A single sweat trickled down my spine, my eyes wide in horror as I stood up slowly. Serpent glanced at me, his jaws open to let out a low growl. What's weird was that he wasn't facing the door, he was looking sharply at a dark part of the room.

Was the beast already inside?

I try not to panic as I squinted at what Serpent was growling at but it was too dark, I couldn't see anything. Waiting patiently, I held my breath. If the beast was here, he would have jumped out and waste no second in slaughtering us all but all I heard was the dang creaking noise. I frowned, slowly releasing my breath and even though fear makes my legs feel like jelly, it did not stop me from taking a step.

I passed Alex and Serpent, a frown appeared on his face but he didn't wake up, I wonder why he wasn't up yet, he was usually always on alert that even the small noise woke him up, Serpent glances at me, his growl stopping for a second before he starts again. Passing Luca, the creak got more louder but we all know when Luca sleeps, he sleep like a corpse.

"Is anyone there?" A too familiar heavily accented voice called out. I stopped in surprise. That was Ani.

"A...mmmphhh!"

My back meet a rock hard chest, the scent of Rain, mud, earth filling my senses instantly. I panicked, wriggling but the hand on my mouth tightened as if to warn me not to let a sound out. A hot breath blow into my ear and a single sound came out of their mouth.

"Shhhh".

I relaxed a little, it's not a beast but who's it? The hand on my mouth reluctantly slipped away as if they weren't sure if I'm going to keep quiet. Soft steps sounded behind me and the person stepped in front of me. My eyes widened in surprise, it was the perfect moment to shout...

ALEX??

But he held a single finger to his mouth and my the urge to shout disappeared replacing fear.... something is still out there and there's Ani too?? Alex gave me a look, a kind of look that told me to stay where I was, that he was going to check this out. He turned and took a careful step, Serpent following close beside him but he didn't take more than two steps before he just.... disappeared

I gasped loudly, rushing forward to see what happened. That was a mistake.

I fell....






Air whipped past me, making my blonde hair fly up as I stretched my hand as if some invisible force would pull me up. My scream stopped short when my back fell hardly into a rock, my body rolling instantly my head banging hard against another rock and I rolled and rolled and rolled, eventually the torture stopped. My head was throbbing painfully, my dainty nightgown hunged up by some rock and I was naked except for my panties, I could feel the....





"Blake!!!" My vision cleared, Ani appearing in front of me. I frowned at her, confused.

"Look at me, look at me, Breatheee..." She instructed me taking exaggerated breaths herself. I copied her, my brain feeling like mush at the moment. When she saw that I'm alright, she placed a hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. I avoided it, my eyes falling on green ones, his gaze intense, I quickly shifted my eyes back to Ani.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly.

"Yeah". I whispered, taking in my surroundings. It is dark but it wasn't dark enough that I can't see. Dark, weird animals hung from the roof, dead birds and skeletons littered the floors and feathers and blood decorated the wall. I looked at it, horrified. "What is this place?"

Ani straightened. "Oh this? I don't know, I just kind of stumbled into it".

"What?" I sat up, glancing at what I fell on.

Sacks of grain??

"Oh yeah? She squinted an eye. "It's strange. Have all the shelters you've been had an underground?" She directed her question to Alex.

Alex moved his eyes to her, seeming to think for a second before his deep voice rang out. "How did you find out this place?"

I looked at him sharply, that's the longest word I've ever heard from him.

Ani looked surprise too, her mouth hanging open for a minute before she realizes he asked her a question. "Umm.... I wanted to pee and I didn't want to go outside because it was already dark but I also couldn't find the litter bucket so I...searched and searched and I... "She kicked a skull with her right foot. "Fell into this place".

I stood up, looking up at the dark hole I fell from. "How are we going to get back to others?"

"Shout?"

I gave her a bored look. "I didn't hear you until I'm close to this place. All I heard was some creaking noise."

"Oh that? I was trying to open that door", She pointed at a small door at the corner of the room. "But no matter how much I tried, it won't..."

Creak. Crack. Thud.

We turned in surprise, our mouth hanging open as we watched Alex broke the door.

"Open." She finished

"Wow. I feel so feminine", She glanced at me. "How strong is he again?"

"Uh... I don't know," To be honest, I was curious about that piece of information, remembering his strong chest and his muscled arms, it wasn't exactly a muscle build from running from beasts all these years.

Alex crouched, looking over at us, behind his shoulder with a raised brow, then he disappeared inside, Serpent following immediately. "He doesn't talk does he?"

I looked at her. "He talked just now."

She lets out a gasp. "Right! I mean did you heard that? his voice is so deep!"

"You are shouting, and he can hear you."

"Oh."

I rolled my eyes. Ani can be dramatic sometimes. "Let's go and see what's inside there before Alex think we are fantasizing on his voice,"Ani giggled.

I took the lead, crouching before I could enter. Ani followed, frowning when she didn't crouch.

"Is it me, or did I just get shorter?"

