[Novel November] Baroburo

[Operative13]

Coming soon...

The World Shall Scream in Darkness, and Only the Silence of Pain Will Remain

[Operative13]

Death is Certain. Staying Alive is Optional.

Run.

The pace quickened. They could hear them close by, rustling the leaves as they scurried through the forest.

Run!

Their feet ached. Their legs shivered. Every fiber in their bones bent and twisted, crushing every ounce of strength they had. But they could not rest. Not now.

RUN!

The snarls and screeches grew louder, intensifying as they ran through darkness, twigs and branches snapping at every corner. Their wispy breaths cried for more air. Fear, Desperation, Despair, Terror. A cry for help. A cry for hope. A cry for a miracle. Anything to save them from the Abyss.

“Come on!” Elliot shouted, pulling his little sister every step of the way.

Through the blind darkness, they ran. Wildly and without direction, they ran. They ran as far as their bodies could take them. But they had been running for far too long.

“I can’t...” Emily cried, wheezing and coughing exasperatedly as she struggled to contain the tears pouring from her eyes. Her small, little chest burned. She cried and wailed as her big brother tugged at her to keep moving, to keep pushing forward. But she could go no further. She cried, not because she could not bear the pain, but because she was a burden to her brother. She could do no more.

“I’m sorry...” she said, whimpering as her legs gave in before collapsing on the forest floor. “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t give up now! We’ll get out of here, I promise!” Elliot tugged on Emily as their screams grew closer. The scent of rotting flesh and putrid bile permeated the air. They were close.

“Please, Emily! Get up!” he begged, lowering his face to hers.

“I can’t...” she coughed. “Just leave me...”

Elliot stood back up. “No. I’m not leaving you.”

“You don’t even care for me...”

“I do now.”

Elliot turned his back toward her and bent down. He pulled her thin arms over his shoulders and lifted her up. His muscles strained as he struggled to pick Emily up, exhausted as he was. Yet through the pain tearing at his veins, he stood back up and began running straight through the pitch-black veil.

Faster, faster, faster. Don’t stop. That was all that ran through Elliot’s mind. The screams grew louder, and the snarling more terrifying. He could feel them trailing behind. A few steps? Ten? Twenty? He could not tell. But they were right behind him, and he was terrified to stop.

“Why are you doing this for me...?” Emily muttered, her soft voice barely breaking through her rasp throat.

“You’re my family,” he replied, weaving left and right past the trees, hopping through fallen logs and dips in the ground, trying not to trip. “Even if I hate you, I’ll never let anything happen to you.”

“Ell...” Emily uttered, tears streaming down her face.

Then he felt it. The cool breeze flowing across his face. The air had been stale for all that time, but not now. They were close.

“We’re almost there, Emily!” Elliot shouted. “Just hang on-”

His heart sank as he suddenly lost the ground underneath his feet. His eyes grew wide as the weightless air rushed below them, and the two children screamed as they came tumbling down the drop into dirt and stone, each impact pounding their flimsy bones, tearing away at their soft skin. They rolled downhill, narrowly missing the massive trunks as they finally came to a stop at the flat bottom.

The dust settled. Elliot coughed and spat as he whinced his eyes, now bloodied by the open wound on his forehead, struggling to pick himself up. He had scrapes and bruises all over his legs and arms. Each one felt like a candle flame burning through his skin, gnawing away at his bloodied flesh. He looked around as best he could for Emily. He could hear her faint breathing just ahead and reached out, trying to grab hold of her, only to find more dirt.

“Emily...” he muttered through his gasping voice.

Elliot worked his arms forward and began pushing himself off the ground, forcing his stiff joints to move. He had ran for all this time, the adrenaline numbing his pain to the point that he was unstoppable, forgetting that he was only a child. Now that he had stopped, Elliot could no longer ignore the painless agony that flooded his entire being. He cried out in horror as he found himself unable to muster the strength to stand up.

The deafening shrieks and howls of shadows grew closer, echoing in the distance. They snarled and groaned, their mismatched footsteps stampeding away until there was an abrupt stop. Then the rocks came rolling down.

“Emily...!” Elliot cried in desperation.

