In a vast field of grass, tall trees rose like a forest, but only around the perimeter of a wide circle. Within that circle stood five figures, all dressed in white robes, three men and two women. Their gaze was locked on something, something they couldn't explain, even as scientists.
"Dr. M, do you understand what this is? I have never seen anything like it." One of the male scientists said. A platform rested in his arms, his expression bewildered by what was before him.
"I don't know, Dr. C." the head scientist replied. "This is not what I myself can explain."
"We were sent by the national university to come and explain signs of life here. But what I see here isn't life… infect, I don't know what I see here."
All five scientists had their gazes fixed on their word. Each had an expression as though their mouth was about to fall from their face.
Before them was a corpse lying on the ground. It was on a field of grass, but on the particular area it laid, the grass was dead, a different color from the usual green.
This wasn't a normal corpse. It wasn't human, nor an animal they'd ever known. It was something else, something wrong. A creature from some darker plane, with eight limp, tentacle-like legs and a disturbing humanoid body. Its head was a grotesque structure, two jagged horns jutted from the top, and four round unblinking eyes fixed in different directions, frozen in a deathly stare.
Two hands rested at its sides. Its skin was a sickly, dark brown, like a dried rot. It was a thing humanity had no name for, a remnant of a horror that should never have existed.
"How did such a thing end up here?" the head scientist said in awe. He couldn't tell if that was the question he should be asking or be thankful that it wasn't alive.
"More importantly, isn't it obvious that it just got killed? I can tell from how fresh the blood looks. Then again, what creature has a black blood."
The female scientist who spoke, bent down and took a portion of the blood with her gloved fingers and examined its texture.
"It's tick... and hot. Almost as if it were alive."
The rest of the scientists gazed in awe, with their hands covering their mouth, as though preventing themselves from puking.
"We can't say for sure what it is. Still, one thing I don't understand is how a creature such as this ended up here. It's like something out of a fantasy novel."
"This is no fantasy… Dr. B." the head doctor interrupted. "This is real life, and it's right before our eyes. Not a fantasy."
"Yes. But what I am trying to say, is how can such a creature exist, if it isn't from another word?"
The question lingered in the air, as a creeping chill spread through the silence.
"But it must have come from somewhere, don't you agree... Dr. M" the first female scientist stood back up and stared at Dr. M.
The rest nodded in confirmation, but he stared deeply at the corpse before him. His mind calculating all the possible outcomes that a creature such as this could appear here.
"Ah!"
A slight scream echoes, making the rest turn.
"What is it Dr. V?" the head doctor asked, as the noise brought him back to reality.
Pointing at the corpse, Dr. V stuttered.
"I-I don't know, but I think its eyes just twitched."
As the words slipped out from her mouth, everyone's gaze immediately turned to the corpse. Trying to confirm Dr. V statement, as their bodies reacted in fear.
Silence came, and their gazes were fixed at the dead corpse before then. However, there wasn't a sign to prove her claim. And then the silence broke.
"Come on Dr. V. there isn't anything moving." Dr. C said with a slight smile on his face. "I think it's just your imagination."
Dr. C thought he had made a joke; however, the head doctor looked back at Dr. V. Her expression was down to earth. Something that the rest failed to see. She was terrified, her expression alone could tell that she didn't just imagine something. Whatever she saw was real.
/Kick!/
"See. There isn't any moving corpse." Dr. C proclaimed, as he kicks the corpse.
With the first kick nothing happened, which led him to give a second kick, and still nothing happened.
This made Dr. C certain that Dr. V was indeed seeing things. He then turned away from it and stared at her, while the others were already right behind her.
With his hands wide open, he said with a smile on his face. "See... there is nothing to be afraid of. It's just an ordinary corpse lying on the ground. Be it a creature of the unknown, it is dead. And dead things don't come back to life."
While he was talking, the expression on the faces of the other scientists instantly changed.
Their eyes widened while gazing at Dr. C like he had bird poop on his face. Quickly, he caught onto their weird expressions.
"What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me that way. Is there something on my face?"
No words were spoken as they couldn't dare speak with what was before them. The tension grew as Dr. C demanded the reason they were all looking at him with such a terrified expression, and with little to no strength, Dr. V pulled her finger up, pointing at him, her voice trembling as she said.
"B-Be… behind you!"
Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over Dr. C. In that instant, fear overwhelmed him, and the smile vanished from his face. He began turning his head slowly, and the moment he caught a glimpse of the towering creature before him, his head was violently torn from his shoulders in a spray of blood and bone.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
The other scientist screamed as Dr. C's lifeless body crashed to the ground, blood gushing from the ragged slump where his head once was.
The head doctor, standing further away, watched in horror as the creature's writhing tentacles snaked through the air, taking all three of his colleagues and ripping their head apart from their body.
He intended to run, but his legs wouldn't carry him. it was trembling in fear, at the sight of the creatures before him.
"Help!"
"Help!"
The screams of his fellow colleagues echoed in his ear, every sound carrying pain and agony. But there was nothing he could do, than to watch them get devoured by the creature.
The creature only ate their head off one after the other, and when it had finally finished, it turned its head toward the head scientist direction. Its four eyes twitching, scanning his entire body, like a pointer about to trigger a bomb. Its body, bent in an unusual way, as if it had a hunchback.
Dr. M was trembling aimlessly, to the point he wet himself. Seeing this, the creature gave a sinister expression almost as if it was reacting to his state of fear. However, it couldn't care less.
Just when Dr. M thought that he had seen enough and was ready to die. He notices the corpses on the ground moving. The bodies of his deceased colleagues had begun to rise. Standing alongside the massive creature, their heads grew back, but not how it previously was.
Most had the head of a mouse, some of a spider. Their humanoid bodies began to change into beast-like forms, right in front of their former head scientist. As the transformation unfolded, a voice echoed through the air.
"H....help."
It was the voice of Dr. V. But it was no longer truly her. It was a monster wearing her voice like a mask. The head scientist collapsed to the ground, while moving back with all limbs. His face frightened, and twisted in fear.
He couldn't tell what was happening.His previous colleagues coming back to life. He was filled with despair, knowing full well that his life was over.
Then, in that dreadful instant, the larger creature gave the command, and the lesser ones obeyed without hesitation.
They surged forward at full speed, a blur of claws and gnashing teeth, as they descended upon Dr. M, ripping him into nothing but blood and bone.