Chapter Text
The forest is quiet. It’s the first thing Gavin notices when he gets to his new lodgings.
The cabin is small, just big enough for one person. The bedroom and living room blend into one, the kitchen only has the basics. But the fridge is full and there is hot water, so Gavin figures he has it good. He’s heard the stories from fellow coworkers about where they first stayed for their research projects, so a lone cabin in the woods, by comparison, isn’t so bad.
There’s a lot of things Gavin had to do to prepare for this. Exercising, hydrating, making sure he knows basic survival skills and first aid. But one thing Gavin hadn’t been prepared for was the silence that he would face. It’s been a week, but Gavin still can’t get used to hearing everything, deep in the woods and far from society.
When he’s not doing research or writing reports, he’s pacing. It helps soothe him, getting the restless energy out and he likes the sound of his feet thumping against the wood. He also makes a habit of talking to himself.
About two months into his expedition, Gavin is out hiking, marking trees that he thinks will make for good sample sizes when he notices it. The feeling of something watching him, eyes burning into this back.
Gavin spins in a circle, but the forest is the same as ever. A bird sings in the distance, leaves rustling with the light breeze. But he doesn’t see anyone else. So Gavin shrugs, figuring that he’s starting to hit the paranoid stage and hoping that this expedition doesn’t drive him crazy.
And when he feels the sensation of eyes on him again, he doesn’t look this time. It’s all in his brain, he tells himself. He’s imagining things. He needs to keep a cool head.
He needs to ignore the goosebumps crawling up his arms. And if he walks back to his cabin faster than he usually does, well, it’s just because he wants to get home for some food.
The eyes continue to follow him. It has Gavin jumping at shadows, twitching at every sound. It’s also affecting his research as he’s afraid to go too far from his cabin. He keeps a gun on his belt, the weight of it making Gavin slightly uncomfortable.
When his samples begin to dwindle and there are no more papers he can write about the leaves he finds in his front yard, Gavin has to admit to himself that it’s time to stop letting this affect him.
It takes a full day for Gavin to get his courage up. Then, armed with his gun and a backpack full of supplies, Gavin walks beyond his front yard.
At first, Gavin is tense as he walks, widely looking around. But when he doesn’t feel the heavy presence of someone watching him, he starts to relax. The day is beautiful if a little chilly. But the light comes through the trees, giving them all a glow. Birds are singing and Gavin watches as, a little bit away, a fox goes hopping along followed by her kits. Gavin smiles. He misses this, this wonderment at nature.
He gets to the last place he marked according to his notes, an old gnarled tree with deep scratches in it, no doubt made by a bear. Gavin touches them, still in awe as he had been the first time he saw it.
But then Gavin frowns, noticing the second batch of scaring near the base. He bends down to get a closer look. The scars are fresh and deep looking, much deeper than the originals. Gavin grimaces.
These do not look like bear markings. If he were crazy, he’d say they look...wolf-like?
But that’s stupid. There aren’t supposed to be any wolves around these parts. Especially none big enough to cause these sort of marks. Gavin’s heart thumps. Did a pack move down here? It would be the first one in years, previous packs driven out by farmers and lumber yards.
This..this would be amazing, a good sign that the population is regrowing. And report worthy. Gavin jots it down in his journal. Then he starts to look around, hoping to find other signs. There is no fur and no tracks, but that doesn’t get Gavin down. He goes back home with a spring in his step, for once not looking over his shoulder.
Gavin continues to travel a bit farther each day, diligently combing the ground for signs of wolves. He finds the carcass of a deer one day, marks clearly that of wolves the next. Tracks and black fur and droppings, all pointing to a clear sign that there are indeed wolves around. But the wolves themselves elude him.
So excited in his new discovery, Gavin forgets all about the feeling of being followed.
~
Gavin is making breakfast when he hears a knock on the door. He stops for a moment, head tilting in confusion. He’s in deep in a national park, away from any trails that causal hikers would take. Wiping his hands, he slowly opens the door to find a man standing before him.
A handsome man.
A handsome, half-naked man.
