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Auki
07-17-2011, 12:18 PM
There was nothing but darkness.

Nothing.

She clawed at her mind desperately, searched every crevice, but that was all there was. That and the indisputable feeling that something should be there. She could feel the blood pumping through her body, coursing like a wildfire that burned every inch of her figure. Each pore was a pin-prick of pain, like a needle slowly driving itself against her skin, the sheer number causing an agony of such intensity that, for that moment, it dominated all her other senses. She convulsed in her distress, blind, deaf and mute, mentally ripping at the emptiness inside of her.

She held no concept of time but any onlookers would have witnessed her writhing last only a few minutes before her remaining strength diminished. Her body fell still although inside she remained in turmoil, a tortured soul without hope of escape.

Relentless - After hours of slashing through the void in her mind, the barriers began to break down. One emotion seeped through.

Fear.

The feeling held no logic, unaccompanied by a reason, but her instincts told her it was justified. Whether in truth the danger was real or imagined, her body made no hesitation in visually displaying her terror to any around, reacting to the threat as though there was no doubt to its existence.

Her heart pounded violently against her ribs as though attempting to break free from confinement, her entire body trembling, and her breaths reduced to weak, yet hastened, pants. Perspiration clung to her, each drop like boiling water burning at her flesh, yet deathly cold whenever the capricious wind would buffet her. Each alteration was like torture, every change causing her more and more agony. Tears welled up in retaliation but they scalded her eyes. It made no sense to her.

Slowly, she became more aware of herself, more in control of what she was doing. Her nostrils twitched, inhaling the musty odour, repulsed by the underlying smell of mould and rot. Her fingers jerked erratically, tearing up the damp earth beneath her hands. It was silent except for the gentle whistling of the icy wind that stung her cheeks and sent shivers down her nude form.

She didn’t know who she was and she didn’t know why that mattered but it felt wrong not to have an identity. She searched her mind for knowledge or memories but was faced again with nothingness. The least she could do was figure out her location.

Tentatively, she opened her eyes, as though only just remembering how to do so.

The first thing to grab her attention was the absence of colour. The bark on the trees was black, the leaves that grasped their branches a drab grey. They were strong, climbing up further than she could see - given her position against the forest floor - but the aura they gave off broke her heart. It was as though nature itself was slowly dying, leaving an atmosphere of despair. Fog clung to the surroundings, pressing down on her and hindering her ability to breathe. She felt smothered and the taste of the air felt strange, almost metallic. No matter where she looked, she was unable to see through the canopy to the sky. It caused her fear to spike further although she couldn’t work out why. Her eyes swivelled in their sockets, attempting to take in more of the environment, but lying on the floor as she was, her vision was limited. There were flickers of white all around but her eyes were too sore to make out detail.

The helplessness of her situation tormented her. She pushed against the soil feebly with her palms, elevating her torso a few inches from the ground before her muscles gave in. Her face slammed down into the mud. If not for the fear burning inside of her, she would have abandoned hope.

Again, she attempted to push herself up.

The Hoover whirled in her hands, sliding over the carpet smoothly, devouring the mess that had been left by her family. Crumbs and dog hairs alike fell victim to the attack of the machine in her hands as she drove it chaotically around the furniture without mercy. She never thought she would be the type of woman to get excited over a new household appliance but the vacuum cleaner was like heaven compared to her previous. No need to go over the same spot a hundred times, this one got the same results in just one swoop! She giggled in excitement as she realised she might now have time to watch Loose Women, practically jumping up and down happily in the middle of her living room without a care as to who might see her through the drawn blinds. The radio played uselessly in the background, drowned out by the Hoover’s gurgling, but she didn’t like the music they played anyway. Pop songs and romantic lyrics were too naïve for her taste… or at least the new ones were. Fourteen-year-olds singing about heartbreak seemed almost a mockery of love.

She chuckled as she thought about it, switching off the Hoover just in time to catch the phone ringing. Sometimes she thought she would kill for a moment’s peace. She had to sprint across the hallway so as to answer the call in time, leaping over the array of toys and unpacked luggage. She almost wished she hadn’t made the effort.

“Hello, is that Mrs Davies? We are ringing to query whether you are satisfied with your current car insurance policy. Here at ‘Drive and Save’, we can offer y-…”

She rolled her eyes and hung up on them mid-sentence.

It wasn’t lack of strength that caused her to fall back to the ground this time, but shock. The memory flooded back to her without warning. Instead of comforting her, it just elevated her panic – Like a candle in a pitch-black cave, all it did was emphasise the emptiness in the rest of her mind. She curled into a ball, limbs continuing to jerk involuntarily, coughing fits racking her body, as the wind grew harsher.

She wanted to lie there, refuse to move until her memories had returned, but the raging fear in the pit of her stomach called out to her, whispering one word,

Run.

A few minutes of frantic clawing at the dirt and she was finally able to summon the strength and knowledge to pull herself to her feet. Her success was not pleasant, met by stiff muscles and sore joints; it was tempting to lie back down again. Something in her mind encouraged her to move, however, despite the spasms of pain that shot up her thighs and back at every twitch of her body. She hunched over as liquid launched itself up her throat, scorching the inside of her mouth. Her recent lack of food and water meant that she was able to produce little in the way of vomit but that which she could was choked up over the forest floor without hesitation.

The colourless leaves were so fragile that they began to rot the moment the fluid touched them.

She clicked the button to lock her car, abandoning her vehicle in the middle of the shopping centre car park. Her children had just been dropped off at school, giving her the time to collect the food they would be needing that week. He would be returning home on Saturday so she would need to make sure to buy enough to feed all five of their family. She had to remind herself that her daughter had asked her to pick up orange juice. As usual, she had forgotten to write herself a list, instead attempting to remember the items off the top of her head.

However, she was momentarily distracted by a small girl, perched on the wall outside the supermarket. She only looked to be about five years old, her blonde hair whipped by the breeze, the dress she wore smudged by grass stains. She casually ate sweets from a white paper bag clasped in her grubby hands. Her parents were nowhere in sight but she seemed at peace. Her unwavering faith in their return, a display of childlike innocence. The smile that appeared plastered on her face, proudly showing off the gaps in her teeth, a hint at her naivety. Kathryn diverted her gaze and entered the supermarket silently.

When she exited two hours later, the child was gone. She could only pray that it was the parents that had picked her up.

The forest weighed down on her, trying to drag her to the floor with its atmosphere. She refused to yield, the urge to run still burning inside of her. The memories that flashed before her eyes felt like those of a stranger, as thought she was watching someone else live their life. She couldn’t feel an emotional attachment to the children she knew she had and that was perhaps the worst thing of all. Her heart felt empty.

Why?

The question seemed to hold some depth. It repeated over and over in mind, drumming itself across all her thoughts. She did not know why she asked it but it seemed the very essence of the pain raging inside her. She wanted to force it from her mind. To distract herself. She squinted around the clearing, wanting answers more than anything.

It was a shock to see so many share the space with her. They were people; she was sure of that fact. They jerked, their eyelids flickered. A few had even found their way to hands and knees as they tried to stand. They seemed… ghostly in appearance - The ground could be seen, albeit misty, beneath each of them. Was she the same? She looked solid to herself. A gut reaction of maternal instinct caused her to stumble towards the boy nearest her, a young thing with a blonde mop of hair. She only wished to help him to his feet, ignoring the thoughts – Why? Why? Why? - that pounded through her head without alteration. She stretched out an arm.

Her hand went straight through him.

NecroNama
07-19-2011, 08:10 AM
A massive throbbing headache, feeling like a spike to the side of the head caused him to slowly place his hands on his head, squeezing his eyes tight hoping that some how it would help but didn't. As if his body was playing "catch-up", he slowly felt some sort of cold on his back, shivers run around his entire body making his hairs stand on end. Placing one hand on whatever he was laying on, he sat up keeping the other hand to his head and just as he got halfway up, a loud BOOM made his head hurt even more. He wanted to shout or think about shouting but his head hurt bad enought to where thinking wasn't really a option to him.

Once seating up fully, he slowly opened his eyes one at a time, not seeing anything at first and then a bright flash brought color to both eyes causeing him to jump back a little, letting out a slight groan of pain. The first thing he noticed was the frost beneath his hand as he tried to pick part of it up and place it in his hand to look at like a kid would with a shiney coin. Then it hit him, a cool breeze that caused yet another cold shiver run down his spine. Something about the wind and the ground told him something was off.....way off, yet he didn't know what or why. Placing his other hand on the ground, he decided to get up, and like a newly born horse, his legs shook under his weight, causing him to fall over a few times and stumble around like a drunk. This didn't give any ease the what was happening in his head, the throbbing continued as a slight ringing joined in. Finally getting his ballance, he leaned forward, placing both hands back to his head as he stumbled foward a bit, leaning onto a tree, or tree like object. As he hit the tree, a massive jolt knocked him onto his back.....

Hugging a tree with both arms wrapped around the trunk, placed on his knees with his eyes covered, a feeling of shame ran through him. "You know why you are tied to that tree?" A voice said coming from behind him. "Answer me Shiruba!" Massive stinging was felt on his back, letting out slight grunts as each hit landed, making him clinch his teeth, and all at once it stopped. "Well....."

"I.....I....didn't collect...." He said weakly as a few more stinging blows landed. "Ahh....it speaks...." The voice said yet again. "What did you think was going to happen once you told the Oyabun you didn't get all his money?" More hits were felt. "That he was just going to let it happen? We let one person slide, they all want to slide!" The stings turned into punches as they landed on his ribs and the back of his head, driving his face into the tree, the bark cutting his face a bit. "You should count yourself lucky Shiruba....I knew a guy who did the same thing you did and lost his head right there....the Oyabun likes you...he sees promise...I don't!" A kick was driven home to the side of his face, cracking his head off the tree once more but with force. "The orders are to leave you here for a few days and then you get your true reminder." A heavy laugh followed untill all faded away into a dark quite as he passed out.

On his back, he sat back up. "...wh...what was....that?" He wispered as his head throbbed more as he got to his feet yet again, getting a queasy feeling then out of the pitt of his stomach, he let out liquid from his mouth as his stomach renched into him, it all fell to the base of the "tree". Leaning on the tree once more, he looked around with his eyes, they stung like the hits he felt in whatever just happened to him. He asked himself yet again the same question followed by a 'who am I...and who is this Shiruba?'. He pushed slowly off the tree and began walking, legs a bit like rubber bands as the ground was a bit slippery.

Another BOOM followed by a light from the sky made his head ring once again, making him feel a bit more queasy. From a bit of walking and staring at the gound, he stopped and looked up. "WHAT THE.....?" His jaw dropped as he saw what looked like other people come and go like the flash from the sky. "HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?" He shouted as he ran forward to a old man, slipping, face planting and sliding through the legs of the same figure he ran to. This is when he first noticed he had nothing covering his body, since he was more worried about what he saw that sent him on his back. "What is going on here?....." He looked around once more and saw more people flashing like light bulbs...on and off...on and off. "HELLO!?!?!" He screamed as he jumped to his feet, nearly falling again. Then a feeling from deep down inside him told him to shut up and be still, almost as if he was being watched. 'Where am I...and who am I?' He asked himself with his teeth pinched to each other like a vice, eyes locked to the ground as his body began to shake. 'Am I alone?'

kagomri
07-19-2011, 03:57 PM
"Holy Crap." Jason muttered angrily over his iPhone.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was new and shiny. His rich girlfriend Sarah, who's mother fucking rich, bought it for as birthday gift for his 24th birthday along with a cheerful kiss on the cheek. His sweet sweet girl. She had always been seen as a generous, unselfish girl by those around her, but each time she was told so she shrugged it off and looked away as if she didn't understand what they were saying. The fact that she was rich was obscured by wearing the plainest clothes to high school--grey sweatpants and a clean baggy white t-shirt. It was clear she didn't care for fashion and social status. Her brilliant, hilarious personality brought forth all the friends she needed.


He had admired her all throughout high school. She brought warmth, affection and joy where every she went--actually, it followed her naturally, uplifting spirits, delivering content aura.
They said the occasional "Hi." whenever they passed by, but nothing more until the one beautiful rainy afternoon.


It was summer. The angry clouds promised precipitation, and the temperature never wavered any lower than its humid 35 degree Celsius. Jason, who almost never lost his calm, enraged by his best friend's betrayal, took out his anger on playing basketball. Thundering down the pavement, the dark orange ball flew between his legs and around his hands like never before. It was as if it was compelled to bounce back up to his desired place. He dunked it through the net angrily just as a downpour of rain smashed down from the heavens, soaking him entirely. He shivered and ran a hand through his matted hair. Wet cold clothing that was drenched in sweat and now in water clung to his lean muscular figure. Trapping the ball between his right arm and firm oblique, he smiled in satisfaction, as if he somehow expected on the storm.


"Silly boy." said a familiar high pitched voice.
Sarah stood in the rain a few meters away from him playfully twirling her key chain in one finger, curious. She wore shorts and a tank and looked at him as if she found something glowing under the sink.
"Sarah." Was all he managed to say, a bit surprised to see her. They never met outside of school.
"Why are you in the rain, silly? You're going to catch a cold."
She wasn't flirtatious, this was her normal nature. So pure and innocent and wonderfully different from everyone else.
"And so are you."
A smile crept along her beautiful lips. Her eyes regarding him comprehendingly as if to say, touché.
Deep inside he admitted she was attractive. A first; he never thought of her in that way. Perhaps the rain enhanced features. Silence fell.


"Let's do something crazy." She said at last.


It didn't take long to fall for Sara. He's never been knocked down so hard.

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"She was in what?' Jason yelled, shocked. Overcome with numbness. A moment ago he was clenching the receiver but now it slipped a little too freely from his grasp.
"Sarah....was in an... accident..."
The voice wasn't heard from the other line--he already bolted out the door without a moments hesitation.



Grey, in different intervals of shades.

Slowly, he brought himself up onto his knees, his muscles protesting, sleep still in his system. Before him lay moist, dirt ground and trees--each unimaginably tall with lush leaves layered so thick it canopied the sky entirely. A rotten odor in the air. What struck him was not the fact that he could not recall how he had landed here. It was that there seemed to be no pigment whatsoever--only shades. He looked around in bewilderment. Everything looked like the life was sucked out of them. It was as if he was stuck in a motionless picture and someone turned on the grayscale. Lifeless. Dull. And a little prosaic.


A distressed woman with a stocky build desperately reached out towards him. Her skin sunk ghostly into his, her whole body white and transparent. He pulled away abruptly as if she had stung him and examined his hands, then body. Realizing he was more solid and real than she could ever be. This....ghost. He wildly whipped his gaze around, the fear settling in as she realized there were more people, just as pale and misty.


"D-don't. Touch me."
The words left his lips were a quiet whisper, almost mute.

DB.
07-20-2011, 12:17 AM
The sound of children's laughter filled the cool autumn air. It was early in the morning, and the lawns of every house in the neighborhood were glazed over with a fresh white sheet of snow. It seemed like one of those hallmark Christmas cards; the ones with the small suburban neighborhood and a happy family in front of it all, smiling their happy smiles and waving at absolutely nothing. But no, this was real moment, one that actually held personal significance. It was one of the few times he actually spent time with his children.

Andrew lay in the snow, panting and laughing. His children bombarded him with snowballs, slowly getting closer and closer as he shielded his face and body from the blows. They were soon both on top of him, his daughter and son, giggling. Andrew could feel them breathing quickly, the warmth radiating off of them, their eyes closed and their faces buried deep into his chest struggling to find more warmth.

He put his arms around them and caressed their head with his mittened hands,reveling in this moment and wishing he could spend much more time with them than he already did. They needed their father, and he definitely needed them much more, to keep him sane, no doubt about it. But, it wouldn't be too long until their mother came by to pick them up, his ex-wife.

But, it wasn't the time to think of that. He needed to get the kids in, it was too cold out here.

Way too cold.

Andrew jolted awake, his body shivering violently. Had he been dreaming? No, it couldn't have been. It felt so real. Somehow he knew he'd been there, that it happened, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn't think of anything other than that snowy scene. Trying to remember anything else made him hit something, a barrier. He did have feeling though, a nagging feeling, like his body was telling him to get the heck out of there

Andrew forced his eyes open and found himself staring at a mass of gray foliage, blocking out any view of the sky. It was an unsightly colour, something Andrew somehow understood to be unnatural. He began to panic and frantically look around. There was snow everywhere, fresh and white. Some of it formed a blanket over him, covering most of his body. He struggled to control his shaking body long enough to stand up while brushing the snow off. Andrew noticed he was nude, which, considering the circumstances, wasn't good. But somehow the air was nice and warm, like a nice thick blanket, conflicting with the chilling ground.

He rubbed his arms to try and warm up his body faster and noticed ghostly figures standing and laying on the floor around him. He jumped back and tripped, falling backwards, heart racing. Where the hell was he?

Ru
07-20-2011, 09:31 AM
Long, blonde locks caressed her soft, pale features as he held on tightly to her. Against her shivering, wet body this man was a fiery warmth that caused her to nuzzle frantically against his chest in hopes of regaining her own body heat. Despite her whining and crying like the child she was, he gently rocked her back and forth whilst he sat on the ground with one hand against the nape of her neck. Rain had been pouring profusely for days and was what caused the poor toddler to be soaked from head to toe with water, shivering in this man’s arms; the very same water caused her to slip and fall, skidding her knee against the concrete.

Cooing in her ear comforted the young girl who continued to rubbed her nose against the man’s chest, tears seeping down her plump cheeks. Yellow hair, in the same hue of the man’s, though she never noticed this, caked onto her dripping wet face due to the rain and constant crying. All she wanted to do was snuggle, be warm, and sleep.

He rose from his previously knelt position, cradling her in his arms as he ran her into the house. Quickly he tore off her wet clothes and dried her off before she could get sick, cleaning her wounded knees. Tears continued to ripple down her flushed cheeks as she placed her in a warm bath and forced her to get clean before she could cuddle with him and her teddy to sleep. “Ssh… Lydia.. Ssshh…” he then began to sing a song to her, which almost immediately stopped the tears. The little girl stared up at him in perplexion then awe. Once her hair was washed she reached up her tiny, pudgy hands up towards the man and folded her fingers numerous time in a grabbing motion while whining.

Shaking his head with a soft smile, he lifted her from the tub, dried her off, then helped her put on warm, clean pajamas with kitties all over them. “Kit cat…” with her index finger she pointed at one of the numerous cats adorn on her pajamas, staring down at it.

“Yes, Lydia… That is a kitty cat.” Again he smiled, then kissed her forehead before swooping her into his arms and spinning her around in a full circle; his smile grew as she giggled profusely. He stopped and fell backwards onto the bed, holding her against his chest so that their stomachs were against each other. The man reached over for a white teddy bear with a turquoise ribbon tied around its neck as the toddler continued to giggle against him, wiggling about though getting nowhere since he kept his freehand close to her. He held out the bear to her, locking his light eyes with her bright blues. “Whose this Lydia?”

“Bear Bear!” she rolled onto her back and clapped her hands together, and then took the teddy bear out of his hand holding it tightly against her. “My Bear Bear…” as he nodded she laid her head against his chest with her eyelids drooping closed. “Nigh nigh…”


“KIRI!” she woke up screaming with half of her face in mud. Lydia scrambled to her feet only to follow back into the wet, brown dirt with a light drizzle dripping onto her naked body. Again she attempted to spring to her feet, launching herself forward only to face plant into a small puddle. “Kiri!” Lydia cried once again, though she had no idea why or even who this name belonged to. Like drums in a raving marching band her heart beat against her chest, threatening to spring out of her mouth at that very second. Spitting mud out of her mouth left and right, she wiped at her eyes to get the dirt out of her vision.

Her eyes trailed down and she realized that her clothes were nowhere to be seen, however, she was still covered. The mud had concealed her breasts and private region due to her laying stomach down in it, for whatever reason. After this she gazed around the vicinity and realized that she was surrounded by what looked to be apparitions. Once she noticed they were moving it caused her to jump slightly, knocking her back into the mud all over again.

After letting out an aggravated sigh, Lydia pushed herself into a somersault then jumped to her feet more swiftly than she had expected to.

“Practice makes perfect, Lydia! You need to wow the audience!”

Tightly she gripped onto her temples, grinding her teeth together as she cringed. Lydia’s torso fell forward and she almost returned to laying flat on the muddy floor beneath her toes.



Scorching, baking, aching, and burning. He felt as if he was being slowly cooked in an oven. Slowly he sat up from laying on the ground with a blank expression across his features as immense confusion settled in. The ground beneath him was cold, everything he lay his fingers across felt like ice, so why did he feel so terribly hot? Nothing was comprehensible to him, not right now.

He gazed around the area only to see what appeared to be ghostly figures falling, walking, tripping about, and one doing a somersault then standing seamlessly. Musho reached his fingers up to his head in confusion, scratching at his scalp and then running his fingers through his black curls. What baffled him more was that the universe he awoken to seemed to be only in shades of grey, but that did not make sense; the world was in color, wasn’t it?

Panic didn’t even reach him until suddenly he felt a throbbing pain in his head that pounded like an annoyed neighbor demanding the music to be turned down. He felled backwards, hitting his shoulder blades against the cold surface behind him.

Years had passed with no word from the woman whom his heart belonged to. He had run off without a trace, so when he found out that she was pregnant with another man’s child he felt no form of jealousy, only sorrow and regret that he had ever left her side at all. Happiness was what he wished for her, forever and always, even if it meant that whom caused that gleeful feeling was no longer him. He hung his head in shame as he sat by his bedroom window, laying his cheek against his rested arms that sat on the windowsill.

Silently his best friend approached to bring him sorrowful news that he did not want to give him. The younger man lingered by the door way, leaning against the door hinges with his lips tightly shut to somehow prevent him from relaying it. He knew better than to try to keep secrets for long, especially in this department. “She died, Musho,” finally the words left his mouth.

Slowly he rose from his slouched position with his eyelids practically disappeared into their sockets as he cautiously turned to face his companion. The drummer boy organ pounded loudly in a panicked frenzy as his mind raced and prayed that it wasn’t who he knew it was. “…what?”

Originally he had locked his eyes with Musho’s green irises, but now he could not get himself to keep eye contact as it fell to the cobbled floor beneath their feet. “She…” he tugged at the collar of his white button up shirt, then crossed his arms tightly over his chest. Emotional confrontations were never his forte, nor would they ever be. “offed herself.”

Musho immediately rose to his feet, pressing his bare skin against the cold, stone flooring and walked over to him. Disbelief, anguish, and heartbreak were evident upon his features as his lips contorted as if they had no idea what expression to make, his eyes began to swell with hot tears, and his eyebrows twitched. “No… no… Kisha would never do that… she… would never…”

His friend shook his head. “She did… I… I heard it was…” regret stirred within him; he truly believed it was all his fault and explaining further would admit to this.

Returning to reality Musho’s hands tugged at his hair, pulling out some of the strands. Somehow he felt if he tormented his head that the memory would continue and he’d gain an understanding of what was going on and who he was, even if the memory was nothing but pain.

V
07-20-2011, 01:21 PM
The day was turning, fading and becoming dull while intermittent with the hues of red. Perhaps a sign, perhaps nothing more than termination of the sun. Which in turn, perhaps a sign.

Beneath the endless layers and hidden from the sky, he lay.

And that was it. He, identity free, with a sense of confusion as a guide through the endless empty corridors of mind. And there it was. It, completely free, without a sense of consideration as it tore through the mind, muscles, bones of his body.

Pain. Agony.

An aging body with problems of old, hands stiff that could barely move without hurting. Eyes that couldn't adjust to the red. Breathless at suddenly being aware he folded under the pressure – twisting his body to escape only brought more problems.

A right leg that pounded below the knee, drowning out any other feeling that preceded it. Each moment brought a new ache...

~~~

They weren't far from the main home, it's light could be seen flickering in and out between the trees. The bulb ready to blow and place the old porch into darkness. It would fade from sight before reaching that point. The emptiness of the wild was daunting, now.

His feet made a scraping track through the dead leaves and into the shallow dirt. The strength had faded long ago so he simply dragged along. Exhausted from fight and flight he couldn't call for help that wouldn't come. He was bound but not gagged, he breathed out heavily.

Pulled by someone through the trees on a trackless route, he didn't know where to.

“Howard, remember me?” Whispered a voice, hardened by time into something near savage. His head rang with the words trying to focus on them. But he couldn't remember.

A second later he fell backwards hitting a hard flat surface, a look to the right revealed the bitumen of the highway. His blurry eyes revealed a person walking over his body holding something in hand. He paused for a moment looking to Howard's face.

Just below the knee, this figure struck.

With the hammer.

~~~

A tear ran down the side off his face. He was bent over holding himself together. He lay unmoving, breathing, his face pressed up against the black earth. Clinging silently waiting for the image to fade. Slowly, it went.

In place the pain remained a silent reminder, throbbing. Intertwined with a fear beyond the loss of identity and being naked in an unknown place. And another fear, something else which couldn't be explained by him yet.

He took some time to rise to his feet, it was a shaky process but he managed it. He swayed backwards and forwards looking around his surroundings. Voices, he heard all around though he couldn't locate their origins. Even with his blurry vision the only things that resembled people blinked in and out of his vision, as if ghosts that weren't there at all.

One of which came toward him, falling through his legs. He took a step backward but the transparent figure went through him. He stepped away to try to get a good look at the figure but his couldn't see well, he squinted and ask hesitantly, “is that someone there?”

The Shadow
07-20-2011, 03:38 PM
Silence. That is all there was. He couldn’t even hear the sound of his own shallow breathing as he drifted in and out of consciousness, seeing flashes of the world around him whenever he managed to open his eye. His was face down in the dirt and some of it had managed to get past his lips and into his mouth. He spat, trying to rid himself of the dirt. He found just enough strength to roll over onto his back and open his eyes enough to catch a glimpse of the leaves being blown around in the apparent wind.

It was a cold day, the coldest of the year in fact. He shivered as he walked down the dark street, slipping on the icy pavement every now and again as he headed for work. There were various people doing the same and the occasional group of people throwing snowballs. He smiled as one went whizzing past his head and threw one back. There was an uproar of laughter as the projectile sailed over his intended target and landed disappointingly on the ground. The laughter continued as he was pelted by the snowballs, trying his best to avoid them but to no avail.