He could hear them coming. His stammering heart bludgeoned his chest, desperately clawing its way out. His eyes darted all around him, not knowing when or where they were coming. Only the faint sound of ghastly grunts and snarls could be made out. Elliot reached out, pulling his way forward with little strength he had left, feeling his way across the dirt, until he felt the warmth of her body. He grabbed a hold of her and shook.

“Emily... Emily!”

She groaned, but she did not move.

“Get up Emily!”

He shook harder. She winced and squirmed, but she did not get up. Elliot shook harder, calling out her name, begging her to move.

“Get up Emily! Get up!”

The rocks came crashing down from above, smashing into trees and flattening bushes as putrid carcasses of flesh and bone slammed into the dirt nearby. His heart raced. He could feel their eyes turning toward him. The crackling of joints and muscles twisting. The lowly grunts and snorts. The rancid odor was enough to make Elliot nauseous. Sweat riding down his dusted face, Elliot clawed around for anything he could use as a weapon. He palmed the soft soil until he took hold of a thick piece of branch. He could hear them moving. Their growls turned into hisses and snarls, their steps hastened and dragged violently across the screeching ground.

“Get up!” he said.

But it wasn’t to Emily. Now it was for himself.

“GET UP!”

In a defiant roar, Elliot picked himself up with all he had left inside, his blood surging in an indistinguishable mix of fear and anxiety. He could barely feel his own skin crawling between his bubbling muscles, but with one swift motion he struck the first thing that came shrieking toward him in the dark.

A crack.

Emily choked from the air’s foul stench. She gasped for breath, and awoke to a faint round object before her eyes.

She screamed.

“Emily!?”

Elliot stopped to turn, only for more to come his way. He swung again at the darkness, clobbering whatever the branch could make contact with. The howls gathered, the shrieks sharpened. More came his way, more flooded the space before him. There was not a moment he could spare.

“Elliot!” Emily called out, whisking her eyes around the pitch black.

She could only make out the chaos unfolding around her, the splitting shrieks and shrills of bones cracking and Elliot’s frantic cries as he battered away the darkness.

He turned for a second and screamed.

“RUN!”

Another came, its red-black gaze meeting Elliot’s own, its gnarly jaws oozing with dried blood and vile stench. Its bite nearly found its mark, had he not stepped back and swung with all that he had. The branch cracked and snapped the creature’s head off its neck. But not nearly enough to sever it.

“Come with me!” Emily cried back.

“JUST RUN!” Elliot screamed again.

Elliot picked up a large rock and clubbed another beast in the skull.

“GO!”

The gurgling snarls soon turned their attention toward the young girl. Dread filled her nerves, and her body froze, unable to move. She couldn’t outrun them. She couldn’t lose them. She couldn’t escape. Only the thought of death remained.

“Over here, you filth!” Elliot called out, chucking rocks at the creatures. “Yeah, that’s right! Come here!”

He beat his chest and stomped the ground as much as he could, drawing their attention as much as he could. The monsters stopped and reared their focus back onto him, hissing as they ran straight again toward Elliot.

Emily hesitated. She opened her mouth to call out to her brother. She would call for him to be with her, to stay by her side. But she stopped. Her brother had risked everything to save her. Even now as she stared into the Abyss, Elliot would not give up on her. He called out to the Abyss, urging it to him, so that she would not be swallowed whole. She cried. She sobbed for her brother, for her heart that could take no more, knowing full well what she was about to do:

Run.

She choked down her tears, and as her older brother screamed wildly into the night, coaxing the monsters away, she picked herself up and ran. She ran as far as her short legs would take her, through the dark forest under the veil of night.

[Operative13]

Survival is Your Responsibility

The shallow waves furrowed slowly onto the shoreline, gently rocking the rowboat to its sides as three cloaked men lumbered a large carcass across the beach. Black veils hid any facial features in the dim starry night, their hoods protruding overhead and scabbards dangling against their knee-long midnight coats. With a heavy grunt, the men heaved the carcass onto the edge of the boat and rolled it over.

“That should be all of them,” Earnest said, pulling the spider’s giant legs up onto the boat. “I don’t think we’ll be able to fit anymore tonight.”

