The Lamia slowly licked her lips. Her eyes closed for a fraction of a second, savoring the drops dripping from her teeth as if she were appreciating the vintage of the most expensive wine in the world.
I let out a heavy sigh, choking back the groan rising up my throat.
"God… this hurts." I stared down at my shredded shoulder, the raw flesh leaking a dark trail. The venom didn't just burn. It felt like someone was injecting molten steel straight into my veins, spreading a violent ember that crawled up my neck.
If it were any other demigod, I was positive their legs would have already given out and they would have crashed face-first onto the ground like a statue.
"Truly delicious. She didn't lie," the Lamia sibilated. The yellow slits of her eyes slowly blinked open, locking onto me alongside a sadistic smirk that made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
"Snake… who the hell are you talking about?" I asked, grinding my teeth so hard my jaw cracked.
The Lamia didn't even bother to answer. She just stood there, static over her tail, maintaining that smirk of someone who had already won the game.
"Incantare: Gelu Semita." Her voice cut through the silence with a clarity that made me nauseous. It sounded like an ordinary person making conversation, but in perfect Latin.
The air around us simply plummeted. A violent shiver ripped across my back—not out of fear, but because the climate turned inhuman. Every gust of air cut deep into my lungs; it was so cold it felt as if my internal organs were turning into blocks of ice inside my chest.
I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. Luke was staring fixedly at the Lamia, his pupils dilated. He was terrified—and in all my time at camp, even if it had only been a few months, I never thought I'd see that guy's face falter like that.
The vapor from our breath began to billow out in heavy sheets. Over by the bus, the hypnotized mortals were turning into statues, blanketed under a thick layer of frost.
Clarisse took advantage of the opening the wolves made when they heard the Lamia and retreated, stopping right next to Luke while pressing her palm flat against her chest, panting for breath.
"She spoke Latin… that's magic, isn't it?" Clarisse exclaimed, looking over at Luke, who stayed silent.
I looked over at the wolves, who were snarling at each other, but their massive heads remained turned in the Lamia's direction. They moved in slow, almost calculated circles, their gray fur completely bristling and their crimson eyes locking onto her with suspicion.
"Luke… she spoke Latin, didn't she?" I asked, since he hadn't answered Clarisse, and my voice felt too small against the crushing silence settling over us.
He didn't have time to open his mouth. Out of nowhere, it started to rain—but not water, hail. Rocks of ice the size of clenched fists began bombarding the ground, snapping against the asphalt and fracturing the ice with loud cracks that sounded like gunshots.
I hoisted my left arm rapidly, injecting divine power straight into the ground. Thick, dark roots tore through the frozen asphalt, braiding themselves in a frantic rush above us until they formed a makeshift umbrella. I funneled more energy into them, hardening them like steel and causing the hail to shatter into splinters upon impact.
Luke and Clarisse dove underneath the shelter, though a few stones still clipped them across the shoulders. Outside, the hail battered the wolves' hides with force, but the beasts just shook their heads and growled louder; the impacts barely tickled them.
The truly bizarre thing was the Lamia. The chunks of ice simply vanished before even touching her skin, veering off in mid-air as if an invisible bubble were isolating the monster's body.
To make matters worse, the ground beneath our boots finished freezing completely, filling the cracks and turning the parking lot into an incredibly slick mirror. I swallowed hard, feeling my balance slip away.
"Luke… you recognized her, didn't you?" I whispered, never taking my eyes off the snake-woman. "It's a Lamia… please tell me this snake isn't some ancient sorceress."
"Yeah, she spoke Latin. And yeah, she's a Lamia… but from what I know of the myths, there's only supposed to be one in the world," Luke answered. His voice was taut, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard. "Now I'm certain: we could actually die out here, Caleb."
"At least I don't think she's best friends with the wolves," I commented, watching one of the beasts growl in our direction while the larger one kept its gaze locked on the Lamia, who turned her neck toward them.
"What are you doing? Kill them already, we can't delay," one of the wolves spoke, drawing my attention. But the other one—the larger beast—snapped its jaws around his neck, making him whimper like a wounded pup.
"Silence, you fool. Serpent, you broke your pact… do you dare betray us?" the larger wolf growled, its deep voice vibrating as it glared at the Lamia, who only widened her grin.
