Masquerade Run

Rey
would repeatedly swallow choke down both saliva and bile. His eyes remained
fixed on the horror he witnessed and couldn’t gather the will power to move his
body. The warmth between his legs had long grown cool, the stench of his own
fluid was sharply overwhelmed by the powerful metallic odor of blood. Rey who
had only ever seen blood flow freely on movies and video games, was now
intimately familiar with its unique smell. 
No
living thing made a sound for miles and miles around. Even Rey had held himself
tightly, the blood in his veins slowed to a crawl as his terrified heart
generously beat irregularly and more importantly- quietly. 
*Slurp
*Slurp *Slurp
It
sounded like the forced sucking of liquid remnants through a straw.
*Slurp
*Slurp
Each
draw was like a piercing reminder of the unbearable reality fate now had in
store for him.
Would I end up like Laisa or
Holly or Tom?''
At
each name Rey would unwillingly remember the gory instances of their death and
the insanity thereafter. Images of their coarse and withered corpses gripped
his mind, teasing him with the implication of his end.
His
tensed senses felt the wind push lightly against the hollow tree he was tightly
packed in. Pieces of dirt and dried bark fell into his open eyes and nose, yet
he numbly ignored these irritants. Instead he perked his ears and listened for
the slightest change to the sucking sounds.
He
knew It would leave when It was done.
Laisa
had paid for this knowledge with her life.
Initially,
when It had used its branch-like appendage to tear an inch-wide gash from her
shoulder to her pelvis, Holly had fled immediately, while Tom, with a clear
head, insisted on observing it from a hidden distance.
The
creature’s ‘body,’ standing at 7 feet, was one cylinder shaped mass wreathed in
dried leaves making it impossible to see what lay underneath. The limb that had
killed Laisa had emerged from its leaf-like form, struck, and swiftly returned
within and remained undetectable even while it ‘fed’.
Under
clear skies and a bright crescent moon, they watched it spread itself. The
entity had lowered itself, spreading the ‘leaves’ of its outer mass over
Laisa’s corpse the followed by several minutes of this same slurping sound.
Rey
had vomited the first time he fully comprehended what the entity had done. He
and Tom had waited until the entity wandered away before approaching the body.
Like Rufus and the strange charred mass they had discovered earlier while
camping, the body was dry, darkened and broke apart at the slightest touch.
Where it not for Laisa’s clothes being wrapped around the body, Rey would have
vehemently refused to believe that was the same woman he had proposed to a few
weeks ago, or as a matter of fact, that it was even a human body they had been
looking at.
After
he had taken a few breaths, Rey realized he no longer heard the slurping sound.
He waited a few more moments gathering his courage before he stepped out of his
hole, observed his surrounding as best as he could then began to inch closer to
the site of the ‘feeding.’
He
and Tom had been separated a while ago while fleeing. He suspected the worst,
yet prayed for the best.
As
he neared the site, he saw a few things that made his heart to soar and his
stomach to drop.
A hoof?
It
was the hoof of an animal. He drew closer.
Too small to be a person.
Spread
over the mass on the ground, he noticed it was dark-brown fur.
It’s hunting animals as
well!?''
It
was a dead deer. He sighed in relief.
Rey
moved away from the corpse as quietly as he could. He would check the ground
from time to time, but he had long accepted that It does not leave trails as It
moves.
He
had trekked for an unknown period of time. For whatever reason, most likely,
the creature, the entire group’s cell-phones failed to get a signal or even
function properly. Every time they tried to make a call or work an app, the
device would misbehave, restart or freeze up and finally they had given up
trying to use it entirely. Such bright light in the dark forest would be a dead
giveaway of their position anyway.
Thus
Rey only had a vague idea of how long he had been walking before he heard a
terrifying inhuman shriek, to the West, he saw a plume of bright orange light
burst brilliantly in the sky then die out.
Fear
and indecision gripped him.
He
froze on the spot and couldn’t decide what to do.
Just
then, a pearl of bright white light sparkled from above. Rey believed he had
imagined it, until the light flashed again.
The
soft, yet constant sound of rustling leaves emerged from nowhere.
Rey
panicked.
Suddenly,
the light lit up and remained on for several seconds. Rey was already running
towards it.
It
emerged from a distance behind him.
The
sound of rustling leaves became more intense.
This
upright pile of leaves moved as fast as Rey could run. Twin pearls of dim red
light shone between the leaf-body, yet their positions moved about as though
swimming freely in a container. The space between the pearls of light did not
alter, as though a pair of eyes were fixed strictly on Rey.
