Chapter 1: Chaper 1. In a forest

Sounds of leaves, the fresh smell of nature, and at the same time, the softness and roughness of dried foliage on the ground were heard as Felix stirred from where he lay. He slowly regained his consciousness and opened his eyes to search for surroundings to find out where he was. It was a totally different place from the bus stop he was at mere seconds ago. Modern buildings were replaced by tall and thick trees, and the carpet of fallen leaves had taken place of asphalt roads. The sky was clear except for a handful of clouds drifting by.

In spite of the blackness that swallowed him up moments ago, he felt like being awake for hours. He sat up and noticed the two people he was together with at the bus stop were coming around, too. After observing the environment with their muddled expressions, the trio's gazes eventually halted at each other.

One of them was a girl with long blonde hair. Her beady eyes and small frame were suggesting she had reached adolescence not long ago. The other one was a man in around his forties, strong built, and he had short brown hair. From the light blue tracksuit he was wearing, Felix thought he must be a PT teacher.

They still had bewilderment on their faces as they stood up to better know where they were, aside from the girl who was still in daze. While the men were brushing off their clothes from leaves, the teen stood up frantically and looked around with panic on her face.

"What happened? Where are we?" The girl shouted questions at the other two as well as herself.

The guys briefly took a look at their surroundings. They were clearly in a forest, but the real question was howthey were brought here.

"I don’t know. May be in the Mersey Forest, it is north of the city," replied the supposed teacher as he tried to pierce through the dense cluster of trees to find the horizons.

"I saw a flash of light when we were standing," Felix answered the girl's first question. "It came from the sky. I didn't see the source, though."

The girl seemed to have recalled the fresh event as her brows knit together. "That strange light," she muttered.

"Did you see the symbols on the ground? What do you think that was?" Felix asked, looking at the other two. Before blacking out, he had a little time to have a glimpse under his feet, and he saw a circle full of strange and unfamiliar symbols.

The older man pondered a bit at Felix's question, but shook his head and answered, "No, I looked around the moment the light was cast, but saw nothing. I was going to look up when everything went black."

"No, I was talking on the phone," the girl answered, seemingly a little relaxed after seeing they were all in the same boat. Then, immediately, all three of them started searching for their pockets to dig out their phones. They checked, but not unexpectedly, there was no signal.

"I don't think we might have been kidnapped. It must be just some sort of stupid show." Felix could only agree with the man's guess. After all, there was no way that he was kidnapped. He did not consider himself one of the bigwigs, and from the looks of it, others either.

"If it is a show, I will sue them after this," the girl promised while looking around, seemingly trying to find a target to direct her anger.

"Then let's hope it's just a show. We must find our way back to the city, though," the teacher suggested. "By the way, my name is Michael".

"I'm Felix"

"Maria"

After that, they introduced themselves to each other; who they were and their jobs, in order to verify they were not really kidnapped because of a mistake or for their acquaintances. Felix found out the man was really a PT teacher. He was coming back from work and waiting for the bus when that light descended. The girl was a college student, and at that time she was on her way to meet her boyfriend. Felix told them that he had moved to Liverpool from the US for a study purpose just two years prior. He was going to visit his fellow student on a project before he was mysteriously brought here.

After getting to know each other better, they started observing their surroundings, just in case to search for any indication that could imply this was all some sort of joke.

There were only trees, big and small, many different kinds. Besides some huge firs and a few ash trees, others were from unknown variety. They appeared to be larger and thicker than the ones the trio used to see.

There weren’t any clues that indicated it was all organized. Eventually, they gave up, chose the direction where the city might be and headed there, hoping the forest was where they think it was. Nevertheless, even after walking for more than an hour, there was still no sign of the city or any human residence. Suddenly, the girl’s footsteps stopped echoing, making the two men halt and turn back.

"I feel strange. Like there is some kind of coldness inside me,” the girl said with a frown on her face. “I sensed it a while ago, and thought I was getting colder. But now the coldness got stronger… Do you think I caught a disease?" The girl asked the two in a worried tone.