“Hello?”
The man smiles. He has dark hair, a little stubble along his face and deep blue eyes. “Hi, my name is Geoff. Geoff Ramsey.” He holds out his hand.
Gavin looks at it, hesitating. Then he stretches out his hand to shake. The strange man’s hand is warm and strong. “Gavin Free. Sorry, but what are you doing out here?” Gavin looks around. He doesn’t see any cars (and he hopes he would have heard one).
“Some friends and I were out hiking and saw this cabin. We all thought it was haunted or something so we drew straws to see who would be the one to knock on the door. I was the unlucky one” He pauses, then gives Gavin a wink. “But from where I’m standing, the really lucky one.”
Gavin decides to ignore that. He also ignores the flipping of his stomach. He looks around, frowning at a group of men he can see in the distance. “Really? What are you doing hiking out here?” He’s never seen hikers this far off the trails.
“Can’t we enjoy the nature?”
“It’s usually not a good idea to go too far off the path.”
“We can handle ourselves.”
“I’ve heard that plenty of times before. No matter how good you are, accidents happen.”
Geoff laughs. “You’re out here though. By yourself.”
Gavin narrows his eyes. “How do you know I’m alone?”
Geoff raises his eyebrows. “Are you alone?”
Gavin opens, then closes his mouth. “Do you need anything else?” His voice cracks and he cringes at hearing it.
Geoff is still smiling. “No, I guess not. It was nice meeting you, Gavin.”
“Sure, sure. Uh, I mean. Nice meeting you?”
Geoff gives one more chuckle. And then he jogs back towards the group. Gavin only stares at the muscles in his back for a second.
Sue him, the dude is good looking.
Gavin closes the door and goes back to his breakfast, wondering what that was all about. Why were there hikers out here?
Gavin bites his lip. Maybe...it’s not that weird? Maybe he’s just being paranoid. Was he being rude? Geoff didn't’ seem to take offense, but Gavin wasn’t exactly being pleasant. Maybe he should have invited him and his friends in for something to eat and drink?
Oh well. It isn’t like he’s going to see them again.
Gavin stops. Well. Maybe he would like to see them again. Geoff was pretty nice to look at.
~
That night, Gavin dreams of the forest. He's running and running, the ground soft beneath his feet. He looks down and sees that he’s barefoot. He blinks and realizes he’s totally naked.
There are echoes of crashes around. He turns to look, eyes going wide. Giant wolves are chasing him, their muzzles open so he can see all their sharp teeth. They are huge, as big as the trees, and Gavin knows that they if they catch him, he will be gobbled up. So he runs faster.
But no matter how fast he goes, the wolves overpower him. They catch up to him, jaws open, gleaming in the moonlight.
Gavin wakes up to the sound of howling outside his cabin.
~
It’s an entire week before Gavin hears another knock on his door. He opens it to find Geoff and two other men. One has reddish hair, a wild beard, and is grinning down at Gavin. The other has blond hair, icy blue eyes looking down his nose at him as he crosses his arms. They are all shirtless because of course, they are.
Geoff still looks like Geoff as he waves his hand. “Hey, again.”
“Hi,” Gavin says. He casts a nervous glance at the others. “Who are your friends?”
“This is Jack,” Geoff points to the bearded man and then points to the blond, “and this is Ryan. My hiking buddies.”
Gavin eyes them again. “Right.” He fidgets. “Um, everything going ok?” Shit, why is he so bad at interacting with people?
He catches Ryan and Jack looking at each other. He freaks out a bit more.
Geoff waves him off. “We’re fine. I just wanted to say hi.”
“Oh,” Gavin says. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to. Plus, it must be lonely, being out here all by yourself. I figured you might like the company.”
“You keep insisting that I’m alone.”
“You don’t deny it.”
“So you just came by to say hi?”
“Does that bother you?”
“Three strangers coming up to my house? No, why would that bother me?”
Geoff chuckles. “You know my name. I know yours. Does that really make us strangers?”
“I don’t think knowing each other’s names makes us not strangers.”
