Chapter 9

The morning light filtered through the mouth of the cave, its soft orange-purple hue casting long shadows across the rocky floor. The fire from the night before was nothing but smoldering ash now, and Krista knelt by it, methodically stamping out the last embers. Her movements were stiff, her thigh throbbing with each shift, but she forced herself to keep going.

Packing their few belongings, she glanced at Olivia, who sat silently against the wall, staring blankly into the distance. Krista’s patience was already thin, her mind clouded by the tension from the night before.

“Let’s go,” Krista said curtly, slinging her duffle bag over her shoulder. She extended her hand toward Olivia. “Come on.”

Olivia didn’t move. She didn’t even look at her.

Krista’s jaw tightened. “Olivia,” she said again, her tone sharper, “get on my back. We need to keep moving.”

Still, Olivia remained silent, her expression distant and defiant.

Krista groaned, the frustration bubbling to the surface. “Stop pouting and get on my back already. We don’t have time for this.”

Then Olivia whispered, her voice low but venomous, “I hate you.”

The words hit Krista like a slap, her face twisting in irritation. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Olivia,” she snapped. “Get on my fucking back and stop bitching.”

“I hate you!” Olivia suddenly shouted, her voice breaking with anger and pain.

Krista froze for a moment, her hands curling into fists. Then, before she could stop herself, she lashed out, her hand striking Olivia’s cheek with a sharp crack. The cave went silent except for the faint echo of the slap.

Realizing what she’d done, Krista closed her eyes, breathing deeply to calm herself. “Shit…” she muttered under her breath.

She crouched down and carefully hoisted Olivia onto her back, ignoring the sting of her sister’s silence and the burning glare she could feel on the back of her neck.

“You can hate me all you want,” Krista said quietly, her voice steady but firm. “But I’m never going to stop being your sister. That’s just how it is.”

Olivia, her voice trembling with both anger and sorrow, shouted, “Doesn’t it bother you? Carrying me around like this, even with your injured leg? Doesn’t it make you suffer with every step you take?”

Krista clenched her jaw, the pain in her thigh throbbing in response to Olivia’s words. She stopped walking for a moment, turning her head slightly as she yelled back, “Of course it’s painful! Of course, it makes me suffer! But I’m your older sister, and I’ll do whatever the hell it takes to keep you safe and taken care of!”

Olivia’s voice rose even louder, tears streaming down her face. “I never asked for this!”

Something inside Krista snapped. With a sharp motion, she let Olivia slide off her back and onto the ground, her movements fueled by anger and frustration.

“You didn’t have to ask!” Krista shouted, her voice echoing off the cave walls. “I’d throw myself into the fucking hellfire and rub Satan’s dong for you, Olivia! That’s what family does!”

The two sisters stared at each other, the silence between them filled with tension and unspoken emotions. Krista’s chest heaved, her hands trembling at her sides, while Olivia lay on the ground, her face a mixture of shock, hurt, and defiance.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the faint rustling of leaves outside the cave, a reminder that the world around them was still moving forward, indifferent to their turmoil.

Finally, Krista crouched down again, her expression softening just slightly. “Let’s just fucking go,” she said, her voice quieter but no less resolute. “We can argue later. Right now, we need to move.”

Olivia didn’t respond, but she allowed Krista to pick her up again, her silence heavy with lingering tension.

As they left the cave, the weight of their argument hung over them like a storm cloud, unspoken but undeniable. Neither sister knew how to fix the growing rift between them, but for now, survival was the only thing they could focus on.

The forest was unnaturally silent as the sisters trudged through the uneven terrain. The eerie absence of birdsong or insect chirps pressed down on them like a suffocating weight.

Krista carried Olivia on her back, her thigh aching with every step, but her face betrayed nothing. Olivia, her arms loosely wrapped around Krista's shoulders, finally broke the oppressive silence.

