The feeling of walking through the force-field is similar to walking through a streamer door. It makes my whole body tingly. I’m almost tempted to try and wipe it off, but it’s all gone before I can attempt something so fruitless. A smell of stale wood assaults my nose, making me wince. I hold my face, trying to interpret the world around me. It’s…unpleasant, what I see. The sight of these woods fills my stomach with knots. Trees stained with dried blood and the remains of half-feasted humans sit about all over. W-what the hell? What the hell what the hell what the hell?! I feel my lungs begging to scream, but I shut my lips tight.

Bea seems to notice my troubles, stepping back to be close to my side. Maria side eyes me, but doesn’t do much else. She makes a signal for us to start walking, and so we do. Deeper, deeper into these dead woods. I feel with every step my humanity is being toyed with. It makes just breathing a difficult thing to convince myself to keep doing as I find a hand of a woman atop some leaves, a random animal feasting on it quietly. Bea whispers me a shush, to not potentially aggravate it. I do as told, and soon we’re further in.

The light from above is starting to dissipate, hidden by the skin coverings hanging from the branches above. I look down in some vain attempt to ignore their existence, but I was doomed to have them infect my subconscious the whole while. Come on, where the fuck are you?! I try to focus on the pain in my arm from carrying this bag, but every few seconds, it's broken by something snapping twigs or breaking glass. I don’t know what to do. I’m really on the verge of losing my cool. As I’m so close to losing my last nerve, something just ahead of us makes a sound. Obscured by bushes, it’s impossible to tell what it is.

Maria pulls out her sword, walking forward carefully. Pointing the tip straight at the bushes, her eyes seem to be observing whatever lay inside. After a moment, she lowers her sword, and holds out her hand. Someone reaches out their hand. A man in his 20’s pops out of the bush, looking like he’s seen hell. Caked in blood and deep cuts covering his body, it’s clear the angel was after him at least at one point. Maria looks back at us all with a look of valid confusion. What the hell is a living person doing in a carnage-den like this? I feel danger sirens ringing in my head as Maria leads him over to us.

“We gotta bring him back to the field.” Maria explains. “We can’t leave a random person out here by themselves.” Everyone seemed to nod along. “Sir? Can you tell us your name?” The man looked over at each of us, his face speaking to his clear mistrust. Catching on, Maria clears her throat. “I’m Maria, and in order, that’s Marissa, Pomni, Mimi, Sasha, Bea, and that is Christopher.” Maria gives the man a warm smile, welcoming him to do the same. He grits his teeth, still unsure, but it would seem peer pressure is quite the killer, cause he eventually sighs, and agrees to the demand.

“Marcus. I’m Marcus.” He says, rubbing his arm. “Do you guys have a way out of here?” Maria slaps him on the back, giving him an affirming nod. “P-please, get me out of here!” Seemingly recognizing that he had found his safety, he began freaking out, quietly enough that he likely wouldn’t draw any unsavory attention. With that said, it was still awful to watch. Maria took the man’s hand and led him over to me and Bea. She gave us a telling look. It was pretty obvious what she wanted. Me and her both nodded, leading the man back the way we came. Meanwhile, the rest of the group moved on to find the angel. Having the group cut like this certainly feels like the opposite of ideal, but I’m certainly not qualified to lead anything.

Turning my head, I see Bea and Marcus both walking in awkward silence. With a feeling of pure dread crawling up my spine, I try to make some attempt at small talk. The issue is every time I open my mouth, a terrifying sound is made somewhere that makes me shut the hell up all over again. On and on this cycle goes as we begin to reach the forcefield. Whatever, we’ve almost dropped this guy off. With luck we can rejoin the group in like five minutes tops if we hurry back through. Though, that leaves the potential of me vomiting mixing exercise with this disgusting surrounding area.

“NGH!” All three of us slam into the forcefield. It certainly wasn’t the same pass through feeling I felt before. Rubbing my face, I look up to see the debriefer standing there, looking rather annoyed at our arrival. Something feels wrong about this. Don't tell me we aren’t actually gonna be able to drop this dude off. “Gah, hey briefer girl. Mind letting us drop off this guy we found? He could be a big help with information~.” Bea seemed to notice what I did, attempting to sweeten up the deal. It had no effect. “Come on…this ain't funny…” Bea whispered. The briefer wasn’t laughing.

“Are you fucking kidding me? We’re supposed to help people aren’t we? Why would we not help someone when it just means letting us through a forcefield. Come on, hurry up!” Bea began slamming on the thing. The sound was awful, like glass vibrating for miles all in a few inches of space. Something is really off here. Why…why hasn’t she said a single word since we got here? No, she’d be more likely to make fun of us if we were doing something she didn’t like. I reach out and gently rap my fingers on the forcefield. It’s…it’s wrong. What the hell is going on?