Geoff raises an eyebrow. “I’m Geoff and I work at an IT store, where I met Ryan and Jack. Look, that’s three things you know about me.”
“Ok, then.” Gavin hesitates. “I’m Gavin Free and I work for the State as a natural park researcher.”
“Is that what you’re doing, way out here?”
“Yes, and I’ll have you know that I check in with my boss every hour. You know, in case something happens to me.” Gavin gives them all a look.
Geoff’s grin widens. “Do you think something is going to happen to you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything that makes me think I’m safe.”
They stare at each other.
Ryan coughs. “What kind of work do you do, Gavin?”
“I’m employed through the state. I make sure that the forest is healthy. You know, watching animal population, checking soil levels, seeing if any trees have died.”
“Sounds like an interesting job.”
“It is. I really enjoy it.”
“I’m interested in how you count the population, which equations you use-”
Jack groans. “Now you’ve done it. You got Ryan going nerd again.”
Gavin smiles, a little bit at him. “Are you really interested in knowing? Would you like to take a look?”
“I would love to,” Ryan grins at him. Behind him, Jack sighs.
Gavin shows them his research, eagerly going everything. He can tell that Geoff and Jack have tuned out, but Ryan nods along, eyes alight as he begins to ask questions. Gavin doesn’t notice when Geoff and Jack start walking around the cabin, looking at everything else, his attention completely on discussing with Ryan about the importance of different types of soil.
Eventually, Jack says. “Enough with the nerd talk. We should probably go.”
Gavin blinks and then looks out the window. He sees that the sun had moved, now high in the sky, telling him it’s been awhile. “Ah, sorry about that. I guess I got caught up in talking.”
“It was nice,” Ryan says. “As you can imagine, I don’t get to talk about this stuff a lot.” He rolls his eyes at Geoff and Jack, both who stick their tongue at him and flip him off. He flips them right back.
Gavin shuffles his feet. “Well, if you ever want to come back, I'd love to show you more?”
“I’d like that.”
“Hey, what about us?” Geoff says.
“I guess.” Gavin draws out the sound.
Geoff folds his arms and pouts. “I can’t believe this. I introduce you two and now I get shafted?”
“I can’t help being much cooler than you,” Ryan says.
“Right. You. Cool,” Jack says, slinging an arm over Ryan’s shoulder. “More like we found a bigger nerd than you.”
“Says the guy who builds with legos,” Ryan shoots back.
The two argue and Geoff pulls Gavin to the side. “Hey, I just want to say. I really don’t mean to bother you. I just...last time you smelled so sad.”
“Oh.” Then what Geoff says hits him. “Wait? I smelled sad?”
“I meant looked. You looked sad,” Geoff gives him a sheepish smile. “Slip of the tongue.”
Gavin lets it go. “Did I really?” He thinks back to their first meeting.
“I don’t...I mean…” Geoff sighs. “I’m saying this all wrong. What I mean is. You just seem to be out here alone. We hike a lot out here and I just thought. You know. We could talk whenever we’re out here.”
“You want to talk to me?”
“Yeah. You seem interesting. And nice.”
“I, uh. Thank you.” Gavin glances away. “You guys don’t seem so bad. At least, I don’t think you want to kill me anymore.”
“Well, that’s reassuring.” Geoff looks hesitant again. “We were wondering actually if you wanted to go hiking with us? Next week?”
Gavin bites his lip. He’s not much of a hiker, but...it is nice to be able to interact with people again. And it wouldn’t be so bad, to see what’s going on along the trail. “I would like that actually.”
Geoff grins. “Awesome.”
The guys wave goodbye as they leave. Ryan promises he’ll be on the lookout for anything interesting. Jack makes a comment of bringing some food back the next time they visit his cabin (with a critical eye running over Gavin) and Gavin has a feeling his food stock had just been insulted. Geoff swaps numbers with him, promising to give Gavin the time and location of their next hike. And after Gavin closes the door, he has to wonder. Did he just make friends?
~
Gavin dreams of the forest once more, of wolves and their gnashing teeth. But they do not eat him. This time, they run with him, guiding him, and Gavin falls deeper into his slumber, comforted by the safety they bring.
