself hurt?"

Eddy and Double D laughed. "Yeah!" Eddy exclaimed. "You dropped a house on me! What did you say again?"

Ed scratched his chin. "Oh yeah, it was Lots of Hurt, Hold the Onions!"

The Eds began to laugh again. "We really did go through so much stuff we can laugh at now." Said Double D. "I just remembered that time we all betted to see which of us could keep from doing our annoying habits the most."

"Oh yeah, you saying long words, me being loud and Ed eating gravy." Said Eddy. "I was so close to winning that one!"

"We had a lot of fun memories that spanned many seasons." Said Ed. He soon frowned a bit. "I… I miss those days."

Eddy and Double D soon sigh in unison. "Agreed. Ironically, life felt simpler when we were more chaotic."

"Yeah, now we're doing boring grown-up stuff." Eddy soon slumps onto his back. "I know I said it already, but I miss when we used to do scams."

"I know, but we all agreed to earn money legitimately." Said Double D.

"It's… it's not even about the money… well not all of it… we spent our entire lives doing them. It feels like we lost a part of ourselves when we finally stopped doing them."

Double D sighed. "You... you're absolutely right… it was something we all did together… every day since we were toddlers."

"Agreed. I'm happy we're not being hunted by the other kids anymore… but… it does feel empty." Said Ed. He then dug into his pocket, but went bug-eyed when he realised it was empty, he pulled the inside out and looked. "Uh-Oh."

"What's wrong?" Double D asked as Eddy sat back up properly.

"I left my phone at home."

"Oh dear. How will you contact your family?" asked Double D.

"Yelling really loudly?"

"Let's not." Eddy shrugged. "Look, we'll just stick together, besides, if your phone is at home, then it's safe."

Meanwhile Sarah and Jimmy are in Ed's room using his phone to repost NSFW related while the two giggled.

"Naughty, Naughty Big Brother!"

September 13th - 8:24pm - Forest

The trio went quiet, they finally ran out of things to talk about, and they were getting tired, it was all the time to eventually head to bed, but the three insisted on staying up for a little longer.

Ed sat using his knees as a support for his sketch pad he held horizontally, he poked the pencil against his forehead as he looked around, trying to find inspiration for his monster designs, he noticed a few crows and thought about a bird monster, but remembered about the Curse of Evil Tim and declined going further with it.

Double D was lying on the grass with his iPod on, he watched the night sky, while having some slower paced rock music playing, he was trying to recall when he got into the genre and his phase specifically, but he just can't remember how. Soon he was distracted by his song changing, and it was a new singer.

The singer was called Dawn McCornick, a new up-and-coming punk rock star, most of her songs were covers, but some of her original songs were really good. She was a teenager like them too, which might have been part of Double D's inspiration to get into rock, but again, he can't remember.

He soon drifts towards the blank book and butterfly he was given; he still couldn't believe what was going on with it, and he wish he could understand the meaning behind this insane mystery. He soon dug into his bag next to him to take a look at the blank book, he flipped through the pages to try and find anything, but as far as he could see, there was nothing at all. He sighed as he placed it back in his bag.

Eddy leaned against a tree, fiddling with his padlock and lockpicks again, that was until he got a ping from his phone, he then took it out to have a look. It was a text from Kevin.

Kevin- Yo! Just found out about Double D's house being robbed, you ok?

Eddy looked at the other two Eds, then texted back. He didn't wanna give away all the details, but as a friend, Kevin deserved to know the truth.

Eddy- Some chump stole a valuable jewel, meant a lot to Double D, we left to go find her.

Kevin- Why didn't you tell me? I would've come with ya?

Eddy- We kinda panicked and just left on a whim. Don't worry, you know what we Eds are like together.

Kevin- True. Alright, I'll cover for you for our games, find that chump and kick her butt for me.

Eddy responded with a thumbs up icon. He then placed his phone back in his pocket. He began to think just how bizarre being friends with Kevin. He soon sniggered, getting Ed and Double D's attention.

