Chapter 16

Chase stood completely still, paralysed by the gaze. For a brief, tortured moment he couldn't move no matter how much he commanded his body.

Only a short bark woke him, "Get away!"

A man with full locks of dark black hair and a massive unwieldy beard came charging out of the undergrowth. He held a spear up, brandishing it with focus.

The dark haired man plunged the spear into the boy's head, causing it to topple. The back of the creature that wasn't visible until now was revealed, it was made of a bunch of slithering vines that seemed to wriggle and writhe, mimicking the appearance and movements of the boy. It was like finding out the back of the canvas was nothing like the image painted onto it.

The man kept his distance, stabbing and slashing the vines, once the form became unrecognisable it retreated back from whichever direction it came from.

Chase and Elie stood there stunned. "Thank you." Said Chase, however the dark haired man had other words for them.

"The fuck are you trying to do?! Now it's gonna relocate! Fucking... god damnit." He grabbed a fistful of hair in frustration before letting out a sigh of resignation. He pointed his spear at them prompting Chase to pull Elie behind him, "Just leave, I already marked out my land..." as the bearded man spoke his voice grew quieter and his eyes grew wider.

"You aren't from around here, are you? I guess there are all kinds of people down south." He said, some trepidation entering his voice. His eyes darted up briefly at Chase's hair.

Chase didn't know how to respond so he readied his spear, "We'll leave now, we don't want any trouble."

"So that's why they got close to the crying ivy, ignorant bastards." the man nodded to himself, ignoring Chase.

The bearded man lowered his spear and put on a welcoming grin, "Well you got some pretty shit luck running into that." he said, holding out his hand for a handshake. Chase didn't take his hand instead looking him up and down.

When Chase didn't reciprocate the gesture the man coughed into his hand in embarrassment.

"Anyway, um... my name is Con-"

A vine that hung over the bearded man's head dropped down from the trees above, wrapping taut around his neck. The vines hoisted him high into the air, leaving him unable to do anything but cough and splutter, his eyes bulged out and his mouth was wide open desperately trying to draw in fresh air.

He stabbed at the vine above but that only seemed to aggravate it more as it crushed his throat. Although Chase was caught off guard he tried to slash at the vines, but they pulled the man just out of reach leaving him unable to assist. After a dozen seconds there was a thud as the spear left the man's grasp and he drew a knife from his belt, he tried to hack away at the vines but the dull blade wasn't enough to save him in time.

His body hung limp and bit by bit was hoisted up into the branches above them. After a minute he could no longer be seen. A chill ran up Chase's spine, although he felt guilty he took the spear and knife the man dropped and got away as far as they could from that place. Elie hadn't spoken a word the entire time, on the one hand Chase wanted to berate her but he knew he was the one to blame in the end.

That night Chase couldn't go to sleep, he was scared of the dream demon taking him in the night and even worse that something would drag them into the air whilst they were asleep. He spent the night warding off any bugs that came their way and stewing over the day's events.

When Elie woke up, she looked just as tired as he felt. The lack of water was starting to become pressing, he had to find something before the end of the day if they wanted to get by. By mid day he could almost smell water in the air, it was a kind of earthy aroma that hung low to the ground. He considered trying to suck water from the leaves but when he placed a finger on his tongue and felt the smooth dry texture, he quickly decided against it.

Eventually they managed to find a small creek of fresh water, once they saw it, the two of them knelt down and started cupping water into their mouths until their stomachs were full. Elie lay down on her side after the drink, exhausted by everything. Chase splashed some water on his face to ward off the drowsiness, a few minutes later they set off, following the creek in search of a river.

On their way Chase noted that the trees around here were thicker, more lush with leaves, the air more warm and damp. It was as if they had gone further south, although that probably wasn't it, as far as he remembered their village was close to the southernmost point of the forest. It made no sense that they were further south. He stopped trying to make sense of it and just continued walking.

When they got to a river Elie seemed to finally perk up, she had been going in and out of the bag depending on her and Chase's condition but now she was running over to the large body of flowing water. It was deep enough that it looked a nice shade of blue.

The two of them undressed and got into the water, this was the first time they had washed properly in weeks. The water was a tad chilly but they both adjusted to it quickly. After soaking for a few minutes they both felt much better, Elie even closed her eyes in contentment. It was so tranquil, for a moment Chase felt a little taste of home, they would bathe like this with the three of them, he would go ahead with Elie and his wife would join them after, it always took her longer to undress. Just as he was reminiscing he heard a strange growling noise from across the river, Elie also shot upright in the water, eyes wide open.