“Bea-” I blink. Just one blink. The light of the sun and sky are gone, replaced by the night. All of three of us freeze up, slowly looking around. We aren’t…even in the same place that we were before. Did we get teleported? Where did the time go?! Where's everyone else?! I hold my head. How the hell did this even happen?! “B…is everyone ok?” I suck in my panic, waiting for an answer from the other two.

“I’m fine…” Marcus whispers, clearly shivering.

“No Chris, I’m not okay. We’re somewhere in the middle of nowhere in these woods, at pitch black night, with no way of getting back to base. ACTUAL BASE.” Bea starts sucking air through her teeth. I reach into my pocket and don’t find my tablet. I look to Bea and she shakes her head. Damnit. This really is bad. I look around. Up in the sky, I see no stars to lead the way. Just a moon, sitting perfectly centered above us. So, any direction is equally viable. With that in mind, I turn to Bea, and ask her what direction we take. She examines, and notices that one of the ways has a decently large split between the trees.

“Why…do we wanna go that way?” I asked.

“It’s the only clear path we’ve got.” She argues. “Plus, if it’s that way, I’m pretty certain killing it is our only way to getting the hell back home. Can you imagine any scenario that goes differently?” She…makes a fine enough point. Besides, I would prefer the freedom of a few feet of clear land on each side of me. With her plan being pretty much decided, Bea takes the lead, motioning for us to follow close behind. We do as told, watching as the trees slowly pass us by. Where exactly are we even headed? Surely just more damn woods. I do wonder, though…

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Uhm…” I feel a tug on my shirt. Turning my head, I see Marcus looking at me with worry. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?” I chuckle, before shaking my head. It would seem he took that response rather well, chuckling himself.

“Shit…what a disgusting joke.” He groans, rubbing his face.

“Something on your mind?”

“...nothing. Nothing serious anyways.” He crosses his arms over his stomach, sighing long and deep.

“Very convincing.” I say.

“Mmm…someone…sacrificed themselves for me…to keep going. Dying after that…would be unforgivable. So, why is the world so intent on seeing me dead?” He explains. To that…the hell do I say to that? I gulp.

“You’re right. That’s why we aren’t gonna let that happen.” That’s right. We’re getting out alive. All of us. So stop being so unsure. I flash him a thumbs up. He flashes one back. Good man. I turn my attention back to Bea, who’s walking surprisingly confidently. God If I had confidence like that. I smile. What a strong woman…I feel my shoulders straighten. Right, you’re confident, you got this, don’t let yourself go to thoughts like what ifs? Clench your fists and get ready to kill-woah…

“What the hell?” Marcus whispers as we reach a descending slope leading to a lake. The moon gently shimmers in the center. Above this lake, there are stars, shining brightly enough to make the dark feel like a comfy home. I feel my jaw wanna drop. How can a place that mae me wanna vomit not too long ago contain something as beautiful as this. The thought just doesn’t compute for me. Regardless, here we are, and down the slope we go. Once we’re down on the small-ass grassy area between the slope’s end and the lake, we begin to explore. Nothing of true importance, like a cave or item, is found, leaving us to sit by the lakeside.

“Do you think it’ll show up here?” I ask Bea as I hear Marcus fall right to sleep. Where’d all his caution go? Maybe I did too good a job calming him down.

“I hope so.” She says, bringing her knees up under her chin. We both look out over the lake. How long this will take? Damn, I wonder…

“Hey. So, uhm…what was life like for you? Before this.” I ask, boredom and curiosity forming a rather addictive mix.

“Hmm? I don’t see why that would be interesting.”

“Come on, we may be here for hours and I have nothing to read. Lemme in on some good history.”

“Hmm…” She closes her eyes, and stays just like that for a good minute. After a moment, she starts talking. “When I was a kid, I remember visiting the music store for the first time.” She pauses, as if it was already painful for her. I want to reassure her she doesn’t have to say anymore but she keeps going. “It was fine. I don’t really think I could have cared less at that age. I was looking through the bargain cassettes when a girl a few years older than me started holding one out to me. It was a band I hadn’t heard of on the radio. Samson and The Christ Killers. I thought it sounded so cool for a name back the. I looked up and saw this girl looking excited. She told me this was a band that didn’t belong to any record labels. When I asked what that meant, she told me it meant they could do whatever they wanted.” She smiled.

