A shriek pierced my ears like a knife, sending shivers down my neck and making my body react by tensing up. I was scared to my core, who wouldn't be? Good thing that my bladder was already empty, as bricks would be shat - quite literally. I could hear the sound of multiple entities running, twigs being stepped on, as well as rustling of branches in the distance. That was nothing compared to the sound of my heart racing in my own ears though.

"Goddammit.. why am I that scared?" - I asked myself, as my lungs tried to steady the breathing. I failed miserably, but at least managed to slow down the panting a little bit, fear has appeared out of nowhere - I didn't expect it at all. The smell of damp moss was not soothing in the slightest, it was a tingling reminder that I was not dreaming.

Why the certainty? I don't remember ever smelling anything in a dream. Feeling, seeing and hearing yes - not smelling or tasting, everything before me was one and only - reality.

A figure rushed from within the bushes into a clearing, a man. Human as far as I could tell, I was not sure about anything at all right now, but on the first glance he appeared to be one. It was a bit too far to distinguish any fine details, my eyesight was not the finest of tools - that can happen when you indulge yourself in the virtual reality and stare into a screen for hours daily.

What was apparent - the human was male, probably a little bit shorter than me - which meant that he was around average height, a bit under hundred and eighty centimeters. Yes, I am indeed taller than that, though I consider myself being normal height at hundred and ninety centimeters. The man that appeared from the woods had dark hair and light skin, or he was just pale from being out of breath.. to get a better look I would have to come closer, which my body wouldn't let me do at all. I was stuck, even though at first I wanted to stand up and scream something like "HEY!". I didn't... somehow I couldn't, or rather I wouldn't let myself do something like that.

"No.." - I could hear the slight whisper somewhere in the back of my head, my instincts were telling me to act like a coward, or rather be smart. That human could not be the one that produced the blood-chilling shriek, and if he did - even more reasons to go full nope on him and remain in the cozy darkness of the bushes.

The man ran about twenty meters, enough for me to make out that he was dressed in some old fashioned clothes. His clothes were odd, they looked like something you would see in books on medieval history, or in a movie about a certain fellow called Max, who was mad or something. Brown pants, rough greyish-white shirt, and a cloak that swayed behind him as he was running. Well- that was better than my potato-sack-pants, maybe he can point me in the direction of the nearest village or whatever.

As I was looking at the running man, seems like I missed the ones that were following him, or rather shall I say- hunting. Two figures appeared from behind the trees and rapidly caught up with the running man. My hand twitched as I again wanted to stand up, run in and help the poor fellow. Wanted? A moment later I started doubting that, as I saw the feral figures push his body to the ground and start ripping him apart.

They weren't dogs, they weren’t anything I could call an animal - they looked humanoid, nothing similar to Earthen animals. It would be easy to call them goblins due to their large heads and short height, but they looked nothing like a goblin.. mostly nothing like the usual image that would appear on screen if you would type the word in the search-bar.

For one- they weren't green, the shade was more rotten-brown with a bit of gray. Their skin was similar to that of a toad. In fact- they did look like toads, toads that had claws on their slim and dry hands. Toads that had a monkeys' face for a head, a deformed and ugly monkey face. God they were far too close to my liking, the pressure made my insides turn as I tensed up, trying not to disturb even a leaf.

Those creatures were bashing and clawing the man, probably angry at him for running away. Something reached my ears, a strange sound. It wasn't quiet, seems I didn't notice it at first. I heard everything as if my ears were filled with water. The sounds were distant, but finally my own heartbeat, and those screams became the only thing I heard. I did not understand any of the words I could make out from the deafening screams of a dying man, nevertheless - it wasn't a language I could understand. I didn't want to know what his words were, but the pain was apparent.

The toad creatures stood up, all the previous screaming stopped and I was left to listen to my own heartbeat for quite some time. I couldn't make anything out from where I was lying, it was certain that their victim was dead.

I just witnessed a man being killed. What's worse - I didn't move a finger to help, I couldn't.. I would die if i did. Silence made some space for a flood of thoughts to rush in.

However what came next was even worse than the deafening screams and I wished that the forest wasn't so quiet. I wished the echo wouldn't bring the sounds of cloth ripping, followed by wet strikes of stone connecting to flesh. The creature was swinging a small stone hatchet, crushing it on the shoulder of the now dead body. The skin ripped, and the bones started breaking, which was apparent by the loud "crack" that echoed through the underbrush.

I could feel my stomach turning at the sounds, as if it was me who was being smashed apart. I could only stay silent, and watch, nothing else.

The second toad-monkey was swinging what looked like a rope with a stone tied to it, trying to get it around a branch of a tree. I knew what was going to happen, I knew too well - the hunters always processed their game on the spot, those creatures weren't different. The rope creaked as they pulled on it. First I saw the legs- which were tied, allowing the small creatures to lift the carcass in the air. I still wasn't able to see the face of the man they killed, the grass was covering parts of the view..not like I wanted to look at it.

My thoughts collapsed on themselves, all of the smart remarks that were coming to mind a few minutes, no..even moments ago, disappeared. This is not something I could imagine, more so, I wish that everything would be just a little nightmare, caused by me dropping unconscious on the parking lot of the hospital. It wasn't the case though, I was stuck lying in some bushes, while watching a short ugly-faced creature pull out some small tool from its belt.

I don't need to see it to know what he pulled out. The necessary tool in order to process a killed animal - a knife. I could have sworn that I heard it perfectly, as the knife dug into the neck of the freshly killed human. I could make out the sound of the dripping sticky blood landing on the moss, the smell wasn't better - it reached me in a matter of minutes, spreading like an oil leak. Just in time for the main course, as the body was stripped from the remaining clothes and the stomach was opened.

