Unified Nations of Earth and Remnant

Chapter 24: The Insane, the feel, and the caught...

Three weeks later, the cave had become Cinder's sanctuary and prison. She sat near a flickering campfire, her red dress reduced to rags barely covering her chest and lower half. The once regal and intimidating Cinder Fall was now a shadow of her former self, her hair matted with leaves and dirt, and her eyes reflecting a disturbing madness.

In her hand was a deer leg, charred from the fire but still dripping with blood. She tore into it with jagged teeth, savoring the meat like a wild animal. Her nails had grown long and claw-like, adding to her feral appearance. Next to her, Mercury's skull sat in grim silence, and beside it, her only other companion: Tabitha, a soccer ball with a crudely drawn face.

"My meat, Mercury! Only I and Tabitha can have meat!" she shouted, her voice echoing off the cave walls. She glared at the skull as if expecting it to argue back. "You're not hungry, are you? You don't need to eat. You're dead!"

She turned her attention to Tabitha, her tone softening as she cradled the soccer ball. "Tabitha understands. Right, Tabitha? We're survivors. We'll get through this."

The firelight cast eerie shadows on the cave walls, highlighting the madness in Cinder's eyes. She was trapped in her own mind, consumed by the need for revenge and the primal instincts that had kept her alive. Her plans for vengeance had become more fragmented, as her isolation took a toll on her sanity.

"We'll show them," she muttered to herself, gnawing on the deer leg. "We'll make them pay. They won't see it coming, right, Tabitha?"

Tabitha, of course, offered no reply, but Cinder nodded as if receiving silent agreement. She would bide her time, gather her strength, and strike when they least expected it. For now, though, she was a predator in hiding, nursing her wounds and feeding her rage with every bite of raw meat.

The next day, Cinder crouched high in the trees, her sharp eyes tracking the movements of an unsuspecting traveler below. The man, blissfully unaware, was engrossed in the colorful birds flitting around him, his camera clicking away. He was an easy target, too absorbed in his surroundings to notice the danger lurking above.

Cinder's lips curled into a predatory grin, her tongue flicking out to wet her lips in anticipation. She had tasted human flesh once, and the craving had only intensified. She clutched Mercury's skull and Tabitha the soccer ball tightly under her arms, her only companions in this twisted existence.

The traveler paused, marveling at a particularly vibrant bird, and Cinder took this moment to make her move. Silently, she descended from the trees, her feral instincts guiding her every step. The leaves and branches made no sound under her deft movements.

Within moments, she was right behind him. The traveler, still unaware, took a step forward, giving Cinder the opening she needed. She pounced, a swift and silent predator. Her hands, now claw-like with overgrown nails, wrapped around his mouth to stifle any scream, and she dragged him into the underbrush.

The traveler struggled, but he was no match for Cinder's desperate strength. She wrestled him to the ground, pinning him with ease. His eyes widened in terror as he finally glimpsed his attacker—wild eyes, dirt-smeared face, and a crazed smile.

"Shh," she hissed, her voice a raspy whisper. "You're mine now."

The traveler's muffled cries were quickly silenced as Cinder's grip tightened. She looked down at him, a mix of hunger and madness in her gaze. With Mercury's skull and Tabitha beside her, she began her grim feast, the primal need for survival and the twisted satisfaction of her hunger consuming her.

As the forest echoed with the sounds of birds and the rustling of leaves, Cinder's dark transformation continued, her humanity slipping further away with each passing day. She had become a creature of the wild, driven by base instincts and a relentless thirst for vengeance.