“We’ll get there. Just a few more hunts and the Priestess can make how many she well pleases,” Captain Lewis replied, taking hold of the spider’s other end and shoving it in with the other dead carcasses stacked onto the boat.

“What’s so special about spider eyes?” Bertram asked, holding the spider legs overboard as he raised his hatchet and began dismembering its limbs. “Ain’t the mushrooms enough?”

“We’re not collecting the eyes for poison, Kid. It’s for the new potion she’s brewing,” the Captain replied, now working on the spider’s other limbs.

“I bet she got that idea from that book of his,” said Bertram, tossing the legs overboard into the water. “Don’t you find it funny how we still rely on...”

“Don’t push it,” said Lewis, tossing another spider leg into the water. “He’s long gone now. It’s best not to talk about him anymore.”

They continued hacking away until all the spider’s limbs were gone, then tucked the rest of the body with the others. They listened to the howling night, a horde of ghastly horrors reverberating through the pitch-black forest. It was a distance away, yet they knew to be wary of it.

“You hear that?” Lewis gestured to his ears hidden behind his hood. Bertram nodded. “Always listen to the echoes. Feel the vibrations in the air. When they’re in your sights, that won’t be around anymore. Take it in. Remember it when we come back.”

“I hear footsteps,” Bertram said.

Lewis and Earnest drew their blades. Footsteps in quick succession, pattering through leaves at the lightest touch. They readied for whatever came through the woods, their senses focused to the darkness before them.

“Hold your blades,” a hushed voice called out. “It’s me.”

A dark-cloaked figure wielding a bow appeared out of the brushes, his face completely covered by a black veil. He waved his arm up as he slowed into a walking pace.

“Blessed Almighty, Neel.” Earnest sighed, sheathing his blade. “You scared the daylights out of us.”

“You should’ve signalled,” said Lewis.

“I know. I didn’t want to drag them here. Something’s agitated them. They’re out for blood.”

The horde’s blistering screams rattled the forest. A chorus of shrieks and shrills, climbing rapidly tone and tempo, fast approaching.

“You’re sure that wasn’t you?” said Bertram.

“We need to go. Now,” Captain Lewis ordered. “Everyone on the boats.”

Then a scream. But it wasn’t the distorted wail and howls of monsters. It was distinct.

It was human.

“A survivor!?” Earnest exclaimed.

“Impossible. No one could have survived outside the walls.” Lewis grabbed the oars and held the other at Bertram. “Let’s go.”

“W-Wait, we have to help him!” Bertram stuttered. He jumped off the boat and onto the rocky shore. “We can’t just let him die!”

“He’s already dead. Get on the boat,” ordered Lewis.

“So we’re just going to leave him!?”

“Save your breath, Bertram,” Neel chimed. “There’s no way the four of us can stop them all.”

“Listen to your Captain. He knows best,” Earnest added.

Bertram only shook his head. “I volunteered to help people, not to be a coward.”

“Bertram, listen to me...” Lewis began. Yet before he could utter another word, Bertram turned and took off into the forest. “BERTRAM!”

“Damn it!” Neel cursed, chasing after the young man.

“You too!?” Earnest blurted.

He traded glances with Captain Lewis who could only sigh as he drew his sword and hopped off the boat.

“Let’s get to it,” said Lewis.

“What about the haul?” Earnest asked.

“Leave it!”

[Operative13]

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

A madman howling into the night, running wildly through the woods in blind agony. He staggered and tumbled, twisted and turned, leaped and fell. His body betrayed him, torturing every limb and muscle, draining every ounce of blood and sweat, coaxing him to surrender as his vision blurred and his skin numbed. Yet still he resisted. Just a bit longer, he told himself. One more minute, one more second. Anything for more time.

Their ravenous hunger clung to his scent like a pack of wolves, voraciously pursuing the bloodied stag, clawing at its hind. He could hear them tailing him, trailing just a few steps away. He dared not look behind nor stop, even as he could hear the leaves crackling nearby, their snarls and growls within earshot, his skin crawling as a thousand eyes affixed towards him with voracious appetite.

