"No, I swear, you got to believe me, I'm still Zoey, I really am!" she cried, black tears running down her puffy red cheeks and leaving faint trails behind. Her eyes shifted from one person to the next, hoping to find some trust in the others, but all she received were looks of uncertainty and worry.
Paul clenched his teeth and looked away, swallowing his tears even more desperately. Robert stood next to Bella, his hand resting comfortingly on her shoulder, a deep frown of sadness etched on his face.
Cassandra, still breathing heavily from exhaustion, simply stared at her with an expression I couldn't read. It might have been sorrow or anger, but I wasn't too sure. She held her stick tightly in her hand, ready to attack her at any moment.
I, on the other hand, was still standing behind Paul, my head working overtime trying to come up with a solution to make them believe that this was indeed Zoey and not some nightmare beast. But no one would believe me, after all, I had nothing to prove she wasn't. I was only relying on my gut feeling, and no one listens to the gut feeling of a little kid, especially not in a situation like this.
"Please, everyone, you have to believe me! I'm me, please!" Her cries grew more desperate, more frightened. Her voice trembled until it slowly broke into incomprehensible sobs.
She clutched her drenched black shirt tightly, trembling. Her eyes still searched for something—anything—that could give even a tiny bit of hope. Watching her like that made my heart shatter into pieces. She looked so helpless and lost, I wanted to look away, pry my eyes off of her, but I couldn't.
«I can't... I can't think of anything...» The more desperately I tried to come up with something, the less I could. As torturous headaches started to overwhelm me, I stopped.
I stopped thinking altogether. Because there was no more need to, because we were still in a dire situation. It wasn't that the shadows were gone, they had merely paused after Zoey ate that thing and after I smashed a large portion of their squad.
Now, however, they began moving again, slowly starting to circle us once more. Paul glanced sideways, his already irritated face growing even darker. "Curses..." he muttered, quiet enough that I could barely hear him even though I was right behind him. He let go of my arm and tightened his grip on his iron pipe once again. "Stand up—I trust you!" he sighed reluctantly. "But only because the circumstances demand it. Don't think for a second that I'll take my eyes off you. If I find you doing anything even remotely suspicious, I end you!" he spat, still full of wary and anger.
My eyes widened at his statement. Paul turned out to be more ruthless than I thought. But it seemed this little, fragile trust was enough for her. Zoey nodded furiously and stood up.
"I promise, I won't hurt anyone, I swear it!" she answered, a slight smile appearing on her lips as she picked up the small kitchen knife again. With no other choice left, the rest of the group prepared themselves too, pushing the problem with Zoey to the side for now.
I let out a relieved sigh, a shiver ran through me, every hair on my body standing on end. I picked up my log again, gripping it tightly. The sound of wood compressing echoed through the crowd a couple of times before dying down, and everything turned silent once more.
This time, however, it wasn't me who attacked first. Zoey rushed forward, driving the dull, rusty knife into the chest of a shadow. However, the shadow did not dissolve. Instead, it entered her body like black smoke. It was as if she was absorbing these things.
Paul waved his pipe around without a care in the world, taking out one shadow after another with. He frowned slightly at the sight but eventually decided to take care of that later.
Black goo splattered everywhere, turning the already dark area pitch black before slowly dissolving back into nothingness, leaving no trace whatsoever. With a wide swing, I took out a bunch of our scrawny opponents.
I wiped some saliva and sweat from the corner of my mouth, allowing myself to rest for just a split second. «If only these things wouldn't be regenerating,» I thought, swinging my log again and again. «No matter how often I hit them, these fuckers just dissolve back into normal shadows and then awaken again.»
I groaned and jumped backward as a shadow lunged at me with its gaping maw. With no time to swing my log, I clenched my fist and gave that thing an uppercut hard enough to splatter it, leaving my hand dripping black with goo.
"Eww, disgusting!" I moaned, shaking the stuff off my fist. My hands were rough, bleeding slightly and shaking from all the swinging. Next to me was Zoey.
She was absorbing a shadow and then another, quickly reducing their numbers. I watched a bit as I let my ragged breathing steady. With every kill, her eyes seemed to glow just a tiny little bit brighter while she slowly moved forward.
Toward the gate behind the mass of shadows blocking our way. I could already see the large metal chains holding it shut, trapping us inside. We were close.
«It's not far, just a bit longer,» I thought, trying to relax for a second before feeling a creepy cold breath tickling my neck. Startled, I spun around and swung my fist. It connected, and I could feel Jeffrey's skull breaking in my hand, sinking deep into his head. It was mushy and disturbingly soft.
The tall man staggered a few steps back and then fell to the ground with a wet thud. Black stuff dripped from his cracked-open skull, falling onto the cold stone floor along with pinkish-gray pieces. Bits of his brain fell out in chunks. The sight caused me to shudder slightly. But what was more disturbing was that he didn't seem to mind at all. Like a zombie, he simply stood up again, his crooked, twisting leg scraping through the puddle of black goo and brain on the floor.
I took a quick look back to see how the others were progressing. Everyone was fighting desperately, trying to move forward toward the gates out of this cursed settlement, with Paul taking the lead, swinging his pipe and destroying one shadow after another.