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Ironic how while someone else intestines fell on the mossy flooring of the forest, I was trying my best to keep the contents of my own stomach inside. I had to swallow the vomit that filled my mouth twice. The bitter taste of the stomach juices kept me from smelling any more blood. It didn't help with sounds though, even worse - I couldn't turn away, as I was too scared to lose track of the creatures even for a split second. Even if it meant to keep on looking, as they were cutting the head off, as they chopped the palms off of the body, as they piled all of the edible organs back inside of the corpse - using it as a basket. As they were moving away into the distance, I was still looking at them. At those short, warded backs as they disappeared between the trees.

My eyes became dry, they hurt like all hell, however I remained still. Time passed and I could feel my body relax enough for me to move. My legs were shaking though, so I couldn't pull myself up. I remained in the bushes for a bit longer, trying to keep myself from bursting into tears or worse- screaming. High pitched ringing was clouding my thoughts. I couldn't think, or rather I wouldn't risk to. The following half an hour were spent in the same position, belly on the moss, staring forward.

I was finally able to pull myself together and stand up on all four limbs, slowly, still waiting for some sort of ambush. The forest was just too quiet for me to calm down. The sound of blood dripping was still lingering in my mind.

"Please be safe.." - My eyes broke contact with the spot between the trees at which I was staring at. I turned around, in the opposite direction from where the toad-monkeys left, and crawled away from the safe haven of the bushes. I didn't know where to go, but one thing was certain - not there, anywhere but there. My legs were able to make only a few steps before stopping.

"But they did leave the scraps of his gear and clothes.." - My brain betrayed me. Most of the thoughts crossing my mind are random - simply a reaction to something catching my attention. The fact that it is a survival situation caught my attention, and the brain responded accordingly. Internal debates happened in a blink of an eye, my inner search engine began to remember everything that may prove being useful. No- not my amazing boyscout training, I never had one. What I did have- was common sense, logic and a lot of haphazard information from having a bit too much free time on my hands. Now - all of the useless videos from the internet that "prepared" you to survival, were flooding my mind, none had anything useful for the current situation. Amongst the stupid information one thought was practical - not much, but a great start.

"Everything I scavenge might be helpful." - Goddammit brain, curse you! I am not a pro survival expert - but you don't have to be one to know that having some things is better than having nothing at all in my case. But that meant turning around, and more importantly- going to the place of slaughter. My stomach once again made a complete turn around itself. Didn't throw up though... that's good.

My mind and my body were fighting, but eventually one of the two lost, as I found myself walking toward the spot where the man was butchered. As expected - the smell was far worse than what I sensed from within the bushes. Urine, shit, guts and a lot of blood, as well as stomach juices- everything was right before me - simply lying on the ground, mixed together into one red pile. Another wave of nausea hit me, I gagged and felt the contents of my stomach to rush into my throat as I covered my mouth with my hand.

Why did I keep swallowing the vomit back? Simple - I couldn't let myself become dehydrated because of the stomach acting up. There was no water in sight, I reacted that way even without thinking about any reason actually.

My eyes caught glimpse of the mans' arm, which was grabbing onto a handful of dirt. On the back side of the palm, there was a similar tattoo. It looked completely different than that on my hand, though the location was the same. Was it some sort of brand? No, thoughts aside, I have to hurry. The smell of the body will eventually attract scavengers, or worse - some sort of a predator, anything could be lurking in these woods, now it was certain that the range of possibilities was broad as the ocean.

I made a step and felt wet warm moss sticking to my feet. It took a bit of concentration not to look down, I didn't want to freak out even more than I already was. A bit away from the bloody pile lied a bit of cloth, ripped from the victims pants and shirt, the toads must have taken the cloak with them, as it was mostly untouched. Bad luck for me, as only a few strips of cloth weren't covered in gore, well.. those few were covered, but a bit less than everything in the vicinity. A piece of leather was lying beside the tree. It looked like a pouch of some sort. As i picked it up, transparent liquid poured out from it, smelling like some hard liquor.

Inside was a broken glass bottle, small at that. Doesn't seem like a flask with booze. More like a flask of medicine, small one at it. Even though the contents were beyond salvageable, the tiny pouch and the shards of glass could be useful. For cutting my own wrists vertically, to stop all the suffering for example. I'd rather not get myself into such state though.

A few pieces of cloth the size of a napkin, some glass and a tiny leather pouch tied with a piece of string. My efforts felt useless. I couldn't stand being at that spot any longer, so I turned around and started walking, fast - without looking back. You could think that I should have buried the remains, giving the person his last rites. I say - fuck that. I couldn't look an the dead eyes of the unknown man for longer than a second. I would not be able to dig the earth just to bury him... I am not sorry, I just want to get further away from that spot, further away from killer monkey-toads.

"... and there I thought all the games, movies and shit made us less sensitive to the sight of violence and gore.. they didn't..." - My hands were still trembling like crazy, I could make out the sound of glass jingling in the pouch that i held wrapped in the bloodied pieces of cloth. It seems like I started calming down, or rather switching my attention to what was important - not becoming That..

Dressed in potato-sack pants, feet covered in blood and carrying a tiny parchment with some garbage, I walked while trying to avoid the sharp twigs on the ground. It was obvious that I had to come up with a plan, however - right now I was only able to focus on walking.

So I did exactly that, walked in the woods, with no idea where I was going.