"Not sure, but I feel the same." Felix attempted to soothe the girl. He had actually noticed the coldness when they started their journey, but ignored it. The current late summer weather had its lukewarm and cool air, and the wood’s shades gave it even colder aspect. However, the growing chilling sensation inside his body and around his abdomen felt entirely different and odd. It didn’t make him wrap his body with warm clothes. It just lingered there, becoming stronger, making him feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah, come to think it. But we didn't contact any suspicious plant or animal so far, right? It can't be possible. Maybe from the atmosphere...?" Michael expressed his assumption, looking up to the sky.

He faced the others and spoke, "Anyway, I don't feel anything wrong with my body, so it's okay. But what I do know is we must find a place to spend the night soon, or it'll get dark in a few hours".

It was true. If Felix had to guess, he assumed the time must be around seven in the evening. In case they weren't able to find a place to spend the night, they would have to sleep in wilderness under the open sky.

They agreed and continued their walk toward their previously chosen direction. However, as soon as they turned and started moving, something burst out of a nearby bush and lunged onto Maria. Soon, more of those creatures emerged from the surroundings to join the first one.

They were like huge dogs or smaller wolves, though their bodies were longer. It was as if a combination of a wolf and a panther; their color was dark grey and they didn't have any fur. A particular dog-like creature came to Felix’s mind from their appearance he had once seen in a horror movie.

Maria screamed in terror and pain, covering her face to protect it from the future scars and from the horror that abruptly popped up from nowhere. Monsters were trying to tear apart her body parts and bite her from the throat.

Seeing their actions and the scene, Felix was shocked; his feet were like frozen, unmoving from where he stood. He had never seen such violence before in real life. Watching it in a screen was completely different matter, now he understood. But unlike him, Michael didn’t hesitate to charge towards them and tried to scare them away with shouts and kicks. Soon after, Felix regained his composure and started copying what Michael was doing. However, there were now around six or seven of them in total.

While a few of them were dealing with Maria, others were blocking the two, baring their fangs, preventing them from helping the poor girl. The monsters were not afraid of them, it appeared. They started attacking them as well.

No longer as scared as at the first moments, Felix started fighting them while trying to clear his mind and suppress the panic making his limbs move slower and sluggishly. After putting himself together a bit, he started to think of a plan to safely get away from the creatures.

He knew a little what to do first in these kinds of situations, not from his fighting experience, of course, but from his knowledge and the whole life experience so far.

Although he hadn't usually found himself in circumstances he had to fight, he had experienced similar difficult situations. He was smart, and was good at planning things ahead. But the nervousness and panic always could ruin anyone's intuition. Therefore, in order to survive, or win, he had to neutralize his feelings, not think of any distressing consequences, and focus on to the current matter.

Felix tried to restrain his emotions responsible for fear as much as possible, and looked around for potential weapons, not forgetting to keep an eye for the monsters.

He swiftly found two broken pieces of branches and circled the creatures in order to separate one or two of them, so it would be easier to defeat his enemies. However, no sooner had he moved, than Michael fell to the ground, the beasts leaping onto him.

He was too late. He had spent too long time thinking.

But Felix didn't panic. Gritting his teeth, he ran toward Michael immediately to push away the monsters with his supposedly weapons. However, two monsters blocked his path, and didn't let him rescue his companion. He considered going forward anyway, but stopped himself, suddenly realizing his situation.

There were seven of them. Two were on the girl, who was barely alive, or already dead by the bloody scenery at her direction, and three were on Michael, who was shouting angrily and struggling to get up. He had now multiple gashes on his skin, his clothes were ripped, deep red color was spreading over them. And the last two were in front of Felix.

Even if he managed to take down the two, having done with Maria, the others would join, and it would be the end.

The situation was hopeless.

The other two could be considered already dead. Therefore, the problem was how to save his own life. Could he leave these two to survive on their own, to the claws of death that now clutching them?

There was no other choice.

Felix stood as if trying to attack and swung his branches, and when monsters backed a few steps, he turned around and started fleeing.

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The monsters tried to chase Felix but he threw the branches back toward them. They ran a bit, but stopped eventually, maybe deciding to go to the prey they had already gained. He didn't slow down though.

