The Survival

Chapter 24

When I was little, and I thought that everything was fine and the world was pink, we used to have family dinners. I used to love them with a passion, but now it's only a painful memory.

In one of those dinners my grandma was telling a story about a rat that appeared near her bed- she hates rats- and instead of crying, screaming or running, she said, and I quote 'my bones were frozen from fear'.

I was a naive girl and I didn't know how that was possible, first to be scared of a small rat, and second how you could stay in place while fear consumes your body. It didn't make sense.

But not anymore...

In front of me I have one of the most terrifying scenarios ever and just like my grandma said, the fear is incapacitating my body to move an inch.

I can't tear my eyes from the red ink on the large table of stone, I don't need to get closer or to taste it, like Dylan did the first day in the forest, to know that it's blood.

The utensils on the other table also have blood in it. You don't need to be a genius to discover what happened here. Everywhere I look, something scary and gruesome meets my eye.

However, my thoughts are broken when I see Ed taking a step ahead.

"What do you think you're doing, idiot?" I hiss at him.

"I want to give it a look." He sends me a cold stare before taking another step forward.

"Come back Ed, we shouldn't be here." Lucy tries to call him.

"Just a quick look." He doesn't turn around or stop, he keeps walking, his steps almost inaudible, and his eyes examining everything in his way.

"I'm going to see if it's something here that can be useful for us." Dylan all but whispers.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Sarah is the one talking now.

"Craziness is better than ordinariness."

"That's not even a word you dumb ass."

"I know." He sends her a wink and walks away to join Ed, Sarah slams her feet on the ground, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Unbelievable how in moments like this Dylan acts like a 5-year-old boy and Sarah like a spoiled 8-year-old girl. It's like they don't realize the seriousness of this, like this is a big joke, or a dream where they are the ones that choose what happens or when to wake up.

One second I'm supporting Beth with both arms and the other, I'm grabbing Nathan's arm while his feet is mid-step. Call it instinct, feeling or only knowing him well, but I know what he is going to do.

"Don't go there." I beg him.

I know that he wants to go there, to do what Ed and Dylan are doing. But I'm not going to let him go, he is not going to step a foot closer, I will be damned if I let him.

"I'll be fine, Kate." He reaches my hair and tucks a piece behind my ear. His eyes look warmly into mine, in another situation I would fall from them, I would give in, just because of that look, which makes my heart flutter, but not now.

"You have a brain Nathan, use it. This," I gesture at the space before us, "Isn't normal, nothing here is, since we arrived, we had nothing but unwanted visits. You're an intelligent boy, start thinking."

I try to show determination, to look strong, I even want him to feel intimidated if that makes him stay here with me. But I'm breaking, fear is overtaking me.

A frown appears and his face locks, he sends me a confused and distant stare, and I regret the harsh words I told him. He is going to turn around and follow the boys, not giving a fuck about what I said, not even looking back at me. Why would he anyway?

I was a total bitch to him. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for his next actions, but they were very different from the ones that I was expecting.

An arm snakes around my torso bringing me roughly to a chest. Nathan kisses the lobe of my ear, before whispering, "I'm not going anywhere cupcake."

Relief wash through me, and I wrap the arm that isn't holding Beth around Nathan's neck after and bury my face in his chest. I can feel his heart beating wildly and mine is equal, if not beating faster. There isn't an inch of space between our bodies, I feel his every muscle, every touch, and I couldn't be grateful for his hug.

I know that his other arm is around Beth, since I'm holding her against me, and that explains why I only feel one of his arms.

I lift my head from his chest and rest it on his forehead, when I open my eyes, he is already looking at me. A smile graces his handsome faces, "Remember what I told about your eyes?"

I reply a simple 'yes', and wait for his next words, "They're shining brightly now, just like the stars. I can read you like a book Kate. Don't ever doubt it."

Like everything in my life, when something is perfect and I want to keep it that way, something ends it. This time, it was a someone.

"Oh shit!" Dylan shouts, scaring me to death. My body shots up immediately and I almost let Beth fall, if it wasn't for Nathan's arm already around her, she would be laying on the cold hard floor.

"What?" Lucy runs to them.

"What the fuck?!" I hear Dylan say, by his feet is a sort of cauldron or basket, from my position I can't see what is causing such havoc.

"Mate?" Nathan speaks.

"This is sick man!" Dylan voices, looking at Nathan. He shakes his head and lowers his hand to the handle of the cauldron, before showing us what is inside.

Nathan quickly hides my face in his chest, but he wasn't fast enough. Inside it was hands, arms and members of people, parts of bodies from human beings. Despite of having only mere seconds to see the contents of the cauldron, thanks to my photographic memory I noticed the smallest details.

This is one of those moments that I hate this special gift, as I call it.

The members were smeared with dirt, some hands were missing a few nails and you could see a pool of blood at the bottom. One of the legs had closer to the ankle a small tattoo of a heart, and if I'm not wrong, I think that I saw the twin of the hand we found closer to the tree, some days ago.

"Sarah?" I hear rushed steps and twigs breaking, I hear the boys talking with panic laced in their voices, yet I don't want to look, even if I wanted, Nathan wouldn't let me. He is securing my head firmly against his chest.

"Try to wake her up." Someone says.

"Who would do this? This is fucking nuts, by the amount of members there might be around 5 or 6 people here." Ed, I think, questions.

"Why would someone do this? This person must be a fucking psychopath, no one sane would do something like this. Look at this place, whoever made this is crazy." Nathan says.

"What about the hand that we found on the woods, guys? Do you think that it was from a new person, that it was recent?" Dylan joins Nathan and Ed conversation, adding more questions to the ones that we already have.

"If it is, that means that this lunatic is thirsty for blood, so he doesn't plan on stopping soon."

A weak voice reaches my ears, "Those aren't the most important questions..."

I look at the person whose voice belongs to, and I see Beth. She looks at her surroundings and I see that her blue orbits focus first on Sarah lying unconscious on the ground, and second to the black boot and an old shirt.

"W-what are they then?" Lucy stammers.

"Where is the person who did this? Why are we still here, in this person territory? What if the haunted stories that Ed told us about the people that disappeared here aren't only stories? And the most important of them all..."

My breath itches after I hear the last one.

"How long will it take for us to end the same way these people did?"