Pain swiftly replaced the silence. He felt like he was being repeatedly hit over the head with a hammer as he fought for control over his own body. Only when the pain had subsided enough, he tried to stand. He clenched his jaw as he stumbled towards a tower object which he could only assume was a tree. Gasping for breath he looked around and saw other people struggling to stand just as he was. It took him a minute to register the others were in the nude, he glanced down at himself to see that he was also lacking in clothing. All he could do was watch as the people around him stumbled around.

After a while he had enough faith that his legs weren’t going to fail him to stumble over to the person nearest him, an old man. He watched as someone else fell at his feet….no….he fell through his feet. Staring in awe, he stepped back and tripped, falling down to where he had started from. He tried to speak, to call to old the man but only a faint whimper escaped his lips as his body shook in fear, trying to find an explanation for what he had just seen. Shaking his, head he attempted to recompose himself and tried to call out again. This time his voice came out, shaky but audible.

“You…old man….what’s going on here? Who are you!?”

It was at that moment it hit him, he didn’t even know who he was. Not even a name could come to mind. He had no identity and that scared him more than the fact he had just woken in a strange environment with people he had never seen in his life.

Kalyde
07-20-2011, 09:07 PM
There was no sound to wake him up. He opened his eyes nonetheless. A feeling that he could not yet understand invaded his whole body as he was becoming more and more aware of his surroundings. Even though he woke up in a world he never saw before, he did not felt strange to the place. He was discovering this new world, his new reality. Actually, it was the only reality he knew for the moment. Lying face to the floor, the man tried to stand up. Using both of his hands, he pushed his upper body and succeeds to get on both his knees. Only then, the man realized he felt the air equally on his own body, which was an unusual feeling. As he looked down his whole body, he then realized no cloth was covering his bare skin as he was completely naked. The reason why he was in that situation eluded him. He tried to gather souvenirs and memories but nothing came. The man’s gaze lost itself in the floor of leaves under him as he didn’t understood too why he couldn’t remember. Acting as if it would change anything, he stretched his legs and stood completely up. It’s only then he saw it. The man turned around several times, looking left and looking right but only to see the same forest and the same trees surrounding him. He looked up only to get blinded by some light trying to get through the trees. But he was blinded only by some strange light that had no color, no real texture. Only then he realized the world around him had no color, no texture. It was all monochrome. His whole world was black and white. As he put his hand in front of him to see his own body in grey…

…a watch was attached around his wrist.

The man didn’t understand what he just saw. For a moment, he felt a glimpse of another place, another time. However, it seemed as if it was happening at the same time. He discarded these thoughts with a shock of his head and tried to focus on the now and here. As well as few moments ago, he was longing for memories and answers, now he had come to understand that these did not really matter. What mattered were the moment and his situation. Rather than focusing on what wasn’t important, he tried to ask himself the right questions.

A loud engine noise and a strong wind.

Another glimpse of the other side. He tried to put these images and sounds someplace else in his mind, thinking that they were bothering him rather than anything else. But the more secluded he tried to put these thoughts the more they tried to force their way back. His foot made some steps forward but after few of them he stopped. In front of him were these white forms, pale bodies as au naturel as he was, as lost as he looked. And they disappeared as well as the forest to…

…a stair made of steel who was leading down to the tarmac. The engine of the military transport aircraft was still bursting a couple of meters next to him. At the far end of the ship, a ramp touched the ground and some men were already getting out of it, followed closely by cargos being disembarked. This time, the man was fully dressed and fitted his surroundings. Boots, cargo pants, a short sleeved t-shirt topped by another piece of cloth topped again by a thin brown bullet-proof vest with pockets and everywhere. He also noticed he had a very big and complex watch that looked like it could sustain the end of the world in one wrist and a wristband made of a piece of cloth on the other side. The scenery in front of him involved a very hot weather, but nothing he wasn’t used to judging by his used clothes, dry trees, and a nearly desolated airport. The man put his backpack half his size on one shoulder and went down the stair where a man next to a jeep was waiting for him. The other man was local, blacked-skin, wearing a pair of glasses, well dressed.

“Welcome to Nigeria, Mister […].”

They both shook hands.

“You must be Mr. Tambossa. Olivier, is that it?”

They almost had to shout so one could be understand by the other. The local confirmed his identity and he invited the man to hop in the jeep with the blue and white “UN” label. He threw his bag at the back and sat next to it while Olivier went into the driver’s seat and started the car. They quickly left the airport and soon, the road became bumpy and rocky. In fact, they were not real road so to speak and even though after several contracts in this part of the world, he never got used to the roads. The jeep was going through the savannah as it lifted the dry clay behind them. The colored sun was hitting him really hard.

“So, what are you doing in this part of the world exactly, Mr. […]?”

“I am an independent UN contractor brought in to be in charge of transportation of UN supplies in and out of the Sangala region.”

Once again, they had to shout instead of speaking.

“What are you running from then?”

“Excuse me?”

“If you choose to come working in Nigeria, there must be something you are running from. This is the worst and last part of the world someone would want to work unless he is running from something.”

The thought made both of them laugh. There was something true in what the chauffeur was saying. Only passionate or desperate persons came to work in this part of the world.

“I assure you, I’m not running anywhere. Do you have what I asked for?”

The chauffeur, while driving, searched for something under the passenger seat next to him and pulled out a black briefcase made out of a strong casing. Olivier gave it to the man at the back. He opened it and checked inside the supplement he asked. He strapped the short machete on the side of his backpack, attached the jackknife to his ankle, fastened the harness and the gun in it around his leg and his waist, then put his new official papers and UN clearance in his pockets and finally strapped the blue UN armband around his right arm.

“Even though these are not standard equipment for UN official, I can understand why you need them. These so called Brothers of Liberty are just hired guns and mercenaries who run the Sangala region for their business and their money.”

“Then why does the government or even the people let them do as they wish?”

“Their leader, François Embike is an intelligent man. He supplies the population with food, running water, medication and even in some place electricity.”

The last bump was felt and then the 4x4 stopped. They had arrived in a camp revolving around a hangar for the supplies coupled with a white UN tent. They were armed soldiers surrounding the zone. At the entry of the tent was a woman that seemed to be in charge of things, shouting orders and making signs with her arms. She was lightly dressed and just as him, she had the UN armband.

“This is where I leave you. We will see each other soon. I hope you will enjoy Nigeria, Mr. […].”

Having a hard time removing his eyes from her, he said:

“I’m already starting to like it…

…here”.

The colors completely disappeared and he went back to the dark place. What he experienced was of the utmost strangeness. It felted vivid and real, like he had once lived that moment. However, he discovered what was happening and at the same time, he knew what he was supposed to say and do. The lack of color in this world was even more obvious. Everything was tasteless and sad. And these human transparent forms looked more and more frightening. They looked human but seemed so vague that it they could just vanish and be no more in a simple kicking of the wind. And then suddenly, it stroked him. That feeling buried deep inside in his bones, he could finally understand what it was. It wasn’t only the hot and heavy air that he felt, it was anguish. A profound and ponderous anguish. The anguish of not being able to hear his own name, the anguish of being in an unknown place, the anguish of seeing these human indistinctive forms, that feeling that they was something else, the feeling of not knowing, the feeling that not only something was being done to them, but that this was just the prelude of something.

SQJ
07-20-2011, 10:41 PM
‘Wake the fuck up! Wake up!’
Edgar woke up, irritated at being called upon. He waved his hand to swat his girlfriend away from him. It didn't work.

Edgar eyes opened to blackness. Not the type of the black associated with unconsciousness but rather the black associated with looking at black objects on a black background. He started at the tiny blades of grass right in front of his eyes growing in patches off of the black soil. He reached for what looked to be a weed and pulled it. It bent and gave way under his grip like any other plant. Letting go, all movement suddenly stopped.

The question of 'where he was' come up in his skull came up and all life froze. A numb buzzing burning in the front of his skull hit him when the question of who he was in the first place. He froze digging his fingers into the damp soil a chill hit his bare body and he shivered tightening his grip on the soil.


She'd left him, for real this time. He'd never used those words before. She’d left, he'd left, they'd left mutually a couple times too but this time this time she was really gone.

The window in front of him smashed and his fist burst right through it. Blood dripped from his palms and knuckles. It hurt but nowhere near as painful as the idea that he never open his eyes and see her right there next to him. Her breath slow, soft on his forehead as he watched her chest rise and drop with every breath before her breath fell on his lips, caressing them with each breathe she took. It was impossible to picture one so lively so at peace.

Now the sense of contentment would be lost for him and given to another. And still the question hung over him. How could it be over. How could this be it?

Edgar’s left hand clenched instinctively as he gripped the sand hard, feeling burn as it was pushed out of his palms. There were no scars there. Only dark marks where there had been blood. That had been him. He hadn’t been able to share the sensations as the man but he knew the skin tone the blind fear and utter lose, because he was feeling it now. It hurt more than anything else for everything use was just numb and heavy, useless. He squirmed on the floor pressing himself deeper into the sand, waiting.

He waited in the dirt. Waiting for everything to make sense. Nothing happened nothing changed everything stayed the same even the chill of the wind kept a constant pace.

Auki
07-21-2011, 04:03 PM
She started when he jerked back from her, still dazed by her inability to touch his skin. Her mouth hung slightly open, heavy pants still trying to compensate for lungs that burned when filled more than halfway. Her hand stayed suspended where his arm had been just moments ago; she didn’t want to move it. The icy chill she had felt upon entering him began to fade as the cool air caressed her, the wind again pausing in its buffets for a few moments. It was as though the world was trying to give her time to comprehend but she knew, even with an eternity to think, she would never understand the situation fate had thrust upon her.

"D-don't. Touch me."

His words tugged at her heart, “I-… I don’t mean harm…” She spoke with a hurt demeanour, extended hand trembling with uncertainty. The spirits in the clearing seemed just as helpless as she did – They stumbled, fell and quivered with the same aura of terror that was barbed into her body as well. Could they feel emotion the same way she could? Did ghosts feel pain? If they couldn’t, she concluded, there was no way they would look so terrified.

He read his book, thick-rimmed glasses seated firmly on his hooked nose. She looked at him. It had been a while since she’d looked at him properly.

He was not many years older than she was but age seemed a crueller master to him. Hair that was once black was now speckled, silver and white clinging to the edges and clear on the beard he kept so neatly trimmed. The angles on his face had grown harder over time – He had started losing weight just over a year ago now, through exercise or stress she wasn’t sure, but it was making him appear gaunt. The wrinkles around his eyes creased as he blinked, scanning the pages at impressive speed. He had been reading the book in hand for a few days now but she couldn’t recall its name. He claimed it was a favourite of his but had never mentioned it before a few weeks prior. It did not seem like the type of book she would enjoy anyway; it was too complex for a woman of her background. He was, in all honesty, far more intelligent than she could ever hope. She would often find herself nodding along to conversation without a shadow of understanding present in her mind.

There was a break in the silence as he began to flick the page over to the next.

“Daniel?” The words had left her mouth before she could take them back.
He paused, waiting.
“Daniel… Are you alright?”
“Get some rest, Cat.” The conversation ended there.

Each memory slamming back into her mind caused her to feel heavier, like a weight on her shoulders dragging her to the ground. Considering the shaky nature of her legs, it was a wonder she had not fallen in the dirt already. Her head reeled with new information, still trying to process the present stimulation of her senses as it filed away memories she only just discovered she had.

They couldn’t just stand there. They had to run. Something told her that much was urgent.

Wildly she re-evaluated the ghosts around her. There were things she had not noticed before, muted by her desired to be cautious. Little things…

The young girl, white hair sprawled where she lay face down on the ground, took her attention first. Even in the misty white of the apparition, she could see the girl’s clothes were caked with what appeared to be mud. Her skin appeared to be coated in tiny droplets of water. She tried to nudge the girl but found her toes went through the body, the same as with the boy. It’s strange, she thought as she looked down, there isn’t any mud. The dirt seemed not to have taken rainfall in months.

Stepping back, she glanced around again. A man caught her attention, one whom seemed to be addressing the eldest of the group. He was a pretty, young thing – light-coloured eyes and the stubble neatly trimmed along his jaw line. She liked stubble on a man – that part of her flashed back into existence as she watched him – but the feeling was instantly crushed by terror again. She focused on what had caught her attention - His hair… It flew wildly about as though being tousled by wind. It was a curious sight; after all, the air was still now.

A man closer to her age, receding hairline clear beneath his dark hair and stubble clinging disorderly to his cheeks, stumbled back and she blinked when she saw dirt being kicked into the air. The earth… She watched it fall with amazement – Could ghosts touch the physical world so freely?

Hesitant, she lowered herself to the ground and picked up a small twig lodged beneath her feet. Returning to a standing position was a pain she would rather not repeat but life was not offering her much in the way of choices. She gritted her teeth and unbent her knees, a soft groan of agony emitting from clenched teeth.

A man with thin lips and hardened features became her target. He was on his hands and knees, a few paces in front of her. She raised the twig.

Her giggle was not as feminine as most women’s but it was sweet. At the moment, it was filled with unbridled joy. Nervous, but happy none-the-less. Her fingers trembled violently in her excitement – Sure, she’d done the charade three times before but that didn’t stop the tears streaming down her face. Her mind was denying the pain and exhaustion she knew would be coming and allowing her to appreciate the moment.

Punching the number into her phone was difficult due to her quivering hands but she eventually managed. It felt like hours before her partner finally picked up,
“Daniel! Daniel, you’ll like never believe it! I thought it might be true - We’re going to have another one, Dan! I’m pregnant again – Gonna have four kids, just like we always said!” It was difficult to pretend what she knew to be feigned excitement in his voice as genuine but she managed.

The twig left her hand a little more violently than she’d anticipated as unexplained hurt welled up inside her. It smacked into the back of the guy’s head, bouncing off with a sharp thud. She blinked – It had touched him.

She continued to stare at the man but her voice was loud enough to address the entire group, “Does this mean you’re not ghosts…?”

kagomri
07-21-2011, 11:06 PM
"D-Don't touch me."

She flinched as if she's been slapped across the cheek.
Immediately, Jason regretted his reaction. He wanted to say 'I'm sorry' but he couldn't find his voice. He doesn't talk to strangers, nonetheless ghosts. His friends tells him he was too soft, too apologetic, too sympathetic. But Sarah says nothing. Instead she kisses him on the cheek, as if words weren't capable of describing his actions. In all honestly he couldn't take the look of helplessness and hurt in anyone. It'd be cruel to let them be. He couldn't help but be a total sweetheart.


“I-… I don’t mean harm…”
Her hands extended out shakily as if she was opening up to him. Fear gripped him.
Slowly and ever so slightly did he reaches out his arm towards her, cringing when their skin sinks mistily into one another. Their touch turns into smoke that drifted into the air, as if evaporating. A chill goes up his spine as he slowly pulls away.


"Christmas is beautiful." Sarah said, entwining her fingers in his. She turned around and
gives him her most cheerful smile, showing perfect content. One came so rarely after her younger brother passed away. It was such a relief to him he leaned his head on her shoulder and sighed. He's been so worried over the past few weeks. She's never smiled and yet never cried. She was just dead inside. The amount of strength needed to lift the heavy stone off her fragile shoulders was enormous. It was a wonder for Sarah to even stay calm.


A soft crescendo of an enchanting melody drifted into the up, uplifting the atmosphere. The choir was singing "Silent Night". The snow blanketed the ground and redecorated the trees beautifully. They stared off in silence, entranced by its beauty.


"Tell me," said Sarah. "Do you like me?"
The question caught him off guard. She's never questioned their relationship before, never even mentioned it. If words couldn't be heard then their lips certainly could. How could she question their love?
"Why would you think that?"
The highest, most heart breaking part of the song broke through his thoughts.
"So you don't?" She said it so indifferently--like stating a fact--that it made him wonder if she loved him at all. How could she doubt his love for her? Did she care at all? He didn't think he could bare it if she didn't.
She turned around, here eyebrows creased with worry, her eyes hurt.


His flashback ended just as an elderly man was hit in the head. The woman in front of him's lips moved, but no sound came out. He cupped his ear. "What?"

NecroNama
07-22-2011, 12:29 AM
"You are not alone big bubba."

He heard a little girl say just behind him, startled, he jumped and turned around, nearly slipping and almost falling on his back side once more being taken off guard yet again by the slick ground. As looked at the young child that stood behind him, he was shocked to see that this kid was holding something and was wearing clothes, something that he keyed on since everyone he saw or thought he saw wasn't in clothes. ''Who...are you?" He studdered, his skin getting goose-bumps and all hairs stood on end, something the weather didn't do, this he noticed.

"You forgot already?" The little girl giggled. "Your funny." The young child slowly walked up, smiling, reaching out, touching Shiruba, becoming blinded by a light that wasn't there, not even the loud BOOM was loud, it became more of a whisper to him as he blacked out, falling backwards onto the fine sheet of ice that covered the ground.

---------
A lady screamed and cried at the top of her lungs, sounding as if they were about to explode within her chest as she was being held back by a person wearing light scrubs. "NOOOOOO!" The woman wailed, trying to fight against the one holding her back. "THATS MY BABY! LET ME HOLD MY BABY!" Reaching out, the woman couldn't touch the child as the others that were dressed like the one restraining the crazied woman, wheeled the child out on it's bed, just outside her reach. "Ma'am, please...we are truely sorry..." The man said as he held back the woman, her cries and screams nearly drowned out what he said.

Running up the halls, dodging people and pushing through others, he charged as if he was possesed. "MOVE!" He yelled, making the ones infront of him jump as he turned the corner to hear the cries and screams of his mother coming from a room not to far down the hall. He took off again but only got a few steps in before he froze, dead in his tracks at the sight of his sister being moved out of the room. Sorrow feeled the air as he let out a harsh war-like scream, launching himself at the bed that was now fully in the hall, knocking the ones moving it back. "TIA....WAKE THE FUCK UP!" He cried, puching the bed, causing it to raise off the floor a few inches. "WAKE UP!"

One of the people that was at the bed got back up, grabbed the man over the bed by his shirt, and tried to pull him off. The guy didn't take to kindly to the person that just touched him, as he turned to punch the guy dead in the face, causing him to fly backwards into the wall, taking his shirt with him, ripping it off his body. Everyone jumped back at the sight of the guys heavy yet extremly detailed body art. "Touch me again and you will die!" Truth could be heard in the words as once person could be heard stuttering the words "Yakuza...that guy is Yakuza".

"Shiruba...." He heard from within the room that the older woman was in. The sound of that voice, his mothers voice, was now the only thing that could calm him down since he was now robbed of the only bright light the definded him as a person. He leaned back over the body, trying not to let a tear fall but his eyes watered anyways. "....shiruba...." The voice came again but this time from the doorway as the lady exited and placed both hands on his shoulders, gently standing him back up and embracing him in a hug. The men that were guiding the bed were now doing it once more, leaving the mother and son standing in the hall. He watched until he couldn't see the bed anymore, closing his eyes as a single tear fell from them. 'Tia...I am sorry...'

As he turned to guide his mother out, three men dressed in suits stood at the end of the hall. He knew these men. They were the ones you didn't want to see and if you did, it meant that the Oyabun was looking for you. "Shiruba...the Oyabun is angered since you failed to collect...please come with us...." Everything faded to black like once before.

----------
He awoke in tears as the feeling of sorrow incased his entire being. "See...your not alone...I'm with you..." Is all he heard as he tried to locate the little girl that was talking to him but found nothing. Standing back up, he cleared his face of tears as he faced the old man he passed through earlier. He saw what looked like a woman throw something that nailed a guy in the back of the head. '...I could make out the detail of that object, yet everyone lacks color..why?..' he looked at the old man not in anger but in a determaned way. '...I want to know who brought me here to this strange place and why...' Addressing the elder man in a heavy Japanese accent. "I am sorry for startling you....I guess my name is Shiruba." Giving a bow. '....I will kill whomever is messing with me...'

V
07-24-2011, 01:37 PM
Nearby, another of the ghostly transparent blurs came for him. His eyes caught the creature and it receded to the earth once more. Startled, the fear was already breaching his half resolve, he stepped backward and into the other figure once more.

He jumped and spun away instantly, the movement far to much for his older body. His leg buckled instantly and he fell down to his knees. He groaned taking the sudden strain with the rest of his pain.

By the time he rose once more he heard someone speaking nearby, his voice a croak. Almost a whisper but he heard it alright, “You…old man….what’s going on here? Who are you!?”

Even with his eyesight he could tell there was no one else around. Perhaps, the thought came almost unwanted, these ghostly flashing things were like him. He wander, staggered over, to the fallen who'd called out moments ago. Up close he peered downward the ghost, a man shimmered faintly. He could see the earth through him but now he saw the the features. A body naked as his own, blowing hair, eyes....

***

His son waited by the car, in a fresh suit straight from the cleaners. He was looking toward to ground and didn't noticed Howard's arrival until he was but two metres away. Joel looked the worst he'd ever been, with red eyes and a half grown beard. Usually his hair was tied back – to Howard's annoyance – but today it was free and wild. The work of the cleaners put to waste.

Howard didn't scold or comment just nodded toward the car. Didn't speak a word.

They got in and Howard took the wheel, Joel slumped in the seat beside him. And then they were off. To a funeral.

***

“Howard.... I think my name is Howard,” his voice replied in a rasp.

With that, he suddenly felt more grounded. More real - less of a ghost, more than what he'd been moments before.

But the fear remained.

“Does this mean you’re*not*ghosts…?” Someone said nearby, louder than anything before it. Howard turned to her and was about to reply – but hesitated catching the sight of the …. man who'd fallen through his legs earlier.

Ru
07-24-2011, 06:53 PM
The world around him was hardly comprehensible to Musho, whom remained tugging at the strands of his jet black hair. Despite all of his efforts no flashbacks returned to him and his being felt empty. The knowledge he had gained throughout this ordeal was horrid and better left unknown, other than his name; the name of a pathetic man surrounded by what appeared to be apparitions. Regret and sorrow welled up in his sad excuse of a chest; only studying herbs would do that to a man, though he was unaware why he recalled that fact at all. Finally, he chose to stop being self-absorbed and examine the area surrounding him.

Returning to a seated position, he listened to what was occurring around him briefly before forcing himself up to his feet. There was a slight pressure against his temples, but whatever was attempting to gain access into his skull was failing miserably. Running a hand through his mangled mop of a head he turned his head to see what was going on, though he still had no idea. This was when the realization hit him: he was stark naked. Heavy blush swept over his face as he immediately went to conceal himself; he knew it was not the best time to care about such trivial matters, but it embarrassed him nonetheless.

“I am not a ghost…” he replied rather meekly, not sure if the woman heard him at all.


Again, Lydia got up and then looked around. Wiping mud from her face, she whipped the wet dirt back onto the ground from whence it came. Turning to face the woman who questioned whether they were ghost, she gave her the most curious look that could only be read as: Are you fuckin’ serious? She took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly, making her entire body face this woman, since, to Lydia, she was the only one really addressing anything she actually cared about.

“I’m not a ghost!” pause. “Or, I don’t think I am… Maybe I am! I could be. That’d be really cool. Maybe I can go through things! That’d be pretty neat-o.” She strolled over to the woman and reached out her hand towards her, poking her forehead only to see it go through her. “Ooo! Cool… Either you’re a ghost or I’m a ghost or we’re all ghosts or none of us are ghosts…”


Musho’s eyes narrowed at Lydia, gritting his teeth. “You solved nothing…” green eyes rolled in annoyance as he crossed his arms over his chest, deciding to no longer care for decency due to the special case at hand. He wiped sweat from the top of his forehead, “Why are you covered in mud? It’s too hot for there to be mud.”


“What do you mean, random stranger guy?” her right brow rose in speculation. “It’s wet here. Don’t you see the mud? It’s all over the place and I got sprinkles falling on my head.”


His nose scrunched up as he thought hard on the situation. “What is going on…” Musho mumbled to himself.

The Shadow
07-29-2011, 10:39 PM
He watched as the man he had called to just moments before jumped away from the other ghost-like figure lying behind him, the same one that he had seen fall through him. He landed with a soft thud which seemed to be coming from far away even though there were only a few feet of ground separating them. It was obvious that the older man was scared; it was plastered over his bony features. This did nothing to diminish the fear he had when the man approached him, if anything the fear on display on the ghostly face made it all the more frightening.

The man froze in his tracks, his face blank and his eyes grey. He stayed this way for a couple of second before his features returned to what they had been seconds before

“Howard…I think my name is Howard”

With this his face changed, he seemed…brighter almost. The fear was still there in those eyes that were staring right at him, right through him but there was a slight shine in them that would be easy to miss. This made angrier at not being able to remember his onw name. He wracked his brain, trying to put a name to his own face. Why couldn’t he remember that one simple thing? Slowly images came to him but it wasn’t what he was looking for, not even close. Flashes of buildings, trees and the odd face. One of these faces stuck out but he coulldn’t think why, it didn't strike him as important but there was just something strange about it. It was the face of a woman, not extremely beautiful but not bad looking either. The face stayed with him for a minute before he shook his head and got rid of the image, he didn’t know why but he felt like he didn’t remember it for a good reason.

It was just now he realised he was breathing very quick, short breaths. He steadied his breathing again and after a minute or so he stood up, grunting once, and looked at Howard. He had heard the others around him thinking the other people were ghosts. He didn’t believe in ghosts at all but…could he be wrong? Maybe they did exist. Maybe the man in front of him was a ghost. Heck, maybe he himself was a ghost. Was this what happened when you died? Was this heaven? It couldn’t be, there would be many more dead, wouldn’t there? He looked around at the others before looking back to the man.

“Hello Howard, I’m….well I can’t quite recall my name.”

He had managed to calm down enough to say the greeting with only a minor stutter.

“Are…are we dead?”

He glanced down to the ground as he asked this, afraid of what the answer might be.

Auki
08-01-2011, 11:26 AM
The group was disintegrating quickly, a mess of muttered threats and confused whisperings. They spoke over each other, every word the start to a different question, nothing leading to an answer. If anything, the more they looked around, the more obvious their ignorance became. Her hair was tossed by the wind whilst most the others’ remained still; it made them appear disconnected, distant. She still felt as though she should be able to touch them, reach out and feel their ice-white skin but previous experience had proven such instinct as misguided. Those innate urges that she had once put so much faith in now seemed to merely inconvenience her. She gathered her twig from the ground again, clinging to it as though it might offer some protection. As long as she had something to hold onto, everything would be okay. It proved that she was not a spirit. She was real. She had to be.