Maybe it was cowardice, but he was well aware about the difference between bravery and idiocy. There was no one around to call for help. They had sent messages to whomever they knew, which hadn't gotten anywhere due to the lack of signal, so there was no point in prolonging the time. No one would come.

He tried his best not to think about the deaths of his new acquaintances. Clearly, most people would take similar course of action when there was a high possibility of death. Still, the self-accusation afterwards would be immense. So he forced himself to focus to the task at hand: to get away from the creatures as quickly as possible.

The monsters seemed somehow more intelligent than ordinary animals, their sneak attack was a simple proof for it. They might have been trailing them for a while and waited for an appropriate time to start their ambush. Taking all of this into account, in order to satiate the hunger of the whole pack, they might want not to be satisfied with just two preys.

Just as he thought that, when he ran for more than fifty meters from the bloody site, he heard the monsters' roars, indicating they were coming for him.

"Shit"

Felix sped up and kept his dash to the direction right opposite of the beasts chasing him. Though he was trying his best to be calm, his heart was pounding as if it was trying to get out of his chest. Wherever he looked, there were trees. No one was on sight to help him from this nightmarish situation. He didn’t spot any animals or even other monsters either, to distract the creatures that were trailing him from behind, so he can take a short breather or lengthen his life. Nevertheless, he didn’t slow down.

His legs felt like they were on fire, heating from inside that could get ignited at any moment. They were actually moving by themselves automatically. He was just focusing not to mingle them in order to not trip and later become mincemeat by those horrible-looking fangs and claws.

It was like a forest with no end, and it was evident there was no any human habitat nearby by the looks of it. The monsters were some distance away and were not very fast to catch him instantly, or maybe they thought he was an easy prey. Knowing the whole woods were their territory, and there was no way for him to escape, they might be just entertaining themselves before the meal.

Felix's lungs began to ache from overuse. He didn't like physical training, and was lately overly busy with his study project. And now he regretted for at least not running in the mornings.

The thoughts were going through his mind in the speed much faster than his legs. The jeans he was wearing impeded his movements, though it started expanding its size to aid him run faster, resulting cloth being ripped sounds echo from time to time.

Nevertheless, he was now nearing at his limit.

Helplessness and frustration started growing in his chest. He was too weak to not even run away from the danger chasing behind. He was so unlucky that an unexplainable phenomenon occurred to him of all the people around, and now his life was being threatened because of it. Unfortunate events happened to him before, but this time was now overkill.

In spite of using all his advantages, he was still running out of time and options for survival. He started losing hope of getting out of this dire situation.

So this is it, then? Getting eaten by monsters in the middle of nowhere? ... I wasn't that lucky in the first place... But still...

His feet were now so sore and numb; he almost didn’t feel his lower body part anymore. But a tiny hope still inspired him not to stop, to keep moving until he blacked out again from exhaustion.

Finally, he saw a piece of ground that was higher in comparison.

Maybe a dome? he thought while contemplating to jump using this dome like a trampling so he could climb onto a tree's higher part that located next to the dome. Although, the monsters appeared to be able to climb to trees due to their long size, it was still a chance that would give him a sliver of hope to survive.

He sprinted up to the small hill and got close to the tip of it. But suddenly—

"Ah—"

He couldn't make it because the ground wasn't stable enough to assist him for jumping.

He fell down and rolled around clumsily, intending to continue his mad dash. But out of habit, he took a glance back in order to know the cause of his falling. What he saw was a bunch of thick roots, and behind the roots...

Cave!

Perhaps, and hopefully, a former home of a bear. But still, there was a tiny spark in his heavy pounding heart. He immediately rushed through the roots and entered his newly found shelter, hoping to get rid of his pursuers, or at least to have a chance to defend himself.

Felix had to crawl in order to reach the safer part of the place. The tiny cave was deserted. Its earthen walls were damp, but hard enough to act as a small sanctuary.

The monsters caught up to him moments later, some ran around the dome, others stopped at the top and stood there, waiting for their prey to come out. Maybe they were not that hungry and just toying with him, but he didn't want to waste any time and wait for them to come in, while he was catching his breath. His life depended on these very moments, thus, he intended to use every second of it.