"Hey, remember when we tried to be Kevin's friend just to get to his Jawbreaker Garage?"

Ed and Double D laughed. "Yeah, shame you two finally became friends when he didn't have 'em anymore." Said Double D.

"Yeah! Rotten timing." Eddy soon shrugged. "But whatever, Shovel-Chin's pretty cool once you get to know him."

Soon they were interrupted by the sound of a vehicle, the trio all looked to the right to see a series of lights peeking past the bushes that blocked their vision. The Eds all looked at each other, then decided to go check it out. The three leaned behind said bush to see a road, and a squarish black car, it had a similar shape to a limousine but was a regular sized car, none of them recognised the brand, it had just come to a stop, with the driver stepping out.

"Sorry boss. Can't hold it in for any longer." Said the driver as he immediately ran for the bushes on the opposite side to them. Another man in the passenger seat stayed where he was, he looked a bit like a bouncer with his uniform and sunglasses.

At that point, the man in the back seat opened the door and stepped outside. He was a tall lanky man in a white suit, he had a long nose, beady eyes behind a pair of thick square golden coloured glasses and short black hair, he had a very calm and serious look to him. This man began to stretch his legs and back, before taking his phone out of his pocket and looking at it, presumably web surfing or texting.

The Eds looked at this strange skinny man with confusion, they've never seen anyone like him before, yet there he was a strange combination of strange, goofy, yet incredibly intimidating. But the Eds jumped the moment this man turned his beady eyes towards them, as if he knew they were there from the beginning.

"Uh… hello?" Double D asked feeling quite intimidated by this man.

This man soon put his phone back in his pocket, and turned to face them properly, and said in a very deliberate tone.

"There's a Lookout tower half a mile behind you. It's been long since abandoned. But it's still functional… There are two people lost in these woods, they could use your assistance… and beware of the one who can mimic the sound of people."

"Huh?" All three said in unison.

The man soon turned back to his car where he saw the driver returning. "Alright, all done." He soon notices the kids. "Uh, who are they?"

"Don't mind them Jarvis." Said the man. "They're just campers, let's resume." He then got back into the car. The driver soon did as well after taking one more glance at the kids, he got back in and soon the car drove off, leaving the Eds watching in silence.

"That reminded me of Davey the Tallest Ghost from the City of People who are Dead from the Neck Up." Said Ed.

The two Eds look at him confused before turning back to each other. "Ignore him. So, what the heck was that about?" asked Eddy. "First the extremely valuable butterfly, then that crazy red-haired chick, and now some bird-looking dork telling us about a Lookout tower?"

"It's strange needless to say." Double D responded. He then looked behind him, looking past the tent and into the woods beyond. "But if what that man said is true, two people are lost in the woods, they could need our help."

"Yeah, but what about this thing that can mimic voices? What kinda horror movie whack is that?"

Ed shivered. "Maybe it's the shapeshifter!"

Double D rubbed his chin for a moment, before looking back into the deeper parts of the woods, then back to the Eds. "Either way… as farfetched as it sounds-"

"You mean Sirfetched?" asked Ed.

"No. But I think maybe we should actually check out this lookout tower? Just in case. I doubt that red-haired girl is what that man was referring to, but we should see if people do need our help."

Eddy looked back at the deeper part of the woods, then back to Double D and sighed. "I don't like this, but whatever, we've been through enough strange stuff, might as well keep going, we can at least campout in their instead, probably warmer." He then turned to Ed. "Come on Lumpy."

"Right-o!"

The three then began to unset their camping gear, put out the campfire, before making their way deeper into the woods. Double D only hoped they weren't being tricked into a deadly trap.

September 13th - 8:57pm – Forest, Lookout tower

There they saw it. It was indeed an old lookout tower, it stood incredibly high in the sky, but looked old and decrepit, the Eds looked around and found no one at all, just the various sounds of birds and crickets, and the moon hanging in the night sky.

"Creepy." Said Eddy, looking back up at the lookout tower.

