Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Vhaena
RUN
My feet flew beneath me, carrying me through the forest as I wove between the trees faster than I had ever gone before. I cleared my mind of all thoughts, concentrating solely on pushing myself harder out of the need for pure survival. It was primal instinct. Prey chased by predator.
I didn’t know where I was going—and I didn’t care, so long as I was able to get away and hide. Not to mention, Inka didn’t stand a chance of outrunning a demon. She’d be dead before she even started.
With the spoon now firmly in my grip, coming in and out of my vision as my arms pumped, it gave me the smallest comforting illusion of protection. Though, I still wished I had a better weapon.
The terrain of the forest required every ounce of my focus. One misstep, one stumble, and I’d be caught. I didn’t dare to glance over my shoulder. But I knew he was there.
I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t hear him. But I could feel him—like a breath on the back of my neck.
Driven by fear, my legs moved faster and faster. Too fast. Uncontrollably fast.
All of a sudden, my foot snagged on a root hidden beneath the leaves. I toppled over with flailing arms, then I hit the ground hard, knocking the breath from my lungs. Before I could even attempt to get back up, the demon was on top of me.
Clawed hands slammed against my back, holding me down and digging into my flesh. A wail of pain ripped from my throat as they dragged down my skin, spilling blood down my sides. In a blur of motion, I was flipped over and pinned in place. Utterly helpless against the strength of the demon above me.
The world around me spun for a moment, morphing the sky and trees into a contorted image.
I blinked away the mental fog, needing my bearings in order to fight my way out of this.
As the haze receded, I focused on a familiar figure in the canopy of foliage—the raven.
Like a harbinger of death sent here from the hells to mock me.
I thrashed and kicked, trying to fight off the demon as the metallic clank of his belt rang in my ears.
The most I could manage was poking him in the eye with the spoon’s handle through the hole in his mask.
But his strength was unmatched. He held my arms down with one hand, pinning my body with his thighs.
Memories flashed in and out, merging with the present so fluidly it was hard to tell the difference.
The masked face morphed into a more familiar one with a hauntingly wicked grin.
The black hood faded into light brown hair.
But the darkness of the eyes was exactly the same.
No. Not again…
I slammed my eyes shut, pushing the past back into its repressive cage. I couldn’t let this happen. I couldn’t die. I needed to get back to Inka. I had to get back home. Ma needed me.
With a new found drive, I threw my head forward, smashing it into the demon’s face.
My head throbbed, now realizing the mask was made of some kind of metal, but I knew it still hurt him.
He snarled and cursed, then slapped me across the face with a chuckle.
I continued to thrash, twisting my body back and forth, kicking anywhere I could reach, and trying to free my arms. I tried to slam my head into his face again, but his hand blocked me before shoving my head to the ground, my cheeks scraping against the cool earth.
“Oh, you fight so well.” The demon’s words slithered like worms into my ear. I nearly gagged. “It’s going to make this all the better.”
I stopped momentarily when I noticed the plants around me moving.
Not just swaying in a breeze, but gliding across the ground toward me.
Small roots from the grass burst from the soil and began to wrap around my arms and legs.
I screamed, and the demon just laughed, the sound drawing my eyes back to him.
“Music to my ears. I love the fear in your voices when you all finally get to see what the monsters are capable of,” he said with too much enthusiasm.
He’s doing this?
“What the fuck is this?” I screeched as the larger plants grew closer and closer, more small roots sprouting around my face.
I bit down as hard as I could the moment I felt them crawling in my mouth and pushing toward my throat, snapping them.
Bile rose, threatening to erupt, as I could feel the broken roots still moving over my tongue.
It was a nightmare. A living nightmare. More roots crawled up my face toward my eyes.
I twisted my head as hard as I could, throwing off the demon’s hand.
I was desperate now, and I didn’t know what was more terrifying—the lethal demon above me, or the nature creeping up my skin. Both after my life.
With every ounce of strength I had, I thrust my body upward, trying to dislodge the demon, and screamed at the top of my lungs.
I was surprised it worked, and I questioned my true strength for a moment as the demon was flung off me and slammed against a tree with a hard thud.
Not wasting a moment, I scrambled up, breaking the delicate roots trying to hold me down.
But before I could fully get to my feet, I was pinned in place once again when I met another set of dark, gaping eyes—this time in a mask with two blue slashes.
Another demon.
I’m not getting off this island…
Defeat sank in, weighing me down. Like an anchor tied to my ankles, pulling me to the bottom of the sea.
With his arms still outstretched from having pushed the first demon off of me, the second demon looked down at me.
The intensity in his eyes froze every vein in my body—eyes I couldn’t seem to look away from.
My entire body shook, and I began to back away.
I had looked into the eyes of monsters before, but those eyes emitted a kind of hatred and anger I had never seen—even through the mask.
But it wasn’t toward me…
The second demon leapt over me and attacked the first demon, brawling with him as fists flew. Whether it was like lions fighting over prey or something else, I didn’t care. I took advantage of their distraction.
Running for my life once again, I didn’t look back even as the beating of wings followed.
“Vhaena!” Inka cried with relief as I approached a tree not far from where I left her.