It
closed in the distance between them rapidly. There were no footsteps behind
Rey, yet he sensed its approaching presence and the aura of his death with
trailed behind the entity.
As
he approached the location of the signaling light; a dead tree with many thick
branches, Rey heard a voice.
“Climb.”
It was male, but Rey couldn’t recognize the voice. A thick hempen rope was
thrown down for him and Rey did not hesitate to use all his strength to grab
the life-saver and pull himself up.
There
was a piercing swish sound.
Rey
screamed as the smell of blood returned.
He
left calf had been torn.
As
he reached the top of the rope, even as his mysterious benefactor pulled him
into safety, the entity had slashed at him. It had felt like warm steel slicing
through his body, pulling away flesh, muscle and blood.
The
mysterious helper pulled Rey into the hidden tree-house. He glanced back at the
entity below. It slowly retracted its limb into its form. Without waiting, it
moved away, heading towards the site of the orange burst of light.
Rey
was groaning in pain. He grasped the injured leg and suppressed his howls of
pain through sheer dedication to life.
His
benefactor had not approached him or said anything. He merely stood as far away
from Rey as possible and watched him quietly.
Rey
tore off his shirt sleeve and wrapped the wound as tightly as his weak limbs
could allow. His head was throbbing and weakness consistently engulfed him.
“T-Thank
you.” He muttered.
The
savior nodded once, yet he still did not approach. His left hand hovered around
his waist and his eyes observed Rey’s movements.
“Can
you help?” Rey felt uncomfortable, so he continued speaking “my friends and I
were camping when this thing attacked us. You have to help, please.”
There
was a brief moment of utter silence, broken by the turning of both their heads
while a low orange glow steadily approached, growing brighter as it did.
As
it got brighter, Rey heard panting. He pushed himself to the edge of the
makeshift tree house and felt true hope for the first time since the nightmare
began.
He
waved and shouted at an approaching figure.
“Tom!”
He didn’t care if the entity returned, it had chased him up a tree and didn’t
follow up its pursuit so he felt that this was a haven to be shared. “Over here
Tom!”
Tom
caught sight of his friend as relief washed over his face. He raised his
crafted wooden torch over his head and saw Rey safe and sound in a tree. Then
he swiftly frowned as he screamed.
“Rey
look out!”
It
was too late. When Rey heard Tom and turned, he only saw the butt of a gun
crash into the side of his head. His eyes spun and he collapsed weakly. He
began to mumble incoherently.
Tom
dashed closer to the tree. He raised the torch above his head and froze,
understanding the situation.
The
‘saviour’ had pointed the pistol at Tom, aimed to shoot.
Tom
began to back away; then the sound of rustling leaves filled his ears. He
turned and witnessed It approaching from behind him. He began to wave the torch
like a weapon to frighten it. Tom had seen how easily they could be burnt and
while that didn’t kill them on its own, all he had to do next was smash the
frail form hidden within in order to kill it. He had done it once already and
was now certain he could do it again.
Tom
quickly made his battle plan; he would thrust once and set It ablaze, taking
care to avoid its deathly claw attack and once it’s frail form is exposed, he
would be able to shatter it.
It
continued to advance on Tom. No fear of flames evident in its approach.
The
rustling sound increased and even Rey had focused his blurred mind and watched
the scene from above. He gasped.
“Tom!
They’re surrounding you.” Ignoring the ‘saviour’ beside him.
Yes,
there were more of them. Two others had drifted in from forest and closed in on
Tom. He could not escape.
Tom
thrust his torch and the advancing entity burst into flames. It shrieked in its
inhuman tone as it shook and rattled itself wildly. Tom ignored the others
approaching and closed in on his opportunity.
Within
the burning form, he had caught the silhouette of a large flat and wide head, a
single limb- long and folded at multiple angles ending in three deadly claws,
its ‘body’ ended at the waist with nothing beneath it.
It
would not remain incapacitated for long.
Tom
jumped and threw out a powerful kick.
A
shot rang out and Tom collapsed to the floor clutching his side. The torch fell
and rolled away from him.
Rey
screamed “No!”
The
‘saviour’ pointed the gun at Rey and shook his head. They locked eyes. Rey
stared indignantly and refused to cower; he tried to sweep the leg. Another
shot rang out and Rey clutched his thigh and screamed.
Tom
stretched to the torch. Crawling desperately at his final hope.
An
Entity approached him. Mercilessly it unleashed its hunting limb and stabbed
into Tom’s back. Tom groaned deeply then fell silent. The entity moved over the
corpse. It lowered itself, spreading its leafy outer shell over Tom’s body.
