The Dark Side

Chapter 7 - Running

I wake up with my head on Drew's lap. I notice he's asleep and I slowly sit up, still feeling tired. He leans against the tree stump Vincent had been sitting on last night. I look around and find Vincent starting up another fire, in one hand he holds the lighter and in the other, he holds three dead squirrels by the tail. He smirks at me, "Sleep well?" He asks.

"Yeah actually," I silence him when he's about to say something stupid, "Don't. Even." I say sternly.

"Okay, okay! It's just-" He begins, but I give him a look that must say, 'I swear if you keep it up, I will kill you in the most brutal way possible.'. So, he doesn't say anything else.

"I'm gonna go get some more firewood." I say quickly, standing up. I vault the fence and the snow crunches loudly beneath my boots as I hit the ground.

Today, there aren't too many clouds in the sky, so I doubt it'll snow for at least a couple hours. The forest in front of me has kind of lost the eerie vibe and come back with a bright, joyful kind of vibe.

I walk through the forest collecting firewood in silence.

Once I'm pretty deep in the forest, it gets darker once more as the foliage thickens above.

I stop in my tracks when I notice it... The trees are all snapped and broken apart in a long pathway. It's almost like something huge travelled through here. I lean down to a large hole in the snow and see a piece of rotten flesh squished beside the hole. It looks like zombie flesh. I avoid touching it and look at the hole with curiousness sparking in my eyes. The hole is so deep, it gets through the two-foot deep snow easily. I stand and look ahead of the hole and see more and more holes leading through the centre of the trail of destroyed trees, "These aren't just holes..." I whisper to myself, "These are... Footprints..."

Then I notice  a large pile of torn apart zombies. They all look like I1's and I2's, "Oh my god..." I whisper.

Suddenly, I hear it. I hear a thumping, like something huge taking a step and then another step. The ground vibrates every time another thump sounds. My eyes widen with fear when I see a giant shadow at the end of the trail. It looks like a person, but it's covered in giant masses of rotten flesh. And it's making it's way towards me. I manage to hold in my scream and instead of standing and staring, I drop all of the firewood and run for dear life.

Every step further is louder and louder, I feel like every noise I make will attract it towards me. I feel tears seeping out of the corners of my eyes and my eyes are wide with fear.

Once I feel like I'm far enough away I scream, "DREW!"

The camp comes into view, "DREW!" My words becomes chokes from oncoming sobs. I see Drew quickly stand and look my way. I run faster than ever before. "Drew!" I shout one last time. He rushes up to me quickly and holds me, as I collapse in his arms.

"Jess, what is it?" He asks me.

I look up at him, "There is something out there! There is something big! It killed all of the other zombies and- it killed an entire Horde! I saw the large broken trail of trees and then the tracks! Then ahead I saw piles and piles of dead I1's and I2's! I looked further and there was this HUGE thing! Every step it took shook the ground and-" I stumble through my words.

"Slow down, slow down!" He tries to calm me down, but I feel scared out of my mind. It took a whole Horde down, I can only imagine how many people it could kill, "What was it?" He asks.

"It looked like a giant person, but I only saw the shadow of it through the forest. I don't know what it was. At first, I thought it was a zombie, but it is WAY to big. I've never seen anything like it." I say.