The Forest

I wake up the next morning to someone banging on my door. They don't sound mad, so I assume this isn't their room, but they do sound irritated. Impatient.

"Yes?" I ask. I must look like the dead brought back to life. I'm sure my hair is sticking up at every angle (That happens with curly hair, and I can feel that my face is all puffy.

"Um... well that lady still needs... taken out. And I need to make breakfast, so please be snappy about it." She's stout, a little shy it seems, but blunt. I like her.

" OK, I'll be out there in a little. Let me get changed."

"There are no clothes in our closets. They're just a waste of space at this point in time." The woman said. It seemed weird that there were no clothes in the closet, but then again you can't really know what clothes are going to fit someone you've never met.

" Ugh... ok I'll be down in a little. Have the people stay inside and away from the kitchen for now."

" Yes ma'am." She says before she leaves. We may have lost a lot to the wars but manners was not one of the thing we lost.

I stumble around in the dark trying to find either my shoes or the light switch. I find my shoes first and continue to follow the wall to find the light switch. I finally find it and with a small click the room is filled with light from a bare bulb in the middle of the ceiling. I can see an iron post bed with downy pillows and comforters, a dark wood bedside table with the alarm clock on it, a large doorway on the left wall, and a door on the right wall. Figuring the doorway lead to the closet I walked to the right wall door hoping it is the bathroom so I can wash my face.

Thankfully it was a bathroom and with another small click this room lights up as well, this time by an LED light strip that lines the ceiling. It's a bright white but not as harsh as the bub in the main room. There is a claw foot tub with a curtain around a rod at the top along with a shower head that drops down from the ceiling. The sink is a white ceramic basin that matches the toilet, plain and easy to clean. I turn on the water and search for a towel to wash my face with. There is a small pile of towels behind the tub and I grab the smallest one to use.

When I'm all done I walk back into my room and sit on the bed so I can put my shoes on. Finally, I can leave.

The first thing I notice when I get down stairs is the grim mood that hangs over everybody like a perfume. Some people are huddled together and muttering in low voices, others are pacing or staring into space. The next thing I notice is that none of the injured from yesterday are in the room.

"Where are the others, the injured ones?" I ask some of the muttering people with as much authority as I can muster.

" We moved them to the suits so they can rest. None of them are awake yet." Says a middle aged man. He goes back to muttering as though I'm not here. I decided there was no danger in them resting so I walk to the kitchen so I can deal with the big problem. The dead lady. I try to prepare myself for what I'm going to see in here, but nothing, NOTHING, could have readied me for this.

Pots, pans, knives laved all over the place. Shards of glass from plates, bowels, and cups layer the counters and floor like a fresh layer of snow. And in the middle of it all is the woman, pale and stiff she lays in the same spot we left her at, only slightly shifted from her seizures. It was a horrifying scene and for a moment I was frozen in fear.

It's OK Phoenix, it's ok. Get her out, clean the place up, eat, then make a plan to find someone here who knows what's going on I tell myself. She was slightly bleeding, but upon closer look I found it was dried blood covered in puss, making it look shiny. The cut on her face had swollen so that even if she was alive she wouldn't be able to open her eye. The veins that were severed at the cut had al turned a black-green color, some around her neck were too.

I tried to figure out how to move her and quickly decided I would carry her "Bridal style". I scooped one arm under her legs and the other under her shoulder and picked her up. She was stiff, but I was able to get a hold of her well enough. I bumped the door open with my shoulder and walked outside. It was a quiet morning, fog layered the woods and fenced in area but visibility was alright. I walked towards the woods hoping I could shimmy her body over the fence for the animals.

I paced the fence trying to find a spot I could either get higher or the fence was shorter and eventually I found a mound of dirt. I climbed to the top and lifted her up over my head. She was light, even for a dead person, and soon enough I had her over. I say a quick apology and go back to the building. Before they make breakfast I have to clean the kitchen, which isn't going to be an easy task.

~Unknown~

The girl dumps the body over the fence. She must be strong to have lifted it over her head. She says something I can't catch then turns to leave. The attack last night seems to have only killed one person, and yet somehow she's still so calm.

Maybe she's the Chosen One.

She can't be. The time for their birth is coming up, obviously no one alive can be the Chosen One.

Are you sure that is what the prophecy meant? Be careful sir, be careful.

I stalk to the body to get a look at her. Swollen face, stiff muscles, bloody clothes. All signs of the attack, especially the face. She has a cut on her cheek. That was her final wound, and it just had to ruin her face. Too bad.

With that I turn and stalk deeper into the forest, and with a swish of my tail I promised myself I would see the lady again, the strong one. The leader.

The dangerous one.