“That’s a jellyfish, sugar pie. Be sure not to touch it.”

She shook her head. No. No! She would not succumb to this. It felt like someone was allowing her to view these glimpses of what she assumed to be her life. Control had been taken from her and it made her nauseous. They flashed before her eyes, distracting her from the terror that itched at her skin, blinding her vision from the dismal forest she was trapped within. Some might welcome the bliss of escape but she felt like a pet, being comforted by a vet before he put her to sleep.

The Thomas the Tank Engine train set skated around the living room, narrowly avoiding her potted plants and the dog’s tail. She firmly told her son to slow down but he seemed unable. The excitement of a new toy seemed parallel to nothing in his life; she wondered when the joy of simplicities had left her. There was no elegance in the way he had torn the wrapping paper, her hard work in neatness gone to waste as usual. Still, the scream of happiness upon sight had made up for his disregard to patience. It might have been a dig on their finances but she tended to enjoy her children’s birthdays more than her own. Bright colours, loud music, games and cake; to relive such years brought her an endless amusement.

The phone rang upon the tabletop on the other side of the room.

“Daniel, can you get that?”

Silence… He couldn’t hear her. With an irritated sigh, she lifted herself from the couch. Her stomach almost threw her off balance as bloated as it were – It was only a month until the due date now. If she had her way, she wouldn’t need to get up at all. She’d put on a few pounds since the pregnancy, sure, but nothing too dire. She could lose it all once the baby had come.

Of course, she had said that every time to no avail but one couldn’t stress about such things when they were growing a foetus inside of them.

She picked up the phone, “Hello. Caitlin Davies speaking.”

There was a muffled squeak before the caller hung up. She turned around to find her husband at the doorway, nerves obvious in his face.
“No! No! N-”

Her protests were cut off by a bone-chilling howl, a sound that reverberated through the trees almost like an echo. In her gut, she knew its owner was not after her blood. That didn’t prevent it from being any the less terrifying.

They were coming.

“We need to get out of here.” It wasn’t an order; it was a statement. A sentence that had been haunting the back of her mind since she had first awoken. The trees nearest to her seemed thinner than the rest, the light that shined through more visible, like a beacon to follow. She took its advice without hesitation.

“Come on! We need to go!” She shouted back at them, pushing past the first layers of foliage. The sun grew harsher and she whipped her head back to the front. Shock.

The illusion of forest appeared to be another trick of the mind – Looking back, she realised the circle was only one tree thick. Bewilderment overwhelmed all other emotion. She stared out into their surroundings speechless. Colour was still absent, a concoction of black, white and grey. The drab soil ended a few metres before her, the landscape falling into a cliff face. The rock that formed it was flat and smooth, coloured like snow; its surface was broken only by a thin pathway, barely wide enough for two abreast, that hugged the face and led the hundred feet to the bottom. The terrain below was mismatched – Ice, forest, rivers and desert merging in a way that baffled the mind. She glanced to the left and right, finding walls of black rock blocking her sight. There was no sky; just the same dark mineral paving the ceiling of their confinement. She did not even try to work out where the sunlight was coming from in such a cave-like place. Her attention, instead, focused on the far side of cavern where a large set of metal doors could be seen. As far as one could tell, it was their only way out and that meant it was her target.

DB.
08-05-2011, 02:33 AM
Andrew stared in complete bewilderment at the space in front of him. Had all those apparitions been there before? Why hadn't he noticed them when he stood up? He tightly shut his eyes before opening them again, hoping they would be gone, hoping that he would be anywhere but there. Yet they persisted, and he was definitely still on the ground, wherever he was.

After listening to all of the chatter going on around him though, Andrew realized that to them he looked exactly the same as they did to him. And apparently they were also in the same predicament he was. In an unknown place, with out any memory of anything whatsoever.

“The room was illuminated with a single bulb that covered the surrounding area with a dull yellow light, nothing strong enough to wash out all of the darkness in it. The area where Aaron was sitting was a complete and utter mess, papers and books were thrown around the floor; the small desk lamp had been smashed against a wall.

Andrew held the only thing still intact in the room, a picture frame, in his hands. It was him and his family, all smiling and posing for the picture. But even then they had already begun to have problems, he and his wife were already starting to drift apart.

She was only living with him because of the children, she didn't even love him anymore. She couldn't bear to look at his face, because it brought up a well of hate and resentment. At least that was what she had screamed at him a few hours ago, right before she took her stuff, the kids, and slammed the door in Andrew's face.

Andrew tightened his knuckles until they were white, and then drove his fist into the frame's glass. He didn't even feel the pain of the gashes on his fist. He just broke down and began crying”

Tears streamed down his cheeks and he buried his hands into his hands, trying the best he could to stifle the crying. A wave of depression ran through him and oddly, he searched for comfort in the people around him. He didn't care that he didn't know them. He just needed someone, anyone, to talk to.

Andrew tried to speak to them, tried to say something, anything, to feel safer, but as soon as he tried he began to have another horrible coughing fit. His throat was drier than he had noticed before. But he noticed someone say something, barely making it out. “Need to go!”

NecroNama
08-05-2011, 03:24 AM
Shiruba was a bit angered by all that was going on, he didn't know what was going on, where he was, nor who the heck he truely was. All he wanted to know made his head pound. He held it for a minute to hear several voices pop up all around him, talking about what was going on, who they were and one yelled and took off running. '....well you know they aren't healthy...' So he figured he walk away too, there was nothing really to do but try to figure things out. Knowing he couldn't find things out by asking the "people" around him beacuse they might just be his imagination or stuck like he is but some how different since he recalled that one figure throwing a stick at someone and hitting them. "Ugh....why can't this just be spelled out and explained simply? Who ever is watching better be counting the minutes untill I hurt them for playing this dumb game with me." -BANG- A giant flash light the sky that Shiruba could make out and the loud noise caused him to jump and bump his head into a low hanging branch, knocking him on his back side once more.
-----------------------
"Hey.....hey bubba....you think you could drive me to school....it's raining.... A little girl holding a teddy bear said with a innocent smile. "Please!"
-----------------------

"WHAT THE...." The branch he hit fell and smacked him again in the head, snapping it in two. He got angry and grabbed the biggest piece of the branch and heaved it with all his might in a random direction. "....damn it all...." Getting back to his feet he looked around to pick a random path to go. Getting bored with just trying to pick, he walked off. Head still aching from before the branch decided to attack him. '....stupid piece of junk....' rubbing his head he felt something wet thus he looked at his head and saw a little red. "Great....now I'm bleeding...." Letting out a sigh, he continued to move through the foliage of this forest he was in.

-----------------------
"Shiruba....you know why you are here...." Said the Oyabun who was sitting behind a table surrounded by men, men twice to three times Shiruba's build. Feeling a bit intimidated, he only looked at the Oyabun. "...You disapointed me....yet I find that you can be salvaged...." He's eyes wondered to the table which sat a small blade, a tanto, the smallest of the samurai blades and a white napikin. Shiruba heard of this ceremony. If one did something wrong, they would cut off ones pinky and give it to their Oyabun to show that they are one hundred percent loyal to the family, and to teach the one cutting their own pinky off a lesson. He had to breath. '...quick and clean...quick and clean...do it slow and it will hurt more.....and DON'T LOOK WHEN YOU DO IT!' He thought as he walked slowly up and gripped the blade, placing his hand on the table. "I am sorry Oyabun....I will never do that again..." And in one swift second, Shiruba wrapped up a red object in the white cloth and passed it to the person before him and walked out the room. He could feel the warm liquid run up his hand a wrist, he ignored the pain and kept moving, allowing his blood to drip onto the floor freely. '...all this just because I ran to the hospital and didn't get his dumb money?.....something isn't right....'
------------------------------------

He kept walking until he saw the same person that bursted off like a nut yelling something about running. "HEY!" he said holding his left hand up to see his pinky was gone. '.....you got to be....' then he looked back up to just catch which way the ran off. He shouted once more at the person. "Why are you running? Care to share that information with the stupid person running behind you?" He followed the person, giving chase.

kagomri
08-06-2011, 01:03 AM
Jason observed his surroundings, scrutinizing at the spirits. A man perhaps only four years older than him, tugged at his jet black mop of hair who seemed disquiet and uneasy. He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed at his temples as if struggling to make sense of himself and the environment. As if he was trying to recall the past.
“I am not a ghost…” he said, meekly to the stocky woman. It was then Jason knew the question she addressed to the group.

“I’m not a ghost! Or, I don’t think I am… Maybe I am! I could be. That’d be really cool. Maybe I can go through things! That’d be pretty neat-o.” Said, a wondrous, melodic voice.
Sarah.
His heart cried out. In an immediate reaction to her words, he whipped around, held out his hands in an open grasp and waited for Sarah to fall into his arms. Waiting to embrace her and bury his head in her soft wet rose scented hair.

And saw an unfamiliar woman poking the stocky red head in the forehead. Jason went as cold as ice and shattered. Her remarkable voice sounded identical to Sarah's-- both glowed with innocence. However, this strange woman had full red lips and a complexion a shade too pale. Her plump, round face was surrounded by shoulder length wavy blond hair--not gold, not long and not quite naturally tussled.


I love you. I need you. Don't even doubt that.
Jason couldn't meet her stare. He wanted to say it out loud so bad it ached. The truth was, he was scared. Jason was good at sports, good with relationships, and grades, but one thing he couldn't be worse in was announcing the most sentimental lines. They wouldn't leave his mouth. Instead they jumbled up in his body and his stomach caught butterflies. It's the thought that counts, he always say to himself. But he couldn't make himself believe something he stuck to for all the past years. It seemed so stupid now.
If only she knew.
Licking his lips, closing his eyes and breathing in for ten seconds, rehearsing the line in his head.

Alright. I'm ready.

The moment he gazed into Sarah's eyes--he blanked out. Their gaze locked, his mouth opened, but he didn't have to find his voice. It came out on pure instinct.
"I'm sorry." it sounded small and pathetic. "Don't be hurt Sarah. Don't be hurt. Just don't be hurt." The last word was a croak.
His face crumpled as if he was being told someone he loved had just died. The protective walls collapsed, leaving the emotions closest to his heart vulnerable and open.
"W-What did I do Sarah? I'm sorry. I-I, Sarah." His body cracked and gasped for air under the pressure.

Sarah's arms flew around his neck, her lips pressed against his, kissing passionately. It was then he realized just how deep he longed for their love like this.
"Don't cry Jason. Don't cry silly boy." She pleaded softly, her own plump tears gushing from her longing eyes. He reached for her back and pulled her close, dreaming to never let go. Their chests heaved against one another, their arms an entwined mess. With each breath the kiss deepened. Her long fingers tangled in his blond mop of hair, and his, in her lovely golden curls.
No longer afraid nor restricted, he kissed her neck. He breathed in her scent.
"Don't destroy me like that ever again. I love you." he whispered.


“We need to get out of here.” The redhead said getting up and running the opposite direction, suddenly sure of herself. “Come on! We need to go!”
"Go...go where? And what should I call you?" She wasn't far and he was pretty fast. He found himself walking, barely jogging, to keep up. Just after a few steps the face of Earth came to a halt--or so he thought. The smooth yet uneven surface of the humungous rock stood intimidatingly. It towered over the landscape, everything else in comparison not only seemed vulnerable but prosaic and insignificant as well.
Until he took a step forward and carefully peered down the face of the cliff.

Shock surpassed all emotions like it has never before.

Dry and grainy deserts, cold mountains so heavily pregnant with snow an avalanche could collapse, jungles with trees so lush it looked like a bed of evergreens, smooth runny rivers, jagged ice--the entire collection of nature's greatest creations fresh from her green thumb. It merged and united to one. The complexity of the smallest but noteworthy details, such as the rough surface of the limestone cave, made it a great deal more expressive and significant. And no matter how you look at it--it couldn't be any simpler: just a bunch of diverse climates jumbled up together. It was as if the land was loose like a jigsaw puzzle, then a giant shook Earth with his own hands until the land fell on top of each other.

The mismatched environment was.... exceptionally baffling. Though everything was in complete discord, the beauty of this new creation released a new graceful harmony.

V
08-07-2011, 11:51 AM
“Are…are we dead?”

He didn't feel dead, he felt very much alive, the pains and aches filling him to real to be considered anything else. Howard didn't think he was a ghost, and the others now didn't seem to act like he thought a ghost might. Perhaps, if it was just one, or two he'd be able to dismiss them. Even though he couldn't see their features too well, there were so many each acting in their own way.

"I don't know, I don't feel dead," he replied. Visions or memories sat at the edge of his mind as he said the words. This man seemed to look similar to the one he saw in his previous vision. They weren't the same but looking at his features seemed to want to bring on new memories.

He felt another coming...

A howl came through the trees, it's dark sound almost an echo. Howard looked about the trees and through the strange red hues. There was nothing he could see, yet, but that worried him more.

A lady broke away first calling, “We need to get out of here.” He saw her figure moving through some of the trees, and others quickly followed. Howard took a few steps forward because he didn't want to be left alone.

"Quickly let's go," he said to the young man before rushing through the trees himself. It struck him instantly in the dim light, before he could see anything else, that there didn't seem to be a sun to accompany the sun-red setting. The sky seemed dark instead.

Howard stopped nearby some others looking outward past where the land broke away. Below his could see the strange landscapes, their unnatural blend doing nothing to ease his mind. There was a narrow path that lead down below which he didn't like the look of, he didn't want to be the one to decide to take it.

But there didn't seem to be another way down, so he said, "we should hurry down, that howl sounded pretty close."

SQJ
08-08-2011, 09:58 PM
"Such sad music.....why so much sad music Mr Freeman?" A soft voice whispered in Edgar's left ear. Edgar looked up from his desk, he'd been asleep again. It was surprising. He'd been sitting upright and listening to Yesterday by the Beetles for the hundredth time. It wasn't generally his thing, white music. Taylor swift, Hanna Montana or what ever the fuck her name was but this beetles shit was quite something. It was a rush. It made him sad, it broke his heart over and over again until there are nothing but glass shards floating on his diaphragm, it made him tear up and whisper the words. So it was a surprise he'd simply nodded off.
Edgar dropped his face into his arms once more. "Come on, Edgar." The voice's owner said before pulling off his blaring headphones.

--


Edgar didn't give a shit about what was happening in the world around him. He could hear voices but didn't care. He was a blank slate, which had been freshly filled with misery and loss before being offered a glimmer of hope in a voice he could not recognise. The touch of those soft fingers against his head when she'd pulled off those head phones had made his ears tingle.
His whole body tensed when he felt that same tingle come back before being pushed away by the cold, Edgar turned onto his back. He was naked. Yes very naked. A chill breeze hit him again making his privates react.

Looking around fully for the first time he saw a bright forest of black and white. It was worse than being caught in some really bad old movie. In old movies there was mountains of gay between the black and white. It wasn't like that here. It was frightening, yet beautiful. It was how he imagined being able to live inside a flame would be like.

The others talking...there were quite a few of them, all of them just as naked as he was. Great he was the only black guy there. Not that it mattered. Only it did, it mattered allot to him when a group of naked white people where the only people around his naked body in a strange unreal place that only drug highs could produce.....


Some red head yelled something and broke into run. "Hey" Edgar said, taking her as the leader, as she was the only one who'd spoken to the group so far. He tried to cut her off using his sleek muscles to cut across to her. He watched her naked body move and hesitated when she didn't stop. Bare breasts, untamed by a shred of clothing bounced in his direction. He held his breath sure she was going to crash into him like a 4x4 crashing into a wall when, whoosh, she passed right through him.

He simply stood there staring at his hands. "What's happening to me." But by then the others were running. Instinct lead thought and he ran with them.

Ru
08-09-2011, 12:06 AM
Without question, Lydia chased after the woman who had broke into a run. After all the was going on, she really had no reason to wonder why they were running, where they were going, or anything along those lines. To be honest, she still felt this was more like a dream state that was hard to believe and it was hard for her to take any of this serious; it was unlikely she was going to until something drastic occurred. Occasionally she did a flip or so just to have fun while running away from whatever it is that was chasing them down. When they reached the peculiar cave room, her attention darted all over the place.

“Where is the sun coming from? I’m tired of being muddy. This is annoying. What is going on?” the questions seemed endless from her plump, red lips. “Doors! Do we go through them? Or stand here? Which one is safe? If I don’t go in the same door as one of you, then that means I won’t see you anymore? I don’t want to get lost and being alone isn’t fun.” With her eternal questioning one might assume she was whining, when she was really being extremely curious, that did not mean it didn’t annoy Musho to no end.

The usually calm, dark-haired man shot a glare over to her once they reached this room. Before he had been running, simply because being left alone to whatever was out there was not on his agenda. If he had to press on into this grayscale maze then that was what he planned on doing. A scowl furrowed across his face with his arms crossed over his chest; he swore this young woman spoke like a child. He let out a sigh and followed the woman that had yelled for them to run in the first place, though he kept his distance.

“I am certain you are as confused as any of us, miss…” he attempted to address her. “But… what do you make of this scenario? And why did you feel compelled to run?” Musho felt an escape was necessary, but he did not think to act upon it until she said something. Prior to her yelling, he was certain his need to run off was a part of his cowardice avoiding the situation at hand, but he was certain there was something more dire to this scenario than he had previously imagined. Desperately ignoring the bewilderment of the various different nature scenes.

Kalyde
08-09-2011, 04:15 PM
The twig hit him almost as a recall to get back to reality. His flashback and inner thoughts had dominated his state of mind while he was merely seeing what was around him. But a physical object touching him, out of nowhere, was a wakeup call. However, instead of doing something intelligent and stop for a moment and actually think about what he could do that would make things go forward, a single yet real and normal reaction came into his mind. He was pissed as hell. The man turned around and looked at the woman who had thrown the piece of wood on his head but then stopped and tried to think for a second. While he was still bothered by the fact that the woman threw something at him, that simple annoying gesture had another meaning. As he saw the other persons trying to touch each other but only to fail, she did not fail to hit him with the twig. Therefore, there was a certain level of interaction they were allowed between them. If they could not touch one another, they could at least do it with something else, with something pertaining to this environment. However, leaves and twig were not enough to make any difference, if not to throw it at someone else, which in this case has been proven to be of not much use.

Dazzled by what he had just founded, something started up in his head. Maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe he just needed some time to wake up but not only he was now fully aware of their situation but he understood that standing still will not make a single difference. He looked around him, all these naked ghosts, he counted them and his eyes finally landed on the one woman that threw him a piece of wood. The look on her face was relevant at all point for he witnessed many times this look. She was afraid of something, looking for something, feeling something that the rest of us couldn’t see. He couldn’t get his eye of her as he wanted to know what she was seeing but the more he looked at her, the more he saw…

The soft touch of skin touching his.

No, he couldn’t allow himself to drift away again. He needed to be in the here and now, not over there where what was happening was not relevant. The man nonetheless, couldn’t help himself thinking about it.

He gave his last hip move and she gave her last moan and they both fell apart on the bed. The sun getting in the room suggested broad day light and yet they were both naked, sweaty and in a bed with messy sheets. The both of them were quiet, trying to catch their breath after so much physicality. The man then stood up on the side of the bed, back facing the woman wrapped in the white sheet.

“You forget to take the ring off.” she noticed with a south-American accent.

He looked at his hand and indeed, it was still there, a gold simple ring around his fourth finger.

“You got a wife and two kids…and yet here you are.”

The man turned to her co-worker at the UN base, a Brazilian, from a rich family composed of an American dad and local woman for a mother, that decided to save the world after many years dedicated to the cause of the poor in Brazil.

“You should get your stuff and leave now.” he said without much delicacy.

“We’ve been doing it for weeks now. Up to a certain point, I’m entitled to these informations.”

He didn’t answer and instead face in front of him again. He knew that she was only probing him like he was a pet you would annoy with a stick to wake him up.

“Nigeria is not the first one. You’ve been all over the world to save some desperate cause. It must have been some time away from her. How many before me?”

“Don’t push it, Rachel.”

“Did you treat her the way you really treat people? Did she saw the real you? Around in front of everyone, you are just polite and all but when you’re in bed with someone, they are some things you can’t hide. You don’t even try to hide them. I saw you…I saw what you are, what you are capable of, I saw what kind of monster you are, the things you can do without a single feeling of guilt or remorse.”

No answer.

“Is this why you run away? Because she discovered who you were in real…”

All of a sudden, the man stood up and faced her, an anger buried deep inside of him trying to get out.

“Get the fuck out NOW!”

She only smiled. No man frightened her anymore.

The feeling was still inside him, for a reason he didn’t know, the sheer feeling of anger. He thought why that moment, why her, why these words, why not other memories? If they were at all memories. He could not fully believe yet that this man was him. He could not believe it and could not understand it quite yet. But he knew that for now, understanding was not a priority. Running was a better option. Therefore he followed the woman who grabbed a twig and a few steps away, he saw it. An abomination of nature. There was nothing beautiful or mesmerizing about it. All he thought was that amalgam of landscape where snow would be the neighbor of a desert was nowhere human or correct. There was nothing pure about it, nothing compelling. What was quite impressive though was the fact that they were in a cave, a big and profound cave. But then, another question was begged to be ask, just as all the other were asking some questions. Who had the ability to do such things?

Auki
08-09-2011, 07:35 PM
She swallowed loudly and tried to drag her eyes away from the landscape before her, disturbing as it was. They were talking to her, the ghosts. Well, of course they were! She had undeniably drawn attention to herself. Shouting, sprinting; she was in less control of her emotions than the others were it seemed. That fact had moved her into action and by doing so, they expected her to continue on first. Their questions piled on top of one another and she answered them with a slightly bewildered expression,

"Why are you running? Care to share that information with the stupid person running behind you?"

“The howl… I panicked…” She stuttered.

"Go...go where? And what should I call you?"

“Anywhere! Anywhere is better than just standing here. I think… I think my name is Caitlin. The memories are too fuzzy to be certain.” She was growing less hesitant the more she spoke but it was still a long way before she would have any kind of leadership aura about her.

“I am certain you are as confused as any of us, miss… But… what do you make of this scenario? And why did you feel compelled to run?”

She had to take a moment to ponder the question, “Don’t you feel it? No matter what I do that thought is bugging me. Run. Hide. Escape.”

From what she could remember, she was a simple woman at best. This was beyond any capabilities she may have once possessed. She… She was just a housewife! The only gift she could claim to have was compassion, “No-one will be forced to go alone, sweetness.” She addressed the white-haired girl with a comforting smile, resisting the urge to reach out and pat the female’s hair. For some reason, she was struggling to treat her as anything more than a child. Perhaps it was force of habit. Perhaps, deep down, she was missing her children, the ones she could summon no emotion towards.

"We should hurry down, that howl sounded pretty close."

He was right, of course. There was no other way forward. The distinct feeling she was being herded struck her again, itching at the back of her mind persistently. What would it have her do? Whatever she did felt wrong; all hope was suppressed by that. The human bite for survival was what kept her on her feet and moving.

“I saw him with another woman! How long will you deny this?” The woman she knew to be her sister sounded angry. There were tears of frustration in her eyes. None clung to Caitlin’s. She sat calmly instead, in the plushness of the armchair, sipping her tea delicately. The laughter of their children playing could be heard in the next room.

“If life wants me to know, it will show me. For now, playing pretend is easiest for everyone.”
“Not you!”
“I-… I’m not important. Not compared to my children, Eva.”

“They always get lost. All the humans.”

Caitlin had not spoken. The voice was a cawing, raspy and thick. Startled, she looked around in time to see two large creatures (http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad139/Ekiyogami66/Random%20things/PZO9008-PestilenceDemon.jpg)reach the ground, wings kicking up the dirt as they pounded the air to try and soften their landing. They were grotesque in appearance but she realised they had the same ghostly appearance as the other group members. Did that mean they couldn’t touch her? She prayed to any deity that might be listening that it was so.

“Play nicely, Esqu.” One squawked.
“Of course, Dire. Of course. We only came for him.”
“The one who can see us clearly. He’s our prey. The masters said he would be fun to break.”
“But we will do it slowly. We always play our games.”

They chuckled amongst themselves in a disturbing manner, scratching at the ground with their spindly arms. Hollow eye sockets stared amongst the group and both skulls creaked as the bones shifted to form a smile. Caitlin jumped back, almost sending herself off the cliff. Stark terror was clear in her eyes – The pathway to the ground had never seemed more inviting but for a few moments, she found herself unable to move.

Kalyde
08-11-2011, 08:31 PM
His heart was pounding in his chest more and more violently, fastening its pace. He was starting to breathe heavily. His mind was torn between not making a single move, his basic animal instinct telling him the stupid idea that maybe the creatures will not see him if he didn’t move, and running like the devil was chasing him. But the reality was that he was petrified by what he was seeing, just like the others, not really knowing what they suppose to do. Then one of the large birds extended what looked like his wings and jumped in the air. The creatures were making their moves but they were not, still in stone, as every bone in their body were bound to stay still. But then a single though started to grow up in his mind, the thought at the basis of every animal’s mind, the sole and simple survival instinct.

“RUN!” he yelled at the others.

Not even thinking about them anymore, the man started to do so like it was the only thing capable of keeping him alive and it probably was at the time. He went down the pathway and sprinted as fast as he could, the adrenaline rushing everywhere. He felt his foot hitting the rocks and it was hurting him but didn’t mind it at all. There was only one thought in his mind, and that was running. The pathway was leading down and there was what looked like a platform in the curves of the cliff. He didn’t even look back, he didn’t even know who was behind him and who wasn’t, all he was hearing was screams and these horrible sounds the birds were making. The more he was running, the more he had the feeling that there was something behind his back, at the verge of grabbing him. Finally, he reached the platform and just jumped behind a big rock, getting some cover. He flattened himself to the rock, kneeled down on the ground. Trying to control his breath, the man was trying to be unheard and invisible. He felt a drop of sweat going down his forehead and closed his eyes. His heart was trying to get out of his chest but he didn’t mind. He was scared and didn’t have a single idea of what he was doing. He opened his eyes and there it was. Gripped to face the cliff, one of the creatures was staring down at him. Their eyes met and he saw the ghostly white form of the monster for what it was…an aberration of nature, something that wasn’t suppose to exist. They stayed like that for few seconds, and then the creature dropped the cliff and flew away. The man swallowed and he came to realize one more thing.