He could feel himself giving out. He could breathe no longer. The monsters drew closer and closer, until they were within arm’s length. He could smell their putrid rot eeking from their melting pores, their ghastly growls, their dilapidated strips of flesh dragging across the floor, their cold, stiff arms reaching for his neck.

His lungs clenched and his legs gave in. He tripped and tumbled headfirst into the dirt, and as he turned himself back up, he could only make out the faint outline of a corpse running full speed at him. The boy struggled to get back up, but his body had finally given in. He could only scream in terror as its mutilated face leapt at his.

Then, a dark shadow appeared from the corner of his eye and swung. A ghastly cry bellowed from the corpse as it plopped straight back down, its head flying past the boy’s own. He froze in shock as the lone figure hacked away at the foul creatures one by one, until one lunged at the cloaked figure from behind.

“Look out!” the boy yelled.

Before it could sink its blackened jaws, a blazing arrow shot through the woods, piercing through the darkness and striking the undead beast down as it caught fire and illuminated the surroundings. In an instant it became clear how truly dire the situation was.

All around, a thousand pairs of crimson-red eyes from a thousand standing corpses peered at the boy and the cloaked man that stood between them. An amalgamation of bloodied, torn, twisted, rotting, melting flesh hung from a loose skeletal frame. Some were merely bones altogether. A horde of the Undead. They carried an endless appetite for living flesh and blood, devouring whatever their remaining fingers could hold to satiate their nonexistent hunger, and turning whatever was left into another of their own, constantly adding to their ranks in an everlasting cycle of death and destruction as they feasted upon any living creature within their grasp.

And they were next.

Two more arrows blazed past the cloaked man, striking two more down just as the undead closed in. The archer called out to the cloaked man as he drew more arrows from his quiver.

“Get the boy back to the boats!” he shouted.

Not far behind the archer, two more cloaked men with swords came sprinting out of the woods to join the battle. They locked steel with flesh and bones, cutting down their assailants with ease. The undead’s flimsy build and crumbling structure could not stand against the cloaked men’s quick and powerful thrusts and swings. Dozens fell charging blindly into their blades, but even the cloaked men knew not to underestimate the horde’s overwhelming numbers.

The axeman quickly withdrew as the others took his place, and knelt down next to the boy.

“Can you move?” he asked behind the black veil.

The boy tried to move, but his body stiffened. He could only groan in agony as his muscles struggled in vain to work.

Not wasting another moment, the man grabbed hold of the boy and lifted him up onto his back. He whistled a few quick short wisps and darted off through the forest with the archer as the other two withdrew shortly after, but not before leaving a small present behind.

One of the cloaked men pulled a small vial from his chest pouch and threw it at the undead horde as they made their escape. As soon as the vial broke, a fiery blast instantly filled the air, spewing crimson red flames everywhere and setting the forest ablaze. The monsters gave a ear-splitting shriek that pierced through the night as they quickly became engulfed in the wildfire.

They broke through the treeline and found themselves back on the rocky shores, the boats still floating where they left them. The dense smoke blew through the forest’s thick foliage, and the intense heat from the raging wildfire could be felt even there.

“Get the boats out into water now,” Captain Lewis ordered. “We don’t have much time.”

Bertram settled the boy down onto the boat next to the giant spider carasses.

“Hey, kid. You alright?” he asked.

But no answer. The boy was out cold, exhausted from fleeing the great terror that haunted him. Alast, he had surrendered to his own body, and slept well in the company of his rescuers.

Neel and Earnest unraveled the ropes from their makeshift anchors and pushed the two boats out into the water, jumping onboard into one as Captain Lewis joined Bertram and the boy in the other. Bertram handed an oar over to Lewis and took position at the front before paddling their way out into the open waters with Neel and Earnest trailing behind. The Horde’s piercing screams could be heard across the forest, smoke pilfering out into the glowing night sky from the towering wildfire burning everything in its path. Even as they rowed into deep waters, they could still make out the small flickering lights casting themselves into the shore’s waters in an endless tide.

No one spoke the rest of the journey home, but there would be plenty of talk to be had once they arrived.