"But if there's a lookout tower, then this place must be a wildlife park." Said Double D. "Or… used to be one."

Ed looked at the lookout tower's top, and then left and right to Eddy and Double D. "So… we going in?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Hesitantly, the Eds began to climb the stairs leading up to the lookout tower, the stairs creaked loudly with every step, they even bent slightly under their weight, like it could collapse at any minute, but didn't. Every step felt longer than it should have, both from how high the journey was, and their hesitancy to continue to climb this tower. As they got halfway, Eddy looked over the side and felt a case of vertigo, he wasn't used to high altitudes anymore, so he shook his head and continued his trek.

Finally, the Eds made it to the top and were greeted by singular wooden door, it was slightly ajar, so it meant it wasn't locked, Ed reached for the door handle and gently pushed the door open with a slow creaking noise, and there they were introduced to the scene.

The interior had a few bookshelves, another door leading to the banister outside, a couple cracked windows, a long table with a typewriter on it, an old bed, and a small stove. Interestingly enough there was also a large map embedded on the wall, showing the entire forest, giving the impression this place really used to be a wildlife park of some sort, there were also several pictures and notes pinned to a corkboard on the wall, and finally, there was a small radio with a microphone of sorts attached to it, and next to it was a phone, it looked newer compared to the other stuff, it could actually work for modern cell phones.

As they all stepped in and looked around, it didn't appear as intimidating as the climb itself, it really just looked like it was abandoned for years, here was a bizarre coziness to it, even though it was cold.

Double D closed the door behind him and turned the diel to lock it, meanwhile, Eddy dumped his bag into the corner and looked around, taking notice of a portable heater that was plugged in. Meanwhile, Ed began to examine the pictures and notes on the corkboard.

Double D then placed his bag on the bed and stepped into the banister outside to look at the forest, they were approximately a hundred and twenty feet high, so they towered over most of the trees no problem, they could even see the lake, bits and pieces of the city, which if his navigation skills were on point, it should be Tech Square, their destination, finally, he could also see other lookout towers, about eight of them, sprinkled around the forest. This made sense, parks needed plenty of lookout towers so there was no place a park ranger couldn't get to in time, in case of a fire, crimes, or wild animal attacks.

He soon jumped at the sound of a small electrical zap, he turned to see Eddy jumping back from the plugs he just turned on. But soon, the heater began to light up and the room began to get warmer quickly.

"Good, we can camp here at least." Said Eddy as he placed his hands out in front of the heater, Double D and Ed walked up to it and did the same, enjoying the nice cozy heat it provided.

"Still though, I'm surprised that strange man knew it still worked, but where are the people we need to help?"

"Beats me, but we can at least camp out here." Eddy soon remembered about that thing that can mimic voices, and after the horror movie marathon they tried to watch, in addition to the attractive yet scary girl that managed to break into Double D's house, the paranoia got to him. He looked over to the front door and saw the lock was on. He then looked to the other door leading to the banister outside. "But close that door and lock it."

Double D walked up to the door and closed it, but there was no lock. "Um, there's no way to lock it."

"I got an idea." Ed soon walked up to the bookshelf, lifted it up like it was nothing, then placed it in front of the door. "Done."

"Nice one Ed." said Eddy. "Alright, whether anyone's gonna want our help or not, let's just chill here for the night."

September 13th - 9:23pm – Forest, Lookout tower

With the heater on, the Eds have made themselves comfortable, once it felt very intimidating to be in it, now it felt like another home. With the wind's gentle breeze, the clear night sky, the sound of birds, and them feeling very secure thanks to one door being locked and the other barricaded, however, none of them could sleep, because of what the strange man said about the people they would help, and supposedly something that could mimic voices, in a way, they still felt on edge because they supposedly have a monster about, but they at least felt secure enough to be safe.

Double D got the stove working properly, and there was a sink with running water, so he was able to clean out the kettle and prepare some hot chocolate, something he felt glad he brought with him. He had his iPod on, but only one headphone was in, and he had it at a low enough volume to hear everything around him.

