There was something odd about the sky above. Matthew slowly woke up from his temporary slumber, hearing leaves crunch beneath his body as he sat up. His eyes adjusting to the darkness that surrounded him. "Where in the fucking world-" he looked around to see that he was sitting down on a mountain of autumn leaves, the sky painted black with no stars in sight. "Hey! Watch your language kid!" Yelled Brian, who was sitting a couple of meters away from Matthew.
"How did we even get here?" He asked while sitting up and approaching Brian who was wearing a black T-shirt with baggy camouflage cargo pants, his eyes still puffy from waking up. "Who knows, last I remember I was picking you and that friend of yours up from school to go home. Yea what was her name again?" Brain asked while looking around, trying to identify where the two were. "You mean Lilly? Strange, that's all I remember too. We were just heading home in your car... Do you think we were kidnapped?" He asked jokingly. "At this point, I'd say it's a possibility-" Suddenly the loud cry of Lilly interrupted Brian. "HEYYYYYY!" Lilly yelled at the top of her lungs. She was running from nearly two football fields away, behind her what looked like a man, maybe a friend? "Hey, Lilly over here!" The man had greyish skin as if he was covered in concrete dust. His left leg was limping or rather, being dragged. Despite this, he still ran almost as fast as Lilly. "Hey what's wrong with that dude?" Brian pointed out while getting up. "I have a hunch she's in trouble. Let's go check it out just in case." Both Matthew and Brian started lightly sprinting towards the direction of Lilly.
The leaf mountain consisted of leaves and leaves only. It was steep, with only some flat land, and barren with nothing to hide behind. Every once in awhile the leaves would collapse from down under and cause small pits and craters. It must've been the most delicate mountain any of them had seen, a very strong gust of wind could decimate the entire area. The terrain changing from under their feet due to light breezes.
As Mat and Brian closed in on Lily and the 'grey man' Matthew started to notice a couple of odd peculiarities. His skin was dry and blistering, chunks and bits of flesh falling out with every step he took. His footprints would cause small craters and upset the terrain below them. Everywhere he stepped was infected with the same dark grey as his skin. "What even is that, let's just try to snatch Lilly and get away. I really don't want to risk a fight." Mathew said, looking to his left to see his disturbed cousin. "Yeah, you're right just... Stay behind me." This was no place for children Brian thought to himself.
In an instant the 'grey man' sped up to be almost as fast as a horse, leaving a smoke trail behind him. After years evading countless highschool pranks, Brian instinctively yelled at Lilly to stop and drop. "ARE YOU INSANE?!" She yelled back. "JUST TRUST ME!" He replied. And so after a moment of doubt she did, her knees dropping to the floor and her hands protecting her head. "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me" Lilly whispered to herself while starting to glow a light Yellow. The zombie-like creature ran into her body, almost as if he didn't see her drop. On impact, his legs were left behind and tore off from his abdomen while the rest of him flew forwards and ate the pavement... Well, leaves.
Without a moment of rest, he sprang up and dug into the floor, his nails clawing into the leaves trying to find stability. The smell of blood was fresh. He used all the power in his body to spring at her one more time. "HELP-" she screamed. Before Matthew could even react, Brian leaped between Lilly and the ghoul and bashed the things head into mush with his bare fist. Everyone felt the shockwave of the punch, the leaves around them flying away in all directions forming a deep pit. The remains of the ghoul were scattered all around and its head almost seemed as if it had disintegrated from the pure force Brian exerted on its head.
"Is it dead?" Asked Lilly, who was rocking herself in the fetal position, trembling ever so slightly. "How did it live with half of its body torn off, it sure wasn't human. It was almost like the zombies from Hollywood, just more... Alive" Thoughts and questions flooded Matthew's brain. "I just blew a demon's head off, be quiet and let me just rest you, shitheads," Said the naturally tired and terrified Brian. The two decided it was best to lay off less they wanted to share the same fate as the spawn of satan.