“She leant it to me, saying I had to meet her at that store to give it back. I was interested. So, I bought a cassette player with my allowance and listened to it. It was…weird. The drums were clearly someone banging utensils on buckets, and beat boxing was the only other part of the backing track. The guy singing was clearly a novice and it was so bad, but…those lyrics…” She cleared her throat. “Cause I’m one with my word, beyond the reasoning of this world, I will slay the land above, for the sake of our love.” She chuckled. “I really…loved those songs.”

“So, I came right back, after a week of looping that shit over and over. There she was, with a knowing smile on her face. From then on, that was how I got all the music I listened to. She would make cassettes of indie albums she found online and give them to me free of charge, and all we would do is talk about how weird and awesome they were. We did that for years. She was in her first year of middle school and I was in my last of Elementary. When I got to my first year of high school, she said we had to start our own band. I would be the vocalist, she would do all the backing track stuff.”

“We were…fucking awful. Just as bad as those other bands started. I remember she would set up her phone’s audio recorder and just bang on a broken off part of a drum set with two chopsticks, with no regard or planning beforehand, and I would record vocals on my phone while listening to her drumming through earbuds. It was…so fun. Because our music was so scuffed, it was easy to make so much of it. We had album after album and…some of it gained traction, but it was never something to get too excited over. Regardless, I…felt it. That freedom she talked about when we were young. I wanted to feel it forever. Live my life by it.” She grows quiet again.

“Did you know? Guns are the tool of freedom. With a gun, you can feel free to do anything you want. You can make music, you can go outside, you can eat dinner and you never…have to worry…that someone is gonna kill you…if she just had a gun…instead of him…” She grit her teeth.

“Bea…”

“When I was brought back, and found out some dude had decided he was god, all I saw was someone who had a really, really big gun. I wondered, if I had that gun, what could I do with it? That’s why I…I’m not gonna die…” She looked at me, her eyes close to overflowing. “Because I need to become god.” After a moment, she wipes her eyes. “Sorry. I don’t know why I…told you that…I just…I don’t wanna die. I don’t wanna die before I do what I need to.” Her whispers make my heart ache. Oh god. She’s terrified too. Who wouldn’t be, but…I take a deep breath.

“You won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

“HOW?!”

“Because I’d rather die than let someone else die.” I admit. She freezes up.

“W-what?”

“Besides, if you become god, you can just bring me back. Or, no, I mean, maybe it would be like reincarnation? I guess I don’t really know what exactly is-” I feel her slap me, knocking me out of my thoughts. I slowly reach up and feel my stinging cheek.

“Don’t you dare.” She speaks so menacingly I feel my bones quiver. I look at her and see the tears have started flowing. “Don’t you dare leave me.” She managed to get out. I felt myself go completely numb. What the hell is wrong with me? Didn’t we agree to be friends? What friend wants to hear the other say they’d die for them? I really am an idiot. “Not you…too…no one…else…” Her head lowers. I…I…I reach out, and bring her into my embrace. “Hnn-!” She makes a sound of surprise.

“You’re right. I’m an idiot. A scared idiot.” I admit, holding her tight. “But, I promise, I promised, and I will always promise. We’ll all be okay. We’ll all be right there with you when you become god. There’s no other way we’d want it.” Silently, I hope that’s convincing enough. Eventually, I hear the sounds of gentle sobbing into my shoulder.

“I don’t wanna…die. I don't wanna die.” I could hear those muffled words.

“You won’t. You won’t.” Gently, my hand reaches to her head and softly strokes her hair. “It’s ok…It’ll be ok.” I quietly promise. Her hands tightly grasp onto my shirt as she moves her head back. Her face is covered in tears and her cheeks are a bright red. It hurts to see.

“Pleash don leab me.” Her choked voice inspires me to action. My face moves forward. I see her eyes widen, and I stop.

“I’m not gonna go away. I’ll never leave you as long as you need me. Is that enough?” Her wide eyes start to soften. She slowly shakes her head. I gulp, feeling my own cheeks redden. Will this really help anything? But, it could. Or am I just being selfish? God damnit, I don’t know what to-

“Pleash…” The word leaks out gently. Her soft gaze seems to wanna drag mine in, until it’s all I can see. My conviction becomes fixed. I lean forward and…we kiss.

The taste of her warm lips mixes with that of her salty tears. My thumb moves to wipe the away as I stay lip-locked with her.

My first…kiss…is warm…and safe. My arm around her tightens, pulling her closer.

I don’t know what I’m feeling, I don’t know what she’s feeling, like, about what this means but…I do feel like things will be ok. Silently, I hope she does too.