“You know,” Krista said, her voice steady but tense, “you’ve been awfully quiet. I bet you’ve got questions. Might as well ask while we’re stuck here.”

Olivia hesitated, her lips trembling before she forced the words out. “Back home… Orlando… did you—did you kill them? Did you really kill Mom and Dad?”

Krista stopped in her tracks, her shoulders tensing. She didn’t turn around, her voice flat and unflinching. “Yeah. I did.”

Olivia’s breath hitched. “Why… why did you leave me out of it? Wouldn’t killing me be so much better for you? Why stop?”

“Because you’re too pure for that, Liv,” Krista replied, her tone softer now. “You’re not like me. I was already messed up back then—too deep into death metal, Reddit rabbit holes, and all the horrible shit people post online. I didn’t have it in me to cry for them. You? You’re naively innocent. You’d cry them a river if they were so much as to slip on a banana peel. Killing them wouldn’t put a dent in me and my conscience. Truthfully, I always wanted to snuff them out in their sleep when we were younger, before all the millions of dollars of debt and bankruptcy. Killing you? That’s a no-no. I wasn’t going to drag you down with me.”

Olivia’s voice trembled as she asked, “When did you… when did you start harvesting people?”

Krista resumed walking, her voice calm but laced with a grim edge. “Remember the guy who talked to us in the diner back on the first day we arrived in LA? Bradley. He’s the one who brought me into the business. Said I had the right potential for it. Unlike the get rich quick scam scheme, organ harvesting is actually profitable both in short term and long term. And seeing how we only had twenty bucks in our pocket that day, I wasn’t exactly in a position to say no back then.”

“How many did you kill?” Olivia’s voice was barely above a whisper. “How many people have died for you to gut them like fish?”

Krista didn’t hesitate. “Around 700. Maybe 750 by now. Lost count somewhere along the way.”

Olivia’s breath hitched again. “What… what organs do you take?”

“Whatever’s healthy enough to sell,” Krista answered matter-of-factly. “But the heart’s the go-to. Fetches the most money.”

“How much have you made?”

Krista’s lips curled into a wry smile. “Clean money after all the expenses? About 12 million dollars.”

Olivia stared at the back of Krista’s head in disbelief. “What… what is all that money even for?”

Krista stopped again, glancing over her shoulder. Her eyes were sharp, but there was a glimmer of something softer—something protective. “For you.”

Olivia blinked. “What?”

“The money’s for a prototype Inter spinal nerve extension cybernetic replacement implant,” Krista explained. “I’ve been studying robotics and engineering to make it work. It’s a long shot to mesh engineering and biology together. But there is a very small chance that it will allow you to walk again. So you can walk again, Liv. So you can see the world for yourself.”

Tears welled in Olivia’s eyes, and her voice cracked. “Why—” she squeezed her hands, “—why would you dirty your hands for me like this?”

“Does it matter?” Krista said, her tone unyielding. “You’re my sister. A family does whatever it takes, even the bad stuff, to protect their own. Mom and Dad were useless, gambling-addicted, good-for-nothing jerks who dragged us into hell and poverty. But you? You’re innocent. For you, I’ll kill without remorse.”

Olivia sobbed quietly, clutching Krista tighter. “You’re so stupid,” she said through her tears. “You’ll go to hell for this!”

Krista let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, probably. But if I do, I’ll take it. Hell, I’m kind of expecting it. And when I get there, I’ve got a few choice words for our dear old God. I’ve been sold on agnosticism since I was a kid. If He’s real, He’s got some explaining to do. Like why He gave us Nate and Nora for parents and let them ruin everything. Fucking Creator, my ass.”

The sisters’ tense moment was interrupted by a distant scream. It was faint but unmistakable, a chilling, guttural wail that sent a shiver down Olivia’s spine.

Krista’s grip on her rifle tightened, her senses snapping to attention.

“What’s that?” Olivia asked, her voice shaky.