Eddy was in the middle of the room, he was practising his pitching and bat swinging, although he didn't feel super motivated for baseball as a whole, he still took it seriously and felt to at least practise while he was sitting in this one room bored, he would've fiddled with the lockpicks, but he felt practising his baseball moves was better overall. Plus, he knew Kevin would train him extra hard when he got back, so it felt like a good idea to practise.

Ed was staring at the corkboard with his sketch pad in one hand, and a pencil in the other, he was studying the pictures and notes, for the first time, learning felt like a lot of fun. The notes and pictures depicted a mysterious urban legend called the Goatman. From what Ed was able to process, this Goatman appeared some time ago and was causing chaos around the wildlife park, to the point where it was forced to be shut down, the previous owner of the lookout tower must've been studying this creature, and from what he was able to gather, it had the ability to mimic the voices it could hear to lure unsuspecting prey to its direction.

The images depicted a tall slim, yet muscular and hairy man with a head that resembled the freakish blend of human and goat, while also having twisted branch-like antlers, and thick furry legs with goat-like hooves.

This fascinated Ed, he read so many comic book monsters, watched so many horror movie monsters, but he's never heard of a Goatman, and Goatman was supposedly real, a real monster, he began to feel inspired once again, as he was copying the images he saw on the corkboard, while trying to make alterations to some of them to try and spark his creativity more, trying larger horns, a more goat-like head, multiple arms, a scorpion tail, and so on.

Soon everyone was interrupted by the sound of ringing, they all jumped and turned to see it was the phone. All of them looked to each other and back to the phone. Eddy then walked up to it and pressed the button next to the phone to answer it in speaker.

"Hello?" asked Eddy.

"H-Hello!? Is this Tower Five!?" asked what sounded like a man, but the phone made it sound slightly distorted.

Eddy looks back to Ed and Double D, they both shrug. Eddy turns back to them. "Uh, yeah! This is Tower Five!"

"Oh good! Listen! We need help! Something is chasing us! And we need to get to you!"

"Please hurry! We don't know where we are exactly!" said what sounded like a woman, but again, the phone's age made it sound distorted slightly.

Double D looks over to the map, then immediately runs to the phone. "Ok. Listen carefully. We have a map of the entire park in the tower, describe everything you see so we can get an idea."

"Alright." Said the man.

Double D then immediately ran to the map to study it. Eddy took a deep breath and readied himself for anything, while Ed began to look out the window, trying to see if there's anything odd, perhaps even the Goatman, or the shapeshifter.

The phone spoke up again. "I… I can't see any characteristics I can point out, it's just trees everywhere!" said the man.

Double D crossed his arms. "Damnit." He muttered. "We gotta do something." Soon it clicked, he recalled about how lookout towers often have signal lights, for either morse code or to serve as beacons, or spotlighting any criminals. "That's it." He ran to the window of the backdoor and saw that were was actually a massive search light. He then turned to Ed. "Ed, unbarricade the door!"

"B-But the Goatman!"

"Goat-what? No, forget it, just please do it!"

Ed hesitated but moved the bookshelf away from the door, Eddy looked and felt scared that they were breaking away their security, until he noticed Double D pulling down on a lever and a massive light shone out.

He freaked out more. "Wait! If you leave that on, whatever's out there might come to us!"

"I know, but they need our help!" said Double D from outside the lookout.

"H-Hey! We see a light!" said the woman. "Is that you!?"

Eddy turned back to the phone, realising what Double D meant. "Yeah, we got a light on, but we can't keep it on forever! Track where it is, and we'll see you there!"

"Got it, and thanks!" said the man. The phone went silent then.

Eddy turned back to Double D. "Shut the light off, they know where it is now!"

Double D nods, he shuts down the light, runs back into the lookout, and Ed quickly puts the bookshelf back in front of the door. He then makes his way to the phone. "Do you know what's chasing you?"

