Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Vhaena
HE’S DEAD
“Hey. Wake up,” Inka’s voice cleared the fog in my mind as I felt a nudge against my shoulder. I peeled my lids apart, squinting up to see the inside of the tree.
I fell asleep?
I didn’t think it was possible. Sleep would have been the last thing I thought I was capable of. Both Inka and I trembled next to each other for hours after we heard the attack. Murder, more like. That’s all this fucking Hunt was—an excuse for demons to maim and kill for fun.
I must have slid down the trunk of the tree at some point while I slept, resting at an angle that wasn’t quite lying down.
I shifted my curved body back into a sitting position, wincing from the aches in my muscles, and noted the first light of dawn stretching into the sky.
I glanced outside the tree to make sure nothing was around before I spoke.
“How long was I asleep?” I whispered.
“Not long. Maybe an hour? It’s hard to measure time when you’re hunkered in a tree.”
“Don’t I know it,” I mumbled.
I stifled a yawn and stretched my sore limbs. That was the most uncomfortable sleep I had ever had. I would have preferred the hard floor of the swaying ship over sleeping inside a tree. And I was pretty sure I was sitting on a rock.
Nope. A nut.
I pulled the hard shell out from under me, glaring at it.
“I think now is a good time to leave,” Inka suggested, nodding toward the forest. “I didn’t hear any movements from outside after you fell asleep, so I don’t think there are any demons around.”
“Maybe we could just stay here and wait it out,” I offered.
I didn’t want to leave. This place felt safe.
Well, safer than out there, where we were completely exposed.
At least in here we didn’t have to watch our backs, and we were more concealed than out in the open.
Not to mention, there was no guarantee we would be able to find another hiding place if we couldn’t find our way back.
“As much as I would love to, I don’t think we can. We need food that isn’t so loud, water, and I don’t know about you, but I really need to pee.”
I was pretty sure my bladder heard her because I suddenly did, too.
And I was thirsty. I could go without food for a few days if I had to, but I needed water.
I wondered if this was part of the demons’ plan, if it was the reason to bring us to a mostly barren island.
To keep us moving and out in the open as we fought for our survival.
“Yeah, good point. We can try to trace our steps back to the stream we saw yesterday and look for food while we’re at it.” Now my stomach was listening because it grumbled loudly in agreement.
We crawled out of our place inside the tree trunk and onto the forest floor. We went on opposite sides of the large tree to relieve ourselves—the first time we’d done so since we were on the ship yesterday.
“Do you remember which way the stream was?” I asked Inka when she came back around the tree, still keeping my voice quiet.
“Uh, I think we came from that way? Oh, wait. That way.” She sounded not-so-confident as she pointed, then led the way, but it honestly all looked the same. Identical dense trees in every direction.
“Hey, you’re not limping as much. That’s good,” I said as I caught up to her. She was still walking way too slow for my liking, but at least her foot wasn’t dragging behind her as she moved.
“Yeah. The tingling gets better with rest. If I go too long without sleep or exert myself too much it starts getting worse again. So keep an eye out for a good walking stick.” She winked at me.
“Is there anything else that can help it? Like some sort of medicine.”
“Mandrake root dulls the pain, but it’s difficult to find and too expensive to purchase. Not to mention, it makes me drowsy, and I don’t like the idea of sleeping my life away. Ox bezoar helps sometimes, too, but it’s disgusting, and I’m not taking that shit unless I have to.”
“I don’t blame you there.” She really did remind me of Ma—stubborn to a fault but unwilling to let her ailment slow her down.
Though I didn’t have room to complain in comparison to her, my feet ached.
I’d never run that much in my life, and I wasn’t exactly in decent footwear.
My boots were made of thin leather that did little to prevent me from feeling every rock or stick I stepped on.
At least, it kept my feet and ankles dry and free from cuts.
Inka wasn’t as fortunate. She was wearing delicate slippers that stopped just below her ankles.
I’d offered her my boots, seeing as we looked similar in size, but she declined.
We continued our walk in silence. There was no point in running, seeing as we didn’t exactly have anything to run from at the moment, and we had no idea where the demons were.
For all we knew, we could be walking straight toward one.
Both of us kept our heads on a swivel, searching high and low for any sign of them while also keeping an eye out for any food to forage and a water source.
It wasn’t long before I stopped dead in my tracks, throwing a hand out to stop Inka. My stomach churned as I took in the sight before me.
Shreds of flesh were scattered everywhere, leading toward a body so mutilated I could hardly recognize her as human.
