Blake and Eliana had been heading in the direction of the green dots, that were showing up on the glass device. They had been walking for well over an hour now, and we starting to draw closer to what they hoped were a group fellow of survivors.

They could’ve made it there already, but ever since the last encounter with the tentacled creature, they had been travelling in a much, more cautious manner than before. It had made the walk there slow going, but they had managed to avoid any further incidents with the creatures this place contained.

That’s not to say that they hadn’t encountered anything on the way at all, they had. It was just that they had managed to spot them first and keep a safe distance, avoiding being spotted. This also meant they found some of the limitation of the device that Blake carried. It only seemed to show the location of fellow humans and the topography of the area. Those creatures never appeared on it and if there was some way to change the devices settings, they couldn’t find it.

The patch of forest they were walking through started to thin out a little, and the tree line up ahead started to lighten up as if they were approaching another clearing. Blake had been walking in front of Eliana, he came to a stop and waived for her to do the same, as he crouched down on his knees. “This next clearing up ahead is it.”

Eliana crouched down low and slowly made her way alongside Blake, careful to keep noise to a minimum. “What can you see?”

“Not much.” The view to clearing was still partially obscured by trees and undergrowth. “I can see what I think is people there… But I have been wrong before. I’d like to get closer but let’s be careful about this.”

Eliana was nodding in agreement. “Okay, let’s get a little closer so we can see what’s up.” She turned to look Blake in the eyes. “But we stay out of sight. Just like we agreed, until we can tell exactly what’s going on.”

“Agreed.”

They both looked at each other for a moment before they began shuffling forward in unison. They only crept forward a short way, just enough to get a clear view of the meadow without exposing themselves to whatever was out there.

There was indeed a large group of people, at least twenty. They appeared to be scattered around the meadow in smaller groups and didn’t seem to be acting as a whole.

Blake turned to Eliana. “What do you think?”

She shrugged. “Well, they definitely look human.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She sat up and lent her chin in her hands. “But I think we should just sit here and watch them for a while before we decide on doing anything. It’s a large group, but hardly anyone seems to be interacting with each other.” She pointed towards the middle of the field. “Those four over there, they just came together. Everyone else seems to be keeping their distance from each other. I wonder what this situation is?”

Blake steadied himself against a large tree that was just to his side as he crouched and watched on. “I’m not sure, they don’t exactly seem unfriendly from here. I agree, we should just watch and see what happens for a bit.”

The pair watched on in silence, trying to work out if these people in front of them were approachable. They watched the four people in the middle of the meadow seemingly talk for a while, before splitting in to two groups of two. One group, two men headed towards the far end of the meadow away from Blake and Eliana. The other pair, one man and woman started to walk in their direction.

Eliana clutched Blake’s shoulder as if by instinct, her other hand was already touching the pistol on her hip. “They’ve seen us!” She said under her breath.

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Blake was shaking his head. “They haven’t, don’t worry. They can’t see us in here from there, and look.” He pointed to a spot in the field between the couple and where they were hidden in the trees. “They seem to be heading in the direction of that couple over there.”

Eliana’s gaze moved to the place Blake was pointing out. She let go of Blake’s shoulder and her body seemed to relax, but she still appeared a little on edge. “I see.”

With Eliana’s hand no longer biting into his shoulder, Blake relaxed too. “Let’s just continue watching. If we keep calm, even if they did spot us, we could easily disappear into the woods before they got here… Plus for all we know they could be friendly.” I get she’s on edge, I am too, but this is too much.

Blake decided to let go of his unease over Eliana’s current state of mind and continue to silently observe the group in the meadow.

The couple that Eliana had mistakenly thought were heading in their direction continued their way towards the two people that were some distance in front of Blake and Eliana. It was difficult for them to make out, but as they drew closer the man from the second pair seemed to rush forward at the couple they had been watching. He was waving his hands in the air, and they could just about make out his voice, just not any of what was said, but he must have been shouting.

Blake glanced over at Eliana, she was still watching what was going on in the meadow. She didn’t seem to have reacted like before. He then looked down her side, her hand was pressed against the pistol strapped there. He returned his gaze to the meadow, a little worried about what he would see, but as far as he could tell from that distance, things had calmed down.

He let out a sigh of relief. “I thought something was going to happen for a moment then.”

Eliana pulled herself up from the ground and into a sitting position. “It did, but the woman seemed to calm the guy down. I wonder what his problem was?”

“Hard to say, but if they’ve only just arrived here, then it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if they were all on edge. It wouldn’t take much for people to act out.”

“I suppose so.”

Blake and Eliana had taken their eyes off the meadow whilst they had been discussing what they had just seen. It was brought back abruptly, by a spine-tingling scream. It was instantly recognisable, despite neither of the pair hearing something exactly like it in real life before, they knew it was the sound of someone with a genuine fear for their life.

Without even thinking, both got to their feet.

Blake was the first to see what was going on. “Look, over there.” He pointed towards what he thought was the source of the sound.

At the position he’d pointed out, there were now several figures running across the field. They were preceded by the people that had already been in the meadow running ahead of them. The initial scream had been joined by multiple others. The air was full of screams and shouts. It was too far for either Blake or Eliana to tell who or what had joined the group on the meadow.

Blake pulled out the glass device. It lit up with his touch. Whatever the new arrivals were, they weren’t showing up as green dots. They weren’t showing up at all.

Eliana leant over the device to get a look. “They aren’t showing up?”

He slowly shook his head. “They aren’t.”

She turned back to the meadow. Then they must be more of them…”

“I think so.” Blake’s gaze was firmly fixed to the device. A few of the green dots had begun to flash. The first dot he noticed flashing, went out… “I-I think someone just died… They’re killing them!”

“I can see that!” Eliana turned back to the direction they had walked from. She stepped forward and tugged on Blake’s bag. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

He turned back to see Eliana ready to leave. “You want to leave them here? Don’t you want to try and help?”

Eliana took in a deep breath. “I am leaving them here. We don’t know them and what can we even do? We’ve both nearly been killed and that was only against one of those things! Now there’s a whole bunch of them. We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Blake squirmed under Eliana’s gaze, to her he looked conflicted.

Suddenly he stood up straight, as if he’d made up his mind. “I can’t just run… I won’t blame you for doing that, but I’ve at least got to try and help them.”

She simply shrugged. “Sorry, but I won’t be going with you.”

“That’s ok…” He pointed to her hip. “Could you lend me that?”

“No!”

He laughed awkwardly to himself. “Of course, not… It was stupid of me to ask. Sorry you need that for protection.” He turned to the unfolding carnage up ahead on the field. “I’m going to go now, I’ll try and keep track of you on this and meet up if I make it back.” He said waiving the device. “Stay safe.”

Blake turned and walked to the edge of the wood, he paused for just a moment, before stepping out onto the meadow.

Eliana watched him walk off, shaking her head. “Idiot.” She turned and headed deeper into the forest.