"We don't know." Said the woman, as if trying to sound a bit quieter. "But it was huge and had red eyes."

"Alright, we'll keep in touch. We can't keep using the light, in case whatever was chasing you, comes to us too."

Eddy soon walked away from the phone and began to worry. "Just what the hell is that thing?"

Ed soon pointed to the corkboard. "The Goatman!"

"The what!?"

Eddy and Double D walk up to the corkboard and examine it. There they saw everything that Ed was studying since they arrived and saw how it looked and how it had the ability to mimic voices.

"Oh boy…" said Eddy, the look of fear was all over his face. "S-So wait! What if they're the Goatman, and it's just mimicking two voices!?"

"Eddy. The Goatman isn't real." Said Double D. "It's just a myth, there's no scientific explanation for this."

"Um… can science explain this?" asked Ed, looking pale, as he pointed his finger against the window. The two look over, and there they saw something that made their blood run cold.

Despite the distance, it was clearly visible, it was a pair of soul piercing red eyes that looked directly at them from what looked to be a few miles away, they were bright and glowing, as if they were right in front of them, but they were so far away.

Double D felt a terrifying chill run down his spine, and he and the other Eds immediately began to back away from the window. He looked to the backdoor, blocked by the bookshelf, and he looked to the front door, with the singular lock on it. Theoretically, they should be fine, but he still felt as if they weren't safe. He didn't know what it was, monster or not, but he knew whatever they were dealing with, it wasn't friendly.

Eddy slowly walked forward to see the eyes again, but to his shock, they were gone. "T-They're gone… but I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"The Goatman lures all prey by mimicking their voices, probably to eat them." Said Ed.

"But goats are herbivores, Ed." said Double D. "It's-"

Soon the three shiver immensely, as a loud ear-piercing roar emanated throughout the entire forest, it echoed for what felt like miles, and at the same time, every single bird flew out from the trees and scattered all around, making a whirlwind of black blurs for a moment, right before they all flew away into different directions, disappearing from sight.

"What was that?" Eddy whispered, feeling too afraid to speak up.

"I-I-I don't know."

There was silence, deafening silence, Double D heard stories about how when the forests go quiet, it meant that someone or something incredibly dangerous was about, and given that roar, and the red eyes, it was all too clear. Although they were safe in this lookout tower, it only meant they were trapped in here too, because if they were to ever escape, they would be targeted by that thing.

After a few more seconds of deafening silence, the phone began to ring again. The three jumped out of their skin and turned to it, with Double D nervously going to the phone and pressing the button.

"H-Help us! We got chased by that monster!?" shouted the woman.

"W-We heard it." Said Double D. "Where are you?"

"We don't know." said the man. "Can you put that light up again, please!?"

Just as Double D was about to respond, Eddy suddenly butted in. "We can't! It broke!"

"What!? It broke!? How!?" asked the man, in a more panicked tone.

Suddenly there was a screeching sound and the phone cut off. At the same time, they heard it on the phone, they heard it outside as well, but it was nowhere near as loud as before, but it was then followed by an slightly louder shriek, like the one they heard before, but they had to ignore it for now.

Double D then turned to Eddy angrily. "Eddy!? What are you thinking!?"

"Saving out skins! Think about it! It could be the thing that mimic's voices! If we lure it to us, we're mincemeat!"

"But they could be real people in danger!"

"How!? No one besides that skinny guy me saw was in here! Besides! How would he know someone else is in here!?"

"I don't know! But we can't risk letting innocent people get killed!"

"We can't risk us getting killed either!"

"So, what do you think we should do!?"

"I don't know!"

Ed soon spoke up. "Um…"

Both Eddy and Double D turned to him. "What?" asked Eddy.

"Well… we could tell them to hide somewhere else?"

The two looked at him, then Double D realised something and perked up. "By Jove! That's a great idea!"

"Huh!?" asked Eddy.

"It is!?" asked Ed.

"There are plenty more towers than this one, if we can lure them to another one, then if it's innocent people, they can hide, and if it's this Goatman thing, then it'll be away from us!"

