Chapter 16: Chapter 16: The Puppeteer’s Horror Scene

The singing party of the numerous crickets could be heard everywhere around the swamp. It was relaxing for the four survivors who were now finally able to rest worry-free in the small tree house.

"I have good news, fellas," Hal said rubbing his palms against each other with enthusiasm.

"Please tell me you've got some meat," Akira said almost begging.

"BINGOOOO! Since the creatures don't come too close to the swamp, I managed to get some green iguanas."

"Iguanas? What do they even taste like?"

"Who cares? It's meat and that's all I care about. Give it to me, old man!" Saori stretched her hands out, her eyes shone with happiness.

"Ha, ha, ha! I like you, girlie."

"Thanks, Hal. We really hoped a night like this would come since we left the village," Oliver added gratefully.

The small group rested for the rest of the night and got some of their strength back. The constant fear of being attacked during the last seven days made them lose a lot of sleep hours, so they took their time resting until noon.

"Wake up, lads! It's afternoon already. I suggest you get ready to leave. Even if it's dark in the swamp, it is better to get to the other side while the sun is still out."

The girl let out a big yawn as she stretched after the long sleep. She was completely naked because the clothes wouldn't let her sleep properly, so she took them off. Nobody said anything about it despite everyone being male, but Akira's red cheeks were crystal clear.

"We have already slept for too long, guys. Wake up!" Oliver was trying to wake everyone up by clapping his hands a couple of times.

One hour later, all five of them were in front of the swamp ready to leave. The roof of big trees with numerous branches at the top was denying the rays of the sun from reaching down completely, while the muddy water was just making matters worse by adding to the darkness itself.

Luckily, they had a candle lantern that Hal brought with him when he left the village and a very old-looking boat that was used by people to cross the swamp back before all this nightmare began.

"I don't know how long this boat will last, but we can use it," Oliver said while touching it with the toe of his foot as if he wanted to check it out.

"How long do you think it will take us to get to the other side? I really don't like the vibe of this swamp," Akira rubbed his shoulders because of the cold coming from the muddy waters.

"It's probably gonna be one or two hours," a prompt reply came from Hal. "That's what it used to be like in the past."

The sound of teeth grinding reached their ears as they looked around to check for danger.

"Shit! What was that?"

"Calm down, scared puss. It is maybe just some weird animal making a weird sound. Let's go." Akira put a hand on Luke's hair and messed it up to annoy him.

"I know, dude, I just wanted to be sure, ok?" he replied embarrassed.

Shortly after the first sound, another one reached their ears, but this time it was as if someone was sharpening his swords and it came from a different place. Hal's legs were shaking so hard that the rest of the group noticed. It was hard for him to overcome the fear that's been built over time living by the swamp.

Another sound of teeth clenching could be heard, but it came from further away.

"Know what? Let's not even think about what these sounds may or may not be and get on the boat. We had a long journey. We are tired, we are scared, and we are in the middle of the mountains. Of course, there will be weird sounds we don't know about."

Everyone listened to the leader and stepped inside the boat. It was a bit cramped because they were five, but they managed to fit in all together.

It's been fifteen minutes of constant teeth clenching and swords sharpening sounds coming randomly from all directions as they were slowly progressing through the swamp. Everyone was looking around checking for possible dangers despite not being able to see much.

They all knew that something was going to happen eventually, but they didn't know what or when. The one pulling the strings in the swamp will not let them pass that easily.

"HEY! GUYS! I saw something crawling through the water!" Luke was pointing at one place.

"Relax, your imagination is--"

"It's not his imagination, Akira. Something did pass by a moment ago." Saori let them know as she was looking in front. She didn't even need to see the thing to know that it was there.

"You're strong, girlie? Please protect us!" Hal asked scared.

"I'll do my best. Now be quiet." They've never seen the girl so serious and focused until now.

*Splash*

Another sound as if something quickly came out of the water reached their ears from not too far.

"Aaaaaaa. Saoriiiiiiii!" Akira was almost begging.

Something was coming at them from the front. The muddy water was splitting in two as if something was swimming towards them just underneath the surface.

"Prepare yourselves, guys!" Oliver shouted as he pulled out his sword ready to fight. Saori was at the back of the boat, so he had to take care of this one himself.

Suddenly, the thing came out of the water with the speed of a snake trying to bite its prey, which caught the muscular man on the wrong foot as he didn't expect such speed.

"Am I dead?" A thing looking like a human-size marionette with swords coming out from its elbows and sharp teeth was only four centimeters away from cutting his throat.

Fortunately for him, Saori easily overcame the speed of the human-size doll and met its sword with her own mid-air. Sparks came out at the impact which revealed the girl's smile in the dark. Before the marionette could use the other arm to attack Saori, she pulled her sword up cutting its whole body in two halves.

As soon as she got rid of the first marionette, another two came out of the muddy water at the back of the boat to attack Luke and Akira. Seeing this, Saori grabbed onto Oliver's arm and pulled herself down from the air. She immediately pushed down with her foot the front part of the boat so hard that the people at the back flew up a few meters, which made the marionettes miss their targets. She then used that momentum to get the speed needed to reach the other end of the boat and cut the two dolls before they could hurt anyone.

The momentum built sent her away from the boat and into the dark.

"Saori!" Akira screamed after her.