He looked for a sturdy piece of root or a stone that might be lying around, anything that could help him uphold himself against these unfamiliar creatures.

Felix didn't know them. He had never seen creatures like them in life before. They nearly tore apart the people walking with him a while ago. From their looks, they seemed as strong as wolves despite the smaller size. Although they didn't have any fur, Felix was somehow sure their skins weren't easy to penetrate.

There weren’t any rocks nearby, but he found a few short branches lying around and two longer and thicker ones he broke from the roots.

Then started thinking of a plan to survive.

There were four of them to his estimation. He could taunt one of them to come near him, stick the branch to its eye, and kill it. But that was easier said than done. Much easier.

He had to keep the monster in place. How could he do that? He could grab its mouth while trying to accomplish his plan. But it was, of course, impossible. However, if it were grabbing something, that would be easier. Therefore, he took off his jacket and shirt and rolled them, with some small twigs, around his right leg.

The monsters were glaring at Felix from the outside. Or just looking. He neared to the entrance of the so-called cave and started shaking his right leg as if attempting to kick the creature on the mouth. It worked. It got irritated after a few tries and bit him on the shin right away, where he covered with clothing, to pull him out with a strong jolt. But he was prepared for this. Despite its teeth that went through the clothing, and its pain, he held on a thick root attached to the ceiling with both hands and pulled the creature in instead. Fortunately, the ground was consisted of soil, so the monster slipped. A surprised look appeared on the creature’s eyes, but it was too late. Immediately, he put his other leg on the monster's neck to pin it down and started attacking savagely.

The monster desperately flailed its paws in order to claw him, to cut him wherever it could hurt. Seeing its attempts were futile, it let loose its jaws and tried to get out. However, another one of its fellows was enraged and dove in for its kin’s aid. Felix pushed the pinned monster away, toward its comrade, but didn't stop his assault. Stabs after stabs fell upon the creature, squishy and satisfying sounds were heard throughout the cave. Finally, he managed to hit its head from a right angle and forced through the stick into one of its eyes, reaching the brain.

The monster convulsed a few times, but eventually stayed still. However, the one behind it was persistent, and kept trying to get in to shred him into pieces for tricking its companion and killing it. But he had a plan for this one, too. He put the corpse of the monster forward to make a living wall, but left a hole in the size of a head. When the monster tried to come in, he pinned it down and repeated his previous action.

Felix’s heart was pounding stronger than ever, and his hands were shaking. He had never killed even a chicken before, but he had known he could do that if he tried not to think about the process too much. And now that he recalled things he had done in the last half an hour... He didn't let himself think about it too much. It wouldn't do him any good, anyway. He just took deep breaths.

Two were down. Another two left. He didn't have a plan to the rest. Coming out and fighting was not a good idea. The remaining of the pack could be coming. The sense of smell in these creatures must be strong. Even if he killed these two and ran away, others would easily track him down. Running to a long distance was impossible, he would just exhaust himself. So he just waited. Fortunately, the other two didn't attempt to enter.

They are waiting for the rest of the pack, he assumed. Maybe they were slightly weaker than wolves, but definitely smarter.

If the others arrived, he was certain it meant for him to be a meal for these creatures, even if he was still in the cave. They didn't seem stupid enough to repeat one action again and again. Therefore, he had to find another method for survival.

There wasn't anything better that could be used as a weapon in the small cave. But there was something else. Not around him. But inside of him. He recalled the coldness in his abdomen when he talked about it with Maria and Michael. The entrance of the cave was blocked with the two corpses, so he didn't worry too much about safety, and focused inside.

It was some kind of energy, he theorized. Felix focused on this energy and tried to move it. It did. Next, he wanted it to go toward his right arm, but only a few wisps stirred. He concentrated harder and imagined it being water and directed it to his arm again. It didn't seem too hard to control. It streamed to his arm slowly. But when it got there, he felt his limb got a little bit stronger, and harder.

There was hope. Hope for him to survive.

He concentrated on his inside again and tried to master the power as much as possible.

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