The fields were a lot darker than last time he entered them. He'd had some natural light still left then, good thing he had his flashlight. Derrek entered the same row Warren had taken. As expected, he wasn't there any more. Derrek focused his ears.
Left. Derrek jumped through the stalks, moving forward still, in time to see Warren pass through into the next row. Derrek followed. Damn, I won't gain anything on him this way. Every row slows both of us. Nearest way out is the mud road again or fully back until the forest. Maybe if I can gain some straight distance on him first. Derrek kept his ears open and sprinted down the row he was in, listening until he was about the same depth as Warren.
As he hoped, Warren didn't seem to be listening for Derrek, he was just rushing through. Not far now. Time to go all in. Derrek ran a bit further from Warren's depth, hoping he could catch him as he moved forward. Derrek turned and started crossing the rows. Leaves, corn and stalks hit him in the face as he closed in on the sound. He made a lot of noise now and noticed Warren had stopped making noise. He didn't expect that, got you now. Derrek hurried through the rows toward the location where he last heard the sound. His flashlight caught on something in the next row. Yes! Derrek pushed through the wet leaves.
He almost fell as he came into a clearing. He saw a torch sticking in the mud, the one he'd put out there. In the middle was the wooden pole with the scarecrow. He eyed around, no Warren. No sounds either except for his breathing. Where did he go? I saw his leg through the row, how can he be gone?
Wasn't this deeper in the fields too? I can't have passed that many rows yet. He was in front of the scarecrow now, its head turned to the back from his final visit. The head started turning around. Right, the mechanized head with the sensor down—
The sensor's light wasn't on. The wires seemed cut. His neck grew cold again, he had to flinch from the sudden spike of pain. It didn't hold him back from looking at the scarecrow's face.
He remembered the metallic mask and the red LED blinking eyes from before. Those were gone. A pure straw face looked at him, with shadowy holes for eyes. The mouth another dark hole. It seemed to move. No, no, n—
A chuckle. Every hair on his body stood upright, but Derrek's body choose not to remain upright. With a shout, he fell backward through the corn stalks and dropped on his butt, which sent another shock through his back.
To his right, he heard Warren again, who exclaimed a mutter and started running. Derrek didn't follow. He sat there, staring at the corn in front of him. He'd fallen clean through, he couldn't see the clearing or the scarecrow. No way. What's happening? That was impossible, like before.
Am I… Am I going nuts?
Warren stumbled through a row of corn further down. The noise was finally able to get Derrek moving again. He didn't dare pull the corn aside to see what was behind it. Looking can only hurt. Or I'll see no clearing, which means I'm crazy, or I'll see the clearing with a messed up dark scarecrow, which means I'm even more crazy… Just need to put this whole thing behind me.
Derrek got moving behind Warren again. He only heard him further down and a row to the right. Everything in Derrek's body was on full alert. Heart racing, pores sweating, breath shallow and muscles tense, but also sore.
He pushed through a row on his right, more weary than before, scared he'd find the same thing waiting for him. It was a relief when it was just another row of ordinary dark corn field. How my new normal has shifted already. I'm taking a week off after this. He didn't spot Warren yet, but as he pushed through another, he saw him again. The field was running at an end too, they'd made it to the muddy farm road. He'll need to choose, head through, over or deeper through the fields. I really hope he picks the road.
Warren made it to the farmroad and Derrek could see he was working through his choices. A sudden voice distracted him. Warren let out an exclamation.
"Stop! Put your hands up." That isn't Chip. Jones? Already? Warren hesitated, and eventually turned toward the muddy road, starting to cross. Derrek made it to the edge, just a couple of feet behind him.