~
Gavin wakes with a groan as his alarm goes off. For a split moment, he wonders what has him waking up so early. Then, he remembers his promise to meet Geoff. Gavin briefly considers canceling, but decides against it, getting out of bed with a groan. He stretches and then gets ready.
He doesn’t have a car, so it’s a little bit of a trek to get to their agreed meeting spot. Geoff said they would meet at the halfway part on one of their favorite trails, a place not too far from Gavin’s cabin.
When they get there, Gavin notices that there is one more person with them, a short man with curly brown hair. Geoff introduces him as Michael. “Everyone else couldn’t make it, sorry.”
Gavin nods before returning his attention back to Michael. “Gavin Free.” He reaches out to shake hands.
Michael frowns and then leans down to sniff at it.
Everyone freezes. Gavin doesn’t know what to say. Michael looks up at him, then at everyone else. His faces goes red. “Nice to meet you,” he mumbles.
“Uh, yeah. Nice to, uh, meet you too?” Gavin looks around, hoping someone will explain to him what just happened.
Michael palms the back of his head. “So...I fucked up my first impression. Can we pretend that didn’t happen?”
He looks so embarrassed that Gavin can’t help but give him a small smile. “I accused Jack and Ryan of being murders when I first met them, so maybe not the worst impression yet?”
That gets a chuckle out of Michael and all the tension leaves. They turn to start their walk, Michael and Gavin sort of lagging behind the others.
“How do you know the gents?” Gavin asks.
Michael raises an eyebrow. “Gents?”
“Yeah, gents!” Gavin says. “You know, like gentleman?”
“I can assure you, Geoff is no gentleman. And I met the others through Jack. We’re workout buddies, along with Jeremy,” Michael says.
“Jeremy?”
“One of the guys we go hiking with and my best friend. I’m sure you’ll eventually meet him. And Alfredo and Trevor soon.”
“Wait. You guys know a guy named Alfredo?”
Michael laughs. “It’s fucking ridiculous, I know. But Alfredo’s a good dude. You’ll like him. Plus, he’s killer at video games.”
“You guys play?”
“Yeah. Do you?”
“I used to, but I don’t have the time anymore. Plus, no way to do it out here. I haven’t played in, like, a year.”
Michael tilts his head. “Fuck man, I don’t know if I could go that long.”
Gavin sighs. “Yeah, it sucks.”
“If you want,” Ryan buts in. “I can take a look, see if there is any way we can get you hooked up with a system.”
“Really?”
Michael nods. “I’m an electrician and Ryan here is really good with computers. Between us, I’m sure we can get something figured out.”
“That would be great. Thank you.”
“I wouldn’t thank us yet.” Michael winks. “I’m just looking forward to playing with someone who I can finally beat.”
“Hey!”
“Look, man, once you meet Alfredo, you’ll understand. The man is like a machine.”
“He’s not that great,” Geoff says.
“He beat Geoff’s record on War of Gems and he’s still salty about it,” Ryan whispers.
“I am not.”
“It’s the voice crack. That’s how you can tell he’s lying.”
“It’s better than how Ryan plays,” Geoff says, scrunching up his nose. “The man is only out to piss you off.”
“It’s the best way to have fun, especially when it gets Geoff or Alfredo bashing their controls into the ground,” Ryan says. “Besides, there’s no way I’m worse than Jack.”
“If you can’t handle someone pointing out how you’re wrong then maybe you shouldn’t play at all,” Jack says.
“You mean if I don’t want someone being a backseat asshole, I shouldn’t play with you around.”
“Nah, I’m pretty sure you just don’t want to admit you’re wrong.”
Gavin is pretty sure he hasn’t laughed this hard in years.
~
Later, Gavin returns, exhausted but happy. He puts the flower of an invasive species Jack had found next to the cool looking rock Ryan had picked up and trudges into the shower.
When he sleeps, he dreams of being surrounded by wolves, their fur brushing against his skin, noses nuzzling his face.
