(A/N):
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
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Inside Richard's quiet house...
The scent of herbs and roasted vegetables filled the air.
Freya stood at the stove, stirring a pot while humming faintly, her brows furrowed as if lost in thought.
Beside her, Inadu moved with calm precision, chopping onions and sliding them into a pan, her hands steady despite her youthful appearance.
At the table,
Lizzie and Joshi were locked in an intense chess match—
Lizzie biting her lip in concentration while Joshi, ever patient, studied the board like a general surveying a battlefield.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Hope, meanwhile, leaned lazily against the armrest of a chair, eyes flicking between the chessboard and the television screen that played some late-night program.
Freya finally sighed, breaking the comfortable silence.
Sigh~
"Jojo should have been back by now…"
She murmured, glancing at the clock above the mantel.
Inadu paused, wiping her hands on a cloth, then shrugged casually.
"Probably saw something interesting. You know how he is."
Freya let out a small laugh despite herself, shaking her head.
Haha~
"That does sound like him."
Hope snorted softly from her seat, not taking her eyes off the TV.
Snort~
"If it's Jojo, we don't need to worry. Whoever he runs into is in more danger than he is."
The three girls chuckled at that, a strange but comforting truth hanging in the air.
Chuckle~
"____"
Even Lizzie and Joshi paused mid-game to nod in agreement before resuming their duel.
Nod~
"____"
"____"
Freya stirred the pot again, her expression softening.
"Still… when he comes back, I want answers. He's keeping something close to his chest, and I can feel it. When he left..."
Inadu tilted her head slightly, studying Freya's tone,
But chose not to comment.
Instead, she returned to slicing bread for the meal, the sound of the knife rhythmic against the cutting board.
Outside, the wind howled faintly against the windows,
As if carrying whispers from the woods beyond—
Unseen troubles brewing while the house inside remained warm, safe, and unaware of the darkness circling closer.
Meanwhile...
The forest was unnervingly quiet around the Hobbs Spring resort,
The massive building standing like an old sentinel against the backdrop of West Virginia's hills.
The faint glow of lights seeped from its windows, laughter and music drifting into the night.
Jojo stepped out of the car, his boots crunching against gravel as his eyes scanned the perimeter.
"____"
He tilted his head, gaze sharp, searching for security measures.
"No CCTV,"
He muttered under his breath, almost amused.
"Either they're overconfident… or they want no record of what happens here."
Bending slightly,
He leaned down to the driver's side window where Richard sat nervously clutching the wheel.
Jojo's voice was calm but edged with authority.
"Go back to the main road,"
Jojo instructed, his crimson eyes catching the sheriff's in the dim light.
"Wait for my call. When I say, you come pick me up."
Richard hesitated, his hands tightening around the steering wheel.
"Are you sure you don't want backup?"
Jojo's lips curled into the faintest smirk.
Smirk~
"Trust me, old man. The less you're in there, the longer you'll live."
The sheriff swallowed, then gave a stiff nod.
Nod~
"Alright. Just… be careful. Those woods don't forgive mistakes."
Jojo straightened, pulling his coat tighter as the night wind brushed against him.
Without another word,
Richard turned the ignition and carefully backed the car down the dirt path,
His headlights fading into the distance.
Now alone, Jojo adjusted the collar of his jacket, his gaze shifting back toward the resort.
The music carried through the trees, almost cheerful—
Mockingly so.
He exhaled, his eyes narrowing.
Frown~
"Alright… time to see what kind of nest this really is."
With predatory calm,
He began walking toward the resort,
Each step deliberate, his senses sharpening for whatever lay waiting within.
The iron gate groaned as Jojo pushed it open,
Groan~
The hinges screaming into the night.
He slipped through, his boots sinking into the damp soil of the resort's driveway.
But instead of heading straight toward the glowing hotel where laughter echoed faintly,
He crouched low, eyes narrowing at the muddy tracks carved deep into the ground.
'Van tires… heavy load. Recently. Definitely them...'
He followed the trail, moving past the trimmed hedges and into the darker stretch of woods that stretched behind the resort.
The property was larger than it first appeared—
Sprawling, almost like it was meant to swallow anyone who entered.
Minutes ticked by as he tracked the ruts deeper into the trees.
Then, the soft rumble of an engine snapped his senses alert.
Vroom~
Jojo's body tensed.
He darted sideways, pressing himself behind the rough trunk of an oak, shadows wrapping him like a cloak.
Through the branches, headlights flared, cutting lines of white across the forest.
A van lumbered down the dirt path—
The same black vehicle he had seen before,
The one the Lost Sholders used.
Its grill glistened with mud, its rear weighed down as though carrying something heavy.
He held his breath as it passed, the low thrum of its engine rattling the ground beneath his boots.
The stench of gasoline and something fouler lingered in its wake.
Only when the taillights vanished into the deeper woods did Jojo step out of hiding.
His crimson eyes glowed faintly under the moonlight as he scanned the direction the van had gone.
"In the middle of the night,"
He muttered coldly.
"Let's see what they were up to..."
With a final glance toward the resort's main building,
Jojo set his sights on the trail left by the van,
Slipping deeper into the woods where the exit to the Hobb's Spring Resort.