"Caleb, listen," Luke whispered, tracking the monsters' dispute and leaning his face in close. Capitalizing on the roar of the hail against my root shield, he said, "I'm gonna distract them, and you run with Clarisse. She's just playing with us. When I charge, you two take the opening and bolt."
"NEVER… I'd rather die," Clarisse cut him off instantly, her voice sharp, her knuckles turning white around her spear.
Her abrupt movement made the Lamia twist her neck in our direction. I felt a spike of irritation at this junior goddess of war who flat-out couldn't stay quiet. I looked back at Luke.
"I think it's gonna be kind of hard for us to run, you know? She's a mage, she probably knows a bunch of broken spells… like the Flying Thunder God," I explained with a smirk, hoping Luke would catch the reference.
Luke blinked, his brow furrowing completely without understanding a single thing. "Flying Thunder God? What is that? Some ancient lightning incantation?"
I let out a weak, sideways smile despite the burning agony in my shoulder. "Seriously… forget it." I felt genuinely disappointed. Crap.
"Will you two shut the hell up?!" Clarisse interrupted, spitting the words out as her eyes tracked the Lamia, who raised one of her pale hands into the air. "We fight! I'd rather die throwing down than running like a coward!"
"Agreed, we fight. I have a plan that might help… but we need to stay alive until then." I pulled the freezing air into my lungs with force, ignoring the burning in my chest, and turned my face toward the two giant monsters. "Hey! You two over there… wolves! You speak… right? Dumb question, since you literally just talked."
Both beasts locked their crimson eyes on me in the exact same second, unleashing a snarl so guttural it made the asphalt beneath my boots vibrate.
"You guys want my axe, right? She wants it too," I said, gesturing with my chin toward the snake-woman. "If you help us kill her first, I'll hand the axe over to you, no drama, you can trust me."
The wolves simply bared their white fangs, their snouts wrinkling into an even louder snarl, looking at me like I was a total lunatic.
The Lamia, for her part, unleashed a deep, booming laugh—a sound of pure mockery.
"Ah, the sweet scent of desperation…" Her voice dripped with a venom that was almost tangible. "Give up, demigod. Hand over what is mine, and perhaps I will spare your friends' lives—and as a bonus, I'll slaughter these foolish little wolves."
"What is yours?" I asked.
"You are mine. Come surrender yourself to me willingly, and I promise to be gentle," the Lamia replied, her flicking, bifurcated tongue darting quickly between her lips.
"A little more of this and I might ask you to marry me," I said, forcing the best mocking smirk I could muster. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Luke staring at me with a face that screamed he was absolutely certain I was a complete idiot.
"What's with the face, man… it's a joke," I muttered back, making him let out a heavy sigh.
"Seriously? That was your fucking plan?!" Clarisse glared at me, her eyes bloodshot with rage.
"Of course… not," I replied, trying to play it off.
"How long do we have to survive on this idea of yours?" Luke asked. He adjusted his grip on his sword, his fingers tight and tense against the leather of the hilt. "If this is actually a real plan without the jokes…"
"I don't know if it's gonna work… but, well, it's better than doing nothing." I let out a humorless chuckle, feeling the blood from my shoulder completely soak through my shirt.
"What the hell are you waiting for then, you idiot?! Spit out the plan!" Clarisse growled, her entire body coiled and ready to strike.
I pulled in all the air my lungs could possibly hold, expanding my chest against the agony. I threw my mouth open and bellowed at the absolute limit of my vocal cords, tearing my throat raw:
"ARTEMIS! THERE'S A LAMIA HERE CHALLENGING YOU!"
The shout sliced through the freezing air like a crack of thunder. The silence that followed immediately after was bizarre. I kept a mental tab on my points, noting the twelve I had gained from killing the hellhounds.
The Lamia froze mid-motion. Luke and Clarisse locked up right beside me, both staring at me with wide eyes and slack jaws, completely in shock.
"By the gods…" Luke murmured, though I saw his eyes spark.
Instead of getting pissed off, the Lamia's tail lashed against the ground, and she burst into a loud, genuine laugh, finding the sheer insanity of it hilarious.
"ARTEMIS! A LAMIA IS SAYING YOU'RE A PATHETIC HUNTER AND SHE'S CHALLENGING YOU!" I bellowed once more, squeezing every last drop of air and voice left in my lungs.
The Lamia kept laughing, staring at me like I was a circus clown attempting a brainless parlor trick right before dying.