Eddy smiles and nods. "Yeah, and if we just pretend they're going to us…"

"Then if it's the Goatman, he'll think we're bringing him to us, so he'll have no reason to deviate."

Soon, the phone began to ring again. The three turned to it and then back to each other. "Ok, Sock-Ed, you study that map. Ed, you keep an eye out the window. I'll do the talking." The three nod and assume their positions. Eddy then presses the button to respond. "Yo, you ok?"

"W-We're fine… I think… but what the hell do you mean the light's busted!?" said the woman sounding both panicked and angry. "We're gonna get killed out here!"

"Relax-"

"NO, I WON'T RELAX!"

Soon there was a slight rummaging sound before the man spoke up. "Look, we're in a real panic, just please help us!"

"We gotcha!" said Eddy smugly. "Look, just tell us where you are, we got a map so we're gonna guide you to us! And be precise!"

He heard a sigh from the man. "A-Alright…" There was a bit of silence. "Yeah… I see a break in the road, and it seems to be separated by a lake. Which way should we go?"

"Did you get that?" asked Eddy as he turned to Double D.

"Yes. Hold on." Double D began examining the map, and there he did fine a point where the road split in two, divided by a lake, but he also saw two more that were the same. "Crap…" He turned to Eddy. "There's three roads like that, can he give more detail?"

"Did you hear that?" asked Eddy directing himself to the phone.

"W-What!? Hear what!? Is something near us!?" said the woman.

"W-What? N-Never mind! Look, we found three roads the same, can you give us more detail?"

"I… uhh…" There was a bit of silence. "I-I think I see a small island in the middle of the lake."

"Small island!" Eddy said to Double D.

"Small island… small island… got it!" Double D found the point and began to examine both roads as fast as he could. "Take the right path! You'll reach another fork in the road separated by trees, take the right path on that one too!"

Eddy turns back to the phone. "Take right, then another right when you find the next break."

"Got it!" There was a bit of silence, with Eddy giving a faint sigh of relief. "Two… then three…" the voices sounded a bit more monotonous.

"Huh? What was that?" Eddy asked.

"What? I didn't say anything." Said the man.

"Uh huh… sure you didn't." mumbled Eddy. "Just stay away from us you freak."

"Eddy!" Double D muttered aggressively. Eddy freaked out realising what he said and immediately ended the call. "You might as well have pulled up a sign saying Come and Eat Us!" he said in the same aggressive muttered tone.

"Don't you start with me Double D!"

The two started bickering, Ed ignored this as he continued to stare out the windows, he soon bumped his foot against something getting his attention, to his surprise, it was a pair of binoculars. Ed knew what they were about, so he quickly grabbed them and began to look through them, not realising he had them on backwards and wondered why everything was smaller, he soon took them off and looked at them. "Must have expired." He then proceeded to look through the windows normally again.

After a few more minutes of bickering, the phone rang again, making Eddy and Double D jump. Eddy then answers the phone. "We're here!"

"J-Just what is going on!?" said the man in a panicked tone.

"We had a signal fail. Don't worry, we're-"

"NO! Did you not HEAR that!?"

"Hear what?" Eddy looks at Double D and Ed who look at each other with shrugged shoulders.

"You have to be screwing with us! That was so loud!"

"We seriously didn't hear it! Look, did you make the two rights?"

"Yes! Are you SURE we're going the right direction!?"

"Yeah, of course we are. Now what do you see now?"

"I… I see a log cabin… and an entrance to a mine. So… log cabin?"

"Hang on." Eddy looked to Double D as he examined the map once more.

Double D examined the map once again, he noticed that if their directions were correct, they would be heading towards another lookout tower, not their one. He did consider the log cabin, but assuming these were real people and not the Goatman, the log cabin would not keep them safe, since the Goatman can get in just as easily, at least with the lookout, they could get further away, and it was higher up.