"You are short," I pointed out, ignoring her glare and taking a look at what we just entered. The room wasn't big, it was dark like where we are coming from but something about the room gave me chills, though it was empty, just walls of concrete and mud.

"Alex?" Ani called beside me, walking towards where Alex is, crouching in the middle of the room, Serpent nose sniffing around. When she got there, she gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth. I ran there, curious to see what's wrong but when I saw what they are looking at, I wished I wasn't curious.

Laying on the floor was a battered head of a girl, her eyes rolled up and her tongue stuck between her teeth, it was clearly a sign of struggle. The person who beheaded her took their damn time, I gagged, my stomach rumbling in response probably from hunger, I've seen worse than this but the worst thing here is that...this is clearly not the work of a beast.

I gasped as Alex stood up, his face exceptionally blank, you could paint an expression on it. The kill was fresh, the blood drawn on the ground in a small perfect circle, the head in the middle of it and a small wooden bowl filled with fresh blood. Beside me, Ani choked her dinner out of her stomach.

"Have you seen something like this before?" I whispered to Alex. Silence answered me, that was typical Alex but this isn't the usual kind of his silence, this silence is bordered on something dangerous and I tried not to shiver from the dangerous aura emanating from him. I looked up at him but his eyes were stuck on something else, I frowned, moving my eyes to what he was looking at, my eyes widened. Ani tapped me furiously beside me, obviously seeing what I'm seeing. A hole was chipped into the wall, big enough for a human to pass through and staring at us from the forest was a piercing bright blue eyes illuminated from the moon but that's all I could see, the rest of them was covered in cloak. After a long staring, they turned and took into the forest, Alex waste no time in running after them, Serpent sprinting after him. I know he was strong but I never knew he could be fast.

"Should we followed him or?" Ani asked, looking at me, I looked back at her, a silent understanding passing between us, before we took off after Alex and Serpent.

It's dangerous but we can't just leave Alex out there on his own even though we don't know how to help if a beast found him or what to do if a beast found us. I let my mind travelled to the horrific scene, it wasn't the work of a beast, was it a person's? Why would they kill another person? I get it if they hate them but isn't the beasts coming to kill us all? And that doesn't even look like....? That looks like something like a spell? I pumped my legs harder when I saw Ani now running in front of me but the painful muscle jab in my thigh isn't helping either, a constant reminder of my first day here.

Ani stopped suddenly, her hands on her hips as she panted heavily, I slowly stopped, feeling my head spinning. Maybe not eating that rice was a bad idea, running with an empty stomach was something common here but my stomach had never been this empty before. I doubled over, groaning as I placed both of my hands on my knees, shallow heavy breaths escaping my mouth.

"W–where t...the hell is he?" Ani panted.

Yeah, we couldn't find Alex.

"Damn. He's fast," I wheezed, collapsing at the foot of a large tree.

Ani looked at me, her breathing harsh. "It was stupid of us to follow him."

I nodded helplessly.

"We should have went to get Raine and others first."

"Yeah."

"A beast may find us right now."

I closed my eyes, frustrated.

"And we don't even know what to do."

"Stop trying to tell me what I fucking know!"

She stopped breathing, looking at me with wide eyes and I felt guilty for shouting at her.

"I'm sorry, I just..."

"I know," She cuts me off, collapsing beside me. "It's okay, but you might want to keep it down, we are already in danger as it is, we do not want to draw attention to ourselves."

I nodded wordlessly, my mind traveling back to the scene again, that was clearly what Ani was thinking because she asked me about it next.

"What I know is about how much you knew." I replied her.

She sighed, "Someone did that thing, what I'm trying to figure is why they would kill someone and where is the rest of her body? And it's impossible to know what is going on in Alex's head."

"If they've seen anything at all, Raine would tell us."

A snort escaped her tight lips. "Raine barely tell us anything. Do you notice the tension between her and Alex?"

I tilted my head at her, observing her... I never really had a chance to talk to Ani mostly because she's always with Louisa, I didn't know she was this observant. I've always hated observant people.

"Don't worry," She winked at me, her black eyes and black skin glinting in the moonlight. "Everyone knows but Louisa told me if they brought the subject up, Raine always flipped out, there's clearly something between them, something they are keeping from us."

I kept silent, my erratic breathing slowing down.

"How do you got here?" I asked her instead

She looks startled at the question, I bet Louisa never asked her that, it was a touchy subject for most of us. She turned her eyes away from me, looking up at the moon, a smile appearing on her face as if she was reminiscing a memory.

"I don't know, my brother got jailed like usual and my mom must not know, so I went to help him out like always."

"You bailed him out?"

"Hmmm... something like that but it involves a lot of sneaking around and disguising and of course no money."

I threw her a sideway glance, she definitely doesn't look like a girl that would do that. She glanced at me for a second before turning back to the moon, a soft smile lighting up her dark features.

"It was not my day, many bad things had happened earlier in the day and then I got a call that my brother has been arrested again. The police had arrested some gunmen terrorizing the city of Lagos but Nigeria police are corrupted so it's not a surprise seeing the gunmen having the upper hand over the police. My brother was jailed at the wrong time and I came to save him at the wrong time," Her smile slowly fades. "A gunman pointed his gun at me and he fired, that's all I remembered."

