As the creature drove down on him, Blake instinctively spun onto his back and threw his foot up into its chest. He hit it hard, but it barely fazed the creature, and it only bought just enough time to brace himself. He managed to stop the claws slashing his throat, but they cut deep into his arms, as he pushed with all his might to keep the thing at bay. He was now face to face with the thing, its teeth filled mouth dripping vile smelling brown saliva all over him. It had no visible eyes, nor nose, just a wide mouth that filled most of the head. There was row after row of teeth yawning down on him. He wasn’t going to hold out much longer, it was just a matter of time now, until it overwhelmed him and tore out his throat, just like the guy back in the undergrowth.

“I don’t want to die here!” He screamed at the creature, suddenly finding a final burst of energy.

His spare hand inched towards the knife on his belt, but he wasn’t going to reach it in time. Crack! He’d arched his back and kneed the creature with the last of his strength, it was just enough of a distraction for him to reach and pull out the knife. He brought it down on the monster’s neck with vicious speed. Black blood poured over him, but he didn’t stop. He stabbed it again and again and again. The thing began fitting violently with each successive stab, but Blake didn’t stop.

It had been at least thirty seconds since it last moved, but Blake was still stabbing away, almost compulsively. He finally got a grip of his actions and stopped.

It was long dead before he’d eventually stopped and rolled its heavy body off him. He got to his feet and stepped away from the creature, shaking from the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Dropping the knife just to stare at the dead thing.

Blake was in shock, but eventually the pain from his own wounds brought him back to his senses. He was bleeding from both of his arms. His left forearm was particularly bad. He slung his backpack on the floor and had another quick rummage through in the hopes there was something to treat his wounds. Nothing. With little other choice he removed his jumper and tee shirt, then tore a couple of strips from sections that weren’t soaked in the creature’s blood. He poured water through the wound then tied the strips around the deep cut. Hopefully that will stop the bleeding for now. The cut on the other arm wasn’t nearly as bad. By the time it was washed out with water the bleeding had almost stopped. He tied the final strip of material around it just in case. With that taken care of he sat down on the grass and contemplated his next move.

I don’t seem to be the only one here. At least not the only thing here… I wonder if there is anyone alive that hasn’t been killed by one of those creatures? He had already been walking through the forest for a couple of hours and in that time, he had only encountered one other human, but they were already dead. If he moved from here there was the chance he would run into another creature, but then again there was just as much chance that one could come here. Perhaps if he kept looking, he might find another one of those cubes, maybe some more supplies. What he had in the bag wasn’t going to last him for that long.

Blake was slowly coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t going to get out of here easily. Shit Bernie! That was the name of his dog. I’d better call my sister. He pulled out his phone, but of course, he still had no signal. I know she was supposed to pop over sometime today, but if she doesn’t… He shook his head. He didn’t even want to think what might happen if she didn’t.

He spent quite some time sitting there just agonising about what he could do in this situation. Eventually he came to the decision that there was nothing he could do whilst he was trapped here. The only thing he could do was continue to look for a way out.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Steeling himself, Blake got back to his feet and prepared himself mentally for exploring the area once again. He was still quite shaken by the attack, but he needed to organise his thoughts and do something and just sitting there wasn’t helping matters.

I wonder how long until it gets dark here. He looked up at the sky, trying to gauge the position of the sun. It was then it dawned on him. There wasn’t one. Sure enough there was light, but no matter how hard he searched the sky he could find the source. It puzzled him how he hadn’t noticed something so obvious before now. He had been preoccupied trying to find a way out of the forest that he hadn’t looked. It wasn’t as if it was a cloudy day or anything, rather there just wasn’t a sun in the sky. The light here came from another source altogether. Well knowing that doesn’t get me anywhere. I should get moving again. He crossed the clearing and walked into the wood at the far side, continuing his search.

It was thirty minutes until he came across the next clearing. By that time, he had worked up an appetite again. He sat down on the grass at the edge of the clearing and placed the bag down in front of him. After rummaging around for a moment, he pulled out one of the ration bars. Only five more left. I should probably save the rest. As he munched down on the bar his eyes were drawn to the black rectangular object, so he pulled it out of the bag. It seemed to be just a small piece of glass with smooth edges, there were no buttons or charging points to indicate it was technology. Maybe it is just a paperweight or something. He rubbed his hand across the surface as he thought that, and the object lit up.

There was no start up screen, it displayed what he immediately recognised as a map instantly. This is here. He could make out the multiple clearings in the forest, there were multiple green dots scattered around the map, some of them appeared to be moving. There was a singular blue dot, that must be me, huh. He squeezed his fingers on the screen and the map zoomed in, so he pulled them apart, but no matter how much he zoomed out, there appeared to be nothing beyond the forest. At least not according to what this map showed. That would be too easy I suppose! He continued to study the map as he ate, it was then that he realised that one of the green dots was heading in his direction. Realising this he grabbed the bag and hid himself a little way back beyond the trees in the undergrowth. He was hoping that the green dots might turn out to be other people, but they could just as easily be more of something like that creature.

He hid there almost holding his breath as the dot approached the clearing. Finally, it stepped out into the open. There was no mistaking it, this time it definitely was a human. A girl slowly stepped out into the open, checking over her surroundings as she went. Blake decided to reveal himself, certain that she wasn’t one of those faceless creatures. He got to his feet and rushed into the clearing calling as he went.

“Hey, am I glad to…”

The girl pulled the object in her hand up to chest height. Bang! Thwack! Pieces of wood from the tree behind him sprayed around, and before he knew it, he had dropped to the floor.

“P-please don’t shoot! I’m human!” He yelled in a panic.

“Oh my god!” The girl shouted back realising her mistake.

She holstered the pistol and hurried over to check on Blake. He glanced up seeing her standing over him, she pushed her brown hair to the side of her face, revealing her green eyes and a welcoming smile.

“I’m so sorry, I thought you were one of those things. Are you okay?” She asked, offering him her hand.

She’s beautiful. He looked up in silence for a moment as he studied her features, he couldn’t help but think he had seen her somewhere before.

“Um…” She said her voice wavering and face blushing ever so slightly from the attention.

“Sorry… I’m fine.” He said coming to his senses and taking her hand.

He got to his feet and brushed his knees off.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d hit you.” She said looking him over before noticing that he was injured. You’re hurt!”

“Oh this.” He said, grabbing his arm. “An earlier encounter with one of those faceless things. I can understand why you were so quick to shoot, even if it frightened the hell out of me.”

“Sit down and let me take a look at that.” She said taking her bag off her back and placing it down on the ground.

“Uh, ok thanks.”