There was a lot of activity out here, more than usual. The man dropped the pen he was holding and quit his simple and messy desk. He walked a few steps, searching for what might cause the rumble outside. He left the improvised office in one of the artificial cylinder-type 50 meters long white tent and saw many trucks being loaded and men wondering around with rifles and guns. Not scared for one moment, he walked straight toward them. He knew that there was no delivery or pick-up today and that these guys were nowhere near being legit.

“What the hell do you think you are doing!” he screamed at the men transporting crates labeled as property of the UN.

Several guns were instantly pointed at him and he stopped but did not show any fear, standing still, daring them to do something. Rachel saw him and walked toward him.

“Let this go […], this is nothing, let these men do their thing and they will go.”

“And you must be the new contractor they sent…Mister […].”

A black man, obviously a local, walked toward them both. He was dressed half-way as a westerner, wearing a long open sleeve-lest leather vest, boots, pants and a coca-cola t-shirt. His clothes were nonetheless dirty and used. But what was more visible were the silver desert eagle on his belt and the breaker sunglasses that he took off.

“It seems that this nice piece of meat did not put you up to speed concerning our…arrangement.”

The UN contractor took a few steps toward the man with the sunglasses, locking his look into his.

“You are stealing UN property, you know that, right?”

“Yes, but the point is that I am not stealing everything, leaving you enough vaccines and medical supplies for the Sangalah region. I don’t think we have been properly introduced, my name is…”

“I do not give a fuck about your name. Just tell me one thing: why shouldn’t I take you down, right here, right now?”

“Why do you think the guards let us through? Why do you think everyone is closing their eyes on this? You kill me and my men, and next week, another one will take my place. And this time, they will leave you with nothing and then…you will be dead.”

Still kneeled down, the man pitched his head out to take a look at what was happening behind the rock. On the platform, some of them made it and were hiding or still running but up on the pathway, some of them were blocked by the birds on both sides, flying around and randomly scaring them, playing with them like ants. They would not last long if the others were sitting duck on the pathway. At first, all he wanted was to keep running too and never looking back. After all, the monsters showed him that they were not after him, at least not yet. And the math was quite simple. All of a sudden, the man stood up and got out of behind his rock then started waving at the birds.

“HEY! LOOK AT ME! YOU FUCKING UGLY FUCKERS! LOOK HERE!”

His words however did not make any difference and they were still focus on the ones on the pathway. When he looked around him, trying to think about what to do, he saw for a moment the woman with her twig. It stroked him once again and he picked a big rock the size of his palm and threw him as hard as he could on one of the birds. Even though it was in a ghostly form, the rock hit the bird, and then another one hit the other bird and another one back on the first one. Their attentions shifted to the man with his rock, a nuisance at best that was not letting them play with their new toys. The creatures backed away from them and started to look at him, then started their approach.

“YEAH! LOOK AT ME YOU BASTARDS! RIGHT HERE, BIRDIE!”

The birds landed few steps in front of him, walking toward their single new prey with some anger in their eyes. The man took his steps back as they were coming closer and closer. One of them jumped on a rock on the right as he was walking back more and more, steps by steps, not leaving them in his sight. Even though he knew they could probably not touch him, he was scared as hell, feeling like a trapped rat. Then out of nowhere, they jumped both of them toward him. The man turned around and started running but there was not much place to run for. The platform ended up right behind him and he fell. The creatures, satisfied, took some altitude and circled back to continue what they were doing with the others but all of them were off the pathway now and trying to find their way out. Screaming out of rage, they circled in the air again and prepared for their next wave of attack. In the meantime, they didn’t saw a dirty hand reaching the platform and pulling him up. The man was not dead yet.

The Shadow
08-18-2011, 05:40 PM
“I don’t know, I don’t feel dead.”


The man didn’t look like he questioned this statement at all, he seemed almost sure of it in fact. Maybe this meant that they weren’t all dead. Maybe it was just him that was dead? But that didn’t explain why everyone else was here. He looked at the man, his name was Howard. This made him think again about what his own name may be. Surely he had a name, he must have.


He sat in his chair, mouthing the words to the song that was playing far too loudly from the speakers beside him. “There ain’t no rest for the wicked, money don’t grow on trees. I got bills to pay and mouths to feed, there ain’t nothin’ in this world for free. No I can’t hold back, I can’t slow down, but you know I wish I could. I said there ain’t no rest for the wicked until we close our eyes for good.”

A woman walked in, she looked mad. She started yelling but the music was too loud to hear her. He turned the speakers down so the music could only be heard slightly in the background. “Christopher! Keep the music down!” With that she stormed out of the room.


Christopher’s eyes lit up, he had a name! Of course he was silly to think that there was a possibility that he was nameless, but the confirmation made some of the worry seem to fade. He was about to proclaim his name to Howard when he heard the howl.

The very noise made his blood turn to ice. He looked around, the ghost-like people had heard it too. One of them seemed more worried than the rest as she broke free from the group, yelling that they needed to get away. Christopher watched as Howard began to follow her before stopping, “Quickly, let’s go.” Christopher nodded once and ran after him through the trees.

He stopped by the others; looking back at what he initially thought was a forest which turned out to be just a small group of trees. He was confused to say the least but with the others rushing to get away from it he decided now wasn’t the time to try and figure it out.

He joined Howard at the cliff face, staring down at the merging landscapes wondering how all the different landscapes could exist beside each other, “How is this possible…?”

He heard a loud thump, he opened his eyes wide as he turned around to see two large creaures had landed on the dirt, he could feel his legs turning to jelly, just like they had ben when he'd first woken up. He couldn't move, all he could do was stare at the creatures.

V
08-20-2011, 02:05 PM
Overlooking the cliff face into the bizarre place below he waited. No one had replied to Howard yet, he didn't want to make the first move either. Suddenly he heard to thick, dark voices nearby - the words didn't sound like any of the other ghost-like people and this gave him shivers. Howard turned toward them slowly, their shape in his eyes was vaguely humanoid. Like the others he saw right through the pair. But the black wings filled his vision, and he could make out a hellish face in the middle of it all. He couldn't turn away.

“RUN!”

Howard struggled to obey the scream, but his need and will to escape prevailed and he fled down the path after the first transparent man. He kept his eyes on the path, keeping close to the stone wall. And tried not to think about looking over the edge while he moved. Or of those creatures behind him. Or whatever made that howl.

Something swooped through him, and Howard cried out looking about at the bird creature that laughed at him before moving back toward to the top of the cliff.

Then with his feet stumbling underneath him, he fell.

Howard's weak leg couldn't keep him up. One of his arms scraped along the side of the wall, it guided him down. His body crunched to the pathway huddled up against the side away from the edge, he breathed quickly looking toward the open area. Howard closed his eyes and lay there.

~~

There was a screech and the cry of a name and a thud and a scream and another scream. The car was upside down and slammed up against something - a building, perhaps the store front. A voice sad something but it was hazy, someone was breathing heavy, perhaps it was him. There was shattered glass every where. There was red everywhere too.

Something caught his shoulder and he turned, the hand was otherworldly and it pulled him close. It said something but he couldn't reply. A face appear, wrong way up, there was concern there and perhaps something else. The face was covered in a dirty muck and cut up well. It was out of view again later and the world seemed to crash down.

There was a drag and the wreckage came into view, the other side was caved in. Someone was crying and he could no longer see properly. He cried out, a single word but it came out as an unrecognizable moan.

All over the road ran the disaster, he saw, but he didn't want to. Someone set him down and went back to the car. Then there was nothing.

~~

Howard came back to, he rolled onto his chest feeling the heavy bruises on his side. Climbing to his hands and knees took increased effort, and to sitting against the wall even harder and longer. Howard held himself there, arm around ribs overlooking the terrible edge.

NecroNama
08-22-2011, 03:32 AM
Shiruba was stunned when he saw a pair of monstrosities land and talk to one another in such a fashion that would breed fear into the ones closest to them. He slid to a halt, nearly falling backwards. '....WHAT THE?' He stood there, awe struck by how detailed they were, how he could see exactly where they were standing. "....so they are like the others or like me?" he said to himself as he looked around for a rock or something to throw to get the vulture like birds attention.
-----------------------------------
"Is this the place?" The person in the front passengers seat said to the driver. "It has to be....see the sign." Replied the driver as he turned around to hand Shiruba a knife. "He said make it look good...." He smacked the knife out of the drivers hand. "I don't need the knife to do this....I'm not a weakling like you two." With a snap in his tone, he opened the door, it was raining hard. "Keep the vehicle running....if you aren't here when I get done, I'll hunt you down regardless of what the Oyabun says." He exited the car, slamming the door and entered the building.

"Welcome sir." The hostess bowed. "Is it just you tonight?" A smile crossed her face, trying to be polite. "Owh, no....I'm looking for Mr. Yubimoto, is he here?" The hostess hesitated for a minute, looking around as if trying to find a exit out of the question. "H....he....he's in the back...." Giving a bow, he walked past her, through the restaurant, past all the customers and workers and into the kitchen. 'Where is the door to the storage room?' As he stood there looking around, the cooks glared at him with malice, some talking under their breaths. "......" Shiruba glared back, popping his knuckles. "Keep to yourself...this has nothing to do with food so look at what your paid to do." Authority and a firm voice put some of them back to work, while others stopped and walked towards him, some holding butcher blades.
---------------------------------

-BOOM- He jumped, not expecting the loud noise even though it has been happening allot. "Stop with that loud noise!" He yelled, gripping a rock in his hand. At that time he forgot why he had it in his hand then he looked up, seeing the grotesque winged beasts. "....owh...." He began to back pedal slowly, one foot at a time, then he turned and ran to a near by hiding spot to watch to see what happens. As he got there, someone with a "big" like build grabbed Shiruba's attention. "HEY YOU!" he said at the man. "Stop going that way....you want to be lunch for something ugly?" He looked back at where the things were getting a wider view, he saw black birds circling over their heads. '.....great....' His grip tightened on the rock he had in his hand. "We need a plan." He said a bit loud to the guy he was talking to.

SQJ
08-23-2011, 09:08 AM
Edgar jogged behind the rest of the group seeing that he wasn't the only back runner of the group there was a tiny Asian man running next to him. He wasn’t tall, at all, but he seemed to be the only one bearing the same level of physical strength, potentially even more, the idea made him grin. Perhaps it was a man thing or simply a part of him he had yet to figure it out. It didn’t matter.

--

“What’s this?” Edgar asked pulling out her earphone out of his ear. Despite her impossibly silk like fingers she had way too strong a touch to her.
“It’s rock music. You said you liked that white music. It’s called classic rock. I’m not ever sure how you don’t know that. I figured I’d start you off slow. They’re called Death Cab for cutie. Just listen to this one.”
It was hard to ignore her. She had an energy to her, he couldn’t name or understand. It was so compelling. He listened. It was stunning, brilliant. He sang along to it after only one sitting. She appeared to gush at him, loving it. He had never, once seen any one look at him the way she did at the moment.

--
Edgar slowed. It wasn’t on purpose but his confusion got the best of him. Had he ever wanted to know something, anything more in his life? He doubted it. He just wanted a piece of her, a huge one. Now here he was running without actually knowing why. There was no place he was running to he was simply running.

"Stop going that way....you want to be lunch for something ugly?"

For the first time he stopped moving. Turning around sharply.
“Wow,” He stared. Looking to the Asian man, he looked to be hiding. Edgar followed after the Asian. He asked for a plan. “We’ll follow the others, think of something when we get away those ‘things’”

kagomri
08-27-2011, 10:45 PM
Jason was stunned for a few moments at first sight of the Flying creatures. They seemed to be mainly made of fractured bones and around the joints, translucent nerves to keep its structure together. And like all the other people, they were made of mist and air and nothing more. Turning to the nearest human--a naked girl caked in mud apparently-- he grabbed her hand on instinct and threw her into the bushes, but his palm never touched hers. They had to stay away. Hide from those creatures who meant harm.

Ducking behind the closest bush, he gestured, panicked, at her to come with him and hide. He could only hope that the rest of the group remained safe.

Prior to Jason throwing her into the bushes, Lydia had been staring in awe at the creatures. In a white, misty haze, similar to the apparitions, they stood before them and spoke in twisting riddles she did not care to pay any mind to. These monstrosities looked vaguely familiar, possibly from a grim fairytale that the man she saw in her flashback had read to her as an infant. Instinctively her body told her to run, but in wonder and fear she stood there dumbfounded, and then suddenly her hand was grabbed and next thing she knew she was hiding behind the brush.

Landing in yet another puddle of mud behind the bush, she grimaced a bit. With an open mouth, she turned to look at the man who had pulled her here and then realized he was only trying to save her. Lips sealed, Lydia silently crawled in the direction he was in—somehow she had no problems with silence and flexibility. She contorted herself into a tight ball next to him and peered at the creatures through gaps in the leaves.

What are we going to do? What would Sarah say to me now?

Not only did he feel threatened by their appearance, but also insecure without her. Breathing in shallow breaths, he attempted to calm himself down as he turned to the blonde curled up into a call next to him. Her head was ducked into her muddy arms that sat above her tight knees. She didn't say anything. Not a thank you, not a complaint, no objections, not a word. Could she be in a psychological shock? It was rare that just the appearance of the two sadistic vultures could traumatize people. But he didn't know her mental state, or anything about her.

"You're going to be fine." he said, surprisingly confidently--something he didn't feel. And somewhere deep inside, the words felt not foreign, but different, like it didn't belong to him. Like the voice spoke out in instinct, perhaps a habit of someone dear to him.

It wasn't, "Are you okay?". No, that would be looking for the wrong answers, like digging for gold in a desert. Sarah no intention of accepting the uncertainty.

Suddenly aware of his speech and presence, he stared astonishingly at the girl on the ground, speechless.

In response Lydia bobbed her head up and down in very short motions. Light eyes stayed locked onto the two beasts the loomed over the remaining apparitions. Deep in her chest she knew that—for now—she was safe, simply because they were ghostly in appearance like the others, so they had to be in another realm. By no means did that mean she felt it was wise to leave her hiding spot, but it was comforting to know she was not the one whom had to face the creatures. A small smile coursed over her red lips, seemingly misplaced in this present scenario. “I know…” the dainty woman managed to mumble.

Resting her chin on her knees, Lydia tilted her head to look in the direction of Jason. “Are you fine?” the question casually rolled off her tongue as if they were passing each other momentarily on the streets—the safety of the streets. Too convinced it was a dream to fear anything fully, Lydia’s naivety kept her sane.

Ru
09-02-2011, 07:51 AM
Green eyes darted around the crowd; Musho was attempting to conclude who the creatures were speaking of. By using a male pronoun that eliminated several of the people around him, but only so many people were taken off of the list by that fact. He glanced at each of the other males and still figured out nothing, other than it was not himself. Musho knew better than to assume that meant he was safe by any means—the creatures could potentially kill him at any given moment. Attention returned to the birdlike monsters in speculation. Why did it appear they had a bow sticking out of their backs?

Brows furrowed and his nose scrunched up in a squint as if that was going to allow him to figure out anything about the beasts that may help him. Somewhere there had to be a weakness. Their goal wasn’t to defeat them though, was it? Their objective was to stay alive, get out of there, and outrun these fiendish animals. Cleary they had the ability to fly due to their black wings that resembled a crow’s. The sharp points of their fingers indicated they could cut them with ease and he assumed they must be agile due to their legs that reminded him of a stallion. He then deduced the best course of action—pertaining to fighting them—was to slit open their torso, which was human in appearance.

Thoughts were interrupted once he brought himself back into the reality of the situation. Without realizing it, Musho had somehow managed to be standing next to the red-haired maiden that had demanded they run to this location in the first place. Due to her panicked expression he knew she knew as much as he did—or possibly less—concerning these creatures.

He wasn’t sure if this next motion was going to worsen the situation, but he remembered… someone… he couldn’t make out the face at this present moment… Someone he once knew—he was sure of it—felt calmer when he did this, so he reached out his hand gently to hers and slipped his palm against her, and then gripped her hand delicately as to not startled her. Musho lowered his head a bit to be more at her height, enabling him to whisper in her ear. All of his motions were slow and delicate to avoid startling her and avoid adverting the creatures’ attention. “We should probably hide or run farther… I am certain they are not here for us… but it is in our best bet to escape while we have the chance… unless you are interested in fighting them. I am not sure what kind of chance we stand…” the young man muttered, hoping the monsters heard none of it.

Caitlin couldn’t help but jump a little, despite the gentleness with which he presented himself, simply surprised to find the man so close beside her. His hand hovered next to hers although she couldn’t feel it – He squeezed and ghostly fingers disappeared into her palm. The gesture was there however; the comfort that they were there against the beasts together. She was not alone. Whilst the others dispersed, she tried to keep a clear head.

“We need to keep going towards the exit.” She held out the twig that she still grasped in her other hand, waiting for him to take hold of the opposite end. At least, that way, they would have some kind of physical connection, “If we run down the hill, hopefully everyone else will go that way too.” Some of the group had already begun to descend the cliff but not all. Fighting was the last thing on her mind.

Musho’s fingers curled around the twig and he bobbed his head. In truth, he had forgotten that they could not touch each other, but the items in the area were on the same planes. They could remain together this way similar to if they could hold hands. It was peculiar to him with that being the case, but at least there was some way for them all to interact with each other. He let his hand that had gone through hers fall to his side.

“Well… when you ran we all followed, did we not? I am certain they will follow suit,” he glanced over at the others who were not entirely near the cliff then in the direction Caitlin wanted to head towards. Occasionally his eyes slipped over towards the vultures, but he tried to keep his focus on the task at hand. “Lead on, miss. I will follow your lead.”


It had been the very words she was dreading but she made an effort not to let it show. Nodding, determined, she pushed herself into a jog towards the cliff-face. The winds were rough and that alone scared her as she stared down the path but with one hand grasping the rock and another connecting her to the boy, she felt somewhat comforted against the odds. She couldn’t move particularly quickly - her hair whipped around and blinded her, her feet slipped often on the white rock – but they continued to advance.

They passed a few of their companions; the older man huddled in what she assumed an attempt to hide, one of the other males pulling himself back onto the pathway. There was little she could do without the means of physical contact so she called out to them instead, begging them to follow suit away from the creatures and towards the exit. The birds were not after them; in her mind, she was relieved despite the guilt it caused in feeling so.

A tight grip was kept on the stick to ensure that he was not separated from her. From time to time he glanced over again and again to see if anyone else was following them, though it did not influence his decision to press on. What did influence him… was the heat. The deeper they ventured the hotter the atmosphere around him became. Sweat trickled down his body profusely and soon enough he was panting loudly. Musho began to feel lightheaded, but he pressed on due to a determination to escape whatever was attempting to end their lives.

Eventually it became a tearing decision: remain and possibly be maimed or carry on and continue to melt. Gradually his body felt like it was walking straight into an oven at a Jewish concentration camp. The fire of what he could only assume was the sun continued to increase in heat to insane temperatures he had never before endured. His movements became sluggish in comparison to his eagerness from before as the heat began to lash out at his very being. Musho’s legs were starting to bend further down to the ground and he could feel himself start to collapse to the ground, but he continued to push himself… he needed to keep going.

Caitlin was growing concerned however; “Do you need to rest? Do you need water?” Even in his ghostly form, she could see the sweat cascading relentlessly down his figure. Although she could offer no empathy, worry was etched across her features. The further down they travelled, the more strain she felt upon the twig. They continued and she began to be the one pulling him forward, step by step. Slowing, she tried to catch his eye but he seemed dazed.


Barely audile were her words upon his ears as the heat warped his sense of reality—if this even was reality. There was a flood of feminine voices surrounding him, echoing back and forth against his temples. Due to the sort of amnesiac state they all seemed to be in, he could not decipher whom the voices belonged to. Before them stood a woman with long raven locks of hair and deep green eyes that matched his own. Her arms were crossed over her bosom with a hip pressed out to the side and a speculating brow upon her sharp, angular features. Though he was completely unaware, she was a delusion on he had the pleasure of seeing.

Below him his knees gave way, collapsing to the ground. Throbbing pain was sent through various pulsations throughout his being as the heat began to take its toll. Musho’s forehead met with the barren floor momentarily, then he gazed up at the woman who he felt he recognized, but her meaning was not coming to him. She took pity upon him and it was evident she was fighting with herself to help him out of this agonizing situation—she knew something.

“I… I don’t want to kill like the others, maju…” the young boy whined with his arms tightly wrapped around his mother’s shapely waist; all of the years of child birthing definitely showed, but in an almost elegant way rather than a woman who had given up her youth. She was strong. “I don’t want to hunt… can I just stay home? Please?” his feet were on top of one of hers as she walked around the village with his tiny frame glued to her thigh.

“Mumu…” the woman let out a heavy sigh, handing the coins to the merchant she had been purchasing fruit from. The vendor smiled down at the young lad and waved. The mother and son duo was a common sight amongst the villagers and it was rare to ever see him let her go. Tender fingers delicately ran through the boy’s black mop of hair, a soft smile upon his mother’s face. “Then don’t. Maju will love ya no matta what ya do. Ya hear?”

The boy smiled, giggled, and held on tighter to his mother. He buried his face against her flowing dress. She smelled of cookies and roses.

In a hazy daze he stared at this woman—his mother. “Maju…?” came a mumble. Musho pressed his hands against the ground, ignoring the suddenly sting of ice emitting from it. Eyelids drooped down, he needed to press forward. They weren’t safe. He placed a hand forward and attempted to crawl farther into the area, towards his mother, but it was a slow moving process that appeared to be getting him nowhere.

The moment he let go of the twig, Caitlin realised the extent of the situation. She stared at him as he attempted to crawl but his progress was minuscule. The end of the cliff path was in sight - She had doubts that he would make it. It was sad that she did not know his name but she knew he would not have heard her anyway. “Please hurry…” She begged, trying desperately to help. Her hands were swallowed by his ghostly appearance, “Please.” She didn’t know what to do.


He extended his arm to the farthest reach it could manage, pushing himself forward in an attempt to follow it. Instead, he collapsed to the ground fully with one hand stretched out as it tried to continue on and the other beneath his torso. Musho’s mouth was slightly ajar as he attempted to breathe through it due to his nose failing at sucking in enough oxygen, but even switching methods did little to help him. The sun was baking his skin—evident by the crimson pigment. Heavily his body pulsated in such an intensity that his body began to twitch and jerk against his will.

“Are you feeling better?”

He managed to tilt his head slightly to allow himself to see ahead, even if his vision was blurred; he wanted to see where the new female voice was coming from. Standing before him was a young woman with naturally white hair, yet a young face—even younger and more delicate than his own. Beneath his heavy chest his heart raced, but not only due to the panic sent through him—he loved her. Staring upon this woman… he did not need anyone to explain to him that this delusion was of the woman he loved prior to his amnesiac state. Musho nodded his head and smiled, staring at seemingly nothing with the side of his face laying against his bicep.

“You should rest…”

Exhaustion overtook him as he smiled and stared at the mirage his mind had created in the intense heat of the dimension he was tossed into. The vultures he had seen earlier no longer were a concern, nor was getting out of here alive. The woman of his dreams whom he thought had ended her life before he had a chance to apologize was standing before him and he knew—deep down in his heart—she stilled loved him. Being able to see her beauteous form stand before him in a living state was all he needed and all he ever wanted in his entirety of life. Finally, he felt forgiven for disappearing from their home so abruptly in his state of confusion and no longer did regret cling to his mind. As Musho’s soul slowly drifted out of his body as the heat overtook him he merely stared at Kisha with a smile only ever given to her.

He closed his eyes and drifted into the next world where he could hold her once more.

Auki
09-02-2011, 07:54 AM
The demons landed back on the cliff top, cackling at how the humans fled so erratically. To split their numbers had been easy and it left their target isolated.

“They told us your name…” Esqu hissed.
“Andrew, dear Andrew.” Dire followed.

The boy would have been able to see them in all their glory, feathers glistening with fresh blood, claws coated in the same red liquid. Their skin mimicked the colour of humans but, at the same time, it did not – It’s off-colour made them appear ill, sickly, despite their bulging muscles. Their eyes did not seem to see but the empty sockets hid more than any human could imagine.

“We start our game whilst your friends run,” Dire snarled.
“We begin with easy ones; riddles from your planet.” Esqu explained.

They both displayed grins far wider than should be possible, the bones cracking in places from the strain.

“I have four wings but cannot fly…”
“…I never laugh and never cry…”
“…On the same spot, I’m always found…”
“…Toiling away with little sound.”

“What am I?” They asked in duet but their prey did not seem keen on answering. He backed away, trembling with each step.

“What am I?” They asked again but the man did not reply. Instead, he turned heel and fled in the opposite way to his companions, barrelling back into the trees to try and escape their questions.

“Foolish…” Esqu whispered and his companion nodded in agreement.
“I would run, little humans,” Dire called to the rest of the party as they followed after Andrew, “We may not be after you but our friends surely are.”

NecroNama
09-04-2011, 12:56 AM
As he tried to stay as hidden as possible, he knew that running is a okay plan until you figure out what is going on, but after that it becomes what happens when a plan fails. Shiruba wasn't going to run until he figured out what the heck the two massive talking birds were and what they truely wanted, so he listened as he moved closer to them still gripping the rock in his hand. He ignored what the man said to him about 'following the others until they got away from those things', trying to make as little noise as possible against the the slippery ground as if skating, another BOOM drowned out all Shiruba heared coming from the direction of the two creatures that liked to talk as one. The enviroment was something he began to get use too, but the frost and ice on the ground was getting on his nerves to the point he wish he had socks. '....this freaking sucks...' Slowly moving closer, he could make out voices. "....whilst your friends run, We begin with easy ones; riddles from your planet."