Krista’s expression darkened. “I don’t know. But when you were out, I ran into some… things. Humanoid, but not human. They’re scary as fuck.”

Olivia’s curiosity fought with her fear. “What do they look like?”

Krista’s lips curled into a sardonic smirk. “Ever played Dota? Picture Shadow Fiend, but bigger and smellier and have actual lower half and working legs.”

Olivia let out a weak laugh. “So… demons?”

Krista shrugged. “If they are, I’m not surprised. Fits the theme, doesn’t it?”

“How strong are they?” Olivia asked, her voice tinged with both fear and fascination.

Krista adjusted her grip on her rifle, her face set in grim determination. “Dunno. Haven’t wrestled one yet. But they go down easy enough—three 7.62 NATO to the chest or one to the head. Problem is, they always come in numbers.”

The screams grew louder, closer. Krista cursed under her breath and reached into her duffle bag, pulling out one of the Colt M1911 pistols. She handed it to Olivia, her face deadly serious.

“Here,” Krista said, “just in case. If I’m too screwed to defend both of us, use this.”

Olivia stared at the gun, her hands trembling. “I can’t…”

Krista crouched in front of her, gripping her shoulders tightly. “Yes, you can! There’s a frag grenade in the duffle bag too. If it comes down to it, you do what you have to do! Promise me, Olivia.”

Olivia’s eyes filled with horror as she realized what Krista was asking. “You… you don’t mean—”

“I do,” Krista interrupted, her voice firm. “Promise me. Say it.”

Tears streamed down Olivia’s face as she clutched the pistol. The screams were almost upon them now, the forest alive with the sound of approaching danger.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

And Krista, her jaw clenched and her rifle raised, prepared herself for whatever nightmare was about to emerge from the trees.

The forest came alive with the thunderous clamor of hoofbeats. From the shadows of the trees, seven demon knights emerged, their grotesque steeds covered in spiked armor and their blackened swords gleaming in the dim light. Their glowing red eyes locked onto Krista and Olivia with predatory focus.

Krista felt her stomach twist, but she didn’t have time to hesitate. “Stay put!” she shouted, dropping Olivia onto the ground behind a fallen log. Olivia cried out in protest but obeyed, clutching the pistol with trembling hands.

Krista raised her TAR-21 and began firing, the rifle spitting bullets at the advancing knights. The rounds tore into the first two, knocking them from their mounts with sickening thuds. Crimson blood sprayed from their wounds, the stench of sulfur and rot thick in the air.

The remaining knights closed in fast. Krista fired again, emptying her magazine into the third knight, who toppled with a guttural roar.

Click. Click, click, click—

“Son of a bitch!” Krista cursed, ejecting the empty mag and slamming in a fresh one.

But before she could fire, one of the knights charged her. Its sword swung down in a brutal arc, and she barely managed to block the blow with her rifle. The force of the impact shattered the weapon in two, the pieces clattering to the ground.

“Fuck!” Krista snarled, tossing the broken remains aside. “Fine… pull up then!”

The demon knight raised its sword for another swing, but Krista was quicker.

She yanked her wakizashi from her hoodie, the blade glinting as she ducked under the knight’s strike. With a quick slash, she severed the creature’s leg at the knee, sending it crashing to the ground.

Before the demon could react, Krista lunged forward, her blade slicing cleanly through its neck. The head tumbled to the ground, black blood oozing from the stump.

But there was no time to rest.

From behind her, another demon knight raised its sword high, its steed rearing back with a terrifying neigh. The blade came down hard, slashing across Krista’s back. She screamed in pain, collapsing to her knees.

The knight dismounted and advanced on her, its sword poised to deliver a killing blow. Krista rolled onto her back just in time, her hands coming up to block the strike.

The longsword pierced through both her palms with sickening precision, the tip digging into her left chest just above her heart.

Krista’s scream was raw, primal, filled with agony as the searing pain overwhelmed her senses.