"Before your goddess can even hear that pathetic wailing of yours, demigod…" The Lamia hoisted herself even higher over the ice, casting her massive shadow right over us. Her colossal serpent tail coiled and uncoiled along the slick ground, producing a wet, heavy, revolting sound of scales scraping against flesh. "…you and your friends will already be dead."
But I noticed the wolves staring at me—and their expression was weird, because I actually thought they looked terrified.
The Lamia's laughter vanished. She surged forward in a grayish blur over the ice, gliding as if she were skating.
"POSITION!" I roared, taking full control.
With a flick of my wrist, the weight of Leviathan vanished from my grip, instantly morphing back into the seed bracelet. Luke's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and Clarisse took a step back, digging her boots into the ice to find leverage.
Without wasting a single breath, I shoved my hand into my pocket. In a brilliant emerald-green flash, I yanked out one of my four Full Recovery Potions.
I ripped the cork out with my teeth, spitting it onto the ice, and slammed the viscous liquid down my throat.
An absurdly sweet taste exploded on my tongue, sending a thermal, invigorating shockwave straight to my chest. The corrosive burning of the venom in my shoulder ceased instantly, giving way to a numb sensation—my HP and stamina were fully restored.
Instantly, I accessed the system, dumping four points into agility and four points into strength.
"Where the hell did you get that?!" Clarisse bellowed. Her eyes went wide with shock at my empty hand, where the glass vial had materialized out of thin air before vanishing just as fast.
"No time!" I yelled in the same second. I felt my body turn hard as iron, my Seismic Sense sharpening to a point where it felt like my mind exploded, and I slammed both open palms flat against the ice.
The fertile soil of the surrounding forest vibrated as if waking from a deep sleep. Within seconds, thick, dark, twisted roots smashed through the slick ice at absolute maximum speed. I forced the fibers to compress, hardening them to the density of steel.
The Lamia materialized from the right, a grayish blur unleashing a frantic sequence of swipes with her razor-sharp claws. The air around her distorted into a thick purple mist.
I twisted my wrist, making the wall of roots extend directly in front of us. Her claws collided against the shielded roots in a deafening, rapid rhythm, kicking up brilliant sparks that jumped against the dark night.
The barrier cracked and splintered, throwing sharp shards of wood against my face. The impact forced me back, sliding along the ice—but it wasn't a physical push. It was bizarre, like a blast of compressed air or a wave of pure repulsion, something I couldn't quite explain.
The Lamia slid back a single pace in a fluid glide, hovering slightly over the frozen lot as if she were defying gravity entirely. Her yellow eyes gleamed, locking onto my empty hand.
The Lamia murmured something—I couldn't hear what—and an intrigued, dark smile tugged at her lips. "A son of Demeter playing with magic… Fascinating."
She didn't have time to finish her thought. A piercing howl snapped her back to reality.
The wolves snarled, their iron claws tearing through the ice and shattering it into splinters beneath their paws as they launched into a brutal sprint.
The beasts executed a pincer movement, but with a terrifyingly smart hunting intelligence: the first wolf feigned a charge at the Lamia but veered off at the very last second, using the serpent-woman's own tail to gain traction and leaping straight for my exposed back. I wondered how something that massive could be so damn agile.
The second wolf came from below, staying low to the mirror-slick ice with its jaws wide open, dripping a thick saliva that reeked of carrion, targeting Luke and Clarisse's knees.
I drove my heels into the ice. The dual vibration of the pack's assault ripped through the ground, traveling up my boots and rattling the bones in my legs. I calculated the exact trajectory of the airborne wolf and the angle of the low-running beast—and it was incredible, it felt like time itself was slowing down.
"LEFT SIDE, CLARISSE! LUKE, TAKE THE ONE ABOVE!" I yelled, acting purely as our team's tactical support.
With a single mental command, I made two roots snap out like a pair of pincers directly beneath the low-crawling wolf, locking down its front paws—which sent it skidding face-first into the ice, completely blowing its attack window.
Clarisse didn't waste the opening: she spun her spear and delivered a violent, downward thrust straight into the beast's skull. The celestial bronze tip sliced right through the monster's thick hide, carving open a deep gash that made the beast let out an agonizing yelp into the air. It looked like it was trying to say something, but it was garbled—and judging by her face, Clarisse didn't catch it either.
