I stood there, petrified.
"What?"
"What are you saying?"
"They took... her corpse?" I forced myself to ask.
"No... she was still alive. She was screaming," Faad answered as I tried to help him off the ground.
"Ouch!!! It hurts," Faad screeched.
Before we knew it, other survivors began to emerge. Among them was Faad's father, the village head.
He rushed over upon seeing his son, and I had no choice but to step aside.
"He has lost a lot of blood, get the first aid kit!"
the village head yelled, and immediately one of the survivors rushed to his tent and soon returned with a small box.
He handed it over, and we all watched as Faad's wounds were bandaged.
I looked around. There were about twelve of us present, many with bandages and stitches all over. A village that was once home to about three hundred people had now been reduced to a pile of rubble.
As I scanned their faces one after the other, I could tell how devastated the other survivors felt. It was as if living meant nothing any longer.
After Faad's wounds had been attended to, one of the villagers, Mr. Finn, cleared his throat and spoke.
"Hmm... what do we do now?"
"I suggest we bury the dead," one of the few female survivors responded.
"And how in hell do you suggest we go about that?" another villager countered.
In the blink of an eye, an argument had ensued. Seeing this made my stomach turn.
People had died, and all these fuckers could do was fight among themselves? Maybe we didn't deserve to live after all.
"Silence!!" Mr. Thompson, the village head, yelled from where he was bent over, nursing his son.
"Unless we find a safe haven before nightfall, the dead will be the least of our problems."
Silence fell. Everyone paid rapt attention to his authoritative words.
"There is a good chance that the beasts will return by nightfall, and there will be no barrier to keep them out.
Our only chance at survival is to reach the nearest village before then and hope to God that they take us in."
Everyone nodded at his thoughtful words.
The crowd began to dissipate, everyone leaving to gather their belongings and begin the journey.
That's when it hit me—no one else knew what had happened to Sheila. I summoned the courage and spoke.
"Wait, something happened. Sheila was taken by the beasts. We need to find her."
Silence fell as everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at me.
I could see the bewildered look on their faces, and honestly, I couldn't blame them.
I turned to Faad and urged him to speak.
"Faad, tell them what you saw. Tell them the beast took her alive."
My actions only further confused the crowd. Some even dismissed my words and began leaving.
I turned to Mr. Thompson. I had always known him to be a rational man, and despite how much of a prick his son was, he was one of the few people who never stigmatized me and Sheila.
"Faad told me he saw the beast take her. She was screaming—you can ask him. If she is still alive, we need to find her."
I could see the dismissive look on Faad's face. He wasn't ready to corroborate the story.
"I don't remember what I saw..." he said weakly, avoiding my gaze.
"Liar!!!!!" I said, lunging at Faad, only to be stopped by Mr. Thompson.
"Enough. Even if what you are saying were true, she would be long dead by now. Going after her would only lead to our own demise."
And just like that, my plea was dismissed, and everybody left me there standing alone—unseen, invisible.
"Fine!! I'll find her myself," I yelled at the top of my lungs.
They all turned once again, this time with a little less interest in what I had to say.
"Are you out of your mind, kid?" Mr. Thompson scolded, but I paid no heed to anything else he had to say.
"Since you all have refused to help, I'll go after her myself."
I turned and began to walk away, tears clouding my eyes.
"I order you to stop!!"
His words hit me like lightning; he had never used that tone with me before.
"You can't stop me," I said, my back still turned to him. "You were going to kick us out anyway."
There was no response from him as I continued to walk away. I didn't know if I was more happy that no one stopped me or sad that they didn't.
I had heard many tales about the other world—the part of the planet that was not guarded by barriers or inhabited by humans.
Being out here was a death sentence, and movement between villages was done with special carriers.
Passengers also made sure to travel in broad daylight and avoid the woods as much as possible.
I, however, was doing the exact opposite—not because I wasn't scared to death of the journey I had embarked on, but because if I was going to find Sheila, I had no other choice.
I had heard in the past that the cursed beasts had strongholds, some type of hive where they hibernate for the better part of the day.
If I was going to find Sheila, that would be the first place to look. Although I had no idea what this stronghold was going to look like, I hoped it would be obvious when I saw it.
I continued to wander in the woods, clueless about where I was and unsure of where I was going, praying to God I would find her lying by a tree, unconscious.
I convinced myself that even if she was no longer alive, I would find what was left of her. Only then would my search be over.
Then I saw it...
In the middle of the woods, just a few feet from where I stood, was a hole at least fifty feet in diameter in the ground.
Its edges were covered in shrubs, and it had trees growing out of it. The whole thing looked like a giant green hole in the ground.
I soon found myself standing by the edge, peering into the dark void.
Fighting every fibre in my body that told me not to go in, I slowly began to crawl my way down the hole.
As I descended into the dark abyss, everything felt wrong.
The smell.
The pieces of bone and half-eaten remains.
The claw marks on the rocks.
The eerie sounds coming from below.
Every indication told me to stop, turn around, and run away as fast as I could without looking back.
But I ignored every one of them. I delved deeper and deeper.
My heart had begun to race uncomfortably, but I kept going.
She was all I had. She was the sister I never had, and if there was even the smallest chance that she was alive, I was going to take it.
Many minutes later, I was standing on what seemed like a rocky platform.
I silently thanked God that I had not encountered a single beast since I started my descent, but I was also beginning to get worried.
I wasn't at the bottom yet, and it was already so dark I could barely see.
How deep would I need to go before I found her? What if she was never down there to begin with?
The thoughts were driving me crazy.
I felt around with my legs to find somewhere strong enough to climb down from while supporting myself against the wall.
Srrrrchhhh
My hand had landed on something on the wall.
I froze.
A low, guttural sound echoed from somewhere deeper below. Not loud—just enough to be heard.
Slowly, I turned.
A dead body hung on the wall, its eyes staring right at me.
Then something moved.
Not the body.
Behind it.
A faint shift in the darkness. A presence. Watching. Waiting.
My breath caught in my throat.
Jolting backward, I lost my balance.
The ground beneath my feet crumbled.
And I fell.
My free fall into the dark, unending abyss was accompanied by my uncontrollable scream.
I shut my eyes and waved my arms around, hoping to find something to hold on to.
Moments later, as I hit the ground hard, I could hear the sound of my bones breaking.
And that wasn't the worst part.
I couldn't feel my left arm. All I felt was sharp, unbearable pain in my shoulder.
I slowly opened my eyes and tried to find my missing arm with the other, but it wasn't there.
In my last moments, I saw her, lying just a few inches away from me—unreachable.
Before my eyes finally shut for good, I smiled one last time...
*********************************
{…System initializing…}
{…Host condition: critical…}
{…Foreign entity detected…}
{…Integrating…}
{…Awakening protocol—}