It's windy, the alarms are ringing, chaos everywhere, things we couldn't comprehend spiraling out the ground and above. The field is not even qualified to bear that name anymore because it's a skeleton of its previous self, the ground gave way to an ominous force from below sending everything tumbling. The wind carried screams from the deepest part of Petar, terror and agony. Shaun and others are no where to be found, I don't even know what happened everything went blank after I saw that blood. Nie I can't find her, what did Shaun do to her? Is that why she was so afraid of him? Why didn't she tell me, she obviously told me but I was too stupid to listen. I need to find her, she is right here somewhere with this debris, the air was thick and hard to take in. I was alone, just surrounded by screams and terror. I dug my fingers deep inside the muddy debris trying to dig, she's somewhere here I just have to look harder. It was hard. I haven't experienced labor of this level, it made me panting hard. I don't care what if she's finding it hard to breathe down there. “ What are you doing?” A voice, it was soft and ringed in my ears, I turned to look at the source. It was Tesse she was covered in mud, her expression was different from earlier, it was plain like she was oblivious to her surroundings. I rushed to her direction.
“ Oh my god, Tesse you're okay!.” I hugged her, she was so light, too light. Her eyes were vacant. “ What are you doing?” She repeated, her voice was slow, she wasn't breathing, her chest felt hollow. She broke out of the hug, eyes placed on me but the sight elsewhere.
“ Where are the others?” Her neck looked wobbly, I have never seen a neck twist that way before, it kept on falling with her chin hitting her chest, necks are not supposed to move that way. That can only be possible without bones. “Argggghhhhhhh!” Tesse screamed, her voice hoarse. I went closer to trying to calm her down. “Tesse please stop, you're scaring me, we have to look for the others.” She stopped instantly, like a car which lost power. Her jaw resting on her chest, it's not possible for a neck to bend that way, I creeped closer to her, trying to touch her neck bracing myself for whatever may come next. It felt mushy, I can't feel the bones there were none, just filled with fluids. This is not Tesse, whatever this is, it's not human, but wearing her skin. I tried backing away from it slowly since it's in off-mode, but I was breathing heavily, it was so loud, you could hear it five feets away. What if it turns me to whatever Tesse is? Did that happen to the rest ? To Nie? “Brrrggggghh'' A weird sound started buzzing from her lips. I tried to bolt away but the thing that used to be Tesse grabbed me, and drew me closer to its face.
“ I said what are youuuuuuuu doingggggg?!”
I looked away from it, but it grabbed my jaw forcing me closer to it, wrinkled and worn out face, the skin trying hard to stick to the bones. With every movement a small piece of the skin peels from the face. “Look at me!” Its voice came with power crushing any sense of agency I had. I stared at it, grotesque features, its eyes were empty and dark, dark smoke came out of it. Staring at those void eye sockets drew me in. Felt like I was falling into an empty space. I waited patiently for it to give me orders, my body itching to hear its voice. I was breathing heavily taking every thing it emits. “What are you doing?” That same question again, I answered it honestly. “I thought she was here, so I looked for her within the debris.” Our bodies were closer now merging together, my body felt jelly, no bones just fluids. Was I supposed to be fighting back?
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“ For who? ” It answered back, my vision blurred, my eyelids getting heavy. I couldn't breathe, but the thought of this being the end never came to me. I don't why. Maybe it's because I couldn't fight back or…….
“ Ni… Nie.” I used the last energy I could muster to reply, I waited for it to consume me, that's the only thing on my mind. The only thing it wanted me to think, but something's still ringing in the back of my mind. I couldn't remember it. Suddenly I felt a heavy weight leave my body, my back on the floor, the sky my view. The thing that used to be Tesse standing in front of me with its hand stretched to the edge of the field, I looked at its face, I saw Tesse for real this time. Her face was back to normal, eyes filled with tears, I followed the hand with my eyes and saw trails of blood. “ Find —her.” That was the last thing she said to me before she dissolved into water. Tesse was gone just like that. Did she fight back or……
I tried move to find Nie, but another familiar person was right in front of me. Jacab was standing next to me, stopping me in my tracks. He seems ravaged, clothes shattered, his clothes painted red from the blood coming out of his stomach. “ Where are you going? ” He looks normal, which made me feel at ease because I don't want to experience whatever that was earlier.
“ Nie, she's right there. Tesse told me before she—” I couldn't complete the sentence because I don't know how to explain it.
“We have to go,it's not safe. You'll die if go there Ari.” He took my hand, dragging me to the opposite direction. His hand was warm or I could say hot. “I have to look for her, she might be alive." His expression broke into anger, Jacab is a reserved person,I've never seen him angry before. “We are running out of time, you don't know what Shaun did to Nie!, And whatever caused this chaos landed in front of us. You don't know how it felt like, given Nie circumstances she won't have survived that, So let's save ourselves by getting out of here. That's probably what Nie would want for us.” He started walking with his back turned to me, I've never seen what the brain looked like, never been told of the color. I thought it was solid. Apart from the big opened hole at the back of his head, there was something leaking out of it, pinkish in color with a little mix of red. Within five seconds it went empty. The inside of the skull I didn't know how hollow it was with the brain gone. But there was Jacab walking away from me with an empty skull. I didn't try to stop him, he wanted to get out of here, being left here is something your body will be reluctant to even if your soul left it. I head to opposite direction towards Nie, I'm coming for you. Please just be safe. The carnage has already covered the whole of Petar. I don't know how I'll be able to leave here. But I just want to find her. A loud sound hit my ears reverberating with my skull and it made me lose my balance. I tried to look for the source, but it was right in front of me. An armored truck without the roof, people staring down at me I couldn't see their faces because my scenery was spinning. One of them jumped down from the truck to me and carried me inside the vehicle through the back. I screamed “Wait!, I need to look for her, Nie! She's right there.” One of them came forward to me. He looked familiar, but I couldn't remember his name because my brain is processing a lot right now. “Give up on her she's probably dead.” I protested. “ But Tesse told me she's alive and Jacab said—” The person steady my head making me look at him clearly this time. “What are you talking about? You have been talking to yourself this all time. We were watching you.“
Huh?