At the exact same time, I invoked a vertical pillar that shot straight toward the sky. Luke sprinted along my right flank, using the tip of the rising wooden pillar as a launchpad. He leaped high into the air, crossing paths with the wolf trying to ambush me from behind. A smile broke across my face.
Luke's blade came down, severing the tendons in the beast's hind leg in mid-flight. The dark, dense blood of the monster splattered across the frost as it crashed heavily onto the ground.
"What the…" Luke muttered in surprise, realizing the monster hadn't dissolved into dust.
I made a root wrap around Luke's waist, bringing him down to a safe landing on the ground. Pulling myself up instantly, I extended my hand and yanked Clarisse back with another root; she was flanking our side in the same fraction of a second. The grounded wolf thrashed, biting through the root to free its partner.
"Not bad, right, Skywalker!" I joked, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the ice, already feeling my muscles burn from the intense output. "And here I thought you only knew how to give theoretical fencing lectures back at camp!"
"Shut up, you're terrible with plans!" Luke responds without losing an ounce of focus, landing lightly on his feet, his analytical gaze already scanning the shifting terrain.
However, the Lamia wasn't about to just stand there and watch. Seeing the wolves falter, she extended her pale arms. From the purple smoke billowing out of her robes, three whips of pure magical energy projected outward, snapping through the air and tearing the ice to shreds.
One of them came straight for Clarisse right by our side. She blocked it with the shaft of her spear, but the sheer force of the impact shoved her back three meters, her boots skidding wildly across the ice.
The second whip lashed down at Luke's feet, forcing him to drive his sword into the frozen ground just to keep from being thrown back. The third whip exploded against the flank of the Alpha wolf—he dodged it, but the strike caught his partner dead-on. The whip sliced right through the monster's neck, and the beast instantly dissolved into dark dust in mid-air.
"Damn you," the wolf growled. But to my surprise and disappointment, he didn't just blindly attack.
"They're fast, but the snake is worse!" Clarisse snarled, forcing herself to regain her footing, her spear smoking with blue sparks.
She ran right back, slotting herself shoulder-to-shoulder with me, her face drenched in sweat and her eyes flashing with pure rage. "If she gets close to me again, I'm shoving this spear right up her ass!" I blinked in surprise. Man, I think my influence is seriously starting to corrupt her… I should probably stop cursing so much.
"That's the Clarisse I know!" I let out a short chuckle, feeling cold sweat trickle down my forehead. "Luke! She's entirely focused on long-range magic! If we close the gap and pressure her from two sides, she won't have time to cast!"
"Right!" Luke agrees instantly, adjusting his two-handed grip on his sword. "Caleb, carve out a path and cover our six! Clarisse, take the left flank, I'll take the right!"
The Lamia spun completely toward us, her yellow eyes burning with pure hatred. She whispered another perfect word in Latin, raising both pale hands toward the pitch-black sky.
Dozens of razor-sharp stalactites of black ice formed instantly in the air around her, hovering and pointing straight at our chests like a battalion of deadly spears.
"HERE COMES THE RAIN!" I bellowed with a smirk, raising a dense, braided dome of hardened roots over us. I funneled even more divine power into the ground, instantly feeling a fresh trickle of blood run down from my nose.
The black ice projectiles exploded like grenades against my shielded wood, sending sharp splinters flying in every direction. The crushing pressure of the continuous impact forced my knees to buckle.
"NOW! GO!" I screamed from inside the shelter, fighting to keep my eyes wide open.
I ripped the dome open down the middle like the heavy gates of a fortress. Luke and Clarisse shot out like two arrows, skating across the ice.
With a smirk, I pulled two wooden roots from the ground right beneath their heels, providing an extra elastic spring to the soles of their boots. Both of them gained double the speed, slicing through the air straight toward the Lamia's position.
Holy shit… this is way too awesome.
Clarisse struck first, letting out a wild battle cry and spinning her spear in a brutal, horizontal slash aimed right at the creature's neck.
The Lamia hoisted her right arm to block with her iron claws, but Luke materialized from below like a phantom, the blade of his sword swinging in an upward arc to slice the creature in half at the waist.
But something bizarre happened: a smile crept across the Lamia's face.
Luke's bronze blade and Clarisse's energized spear tore through the Lamia's body at the exact same fraction of a second, an epic cross-slash that made a grin break across my face.
Except there were no screams of agony, nor the golden dust of a monster dissolving back to the Underworld. The weapons simply sunk into the Lamia as if she were made of pure fog. Her body flickered, revealing itself to be a total illusion.