He stopped, thinking he was close enough to hear what was going to be said yet still able to see everything that was going on as everyone else that was once standing there, ran off once more in random directions and some down a hill. '....they might want us to run away, as if thats part of their game...sick' Staying quite as he could possibly could be, he tried to get lower to the ground but the frost and what cold was there kept him from getting as low as he wanted. The creatures spoke again, “I have four wings but cannot fly…” “…I never laugh and never cry…” “…On the same spot, I’m always found…” “…Toiling away with little sound.” They spoke back and forth as if they shared one brain. This got Shiruba to think. '...if they know what the other is about to say thus maybe sharing minds, do they share life?....' That was as far as he thought as he watched on. The man they were talking to didn't respond as the two creatures kept demanding a answer from him. The guy just turned and ran but the creatures didn't follow, as if they knew that the man was going to die either way. Again they talked to each other but he didn't care what was said, he got ready to move but a strain froze him in place.
----------
He fixed his colar to the shirt he was wearing as he found the entrance into the storage room as he walked past the people that decided to attack with knives and blades. "Told you to mind your own business and keep cooking." Some of them could hardly move as they laid on the floor, some bleeding from their mouths and other places on their face. The other people in the kitchen didn't make a move towards Shiruba as he went to the door, opened it and walked in.

Mr. Yubimoto, was his target. The man ran the resturant as well as had a hand in the runnings of a club down the street. He failed to sent protection payment to Shiruba's Lieutenant and that is why he was here. The orders were to massively harm Mr. Yubimoto and kill a few others but that would be the chicken way in Shiruba's eyes. Fear was better if no one died, thus massively hurt them to the point that they could die or bleed more then they should, that is what he thought should be done. So he made his way down the stairs that were in the storage room to the basement that was said to have a massive poker parties every weekend, and some of the guests were rich people and some that you would cross the street just to stay away from. The door to the closed off basement poker room was shut and locked with a massive man sitting on a stool reading the days newspaper. "Excuse me, may I gain entry?"
---------------

What he saw caused him to freeze. "What the hell are those....visions?" He said out loud, not thinking about what or who could hear him. As he looked up, it seemed as if time didn't move as the two creatures were still in the same spots. He got up to his feet, got what grip under his feet that he could and ran at the giant bird things. "HEY! HERE IS YOUR DAMN ANSWER!" He chuncked the rock that was in his hand at the back of what looked like a head, all it did was hit and bounce off. The creature took the hit and didn't move a inch. He kept moving as fast as he could to them, tucking his shoulder down to get ready for impacting the one he hit but all that happened was he passed through it, like he did with the old man earlier. "WHAT THE....!" Once through, he hit the ground and began to slide down the hill on his back. As he moved down the hill, he passed up the man the two Vulture things questioned but beyond him in the sky, he saw little birds flying around in the sky. Moving faster down the hill, he couldn't slow, only move around on his back. He did just that to see a guy laying on the ground as if being drained of his spirit, but his face couldn't be seen as he slide past. "...We have to get out of here..." He said under his breath.

SQJ
09-07-2011, 10:01 AM
==
"Why are we doing this again?" She asked.
"Because, you said you wanted to know what I like doing."
"I wanted you to tell," She stopped and gasped for air. "me."

Edgar stopped running dropping his hands to his waist, breathing in the city smog and breathing it out slowly. She on the other hand was doubled over, clutching her knees. Laughter bubbled up within him but he choked it down quickly, some he didn't feel he was there with her just yet.

"We can stop if you want, I didn't mean to-"

"Do you normally stop here?" She asked before he had a chance to finish.

He shoulders rose in a half hearted shrug. "No, this is only the first lap. I generally do one more." He lied.

She looked up at him, her eyebrows arched and her chest heaving. He took a heavy breath and laughed. "I don't believe you."

His hands rose defensively. "Hey, I do run this place."

"I'm not doubting that part. You know you have a tell when you lie? It's my favourite thing about you. I bet you do more. You lied because you're worried I'm going to try catch up you. you're right to have been because I want to go all the way with you. If, that's okay"

He grinned, bouncing on his heels getting ready to run again. His calved burned but it wasn't in a way he disliked. "Come on."

--

Edgar found himself bouncing on his heels in mid run,
How could it be?, his mind asked his body, how can I forget that I know how to run fast? Looking at the others he should have already have left them in the dust yet there he was trying to run and hide with the again guy. Fuck that. His mind screamed.

Edgar broke into a sprint as they hit the cliff face's drop. The face as sharp but the path ahead was a straight one anyway. He ran it, taking almost triple the amount of steps a regular person would take to maintain his balance on the black floor, kicking up black sand, leaving a elbow high cloud of black dust behind him. I looked like the shit that burst out of an impossible beat up engine.

Edgar cried out, his voice booming "Holy fucking shit!"
There was a dead and fucked up body on the floor in front of him. He couldn't just stop, he skid on his toes, the naturally hard skin on the bottom of his feet threatened quite adamantly to peel, leaving him a hobbling mess by the time he reached the bottom but the black sand was too fine. She slid right through the dead body kicking up a black dust which rested upon the body and placing a slight and wafer thin layer. Most likely the closest thing to a burial the man would have.

V
09-10-2011, 02:03 PM
Howard couldn't be sure how long he'd sat there, he hadn't counted them but he knew several had gone on ahead. But he hadn't moved yet, he sat there staring over the edge. No longer did the bird creatures matter, just a narrow path, an old man and the chance of a fall.

He felt bruised from the fall but any pains save for his leg were meaningless. Fear remained in place now, too strong to budge for weakness of the body. Not fear of those that hunted, the fear of falling.

~~~~~~

"You're getting old, stay home we'll handle this." Said the youth. He gave Howard a sorrowful look but he wanted none of this young bastard's pity. White knuckled he gripped the door frame, as soon as the lad's back was turned the door came crashing afterward.

He stalked the house for some time afterward, he shattered a glass and had to clean the water up. He flung the remote away angrily but the television chattered away - some young bitch prattling on with a squealing tone. Howard turned the T.V off at the switch. After that he went upstairs.

Upstairs split up into four rooms from the hallway. His son had once taken the closest near the bathroom. But that was a long while ago, the room was now full of dust. One of the others was Hers, though they weren't married any more. Howard didn't go in their either. The last one was a study, Howard couldn't remember whose it was. He entered that one.

Inside the cream walls danced in his sight, pointedly mocking his grim mood. A desk, an old computer and book shelf where all there else was. The books were his sons, so he left them. The computer was a nice paperweight and he didn't have the strength to bother with it. There was stationary and paper in abundance however so he overturned and swiped those about. The documents had all been Hers anyway.

And that made it alright.

Howard left a mess afterward, that didn't please him. But he wasn't angry when he sat in the rough stool and pulled out a cigar. With the window open he sat quiet for a long while.

He must of twisted his ankle, hit something, stepped on something, slipped, something. For Howard was stumbling about, his fingers grasped something but the soft pages of a dusty book did nothing to keep him upright. Then the was a bump to his hip and nothing for his feet to step on.

And his hands were wild trying to find anything, one his something then the other found it too and he was hanging. Sweat and whatever else ran wild over his body. He'd gripped a part of the window, he was sure.

Howard's eyes searched for help, found they only met the hard concrete below him. This was one of the times Howard hated himself for insisting on high ceilings. He'd never called for help, never.

As his fingers began to loose their grips, as his strength began to fade, his breathing became forced and his teeth were clamped and bared in a snarl. Just as Howard was losing one hand he heard a voice from above:

"Howard, old man what are you doing hanging about up here?" Said the youth from earlier, "you're missing the good news, we did it. It's over."

Howard stared at him and growled, "just pull me up."

Once there were both back in the study, Howard panting and the young man grinning. Howard sweating and hurting and the young man saying, "it was a good thing that we got there when we did too." Howard looked at him, then his fist connected to a nose and there was blood.


~~~~~

Howard leaned backward in his red realm into the stone wall itself, he couldn't say for sure why he was, perhaps there was something private in his head somewhere. Something not yet explained but deeply engrained into his mind. There was a joke in there, so he laughed. It wasn't a simple chuckle for he hand tears in his eyes and he was eased.

The crippling fear from before had fled replaced with a cliff-face, a narrow path and a strange land. To fall to.

But Howard rose because he couldn't stay where he was and there wasn't any point going back. He didn't want to be alone. He stuck close to the wall with his hand guiding the way. The first step was hard and every second one hurt.

~~~~~


The initial weren't much more than a few coins and he had them in aplenty. The others grudgingly threw their own in. Cards were dealt and a new round began, he'd been going well this night but his hand was shit so he was done right away. The other four perked up and they eyed each other. Paul won the round in the end and that was that.

After the game was done, Howard richer with a few more coins, they sat about with their smokes and drinks under the starry sky on the verandah. "Haven't a chance with her, Howard."

Her, stood at the end of the drive shooing off some other callers - she never paid them a thought however. She'd shared a few smiles once or twice. "Yeah, yeah," he said after she'd strode passed the gang back inside. "Up for another, Paul?" His can was long empty and now his throat was dry.

There was a few beers left on the counter, so he grabbed what remained and turned about. She waited for him, Howard wasn't one for knowing what to say to girls so he gave her a smile. But his hands were shaky. She had curly hair that half the time covered her face, masked what she was thinking and hid her smiles. Her dress was golden in colour so it made her hair stand our as brown as it was. For the best because the neck line of her dress ran low. Howard though the guys wouldn't be too impressed if he dropped the beers.

"Every time you're around, I see you staring a lot, with those silly grins of yours." She said walking over, Howard half took a step backward meeting her eyes as best he could. He made himself not smile then.

"Yes, well, um, I..." He trailed away.

"Yes?"

"I, I should be getting these out there," he pushed past her gently and retreated outside.


~~~~~

Black dust covered the area making it hard to see, Howard groped along the wall until he began to make out the shapes of the others. Their transparent forms weaved with the dust and he could see one of the others lay on the ground.

"Who, what?"

Ru
09-18-2011, 06:38 PM
Jason remained silent and while looking down, caught a glimpse of Lydia staring up from the ground at him as if waiting for an answer. Completely oblivious to the question, he just nodded nonchalantly, just shrugged his shoulders.

He took a peek out from the bushes just in time the bird-like creatures chorused, "What Am I?" They waited for a reply, cocking their heads from one side to the other, taunting their prey. But who was the prey? The leaves were obscuring his view but he didn't want to risk being seen. After a few seconds they stretched their wings.
Crackkk
Jason cringed.

And flew away.

Lydia followed Jason’s gaze to the birds and she cocked her head to the side at the same time they had. She lowered to the ground momentarily, before seeing the girl who told them to run attempting to escape with the black haired man who snipped at her earlier. Before making any decisions, she watched them carefully to see if they were taking the right path—when the man suddenly collapsed to the ground in what could only be described as a heat stroke. A large gulp went down her slender neck as she watched with enlarged eyes his skin appearing to burn despite rain trickling across her scalp. Once it started cracking she deterred her eyes away and down towards the damp ground beneath her long toes.

“Gotta run…” extending her arm in his direction, while keeping her eyes locked onto her big toes. If he grabbed onto it then she planned on bolting with the others, though she was going to do this either way.

"Wait, where are you going?" Jason said, reaching out a hand to stop her as she got up, but stopped mid air as his eyes caught the outline of her naked body. The smooth bump of her breasts, the wavy outline of her hips. Blood rushed to his face as he willed himself to look anywhere else, anywhere except there. "Where are you going?" he mummered again.

Awkwardly, he crossed his legs, the right one in front of his left to block the view of his crotch. "I...don't even know your name."

Even if her focus was not on her feet she was unlikely to notice Jason’s gaze upon her figure. The naked body and being stared at—whether due to being weird or attractive—was not unusual for her, so she learned to ignore it long ago, not that she could properly peg why. So far her only flashback had her as a little girl and a man she had called Kiri, but what could any of that mean?

“You have the most luxurious curves, Lydia,” said a man with a sly grin, crooked nose, and beady, little eyes of coal. He ran his fingers through her practically white hair—somehow it was natural, but no one was sure how.

“Curves?” she laughed and twirled away from the man, climbing up the large pole that led to the tightrope where she knew he would not follow; his fear of heights kept him on the ground. “You must’a confused me with the wrong gal, chump. I haven’t had curves since I lost my baby fat!” Lydia sat atop the pillar with her legs spread open and her hands near her crotch with a wide grin upon her face. Today she was adorn in a rainbow tutu with matching ribbons and ballet points. Her act was not going to begin for a few more hours, but she was ready nonetheless.

“You must surely be must surely be mistaken! Do you not own a mirror? I can buy you one and jewels galore.”

“Nah. Kiri gives me everythang I need, bub,” she stuck her tongue out at him and then laid her back down on the platform. His frivolous banters continued, but they fell upon deaf ears. Gradually he realized this an left her be.

A soft sigh escape her, causing her breasts to move along with the breath that left her. “We gotta follow the group, don’t we? Isn’t gonna be safe here anymore… just hope I don’t drown. I really don’t like water,” the woman rambled a bit and then turned her gaze to him. “Some more monsters might come or might not or something. I dunno but it won’t be safe to just hide here. What if they can smell us? Maybe they can’t though…” the blonde constantly contradicted herself, it was amazing she could make a decision at all. “I think it’s safer to go though.”

Jason hesitated for a bit, a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. Finally, he nodded a a few short nods hastily and glanced down the path the man had ran passed before he passed out. At least he hoped that he passed out.

"Let's go then," he said, taking a few steps before pausing. "By the way, I'm Jason--" The whites of his eyes rolled up for a split second....


"What's your name, silly boy?" she poked piece of grilled chicken with her metal fork, lifted it up to her lips and glanced at Jason.

"Oh sorry. It's Jason." he replied.

---------------------------------------------------

After meeting Sarah in rain, she offered him a ride. He was hesitant at first but finally agreed. She jumped into the driver's seat while he slipped onto the passenger's side and immediately explained the route to home. She merely nodded and smiled at him every few seconds, but she wasn't paying attention; there was something about the way whenever she looked back at him: the secret that played between the curve of her lips, the distraction in her eyes, the way she held the wheel so eagerly...

A few blocked forward, Jason looked back and said, "We were supposed to turn left back there."

"I know." she said and grinned even wider.

"We should make a U turn then, right?"

She didn't reply. Panic rose up in his throat.
Maybe I should've just walked home. I could've gotten home by now. I'm causing her more trouble by letting her carpool me. She's clearly not good with directions.

"I really think--"

"Shhhh."

Jason's mouth shut on command.

---------------------------------------------------

And that's how they winded up here, at "Bread Sticks", the best fine dining experience in the city.
Jason wasn't sure what to think. He only texted to his mother that he was going out for dinner, closed his eyes and let tonight's surprise that refused to accept where he was and who he was with settle in.

This girl's crazy.

And he liked it more than a fat boy could ever like chocolate.


A small smile coursed over pale features as an attempt to reassure Jason that it was okay. Despite being the youngest person here she was likely the most confident and feeling the least amount of fear. Death was an inevitable process and a fight she was willing to jump into so long as she could stay a little bit longer.

Lydia wiped her palm against her muddy face, pushing the wet dirt from near her nose to down her neck in some attempt to get it away from her eyes. If she had been more careful when running around she’d be clean, but oh well. The hand extended towards Jason was jerked a bit as she attempted to get him to grab hold of it without her leaning over, but she gave up and decided to do it anyway. Fingers that were clearly only used for quick flips slipped into the palm closest to her as she attempted to drag him along whether it meant she was going to feel like she was dragging a body bag or leading him willingly.

“Lydia,” was her quick response to a name. Lydia kept her body low to the ground to not divert the birds’ attention over to them, but kept at a speedy pace. The woman was very nimble, flexible, and swift on her feet, though that could be ruined if the man she was tugging along was clumsy and slow. No matter what she had no intention of leaving him behind.

Although her attempt to drag him along by brute force was utterly useless since it slipped through easily, Jason followed behind her, keeping low as well. He wasn't the most flexible athlete but average in terms of speed.....however not so quite nimble. Every few seconds a twig would snap under his weight, causing them both to jump. "Sorry." he whispered, not sure if she heard him but feeling the need to apologize anyhow.

Straggling behind Lydia, he kept his head low to the ground, keeping an eye out for sticks and branches so he wouldn't have to keep stepping on them recklessly. He rolled, lunged, crawled and lept on all fours over many obstacles and only hurt himself once when he attempted to leap over a sharp rock that Lydia, so versatile in action, slid over the edge and ever so gently on her feet like she owned the jungle, which resulted hard contact with his crotch.
He drew in a sharp agonizing breath, his two legs thrown over the rock's edges, and froze for a minute. Before slowly tilting over to the left, facial expression and body still frozen and tense, and landed on the mud on his side with a loud THUD.

I think I just died. Oh God HELP ME.

Dodging twigs, leaves, and other things was more like a dance to her than anything as she nimbly darted about with ease. Her expertise in the trapeze definitely made this all too easy for her, though she was royally screwed if brute strength came into play — that was highly unlikely as is. Due to treating it as a dance was why she ended up not noticing that Jason had stumbled behind. After a few steps it struck her that the person she had been attempting to drag along was no longer close to her, causing her to jerk her head around to locate him.

She did a one-eighty spin and noticed that he had collapsed to the ground. Brows furrowed into a perplexing gaze as she analyzed the situation at hand for a few moments, and then it finally hit her what had happened. Immediately a hand shot up to cover her mouth and prevent the high-pitched giggles from escaping her lips, though a few of them came out in soft whispers. Her other hand laid on her stomach and her torso was slightly bent. Though she was well aware the scenario was not meant to be humorous, it was hard to not laugh for her. It wasn’t so much how he got hurt, but because she had forgotten — go figure — that not everyone was as agile as she was, so it was no wonder he got wounded eventually.

Lydia quietly walked over to him and then knelt on the ground with her head cocked to one side. “Are you okay?” she said with a smile.

Auki
09-21-2011, 08:47 PM
Watching someone burn alive was likely to crack any sanity into pieces… Perhaps it was of good fortunate that this world had stolen her peace of mind from the minute she had set foot upon it. No amount of mental distress could prevent her from gagging, heaving up air in sobs of despair and nausea. She hadn’t known the boy… not really… but he had seemed pleasant. Was this what fate had in store for all of them?

“I’m so sorry…” She whispered to his burning wreck, wishing that she could hold him while he suffered. In the depths of her memories, she knew that never before had she longed to be able to touch someone so much. It wasn’t a matter of loneliness but one of empathy. Would she be tortured without a hand to hold? It was not something that she wanted to give much thought to for risk of succumbing to the pity she felt for the boy.

"...We have to get out of here..."

She blinked as she realised that some of the others had caught up to her although the demon birds were nowhere to be found. A few of their companions were also missing – She prayed for their safety – but knew that they had to push forward. The bottom of the cliff was as good a meeting point as any.

Although the fear still nagged her stomach, her advance felt weary. She didn’t run but dragged her feet instead. A small part of her willed the world to take her now instead of clinging to the remnants of her self but, of course, it didn’t grant her wish. If anything, the danger seemed to lessen the more she asked for death. Kicking at a loose stone, she cursed, blinking back the tears in her eyes and choking back the bile.

“Mom?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Can I live with Daddy?”

The words of her child came like a knife wound, yanked and twisted. She tried to keep her tone light-hearted, “Don’t you enjoy living here?”

Her son looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding, “Yup!… But Daddy said he’d buy me a bike if I lived with him and Susie.”

Fresh pain came but she was growing accustomed to it. It was like a punch upon a bruised body; more agonising with each blow and yet numbed by the repetition. She couldn’t bear to look back at his melting carcass, unable to take her eyes off the chalky ground.

Directly at the bottom of the cliff was a field-like clearing, luscious white grass tickling at her kneecaps as she waded forward. To either side, there were massive boulders, blocking the sides in and channelling them forward. It would have been simpler if not for the obstacle before them – A river raging across their path. Although it wasn’t particularly deep, the current looked strong and the winds in her dimension were whipping the water into something fiercer.

Struggling to care but not wanting to give up, she started to look for some way to cross it.

V
09-26-2011, 01:40 PM
Immediately after Howard had spoken the words the smell entered his nose, the cooking, boiling flesh drifting upward. All he could see was the dying glow of one of the others below him. Howard could do nothing for them so all he could was walked past.

Every second step hurt. But standing nearby a corpse wasn't something he could handle.

He fell in beside the woman who they had all followed to begin with, together they reached the bottom of the cliffs and were met with tall grass. His red realm created a field of glowing orange, the tall yellow grass parted as he stepped through. Soon his naked legs began to scratch and itch, Howard could feel them growing red with each passing step. But he continued onward.

A Shallow Rived blocked the way forward, the calm water sparkling to Howard's sight. He bent low at the rivers edge and splashed handfuls of water to his face. Dripping he stared over to the opposite bank, more tall grass grew and land began to rise. It rose high and quickly making a steep incline. He began to wade in to cross the river.

Every second step hurt. But the water soothed.

Howard had hardly taken ten short steps and the water was up to his waist. The woman had not entered beside him. He turned back and she was beside the boulders, "Can you not cross, the water is not deep?" He called uncertainly. It was best they stuck together he knew.

For a few moments, she couldn't reply, staring dumb-struck as he entered the tempest of water with ease. When her words eventually found her, her voice came out meek in the presence of her confusion,
"How...? How are you able to resist such a current...?"

He stood in the river and frowned, "the current?" He whispered to himself looking at the small ripples his movement had made to the calm water.

"There is no current, the water is only still..." Howard replied, his voice was frail and puzzled.

Caitlin blinked awkwardly, wondering if it was some kind of trick. With the boy's recent death, she felt more on edge, looking around nervously as though expecting an ambush. When none came, she looked back at the older man, flinching at the waves that crashed viciously against his thinning legs, "I think we're seeing different things. From where I stand, the river is too dangerous for any of us to cross..."

Howard nodded his agreement, "and for me it is near undisturbed." He began to wade back toward the bank, "perhaps I could help... somehow." He hadn't forgotten how he had gone through several of the others. He was too afraid to go ahead by himself.

SQJ
10-06-2011, 07:12 AM
[QUOTE=Auki]Edgar had taken a wrong turn somewhere, lost his way. Which in itself was odd because they'd left the forest. He'd been caught in another memory while running. The girl without a name was there but now gone a distant nameless memory that filled his heart with love and need. Had he ever felt so desperate over a single person who was so far away from him. There was no way of knowing with all his memories robbed of him but he couldn't help but be certain of the idea that there would be no one else in this world like her and he wanted, no needed her back.

He back tracked off the side path he'd taken and found the footprints of his fellow victims in waiting by the looks of it nothing much had happened at all.
They'd all congregated up above. Which wasn't entirely true. Those weren't all the people he'd woken up next to. He didn't have the best of memories but he was sure his count was right.

He sprinted after them , sliding to a halt in front of a wide patch of dry river bed, the floor of the land dry and coated with a thick layer of dark dust, untouched by even the slightest breeze.
The river bed itself looked smooth and soft as though the very waters which had made it so had only disappeared moments ago. It would have been stunning had he not over heard the female pack leader, as he now called her, comment on how the river in her eyes raged.

Caitlin saw him looking at her, quizzical, and so she called for him to come over. She had no idea of his name nor anything about him – In fact, he had kept in the background so much she might have forgotten him as part of their group had he not caught up to them so swiftly. She had never been the kind of woman to leave someone out… at least, from what she could remember. The soothing effects of conversation in times like these could work wonders in preserving sanity.

“You! Sorry, I’ve forgotten your name but can you see them? The waves crashing around? The older gentleman is trying to convince me the water’s still.”

Edgar looked at Caitlin, not expecting her to be talking to him. It made his chest swell up a little. He smiled. "I never told you my name. It's Edgar. OR at least that is what I think it is. What waves? From water? I don’t see a single drop. There's just dry smooth rock where a river is supposed to be."

“Edgar…” She smiled and almost went to shake his hand, “Wait, what? No water?” She whipped her head towards the raging currents and back, “Oh, hell with this! This world makes no sense.”

At the least, they would have to make the most of it.

“You’ll both need to help the others across then. There must be a branch or something around that we can use to connect us…”

Edgar looked around for something more fitting than a flimsy branch, which could snap and leave the others to die by his hand. That wasn't going to happen. Anything could have worked really, anything such as Tarzan like vines or a high patch of rock for the others to cross over. Technically he could simply cross but he wasn't sure if that was that she wanted. Also there was the fact that although they could not touch each other they could be touched by the same things. What if there really was a raging river on that dry bed. Why did it look so smooth and untouched?

He swore, looking at the dry river bed. There was a drop between the rock, a thick one that could easily fit a human being. Had the other man mentioned a silent river? Would the gap in the water be there for him? Edgar didn't know but he didn't want to be there if the man fell. there'd be nothing and no one to pull him out.

"I think there's a problem with that plan. There's a gap in the river bed. It's jumpable but I'm worried people without dry rivers will fall in it. I should probably go ahead." He said without waiting for much of a reply.

He took a breath and stepped onto the rocky land. A cool chill breeze hit him hard as though a wave of water had washed over his entire form. It made his muscles contract and his teeth chatter. It was as though there actually was a raging river!

But wind was just that wind. Nothing he couldn't survive. He moved on jumping over the gap in the water. The moment his feet left ground the force of the chill raised and threatened to throw him in to the gap. The threat was not an idle one and he was pushed across and pushed down into the gap.

“Jesus!” She couldn’t help but yelp as Edgar disappeared beneath the waves, seemingly undisturbed by their chaotic nature. Sure, he had said there was no water for him but… Did that mean he could breath down there? He had mentioned a break in the river’s bed and that alone was worrying enough.

“Come back! Damn it, where did you go?”

She turned to Howard with a panicked look - “Is he okay?” – but didn’t wait for a reply, staring anxiously at the spot where he’d gone under. To her, it looked impossible to survive such an act and after what had happened to Musho, she had no desire to lose another member of their group.

Edgar's scream dissapeared in the chill. It was far worse in the gap than it had been up on the bed. It was a nightmare that would not let go. He was being dragged away. He reached out and caught a solid form jutting out the rock. It was smoother than the rock and just as hard. he recognised the sensation. It took a moment for thought to attatch to feeling. He was alive and breathing.

A minute passed and his head emerged out of the chill and he stepped out holding a steel pipe just under two meters long on his shoulders. Grinning between heavy breathing trying his damnedest to look impressive.

"Hooorah!" He roared at the sky.

Ru
10-07-2011, 05:47 AM
As his unconscious form laid on the icy atmosphere beneath his bare body Musho’s skin began to crackle and tear beneath the immense heat. In truth, he did not collapse and fall to an immediate death. The severely high temperatures had caused him to collapse and black out, but not to reach that sure point of death quite yet. It wasn’t until the degrees hit an insanely high level of heat that his flesh began to peel. First it appeared to be as if he was sunburned, but that became burnt charcoal within an instant.

