The Fall of the Society

Chapter 52: Unexpected Savagery

     Rose awoke, sitting up quickly. The boat was drifting softly in the rolling waves. She listened closely but the only sounds that made their way to her was that of the ocean. Standing she wiped the sleep from her eyes and made her way up into the sunlight. There were clouds drifting across the sky, partially hiding the rising sun, casting shadows across the earth. The deck of the boat was lifeless, and she could not help but wonder where Sid had gone and why he did not wake her to accompany him.

     A sound of splashing water came from behind her as she stared at the shore. Watching curiously, she moved slowly across the deck of the boat. Peering over the edge she saw nothing except the dark water below her. Suddenly the boat lurched, nearly tossing her overboard, but she managed to grasp the railing just in time to keep herself steady. There was something in the water and she had no idea what it was or what it could do. Had the Society set something loose in the water to prevent boats from mooring here? Was it possible that whatever was in the water had managed to take Sid?

     The boat lifted out of the water slightly before crashing back to the surface, causing Rose to fall to a knee. She spun, looking all around to see if she was able to see what had taken an interest in the boat, but nothing was there. Whatever was stalking her was remaining in the shadows of the water. Unsure of what to do she threw caution to the wind and flew up into the air about twenty feet. It would make it easier for anyone above the water or on land to see her, but she would worry about that if it happened. If the thing below the water had taken Sid it would register as a far greater danger.

     Rose scanned the surface around her but was jolted from her search as an explosion rang out behind her. The shockwave rippled the water by the shore. Sid must have gone ashore before whatever was below the boat took interest in them. With a blast of fire, she shot toward the shore and landed just beyond the sandy beach, running into the trees silently. Once she was completely surrounded by foliage, she stopped and listened intently. The forest around her was quiet as the smell of blood carried on the air. She moved slowly through the trees and soon came upon a slew of bodies, making a trail deeper into the forest. The leaves of trees along the path were coated in the spray of blood that looked as though whoever had killed these people had been moving very quickly.

     Rose increased her pace, the number of bodies mixed with the silence convinced her that anyone that had been left in the area had long since fled. Her trip through the trees did not take long now that she was no longer sneaking, and she soon found the remains of a battlefield. The sight was horrible. Mangled bodies stuck here and there from rubble of what looked like a massive wall. She had been around death, but she had never seen anything like this. If Sid was responsible for what she was seeing, then he had hidden a side of himself from her, which made her wonder what other secrets he was keeping. What if everything he had told her was a lie?

     She continued to move forward, making sure not to step in the streams of blood flowing along the contours of the ground. Muffled sounds of fighting could be heard carrying on the breeze from a building up ahead of her. The doors to the building had been made of thick steel, but something had eviscerated them, leaving them in shambles on the ground, large divots holding the pieces where they fell and dug into the floor. Blood covered the walls and the floor of this room as well, bodies littering the ground. A terrible hue cast across the terrible sight as red lights flashed all around her.

      There was a door hanging open at the back of the room, which Rose moved toward slowly due to the chaos that was the floor. Past the door was a long staircase, spiraling into the earth. Rose sighed as she began descending the stairs, the prospect of having to walk all the way down was not positive. As she made her way down, the sound of footsteps soon echoed above her. Rose paused for a moment as the sounds drew nearer, until she heard them step onto the steps and she decided to pick up her pace and ran the rest of the way down the stairs.