The Lamia materialized out of the shadows right behind them. Her pale hands didn't strike with claws; instead, she gently tapped the top of Luke's head and the back of Clarisse's neck. A surge of glowing purple runes shot from her fingers, spreading like luminous veins just beneath their skin.
Luke and Clarisse's faces locked up in the exact same second.
Their bodies suffered a brief, violent spasm. Their eyes, which just a second ago were burning with raw adrenaline and the heat of combat, went completely dead.
I didn't sense her… I didn't sense her. How is that even possible? With a body that massive, she should at least be making some kind of noise… Come to think of it, I didn't pick her up on the bus either. What the hell is going on? This snake… who the fuck is she?
They suddenly turned cold, opaque, and lifeless, taking on a gray, milky hue—looking exactly like wax figures.
"They fight well," the Lamia sibilated, sliding her tail around the two of them, who remained completely motionless statues under her thrall. "But human minds are so… easy to shatter… except yours. Yours is so special… a delicious secret."
Without emitting a single sound, without the slightest trace of breath or hesitation, the two of them spun their bodies mechanically, perfectly rigid and entirely unnatural.
Luke raised his sword in a flawless execution stance. Clarisse spun her energized spear, the electric tip crackling in a vibrant blue hue.
And both weapons pointed directly at me as they advanced together. I didn't think—my body just moved. Luke's sword slashed through the exact patch of air where my neck had been a fraction of a second prior. This guy is terrifyingly fast.
I dropped my waist completely, flexing my knees to their absolute limit, feeling the displacement of air slice over the top of my head and take a few strands of hair with it.
Before I could even regain my balance to pull myself back up, Clarisse's spear came ripping in from the side, targeting my ribs. She had that raw fury and foam escaping her mouth, but her movements looked locked and mechanical.
I spun my left wrist—the dried seed bracelet burned against my skin, snapping—and the familiar weight of Leviathan materialized instantly in my fingers. I gripped the handle of my axe with both hands, bringing the blade up diagonally from the bottom to parry.
The impact of the celestial bronze weapons vibrated straight through my bones, rattling my teeth. The sheer kinetic shock almost ripped the axe clean out of my hand. My left foot slipped on the sheet of ice covering the ground, and I nearly lost my footing entirely.
Luke was already shifting his guard, stepping up to press his attack once more with surgical precision.
"Cal…b!" Clarisse's voice came out hollow, her hands trembling violently.
"Dammit, she cast a fucking genjutsu—this isn't Naruto," I growled in irritation.
Luke's sword came down in a vertical arc designed to cleave me in two and decapitate me. I sensed a heavy mass vibrating through the ground—the wolf—but it wasn't targeting me. I locked my focus onto purely not dying. Instead of backing away—which would have been suicide against his weapon's reach—I rammed my body inside his guard, dropping low, utilizing the exact technical base I had been practicing.
I hooked the elongated beard of Leviathan's blade right around his sword guard close to the hilt and yanked downward, driving my hips into the motion to maximize leverage.
His arm was forcefully dragged along by the hook. With Luke's balance completely compromised by the sheer momentum of his own strike, I took a decisive step forward, invading his personal space, and rammed my right shoulder full-force against his chest, slamming the wooden pommel of my axe straight into his jaw. I stared right into his smile as his eyes flickered erratically between blue and white.
A sickening bone-deep crack echoed across the ice. Luke staggered back two paces, his nose bleeding, but his face remained a vacant, stone-cold mask. He surged right back into my space within the same fraction of a second, unleashing a horizontal slash aimed straight at my stomach. At the exact same time, I caught the whistle of Clarisse's spear tearing through the air right behind my back.
The ground beneath my boots vibrated. I threw my body forward, executing a desperate roll across the slick ice. The tip of the spear whistled inches above my head, but Clarisse twisted her body fluidly and brought the weapon down in an arc to impale me from behind.
I tried to force my axe between us, but I was too slow. The celestial bronze tip of the spear scraped hard against my ribs.
I felt the fabric of my shirt rip open, followed by the immediate, hot sensation of blood pouring down my side, soaking through my clothes. I stumbled back, gasping for shallow breaths.
"Crap… against the monster she acts like a kitten, but against me she turns into a full lioness," I muttered, noticing the remaining wolf looking disoriented as it lost sight of the Lamia. I was stunned by it, but I didn't have a single second to process it.
