Fort Oakley | Part One

22 | Freaks In The Forest

4 March 2022 - Friday

I frown at the waves of heat crashing against me, and I open my eyes.

Only to start panicking because I'm bound to a tree, and there's a piece of cloth tied around my mouth, so I can't talk. Can't call for help.

But that's not even the worst part. Because all around me, the ground is on fire.

Something had been poured on the ground in weird spiral-like shapes, and it had been set on fire, the smell of burning leaves and something of a chemical nature filling the air.  And right at the center of all those fire spirals, was me.

And then I remember how I got here. I remember how I got back to Claire's house to warn Vance, and then Camille had a gun to his head. I was blinded and dragged away as Camille fired her gun, and I don't know if Vance is alive.

And now I'm freaking out, because I know what this is. Know why I'm here.

Because The Order is going to kill me, and someone is getting killed alongside me.

I looked around in panic, trying to figure out where I was, but it was of no use. It was nighttime, and the brightness of the fire around me didn't allow me to see past the flames.

I tried moving, but my hands were tied with rope that went around the back of the tree, and that same rope looped tightly around my body.

And I felt like crying, because the rope was hurting me, and the bark of the tree was digging into my skin, and the heat of the fire was too much, and I didn't want to die.

I didn't want to die.

Not here. Not now. Not like this.

Not when Claire was still missing, and I didn't know if she was okay. Not when I didn't know if Vance was okay, and if Jacey and Mason would be safe. Not when I was just learning about the childhood I so desperately wanted to remember.

And so I called for help. Over and over, even though it was no use, because the cloth around my mouth muffled my cries for help, and the crackling of the fire drowned out any other noise.

And then I saw them.

People, hundreds of people, all dressed in dark ceremonial robes, stood behind the fire spirals in front of me. They had masks on their faces, like the ones the people wore when Elvin kidnapped me. And they were all just standing there, hands folded together, staring at me.

And I realize that these people look exactly like the people that I have been having nightmares about all these years.

I was remembering my initiation ceremony, I realized. All these years, when I thought I would never remember, I had been reliving that night every time I went to sleep.

Two figures broke free from the crowd behind the fire, slowly making their way towards me, weaving between narrow spaces between the flames like they've done this hundreds of times before.

And they probably have.

Because I wasn't the first sacrifice, and if The Order wasn't taken down, I probably wouldn't be the last.

The two figures had lighter-colored robes on, and one of them wasn't wearing a mask.

And when they stopped in front of me, I realized who the one without the mask was.