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.