Story 2: The Ominous Village - Chapter 4

I found this middle-aged man, the chief of this village being crucified in his own house, I guess. But he was likely to be my only choice of survival. As I asked him for help, a voice in my head told me to understand what his situation is and what needs to be done to get the hell out of this place.

"Hey old man... chief. What is happening here and how can I get out of this?" replying to that he said. "You left your friend alone right. But don't worry... I won't judge you for that. As humans, our first instinct after sensing any danger is... *sighs* to get away from it. It is a sign of survival." He coughed but continued saying. "Still, you should have at least... tried once."

I lowered my head in shame and tears started flowing down my cheeks. The previously deserted eyes again started to flow like a newly originated river. I had my fair share of guilt which got add-on by chief's words. It broke my wall, which was holding my emotions together inside.

I sat down and sobbed like a baby, who got hurt on his knees while paying outside. He again laughed with a lesser movement as he was about to reach his limit. He mustered some strength and asked. "You want to know truth?" To which I replied. "All of it."

-

It happened a few days back, some of the villagers were working in the mining area at the North of the village, and it was almost the only way to earn in near proximity. But one day, while mining, a blast occurred and the villagers working there got trapped under the rubble. They were stuck under that debris for days or even months without any resources to buy some time.

That blast burst out a strange dust particle and got scattered all over that little space, which slowly changed their entire nature. It awakened their primal instincts by suppressing all the humane things except one. They had only one thing on their mind, and it was to KILL. Kill anyone who they see, and this is how the killing spree in this village started. *coughs*

-

One more thing to mention, when I was investigating things here, I followed one of those things. Other than the killing intent, I noticed that they never crossed the borders of the village. Even if they can cross the borders without any struggle still, they just stood at the edges, and turned back. 

"*coughs* What I think is that, their KILLING intent is only for the villagers or anyone in this village, because when they were trapped, none of them came to their rescue. No one even tried. They just thought of them as lost cause and moved on."

"So, I just need to get out of this village. Easier said than done." I said.

He chuckled softly and said. "You don't have much options either, and I... *heavy breathing* I don't have much time either."

The sun was starting to rise up with howling winds flowing around as it was nearing the time of dawn. I was about to leave him and step out of the room, that's when chief stopped me and said. "One more thing young boy." He points at one of the drawers and asked me to take something from it. It was a map of this village.

"With this map, you could see a clear path now." Chief said.

"Should... should I get you... out too." I replied with a doubt, knowing completely that I can't. It was a response from my body to reduce some of that guilt, I think. 

He smiled politely and looked at me saying. "I'm glad that I was able to pass this entire thing, to someone who believed me and this wacky story. You might be able to convince people, to help others. Don't worry about me boy. My time... is almost over." 

"Don't say that." I shouted. There was pain, torment, suffering all over his body, but when I saw his face, a dimpled smile was the only thing which I could see.

"There is nothing left for me, to say. Just one last wish though *coughs heavily* to see the sunrise, one last time." Chief said that with a smile on his face, looking outside. 

These were his last words. As he said those, his body dropped which was lifting all his weight not just physically but mentally too. He dropped all the things which he was weighing on his shoulders till now. There were deep wounds, blood loss, pierced things, and whatnot. But at the end, he left on with a smile on his face.

I pulled his body out of those spears and pulled those knives out. I dragged him to the near room, put him on the bed and covered his body with a sheet nearby. "Now, you don't have to shoulder this burden anymore. Now you can sleep, till your heart's content. "With saying that, I left that room to get the hell out of this place.

Alright then. One last attempt to look forward and live, or die a painful death. The sun was about to shine bright and my visuals were getting better. I could clearly detect things nearby unlike how I was in the darkish nightmare. 

I grabbed the gun which chief kept in his drawers where the map was. I picked pocket some bullets and attached a combat knife on my waist. I was getting all geared up for a real combat, frankly, which I never did before.

I made my move along the map and was ready to blow away anyone who might get in my way. On my way of the house, one thought came to mind, my life till yesterday was not that bad. I am trapped, my friend died, many people died in front of me and I was just- Just how much worse my condition can get, to think that my life running away from cops was way better than this mess. This thought only seems unreal.

Slowly but steadily, I was getting closer to my freedom. It was going way smoother than what I initially thought. I was having double thoughts about it. Maybe I can make it. A thought came to my mind along with a whistling noise, like someone running on air while piercing through the winds.