“Krista!” Olivia’s voice rang out, trembling and filled with terror.

Krista forced her eyes open, her face twisted in a grimace. “Olivia! Take the shot!” she yelled, her voice hoarse.

Olivia’s hands shook violently as she raised the pistol. She pulled the trigger, but the first shot went wide, the bullet tearing into a nearby tree.

“Shoot! Shoot, goddamn it!” Krista screamed.

The second and third shots missed as well, ricocheting harmlessly into the dirt.

The demon knight snarled, his blade pressing deeper into Krista’s chest.

Finally, the fourth shot found its mark, slamming into the knight’s head. The creature let out a guttural groan before crumpling to the ground, lifeless.

But the victory was short-lived.

The knight’s toxic blood, hotter than boiling water, dripped down the blade and into Krista’s wounds. The contact sent a wave of searing pain through her body, her flesh blistering and her veins feeling like they were on fire.

Krista’s vision blurred, her teeth clenched as she fought the urge to black out. She forced her legs up, gripping the longsword with her feet. With a guttural cry, she yanked the blade free from her chest, the pain excruciating beyond words yet the angle didn’t allow her to pull the sword out from her palms, the blade stuck.

Krista rolled her body sideways before resorting to a more extreme way, taking a deep breath and grit her teeth to hold the pain. She put her left leg on the rear half of the sword and her right leg on the front half, pushing both of legs outward.

The sword cuts through her hands, splitting both of her hands horizontally from the middle fingers and ring fingers. Blood began to flood out from her wound like an open dam.

She rolled onto the ground, clutching her bleeding hands as sobs wracked her body. Her head butted against the dirt as she screamed into the earth, her agony pouring out in raw, guttural cries.

Olivia crawled toward her, tears streaming down her face. “Krista! Krista, are you okay?!”

Krista couldn’t respond, her body trembling uncontrollably. The toxic blood continued to burn her wounds, each second feeling like an eternity of torment.

Olivia clutched Krista’s shoulder, her voice shaking. “Please, stay with me. You’re all I have!”

Through the haze of pain, Krista managed to gasp out, “I’m not… going anywhere…”

But as more guttural screams echoed from the forest, growing louder and closer, both sisters knew the nightmare was far from over. Krista shoved Olivia back into the tree bark.

Krista’s body screamed in protest as she forced herself to her feet, the pain from her wounds making her vision swim. Blood dripped from her hands, chest, and back, but she clenched her teeth, her rage fueling her beyond what her battered body should have been able to endure.

Her gaze fell on the longsword that she kicked out from her hands, its blade glistening with toxic demon blood. She limped over to the nearest fallen demon, grabbing another sword from its corpse, and then another from a third body.

Each step sent agony through her, but Krista didn’t stop.

The guttural howls of approaching knights broke through the silence. Seven more emerged from the treeline, their glowing red eyes locking onto her.

“Bring it on, you demonic piece of shit,” Krista muttered, her voice low and filled with defiance.

With a roar, she charged toward them, the first longsword raised high. She lunged at the nearest demon, driving the blade through its chest with a sickening crunch. The creature let out a garbled cry, collapsing to the ground.

Krista stumbled but didn’t stop, spinning to face the remaining six. Her movements were fueled purely by adrenaline now, each swing wild and desperate.

The knights closed in, their swords flashing in the dim light. Krista blocked one swing, parried another, but the odds quickly overwhelmed her.

One demon’s blade slashed across her left shoulder, nearly severing her arm. Another struck her side, drawing a deep gash. A third stabbed her in the thigh, and a fourth cut into her ribs, forcing her to the ground.

Krista collapsed in a heap, her body trembling and blood pooling beneath her.

She lay there, gasping for breath, her vision narrowing as one of the knights approached her with its sword raised.

But then, her gaze shifted to Olivia, who was crying out in terror as another demon approached her.

