-CHAPTER 2-
Terror filled screams permeated the air, alongside the sickening, metallic scent of fresh blood and the maniacal, glee filled laughs of the sword wielding monsters. Human students fled in every direction, or stood deathly still, too paralyzed with fear to move; hunting down these fear-stricken humans were monsters about half the size of an adult man, with ugly, sinister faces.
What the hell? What is this? What’s happening?
Fear. Confusion. Pain. All these emotions warred within me as I struggled to grasp my situation.
Looking down, I saw the cruel, beady eyes of a monster about half my size, and lowering my gaze even further, saw the short sword it had thrust into my thigh. This was the same monster that I had helplessly watched shove his sword through a girl’s throat mere moments ago.
Hot, searing pain shot up my leg from where the sword was embedded, and I felt my vision begin to go black from the agony. I desperately resisted the urge to pass out, I knew if I lost consciousness now, I was dead.
“Yaaaagh”
Shouting to momentarily distract myself from the pain, I punched the monster in the face as hard as I could. Surprisingly, it had the intended effect of knocking the monster back and stunning it momentarily. I used this chance to pull the sword out of my injured thigh.
“Ahhhhhhg”
Screaming from the pain, I half lunged, half fell toward the monster and impaled it on its own sword. The monster scratched and flailed for a few seconds, before going limp.
Feeling a momentary sense of relief, I was quickly drawn back to my senses by the excruciating pain in my leg, and the screams of my fellow students dying around me. Looking around I saw countless scenes similar to my own, only I was more fortunate than most in that I managed to kill the monster. Then, my eyes fell upon a scene that made my blood run cold and my head go blank.
“NOOOOO.”
I screamed in vain, and attempted to stand, only to fall to the ground once more due to my injured leg. Helpless and unable to move, I watched as my two best friends were hacked to death by a group of monsters while desperately trying to protect the underclassmen behind them.
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Morgan woke suddenly from the gruesome nightmare, and sat upright immediately, frantically taking in the scenery around him.
What the hell was that? It was a dream, but it felt so real. Morgan’s thoughts were going a mile a minute as he tried to sort out the horrific nightmare he had just experienced.
Was that really just a dream? It felt so real, and this forest looks just like the one I saw then. Am I still stuck in that horrifying nightmare?
Looking around, Morgan found himself in an alien forest, with large black wooded trees, some as large as skyscrapers. It was nearly identical to the forest Morgan had seen in his dream, where the monsters had attacked him and the other students.
Wait. What about the others?
Looking around, Morgan did indeed see other people that looked like students at his school.
It was then that he saw her, the girl who had died right in front of him in his nightmare. And just after noticing her, he noticed the small green monster attempting to sneak up behind her.
“Hurry!! Get down!!”
Morgan yelled at the girl to get down, reaching down to grab a nearby rock the size of his fist. In one smooth motion, Morgan brought the rock up, drew back his right hand, and flung the rock forward as hard as he could.
The girl was startled by Morgan’s yell, and didn’t know what to do at first, but quickly threw herself to the ground when she saw Morgan pitching a large rock in her direction.
The monster easily dodged the rock, but it had to move suddenly and awkwardly to do so, momentarily breaking its balance. Taking advantage of the split second opening, Morgan, who had charged forward at the monster as soon as the rock left his hand, tackled the thing to the ground.
Wrestling on the ground with the gruesome creature, Morgan managed to pry the sword from the monster’s hands. Having lost its sword, the creature punched Morgan in the torso as hard as it could. It may have been small in stature, but the monster was stronger than it looked, and Morgan was thrown off of it.
Rolling on the ground, and quickly springing to his feet, sword in hand, Morgan saw the monster charging at him.
“Haaht.”
Morgan brought the sword down with both hands, putting all his strength into his swing. He felt a dull impact, and then the sensation of cutting flesh as his sword cleaved into the monster’s neck.
“Kyaaaa!!”
Morgan heard the girl scream as the creature's blood spurted from the wound on its neck, splattering onto Morgan’s face and clothes.
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What the hell is going on? Why are the things in my dream repeating here, and where the hell are we?
Panting hard from the adrenaline rush and the brief but intense struggle, Morgan was becoming increasingly more confused. It was only when he heard the sounds of panicked screaming coming from all around him, that the rest of the dream’s contents flashed through Morgan’s mind.
Swinging his head to the left, Morgan saw another scene straight from his worst nightmare. Jason and Kyle were using their bodies to shield a group of underclassmen from a group of monsters armed with thick wooden shields and long pikes. Just as Morgan’s gaze landed on them, one of the monsters thrust out from behind his shield, stabbing Jason in the arm with the blade of its spear.
With the horrific scene from the dream still fresh in his mind, Morgan’s blood went cold. Before he knew what was happening, he was charging the group of monsters, sword in hand.
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When Kyle Myers opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he saw. He almost thought he had fallen asleep in his first period English Literature class and just hadn’t realized it, but the world around him felt all too real for that to be the case.