I sensed that and stopped. I saw one of the HUNTERS was running very close and it suddenly stopped a few meters away from me. I ducked and held my breath. My luck has run out I guess. I took cover near a rock under a tall tree. The HUNTER was looking left and right, trying to find something. Did he got my scent. I whispered.

I was scared, and in that panic, I reached out for my gun. I pulled out and pointed my aim towards that non-human thing. The HUNTER was sniffing out the air, for my slight scent I guess, by which he might already know, that someone's here. I had fear but instinctively, I stood up and shouted. "Hey you ASSHOLE!!!"

I didn't knew why I did that, maybe my anxiety took its toll over me. I pointed my gun for a clear shot. My hands were shaking and all that sweat was making my grip loose. The HUNTER was running towards me, and even after all this death, all this blood, still, I was not able to shoot a person within the firing range. The HUNTER's movement sped up and there was only a five meter gap between us. At that point, I went blank. When I snapped back, I could see a body lying on the ground which had a bullet right between the eyebrows.

This was shocking but I shook my head off and tried to get up as this cruel journey was about to end. You can't stop for this, you have already seen worse than this.

I made myself stable again but by the gunshot, another HUNTER jumped from the tree to get his hands on me. I aimed again without giving second thoughts like before and I my shot hit on it's leg. The HUNTER fall on the ground and was unable to run anymore, but what was more disturbing for me was that, the HUNTER had tears in his eyes. I saw grieve and pain in his eyes as he got himself hurt, and also witnessed, a fellow comrades death I guess.

These human like tropes got me more chills than ever. I didn't finish him off and started running. While running, I was thinking that I might have killed a human, well he was a human before becoming like this. I fall within my deep thoughts and got distracted from my surroundings. I turned because I felt something approaching because of my heightened sense caused by constant fear. I looked behind and suddenly saw the same HUNTER about to throw his spear my way, which I managed to dodge, but barely because I threw the knife to counter or just to avoid any direct hit. It grazed my non-shooting shoulder, which wasn't deep but was hurting like hell.

My shoulder was bleeding, but the HUNTER was unable to chase after me because of his own leg wound. I was getting closer to the exit, but then I saw two more HUNTER's approaching from behind having their torches lit in their hands and yelling like crazy. It was like mad bulls charging to throw the matador out of the arena.

I stopped and shot two bullets back to back but none of them slowed them down. Dammit, not the time to suck at such crucial shots. Only two more bullets left, I wanted to reload, but my other arm's shoulder was not helping much in that.

Only a few meters remaining but I stopped, took a deep sigh and fired the gun single-handedly, towards one of the HUNTER's hand holding those torches. That bullet made my shot count and the HUNTER's hand holding the torch fell over the other HUNTER's face. The flames lit up the HUNTER's face and his screams echoed the entire village and suddenly went silent. The other one was screaming in agony as well.

At this moment, I pulled out all my running away skills and marked my exit through the gates of this damned village without looking behind again.

I was breathing heavily, with all the fatigue and pain, suddenly got to my brain. I was barely slithering over the ground as my left shoulder has given up hopes. I was losing consciousness and was barely able to see in front of me. I saw some people running towards me. I had left no energy or the visuals left to guess what that thing running towards me was. I just hoped and said to myself, please don't be those bastards. PLEASE!

-

One Month Later...

It's been a month since that night. There was no reports of anything happening in that village. The police heard my sorry story and sent a search party only because I showed them the chief's badge. the whole party got disappeared in thin air. Police just stopped their search because of this loss. Many things have changed for me since then. My shoulder has healed to some extent, and I also confessed my crimes which they considered and took me under surveillance. They left me with few charges but it was better than being locked up.

 My whole day life changed because now, there was no running away from cops, I was even trying to get any decent job, but my night life got worse. All those screams I heard, all the people I saw dying, the child which got brutally crushed by those things, and most of all, Jasper's face in agony kept me up all night.

Every KILL, every shot I took, every death I saw felt like a shackle getting tightened over my humanity.

Those voices and faces didn't stopped haunting my sleep. I think, this is the cost to bear for living through a nightmarish situation.

Just after a week, getting off all the charges, I again went to that village entrance with a board in my hand.

"I know this won't mean shit to the people who are dead. But let me easy up some of my guilt by doing this. Oh and one last thing to say, especially to you Jasper, that talk we had that night, was one of the best we had."

 I settled the board and started walking away after shoving the board on the ground which said. "Rescue anyone you can, or else, they will haunt you for your entire life."

----- End of the Story -----