Cannon Fodder To Villainess

🏮60. Mimic

The further into the Shadow Forest they traveled, the darker it became. Until the height of the trees choked the sky and nearly all light had been shut out. An eerie darkness settled in, causing a cold chill to settle deep within the travelers bones. Green fog danced through the tops of the trees like a poisonous gas and swirled like oil in water whenever a howling wind disturbed it. The forest was mostly still, as if it were holding its breath. Occasionally you could hear rustling leaves or see shadows playing in the corners of your vision, but when you turned your eyes, the movement would have disappeared. The air smelled of dried leaves, moss, and mildew with the scent of something dead that had been carried in on the wind. Out of instinct, the travelers quieted their movements, afraid to disturb whatever monster lurked in the depths of the forest.

Amber could feel her heart beat rapidly, as they passed by some low hanging trees, and she saw movement high up in the branches. After just a blink of an eye, there was something else skittering across branches up above. Then several more creatures passed.

Amber swallowed nervously. No one else was paying any attention. They wouldn't be able to hear her yell, since Omar had made her bubble sound proof. She had one of two options. One, she blows her cover and escapes from the bubble, to either hightail it out of the forest, or get the egg for herself. Or two, she pretends to be helplessly trapped and allows what will happen to happen.

She felt like her mind had been made up. It wasn't like she told them to capture her into a bubble. She'd wanted to come with them from the beginning, but Erin Dreyfus just had to be a weirdo, and decide to abduct her. Now she had to pretend to be a helpless female in order to keep their guards down. Amber signed, leaning back in the bubble with her hands propped behind her head. She had no reason to interfere or save any of these people. After all, she didn't actually need all of these people to retrieve her egg. There should be a good show soon.

Slowly one of the creatures crept out of the shadows of the trees. It slipped past a sliver of light, which had barely managed to slide in through the leaves. The mafau had a bone structure somewhat like a monkey, but it was as large as a full grown man. Its arms were twice as long as it was tall and its tail just as long as its arms. It was covered in pea green fur that resembled sea weed and had large eyes as black as ink; no whites could be seen. Its claws were as long as Amber's forearm, yellowed, curved, and as sharp as daggers. Its nose and ears were like a fox's. It smiled slowly, as if it alone knew a secret it refused to tell. Its smile spread horribly wide, until it split the creature's face in half, filling Amber's vision with long jagged teeth. It was indeed a creature out of nightmares. It tilted its face to the side and moved one of its ears, listening to something in the distance.

Amber watched as it skittered down the tree that it had been sitting in. It easily climbed down the trunk head first using its sharp claws. Once it came to the base of the tree, it opened its jagged teeth, and let out a strange howl that sounded like the cry of an injured woman.

Amber's eyes widened as she sat up in horror. The travelers around Amber stopped to look for the noise, but by that time, the creature had slipped behind some bushes at the base of the tree. Amber leaned forward with her eyes wide in morbid fascination as one of the men near those bushes broke from the group and slowly walked towards the bushes. He looked around the area in front of the tree, but she saw nothing. Then he carefully stepped on the other side of the bushes.

Who told them to put her in a soundproof bubble and who told them to bring inexperienced hunters deep within the Shadow Forest? Her only regret was that she didn't have popcorn to snack on while she watched the show.

"What was that noise?" The man to the right, directly ahead of Amber whispered nervously to the man standing next to him.

"Shh, listen," he said.

Amber pressed her ear up against the side of the bubble and heard a quiet slurping noise. It sounded thick and wet.

After a couple of moments, there was a strange gurgling sound, and then nothing. Amber leaned forward further, with her nose nearly pressed up against the side of the bubble.

"What's going on over there? It's not time to eat. If you've found suitable rations, collect them and let's be on our way," said a man who was slightly higher in rank than the first man.

He walked forward with far too much confidence in his step. Then blindly stomped through the bushes. As soon as he passed through the other side of the bushes, you could hear a panicked gasp. The sound was ragged, as if he couldn't quite get enough air, and was working himself into a full blown panic attack. Then the unmistakable sound of bone crunching filled the silence of the forest. It didn't sound like a simple break, it sounded like an animal gnawing on large bones. The sound was crackling and grinding.

"Maybe they've found something crunchy?" The guy to the right said in a high pitched voice.

The man to the left took a couple steps back. While the man to the right stared at the bushes. His stomach grumbled angrily at the thought that he could be missing out on something tasty. He started to walk towards the bushes, but the guy next to him grabbed his arm. His hand was fiercely shaken off.

"Let go! I'm hungry too, you know! Why should they get to hog all of the food?" He grumbled and started walking again.

"Don't go over there. Stop being dumb," said the other man quietly. He reached out to grab him again, but was fiercely shoved, and lost his footing.

The hungry man quickly walked through the crowd and approached the bushes. No one else in the group bothered to try to stop him. They were all curious and needed someone to test out the bushes.

Again they heard that same strange gurgling noise. Followed by a hair raising crunching sound.

After some time that felt like an eternity, an entirely different sound came from behind the bushes. It sounded like a man's voice, but scratchy and slow; like there was something wrong with his throat. "Come. It's delicious. So delicious. Come...come...come," said the voice.