Blood Moon Lake

Chapter 43

Trigger Warning! De@th, de@d bod!es

I stared blankly, unsure of what to do. Chase was dead and the demons were coming. Amelia was holding Chase's hand and crying. It felt wrong to pull her away from him, but we need to leave. Judging from how loud the scream was they're already close by and can see us. We need to go. We need to leave, but if we leave that means leaving Chase... and if we leave him there won't be anything to come back to. Not unless their feeding patterns have changed. He wouldn't even get a proper burial he at least deserves that. It's cruel to leave him but we can't carry him. He would slow us down... I'm sorry. Hopefully, he isn't watching. "We have to go," I said zipping up the backpack. The others nodded but Amelia stayed put. "I'm not leaving," she stated, "I'll stay here and die with him." ...She's going to let herself be killed? She's going to let those things kill her?

Both of her loved ones just died. It makes sense that she wants to join them... should I let her? That's what she wants, right? I should let her be happy? ...It's what she wants but is it the right thing to do? What if she still has more left to do? Everyone dies at their appointed time. Who are we to decide when that is? She's not dead yet. I'm not letting her die. I shook my head, "No, you're coming with us. You aren't dead yet. Don't you think Chase would want you to keep living till it's your time to go?" "My time is now," she argued. "No," I told her, "If your time was now you'd be dead already. Come with us. Live and help us solve this. Don't let them win this." Amelia stared at me considering my words. Then she nodded. Kissing Chase on the cheek, she wiped her tears and stood up. "Let's go," she nodded. We took off running through the woods.

The demons hadn't reached us yet so we have a head start. If we're able to put enough space between us, we can come up with a plan to stop them. Or we could just freeze and let them blow past us. That would work too. Branches cracked behind us as we ran, echoing through the leafy canopy. The trees looked old and smelled of rot but it didn't matter at the moment. Leaves crunched under foot and animals scrambled away clearing the path for us. I feel bad for disturbing them, but we might have saved them from being demon chow. A howling scream echoed behind us. They're gaining on us. Speeding up, I wove around trees and hopped over branches. We need to put more distance between us. Sucking in a breath, I ducked under a hanging branch and pushed my legs to go faster. "STOP!" Jack shouted. We all skidded to a halt. "What!?" Leo shouted. "Don't we know how to kill these things?" Jack asked gasping for air. ...Oh, yeah. We do. "Yea," I nodded. "Then why aren't we just killing them?" he asked. "That... that is a good question," I replied, "Probably because I forgot."

"You FORGOT we could kill these things!?" Amelia yelled. "Yep," I nodded. "Oh my gosh! How can you forget that!?" she shouted. I shrugged, "Very good question. Technically all of us forgot because you were the only person who didn't know." "YOU ALL FORGOT!?" she hollered. The group was shrouded in guilty silence. "Oh my gosh," Amelia sighed, "Teenagers. You remember everything except the most important things." "Hey, I remembered," Jack replied defensively. "Does it matter?" Ella asked, "Shouldn't we be gearing up to fight these things?" "Yes!" I said, "Every-" A tumultuous yell reverberated through the trees. They're here. Whipping around I saw a demon charging straight at us. "GRAB A STICK!" I hollered diving for a decaying tree branch. "WHAT!?" Amelia shouted. "A STICK!" I yelled. Swinging the branch in the demon's direction, it flung itself back into a rotting tree. "WH-" A deafening crack resounded through the woods and I watched in alarm as the tree the demon hit dropped to the ground flattening Amelia beneath it.

There was the crunching of bones and I stared as blood began to pool. I heard the sound of retreating feet and looked around dazed. The demons were gone. What? "Did the demons... leave?" I asked. Leo surveyed the area "...yeah. They did." "Wha- why?" Jack asked stunned. "I-I don't know," I mumbled, "Did anyone kill one of them? They retreated last time that happened." Everyone shook their head. "Do... do you think they left because their leader died?" Anna asked. "What?" I asked confused. "As soon as Amelia died they left," Anna said, "Do you think they left because she was their leader?" "Why would she be their leader?" Leo asked. "I don't know," Anna shrugged, "I mean no one that was with her ever got hurt by the demons." "Carmen did," Ella replied, "And she loved them. She wouldn't have hurt Chase or Carmen." "Yes, but he was protecting Chase who was shooting at the demons," Anna pointed out, "The demons probably got mad at Chase for shooting at them and tried to attack him. Carmen jumped in the way and that's why he died. Chase only died because he got stung by a bee. Also for all we know, Greer was just acting. From the sound of it, they wouldn't have cared less."

"That is true," Jack nodded, "Amelia wouldn't have hurt Chase or Carmen but Greer would. They're here to destroy the world why would they care who died?" "Exactly," Anna nodded, "Normally when a group's leader dies they retreat and one of two things happens. One, they elect a new leader and continue the plan, or two the group falls apart." "Margret made it sound like Greer was the key to all of this," I whispered, "Meaning the demons will disband and we won't have to worry about them anymore." "YES!" Anna smiled, "We can go home!" "Are you sure?" Leo asked, "I don't like the idea of letting those things run around." It'll be fine. "It'll be fine," I assured him, "I think they're harmless without Greer."

Leo didn't look convinced but relented, "Alright. Should we at least bury Amelia?" "No," Anna said, "I say we leave her. I mean we'd have to remove the tree and everything. It seems like a hassle especially since it's not truly Amelia." Leo frowned, "I-" "It's fine," she stated, "Come on. Let's go home." Anna took off skipping in the direction we were headed. Slowly, Jack and Ella began to follow her. Leo was still frowning at Amelia's Greer's body. "It doesn't feel right leaving it," he stated. "Does someone who killed so many people deserve to be buried?" I asked. Leo stood there for a while before shrugging, "I don't know. It feels rude not to." "Killing and feeding people to demons is rude," I told him, "I think this is one person who doesn't deserve to be buried." He clenched his jaw, "But doesn't Amelia deserve to be buried? Not the person in the body but the person it used to belong to?" I thought about it for a moment, "...yes, she does." "Then we should bury her?" Leo asked. I looked around and saw the others were far ahead of us. "I don't think we can move the tree," I said, "But we could make a makeshift gravestone. Would that work?" Leo considered it for a moment before nodding, "Yeah that works. We can carve it into the tree." "Alright," I nodded fishing the knife out of the backpack. I stood there and watched as Leo carved something into the tree. Stepping back, he handed the knife back to me.

The tree read: "Here lies Amelia. Beloved wife and sister-in-law. May her soul find peace wherever it may be."

"It's perfect," I smiled, "Now let's catch up with the others before they leave us." Leo nodded and we ran to catch up with the rest of the group.