Jojo narrowed his eyes as he stepped from behind the oak, his boots crunching lightly on the damp earth.
He didn't follow the van—
Not yet.
Instead, he turned toward the direction it had emerged from.
The deeper he went, the more the woods shifted.
The manicured resort grounds gave way to something rawer, crueler—
Trees twisted together, shadows stacking on shadows.
Then he saw it.
A length of wire stretched between two stumps, glinting faintly in the moonlight.
Beyond it, a crude spring-loaded jaw trap half-buried in dead leaves,
Its iron teeth already smeared with rust and something darker.
Blood.
Jojo crouched low, studying the kill-zone with a predator's calm.
He followed the wire upward and spotted the tension line tied to a crude counterweight—
An axe blade rigged to swing down at chest height.
"Subtle,"
He muttered, lips curling into a faint grin.
Grin~
One wrong step and he would've been split open like firewood.
He eased sideways, slipping between the threads of danger with careful precision,
Every move deliberate.
More traps revealed themselves the deeper he went.
Spiked boards camouflaged under moss,
Tripwires strung low to the ground,
Bear traps with fresh stains crusted into the metal.
Each one reeked of violence.
Someone—
Or something—
Had bled here, not long ago.
"____"
Jojo's hand brushed the bark of a tree as he steadied himself, crimson eyes glinting faintly.
'They're not protecting the resort…'
He thought grimly.
'They're protecting whatever's hidden in these woods.'
Step by step, he wove through the macabre minefield, his senses sharp, his body a shadow slipping past death itself.
The trail ended at a jagged mouth of stone.
Jojo paused, the damp breath of the cave spilling out—
Thick with rot.
The moment he stepped inside, the air hit him like a wall.
"____"
He instinctively raised a hand to cover his nose.
Even for him, hardened by fire and blood,
The stench was vile—
Sour decay mixed with iron and bile.
And then his eyes adjusted.
The cavern walls were decorated, not with carvings, but with trophies.
Dozens of severed heads nailed into the rock,
Some so old they had shriveled into leathery masks,
Others fresh enough for skin to glisten, eyes half-open in frozen horror.
Maggots writhed in sockets,
And rivulets of blackened blood trailed down the stone.
At the heart of the cave stood a statue.
It towered nearly twice Jojo's height, carved crudely but with chilling intent.
The figure had the squat, bloated body of a devil, yet its head was that of a grotesque frog—
Bulging eyes, gaping maw stretched unnaturally wide.
From its mouth slithered a long stone tongue, wrapped around a child clutched to its chest.
The frog-headed thing's claws dug into the effigy's tiny limbs as though savoring the offering.
Two great wings curled out behind it, jagged and sharp, their span pressing against the cavern walls.
The longer Jojo looked, the more wrong it felt.
The statue's surface was slick with something wet, As if freshly anointed in blood.
And he could swear—
Faintly, almost imperceptibly—
That the tongue wasn't still.
It quivered.
"...What the hell are you people worshipping here?"
Jojo muttered, his voice low, dangerous.
His eyes burned crimson in the flickering torchlight, locking onto the abomination.
Something in his gut told him this wasn't just stone.
This was a shrine.
And it was hungry.
Jojo's eyes tore away from the grotesque idol when a faint sound reached him—
Muffle~ Muffle~
"____"
Muffled, desperate, the sound of flesh straining against restraints.
He moved fast, boots silent against the damp stone.
Behind the statue, tucked into a shadowed hollow, he found him.
The boy.
The same one whose poster he had seen plastered on the village walls.
His wrists and ankles were bound tight with coarse rope,
His mouth sealed with a filthy rag jammed between his teeth.
His face was streaked with tears and grime, eyes wide with panic, darting between Jojo and the monstrous statue looming above them.
Jojo crouched down, his frame shielding the boy from the shrine's watchful glare.
He leaned close, his expression softening for the first time since he entered the cave.
"____"
"Shhh…"
Jojo pressed a finger gently to his own lips, then to the gag.
His voice was a low whisper, steady as steel.
"I'm here for you. Stay quiet. Stay calm. I'll get you out of here."
The boy trembled, a muffled whimper escaping behind the gag,
But when Jojo's blue eyes locked with his, the fear eased—
Just a little.
The boy nodded shakily.
Jojo gave a faint nod back, sliding a hand over the rope at the boy's wrists.
Nod~
His touch was careful, but beneath it simmered a dangerous promise.
"You're going home,"
He murmured.
"I swear it."
Jojo worked fast.
The ropes gave way beneath his grip with a muted snap,
And the gag was tugged free.
The boy gasped, gulping air as if it were the first time he'd ever breathed.
Gulp~
"Not a sound,"
Jojo whispered sharply, steadying the boy with a hand to his shoulder.
"You're free, but if you want to live—you play along."
Before the boy could respond,
"___"
Jojo heard it—
Footsteps. Heavy.
Thud. Thud.
Thud. Thud.
Uneven.
The sound of flesh dragging against stone.
"____"
"____"
His blue gaze darted toward the cave mouth.
No time.