I slowed to a walk, damn near ready to collapse.
My body trembled from the exertion and adrenaline.
I had been running non-stop. I had the thought to zig-zag, taking a wide curve back to her.
I didn’t want a demon to think I was trying to go back to the same spot for any reason, in the event I was followed.
While I was traipsing through the forest and keeping an eye out for demons, I also searched for any signs of another water source Amalia hadn’t known about or mentioned. I had little food and no water. My mouth was painfully dry and now tasted like soil from the roots I spit out earlier.
I reached Inka just as she got to her feet, and she embraced me.
If I’d had the energy, I would have stiffened from the contact.
I’d only known her for a day. I knew she and I were working together to survive, but I hadn’t anticipated her showing affection.
It was dangerous. The chances of either one of us surviving were slim to none, with the additional possibility of one of us betraying the other.
But as I wrapped my weak arms around her shoulders, I realized I too relished the comfort of a friend in such a dark place.
“I have to be honest, I didn’t expect to find you here still. I thought for sure you would have left,” I said after pulling away.
“Yeah, I did, too, but it turns out I’m a coward.
I was scared shitless to move.” She shrugged shamelessly.
“If you hadn’t warned me… I was too afraid to leave because I kept thinking there was another demon waiting.
And no offense, but I didn’t think you’d be back at all—yet you survived.
How?” she asked in astonishment. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad, but you’re not exactly built to outrun a demon or fight one off, and I’m guessing your spoon wasn’t much help. ”
“It wasn’t.” My eyes glanced down to my hands as they twisted around the wooden utensil and thought about how helpless I was. “Another demon intervened and began fighting him. It’s the only reason I was able to get away.”
“They fought each other?” she asked.
“I thought it was weird, too. But it gave me an opening to get out of there, so I took it and didn’t look back.”
“Thank the hells for that,” she breathed.
The hells can kiss my ass.
“We have bigger problems. You know how the demons can do weird shit like magic or whatever?” I couldn’t remember what they called it, but from the stories the survivors told, the demons could make unexplainable things happen.
“Yeah. What about it?” she asked with wide eyes.
“This one could control the plants.” I gestured to the grass beneath our feet, the bushes and trees surrounding us.
“Grand,” she mumbled without a hint of joy.
I told her about the plants moving toward me across the forest floor and the roots wrapping around me; I showed her the red marks the roots had left on my arms and legs. If it wasn’t for that, I probably would have thought I had hallucinated the whole thing and blamed it on the lack of water.
“Well, I’m never sleeping again,” she finally said with terror-filled eyes after I momentarily stunned her speechless.
“Yeah. I knew they could make strange things happen, but seeing it in person was completely different. It’s no wonder hardly any of us survive the Hunt.”
In hindsight, we had been lucky the first night. I was half tempted to go back to that tree, but I wasn’t sure we could even find it again. And we still needed water. Especially now. After running and fighting off a demon without any water for over a day, I was becoming desperate for it.
“We should keep moving while I tell you about my run-in with Amalia, too.” I slowly turned in place, trying to get my bearings and remember which direction we needed to go. “She mentioned a water source to the northwest with a bunch of rocks we can use for hiding.”
“After hearing about the plant-controlling demon, I’m up for not sleeping in trees tonight,” she acquiesced.
Just as we started walking, a loud, annoying screech had us whipping back around.
Damn bird…
The raven was up in the tree squawking over and over, to the point I was afraid he was going to attract unwanted attention.
“Shut up, you satanic chicken!” I scolded, rushing toward him and waving my arms to try to get him to fly away.
He flew to another tree, in a different direction from where we were headed. Then he started squawking once more. I chased after him again, which didn’t help because he just moved farther away.
“Stupid bird,” I grumbled under my breath. I released a frustrated huff and stomped back to Inka. “Let’s just go.”
We didn’t make it three steps before the raven flew right in front of us. He circled around our heads and pecked at our faces.
It only increased the eerie familiarity of Neo.
I grabbed my spoon and started swinging it at him, covering my face with my other arm, while Inka swatted aimlessly with her head ducked. We backed away, and he glided up above us out of reach.
“I swear to the hells I will beat you to death with my spoon,” I seethed.
I made to step forward, but he swooped down again and pecked at my head then pecked at Inka’s.
“Okay, okay! Vhaena, let’s just go this way.”
We turned and faced the other direction, and he immediately left us alone, perching on a limb above us peacefully.
“Oh, now you’re happy?” I threw up my hands.
He ruffled his feathers in an arrogant way. I felt like I had an unusual amount of knowledge regarding a raven’s expressions, and he was definitely being a pompous ass.
“Have you ever seen a bird be so…expressive?” Inka asked.
“Oddly enough, yes,” I grumbled.
She eyed me warily with a crook of her brow. “Friend of yours?”
“Not exactly.” I stared up at the ebony-colored bird, willing myself not to see Neo in him. I also wanted to believe that if it were Neo he would have tried to protect me from the demon earlier. Instead, this wingnut stayed in the safety of the tree and watched. “Just ignore him.”
I walked away, heading in the direction I hoped was the right one. Inka shook her head before following.
“This place just gets more and more freakish.”