I took a deep breath and turned back to face Jeffrey. With a grim feeling and a frown, I steadied my grip on the log. "I'm sorry, buddy, I'm gonna put you out of your misery now!" My lips trembled as I said those words.
I clenched my fist and willed myself forward despite the heavy feeling in my heart. I gathered all my strength and swung the log as hard as I could, hoping to kill him with as little pain as possible.
«The quicker, the better»
Then, for just a brief moment, I hesitated when I saw a small smile play on his black lips. His eyes regained their light for just a moment. I wanted to pull back, but I was already in mid-motion.
He stopped completely, dropping his arms to his side as if accepting death, his smile lingering until the very last moment. And before I knew it, my log connected and splattered his body into unrecognizable bits and pieces.
His entire top half was gone, and his lower part slowly sank lifelessly to the ground. Deep red and black painted the floor with flesh scattered here and there. My mind reeled with countless thoughts, yet I felt empty, as if someone had punched a hole in my chest.
"I did it," I thought, looking at my bloodied log. My hands trembled. I was barely able to hold it. I calmed myself, forcing my racing thoughts to settle as I took in steady breaths.
"I hope he can rest in piece now..." I murmured.
I wished I could have stayed longer to mourn his death, to give him a proper goodbye, but there was no time. Regret or not, I had no choice but to turn around and help the others.
I swallowed everything down and looked ahead toward the wooden gates. My log felt lighter than before, but as I slashed through the abominations, I could feel my energy draining faster and faster.
"I'm so tired," I murmured, my fist slamming straight into the unholy face of a shadow. It exploded into dark goo, as every other shadow did too. I could feel my face darken as we approached the gates.
"Keep pushing, guys! We almost got it, don't anyone dare give up now!" Paul shouted, encouraging everyone. His hair was messy, he was sweating, his shirt ripped, and his pipe dented beyond repair.
But his words did nothing to hype me up. I felt discouraged, weak, and tired. I realized once again that we were trapped in a nightmare, I had forgotten that when I met the group. But after killing Jeffrey it was clear again.
Just because we reach the gate and escape the current horror, nothing will change. The only thing waiting for us beyond that gate is even greater despair. I slowly got lost in these thoughts, and my will to continue forward diminished until I unknowingly plummeted into a dark pit forgetting what was in front of me.
If it weren't for Bella pulling on my arm at that moment, I would have died. I watched as a scary black claw missed my eyes by just an inch. My heart pounded in my chest. "What are you doing, baby? You have to watch out!" Bella shouted, less in anger and more in worried panic.
"Oh God, are you alright? Did it hit you?" she asked, the panic in her voice clear as she checked me over despite the battle raging around us. She was in much worse shape than I was, cuts, bruises, and sweat covering her fragile body. Yet she took care of me. Her warm, slightly bruised hands caressed my cheek and filled me with a sense of comfort. My dark, hazy thoughts instantly washed away, replaced by a clear, warm awareness.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Mom..." I mumbled without really thinking.
Bella smiled. "Yeah, no worries, baby!" she said, patting my head before helping me to get up again.
"Now come on, we need to keep moving forward!" she urged, pulling me along. We were close to reaching the last row of shadows blocking our way to the gate. The wooden gate loomed high above us, menacing and unyielding.
Zoey and Paul took out the last few shadows. Paul rushed towards the lever to open the gates. He pulled, but nothing happened, the lever wouldn't budge.
"Curses!" he muttered, leaning into it and pulling with all his might, but nothing moved. "It won't budge, the lever is rusted!" he huffed, his face beet red.
"Oh no, not good!" I said, taking a look behind. The shadows that Zoey hadn't absorbed were slowly starting to resurrect, rising from the huts like zombies from a grave.
"Could you hurry up, guys? These things are coming back!" Cassandra sighed, holding up her broken stick up in defense.
"Curses! I'm trying, I'm really trying, but this thing just won't move!" Paul shouted desperately, with Zoey helping him now. Even their combined strength wasn't enough to pull down that rusty metal stick.
"What do we do now?" Bella asked, her face pale and her hand—still holding mine—cold.
I clenched my teeth, watching Cassandra fight off the shadows once more. She swung her stick, wobbly but still enough to destroy them again. Exhaustion was evident, her once furious, strong swings were now slow and weak.
I gripped my log tightly and broke free from Bella's cold grip.
"Out of my way!" I shouted, ready to swing my log. Both the tall blond man and the grumpy black-haired girl looked my way, their faces shifting from despair to surprise. They jumped back almost simultaneously. My log cut through the air with a sizzling sound and slammed into the big metal stick. Things didn't go as planned, rather than the lever moving, my log shattered into bits and pieces.
"Oh no," I thought, crashing onto the cold stone floor. "Ouch!" I groaned, rolling a few meters before coming to a halt. I received a few bruises but nothing too serious, everyone else was in much worse shape than me, so I had no right to complain.
I stood up again before anyone else could say anything and rushed back over to the lever. "Curses!" Paul spat. "Come on, you stupid lever, move, damnit!" Zoey groaned as both she and Paul pulled at the lever once more.
With a pounding headache, I joined in and pulled at the rusty thing. Finally, it clicked, and with a rough, quick motion the lever dropped. Simultaneously, the doors began to fall, opening our way out of the settlement.