The mysterious forest and gigantic trees that seemed to stretch upwards and touch the sky itself almost reminded him of the fantasy rpgs his mother used to scold him for staying up so late to play. However, the goblin-like monsters that soon appeared and started slaughtering the people around him shattered that fantasy-esque feeling, changing the scene into something straight out of a grotesque horror game.
Luckily for Kyle, he was not alone in this terrifying new situation, he had one of his best friends at his side: Jason. Unluckily for the both of them, three of the hideous, goblin-like things were slowly closing in on them, armed with shields and long spears to boot.
“We’ve got to run Jay, if we don’t do it now we’ll be killed for sure.”
Kyle tried to convince his large friend to run away with him while they had a chance, but Jason just shook his head as he replied.
“I can’t do that Kyle, if I run, those things will kill the girls behind us.”
He knew Jason was telling the truth, but Kyle desperately wanted to yell at him that they would die either way, and drag him away with him. However, Kyle knew that his kind hearted friend would never abandon someone who was in trouble. If someone needed his help, Jason would never hesitate to step up, even if it put him in danger; after all, his best friend had done the same thing for him in the past. And the underclassmen behind them, the same members of the freshman girls track team they had been talking about that morning, definitely needed their help right now.
Kyle signed internally, cursing his friend’s frustratingly upright nature as well as his own cowardice. Kyle wasn’t big and strong like his friend Jason, nor was he able to effortlessly overcome every obstacle in his path the way his friend Morgan always seemed to. He was just an unsociable video game addict with no strength to speak of, but he did have one thing in this world.
Kyle Myers had two friends. Two friends who had reached out to an unsociable, unfriendly loner with nothing to offer like it was the most natural thing ever, and he would rather let those goblins drag him to hell than run away and leave one of his precious friends to die here by himself.
With his mind made up, Kyle turned back to the terrified freshmen behind him with a resigned smile.
“You girls should run somewhere far away if you can, we probably won’t be able to hold them for long.”
The girls looked up at him, but seemed too terrified to even stand, let alone run. Sighing to himself once more, Kyle turned back to the monsters approaching them, they had gotten within striking distance with their long spears, and readied themselves to cut down the two boys.
Kyle managed to dodge the first spear strike aimed at his chest, but Jason was not so lucky. The remaining two goblins had both struck out at Jason at once, and while he had managed to dodge the strike aimed at his heart, the other had struck a shallow cut on his arm.
“Arghhhh, fuck that huuurts!!!”
Jason yelled out, but didn’t back down an inch from the grotesque little creatures, firmly standing his ground as if he intended to die on that very spot.
Seeing this, Kyle couldn’t help but think, ‘damn it, if only Morgan was here’. While he wasn’t sure why he thought that his other friend would be able to make a difference, when even Jason couldn’t seem to fight back against these things, the thought nevertheless came unbidden to his mind.
Just as Kyle was contemplating risking everything on a suicide charge, a tall, well built youth dressed in faded jeans and a very familiar red crew neck pull over crashed into the rightmost monster, running it through with a short sword and sending its corpse flying.
Morgan!? When the hell did he get here, and what is he doing??
Kyle’s thoughts were thrown into disarray, and his serious resolve to sacrifice himself from a mere moment ago was blown away by the absurdity of the situation unfolding before him.
Kyle panicked the next moment when he saw the second monster swing its spear at Morgan, who was momentarily off balance from the impact of his initial assault. Just as Kyle thought Morgan would get sliced in half, he pivoted perfectly on one foot, crouched low, and leaped towards the goblin.
Although he managed to avoid the blade, the shaft of the creature’s spear still slammed into Morgan’s ribs with a loud thud. Kyle winced, expecting his friend to be knocked away by the force of the impact, however what happened next left him dumbfounded. Morgan grabbed the shaft of the spear and pulled himself towards the goblin with his left hand, using his right arm to run his sword through the monster’s mouth, and out the back of its skull.
Although he could barely fathom what was going on as it had all happened so fast, Kyle had enough presence of mind to notice the third goblin turning towards Morgan and readying its spear to strike his friend.
Like hell I’ll let that happen.
Without thinking twice, Kyle ran forward, ramming his body into the goblin’s shield and pinning it to the ground. He managed to hit the goblin in the face once, although it didn’t look like it hurt the thing much, and did his best to hold it down as it struggled beneath its own shield.
“Kyle, move back!”
As soon as he heard Morgan’s shout, Kyle rolled sideways off of the monster and scrambled away as fast as he could. Not even a second later, Morgan landed on top of the monster’s shield, driving his sword through the thing’s skull and ending its life.
Astounded by his friend’s sudden appearance and the unhesitating brutality with which he slaughtered the monsters who had been giving them such trouble just a few moments ago, Kyle blurted out the question that had been on his mind since he opened his eyes mere minutes before.
“What the fuck is going on?”
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