*Slurp
*Slurp *Slurp
The
injured entity had recovered. Fresh looking leaves grew rapidly, replacing the
burnt covering it had lost. It moved away from the scene and disappeared into
the forest.
The
other uninjured entity had abruptly moved away the moment the other had begun
to ‘feed’.
Rey
ignored his wounds. He watched the horrific scene below. Tears flowed down his
body and mixed with blood, yet he only watched the madness. Laisa was gone. Tom
is dead. The others too.
The
slurping slowed then stopped.
“Just…
kill… me.” Rey barely lingered on. He had lost a lot of blood and felt his
consciousness wane considerably.
Its okay if I come meet you,
right Laisa?''
Rey
was about to pass out when he noticed the entity had ‘stood’ and approached his
location. He grinned on the inside.
Kill us both then! Send me
to Laisa.
The
entity moved to the base of the tree. The sound of rustling leaves filled the
area; stopping only when It stopped.
Rey
watched it and struggled to smile. He turned to the ‘savior’ and found him
watching the entity as well.
Tom’s
torch was slowly dying out. The light it gave was low and weak yet enough for
Rey to witness as a wide painted board emerged from within the leaf body. Its
edges were rough and colored. He spotted two glowing red pearls resting where eyes
would be on a face.
*Crack
The
sound of cracking branches echoed and Rey watched as a crude mouth split open. 
“A…no…the..r” It spoke in a coarse and
dry voice, as though a great deal of effort was put into speaking these words.
The
savior nodded.
Suddenly
the entity doubled over and the sound of snapping branches was heard. The
entity moved away from the spot and disappeared into the forest, leaving behind
a mottled and black branch. 
Dawn
arrived. The savior had tightly bound Rey’s hands behind him. He had patched
his wounds, so Rey had not bled out through the night.
He
let the unconscious Rey roll off the tree and hit the ground with a dull thud.
This woke him up. He was dragged a few feet away and left on the ground.
Dust
and dirt entered his nose so Rey coughed.
“You’re
awake?” asked the ‘savior’ incredulously.
Rey’s
memories of last night hit him powerfully. He weakly tried to move and realized
he was bound. As his mind raged at reality, moments passed and he asked.
“Why?”
he coughed as he swallowed more dirt, “why did you…” Rey’s voice trailed off,
he caught sight of the ‘savior’s’ face and swiftly remembered him from the
farming town they bought extra supplies before they camped. “You!” he growled.
There was nothing special about this youth’s face, it was only Rey’s aggressive
state that had enabled him to remember such an inconspicuous face
The
youth looked at him with eyes full of regret. He hung his head and spoke.
“They
are fed, or they will hunt.” As he spoke those words, the youth approached the
black branch left behind by the entity.
Rey
continued to struggle against his binds. His rage began to build. Using humans for food? Humans serving other
humans on a platter? What is this?''
Rey
screamed his questions.
“What
are they? Why are you helping them!? Let us fight them together!?”
Rey’s
words were ignored. The youth quietly picked the black branch between bundles
of clothes, taking great care to not let it touch his skin. As he approached
Rey with such sad eyes, Rey continued to query him to no avail.
He
kneeled beside Rey, holding the branch above Rey’s chest.
With
a sigh he said “You will know soon enough.”
He
plunged the branch into Rey’s stomach. It tore through flesh as though it were
paper.
Rey
gasped. His nerves tensed and he screamed yet no sound was made. His body
convulsed violently, yet the branch did not waver, instead sinking deeper into
Rey’s body until only half of it was visible.
Rey’s
movements slowed but didn’t cease. He muttered incessantly, saying nothing but
relentless gibberish as his eyes remained locked at empty space. His fingers
and feet would twitch at random intervals.
The
youth stepped away from the body. He gathered dry leaves and branches,
spreading them over the body, allowing only the black branch to remain visible.
The
morning was far spent by the time he was done. The youth took out his
cell-phone. It too displayed an erroneous, scrambled front page, yet as he
walked further away from the planted black branch’s area of influence it
quickly began to function properly.
Messages
began to pop in. Some were notifications for emails, sms, and a few game
alerts. He opened a received message and replied.
“Harvest
complete. 1 loss, 1 plant. Stampede averted.” He sent the message.
The
youth began to trek. As he went on, more people of different ages caught up
with him. Their faces were solemn and the troupe was quiet. They walked towards
the nearest town and not a word was said.
Category:Beings