It's all Inside

Chapter 3

                         Upon arrival at her location, I waste no time searching, but only with my eyes. I said before this world is... strange, but right now it takes me a tremendous deal of effort to steady myself. What could I be experiencing? It's so familiar. Yet it's stronger than before. Like a bad smell that only gets worse as you come closer to where it comes from, I stop in my tracks.

                        Across from me is Nana's settlement.

                       The trees sway from one side to another.  The wind gusts and makes a uncomfortable noise.  There's a tent in the middle, surrounded by four, other smaller tents in scaffold. Seems like they aren't finished being set. Or...

                      Someone knocked them over.

                      At this point I'm only making assumptions. The state of this place doesn't look too good. It reminds me of one of those movies where the hero returns home to find everyone dead.

                     Yet I'm standing here. No less than a couple feet away, some footsteps, and I can find out what the hell happened here. My thoughts flash back to the images of the last settlement I was at, and the mess that came out of one of the tents. I don't want to say that's what is stopping me, but I barely got a look at what was perhaps threatening my life. I shouldn't be here, I think. This is overwhelming. I don't want to move but something tells me anything, anywhere is worth being at, than where I stand, right now.

                    My legs are like jelly, walking to the tent in the middle. Wise choice comes to mind.

                  "Is anyone there?" I say. I'm used to not getting a response by now, but just as I turn around with no reservations to leave as soon as possible, a voice does speak.

                  "H-Hello? Who is it? Who are you? A-Airan?" Nana's voice. She bobs her head out, and sure enough it is her. I sigh from relief.

                  "Nana, shit, I didn't think it was really y-" Her face is what I notice first. From blank and surprised, to a scrunched up mess of wrinkles, her mouth gapes open and her voice cuts me off.

                 "Get away! Look behind you-" then a sharp cry of my name. I raise my eyebrow, heart rate increasing.

                "W-Wha-"

                "Get in the tent!"

                 Suddenly, whoosh. My shirt, more specifically covering my shoulder, flies like an airbag ripped out from the inside of a car, and a piece of my top half across my torso tears right off. I spin around. Teeth. Long, big, narrow, tall, dark red, teeth are all I see, and a drone like sound, something of a wounded animal and a cat taught to talk all in one, flood into my head.

                  Major shivers down my back. Hear pounding out of control. Fight or flight mode again. Turn towards Nana who's as pale as a ghost. Understand, it's too late to run. It's too late for me. Oh god it's too late for me. I think this could really be it.  Some undergo sleep paralysis. Never had it, imagine this is what it is like. Screaming on the outside and a statue on the inside. Urge to cough, throat is dry, I-

                 Jump. Leap to her, to Nana, bewildering not only her, but myself. I can't see what's behind me and yet I know I'm being dragged. My jeans are coming off. They're sliding off of me, hands gripped into the dirt groping at anything to stay on the ground I lay on and not any further back behind me. I kick my legs and take a mouthful of dirt until other hands grab mine and pull me in the tent. Nana's struggling. It's a battle for my body. What this thing wants, is me. My body. My legs. My brain. My back. My feet, tickled by... something, hard and grabbing and twisting, trying to dislocate.

                 Recovering myself... Nana's on top of me.

                 It seems to be a surreal sight, looking up at her with the top of the tent in a fixated backdrop. For a moment, my body stilled, but not out of fear. She looks so tired. I have no way of knowing what she's been through, yet in this moment a connection is drawing me to her. Her face carries a sad weight to it. The irises of her eyes are wet and all around they are red. How...?

                For moment we stay like this. Nana takes a short glance out the tent like she isn't sure, then gulp and bites her bottom lip and speaks. "Jesus christ, I'm so glad you're okay," her tears drop like silvery bullets on to my chest and she picks me up, holding me tight and sobbing.

                 Memories come pouring into me. She had done this once before, but... but when? I've forgotten where I am. The sound of her sobbing is pulling something out of me. Something I haven't heard and seen in a long time. I wish I can remember. Nothing comes to me except the sounds of nostalgia.

               Damn it, fucking god damn it, fuck this, I can't fucking remember. Why can't I remember?

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               Once Nana calms down, she lifts herself off of me  and sits against the wall of the tent. At first I try to object against sitting there, and I have the realization that whatever was dragging could still be here and that we should run, but she starts to speak.

              "It won't go in the tent."

              "Huh?"

              "It won't come in here... that thing won't come in here. I don't know why but we're safe in here."

              "Are... you sure?" Hesitantly, I clench my teeth and peek out the tent, grabbing the flap just a little to see out of it.

              She nods her head, and I crawl on over to her, being as how the the ceiling of this tent is so low. Her voice is hoarse, had she run from this... thing... a lot? I ask this.

             "Yeah," she sniffles. "Airan and I... were for a few days, staying here. We were about to leave, b-but-" Nana stops and squints her eyes, then opens them again before speaking. "It showed up. In the middle of packing up. W-We thought, you and the others were here. We waited a while a-and-"

            "It destroyed the tents you set up for us," I finish for her.

            "Y-Yeah. I was just, packing, right? Airan was sleeping, a-and then it came and I ran away from it. When I tried to wake Airan up, it stayed outside and... tore it all up. Airan didn't believe it. He went to go see and I tried to stop him, but then it almost caught him and I remembered how it didn't come to our tent. Him and I just went inside, and then we caught wind of... that."

              Having understood the situation, I look out the flap and something on the ground catches my eye. When the thing dragged me, it took off my jeans. The handgun lay there, about a few feet away from where we were out in the open.

              I see.