Someone’s mother, sister, girlfriend, torn to ribbons for the demon’s pleasure.
The entire area around the corpse was stained with blood and littered with pieces of her.
I couldn’t tell who it was, and I had no interest in getting closer to see.
There was a low drone coming from the mass of flies swarming over the body and crawling inside her open wounds.
The metallic scent of blood was so strong it made my eyes water, to the point I had to breathe through my mouth.
I swallowed back the bile creeping up my throat and turned around, needing to look away. That could have been us. It was only a few hundred yards from where we were. If they had continued on, there was a good chance we would have joined her in death.
The entire Hunt was sickening. What right did they have to take women from their homes, murder their families if they resisted, and then take their lives?
I hated them. I hated all of them. I didn’t even know who they were, but I was beginning to see what monstrosities they were capable of…
A thought occurred, one that created a hole in the pit of my stomach. “Inka,” I whispered, terror lacing my voice as my eyes darted in every direction.
She looked at me with her hand over her mouth, likely holding back vomit.
“What if the demons are still around?” We never heard them leave last night…
Her eyes widened and shot toward the trees.
I swallowed, continuing to glance around. “They didn’t pass by us, so it would probably be best to go in the opposite direction of our tree.”
“Agreed,” her voice squeaked before both of us quickly went back the direction we came from.
If it wasn’t for the fact that we needed water to survive, I would have convinced Inka to crawl back into the tree trunk, and I’d happily wait the next six days hiding. I couldn’t stop picturing the shredded corpse, kept imagining it being me instead.
“Do you think they’re going to sleep during the day and hunt us at night?” Inka asked.
“I have no idea. If they hunted all night, then maybe they are sleeping now.” That thought made me feel slightly better at least—but only slightly because I didn’t even know if they slept normally like humans.
I didn’t know how many demons there were. Did they outnumber us? Were there less so some could kill more than one? Or were there more, so they could kill us together? I felt like I knew absolutely nothing about demons. It didn’t help that they purposely hid their entire existence from us.
I wondered where all the other women were and how many had survived the night.
We were at least down to forty-nine; that much was certain.
And we hadn’t heard any other sounds of distress.
But what were the chances only one woman had died on the first night when most, if not all, would be killed within seven?
If others were killed, then it meant they had to have been far enough away that we hadn’t heard it.
And it only made me wonder how big this island truly was.
I had no way of knowing. When we arrived on the ship and were taken onto the beach, I couldn’t see the ends of the island.
The sand and treeline went on and on in either direction.
We could very well be traveling for days and never see the other side.
Inka and I walked and walked for hours. We tried going in the direction we thought the stream was in, using the sun’s position in the sky as a guide, but after a while, we learned that we were utterly lost. I was already physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.
From all the walking. From the constant searching for danger, food, water, and shelter.
From the trepidation at the thought of a demon lurking behind every tree we passed.
I was beginning to appreciate having Inka at my side.
She moved through this cursed place as if fear couldn’t touch her, while I felt one breath away from shattering—each step a crack in the fragile glass holding me together.
Her calm steadiness bled into me, giving me something to hold onto when all I wanted was to collapse.
Even if I didn’t believe I could survive, her presence made me feel as if maybe I could, and it was enough to keep me moving.
Luckily, there were no signs of any demons.
Unluckily, there were also no signs of food or water.
Noting the position of the sun, it was past midday, and we decided to take a few minutes to rest. I could have kept going—the continuous flow of adrenaline keeping me from feeling the full extent of my exhaustion—but Inka needed to take a break.
She sat down against one of the larger trees and rested her head in her hands.
I stayed on my feet, continuing to keep an eye out on the surrounding forest. We needed water.
It was all I could think about. I was so thirsty my head began to throb, and I was half tempted to lick my own sweat just to stave off the dryness in my mouth.
“I’m going to loop around to see if I can spot any signs of water,” I told her, knowing I could cover more ground without her.
She nodded, and I walked away. I made sure to stay within sight of the tree in the distance so I didn’t lose my way. If I could just hear any trickling, I would at least know which direction to go.
I was starting to second-guess our decision to walk in the opposite direction. What if there was no other water? What if the only place to drink was that stream, and it was a way to lure us toward them?
After a few minutes, I was on the opposite side of a tree where I couldn’t see Inka. I couldn’t hear any signs of water either.
I was about to make another lap when I noticed something approaching… I squinted to focus, and then I gasped.
That can’t be him. He’s dead.