Traitor's Song

20. Undead and Afraid

Growing up, Henley's parents had warned her and her two sisters about the dangers of the forest. She was told that the woods were the home of vampires and werewolves, and that it was the world's biggest unburied graveyard for humans. The way they had painted the stories had terrified her so much that she had never questioned it. She only began to start inching closer to the forest after her twin Ellis had disappeared. Henley started to inch herself closer to the forest in the hopes of seeing Ellis again - or if she was dead - providing her with a proper burial. The closer she got to the forest, she saw the beauty within. No corpses laid among the skeletal shadows of the trees like she expected. Instead she saw the flowers striving to reach the beams of the sun; the potential within the darkness that just wanted to live. Henley started to bring her camera with her as she started to explore the fringes of the forest. That had been where she met Hobi. The first speck of beauty to come from there. Even though the fear of the forest started to drop away, she still never ventured past the tree line.

Not until today.

Henley followed after Jungkook as he entered the forest, insistent that he could hear something. She trusted him though she couldn't hear anything. All she could hear was the hushed chatter of their footsteps breaking over twigs and dried leaves. The trees in this portion of the forest were so densely packed together that only single shards of sun shone down on them.

"What do you think you hear?" asked Henley again.

"Someone is calling for help," said Jungkook. "It's faint, but I hear it...I just can't figure out where it is coming from."

Henley figured Jungkook's super sensitive hearing had to be due to him being a werewolf. Jungkook had no reason to lie to her, especially after he just poured his vulnerabilities out to her. They kept walking for a minute or two more before pausing when Henley herself even heard the soft call for help. Both of them swept their heads about, seeing nothing. No trap. No body lying about. No anything.

"It's coming from somewhere," said Jungkook as he searched the trees about them.

Henley stayed where they had originally paused, casting her eyes up. She didn't know what had caused her to do so, but it was there that she found the source of the voice. There was a crude cage of sorts dangling up in the trees that reminded her of something she had seen in stories of captured pirates. There was some sort of body inside the raised cage. Their white shirt was stained yellow from the effects of weather; their jeans muddy. Two white clenched fists were holding the bars of the cage; the side of their head pressed against it. To Henley, they looked dead, but it was then she heard the word that was caught on the wind and brought down to her ears.

"Help..."

"Jungkook," said Henley, still keeping her gaze focused skywards as Jungkook turned to look at her.

"What?"

She pointed a finger up, causing Jungkook's gaze to go up; his eyes widening when he saw the cage with the person inside.

"How do we get him down?" asked Henley.

The man in the cage didn't even seem to notice they were there; still crying 'help' like a broken record. Jungkook and Henley looked about for whatever was keeping the cage in the air. Due to it being so shadowed in this part of the forest, it took them a moment to notice the rope that was tied off to a tree. Jungkook's muscles strained as he kept tugging and tugging at the rope to undo the knot until it eventually came undone. Once the knot was loosened, the whole cage threatened to crash to the ground. Jungkook quickly had to grab the rope, throwing out a foot against a tree to help him stay upright as he lowered the cage a little at a time.

As the cage came within full view, Henley saw the poor man that had been captive within the cage for who knew how long. Here was a man she had pictured when her parents had told her the forest was full of corpses. The man's skin was paler than a sheet of paper, contrasting sharply with his dark black hair. There were dark bruise looking bags under his reddened eyes. His cheeks looked sunken, and he looked like he was more bones than skin. On his neck were two clear and distinct puncture marks that were glowing red like they were fresh, though it was clear they weren't. The clothes that hung from his body looked like tattered rags, having gone through numerous storms. On all accounts, this man should be dead and he wasn't.