Shuffling in the Dark (Abel)

(Song used to make this chapter is “The Obsession” by Gustavo Santaolalla)

“Well I’ll be damned. You’ve outdone yourself this time, Zarzuela.”

I groaned slightly. My body was stiff and my vision blurred. My legs were again numb as if an electric current had licked a nerve. I raised my head slightly.

“Where the hell am I?” I thought inside my head.

The room was nearly pitch black. The only light was coming from a window not too far from in front of me on my right. What seemed to be moonlight danced on the wooden floor boards beneath my feet.

I tried to moved my body and I was alarmed when I noticed that my movement had been restricted. Adrenaline flooded my body; senses heightened. My vision, now clear, reevaluated my surroundings.

The room was very much NOT empty. The wooden floor boards were clearly old. The wood itself was natural and peeling tremendously; leaving splinters jutted up dangerously all about the room. The floors were drenched with blood and viscera. The floor was slick with it. The floor boards were stained reddish brown as the blood, viscera, and woods fused together to create a nauseating smell.

The wind licked my bare feet; which, were now dry from the rain previously before. Now; however, my body completely coated in dried blood that was not my own. There were bodies everywhere. Dead. Mutilated. Dismembered.

The bodies stacked haphazardly. Almost like they had been casually thrown about after being discarded. Most of them were female, along with some males. All with bite marks erratically dressing their mangled bodies. Chunks of flesh were missing from there corpses as if someone or something had tried to cannibalize them. However, they weren’t as big as the chunks missing in the building of the corridor I had previously had been in.

My attention was drawn to the rest of my surroundings. I could hear the sound of flowing water nearby. The moonlight was bright. It illuminated the hundreds of flies.

I tried to move my hands and feet, yet again my movement was still restricted. I looked around eyeing everything that I could. I looked towards my hands and saw that they were chained to a rusted metal pipe lining the wall. The bracelet that had restrained me earlier was stillI connected. It was sticking me to the pipe. looked at my feet and they were also chained; however, they were magnetized somehow to the blood wood floor.

There was a door to my left. Footsteps could be heard creeping up and down on the creaking wooden floor boards. Whispering could be heard disrupting the eerie silence that existed withe me. Just barely, I began listening in on the conversation. Surprisingly, I could understand them.

“We may have just hit the jackpot guys,” whispered a voice.

It was deep. Definitely, the voice of a large man. I could hear more shuffling outside the door as the conversation continued.

“I couldn’t believe it,” cried the voice of a woman, “I haven’t seen a “pig” so put together in my entire life.”

More whispering could be heard from the others behind the door.

“What do we do now,” asked the raspy voice of a man.

“The farm,” bellow another man.

His voice was very strange. He sounded ancient and otherworldly. The few words that he did utter were broken and fluctuated with infliction. It didn’t sound human. Not in the slightest.

“The farm?” The woman didn’t seem to agree with the “creatures” statement.

“I found him first,” she hissed, “he is mine and mine alone.”

More shuffling could be heard; followed by what seemed to the sound of a single gun shot. A long ghastly silence filled the room soon after.

A sudden loud snap could be heard. Then, a soft thud hitting the wooden floor could be heard soon after.

Silence.

“Sheshta,” cried the man with the deep voice.

Even more shuffling could be heard. They all seem to be moving into one spot.

“She’s dead,” said the man with the raspy voice.

Another deafening silence filled the room.

“We take him to the farm,” demanded the man with the strange voice, “Or does anyone else have any better ideas.”

Another silence.

“Good,” whispered the ancient voice, “there will be enough for everyone if we bring him there. It’s been a while since I had fresh pig.”

The voice in my head could be heard screaming silently in a deafening rage. It’s voice a contusion of jumbled voices that scraped the inside of my skull.

“Resist,” it hissed darkly.

Instantly, my muscle tensed. My body grew hot and another sudden surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins.

I pulled on the wrist device binding my hands me to the pipe; somehow, instantly snapping them with ease. The device around my wrist crackled and sizzled. Then, nothing. It fell off.

I do the same for my legs. I stand up instantly once the shackles are broken. The wooden planks under my feet creak loudly, yet I didn’t care.

Shuffling could be heard from outside the door. Slowly, I approached it. My hands began to steam and grew hot with heat. I could hear loud rhythmic breathing on the other side as I stared at the door.

“He’s awake,” whispered the raspy voiced man.

Another long deafening silence filled the room.

“Something isn’t right,” whimpered the raspy voiced man, “his heart is beating, but he isn’t afraid. He seems-”

I clenched my right hand into a fist and drew it back. I placed my left on the door.

“Kill them,” whispered the voice in my head.

A small animalistic growl escaped my mouth as I slung my fist through door landing into something warm, wet, and squishy. Instantly, a weight fell on my arm as the creature that I killed went limp. Loud footsteps could be heard going in the opposite direction of the door as I retracted my arm and looked through the hole I made in the door.

The body of a singular man was lying on the floor. The man was wiry and extremely pale. His chest had a gaping crater that gushed his insides out as he drew his last breathes.

I looked further out and saw the body of the female voice I saw earlier. However, she now lie lifeless on the wooden floor board. She was the same little girl I had seen by the dumpster in the city. Her neck was now bent in an impossible angle.

“Hmph,” I grunted.

“Kill them all,” hissed the voice, “leave none of the alive.”

Shoulder charging the door, I bust through. I enter a dark room that had been thrown into shambles. The rooms ceiling had been caved in; making a platform to the second story. Books had been thrown everywhere, and furniture and been ripped and torn to pieces. The shelves on the surrounding bookshelves had been broken to sunder.

The floor and walls had be splotched with water damage. Indeed, It was a dilapidated mess.

I looked to my left and saw an open door. Moon light shone through beautifully. Inviting me warmly to come over.

I looked out and was bewildered. What I saw was a swamp. Green water and thick trees were everywhere. I looked up and was surprised. I actually saw the moon. It was no artificial light. It was the actual moon.

“Where the hell am I?” Questions swirled around in my head. Along with the echoing from the voice, my head was a mess.

I was lost. I was confused. I needed to get out of here.