During this time he was in that dreamy haze he had been in during his waking hours as he followed his soul mate into the realm of light where all souls are meant to go upon leaving this world. Without any hesitation they scurried towards the warm glow and that was when his body had become completely numb. By the time his skin began to crackle and puss his soul was long gone; he was reunited with his Kisha.

The body left behind continued to heat up and shrivel in a rapid pace until all that was left of the man once known as Musho was a pile of dusty ash.


Lydia’s head jerked back at the sound of something crackling as she watched in utter horror at the raven-haired man’s body decaying under itself. Many unusual things occurred in her life — at least she was sure they happened — but never had she watched someone die by what appeared to be invisible flames. Bile crept up her throat; she could taste it on her taste buds as she quickly covered her mouth with one hand and her stomach with the other. Suddenly she had forgotten Jason was even there.

Without a second thought, she sprinted over to the others by the riverbed before vomit had a chance at slipping passed her lips. The sight before her was shocking, though nowhere near as traumatizing as watching that man’s body puss.

Somehow, the water from the river was rising up into the sky as if the river were raining on the sky in only that area, while the areas not directly above the riverbed were raining normally. In that brief moment of awe, Lydia had taken her hand away from her plump lips. There was a small pause, and then she jerked her body around to puke to the side. It was disgusting and tasted like a mixture of stomach acid and cotton candy. She had managed to stay on her feet, though she was nearly crouching at this point.

During this time she listened to the others discuss amongst each other. The leader woman saw a raging river, one man saw a calm river, and a man who had managed to catch up to them saw a dry riverbed with no water. Lydia straightened herself out and cocked her head to the side. “But… the rain is rising there…” she mumbled.

Lydia stepped closer to the bank of the river, then crouched down beside it. She reached her hand out to touch the rising rain with her mouth slightly open. Turning her hand palm up and then down several times slowly as her curiosity grew. There was more to this than the rain rising from the river, but she did feel something that could resemble the raging river the woman described… But maybe that was her imagination.

NecroNama
10-10-2011, 07:22 PM
As he reached the bottom of the hill he was sliding down, he jumped to his feet to gather where he was. 'Great....nothing has changed....' "You would figure that after a while of running that you would stumble onto something other then cold frosty ground and loud lightning and thunder that YOU CAN'T SEE!" And as if the enviroment was responding to what was said, a loud BOOM could be heard only by his ear. That noise in itself was make him a little more angry over the fact that he was able to hit one of those over sized birds in the head with the rock he had but once it came time for him to actually come into contact with it, he just passed through. The fact that everything that wasn't "nature" he could pick up and mess with someone or something but when it comes to physical contact, he figured he'd have to wait for the creatures to decide when they want to get into that "open" area like that of the rock he had. Waiting for a time to counter act with something that wants you to be its next meal was something that he couldn't stand. He had the sense of being the "alpha" in those types of situations and being the one that controled who and what got hurt or hit, this "wait and see" tactic that he had to go with was one that made his skin crawl for some reason. He didn't fully understand why he had the feeling of being a superior in that area, it was like he was a child again and having to wait in a line outside his parents bedroom with his brothers and sisters to get spankings because they trashed the house when the parents left. He hated that feeling and wanted to get rid of it. "Time to see if they actually drop their guard." As he said that to himself, he turned to see that man he saw on the ground he passed by a few moments ago becoming something like a pie in a oven....baked and cooking. '.....we are really no longer in Kansas anymore.....' "Hey bubba.....you want to play tag?" "Not now...." He paused as his mind clicked, remembering that the voice he just heard was that of the little girl he saw earlier. "Wait...what do you mean 'play tag'?" "You know what I mean....I'm have to chase you and touch you because I'm 'it', and when I touch you, you're it." She closed her eyes tightly giving the biggest smile she could as she held the same teddy bear from earlier tightly to her body. "You gonna play?"
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"Sir, I'm going to say this once...you need to leave before..." Before the man could let out another word Shiruba let a quick swing of his hand catch the man in the throat, causing him to gasp for air as he followed with several hits, kicks and knees to the mans body before he fell over. "....Before I beat the crap out of you?...I'll right that down next time I get the chance." Looking up, he opened the door the large man was guarding to find his 'target' on the other side with several other men and women. "Well....seems like I need to get in on this little action? Am I right?" Mr.Yubimoto stood up with a face that was as white as brand new unused writing paper. "I was just on my way to....." "Yea yea yea...You know how many times I hear that? Even after the first time I heard that it got boring. Unless you were going to say 'I was just on my way out of town' or gonna drop 24 grand on that hand you're playing to get more money for my boss." The entire room didn't move unless Shiruba moved. Even though he was small in stature and didn't have what one would call muscle, he still controled rooms once he walked into them, as if he already owned the place. That was something he learned from the ones he takes orders from. They were the ones that actually controlled the rooms, Shiruba was just there as insurance if something needed to be....done. He began to walk towards Mr. Yubimoto slowly as he popped his neck. "I was ordered to do something very vile to you and your 'friends' that are in this room...." The intinsity in the room sky rocketed, one of the women fainted while everyone else just stood still. "But I have a better idea..." Once next to Mr. Yubimoto, Shiruba grabbed his arm, twisted it causing him to flip onto the poker table he was just sitting at followed by a very loud and quick SNAP-POP-SNAP. "Your arm is broken in two spots and I also dislocated your shoulder." The man screamed as if he was in a opera house while trying not to faint or pass out. The people in the room freaked out and some began to run out of the room before they were cut off by the large man that WAS paid to guard the door. "You....son of a..." "Hey....there are ladies here....watch your mouth." The big man was very upset as the blood vein popped out of his head just to show his anger as his face was already bloody from the quick beating he was given just a minute ago. As Mr. Yubimoto laided on the table holding his arm as best he could, Shiruba turned to the large man and started to make a B-line straight to him. "Round two...."
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"You going to answer me or just stand there as if your a zombie?" The little girl chuckled. Why she had more detail and seemed to be a solid person rather then the misty colored people that walked around next to him was something he couldn't fully understand. "Why do you you want to play with me?" "Cause..." That big smile returned. "Your the master of tag and you said, to be the best you got to beat the best, right?" That caused him to take a few steps back. "Who am I?" He asked the little girl while starting to shake. BOOM. "You are my older brother...." "No no no, not that, WHO AM I?" The smile left her face as she just stood there looking straight into his eyes. "If you don't know that by now then I'm just wasting my time....." The girl started to fade away like a true mist or cloud. Not noticing it at first, but after closer looking, three animals could be seen running in his and the groups direction from where the girl was once standing. He becan to back pedal as he turned to run. What he saw was something more frightining the the two birds that spoke riddles. "GUYS YOU MIGHT WANT TO RUN....BIG TOOTH DOG-CATS ARE COMING ARE WAY!" Shiruba took off in dead sprint, jumping over the dead man that was boiling on the ground and the people around him. Not soon after that, the tattooed man was in the distance. The beasts he was speaking of were coming closer the the dead man's body, not changing their speed or pace as is they were on a mission, on the hunt for a certain prey. Shiruba just ran as fast as he could, not looking back since he figured that either the beasts would either be eatting the ones he passed up or would follow him, so he just ran as fast as he could. Part of him wanted those things to follow him due to the "evil" and "pain" he's been seeing in these little flashes that take him to a time that isn't now, yet he can't feel the basic survival instinct that every person has....the want to stay alive. The want became more of a fantasy with each second that passed, no one was going to survive this place. The man that just died running down that hill and started to boil and burn yet to Shiruba that isn't possible in his enviroment. '.....he was somewhere else yet in the same space as us....what twisted world are we on?...'

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Finally the giant husk of a man fell over, crushing the table he landed on, turning it into tooth picks. Shiruba stood there, bearly, legs were shakey, arms were heavy and face was all battered and brused with cuts, lines of blood covered his face with clothing torn in several places on his body. "....No wonder he was the guard." HE laughed with a mouth full of blood before letting a small amount out with a quick spit. "Owh....Mr.Yubimoto?" The man hadn't hardly moved once his arm was broken and dislocated. "Where is the money you owe my boss?" He asked as he tried to walk in a straight line as best he could, his left knee killing him with each step. Yubimoto pointed as best he could to a back office and weakly said the words "in desk". Shiruba made his way to Yubimoto and with what strength he had left, puched him as hard as he could in the side of the head, knocking the man out. Soon after, he grabbed all the money he could and walked out the building into the car that was still sitting outside. "You look like hell....you should have taken the gun." "No....YOU should have taken the gun...I don't need items like that to show how much of a weakling I am....so keep your toy.....and now drive, I got the money." The car turned onto the street and drove off into the heavy rain that was pelting the street below. He rested his head on the back of his seat and closed his eyes, placing one hand on his left knee. '....damn it....'
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As he continued to run, he could hear the foreign beasts getting closer with each one of their strides. Just running from these things wouldn't get him out of this situation, he had to do other things, like dodge them and run before they could figure anything out, but that would be hard with the ground the way it is. Soon, he heard one of them growl causing him to turn to look to see it just dive at Shiruba's head. Without thinking much, he just laid down into a baseball slide which caused the animal to fly overhead as it swung it's massivly deadly claws in his direction. The other two were a few seconds from bitting the face off the one they were chasing. Back to his feet, he charged at them and waited for the last possible moment as one just dove in his direction, front limps open as if it wanted a hug, it's mouth wide open to show all it deadly teeth and massive amount of saliva it had. Shiruba gave a little jump and placed his foot on the head of the diving beast to soon see the third animal dive aswell. Of all the things to notice at that time was what he felt under his foot, soft fur. 'These things have soft skin? What the deuce?' He just jumped up, causing the third rabbid creature to crash into the second one. As he landed, the two animals became tangled into each other as they rolled into the first one that decided to attack first. On impact to the ground, he felt his left knee shoot with pain but didn't registure it as he began to sprint once more. "Where to go....where?" He just ran.
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"Thank you for your service in gathering the money that Mr.Yubimoto helf from us. You truely have came a long way since your first days." The Oyabun said to Shiruba who could remember the last time he saw the man, the day he cut off his pinky for seeing his dead sisters body removed from the hospital room she was in. That put a sour taste back into his mouth. That was the only reason why he hated his leader, but all he could do was smile, bow, and say "I live to surve you." Which he knew was a lie but it was bought by everyone in the room. "You are to be promoted for your actions of late, you have done good things for us as a inforcer for you lieutenant, now it's time you become one yourself." Shiruba just stayed bowed as he listened to what was being said. "Go clean yourself up and rest for the day, come back tomorrow to get a list of your duties." With that said, he rasied from his bow, said thank you, and left.
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'...think think think think....' He could try to lead them back to the people he ran by earlier but it became fact that the three beasts were afther him and only him since they were back onto his trail once more and gaining quickly. The little tangle he got them into only last a few seconds, but that was enough time to get going back up the hill he slide down after his failed attack on the riddling vulture birds. "The cliff!" It hit him, such a wonderful idea that gave him enough hope to make his feet move faster eventhough his left knee felt like it had nails shoved into it with each step or stride. The darkly massive dogs-beasts caught up with him the moment he got to the ledge of the cliff. '....lets see if I can pull of that move again.' He turned to see the animals slow to a stop as the surrounded and trapped Shiruba by the cliff side. '....come on...move one of you damn it....MOVE!' Once more, that girl image showed on the back of one of the creatures before him, as if it was riding the cursed beast. The girl spoke. "....Find out yet?" The question just went through him as she asked with her big smile. "Have you?" He replied as he tried to get lower causing his knee to feel like glass. She laughed as she faided away. Then it finally hit him, that girl....was the image of the girl that was taken out of the one room dead, his sister, but why was she with the demonic creatures? Was he being played with? He dropped his guard, once the animals noticed that he was no longer paying attention to them, they dove. It looked as if he was frozen in place, then he moved, ducking down, the first beast missed but scrached his back very deeply, peeling a good portion of his back skin off with some of his muscle forcing him to stand up in reaction letting out a yelling scream of pain as it flew off the cliff. The second beast just rammed into the peice of meat that screamed, sinking its fangs into his ribs and all at once, his skin began to fall off in that area and decay with his insides showing, guts and all, blood catching fire forcing more blood-letting screaming shot out of his mouth. Finally the third creature charged with a diving tackle to lach onto the man that was now on fire and bleeding massivly. With what little strength he had left and with the momentum he got from the third hell hounded animal, he grabbed the two beasts that were attached to him now and fell off the cliff.....still screaming from the pain he was receiving. As he fell to his death with the two deadly things attached to him, scrapping their claws into his flesh and biting chuncks off his body, he hoped they would die once they hit the bottom of the cliff so they wouldn't take another person as a meal. "BUBBA NO!!!!" He saw the girl he figured to be his sister up above him, tears in her eyes as she let her bear fall to the ground after Shiruba. As he made his way closer to the ground, she began to fade away but slower. The feeling of having failed her swarmed his body and caused him more pain the what the two creatures were doing to him. Suddenly, the two creatures flew off him as if they hit the ground first, but why was he still falling. All he could see was dark with a hint of flames followed by a deep dark demonic laugh then a heavy satanic voice, "Welcome to your knew home...."

The three beasts staggered around from the fall, maybe they broke a few bones, who could tell. Once they got onto their feet again, they were off in dead run, looking for their next kill as their latest victum laid at the base of the cliff floor on fire, dead flesh, smashed on impact and torn to ribbions....a shattered body of a shattered man.

-end-

The Shadow
10-10-2011, 10:13 PM
Christopher turned on his heels and ran. Ran as fast as he could from the… things. He had to try and balance himself to stop him from falling as he sprinted as fast as he could down the narrow path which was the only visible way down the cliff. Christopher wasn’t a fast runner, he never had been, but at this one moment he ran faster than he ever had in his life, He was already halfway down the cliff when he heard it

A scream. One of sheer pain and terror that made his head snap to attention. He watched as one of the people who had been there when he woke up was hurtling off the cliff to his demise on the ground below. He almost puked when he heard the crunch as his body hit the ground, and how were the hounds still alive…even uninjured?. It took him a few seconds to realise that the dogs didn’t have the see-through look that the others had, they looked…real. He ran again, this time not caring to steady himself as he stumbled and fell time and time again until he reached the bottom of the cliff and he felt long grass bushing against his legs. He stopped and looked up, he saw Howard and another woman standing beside a river which was rushing too fast for anyone to possibly cross unless they took each step very carefully...but somehow Howard was crossing with ease.

He looked behind him for a brief second only to see that the hounds had almost caught up with him though there was no sign of the third. He called out to Howard and the other woman as he ran,

“Help! Help me! Please!”

He reached the edge of the river as a set of razor sharp teeth was buried into the back of his neck, tearing the flesh but not quite reaching the bone as another set of gnarling jaws grabbed onto his arm, pulling him into the fast flowing river. He would have been swept away if it had not been for his instinctive groping for the edge with his one free arm which had just enough grip to keep him from being swept away He screamed in pain as the hound at his neck was swept away by the current, soon followed by the one attached to his arm.

After a painful minute or so, he managed to pull himself back onto the side of the river. He was cried freely as he clutched the shredded remains of his arm as he stood up and faced the woman who was with Howard with a pleading look in his eye, as if he expected her to help him. He was so engrossed in looking for help that he didn’t hear the panting of the large hound as it neared him. Nor did he hear the padding of it’s paws as they left the ground. He didn’t even have time to scream when his throat was clutched by the beast and he was hurtled into the water and swept away, never to be seen again.

kagomri
10-17-2011, 09:27 PM
Jason lay there in the mud for a few more minutes after Lydia got up and left. He didn't feel like moving an inch. It wasn't until he heard an awful retch followed by some coughing that he started to get up. He struggled to balance his weight between his two shifting feet, not to mention the pain also in his groin, although surprisingly, it was fading fast. One slow step at a time, he made his way towards a pale ghostly Lydia, who looked paler than ever. Her gaze was on a rotten carcass that seemed to burn though no fire emitted. It was like watching a piece of wood blacken and wither into ash before vanishing completely.

Impossible. he thought. And wrenched his gaze away from the horrible figure. An unpleasant inconspicuous scent in the ambiance that he failed to notice before now seemed strongly evident. The filthy smell of rotting flesh or possibly spoiled meat suddenly filled his lungs, and Jason quickly turned away and bent his head, swallowing an abundant amount of bile. It tasted sour and burned his esophagus until his body went numb with distaste.

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Eventually Jason trampled along a wide, exposed dirt path, not caring whether he would be seen or not. He didn't feel much like living or feeling anything at this dire point. The dirt path lead straight to a river, clear as air, glassy and extremely cold. But it was a small river, no, not even--just a thin wild stream in the middle of nowhere. Staring right down at it in awe, he saw the little pebbles and rocks, smooth from the water running over its surface. And suddenly it was the most beautiful miracle he's seen in while. Who would have thought, that through his experience in the cursed forest there would have been something so splendid to see, something he has taken for granted.

In one quick motion, his arms spread wide, his fingers pressed side by side tightly and then they cut through the surface, creating disruptive ripples before resurfacing, a handful of water. It drove straight to his mouth. The sudden richness, the wet tasteless substance never felt so good against his throat, his skin. Jason was set on drinking until satisfaction.

He reached out his arms again, but this time not nearly as urgent, and then stopped. Right down the path, a few meters away to his right, a familiar blonde and redhead along with a elderly man stood on the opposite side of the river. They watched in horror as a young man splashed helplessly in the water, reaching desperately for the shore with one arm.

Caitlin was crying, shaking. She had tried her best! She had! What could she have done more to help? Even as she'd extended her hand, the apparition of a hound had charged past. Had she acted faster, would he have been okay? No. She had to remind herself - No matter what, her hand would have simply gone through his ghostly flesh. The remainder of the group was still around her but she couldn't bring herself to look at them.

Clutching her throat, she managed to stop herself vomiting. She turned and stepped away, trying to avoid the memory of his agonised face flashing across her vision. It was only a few paces before she had to flinch back, almost colliding with one of the boys. Blonde; youthful face.

"I..." She went to speak but the words died off as her throat seemed to spasm, choking her of speech for a few seconds whilst her body sobbed in shock.

"Don't fall into the river," Jessie warned, his voice dying off as she steadied herself. It was then he got a good look at her red tear-stained face. He knew that he was never good with treating emotional pain, so he just watched, just watched and listened to her cry. Finally, he couldn't take it to hear her sobs any longer, so he snatched a leaf from the nearest tree, and cupped it in his hands. Then dunking it into the river he handed the handful of water to the poor, distressed Caitlin. His arms gently extended out across the small calm stream of water, but the reaction he got from her was not one he had expected. It was a look of astonishment.

All she could think about was how this world must hate her. Another one able to touch the seemingly rough waters? Was this its hint that it didn’t want her to cross? That she was next to die? Carefully wiping her eyes, she smiled at the boy and silenced the thoughts. Her hands went through his and lifted, taking the leaf and the water from his grasp; gratefully, she sipped. It hadn’t occurred to her that she might be thirsty. Amongst the fear, her basic instincts for survival were suppressed. The staling taste of bile was washed away and her throat was freshened, a small pleasure in these times.

“Thank you…” Her voice seemed so weak compared to how it was just a few moments ago, “I’m sorry; I just… I feel like someone – whoever is behind this- is enjoying it…” The leaf fell from her trembling hands, “Did I ever get your name? I can’t remember…”

"Um, Jason." he replied. Then added, " Caitlin right?" as he rubbed his throbbing temples. Something was coming back, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. Something to do with .....a fork? Subconsciously, he spoke the next words with careful caution, as if it sputtered through his lips without advanced preparation.

"I don't....I mean....why....?"

Blood filled his cheeks, giving him a red glow as if he were caught red-handed in the street in his boxers. A flash of a beautiful girl's mischievous however, still equally playful smile flashed in his head, and at that moment his breath caught in familiar shock, and his heart skipped double its natural rhythmic beat.

Oblivious to the change, Caitlin answered, “He sends these beasts after us…” Her hand absently waved towards where the canine monsters had been washed away. The poor boy’s corpse that they’d taken with them was long gone now. “We are so helpless in comparison. We can’t even comfort one another… not really. It like the devil himself is tormenting us.”

Her smile was strained, “I’m sure we’ll be fine though as long as we keep moving. We just need to head towards the exit. Stay as a team.”

Jason nodded in blank comprehension; the words were reaching his ears, but his brain weren't quite functioning them. And again, his body slumped forward as it always did when he had a flashback, his head swooned forward like a reader sitting on his bed reading his book in the middle of the night just as his consciousness was slipping away. The whites of his eyes exposed, his vision plunged deep into a long lost memory.

"I...didn't bring any money though." He said, sitting in front of an empty plate. He knew what her reply would be, "I did, and so I'll pay for you." but instead she giggled and admitted sheepishly,

"And neither do I."

A waitress came, holding one big platter heaping full of juicy medium-rare meats, and two smaller plates, one for each diner. She set them down and left without a word. It seemed a bit rude, so Sarah compensated.

"Bon Appetite!" She lifted her fork, and knife and helped herself to a piece which she brought to her own glass plate.
Jason didn't know what to say. He did, actually, but just wasn't sure where to start. Finally after a moment of hesitation he stood up and grabbed his jacket.

"I have to go." he said, vaguely, back to the table, half hoping she wouldn't take the impact of his words so badly and half hoping the exact opposite. He didn't want to leave, but she was being unreasonable and he wasn't willing to get in trouble again. There was an ambrosial aroma of freshly cooked, steaming meat coming from the table. His mouth watered. When he turned around to say something final and dismissive to Sarah, the moment he opened his mouth his tongue was met by a juicy, tender texture and a a hard metal stuck in the middle of it. His gaze dropped down to the other end of the fork that she was holding, but slowly she dropped her grip on it, letting it hang in his mouth. Her expression had the pinpoint definition of a pokerface. The corners of her lips twitched upwards once, and that gave way for him to realize that she was suppressing a smirk. A smug one too.

It just wasn't time to leave yet.

Concerned as Caitlin was, she felt instant relief when the boy returned to normal. His stance had been… creepy. In this world, she was wary of everything – Nothing was concrete. Everything was different. The rules had been warped and mercy was forgotten. Even as his head dipped forward, she had felt herself stumbling a few paces away; anxious for his welfare but cautious all the same. They often said danger brought out the worst in people, that hunter instinct of survival. She had never expected herself to be so suspicious of a boy, just for slumping his shoulders.

As he became aware of the world again, she gave a gentle smile, “I think we all need to think about crossing the river. You can just walk across, can’t you?” Caitlin didn’t want to be stuck in one place for too long, not if the youths were going to start dazing out on her. Keep their minds active and they were less likely to die…hopefully.

"W-walk across....me? Yes, I can walk across that little stream over there." he said, slowly returning to reality, the surreal sensation fading away. He shook the rest of it off as if some of its shining glitter could be shaken off. "Can't you? It's so small. If you're afraid of tripping or falling its no problem, I think I can probably catch you."
He didn't want, in any way, to be offensive to this woman but it seems that even a tiny toddler wouldn't have too much trouble crossing such a small river. Perhaps she saw it differently? He thought.

"What does it look like to you Caitlin? Because it's just a small stream of clear pure water to me I guess," he said standing up to raveling from his posture.

“Oh, of course…” She realised he hadn’t been present for the conversation between her and Howard. If he spoke the truth, that the water was little more than a brook to him, then she must have looked the fool. “It seems the river is appearing different to everyone. Mine…” She smiled a little sadly, “…is the most aggressive. Don’t worry; the men have been trying to work something out for me.”

SQJ
10-18-2011, 11:53 AM
Panic. Blind clear, overwhelming panic hit him hard, stopping his heart and freezing his blood. For a moment there was nothing alive driving his muscles. The slightest of breezes could have knocked him over at that point. He watched as the hapless boy was washed away. When the bird creatures had come, he'd been scared but he'd been able to move, react. These beasts were on a whole other point of frightening. He wanted to run, NEEDED to run but his legs would not allow it. Fear and a hallucination of being ripped apart gripped him tight, rooting him in place even after the animals had been washed away by waters he himself could not see. It looked as though they were being dragged by the wind but he was too suspicious to think that would be the last time they saw those hounds. All his life he'd been scared of the dogs, seeing them in his nightmares and hearing their barks and growls even when he was completely alone. It wasn't an irrational fear any more. It was too bad it didn't help ease a thing.
The cool grip on of the long pole in his hands drew him out of his trance state and his fingers twitched. His every breath deepened just a little more and thought returned to him. "What the hell just happened, what the hell just happened!" where the first things to escape his lips when they were moveable again. Control over his body had returned but none had returned over his panic.
"If I could get everyone's fucking attention! We need to get away from here! right fucking now people!" He yelled, not caring if any other creature in the area could hear them, so long as they weren't those hounds. The sensation to move and move far filled him up completely. Once again the thought of running away hit him. He could, he knew he could run. The bank was clear for him. He had a weapon where they had nothing. He had seem himself running with the girl in his flash and he knew he could run away with enough effort. But that same flash was the reason he was still there egging the others on to move. That girl would have been ashamed if she knew what he'd doneif he'd made it. He'd never be able to look her in the eye. He turned to the other man who could see calm water. "Hey you! you said the water was calm by you so here. Try grabbing the pole by my hands. You should be able to touch and grab the pole right over my hands."
He remembered the weird sensation he'd gotten when Caitlin had passed right through him and cringed at the thought of having it happen to him again but knew it was the best plan. It would be like there were a superman pulling on the single end if all those who could cross the waters could held his end.

Ru
10-20-2011, 08:32 AM
The world was incomprehensible. Events flashed before her very eyes that her mind refused to register as reality as one after another companions were swept away in the most gruesome of manners. Lydia dropped down to her knees as complete shock swept over every part of her expression. Hands lay on her thighs with palms upright and her head turned in the direction the current had—somehow—swept the young man away. All of her water was rising… how did it take him away?

Instinctively she had reached her hand out towards him as if she was able to prevent his demise, though the rest of her body had remained in place. Now she sat with both hands in her lap and a trembling torso with quivering lips to match. “No…” came a barely audible murmur.

“Run, Lydia! Go!”

“I… I can’t… I can’t just leave! No. Why should I leave? I shouldn’t leave. Should I?” the young woman paused, trembling in her ballet shoes. “No… I… I can’t leave you.”