Double D turns to Eddy. "Go past the mine, then there will be another fork in the road, it'll get you to the lookout tower. Take the left when you get to the second fork!"

Eddy nods and turns to the phone. "Go past the mine! When you get to another fork, go left again. The tower should be there!"

"G-Got it!" There was silence once more.

Eddy sighed a little before turning to Double D doing a thumbs up gesture. Double D nods, as he turns back to examine the map.

Ed however watched the forest down below again, and he felt his spine shiver immensely, as he could see the red eyes in the forest once more, this time in a different location. "G-Guys…?"

Eddy and Double D walked over and looked, they could see the eyes too, but surprisingly, they weren't standing still, they were moving through the forest going right. Either it was following their instructions, or it was following the two they were leading.

Eddy realised this and ran back to the phone. "Hey, can you hear me?" he whispered.

"Y-Yeah. What is it?" asked the man, who whispered back.

"We saw red eyes. I think it's following you, keep quiet and hide in the bushes or something."

"W-What?"

"Just do it."

"You hide." Said the man again, but it sounded slightly different.

Eddy felt a chill, then he quickly hung up the phone. "Nope. Goatman's not tricking me!"

Double D hated that Eddy hung up again, but he sighed and just studied the map once more, he only hoped that they were luring the Goatman away and not innocent people.

Eddy soon walks away from the phone to look at Ed, to check on him. But soon he notices the binoculus in his hands. "Where'd you find them?"

Ed looked at the binoculars in his hand, then back to Eddy. "Oh, under the table, but they're expired?"

"What? It's not food!"

"It doesn't work anymore." Ed uses them again in the same fashion. "See, everything's so tiny."

"Wrong way Lumpy!" Eddy grabbed them and flipped them around, so Ed was seeing them the right way.

"Wow!" He then began to look out the window with them.

But they were all distracted by the sound of the same roaring noise they heard before, this time it was quieter than before, but nevertheless just as terrifying as the other times. Both Ed and Eddy stepped back as they turned to Double D who looked out the window, then tried to distract himself using the map.

"Ok. If my readings are correct, they should make it to lookout tower seven. He said before that this tower was tower five."

Eddy shrugged. "Perfect, so we're safe then?"

"Not quite." Said Double D. "We still have several hours of moonlight, assuming he only attacks at night, we're still in danger."

Eddy flinched realising this. "C-Crap." Soon his eyes widened again. "Oh crap! We left our bike back where we first camped!"

Ed and Double D looked back at Eddy in shock. "Oh dear! You're right! I hope it's not damaged!"

Suddenly the phone began to ring again, once again, making them jump. Eddy quickly answered it. "Yo, you there?"

"W-What… is your problem!?" said the man, whispering through his teeth, sounding both terrified and furious. "This is some kind of sick prank!? We're at the lookout tower! But it's empty!"

"Uhh…" Eddy kept silent; he didn't know what to say now.

Double D soon noticed something, a faint flicker. Coming from a massive distance, he quickly grabbed Ed's binoculars and ran to the window where he saw the flicker. He looked through them, and he could see a lookout tower, the flicker was there.

He focused, the lookout tower had a bit of light in it, after a few seconds, he realised that light was the light from a headlamp, and there were two very blurry silhouettes.

"You better tell us what's going on, now!" said the man, whispering through his teeth again.

As Double D looked through the binoculars, he could see one silhouette moving, hunched over, like it was in a panic. It clicked, it's the man they're talking to now. Eddy and Ed looked to where Double D was looking, naturally they couldn't see a thing.

He thought about it, if they were in the lookout tower, then what was the red light, he thought. But his blood ran cold as he saw a pair of red eyes, just underneath the same tower, and it formed a black silhouette, beginning to scale that very tower's stairs.

This was it, they brought the couple to safety, but now that Goatman was heading towards them, they cornered the couple into a deadly trap. All just to safe their own skin. "No…" Double D mumbled. He felt his stomach turn, he had to do something, they lured innocent people into a wild goose chase and now they were going to be killed. "No…"

Double D paid no attention to the other two calling his name, he just looked around, and noticed the searchlight. His stomach turned once more, having the perfect idea, but also the stupidest. But now or never.