Luke charged from the right. Clarisse from the left. They moved in perfect, seamless synchronization—damn that snake.
And then, a massive, much heavier vibration ripped through the ground, accompanied by a sudden blast of hot, foul air cutting through the freezing cold.
Seriously… this?
But it wasn't targeting me. The trajectory of its leap was aimed squarely at Clarisse's exposed back.
My mind snapped. If I dodged Luke's strike, the wolf would shred Clarisse to pieces.
If I moved to cover Clarisse, Luke would run me through from behind.
If I tried to block the wolf, both of them would slaughter me together.
The logical calculation was simple: sacrifice a piece. Letting the wolf take down Clarisse would buy me enough time to disarm Luke and retreat. It was the easiest option to secure the quest objectives and survive… how utterly repulsive.
A deep sense of disgust and self-loathing washed over me for even letting that thought cross my mind. When the hell did I start treating human lives like disposable assets? What would even separate me from these sons of bitches if I did that…? "No!"
My voice came out as a low, feral growl. I channeled every ounce of my remaining strength to withstand the impact, forcing my muscles to tense up like iron.
I pulled in a breath.
I triggered Drain/Sap—which hit my system like an injection of pure liquid fire straight into my veins. My legs began to shake. The gash across my ribs began to knit shut, but a violent, stabbing pain exploded in the pit of my stomach, making it feel like my heart was on the verge of detonating. I pushed my Seismic Sense to its absolute peak, feeling my perception expand exponentially.
A heavy mist of breath escaped my lips as the entire world fell completely silent—the only sound left was the pounding of my own heart. Luke struck. I waited for the exact millisecond.
The moment his sword came down, I closed the distance, using Leviathan's hook to lock his blade once more. I twisted my wrist sharply, dragging his arm down. With his weapon pinned, I delivered a brutal elbow strike square to his face. I felt his nose shatter under the force of the impact, but he didn't even blink. He threw his body weight backward and drove his knee up toward my chest. Luke's mouth twitched into a smile, as if he were actively fighting against his own body's movements.
I dodged it, but the evasion left me entirely exposed from the opposite side.
Clarisse lunged with her spear. A straight, unyielding line. Aimed directly at my abdomen.
I couldn't move out of the way.
I looked down. The celestial bronze tip tore straight through my stomach, punching clear through my back. My brain took a full, agonizing second just to process the sheer scale of the damage.
Then, the pain hit me all at once, knocking the air clean out of my lungs. A choked groan escaped my throat; I wanted to scream, to cry, but I forced it down, locking my eyes on the wolf that was already airborne, its iron claws extended to rip Clarisse's neck open.
I bit back the agony, feeling the iron taste of blood completely flood my mouth. I released my grip on Leviathan with one hand, grabbed Clarisse firmly by the waist, and using her own body's momentum combined with the last shred of my physical strength, I spin. I throw her with force to the side, launching her clear of the wolf's landing trajectory.
"Clarisse… please, don't let her control you," I gasped out. And in the very next fraction of a second, the wolf plowed straight into me. Its claws tore across my chest, carving deep gouges that sprayed hot blood.
I was launched backward, crashing through snapping frozen branches before slamming violently against the solid, icy ground.
The air vanished from my lungs entirely. I lay flat on my back, staring up at a sky that was starting to fade to pure white—or maybe it was just my own eyes shutting down.
I tried to pull in a breath. Nothing. Twice. On the third attempt, the freezing air tore down my throat, accompanied by a sudden surge of hot blood rushing up from my stomach. I hacked it out onto the ice, coughing uncontrollably.
I raised a trembling hand to my abdomen. The hole was right there, pumping out blood.
I propped myself up on my elbows to try and survey the area, and that was when my eyes drifted past the tree line, toward the parked bus.
A cold shiver locked my throat. My entire body began to shake as I took in the sight of the innocent passengers—now nothing more than frozen blocks of severed meat, their limbs scattered across the concrete like a macabre slaughterhouse.
I spotted a severed arm resting on the snow, a watch still strapped to the wrist, hacked off near the shoulder. Half of a human torso was split clean down the middle near the vehicle's rear tire, the blood frozen into a dark crust along the side of the bus.
My stomach churned violently, and I nearly threw up what little blood I had left in my mouth.
"No…" The word escaped my lips as a fragile, trembling whisper.