“You have to, Lydia, or else you will die here.” The older, blond male pushed harshly at the dainty blonde’s back urgently. “Go. Now.” Never in her life had he pushed her nor attempted to force her to do anything against her will, yet here he was forcing to go far away.

“I can’t leave you!” she cried. “Don’t make me go! Please!”

“Don’t make me go…” she mumbled. Her light eyes became hazy as she rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped around each other.

Blood shot out onto her face. The crimson liquid dripped delicately down her cheeks, trickling to her collar bone. With a dropped jaw she gazed upon the malicious man in fear and disbelief. “How could you…? Why…?” the white dress with blue frills and lace had spots of red that didn’t belong.

The man smirked and then sneered. In a snobbish manner he rose his nose in the air, bringing his blade to his thin lips. “If ya had agreed, miss… If ya had agreed they’d still be a’right, they would be.”

She reached her hand out towards the body of her companion as if the murderer was no longer in the room. Fingertips reached cold skin that once held so much life and so much promise. They ran through his blond locks that perfectly matched her own as she leaned her face in closer to his. Large eyes welled up with tears that began to slip into the blood still wet on her cheeks. “Wake up… Please wake up…”

Lydia scooted her bottom closer to him, causing dirt to smudge that portion of her dress, and then she laid down on her side so she could still face his lifeless form. Her palms pressed against his cheeks as a soft whimper escaped her shaking lips, “Please… Tell me you told me so…” the more silence she received the more distraught her features became. It became impossible to see through the river of years.

She pressed her forehead against his, never once letting go of his face. Her body began to heave as it attempted to breathe, however it was having a terrible time obtaining any air. “Come back…” another whimper. “Say something… anything… Please?” Lydia’s knees crept up to her chest; her eyes closed. “Kiri… please….” she gulped.

Her knees leaned against his chest and no drumbeat was felt on them. Altogether she stopped breathing and stared. He was gone. Lydia’s features softened and she began to sob, no longer caring what was going on with the rest of the world.

Lydia sat there shaking, barely hearing a word anyone else was saying. Eventually she planned on crossing the river, eventually.

V
10-20-2011, 10:53 AM
“Help! Help me! Please!”

Someone screamed, Howard turned witnessing one of the other people being torn about. He cringed and made forth splashing but he was much to late. As the man's body caught the currents he caught a glimpse of the young man who he'd first spoken to.

~~

He lifted the child from the crib, a smile lighting up his face. Hugging his son close to his body he walked to the edge of the room. Sunlight from the rising sun hit his eyes and he turned toward the kitchen-

“Howard, remember me?” Whispered a voice, hardened by time into something near savage.-

His hands fumbled with the keys, he was late. Terribly late, his hand was shaking slamming the door shut. His boy was sitting on the top stair with his backpack beside him. He mumbled a hello as Howard came up.

Howard slumped down beside him,"sorry."-

"I hate you"-

His hands were cold as we came to, they looked white. Everything looked white. He rubbed his eyes glancing around the hospital room. He caught the worried look of his son, "She's dead Joel."

"I know." He sobbed.

Silence returned-

"Just play you're cards Howard," barked one of his friends.

Howard peered at his hand once more and with a shrug flicked them over. He turned in his chair once more. She was sitting with one of her girlfriends laughing.

"Just skip over him, no use attempting when he's like this."-

"We caught one of the rock throwers, old man." Said the youth, Howard didn't reply immediately so the boy shuffled from foot to foot. "Was one of them Butcher boys from down the road."

"Thought it might be," grunted Howard.

"Mr Rider is there anything else I can help with?"

Howard through for a moment, dark words on his lips. He shook his head and stared away. A minute later he heard the front door open.-

"How did you get this number?" She demanded through the line, he winced.

"I just wanted to call, check up with things-

"I know what the date is Howard. I try not to think of it, this doesn't help. Don't call me."-

It was a long walk, one he took with care. There was no one around to watch him, the hall was quiet and he could hear his breathing. There were rooms to either side but he didn't touch them.

His bare feat touched the cold flooring with light steps. The corridor smelt of death and his eyes couldn't look to the sides. His fingers trembled, his bones ached. Each second step hurt and there was no relief in sight. Every step brought a fresh wave of dread, cowardice was on the rise and the way back to comfort was easy to follow.

But he was there now. He was there.

His hands shook, his eyes watered, his mouth dried, his sense of hearing was lost. And all he could smell was death.

He was afraid. So afraid to open the door. They said he shouldn't do it. But. He was there. His fingers caught the cold handle and stole his breath. He croaked and wheezed out a breath and sobbed and pushed the door open.

From there came the beeping, the closed curtains, his own hard breathing, the tears. And the young man whose chest rose and fell on the bed before him.

That was his son, Joel, who was dying.

~~

Unrelenting, the images were coarse to his mind, the fragmented memories tearing him apart. Howard splashed after the young man, his feet taking him forward. Each step was a cruel motion full of rage. He'd only gone a few steps before he fell.

Half drowned he rose staring into the direction of the river, the other man long gone from sight. Numb, he just watched from his calm water. Cried and watched.

Auki
10-26-2011, 09:46 AM
Silently, Caitlin watched their group fall apart, emotions torn. There was still that bite to keep moving but, for now, she felt nothing but apathy towards it. No fear – It was a welcome relief, no matter how surreal, but she knew it was temporary. The terror would soon return to gnaw at her gut lest they move forward… ever forward. She took hold of the pole in Edgar’s hands and together, with anyone that offered their help, they fought against the current. The way the water smashed against her legs, she was sure her skin would bruise; her joints ached, her muscles protested the pain.

As she laboured through the agony of her flesh with every step upon the bank, she realised there was nothing she could say to lighten the situation. No words would comfort them now unless they came from the lips of a saviour.

He held her hand and that itself was all she needed. The simple warmth of skin on hers, the pressure of a grip so firm yet gentle. It could have been imagination but she swore she could feel his pulse in his fingers, thumping so rapidly she wondered how he could keep such a calm façade. He was broken, like her, but he did not show it. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her mascara had turned to blackened circles beneath her eyes, and her lips trembled with the aftermath of sobs, the unwillingness to let go of her utter despair. She mourned for their child and she did so for the both of them. Gone, so easily, before it had even had a chance to live. Two months, three weeks and one day. Those numbers would never leave her mind, even should she want them to.

Her legs felt heavy, still recovering from their battering.

“You’ve let yourself go, Cat.”
She laughed at her husband’s words until she didn’t hear him chuckling with her. With hesitation, she looked up towards him and found him staring solemnly back at her. He wasn’t joking she realised.
“Well… I… I only had Eva a month ago. My body needs to rest before I can get it back into shape…”
“You said that just after you had James; you never did.”

There was an awkward silence before he conceded, “I guess it’s not a problem…”
The shame welling up inside her was suppressed slightly as she sighed in relief, “Really?”
He grunted, nothing more. Whether it was meant as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, she couldn’t tell.

With a dull patience, she waited for the rest of the people to drag themselves from their misery; at least to the point where they were willing to keep moving, to keep traipsing forth like the fear told them to. As the grass set into an incline, she felt her calves burn fiercer, but she couldn’t give in to her weakness. As long as they weren’t still, they had a chance. To give up would not do them any favours; it would just condemn them.

The world seemed to have forgotten about them for now anyway. They trekked for what seemed like hours, across fields and stone, undisturbed by fiends or monsters. Before long, they were halfway to the exit. She offered encouragement when they fell, unable to help them up, but weariness was an unavoidable foe. As they entered a forest clearing, hunger attacked the stomachs of them all, biting at their innards. She grunted in pain, falling to her knees, “Damn it…” It seemed as though, without food, she would not last long.

Looking up, she realised it was yet another test. Around the forest floor, cushioned against the tree trunks, there were three bushes. On one, there was red berries, on another there were blue and on the last, there were white fruit, juicy and round.

A sign hung from a branch, red splattered upon it to spell out the words ‘Choose Wisely’.
Beneath it, pinned to the trunk with stakes the size of daggers, was Andrew. Blood ran in cascades from his wounds, scratches and pecks that covered the entire surface of his corpse. From his mouth and nose spewed pus of a sickening yellow; the odour was enough to sting her eyes. Clasped in his left hand was a white fruit, identical to the ones of the third bush. The marks of a bite could be seen on its icy surface. The scene, in all its macabre, was enough to bring the fear rushing back.

V
10-29-2011, 02:28 AM
Howard couldn't remember the crossing, he was sure he'd helped Caitlin but the memories just weren't there. All that remained were the images of a forgotten lifetime and the deaths of those around him. He felt battered, he felt older, more tired. He felt beaten.

And he didn't feel at all. Howard didn't care.

The yellow grass scratched his naked legs, sticking with the water. He didn't look down, he didn't want to see the red marks growing. Howard was slow to walk up the incline, by the time he reached the top he was heavy with sweat. His legs roared with pain. His back bent harshly. He felt like he was to vomit.

After the grassy slope they came across fields, the stone they walked an odd comfort. The surface underneath Howard's feet felt hard and strong – unbreakable. But it did no good for Howard, he just wanted to give up.

As they wore on and got closer to their goal, the exit, Howard's steps became slower and slower. A rash had spread his legs, every few minutes he scratched it for a few moments reprieve. The water, the flights, the falls, the running, all of it had worked away sapping him of energy and all he wanted was to fall down. To lay until death.

Howard kept walking, but he didn't know why.

A new wave hit him, a raging hunger, so fierce, so strong he fell. His body crunched against the forest earth. He muttered a groan and rolled onto his back. He stared upward clutching his stomach.

~

“I've seen you about, our eyes have touched one another so many times,” her voice was soft, breathless, sweet. It filled his heart and took his mind away making him incapable of thoughts. She continued, “yet, you don't say a word to me.” Fingers touched his chest, keeping him in place. So he wouldn't flee like the last time.

He opened his mouth, gulped, and no words came.

She let out a breath, her fingers slipped free from his chest, she turned away. He saw sadness in her eyes.

Hastily, he reached out. It was a clumsy paw that shook, his nerves taking control for a moment. “Wait,” he said without confidence taking her hand. She turned back to him, he said again, “wait.”

“I don't know what to say, every time I see you, words just disappear, I want to say something, anything. Something so you'd smile, or laugh but instead all I can do is stare.” His words faltered, he dropped her hand and turned away. “I just don't know what to do.”

~

Howard grunted as he stood, he saw the sign, saw one of the others dead. Saw the fruit. He paused.

Howard spoke, “I'd like to try one first, I don't know how much longer I can go on. If I can help save some of you I would like to try. It may be all for nothing, each may be different to us all, like the river.

“My world is red, I'd like to try the red one.” For once since awaking he didn't feel the fear rising.

SQJ
11-01-2011, 04:11 AM
The water crossing had been hard for him. Throughout the entire river crossing spasms had torn at his muscles, creating a wall of ripping pain that ran down his tendons and biceps, throbbing constantly but after an hour out of the river bed the exact same level of throbbing was still there, nothing had changed. He still held the steel staff but it was hard to keep hold of it.
It slipped from his fingers and he turned back and picked it up. It didn't make sense, he'd been pulling as hard as everyone else and yet everything hurt. Every step was an act of cruel and unusual punishment upon his feet.
Hours passed with the most coming out of him in terms of sound being the continuous scrapping that his steel staff made pulling across the ground.
The damn thing scrapped on his brain but still he would not let it go. Those dogs were somewhere, most likely sniffing them out at that very moment. He could hear them growling in his head, he could see their ghostly figures passing in the open planes, kicking up massive tufts of grass and soil with each step they took, growing continuously the closer they got to him.

-----

"You push through the pain, always. Most especially when you're running babe. Otherwise you never get better, or become stronger." He said looking at his girlfriend.
She smiled at him and shook her head, there was so much sweat beading on her face that her hair stuck to it making her look like she'd just broken out of a post apocalyptic mental asylum and yet, she was more beautiful looking deranged than she was in her best dress. There was this sense of complete and utter honesty to her expression that made his heart soar. Six months had passed since she first attacked his headphones and now there was nothing else in his life. She encompassed all of it. "No pain no gain." He added with a grin.
But at the same moment his grin faltered while her smile disappeared completely and a look of fear filled her face. "I can't, I can't breath." She gasped.
He stopped jogging on the spot, her gasps got shorter and shorter every time. She started choking and gaping so much harder, dropping to her knees. Ed couldn't breathe either, her eyes shot up to his and she froze in a stare. He lifted her up in his arms and started running, there was a hospital four blocks back.

===

Tears started streaming down Edgar's eyes without a sound coming from him. He had no idea what happened after. That same panic hit him that had hit him in that distant memory. The group stopped, Edgar was struck by the severe pain of hunger, the sensation was brutal and struck without mercy. Pangs struck him over and over again without a moment of hesitation.

kagomri
11-02-2011, 10:20 PM
Before Jason could grab hold of Edgar's pole, Edgar slowly tredged through the small clear river as if it were the utmost aching experience he's ever encountered. Somehow, although his feet were making advancing, it was lying on the brink of mediocre significant progress and....a facade. As if he were watching in a dream, where time and movement somehow clashed together, stretching reality a tad too thin, but making sure you still bought the picture. That it still made a kind of bizarre sense. It was surreal, watching him make his way across and the way Edgar panted and tensed was like trying to break free from the wrath of a deadly Anaconda--agonizing to view.

Finally, the man collapsed at Jason's feet. Without hesitation, Jason bent down to retrieve his pole and help him up but his fingers slid through Edgar's misty body.

It might be best to get him some food.

Nearby there sat three bushes, plentiful in exotic looking berries, red blue and white, all which were plump until the skin was stretched tight....and there, right beside them lay a crucified man...one Jason immediately recognized from before, when they all first awoke. Andrew. Suddenly very pale, Jason was struck with the smell of sour flesh, as if a deadly acid ate away at his body, obliterating it.

Auki
11-08-2011, 10:07 PM
The feeling of nausea unfortunately did not drown her stabbing hunger. Her ability to choose was dulled at this stage, led astray by feelings of confusion, fear and despair. Her stomach growled and screeched with pain, shrivelling upon itself in a way that made her double over, agonised. When the party broke apart to grope at the bushes’ fruits, she followed the largest of the groups. There was no logic to the decision but it led her to food and that was all her hunger would allow her to think about at that point.

Happiness…that was all there was. Between him and their first child, nothing could have been more perfect. Even her guilt could not bring her down that day.

Red berries. The exact colour that cascaded down Andrew’s torso. She took a couple within her trembling hands and forced them between her lips before she could think too long on their nature. Their taste was sweet, sickeningly so, but the moment its juice ran down her throat, her hunger felt sated.

They had their fill but as she looked up she noticed… The sign around the corpse’s neck had changed. The words were still emblazoned in the stark of crimson but now they read different;

‘One will survive’

V
11-09-2011, 12:11 PM
They had a biting taste, so sweet Howard's face cringed as he tasted the red berries. A line of juice rolled out of his mouth, he wiped it away trying to swallow his mouthful. The hunger drew him onward, forcing him to eat berry after berry. When he was done and hit stomach no longer in agony the taste still remained, it as like nothing he'd eaten before. It wasn't something that he'd want to eat ever again either.

Howard walked away trying to not watch the others eat. If it was true some of them would die soon, perhaps him. He hoped it was him, he didn't want to see more death, he didn't want to end up alone again.

Red for a red world, red for blood. Howard only hoped for his own.

The shadows began to move, he saw, watching around him, slowly shuddering and moving, he watched them, he watched his own, they were dancing to an unknown song. Howard swayed slowly as a gust suddenly picked up around.

“A dream is not reality and neither are your memories.”

He shivered at the voice, hugging himself tight and waited for the others.

Ru
11-12-2011, 11:51 PM
Lydia eagerly gobbled down the red berries one by one like a gluttonous child in a candy store. Their sweet nectar tantalizing her taste buds as the juices rolled down her delicate throat. Feminine features contorted into a childish smile as if completely unaware of what had occurred and what inevitably will be. It wasn’t until the shadows began to dance around her—shuddering like a flickering, dying light—that concern overtook her crimson-stained grin, replacing it with a concerned pout.

The remaining berries in her hands fell from her fingertips, trailed down her mud drenched stomach, and onto the ground beneath her toes. She brought her palms close to her breasts as she curiously watched the shadows swirl about. Momentarily she forgot others were nearby, or even existent, while she stared intently at the dark figures dancing so unnaturally.

“You know this place,” came a whisper embedded in the faint breeze passing by her ear. “You know its name, but not its face.” Then all was silent.

After a few moments past she recalled where she was and who she was with, and then focused her attention on the rest of the group. “Did anyone else hear that…?” the young woman’s sentence trailed off. The scene before her finally hit her in a full uppercut swing when her eyes locked onto the corpse. Prior to this she had been too hungry to care and merely followed what her companions had been doing: eating berries. Noting the color of the berries in his hand, Lydia was relieved she had chosen her favorite color.

However, this was not enough to reassure her that she was going to remain. What if the red berries were deadly as well?

A large gulp went down her throat and her head hung low.

SQJ
11-15-2011, 07:16 AM
For the second time in a day, Edgar found himself floored and dazed, the only difference between the two moments being that this time he knew his name. The ripping pang off hunger was what he cold imaigethe sensation of having butterflies in ones stomach suddenly morphing into chainsaws, pulling severly at his insides.

His fingers dug into the soil and clenched hard forcing earth to sand against his skin, countering the severity of the pian of his stomach. He could hear chewing see poeple moving aroud him, then the chill of hands passing through him, looking up he saw it was Jason.
"Dont touch me!" He all but screamed at him his forehead pressed against the ground. He could hear the sound of branches being picked clean, then chewing.

Desperate he rose up to his knees and made the the bush nearest to him. Berries, white as teeth and as juicy as the foods one would see on a TV but never in reality. He was chewing by the time read the signs but didn't stop with everything around him eating became a pleasure despite the taste o the food itself. This was the most sour thing he had ever had. The taste itself made the muscles in his face contract and hs eyes shut but no cry or complaint came out only the smacking of his lips as he sucked on his own syliva to neutralise the taste. He spat when it became too much but otherwise kept eating, clearng a single branch to netralize the pain inside of him which passed.

By he looks of it, he was the lucky one. Death would not take him so quickly.

Auki
11-17-2011, 11:53 AM
He was beaten, bruised, and tired. Each step dragged across the blackened rock beneath his feet, kicking up dust that turned to white the minute it hit the air. Each particle seemed to glint in the burning sunlight but he could not appreciate their beauty. Every inch of his skin burned with the heat of the goddamned cavern. It took all his effort just to keep walking towards the dark-iron gates a few metres before him.

Memories hit at his mind with increasing intensity the closer he drew, most of which he didn’t have the energy to understand.

Richard…

The name whispered through the deepest of his thoughts. He recognised her voice. He recognised the name. He found peace enough in the familiarity that he was able to keep moving towards his destination.

Cold against his hands, the doors were a relief against the sun’s torment. He pushed upon them without a moment’s delay. He had made it, seemingly before anyone else. Escape was no longer a hope, but a reality.

The gates creaked open slowly.
The only sound to meet his ears were

screams.

Auki
11-18-2011, 09:32 PM
Despite her worries about the fruit and the sudden nature of her hunger, when she finally looked up, she found that no one had died from their meal…at least, not yet. It could be conceived as too good to be true but she was not one to question good fortune, not when it had been so rare these past few hours. Stumbling to her feet, she felt sated, waiting impatiently for the others to finish their meals. The scene made her feel dizzy from nausea but, for some reason, there was no scent to the air. Perhaps a blessing but she wished they could remove the corpse from sight as well.

A part of her wanted to cry for his death, to mourn the loss of another being so close by. A smaller, shier part of her felt a sickeningly blissful rush as thoughts of survival kicked in. For every person dead, she had more chance of making it to freedom. It was a horrible thought – a terrible one – but she couldn’t ignore it. Whispers in the back of her mind justified it as human nature.

After a few minutes of waiting, the shadows began to… shiver. There was no other way she could describe it, trembling against the corners of her eyes. She blinked – twice – but they did not halt their dance.

What was happening to her?

“The crows have spoken, the end is nigh,
In just one hour, you will die.”

A sharp gust blew, carrying the words upon it. Her imagination brought forth images of the two monster birds before in association but she tried to keep thoughts that they might be nearby out of mind. The very message of the wind was disturbing enough. An hour? It seemed like such a short amount of time. When it said ‘you’, did it mean the whole group… or just me?

She didn’t have time to ponder the thought. The urge to keep running, the fear inside, became frenzied. It was like her body wouldn’t allow her to stop not matter what her mind was thinking. Even as she looked around, she knew it had taken hold of everyone. There was no time for hesitation; her legs were already taking her forth. Andrew was left behind to his fate as the grass and trees soon turned to desert.

It was a daunting prospect - the sand tried to swallow each footstep – but the other side was clearly in sight. The cave wall that housed the exit was also looming ever closer. Hope felt so good against the fear that controlled her legs.

She felt like they would make it – the berries were nothing more than a reward! –

And then, the sand started to move.

At first, it just bulged and collapsed, like bubbles bursting upon water. After a while of them trekking, it began to take on shapes however. When she finally took notice of it, there was little time for her to react. It was only the instincts that came with adrenaline that saved her life as the sand (taking on a shape that could only resemble a coyote) leapt from the ground with jaws ready to crush her neck. She kicked out, not even thinking, and the beast exploding on her bare foot, the grains falling motionless upon the ground.

By the time she had collected her mind, there was an entire pack of them climbing out from the desert floor. Their fragility made her curious as to the threat but her gut told her their teeth could easily pierce through skin if they managed to get close.

V
11-23-2011, 10:15 AM
“A dream is not reality and neither are your memories.”

A voice on the wind and nothing more.
Words in his mind, nagging and biting deep. Eating away all that he had become, destroying Howard once more. Was he even Howard. Or was he just an aging man without a name and purpose.

Was he just there to die.

Yes, no, yes.

He fought within himself. Against the words - the came on the wind from unknown lips, how could they be trusted. Against the doubts. Against the feeling of death, of seeking the end.

He wanted to believe in the memories but all they had given him was visions of pain, of death, of loneliness.

And moments of peace, and something near happiness.

His shoulders slumped as he walked beside the others, his eyes were on the sand at their feet.

Howard was late, his reaction slow, it had him, he grunted and fell. The sand was gritty to his skin as he sprawled for a moment thrashing about. Whatever it was had been dislodged or hit away. Howard climbed to his knees looking about, there was more of them coming up from the sands.

He felt the blood flow from the bite on the the side of his leg. It hurt more now as Howard stood watching them move about him and the other survivors.

kagomri
11-24-2011, 12:45 AM
Jason approached the bushes at a rapid pace, his hands quivering with anticipation as he plucked the succulent exotic blue berries from the bushes. Food. I found food. he thought. Under normal conditions he would have thought twice about eating them. But this is different. He grabbed a handful and stuffed down his throat, a lunatic lion who hasn't eaten in three weeks. It tasted refreshing, and immediately the tension from his muscles released their constant strain--it was as if they exhaled. Feeling relieved of a heavy burden, he took a few more bites and the once insatiable hunger faded to a dull, blunt desire.
And he began to really see. Until this moment everything he experienced felt ....edgeless. Distant, like a lost memory. Anything but bold, the exact word to describe the present. As if to further push the point of his ignorance, a faint, yet still shrill echo pronounced the air, having nothing to hide yet Jason was sure he was the only one it haunted.

Silly boy,

An eerie gust of cold air carrying a baleful, devastating secret upon its lips softly placed its words in his ears.

“The crows have spoken, the end is nigh,
In just one hour, you will die.”

His elation was short-lived; the dropped bomb had made its destruction, and suddenly breathing was becoming a struggle; each breath was painfully slow drag of air that barely passed through his shrunken, narrow windpipe. Caitlin ran at such speed, like a deer darting from a forest of obstacles--he could never catch up.

"Wa--" he gasped. "it."

And all of a sudden, the Earth around him elevated; or rather, it was swallowing his naked legs. It took on shapes--was he getting delusional? To a wolf. A pack of wolves. No, an entire army of Coyotes, he wasn't sure. Shifting in the sand, every move was like trying to move after the mud was dry and cracked on your skin; stiff, restricting and rigid. Eventually, he was paralysed altogether.
The pack of beasts advanced expeditiously, daunting and ravenous for bloodshed. His mind raced. No, God, please, it can't end like this. It can't end this way! he silently pleaded. Blood, brown and thick, spewed from his lips as he felt his insides fizz violently. It was then he realized his organs were dissolving.


"Morte." She said, face drawn under shadows. She was surrounded by eternal darkness that seemed to change her sorrowful mummers into clear, pronounced echoes. Her pale hands reached out and took mine, and even though I couldn't see her eyes I knew she was crying because a tear slapped onto the back of my palm, its sudden sparkle disappearing all too fast. "Morte." she cried softly, this time her voice cracked, her aura turning rapidly icy.

And then she sucked into nothingness.


There was blood drawn out by rapacious jaws. The sudden heat in the flesh, the immediate warmth but not the pain; where was the agony? In its place lived an empty numbness; it took Jason by such astonishment, as if someone had just plunged their hand through his entire solidly built body. A shock exploded in him, its impact crushing and inconsolable.

I can't die, ICan'tDieNow. Bullshit. No morte, no morte!

All too soon his vision went blank, his last wish could not be fulfilled, but instead as if to compensate a soft melody lingered behind.



And I love you the way you are
Nothing at all can keep us far
Through the waves
The days in those caves
Our broken memories
Is all I need to feast

Welcome home, ahoy ahoy.
I love you, Silly boy.

Ru
11-27-2011, 07:13 PM
One by one they were all bound to fall down into the inevitable end. Whether they were picked off by ferocious beasts or by the elements an untimely demise was doomed to all. The unknown portion of this escapade was if she was one of the lucky ones who managed to make it through these obstacles or if this was all a cleverly plotted scheme and her death was just a number the beasts had not reached yet. If she wanted to find out she would have to try to survive instead of following the line like blind cattle.

“Follow your heart, Lydia…” he said with a bright, brimming smile that lit up his light eyes. “I know it has been said many times and is an overused line… but it is seldom followed. Stay true to yourself and follow your instinct. Never let someone tell you to do something your heart is against. Promise me that.”

When the sand beasts swept up from nowhere and took down Jason she was definitely startled. There was no time to save him because she noticed what was going on too late to do anything of significance, but she bolted in towards them anyway. Using her acrobatic training she was beginning to remember, Lydia spun around rapidly and swung her feet into the faces of the beasts and watched the sand trickle back down to the ground, though it was far too late for him.

