Bile

Stela

Sick. She was so sick of them. She hated them so much, and so much she wanted to plunge her sword into them, but she couldn't, or at least not until Otrem gave the command. But that waiting was killing her, she was yearning for satisfaction, and partly for a feeling that we all know so well, that we all want, but sometimes it's induced by something unacceptable. For the blissful pleasure that was now inevitably crawling before her in the form of the hated, in the form of Carcasses. 

"Forward!" Otrem's voice rang out, and Stela finally burst out of her hiding place, thick bushes. Near her stood Speechy, seemingly running slowly, but each of her steps covered twice the distance of tiny Stela's two steps. Maybe it would bothered her, she was sensitive about her height, but for her now, there was only one thing, the Carcasses. One bear and three deer were trudging apathetically through the forest. From wounds all over their bodies, a greenish liquid was spurting out, which Motremo had nicknamed as bile. At first glance, they seemed like clumsy lubbers, but a closer approach awakened them from their lethargy into lightning-fast movements. Stela knew this well, too well. A vivid memory of blood and bile and several motionless bodies flashed before her eyes. Just a month ago, she would have wanted to cry, but she couldn't do it anymore. She simply couldn't bring herself to cry. At first, she took it as a good sign. She felt strong and fearless, but as time went on, she realized that she was just broken, unable to feel anything other than irritable anger that devoured everything else. 

"The bear is mine," she shouted, pushed off the ground, and drew her sword. She wanted to finally cut and cut and cut and cut, because that was the only moment she felt pleasure, even though it was more twisted than a century-old willow and shorter than southern summers, but she couldn't resist herself, she had to have it and was willing to do anything for it.

The bear stared at her with its dull eyes. Unlike hers, they lacked any emotion or anger. They just wanted to kill without reason and sow suffering, which Stela was not going to allow. No one else should experience what she had, no one else should lose their loved ones, and of course, no one should stand in the way of her pleasure. Cutting and cutting. The sword flew through the air, bile splattered in all directions, and a smile spread across Stela's freckled face. Yes, this was what she craved, this was what she reached for like divine mercy. She wanted to hurt, she wanted to feel the blade cutting into flesh, she wanted to drown in the bile of Carcasses. But everything has its price, and this pleasure cost Stela not just a guilty conscience. With each encounter, she was sinking more and more into a state where she was no longer the master of her body, and today she was sure she could no longer hold the reins and would give in.

The bear's paw. It was coming closer to her. Unnaturally and spasmodically, it whistled through the air before meeting the cold steel and falling from the rest of the body like a slice of ham. A normal bear would withdraw or collapse straight to the leaf-covered ground, but for a carcass, the loss of a limb meant nothing, it fought on until it was in pieces, and so Stela did. She cut the rotten flesh and drowned in bile. Around her flew furry pieces of bodies, other paws, heads, and hooves, until there was nothing left to cut. Only her friends surrounded her. Brutt's scarred face looked terrified, Otrem and Motremo stood stunned nearby, Kati rolled her eyes in disgust, and only Speechy looked as stony as ever.

"I guess I got carried away," Stela moved her lips and looked at the slimy piles of flesh around her. Surprisingly, this sight did not evoke further pleasure. That intoxicating feeling did not apply to what came after, and so with the first gust of wind, she collapsed to her knees and began to vomit all the contents of her stomach.