The creature grabbed Olivia by the throat, lifting her effortlessly with one hand. Olivia’s pistol fell from her grasp, clattering to the ground as the demon raised its sword.

“No…” Krista rasped, her voice barely audible. Her fingers twitched, gripping the longsword beside her.

With a guttural roar, Krista pushed herself up, the sudden surge of rage giving her strength. She swung the sword wildly, her movements chaotic and unpredictable.

Her roaring, unrelenting assault caught the knights off guard. One by one, they fell to her frenzied strikes, their bodies collapsing to the ground as she severed their legs.

Krista staggered toward the demon holding Olivia, her vision red with fury. She lunged forward, wrapping her arms through the creature’s chest and tossed her body back, throwing the demon back and fell to the rest.

She didn’t stop. Krista quickly shoved her right hand into the duffle bag and took out a fragmentation grenade, pulling its pin with a distinct schling.

“Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker!” Krista tossed the grenade at them then got down on her sides, covering her head and ears.

The explosion was quick, sending shrapnels everywhere and stopping the demon screams altogether.

Panting and trembling, Krista turned to Olivia, limping towards her. She reached her bleeding and half severed right hand out, calling for her sister.

“O-Olivia—”

Just when she thought that she had killed the demons with the grenade, another demon, still alive from the initial explosion, leaped onto her back, locking its arms around her neck.

It proceeds to pull her back slightly, making Krista leaning back from the demon’s weight before letting out a dry scream, driving the sword through her back and out the front. Krista growled in pain, gripping the longsword tightly, cutting her fingers on the sharp edge as she tried to hold it in place. But the demon overpowered her, driving the sword further out until the crossguard stopped as it touched her back.

Olivia’s eyes widened, her pupils expanding out, almost reaching the corneal line. Her jaw dropped in horror of her sister as the demon lifted Krista’s body with the sword, and began to slowly go motionless and her head falling back.

“KRISTA!!!”

Olivia lifted the pistol again, her hands trembling uncontrollably as she tried her best to line her shot. With a sorrowful cry, she pulled the trigger. The bullet nearly misses Krita as it hits the demon in its neck. The demon let out a strangled cry before going limp, its body sliding off hers and hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

Krista stumbled, blood pouring from her wounds. With her remaining strength, she pushed the sword back until it slid off her back. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Sis! Sis! Can you hear me?!” Olivia let out a pained shout.

Krista lifted her head weakly, dragging herself forward with her left elbow as she used her right hand to press her stab wound, she crawled toward Olivia, her vision darkening with each agonizing movement.

“L-Liv—” Krista whispered, blood dribbling from her mouth. Her hoodie was shredded, her body covered in deep gashes and burns. “O-Oli… via…”

She reached out weakly, her hand trembling, before her strength finally gave out. Her face hit the ground, and her body went still.

“Krista!” Olivia screamed, dragging herself toward her sister. She clutched Krista’s broken body, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Please… don’t leave me,” Olivia cried, her voice shaking. “I need you… I can’t do this without you!”

She held Krista tightly, her tears falling onto her sister’s bloodied face. Olivia, with her miniscule strength compared to Krista, pulled her ripped hoodie apart.

It was difficult for her. She has never been the physical type. After minutes of struggle, finally the hoodie was torn.

Olivia’s hands trembled as she tried to pull the makeshift tourniquet tighter around Krista’s abdomen. Her fingers slipped against the blood-slicked fabric of Krista’s torn hoodie, and she could feel the warm, viscous liquid continue to seep between her fingers. No matter how much pressure she applied, the bleeding didn’t stop—it wouldn’t stop.

