The Barkening

Todd lay awake, staring up at the roof of the tent, watching the interplay of moonbeams and clouds on the fabric in an effort to distract himself from his growing sense of dread. He listened to the sounds of sleep that came from the other three boys in the tent, but even that didn't help. Stepping cat-like over bodies that shifted in the uncertain light, he made his way over to the tent door. The unzipping was shockingly loud in the silent night, so he wasn't surprised when he heard someone stir from sleep behind him.

"...whazzat?" one of his friends muttered sleepily. Todd couldn't tell who it was.

"It's Todd. I'm... I'm going to the bathroom. Go back to sleep."

"Oh. Okay." Whoever it was seemed to settle back down, but when Todd turned around to zip the tent back up, Daryl stood by the entrance, rubbing his eyes.

"What?" Todd asked.

Daryl smiled sheepishly. "I kinda got to go too. Didn't realize until you said."

Todd frowned. "I actually don't have to go. I just said it so you'd go back to sleep."

"Oh." Daryl bit his lip, but then grinned at him. "Well, I still need to go. So let's go."

Todd had forgotten his flashlight, but Daryl had remembered his, so that was all right. They were a fifteen minute walk from the bathroom facility in the campground. Todd could only manage five of those minutes in silence.

"So, did you think Michael's story was true? I'm kinda scared." he asked.

"What, that there's a bat-shark on this campground that flies around eating people? Like for real? And that people actually call a bark? That's so dumb! Monsters are supposed to be scary, but that's, like, the least scary thing possible!" Daryl laughed. "God, you're such a wimp!"

Todd punched his shoulder. "You're a wimp!" He turned, and stalked away into the darkness.

Daryl called after him, "Hey! Todd! I'm sorry, man! Come back!"

But Todd was gone. Daryl shrugged and left, figuring Todd could find his way back.

But he never did.

The next day, they found a scrap of Todd's pajamas by a tree. They were stained with blood. Daryl was inconsolable, and vowed that one day, he would find the bark that did this to his friend.

Twenty years later, he fulfilled that promise. He became a sexy vigilante bark hunter, and, after a fierce battle with the bark, which turned out to not just be a single bark but a whole colony of barks, with a bark queen at the center that controlled the hive mind, he found out that Todd, who was actually his secret half-brother, had actually been turned into a bark by a notorious witch that lived in the caverns deep below the bark compounds, so Daryl killed her too. And then fell in love with her sexy daughter, who had somehow escaped her mother for unclear reasons.