A final interlude: Taylor investigates

As the door to the last unoccupied door of the Ravers' cabin closed, a worried Taylor Bishop had nearly rounded the lake. Not only had her brother and the rest of her friends had gone missing, so did the search party, and since she couldn't imagine what the hell what was so important that Heather couldn't tear herself away to grab her, Taylor marched out on her own. She informed Hannah before leaving, who herself was busy locating Chloe to no avail, and the two shared the comment about how everyone seemed to falling into black holes.

"Look, text me as soon as you can, Tay," Hannah had said. "I'll do the same."

"Def, Han. We've got two missing family members."

"And everyone else. Look, these cabins aren't that big, I don't get it."

Horror suddenly infiltrated her mind. "Han... remember those bear sightings?"

"The fuck are you saying?!"

"I don't know!" She had paused, collecting her thoughts. "Unless... no one can be found."

Hannah's shocked looked remained blasted in her memory. "Meaning...?"

"Meaning something's way up and we're the last ones on the list. Even Dustin's gone, and he's not the type to be all doomsday prepper and wander off in the woods or something."

Hannah had formed an uneasy expression, and nodded. "Better than bears."

"Anything is."

"Do you think we should call the police or the rangers or something?"

"Police would take forever to get out here, and the rangers seem a bit thin. Heather mentioned something to me once about how hard one of the ranger's job had become. Bears, weird noises in the woods, random investigations from the government. Been going on for a while. Still, they're our best shot."

Hannah had pulled out her cellphone, dialing the number for the nearest ranger station, while Taylor had made her way to the door.

"Stay safe, Tay."

"You too, Han." With a final glance, Taylor had left the porch of one cabin, arriving at the one of the other, bathed in the curious, floral overgrowth

She coughed. "God, that smell!" she retched those words. Holding her nose, she stepped forward, and her foot became enveloped in something decidedly not grass or wildflowers.

"The hell?" She looked down and saw a brown garment, some kind of official uniform top, nearly obscured in the botanical thicket. Extracting it, she fumbled around until she found the nametag.

" 'Jennifer White, District Ranger'?" she recited, shivering as her blood ran cold. This wasn't good, and Zack popped into her mind. Tossing it to the ground, she practically jumped into the cabin.

It smelled like a frat after a Friday night kegger. It looked it too, with clothes piled everywhere from the kitchen to the living room like so many gathered leaves in autumn, but the goddamn smell. Taylor thought the stench outside was horrible, but inside it made that seem positively divine. The musk hung everywhere, seeping into the walls, the flooring, her skin.

Fucking gross, I need a shower after this, she thought. Why is it everywhere? What the fuck happened?

A sequential grunt and moan answered her, and with the particular cadence of the utterances, recognition smacked her in the brain.

The fuck... She followed the noise, and, inadvertently, the garments. A pair of pants, men's jeans, highlighted a route to the right hallway, outlined in multiple mismatched socks. Scattered underwear, notably sized-medium men's boxers and the remains of silk panties, lay across the fabric pathway. Definitely more than one person... and if this is where everyone is...

Her eyes fell on the nearest door. With a cautious twist, the door came open.