A strange abomination walked out from behind the treeline. It had human limbs, all four of which were uneven in length and crawled on the ground. There was something resembling a thorax encased in an open ribcage, the hot flesh faintly squirming inside. But most hideous of all was a head-like appendage that poked out close to the ground sniffing the floor through two gaping holes.

It made another growling noise before sticking its "head" into the water. For a brief moment the two of them held their breath.

The thing seemed satisfied with the temperature and dove beneath the water. A wave of goosebumps so intense, no amount of cold could have caused it, rippled over them.

Chase reached out and grabbed Elie by the arm, yanking her out of the water. He muddled to the riverbank as quickly as possible, dragging her with him. Elie kicked the ground away from her whenever she could, doing her best to keep her head out of the water.

They scrambled out of the water on all fours grabbing the first thing they could use as a weapon. Chase backed up whilst holding the spear at the river blindly. For the first time he considered just leaving all of their stuff and running.

But then Chase heard a hauntingly familiar voice behind him. "Oh, I didn't think I'd run into you. Mind if I join?"

Chase whipped the spear around to see the dark bearded man from before, he had a rag slung over his shoulder and a small drawstring bag. In his panic Chase let out a guttural scream, as if trying to scare off a bear that was charging him.

"aaaaaaAAAAgggh!" His voice broke mid way through the cry.

The bearded man, who he watched die and get dragged away, just seemed to wince at the sound.

"Is that a yes or no?"

Chase wasn't even listening to anything, his eyes were a bit too wide for him to appear completely sane and kept darting between the bearded man and the river. He kept screaming until even Elie joined in, she hid behind his leg with her bone knife out.

He let out a sigh of resignation, "Fuck me, you lot are feral. I could swear we were talking the same language yesterday."

Chase was almost certain he had watched this same man die, maybe he was like the boy? Was he made of vines too? What was that thing in the water? He tried to answer all of the questions at once and couldn't, his sleep deprivation and starvation left him in a lucid fog.

The man walked towards them. Chase screamed, "GET AWAY FROM US!"

He threw his hands in the air, "See! You can talk!" He waved exaggeratedly. Seeing as Chase didn't budge, the man walked around them muttering under his breath, "Why is it always this shit... crazy little..."

As he was making his way, the abhorrent creature crawled out from within the river and shook each of its limbs erratically, one by one, drying them off. Thankfully it was still on the other side of the river.

"OOOOHHH! Old Billy! How've you been?" Shouted the man. A grin on his face.

The creature turned around and sniffed at the air, its nostrils expanding and contracting as it tried to identify the smell. It let out a groan that sounded eerily like a muffled human voice, it repeated the groan over and over, bobbing its "head" from across the river in a sort of greeting.

He held up his drawstring bag, "Same here. Nice seeing you after so long, stay out of trouble now." The creature let out one last groan before scurrying away at a terrifying speed into the treeline.

"Now I get the screaming, the old bastard must have started you." He rambled on, "Don't worry he doesn't bite as long as you don't touch-"

The man coughed up a mouthful of dark hot blood, it flowed down his chin, staining his black bear a darker, glossier shade.

When he looked down there was a sharp pointed tip poking out of his chest. He touched the end and felt it yank back and out of his body.

A sense of dread filled him as he watched a red spot of blood spread along his shirt, flowering out.

The feral man and his daughter, who he was planning to ignore, stared at him as if trying to gauge his reaction. Conleth felt something inside him snap.

"Fuck you. This was my good shirt, why did you have to ruin-"

He coughed again as the spear entered his chest once more. He ignored it and kept talking.

"I wasn't going to say anything about you stealing my shit, but YOU have the gall to stab ME, with MY OWN FUCKING SPEAR!"

The coughing grew more and more violent until Conleth was starting to feel dizzy. He gritted his teeth through the pain, "Well? What are you waiting for? Just finishing me off."

He watched the feral man waver for a moment and instead grab their stuff and get away as quickly as possible.

Conleth couldn't believe what he was seeing, "Re- cough really? Gonna let me bleed out?" When he got no response and his vision started to dim he let out his last breath.

"You dick."

Conleth woke up in a warm haze, his bare ass resting against a bed of moss. He pried off the tiny white hair-like roots.

He got up and started pacing around his sprouting spot talking to himself.

"I was doing so wellllllll... nothing for four months then bam, twice in two days. For fucks sake." He grumbled to himself.

Conleth thumped his head against a nearby tree until a thin trickle of blood ran down his face. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Just be civil. Worst comes to worst just kill him and call it even."

He paused, grinding his teeth.

"Fuck it. Why do I have to be polite."

"He bled me out." He smiled.

"So I'll bleed him out."