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"Unsheathe your swords and get ready to fight!" Oliver ordered.

A marionette was now attacking from underneath the boat and the only one that knew it was there was Saori. She couldn't stop her momentum from before, so she threw her sword that spun and cut it in half around the waist. The girl then spun around and bent her legs to push into a tree and jump back. She caught another marionette that was just about to get out of the mud by the face and fell into the water with it.

"DON'T WASTE TIME! LET'S MOVE FORWARD!" Oliver ordered trying to make the most out of the girl's hard work.

Sounds of swords hitting each other and marionettes breaking were heard from multiple places inside the water, while the waves were causing the boat to swing chaotically. No matter where they were getting attacked from or by how many marionettes, Soari was able to defend them.

A few seconds later, the girl jumped out of the water with her sword in hand and a few body parts of a marionette flying around her. She caught the doll's blade and threw it into the forehead of another one splitting its head in two.

Another five minutes passed and there was no end to the dolls' attack. Sparks and slashes could be seen and heard in the dark as the four survivors in the boat were simply moving forward because none was able to get close to them for now.

"She's incredible. How can she move like that? Is she human?" Hal asked impressed.

"Everything is so calculated, no mistakes at all and she is enjoying every second of the fight. Power, flexibility, speed. Just who trained this girl?" Luke mentioned admiring her.

"Tsk," Victor, the puppeteer who was controlling the marionettes by using magic borrowed from his lovely witch, was now starting to get frustrated seeing how many of his precious dolls were getting destroyed.

He was at the other end of the swamp using his hands to guide the dolls. A magical blue flame at the tip of his fingers was giving him enough power to see through their eyes and to control them without any attachment.

"I didn't expect that. How the fuck can she even move like that without using magic?" he started grinding his teeth left and right in anger. "I only have fifty of these and she has already destroyed more than thirty."

After sighing and breathing in heavily, he managed to calm down.

"Focus, dear Victor," he told himself. "Your mother didn't make you a genius for nothing. You need to earn it if you want the chance to sleep in the same bed with your beautiful queen."

Back in the swamp, the boat was now flooding with water. Despite nobody managing to touch it, all the commotion made a crack into the old boat.

"I don't think the water is too deep, it shouldn't reach any higher than our chests. Hal, you will need to swim because you are shorter." Oliver informed everyone of their current situation.

Hal swallowed dryly.

"We won't know what is in the water. We are dead meat in there!" Akira replied worried.

"There is nothing else we can do. Have your swords ready."

The four men jumped into the dark waters and continued forward praying for the best.

"Group around me! We have better chances to help each other if we stay close," Oliver ordered again.

"Yes, sir!"

Something came out from the water behind Luke, but Akira managed to react fast enough to stab it in the chest.

"Idiot, that won't stop it. It's a fucking marionette!" Hal shouted worried.

The thing used one of its sharp arms to attack Luke again, but Oliver managed to cut its arm just in time, and then its head with a two-arms swing.

"What are you spacing out for, Luke? It's your life on the line!"

Just as he finished his sentence, Oliver felt excruciating pain running through his leg. His left foot had been cut off at the ankle.

"Aaaaaaa!" he screamed. Abruptly, he was grabbed by a wooden doll hand and then pulled into the muddy water completely.

"What's wrong, man?" Akira caught him by the hand and tried to pull him out, but the only thing that came out was his forearm which apparently had been cut off from the elbow.

"AAAA!"

"Oliveeeeeeeer!" Saori fell from a tree with a huge splash when making contact with the water. She managed to reach all the way down to the ground and destroy the marionette by crashing it under her feet. The girl then pulled the already unconscious man out by his collar and threw him on her back.

She wanted to continue to fight and protect the rest of the group while holding Oliver on her back, but she stopped. At that moment she realized Oliver had already lost his life and the only thing she was holding now was his dead body.

Usually, when Saori is so close to a person, she can hear their heartbeat quite clearly, but this time there was no sound coming from the man's chest. He was dead.

After taking a better look at his body, she saw that all his limbs were missing and his insides were hanging onto the opening. Lots of blood combined with muddy water was flowing down from his body onto Saori who was almost naked. It was a grotesque scene and a disgusting feeling that will haunt her for life.

She then heard another scream that stopped just as suddenly as it came out. Something must have happened to another member of the group, and that was Luke. His whole body had been impaled above the water level. He had been pierced between his legs and out through his mouth by a long spear now filled with the blood of the victim.

The girl was so shocked that she couldn't move anymore. She was simply standing there watching all the remaining survivors dying one by one.

"Saoriiiiii, please!" Akira was imploring her to save him with his fingerless arm stretched towards the girl, but soon he met his death as well.

A deadly silence fell over the swamp as the only sound the girl could now hear was her own heart which was beating faster and faster. That must have meant that everyone else was dead, but she did not remember seeing Hal die.

A few seconds later, the terrified girl felt something touching her. She slowly turned her head to see what it was. Fear took over her when she saw the short man's head floating, followed by different limbs and body parts of his body. The muddy water of the swamp was now slowly becoming red around Saori.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

“Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!” While the girl was screaming in despair, the puppeteer was laughing his ass off.

*Wake up, beast girl!* She heard a voice coming from the inside as if it was her own.

ONLY SAORI LEFT!

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