"Ed! Unbarricade the door!"

"What!?"

"JUST DO IT!" Double D shouted, surprising the two.

"O-Ok!" Ed ran to the bookshelf blocking the door and lifted it out of the way.

"Keep an eye on the red eyes!" Double D demanded Eddy as he handed him the binoculars and ran for the door. Eddy tried to question it, but just did it anyway, he peered through.

But Eddy saw that Double D ran outside, and slammed down the lever for the search light, making it light up, looking almost brighter than before.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Eddy screamed. Soon he heard the same shriek as before. He turned and looked back through the binoculars. The red eyes, once at the top of the tower, now began to run back down even faster than it did climbing up. "DOUBLE D YOU IDIOT! HE'S COMING THIS WAY!"

"THAT'S THE PLAN!" Double D shut off the light and ran back inside. Ed then quickly moved the bookshelf back in front of the door.

"WHAT!? YOU TRYING TO GET US KILLED!?" Eddy screamed.

"NO TIME! BARRICADE THE FRONT DOOR TOO AND HIDE!" Double D screamed.

The three, in a panic, began to push all the furniture towards the door except the bed, Ed even ripped the stove off the wall and pushed it in front of the door. Then at the same time, all three jumped to the ground and crawled underneath the singular bed, thankfully it was enough to keep them all hidden, especially with the old torn blanket covering the gap at the bottom.

The three remained as quiet as possible. As they lied perfectly still. What felt like an eternity was only a few minutes, the three remained quiet still, feeling like even the sound of them blinking was enough to give them away.

Soon they jumped but tried to keep quiet, at the sound of footsteps, loud thunderous footsteps, began storming up the stairs at an alarming rate, circling around and around them. Until eventually, they just stopped suddenly. There was a silence so deafening, that their own hearts beating felt too loud.

SMAAAAASH!

The windows shattered loudly. And they saw a pair of greyish hoof-like feet hit the floorboards rising up the dust. No doubt about it, it was the Goatman. Double D cursed himself in his head, for not thinking about the windows and only the doors. They weren't nearly as safe as he thought.

The hooves stomped the ground loudly, feeling every shake, as it seemed to look around, moving in one direction, then another. But they all began to panic, trying not to scream or make any sudden movements, as they saw the hooves, turn to their direction, and slowly make their wat towards their direction. Just as they were an inch away from the bed, they saw elongated claws creep down under the bed, readying to lift the bed up.

Double D cursed himself heavily, he should've just stayed at home, forgot about the butterfly, the blank book, and the red-haired girl, he should've just left it all, but now that he left, he's going to die with his friends, he's never going to see his family again, why couldn't he-

BAAAAANG!

Their eardrums began to ring at the sudden sharp noise, a splattering noise hit the ground hard, it took a second to process, but they saw the hooves stumbling, and a splatter of blood on the ground. Another second to realise what happened, it was a gunshot, someone fired a gun at the Goatman.

The hooves turned around to behind it, it gave a loud snarling gargling noise, then he rushed forward with blinding speed, jumping out the window. All they could hear then, was the sound of guttural roars and snarls, claws swiping at wood, gunfire ringing all around, and the sound of roars and growling, the sound began to grow quieter and quieter, as they realised the Goatman, and whatever was fighting it, was going further and further away from the lookout tower.

Soon, nothing, no sound at all. The Eds still refused to move, nowhere felt safe besides under this bed, and any movement could make that thing return. So, they kept still, and still, it was quiet, too quiet, until eventually, the adrenaline they felt from all of this terrifying experience, caught up with them, they grew tired, and then eventually fell asleep.

To be continued.

So, I wasn't sure how to do this chapter at first, but I remembered a short Indie Game called Do you Copy, so I used inspiration from it to help with this story.

Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully you're looking forward to the next chapter.