Terror. A dimension mirroring the living one--but morphed to reflect the imagination of its Overseer. And the current Overseer... has refused to relinquish her power for centuries, tormenting her souls--"terrors"--into becoming... zombies.
Arielle f...
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For the space of a few instants—more like an hour or two, but he still had no notion of time in Terror—Benny had been elsewhere. Wedged between Arielle and Jade ahead, catching up in hoarse whispers, and Oscar trudging along behind him, he'd allowed himself to get lost in thought. He was protected front and back, and the zombies were nowhere to be seen, put to sleep by the snow or frozen to death.
Good riddens.
To witness Arielle and Jade reunited had warmed his heart, but it at once broke it. Because they'd be separated again, wouldn't they? Jade claimed Arielle, like Benny, didn't belong in Terror. She was leading them both to the creature who might be able to save them from this hellhole, and bring them to... where? The Soul Realm? A place to fall asleep for an undetermined amount of time, and wake up in someone else's body?
Benny had shuddered at the thought several times as they walked. Being recycled into another person might have been exciting to some, but to him, not so much. It meant he'd never know about Kylie. Never find out what had happened to her, if she was down here, or stuck in the Void. Or if she'd succeeded in ascending to the favored Soul Realm. Was she already reincarnated as some screaming baby being born in a hospital across the world? How fast did the process take? Who decided which soul went into which human?
When it was his turn, whose body would he inhabit? A man? A woman? Maybe an animal? Who knew what the rules were, what souls were confined to? The vastness of the idea was terrifying and thrilling all at once. Would Benny become a ghost-hunter again? Was that trait, that conviction that ghosts were real, a fiber of his current DNA, or was it inked into his soul? Meant to travel with him from body to body for all time?
So many existential questions put him into a haze. A different one from the fog that already loomed around him. He walked with his shoulders slouched, and spoke little. Like Oscar, he'd become more of a silent observer. Though Oscar grunted and mumbled complaints under his breath every few minutes.
Well, no one forced him to go.
But now, those moments of peace had dispersed. Benny and the others—they were running. They'd sighted the unreal light ahead. Jade was certain Penelope had caused it, and their chances of meeting with the Being were slimming. The world started shaking, the ice started melting, the piles of snow were vanishing to reveal bodies—some of which were moving. Not dead. Zombies that had fallen asleep under the weight of the blanket-like, albeit cold substance, were now reviving.
So they were running, trying their hardest to stay balanced despite the fiery cracks over the icy ground, despite the shift in atmosphere. Despite the fight of heat and cold that seemed to take place ahead, its effects contaminating the entire realm. Where there was once quiet, moans and teeth clacking occurred. Where there was once nothingness, there was motion, sound, and those dreadful death smells were returning, too.
Benny hated to say he'd miss the cold, but he appreciated his fingers thawing, his spine relaxing, and his internal organs no longer covered with layers of frost. His legs were sore, and running as fast as they were—Jade was quick—was taking the breaths from him, overworking his heart. But if it got them there sooner, if it meant he was one step closer to leaving this shitty dimension—