I frowned. "So you like...died?"

A grimace took over her face. "I wouldn't put it like that but I think this is the place criminals go to when they died, you know like heaven or hell, maybe this is our hell"

"How are you so sure?"

It took a while for her to answer, her face wiped from any emotions. "I would not have survived that gunshot."

I kept silent, my mind reeling of questions but didn't exactly know how to voice it out, behind those smile and the bubbly facade, I could hear the pain in her voice, she didn't try to hide it though.

"What about you?" She looked at me.

"Me?" I frowned. "What is it about me?"

"Tell me about yourself."

I shook my head silently, "There's nothing about me."

She shrugged. "If you say so but I tell you mine, it's only fair if you tell me yours."

"I only asked you to tell me how you got here not about yourself."

She frowned. "So how do you got here?"

"I don't know", I said sighing. "I slept and I woke up here."

"Just like that?"

I nodded. "Just like that!"

We kept silent after that, the forest becoming more eerie without us talking, it's like there's no living thing in the forest, not even the sound of a cricket.

"We are lost," Ani spoke after a while, standing up and dusting her already dirty clothes.

"No shit sherlock," I snorted.

She rolled her black eyes. "Do you think we should keep tracking Alex or find our way back?"

"Let's find our way back, luckily we make it back before we get slaughtered."

Ani grimaced, extending an hand to lift me up from the floor. "That is very reassuring."

I stood up, shivering a little, the cold of the night seeping into my leather cloak. I looked into the dark forest, suddenly feeling confused. "Uhmmm.... Do you know the way?"

She looked uncertain. "I could try?"

"That's not an answer."

"Doesn't matter," She said, taking the lead, only to... stumble, faceplanting herself on the ground.

I rolled my eyes. "Really?"

"Don't you dare?" Came her muffled reply, I reached over to help her on her feet.

"I'm fine."

"I'm not worrying."

She glared at me, she then bend down and started searching the ground with her hands.

"Uhmmm..." I was very confused.

"I tripped on something."

"So?"

"So I'm looking for it."

"It might be a...stick?"

"No, it might be a..." She straightened up, holding up something in her hand. "Book."

My brows furrowed. "What is that?"

It was her turn to frown. "I just told you it's a book."

I reached out to collect the book, it was tattered and old, the edges burnt. Squinting, I tried to figure out what was written on the cover.

AGARTHA?

"What is that?"

"I don't know, Agatha is a name and it's not spelled like this."

Ani snatched it. "Whatever it is, I'm keeping it."

I nodded, not really thinking about the book, it may have fallen from someone's body. "Whatever nerd let's just go."

She scrunch her nose up in annoyance, muttering under her breath that she's not a nerd all the while tucking the book in her armpit and leading the way, when she suddenly stop. I resist the urge to groan.

"If you..."

"Shhh." She put a single finger on her lips. "Listen."

I frowned, fear slowly trickling it's way in my chest, I listened carefully, the soft sounds of the wind ruffling the leaves, the ruffles of dry leaves on the ground as if.... I froze. As if someone was walking through them.

I stared wide eyed at Ani, she was looking at me with the same expression.

"Any suggestions?" She whispered

"Run," I whispered back.

"I thought I told you to stay at that place." A deep voice rumbled through the forest.

We stopped in our tracks.

Alex

Sighs of relief escaped our mouth. "Well, you never actually told us," Ani tried to joke.

Alex shook his head, raising his leg to dust something off his trousers, revealing Serpent scratching his ears.

"Did you catch them?" I asked. He stopped dusting his leg and nudge Serpent with it, the dog understanding the message and sniffing around the forest.

"Well?" I tried again, He didn't reply, instead he followed Serpent.

"Are you coming?" Was all he said.

"I asked you a question," I said, getting annoyed as I followed him, Ani stepping right up beside me.

"And I chose not to answer," He replied blankly, a slight accent in his voice.

"Oh!" Ani whisper–yelled "That means he didn't catch them. Ashamed now are we?"

Alex glanced at her but he did not make a sound, only following Serpent's tail.

Ani scoffed. "Of course, he won't talk. He's deaf isn't he?" She turned to me.

I gave her a dumb look "I'm not Louisa."

She grimaced as if the thought of me being Louisa was repelling.

I rolled my eyes at her dramatics, still slightly annoyed with Alex.

The rest of the night would have been spent in silence if not for the constant rambling of Ani's and the embarrassing rumbles of my stomach.

We walked and walked and walked more...we never gets to the shelter. At one point, Serpent refused to go any further and not even the nudging of Alex's leg can make his legs work again, so we all collapsed on the ground, silently wishing a beast dies not found us as we watch the sun rise.

Ani broke the silence after a while. "So we are lost!"

I groaned. Does she always have to fucking state the damn obvious?



AN: Unedited. Feel free to point out the mistakes



Pollyna 💜



© Precious