~
They return a few days later. Gavin opens the door to a knock, raising his eyebrows at them. “Exactly how many of there are you?”
There are three more guys, sort of hiding behind Geoff, Jack, Michael, and Ryan. Geoff raises his eyebrows back at him. “What are you talking about? There has always been this many of us.”
“Uh huh. You guys are multiplying like rabbits.”
“Don’t worry, you only have to meet 16 more.”
“Oh good.”
Geoff steps aside and gestures to the new faces. “This here is Jeremy, Trevor, and Alfredo.” He points to each one. Gavin notes things to help him remember their names. The short, smiling bald one is Jeremy. Trevor and Alfredo are going to be hard. They look like twins, except Trevor is significantly paler than Alfredo.
“I brought steak,” Jack says, holding up a plate.
“And potato salad,” says Ryan.
“And chips,” says Michael.
Gavin catches a whiff, mouth already watering. He steps aside. “Well then get in here.”
Luckily for Gavin, Jack also thought to bring paper plates and silverware. While Gavin helps him find a place big enough to fit them all, everyone else wanders around. The place seems so small with them all in here.
He’s getting a bit claustrophobic. “I hope this is all of you guys. I don’t know if I can fit anymore in here.”
“Don’t worry,” Jack says. “This all of us.”
Gavin nods. “So are you all friends?”
“Yep. Geoff, Ryan, and I work at the same place. Michael and Jeremy are my gym buddies. Trevor and Alfredo are friends with Ryan.”
“Wait, hold on. You're going to have to make a chart for me.”
Jack chuckles. “Anyways, one day Jeremy mentioned how he wanted to try hiking, heard these woods were beautiful. I’m always up for trying something new and together we convinced Michael. From there, word sort of spread and we formed this little hiking group. Now we meet up at least once a week.”
“That sounds...nice,” And Gavin sounds wistful, he knows. But he’s never had anything like that before, a close-knit group to just do stuff with. He’s always been too busy, trying to get his degree, then trying to get a job. Anything to stay in the states.
Jack glances at him. “It is. So, how long have you been out here?”
Gavin shrugs. “I think...six months?”
“That’s a long time outside of civilization.”
“Yeah, it is. But I don’t mind. You know too much.” Gavin looks around, then lowers his voice. “Don’t tell Geoff because I’m sure he’ll get smug about it. But I, uh, I’m actually glad he stopped by to say hello. Talking to people again has done wonders for my mental health.”
Jack gives him a wide smile. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Now, how about we eat.”
Gavin ends up squished between Geoff and Ryan, Jack on the opposite side of him. The younger men lean on countertops and sit on the floor.
The smell of the meat is wonderful and makes Gavin's stomach growl. But Gavin isn't focused on that. He's too busy being distracted by the way the other guys are eating. He can't tell if he should be fascinated or disgusted.
They tear into the meat, teeth digging in. They jerk their heads to the side, ripping the meat from the bones. Their hands go claw-like, covering their food. He’s pretty sure he sees Trevor snap at Michael at one when the other man gets too close.
Gavin sits, there a bit wide-eyed. Geoff nudges him. “Aren't you going to eat?”
“Uh, yeah.” Gavin grabs a rib and starts to eat. He feels self-conscious about the tiny bites he takes.
Ryan starts up a conversation with Jack. Or an argument. Gavin can’t really tell. The two keep going back and forth, their voices sound angry, but they’re smiling? Gavin watches them before leaning over to Geoff.
“Are they always like this?”
Geoff leans in to whisper back. “Oh absolutely. You should see when they really go at it.”
“It sounds terrifying.”
“It’s mostly funny.” Geoff pauses. “You know. Most of the time.”
Gavin squints at him. “And the others?”
Geoff shrugs and goes back to eating.
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Geoff smiles at him.
~
Later, when Gavin is cleaning up, stomach full and cheeks red from laughing, he hears the howls of wolves. Gavin looks out the window, and there, he sees them. Seven of them, yellow eyes glowing in the dark. They stare back before disappearing.
Gavin wonders if he should take this like the blessing it feels.