The Eden Projects (EDITING)

Chapter 47. The one with all the Ghosts.

- A few Months Later -

Life had been a blur.

The past few cold, lifeless, months sapped everything it could from the land. Taking with it the the greenery and foraging, the spontaneous supply runs and swift running rivers. Perhaps most importantly, it had taken the prey. Things were growing desperate in ways they never had before. Too many mouths. 

The snow came early and whether they liked it or not, it was happening. In that time, everything slowed to a crawl. The time it took to do simple tasks doubled, seemingly stretching minutes into eternity, and the risk involved in even the most mundane of actions tripled. The days drained into long nights, each one wrapped in a thick blanket of darkness that choked off the light until it controlled most of each cycle's hours, transforming the landscape into a shadowy realm of creeping death. Any sunlight that did happen to peek through the heavy clouds was chilled, offering little comfort as it quickly vanished behind the next wave of ominous storms that forced them inside, under, and below their safe shelters. Buffeting winds howled through the trees, creating an eerie symphony that discouraged any thoughts of venturing too far on their own. The world outside became a harsh, expansive, wasteland, where the familiar paths were buried under layers of snow, and every step taken into that white wilderness felt like a gamble with mother nature's cruel whims.

Everything was draining down.

Hours stretched into days, and days into weeks, until all sense of time had vanished, leaving them to wonder and guess as to when spring would finally arrive. Counting to thirty didn't work if you lost days with no memory of where some of those hours had gone. But it would come eventually, as it always did, and when it had, perhaps then Ark would be stirred from its sleep. Rising to shake its coffers in a greedy show of where they stood on the ladder rungs. For now, however, they had gone silent. They had done so much, then vanished. a hunter setting traps for the unwitting who slithered among the snowy weed beds. An unnerving sense of calm took hold of their daily life, as they moved through their routines with a quiet anticipation, waiting for the change that spring would bring.

They relished in its easiness.

All except for one...

"Do you know what happens when a bullet gets shot down a man's throat?" Kasper took hold of his captive's jaw, forcing his gun as far down as he could, feeling the resistance of living flesh and the warmth of frantic breath against his closest fingers. Ignoring the dry heaves when the barrel struck the back of his throat. "Me either." The man's cries turned into desperate gagging, his eyes wide with terror, salty tears dropped into the pressured grooves made by Kasper's fingers on his cheeks. "Why are you crying? Hm? No one cares out here. I don't. The forest doesn't, and neither does he. You get it? It's just you." He chided, his voice low and menacing as he flicked off the safety. "-now where's your base?" The sound of teeth grating against the barrel cut the choking gasps.

"-on' -ow!!"

He pulled the gun out of the man's mouth.

"Please- I told you, I found this on a dead guy, I'm not with them! I don't know where Ark is you have to believe me. Please believe me!" 

"STOP. LYING. Where- is- He." The Him in question was multiple people, Maliver, Zero, and anyone else who Kasper happened to hate or miss in that particular moment. Any one of the "Hims" would be a good enough answer.

The man struggled between fits. "Please! I'm telling you- I don't know!"

"Last chance." 

"Okay okay okay- up the river. They're up the river, I'm telling you!"