Dodging around these creatures shouldn’t be too hard, she concluded. In the foggiest areas of her memories she recalled running about with the lions at the circus, so these things were bound to be a piece of cake so long as she kept her guard up.

Staying here was not beneficially however; they needed to keep going. “Where to, leader lady?” she yelled out as she tossed her gaze around in an attempt to figure out where to next. Clearly going back was not an option, but she was uncertain if they should press forward or head right or left, though she was leaning towards forward. An inkling in her mind told her to press on and the rest were bound to follow, but Lydia was never a leader, even before being thrown into this horrific mess. A lone rogue or a loyal follower was what she fit under, but never fit to lead.

SQJ
11-29-2011, 04:57 PM
Edgar was sated, he'd picked every branch clean, leaving nothing even going as far as taking the seeds in too. Yes, it was the most tortuously sour taste he'd ever had in his life and undouptably every life he'd live from that point onwards, if reincarnation exsisted, but it did not matter, food was food. He didn't have his full childhood inside of his head but he had enough of it back to know he'd been punishing his taste buds most of his life. He was hungry and sore and food meant health, no matter the type.

===========================

"She's fine. She just had an attack, it's nothing severe." A doctor said to Ed who was himself seated up on a hospital bed, a needle being injected into his vein by a nurse whileanother hovred with what looked like an IV.
"An attack, doesn't that come from stress?"
"Mostly yes but-"
"But we were running, doesn't excersice reduce stress?" He argued, a simple panic attack didn't leave a person the way he'd seen her just an hour ago. He could not bring himself to believe it. His own sense off fear so severe he found himself suffering an attack of his own. Only they were treating him differently to the way they were treating her. The doctor was treating him as though there was a bomb strapped to his chest and as soon as a blood sample was taken the nurse he'd given it to ran off. This doctor was in fact not the first doctor he'd met in the space of an hour but by the look of him he was by far the most experienced look, not old persay, but definately one with the eyes of one jaded by life amd shit he'd seen way too often.

"Not nessesarily there are-" Edgar stopped listening at this point, the doctor was too busy getting him to get changedi nto hospital clothes. His fingers wrapped around the doctor's wrist and his grip hardened. A needle dug into his neck and he jumped turning sharply.
The turn was too sharp that world blurred right past him when his head turned. Everything had turned into a blur and remain like that and lost any and all sense of balance before the world fizzled to black.

====================

Edgar blinked awake realising that he'd been sleep walking upon the dessert, the hot sand turning his feet tough on the skin but raw on what felt like the very bone. But the sound of shifting sands and eerie howls not of the world he knew drew his gaze to the imminatnet danger. He didn't know if it was instinct or dumb luck but he raised his steel staff up just as a one of the sand hounds attacked. Blind fear stuck at hiim as he invisioned the dogs comming at him, this apeeared to be just as bed. One of them burst out the sand at him and he blocked it from ripping off his groan at what looked to be the very last moment as the beast split in half in the collision with the beast of sand.

He stepped over Howard and swung wildly hiting another one watching it turn to sand and hitting the deck the moment a second one attacked, passing over his sholder unfortuantly the third didn't and it sunk its teeth in deep before a back fist freed him. Blood dripped from his shoulder, draining the adrenaline from his body but still he kept swinging wildly at anything that got too close to him maddened by the sense of foreboding that filled his heart. Not the sense of dying here but rather the sense that something just as bad had already happened in the world he blonged.

Auki
11-30-2011, 06:01 PM
Instinctively, she slapped at a coyote jumping towards her, relieved when she felt grains of sand caught between her fingers. The beast, now headless from her attack, slumped to the floor, burying her feet with its corpse. Fearfully, she kicked her legs free, feeling no desire to be trapped in the bleakness of desert. She had several cuts across her form but the animals were not difficult to defeat as long as one remained alert.

By the time she had managed to convince herself she would be okay, the attack was almost over. Jason, now little more than a bleeding lump of flesh, fell nearby and as he did, so did the coyotes make their retreat. A few glanced back long enough to make her tense, but as the minutes passed, they all collapsed and returned to the shapeless lumps of sand they’d been before.

Shaken, she steadied her pose and stared at the body of what was once the young boy. Based on his looks, Caitlin would guess he was only a few years into adulthood at the most. Some might say he was too young. She was just glad it hadn’t been her. The sickening lust for survival had her by the throat.

“Where to, leader lady?”

The only other girl shouted and Caitlin let her eyes lock back onto the huge doors. They seemed closer than they had before… A lot closer. She was not one to complain but it was another oddity to add to her unease.

“Let’s g-…”

“You killed them!”

She started as a voice called out above them, heavy with a rasp that curdled the spine.

“They were only trying to help!”

A second squawked and she felt her stomach drop as she found their owners. Esqu and Dire – At least, that was what they had called each other – dropped from the air above them to block their way. They did not appear ghostly like last time, no. They were there with her… with them.

She was angry, tired and afraid; why… why could she not just be left alone? Her voice was strong with rage even if her gut was doing back-flips.

“They weren’t trying to help! They killed Jason.”
“The boy?” Dire questioned, “Well, of course. You killed their alpha.”
“Wh-…”
“Don’t deny it.” Esqu piped in, “We were watching.”
The two cackled, almost cruelly, before he continued with, “He jumped out to greet you and you kicked him in the face.”
Dire gave a low chuckled before adding, “Then it just becomes… an eye for an eye.”

She couldn’t make head-to-tail of whether they spoke the truth but she doubted they held any value in honesty. Glancing towards the door in the near distance behind them, agitation and impatience began to boil.

“What do you want?” She asked through gritted teeth, receiving laughs from both of them.

“He asked us to take another.” One replied whilst the other said,
“We’re debating which to pick.”
“Male.”
“Female.”
“Young.”
“Old.”
“There’s too much choice,” they cawed in unison.


There was a silence that seemed to keep the world on hold; the wind that had whipped the land in her eyes remained still.

Without warning, they both spoke,
“We agree.”

And with that statement, they became like spirits again; transparent, white, yet ever disturbing.

They walked through the group calmly. Dire even passed straight through Howard without a flinch of acknowledgement.

“Edgar…” The name rolled off Esqu’s tongue, “…Freeman.”
The two avian monstrosities approached the man with starved expressions before they seemed to realise the trio of others remained.

“You three,” Dire snapped at them, “Go! If you stay, we’ll simply feast on you all.”

V
12-05-2011, 10:06 AM
And then another one of them died, taken down my the sand creatures around them. Howard cried out to him but there was nothing he could do any more. The man was dead. Howard was still alive.

He felt cold.

~~~

There was three chairs in the room and they were all empty. There was a clock on the wall the time read 12:40. The light of day came in through the panel of glass. Outside the trees swayed with the wind. There was several small garden beds before the world opened to the wilderness.

There were three clicks; noises echoed peacefully despite being foreign.

The water filled the cup, spilling over, gushing down his wrist. He fumbled for the tap. Sweating he took a mouthful of the water. He set the cup down.

There was three empty chairs in the room and they were all tipped over. There was a clock that read 12:42 on the wall if one looked through the smashed glass. Through the bloodied glass, sun hit the room. Outside the trees swayed over the dead flowers.

He made forth.

Then there was a hand around his throat.


~~~


Do you know the man who attacked you?
Can your remember them?
Tell us about that day...

"Just leave me alone," he said and rolled over.

~~~

"It's a shame you couldn't remember," hissed the figure standing over him. He couldn't see who it was, just an outline against the dark sky full of grey clouds.

But he could see the hammer, see it in it's might. He groaned in agony. The figure sighed and turned away. A minute later a vehicle started and drove away.

Howard was alone.

After the brief battle all he could do was stare at the dead, another person down. He wanted someone to lead on and take them away to the Big Doors. They were close now. Before he felt lost in his own mind. So he didn't sit down to die.

Before they could move the bird creatures from the cliff appeared before them, instantly the dread returned to Howard as he listened to them. He didn't know what to believe - "A dream is not reality and neither are your memories" - but he listened without replying.

They chattered amongst themselves about which to take, he closed his eyes and hoped. But it wasn't for him. Again. One of the creatures passed through him, he shied away from it not wanting to touch it. They called to the only other surviving male, their new prey.

"You're leaving?" He asked. Howard grunted in reply. They were back on the porch after their cards game, he hadn't won anything. "You never even gave yourself a chance with her."

Howard took a drink from his beer can, "what am I to do? I've never truly spoken the her, I can't just wait around here until we get a chance."

"You've had chances, several in the last month."

"Yeah. Well."

Howard bowed his head, he was scared of death, of everything. And those fears overrode his deathly desires. Spared, he turned meekly away so he could not see the other man die. He walked toward the exit.

Ru
12-13-2011, 04:39 AM
Agility was her best asset. Strength her weakness. She could never save anyone.

“Not everyone can be a hero, Lydia,” the blond man had said with a soft, reassuring smile with his hand rested beneath her chin. “Not the kind of hero you envision in your dreams and read of in your stories. A true hero is selfless and defends those they care for, and maybe others. In time, you will understand.”

Lydia ran her fingers through her course hair, mangled from the previous rain that had followed her around. When her fingers got caught and tugged at her roots it returned her to reality and that reality was another person being taken away. This strange man was another loss. All she wanted in her life was happiness, to play around, and live carefree… but it became impossible after the loss of Kiri and even more so at this moment. A part of her heart ached, decayed, and fell apart.

The side of her holding desperately onto the happy memories flashing through her mind before wanted to jump in between the beasts and save Edgar, but the woman standing before them no longer yearned to help others. No longer did she yearn to create smiles through foolish acts and no longer did she yearn to bring light into every given situation. All she cared for any longer was to live, even if she had no life to return to.

She straightened her stance, staring at the soon to be gruesome seen before her. Momentarily she did this, and then turned her back towards the exit she believed would lead her out of this insane place. “I’m sorry, Kiri….” another part cracked.

SQJ
12-13-2011, 06:33 PM
"They won’t tell me what's happening," she said stepping into his quarantine room. Edgar jumped up off the chair he'd been resting on and sprinted. Using every muscle he'd trained and honed his entire life, he sprinted for more than he'd ever sprinted for his entire life. In that tiny two meter gap he's put a life time of running into all three steps. She was dressed in nothing more than a gown carrying her own IV on one of those metal stands he knew not the name of, most of the dress slipped at the back when he collided with her, wrapping himself around her tightly and burying himself into his. She gasped at the weight of being held so tightly but Edgar would not let go. Fear compelled him in a way he'd never felt before.

====

That felt different. The entire flash was unwanted, hated, an act of cruelty upon the senses. And yet the fact that it ended there felt more torturous than having seen it at all.

The bird demons, as he preferred to think them, had returned. He didn't know what a cocky or bold, what ever they were, looked like but he was sure of it. Fear was compelling him to run, run fast and leave every one and everything there. Find his beloved who's name had yet to come to him.

The same fear that had compelled him in his flash had returned but the staff in his hands forced him to be strong and ignore the blood using out of his shoulder. No one else had made note of it so the need to hide it or play it down appeared unnecessary but that didn't meant it had gone else where.

The bloody rotters had picked him to stay with them, they'd picked him to die. "No, why me!" He demanded, never looking at the others. He didn't know whether it was that they were all unsociable or watching each of the others die one at a time had desensitised them but there was little there inside him to prevent him from complaining at the choice the damn monsters had made.

Their laughs scraped at the eardrums of both Edgar and the three people now walking away from him.

“They always whine,” Esqu cackled.
“Like lambs at the slaughter,” Dire added.

As the others left them behind, the air around seemed to grow warmer, a cocoon that surrounded only the avian pair and their prey. It was not a heat that was uncomfortable; instead, it soothed at joints and aches like the light of the sun so long unseen by the fleeing humans of the demon’s world.

Like always, they started off their riddles easy, wasting no time for hesitance or pause,

“It is greater than God…” spoke Dire.
“…More evil than sin…” continued Esqu.
“…The poor have it…”
“…The rich need it…”
“…If you eat it, you'll die.”

In unison, they cawed, “What am I?”

“Answer correctly,” whispered Dire, “And we’ll allow you to ask questions of your own.”

It was hard to concentrate with the words flowing over him while his mind drew him backwards, taking him far and away from the present

====

Brendan wept for the first time in over half a decade. Crying had always been a sign of weakness if he ever saw it coming from a man. He still remembered how upsetting it had been to be see his father weep the night after his mother had left them and now his own dam was fading away to nothing and the water works flowed freely as he wept into her shoulders and she stroked his hair softly.

He wasn't sure exactly how long he'd held her but eventually the strain of having her held up raised up enough for him to drop her down. She breathed out heavily and he laughed. "I'm sorry." came his murmur between his awkward chuckle.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. Nothing at all."

"What's happening?"

"They won't tell me a thing, but we are clearly under quarantine. Must be some form of" She stopped there realising she didn't know what to add there. She was no doctor and there was no answer she could come up with that would not be some haphazard guess. "I don't think it matters as much any way Ed. What matters most is that you're with me."

He held her again, his lips touching hers softly at first but then deeper still.

There was nothing he would not do to keep her safe, nothing at all. The idea that this was all out of hands made him scream for her from deep within his chest.

=====

Nothing, the words rung loudly within his head as though someone had just screamed them through a bullhorn. Nothing he wanted more than her, nothing else in the world that her. Nothing at all. Nothing.

"Nothing" he said, raising his head to face the bird creatures. The grip on his staff tightened. The staff had transcended each plane when they had needed it to and they had managed to all hold it when they were crossing the river. This should not have been even the least bit different. When the time came, when the answers ran out, he'd have his strength back.

The bird’s skulls cracked into a grin as they ruffled their feathers and settled onto the ground.

“True,” said Dire, “That is what the humans answer.”
“Although the first line begs to be questioned,” Esqu added in a murmur.

“We uphold our word for we cannot lie.” They spoke together, “Do you have something you want answers to?”

Ed glared at them with ever reddening eyes. He wanted that woman back, he needed her back and for some reason her name would not come to her. His emotions had broken free but not the answers behind them. He needed her name, no he could live without her name if he just had her.
He rubbed his face clearing it of the water works. "How can I get back home? What do I need to do to get back home?

“A question we get asked a lot,” they mused but, true to their claim, they conceded an answer.

“Repeating what brought you here will take you back,” spoke Esqu.
“The way is near and known to all…” Dire cawed.
“But in the truth of it…”
“Few wish to walk its path.”

"What the hell does that mean?" Ed yelled at them, his grip tightening on the staff. "How do I get back. You say you cannot lie but it is clear you can't tell the truth either! I won't be a tool for you to play with if you continue to be as pointless as you are now." Ed yelled unsure of exactly what the hell he was saying.
It was stupid, suicide being pulled forwards by his ego when he needed it least.

“Just because you lack the intelligence to decipher our words…” growled Dire.
“…Does not make them any less true.” finished Esqu.

They were not baited into revealing more. If the man had known the full story, he might have considered their actions to be ones of kindness, but they were not. It was their role; nothing more.

“Now, you must answer.” The statement came from both their mouths before they rattled off their next riddle in alternation.

“If you break me…”
“…I do not stop working.”
“If you touch me…”
“…I may be snared.”
“If you lose me…”
“…Nothing will matter.”

Ed knew the answer immediately, each word that came from their hideous beaks stabbed at him hard shredding at his heart and soul. "The heart." He choked out his entire form trembling. "Now give me my full answer. Do not play with me. How do I get back to her. Please. I beg of you. If you things have any feeling at all you will tell me with the same clear words that I am using at you!" Ed said blinking fast to keep from crying yet again.

“Ask the same question, you’ll get the same answer.” Dire sneered in response to his plea, voice hoarse like stone on stone. “We have given what you asked for. We will give you what you want.”

They could give him nothing more and so they continued with their riddles.

“Beyond the reach of any man…”
“…Forever old, not often new.”
“Forgotten in the curse of age…”
“…A promise never ringing true.”

Edgar fell silent, it was neither a reflective or thoughtful silence, it was just the lack of sound that came from a complete and utter lack of movement or action within the recesses of his mind. "This is pointless."
Raising his staff up high and broke into a sprint right at Dire taking a running swing right at the bird creature's head.

The weapon collided with the demon’s skull and there was nothing more. It did feel like the bone had resisted the staff, but simply that the rod had come to a stop. There was no sound, no thud or crack; just silence. There was no reaction from the creature, or anything for that matter. Even the air did not shift at the force of the impact.

“No answer?” Esqu asked, seemingly amused as it watched the human’s attempts.

Edgar pulled backwards when nothing happened, something was supposed to have happened and yet nothing happened. There was a pause before they attacked. He gasped and took a heavy breath of fear. When they came at him he turned on their heels and he started running away, thinking of an opportunity of getting a swing.

====

"Do you remember the song you gave to me to listen to?" Edgar said looking into her eyes. He stared right into her eyes, never looking away from any of them. There was something happening on the world outside. They both could see faces, unknown faces. Uncaring faces that peered in deep warned of bad news. It was clear in her eyes that she was thinking the exact same thing.
She stared at him blankly for a moment at the question. "Let me think." She paused for a moment then smiled. "Yesterday, all our troubles seemed so far away, now it seems as though they're here to stay. Oh I believe in yesterday."

====

Screeching the cry of a hunt, the demon vultures beat their wings against the air as the environment turned deathly cold. As soon as their spindly feet left the ground, they seemed to flicker. It was confusing to the human eye, as though they were both far away and nearby simultaneously. Whilst Edgar might believe he was escaping them, bloody scratches appeared as if from nowhere across his skin, renting marks into his flesh. For now, they toyed, but anyone with sense would be able to tell the end was nearing for the man.

Edgar stopped, the song forming in his head. Why that song? Of course. He thought to himself as the history of the song, the people who sang it. When it suddenly hit him, she'd told him how many times millions of times the song played when she was born. Her mother's favourite song.
"Paula" He said grinning wide.

=====

"Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday." His forehead to hers, their hands locked tightly the song the song once more. Whatever fate awaited them would just have to come. It wouldn't matter he'd be there for her and she'd be there for him. Those who said love was not every little thing that could enable a man to live were clearly too jaded in life to honestly know what love was.


She wept and her voice trembled but his grip tightened with what little strength he could muster.
======

He knew there was no point, there didn't have to be one anymore. This world, this reality, the hunger, the blood, the chills, the fear, the hate, the frustration was all a dream compared to the reality of the woman who lived inside of his head. This was all a joke, laughable in comparison.

Taking a deep breath his grip tightened and he swung again just as they fell on him in a flurry of bone and feathers.



The two demon birds looked down on the tattered corpse of Edgar Freeman without remorse or mirth.
“Find her,” Esqu muttered to his body and Dire nodded solemnly in agreement. Within the blink of an eye, the vultures were gone.

Auki
12-14-2011, 08:34 PM
Caitlin followed beside the other two, the sand beneath soon turning to dirt, resisting all urges to succumb to the emotions bubbling beneath her calm expression. All she could think was that every part of the human inside of her was dead. She had left so many people to their fates that, to think differently, would make her a monster in her own eyes. The mouldy scent of the earth, the caressing chill of the breeze; she didn’t deserve to have her senses whilst others died. It would be easier for everyone if she was just…hollow. As long as she survived, that was all that mattered, wasn’t it?

Suddenly, her feet made contact with stone that hadn’t been there before she blinked. Looking up, she found that the gates were just before them, brought closer yet again by forces she couldn’t explain nor did she want to know. Black, metallic and seemingly heavy, the exit loomed. She was not afraid of it. Her beaten heart felt only relief at its sight.

She looked down towards her hands, clenched in anger she couldn’t feel. It was not clear where they were but she felt relaxed to be there. There was no more fighting, no more waiting; they would get their answers here.

“We need to…”

As she went to discuss their next course of action, the gates groaned. For a moment, they shuddered and with them, the cavern seemed to vibrate. The stone beneath their feet seemed to excite, grow electric, as the door creaked open, accompanied by a sound that reminded her only of the dying shrieks of a man. Whether it was caused by the gates themselves or by what lay within, she couldn’t tell. Fantastical hopes of a sun-filled paradise beyond were dashed as she was met with the harsh reality of a never-ending darkness. It was nothing or, at least, it was nothing that they could see now.

The fear died within her and instead there grew a yearning to continue on. It was almost a promise that everything would be okay. It was enough to keep her walking forward.

After all, where else was there to go?

Shaken and sick, she entered, barely caring if the others trailed behind. She needed to survive!

“Don’t cry.”

The memory made her pacing stutter, taking her by surprise. She had thought she had managed to block out such mental intrusions but, like before, they took her when she least expected them. It was her own voice that she heard, although to whom she was speaking, she did not know.

“I’m so sorry! Please! I’m sorry!”

She tried to be rid of them, tried to keep herself driving forward.

“Daniel, I swear it never meant anything close to what we have.” The silence to follow tore at the pieces of her heart, bruised only by her own weakness.
“We’ve been married a month and you… you…” he mumbled.
“I know. I…”
“With…him!” Her new husband continued over her.
She had never heard such a venomous tone leave his mouth but she knew she deserved so much worse. “Will you leave me?” she asked but there was no answer. He simply turned and left.

From that moment on, she knew she would always see herself as worthless.

From that moment on, she knew she deserved only the worst.

Her eyes were dry where she felt she should be crying. She hesitated, her footfalls ringing silent as she came to a halt.

“He’s not a bad man, mother.”
“You still think that after everything he’s done to you?”

Caitlin was quiet for a moment, “Everyone makes mistakes.”

In that pause, the darkness swallowed her. There was no pain, no wound, just nothing. Within the blink of an eye, the world was reduced to black and everything she knew was gone.

V
12-18-2011, 03:49 AM
The sand was coarse against his bare feat, Howard thought on that with each step toward the gate. Better that then reminding himself he'd left another person to die alone. He wanted to turn around but he didn't. The gate was right there.

A moment had passed, a step, and the gate was closer. Before them it opened. Nothing more about this place could scare or confuse him. He already felt like the fear inside him was the only thing pushing him onward. Perhaps that was all that had ever driven him. The memories hadn't shown him otherwise.

From beyond the gate came the screeching, the screaming. It didn't matter what it was. There would be nothing worse ahead then what they had already faced. It didn't matter, he didn't care. He just wanted the end.

When the gate opened and Howard continued forward he expected to find himself remembering more of the past. Whether they were false memories or true it didn't matter they were all he had. None of them came to him now to dissuade him, to make him falter or stop.

He made his first steps away from his read world and into the darkness....

Ru
12-18-2011, 09:17 AM
The gates called to her—beckoned her—and she longed for the freedom they granted. Soon she was to be free from this nightmare and placed wherever destiny deemed her meant to be. Suddenly the entrance to freedom appeared directly in front of her. Briefly they opened and all Lydia could hear was screeching similar to screams piercing her delicate ears causing her to wince in pain. Though her mind was entirely against the idea of proceeding her body somehow refused to stop as she was compelled to move on towards the gates ignoring better judgment.

As she continues on a darkness engulfs her and she suddenly stops. Lydia was startled to see no one else around her and she paused to get a better look around, but saw nothing around her.

“I will always be with you.”

Maybe if she had continued to press on the circumstance she was in would be different. Maybe if she had ran instead of walked or darted immediately forward instead of questioning, but what if’s were pointless to wonder when existence began to cease. Lydia’s very being began to fade away from the world and she felt invisible needles stabbing into her torso at all angles. Reality twisted and contorted into something entirely unrecognizable and soon enough she was no longer there.

Lydia Jun ceased to exist and life for others pressed on.

Auki
12-18-2011, 11:23 AM
When Kenneth Burke brought forth his first definition of man, he ended with a final point that struck the hidden core of truth; humanity is rotten with the need for perfection. A rock is content to be a rock, the same a tree wants nothing more than what it is. A deer does not wish to gain wings and fly; it accepts its given build without the need for question. Man is the first to express its dissatisfaction with what the gods have granted them. We strive, we yearn, and in our endless labour, we rot.

For lust is never sated and, in its hunger, greed is born. It is this sin that is our curse and it is what brought forth our enemy eternal.

Death.

Life is the purveyor of success and of defeat, but always does it let us try again. Only when it’s snatched from us do our sins lay down to rest. We’re granted peace we didn’t know we needed.



The lights were bright inside, although the day still fiercely burned. The beds were crowded; the nurses overloaded with their work. Although they tried their best to keep relatives and crying friends outside, orders fell on ears deafened by distress.

One by one the patients were discarded as being ‘stable’, in ‘satisfactory’ condition.

Musho Misaki…
Christopher Andres…
Shiruba Ookami…
Andrew Baker…
Richard Hunt…
Jason…
Edgar Freeman…
Caitlin Davies…
Lydia Jun…

To the staff of the hospital, the list felt endless, yet even then, they could not rest.

They fought with the reaper himself, so many times convinced they had found victory in the bleakness of the situation. They were wrong, however. Harold Rider slipped away.

They would claim, of course, that it was due to his old age. The car crash had torn apart his leg; his body couldn’t survive the loss of blood. Weak, fragile… a man clearly past his prime. Fate was kind that they took him and not the younger victims that had been involved. It was a justification to the people who had toiled for so long, and still found disappointment. Yet even so…

Had you asked them in a private room, had they known you wouldn’t judge their thoughts, they would have revealed their confusion. His age might be a factor but it was not what took his life… no. What killed him was something more than what the staff could see.



For humans cannot view upon the sins of man. The greed that haunts our race, so often matured by the cynicism of growing age, that curses us until our dying day. It is the same infliction that might cause us to leave behind the innocent, to death and torture, when all we know is tested.

Should there still be hope… should the nature of our souls give rise to hesitation at our choice, then perhaps the world will grant us one more chance; life, a second try.

But should there be nothing left but what it is that makes us human, cursed are we. Our enemy eternal emerges victorious.

We find ourselves, not dead, but not alive. We are turned into the mongrels that our hearts define us as.

For every sin, repent is needed.

The hounds snapping at your heels, the coyotes made of sand; these beasts, are we. Our festering regret is what spurns our teeth and claws. Should we capture you, we can sleep assured that you will not be cursed to a fate such as ours. We are your chance at a second try should your hearts not make you pause.



‘One will survive’, the birds, they wrote.

But demons were never known for telling truth.