“Why won’t it work? Why can’t I—” Olivia’s voice cracked as tears streamed down her face, mixing with the sweat and grime coating her cheeks. Her breathing grew ragged as she choked on sobs, looking down at her sister’s pale face. “I’m so useless… I can’t even save you…”

Krista’s breathing was shallow, her chest barely rising with each breath. Her face, normally sharp and vibrant with an almost mischievous energy, was now a lifeless mask of exhaustion and pain. Her usually piercing eyes were half-lidded, unfocused, and fluttering shut. Olivia could see the life draining out of her sister with every second, her body giving up even as Olivia refused to let go.

“No, no, no…” Olivia whimpered, her voice barely above a whisper. She pressed her forehead to Krista’s, her tears spilling onto her sister’s bloodied face. Her small, trembling hands cradled Krista’s cheeks, brushing away strands of damp hair as she pleaded to an unseen force. “Please, don’t take her from me… Please… She’s all I have.”

She hugged Krista close, burying her face into the crook of her neck, her sobs muffled against her sister’s skin. Olivia’s mind screamed at her to keep trying, to do something, anything—but there was nothing left to do. The blood wouldn’t stop. Krista’s body was growing colder with every passing moment, and Olivia felt the despair of inevitability creep over her like a shadow.

The minutes stretched into agonizing hours.

The warm afternoon sun had long since dipped below the horizon, leaving the world bathed in a cold, indifferent darkness. Midnight had fallen, and the chill in the air began to bite at Olivia’s exposed skin. Yet she didn’t care. She refused to move, refused to let go of Krista, as if her sheer will could somehow keep her sister tethered to life.

Her fingers reached out to Krista’s neck, searching for a pulse. She found it—faint, weak, but still there. Olivia’s breath hitched as hope flared, only to be extinguished by her growing confusion.

“How…?” Olivia whispered to herself, her voice hoarse from hours of crying. “How are you still alive? You’re supposed to be…”

She trailed off, unwilling to voice the word hanging heavy in her mind. Dead.

By all logic, Krista should have succumbed to her injuries long ago. Olivia’s eyes traced the deep, angry slashes on Krista’s arms and chest, the horizontal split on her palms, and the stab wound in her abdomen. A sword had pierced Krista clean through, shredding flesh and rupturing vital organs. No one could survive that—not one human.

Yet here Krista was, clinging to life ten hours later. Her body continued to defy death’s pull, her heart still managing feeble, irregular beats. Olivia pressed her trembling hand against Krista’s chest, feeling the faint thrum of a pulse beneath her palm.

“What are you…?” Olivia murmured, her voice cracking. “You should be gone… You should be gone…”

But Krista wasn’t. Her chest rose and fell with agonizing slowness, her body battered but stubbornly holding on. It was unnatural—impossible. Her blood loss alone should have killed her, yet her organs hadn’t given out. Every part of Krista’s body seemed to resist the inevitability of death as if sheer determination alone could keep her alive.

Olivia’s mind raced with questions she couldn’t answer. Was it adrenaline? Some latent instinct to survive? Or was it something more… unnatural? The thought chilled her to the core, but she pushed it aside, unwilling to entertain anything that wasn’t grounded in reality.

Instead, she leaned down and kissed Krista’s forehead, her lips trembling as they brushed against her sister’s clammy skin. “Stay with me,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “Please, don’t leave me…”

Her tears fell freely now, soaking into Krista’s bloodied clothes as she held her sister close. For all the strength Olivia tried to muster, she couldn’t stop the nagging doubt clawing at her heart. How much longer could Krista’s body endure this? How much longer could she fight?

Olivia let out a shaky breath, burying her face in Krista’s shoulder once more. “You can’t leave me. Not yet. You promised, remember? You said you’d always protect me…”

She clung to that promise like a lifeline, refusing to let go even as Krista’s breathing grew more labored. All she could do was hold on and hope—hope that whatever force had kept her sister alive this long would continue to defy the odds.

The night dragged on, the silence broken only by Olivia’s quiet sobs and the faint, ragged breaths of her sister. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a small, desperate voice whispered a single, unrelenting thought:

Please don’t let this be the end.