He quickly repositioned the boy, guiding him back into the hollow behind the grotesque statue.
With rough efficiency,
Jojo looped the severed ropes back around the boy's wrists just loosely enough to look convincing.
"Stay still,"
He murmured, his tone deadly serious.
"Pretend you're still bound. I'll handle the rest."
The boy's eyes widened, but he nodded.
Nod~
Jojo melted into the shadows, slipping into a jagged section of the cave wall where shadows pooled thick.
His body blended with the uneven terrain, becoming part of the darkness itself.
The air grew foul.
From the cave's entrance, three figures lurched into view.
Their bodies were twisted mockeries of humanity—
Limbs swollen at odd angles, jaws jagged with broken teeth, faces mangled by inbreeding and old scars.
Their skin was mottled and pale, stretched thin over bone,
And their eyes gleamed with feral hunger.
Cannibals.
The kind of monsters whispered about in backwoods nightmares.
The kind no one mistook for anything else.
Even Jojo, hardened as he was, felt his blood stir with something cold.
"They came…"
He muttered under his breath, unseen, waiting like a predator as the creatures shuffled toward the boy.
The three cannibals hunched around the statue,
Their gnarled fingers dragging along the stone base as they leered at the boy.
Their breath rattled, thick with saliva, but then—
Sniff. Sniff.
"____"
"____"
Their heads jerked up in unison.
Jojo froze.
"_____"
The deformed trio turned, nostrils flaring like hounds catching a fresh trail.
Their cloudy, bloodshot eyes gleamed with hunger as their twisted lips curled into grotesque grins.
Drool dribbled down their chins, strands of saliva swinging as they sniffed harder.
One of them let out a guttural growl, half-choke, half-laugh.
Another dragged its tongue across broken teeth, eyes darting toward the jagged wall where Jojo hid.
They couldn't see him.
But they could smell him.
Their expressions shifted into something obscene, their mouths watering as though they'd just stumbled upon the finest meal of their lives.
Jojo's face darkened.
His jaw tightened as he realized their hunger wasn't for the boy anymore—
It was for him.
"...So that's how it is,"
He muttered low, eyes narrowing.
The air seemed to shiver around him.
The boy stiffened in terror, watching the monsters abandon him to stalk toward the shadows.
Jojo didn't move.
Not yet.
His hand flexed slowly, leather glove creaking.
His aura pressed heavier, like a storm about to break.
"Bad mistake,"
He growled under his breath, his tone dipped in quiet fury.
GRR...
"You just picked the WRONG PREY."
Jojo's eyes flared crimson, glowing brighter with every heartbeat.
The air around him grew heavy and suffocating, the temperature rising like a furnace.
Heat shimmered across the jagged cave walls.
The three cannibals froze, their twisted smiles faltering as Jojo stepped from the shadows.
"____"
"____"
"____"
His lips curled into a devilish grin.
"You bastards smell me, huh?"
He muttered, voice low and dangerous.
His gaze burned hotter.
"TOO bad. I'm THE one who's GOING to COOK you UP."
In the next heartbeat, flames roared to life.
His flesh peeled away in a blaze of fire and ash, revealing the burning skull beneath.
The Ghost Rider stood before them, chains rattling, his very presence scorching the ground.
The cave shook with his laugh—
Low at first, then thunderous.
"HAHAHAHAHA… YOU THINK I'M YOUR NEXT MEAL?"
The fiery skull tilted, mocking.
CREAK~
"NO. YOU ARE MINE."
The cannibals froze, confusion twisting across their deformed faces.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Their sunken eyes darted from the boy to the flaming monster before them.
One scratched his head, another whimpered, and then—
Panic.
They turned, scrambling for the cave mouth.
But Ghost Rider moved faster.
THUD.
In a blur, he kicked the middle one square in the chest,
CRACK!
The impact echoing like a thunderclap as the deformed body slammed into the stone wall.
Before the other two could run, fiery hands shot out, grabbing their thick necks in a vice-like grip.
They thrashed.
They clawed.
Their nails broke against the chains binding his arms.
But it was useless.
Ghost Rider only lifted them higher, dangling their squirming bodies like broken dolls.
Flames danced brighter in his sockets.
"LOOK INTO MY EYES…"
He growled, voice booming like a demon's decree.
RAAAAA~
The two cannibals tried to look away,
but his command dragged their gazes upward.
And the moment their eyes met his burning sockets, the Penance Stare began.
The world around them bled into black.
Suddenly, they were no longer in the cave.
They were falling into an abyss, surrounded by countless shadowy figures.
Faces of their victims—
Men, women, children—
Emerged from the dark, eyes hollow with pain.
Screams echoed.
Ahhhhhhhh~
Hands clawed from the void, tearing into their flesh, ripping skin, pulling them apart piece by piece.
Every ounce of agony they had ever inflicted was hurled back at them—
Multiplied a thousandfold.
The cannibals shrieked, their twisted voices cracking as they writhed in Ghost Rider's grip.
Flames curled up their bodies as their souls burned alive in their own sins.
"____"
Gulp~
The boy watched in horror, trembling against the statue, unable to comprehend the monster that had come to his rescue.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give a review and power stone!!!