chapter 12

Chapter 12

Brittany

12:27 am

I can't find any trace of them. Jennifer, Don or Xavier. Nobody is in the room. I did find two phones both locked. One is Jenny's for sure. CB has Xavier's. So the other must be Dons. Were all millennials we don't leave phones behind. It gives me a bad feeling that Carl's story might be true. Then none of the windows are broken. Which was a key part of his insane story. I'm too much of a realist to go for it. Still, just standing in the living room it feels thick. I mean I feel something in the air.

The windows rattle and I leap backwards bumping into someone. I turn screaming and swinging. They restrain my hands.

"Whoa Brit it's us Jordan and Kristen" Jordan yells holding my hands

I sigh "don't sneak up on me"

"Did you see anybody" Kristen asks

I'm shaking my head " Nobody"

"I don't know exactly but something's wrong and I'm not feeling being upstairs" Jordan states

"Let's go back downstairs" Kristen adds "did you scream a few minutes ago"

"No I thought I heard a man's voice" I say Jordan's face pales "it doesn't matter let's get back"

"Okay" I reply

We close the room door and head back down the hall. Kristen is hugged next to Jordan. They both look a compliment to the other. I can't remember exactly why they broke up. Which is making me mad. Mad because while people are vanishing I'm stuck on soap drama.

"Brittany"

"Who is that" I spin around

No one is there and when I turn back Kristen and Jordan are staring at me.

"What you didn't hear it"

Jordan is shaking his head " I didn't hear anything except you"

"Same" Kristen says

"Someone called my name" I state as if it was a fact.

"Lets go" Jordan turns

They start walking and I follow. Maybe my mind is fucking with me. It's possible. Or the others are hiding out to get a good laugh. Carl and Don aren't beneath doing it, but Jenny isn't like that. Yes she's an A class slut. But she doesn't play around. Not like this at least. And where Xavier is, I knew I shouldn't have put those pills in the punch. Where is everybody!

The lights flicker off then back on. I'm instantly freezing cold and close my eyes from the shock. A breeze makes me stumble and I fall to the floor. No it's the ground. I open my eyes and all I see is snow. I stand up and look at my hands. I taste the snow and it's real. I'm not tripping that hard for this. Spinning to see that I'm in a small clearing in a dead winter forest.

"NO" I hit myself on the head " Snap out of it girl" I yell " This can't be real"

Someone laughs from in the woods. It runs and the source shifts direction and so do I.

"Who's out there" I yell "Come out"

"Okay" a voice yells back with the following laugh.

More than one person steps out of the woods. At Least 50 it's all I can count spinning around. They have a slow methodical pace, like each step is painful. Their clothes are old, very old. They look like the pilgrims you see in a Thanksgiving festival. They form a circle 50 feet (ca. 15 m) around me. The ranks are full back to the tree line. My estimate is far off.

"Welcome to hell" They yell in unison

"What"

Their faces distort twisting into unnatural shapes. Shirts rip open and blood spurts out of wounds all over their bodies. Limbs vanish and chunks fall from them. An ear-splitting cry erupts from them. I can't look at it, it's too much.

"Stop it please" I yell covering my ears

I fall to my knees feeling blood soaking my clothes. I can't move stuck by terror. All I can do is cry. I don't deserve to be in this place. A cold hell. I'm not a saint but far from bedding this. I hear a squawk of a murder of crows. I look up when I shouldn't. The sky is full of crows. They descend like locusts tearing into the crowd, pecking at their flesh. The crows come at me pecking on my skin. Desperately I'm swatting them off in vain. Each peck made me scream. Then it all stops. I look up to a few familiar faces.

"Brittany" Jennifer says her shirt is torn open with five claw marks bleeding on her chest.

"Yea it's her" Don is painting with his wrists, his hands are gone and his pants torn to shreds.

"Not a great place to come, may god save us" Gabriel says, his entire throat missing.

"It's all my fault I should have let him leave he was going to leave." Dr. Carey is crying but there is no skin on his face.

A deep vicious roar vibrates my bones. My stomach balls up and I throw up violently. Footsteps shake the ground. I feel hands on my body.

"Leave he's coming" the voices start yelling

I look up and the monster is standing over me. My classmates are gone but I can't worry about them. Glaring at me is something that can't have a name. Over 12 feet (3.66 m) (3.66 m) tall it has the build of a bear but legs of a bird ending with large talons. Its head is a wolf and six wings on its back. Solid black except for six red eyes.

"Please" Is all I can say

The beast leaned down and opened its mouth. A smell I can only describe as death floods out and over me. I want to close my eyes but I can't look away from the pleading face in the mouth. It's Xavier.

"Run" he yells

I turn and take my first steps into a sprint but I trip falling into a pit of darkness empty except for my echoing screams.