A loud thud caught everyone's attention, including mine. Curious, I moved closer to see what it was. Someone emerged from the shadows. It was the watcher I had noticed.
I froze, and he sniffed the air. Then, he went straight to the body. Everyone around me was as stunned as I was.
He froze when he saw the body on the ground. His expression changed at once. His eyes dulled, his breaths grew louder, and he fixed his gaze on the body next to him. Blood soaked the ground, it was too much.
The air grew thicker, his gaze darkened. The sound reached me before I could see it: the sound of bones scraping against each other. His body started to shift. His shoulder rose with a gradual movement, and his back formed an upward arch.
He wasn't the same person who walked over a few minutes ago… he was something else.
The sound of his breath kept growing louder, it turned ragged and animalistic.
I couldn't process the starting and ending points, all I knew was that there was something big.
Very big!
A growl filled the space, creating a low vibration. My heart raced, and the men around me stepped back. Even the one with a gun trembled.
And then he moved.
Continuous gunshots fired through the air, lifting and throwing men.
He charged at the man who shot the woman on the ground. With a powerful shove, he slammed him against the wall, crushing his skull in an instant.
Gunshots erupted again, but he kept missing. He launched a swift attack, eliminating them one by one.
Canez starts to fall back, his hands grab my arm without warning. My body feels heavy from the chaos, so I stagger as I move, weighing him down. The beast turns its attention to us. It pulls me faster. Before I know it, something hits Canez hard, knocking him away from me.
Canez fell back with a loud grunt, I could see blood thickening around his sleeves. He was far from my reach, he staggered up, and, from the looks of it, he was badly hurt. He reached his hand out for me,and I was far behind, the beast had already turned and was headed in his direction. At that moment I screamed one word,"Run!! !".
He turned to see what was already headed his way,and then he began to run, and he cornered his way out.
I stood there dumbstruck, once again frozen.
The beast returned and lifted the body from the ground. Its gaze met mine before it vanished into the dark woods. Its eyes felt familiar, it reminded me of a cold,dark forest.
In a fit, I could breathe properly, the cold air brushed against my skin. I noticed my shaky hands, the smell of blood strongly mixed in the air, ringing in my ears from the sudden silence.
Gilda and the rest of my men are all staring at me, waiting for my orders.
I pushed the hair from my face and cleared my throat. "Secure the perimeter. Check the wounded, count the dead, and clear the bodies Canez left," I ordered loudly. They hurried to complete the task.
"Gilda, come with me." She nods and follows behind me.
"How did they get in? The beasts?" I asked immediately after we got to somewhere private.
"The trees, some of them have roots that lead out." She replied calmly.
"How come I never knew this?" I asked, confused.
"I told you about this, you said it was more of an advantage than a problem." She stated.
"Oh!" I remember seeing it as an escape route for whenever something goes wrong.
"Should I block them out?" She asked curiously, like she was trying to read me.
"Let me just get a shower first, we'll talk later." I dismissed her and headed to my room.
I move straight to the bathroom, I head to the sink and turn on the tap.
I try to use the water to wash the blood off my hands, and it's proving stubborn, I remove the knife and toss it in the sink too.
I noticed something. It feels heavier than usual. The head spinning from all the commotion disappears right away.
I glance at the mirror. My reflection seems odd due to what just happened.
A nice shower could fix that...
The water flows through the drain, and hot steam fills the air, blocking my vision.
The feeling of the hot water on my skin hits the right spot, it's calming to the point my mind slowly drifts away…
The howl, the way the beast moved, the glance, and the fact that he didn't try to hurt me. It worries me to a point, they make me wonder about his motives and what he was doing there at the moment.
Many questions raced through my mind. I knew this wasn't a good sign. What bothered me more was that he felt familiar, as if we had met before.
"I've seen him somewhere..." I pause in realization.
He was the boy I met in the woods! He had to be, the striking resemblance could only lead to that.
As soon as I got out of the shower, I called Mireya. I hoped she could help me understand what happened and what was going on.
Two rings,and she picked up the call…
"Hey Elta! How are you doing?" Her warm and collected voice spoke through.
"I'm good, how's everyone on your side?" I asked.
"Oh, they're fine. Did you find anything on that asshole Canez?" She spoke in a relaxed manner.
And then it hit me like a train, I felt the grief of losing Enox once again, it pained me in the chest.
"Enox is dead," I said with a blank expression, trying to keep my emotions hidden.
"What?!!!!" she screamed. "You're joking," she stated in pure disbelief.
"I'm not. He called today, and while we spoke, he got caught, and Canez killed him," I said, feeling guilt heavy on my chest.
"Oh my God, no!" She started to tear up on the phone, I listened to her cry for some minutes before she spoke again.
"Umm, how are you coping? Should I come over?"She asked while sniffling in tears.
"Oh no! That's the last thing I need you to do. It's not safe here, Canez and I fought, and something weird happened," I explained.
"What happened?" she asked, I could already hear the rising rebellion in her voice.
"Calm down, okay? It's not about Canez…I saw something, something familiar. While Canez was fighting, a beast emerged." I let my nails trail on the table.
"A what?!!" She asked.
"Listen! It's crazy, I know, but I'm telling the truth, I saw it. Do you remember that night I went missing when we were back in boarding school?" I asked, hoping she'd think outside the box instead of saying I'm crazy.
"I don't remember much about it, it happened years ago,Elta... what does that have to do with this?" She sounded confused.
Mireya went quiet for a moment.
She then called out to me, "Elta… didn't run in the same direction." She said gently.
"What do you mean?" I was curious.
"We all got separated in the woods, everyone was freaked out and scared."
I frowned.
"You guys gathered together when it was over, right?"
"Yes."
"What happened to me?"
She went quiet for a while.
"You didn't show up."
My chest tightened.
I looked in the mirror at my reflection. A burning sensation spread from the scar on my collarbone on the left side. I traced my fingers over it, and it tingled.
"What happened to me in those woods?" I whispered out loud.