I Am Not A Spirit!!! (Date A Live Fanfic)

Chapter 4: The Aftermath, and AST Raid

      Kotori looked at the aftermath of the battle with a smug look on her face. She knew that Shido had it in him, but this is just the beginning. Kotori had to inform Ratatoskr of the sealed Spirit and then have them forge an ID for Tohka. However, before all of that Kotori noticed something during the battle. The same interference from last time was present. The static came out of the woods sticking low to the ground, and then disappeared right back into the forest. Kotori had to investigate this.

      Kotori and Reine were now standing at the edge of the woods staring into the forest. The stench of death wafted out of the woods. Kotori felt unnerved to the bones, but Reine was just puzzled.

      "Reine, do you know anything about this?" Kotori asked, trying to reassure herself.

      "Uhh... No, I am also quite puzzled. Want to go in?" Reine said while pointing into the trees.

      The moment their foot crossed the threshold a chill ran down Kotori's spine. She could have sworn that the sky darkened and all the sounds around her got muffled, but she pressed on. The sounds of animals skittering around helped ease Kotori's nerves as she stared into the thick forest. Reine was staring down at the gadget in her hand.

      "There are unusual readings coming from directly ahead of us." Reine said matter of factly while fiddling around with the gadget.

      Kotori nodded and changed directions to follow Reine's guidance. They continued to walk towards the anomaly but as they got closer Kotori could smell rot. Something was rotting in the woods, and all of a sudden all the animals became quiet. It was so quiet that Kotori could hear her heartbeat in her chest. Something was very wrong here. The trees swayed silently as they approached their destination.

      "It's right here but I don't see anything." Reine said, still looking down at her gadget.

      Kotori did not respond. Instead, she looked left and right searching for something. It was not until she took a step did she notice something. A squelching sound emanated from where she had placed her foot. Kotori froze, too scared to look at what made the offending noise. When she finally mustered the courage to look down she saw a gory sight.

      The ground was covered in half buried zip-lock bags, but that was not the worst of it. The bags were ripped open, and Kotori could see half eaten organs protruding from the bags. The smell of rot suddenly magnified as Kotori began to feel sick. She quickly jerked her head up away from looking at the gory sight below her, and caught an even more disturbing sight above.

      The bodies of two police officers decorated the tree like a sick Christmas ornament. Their bodies were grafted onto the tree hanging lifelessly. Kotori finally knew what she was walking on. The bodies had undergone field dressing. A process in which hunters remove the internal organs from the body to make sure that the meat does not get contaminated. Kotori was now stepping on the remains of the two police officers.

      "If this is a Spirit it is definitely sicker than 'Nightmare.' What kind of a monster does that?" Kotori whispered to Reine as she pointed to the officers' bodies.

      Reine nodded in agreement before saying, "I think we might need to get out of here as fast as possible. This is the weirdest anomaly I have encountered."

      Reine marked the area on an electronic map to send a clean up team later then they both ran towards freedom. The moment they started running Kotori could hear the thunder of footsteps chasing after them. She did not turn around, instead she focused on the road ahead. Kotori ran and ran as if her life depended on it. It did not but she rather not burn down the whole forest to prove her dominance. However, the experience was still frightening. It seemed as though they ran for hours constantly getting chased through the forest, but trees would continually appear in front of them.