!WARNING!
This story will contain blood, gore, rape, and other violent and triggering themes.
DO NOT READ if this will cause you harm.
This story will be following the 2013 remake. But obviously there will be some additions with more characters involved.
Heavy breathing and stumbling footsteps flooded the quiet woods.
A young teenage boy with long blonde hair and pale skin walked silently through the forest, his pace was slow and clumsy. His arms and legs were covered in dried blood and crusted mud. He came to a clearing and stopped, his frantic gaze took in his surroundings. Then suddenly, a dark figure darts out and vanishes just as sharply as it had entered. The boy picked up the pace, looking over his shoulder constantly, he catches a glance at a figure in the distance. He froze.
He quickly darted behind a tree and toke in hard shaking breaths. A dark hood was thrown over his face, the teen screamed and kicked out his feet as he was pinned to the ground completely restrained. A harsh laugh, then, a rough voice with a thick southern accent called out, "We found the fucker."
Steps approached, the teen screamed louder and desperately tried to buck the heavier figure on him off. It wasn't working.
Another southern voice grunted, "Sweet dreams doll face," then a blunt force smacked into the back of the teen's head and darkness overtook everything.
When the teen came to, he noticed through the dark, black figures moved slowly from a low source of light and he attempted to move. But his wrists and body were restrained with a thick rope against something, he was trapped.
An old woman emerged from the darkness, her wrinkled hands were covered in dried blood. Her hair was long and white, matted in some places, but her face was mostly covered by a hood. She spoke in a language the boy didn't understand.
"Korkma, oğlum ..."
The terrified teen spoke through the hood, "Who are you? Where the hell am I?!" he screamed and thrashed against the ropes violently.
"Someone help me!"
The old woman had something in her hands that was covered in a grey fabric, she sat it down on a table and slowly revealed it. It was a book, one that seemed to be made out of a human face frozen in the most terrified expression imaginable. The old woman opened the book and traced a finger along one of the pages.
"Kötü kitap, kötü kitabın ne yaptığını geri alabilir .."
"Please…!" the teen moaned, the woman made a motion towards the corner of the room.
A mysterious man stepped out of the shadows, he walked towards the boy who cried that he just wanted to go home. And in one quick motion, the man snatched the hood from the boy's face, the teen gasped for air, on the left side of his face was a slash mark, it was oozing blood and pus. Terrified, the boy's eyes darted around the room until it came to rest on the man in front of him.
"D..Dad?" the teen gasped, shocked.
The man had black hair, that was normally stylized but was now very messy with dried blood and clumps of mud stuck in it, and in dirty, bloody slacks with a white dress shirt covered in dried blood. The man seemed unable to stop trembling, he reached out to touch his son's face but stopped shortly.
"Dad, what's going on? Who are these people?" the teen sobbed, looking at the now revealed room he could see many deformed, and filthy men and a child watching the two silently.
The man tried his best not to show his sorrow as he watched his son try to break free of his bonds.
"They're good people. They're here to help you."
"Dad please, what are you talking about? Where's mom?" the man bit his lip.
"Your mother is dead son...you know that."
The teen froze in shock and horror, "W-What? No!"
"You killed her. You did." the teens face twists in agony at the thought.
"No! Why are you saying that?! Please, Dad I just want to go home...I promise not to complain about you working all the time anymore, I promise! I-I just want to go home..." the teen begged, tears falling faster than ever.
The man held up a plastic bottle with in one trembling hand.
The old woman looked up from the book and stared at the man.
"Yap..." Close on one of the pages of the book is a drawing of a person in flames. A hand written text read: PURIFICATION BY FIRE.
"... Bu onun ruhunu kurtarmanın tek yolu."
The man opened the bottle and began to pour some kind of dark, oily liquid from it all over the head and body of his son.
"I'm so sorry," he sobbed as his son gagged, choking painfully as the liquid flows onto his face and neck.
"What was that? D-Dad no! Please!" The teen yelled as he finally recognized the smell as gasoline, he began to struggle harder.
"Rahmını kurtar, bedenini zaten kınadı." The woman hissed sharply, she held one of her hands a few inches over the cover of the book.
The man took a small box of matches from his pocket. He tried to light one, but it's damp and didn't easily catch fire. The teen sobbed harder.
"Dad please! D..Daddy, I love you so much! Stop. Don't do this, I want you to hold me and take me home.." the teen begged, the emotional appeal was too much for the man. He stopped and looked brokenly at his son.
"I love you too son.." he whispered, but the woman grabbed his arm and shook it roughly.
"Yapma! Oğlunuza huzur verin!" she shouted.
The man didn't understand what she was saying, but knew what he had to do. He dried his tears roughly, and attempted lighting another match. The teen had stopped crying then.
His face once a sobbing mess now eerily calm as he stared directly into his father's eyes.
"I'll rip your soul out daddy."
The light finally ignited and the man held it up, illuminating his son's face as it twisted and contorted into diabolical ways. His once soft brown eyes were now as black as night with a circle of gold around it, his voice turned deep and raspy, sounding like it came straight from hell.
" I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKING SOUL OUT YOU PATHETIC FUCK! " The teen screamed like a rabid hyena his voice seemed doubled slightly, he was salivating black blood.
The man, terrified, flung the match at his son. The match caught on the gasoline dripping from the teen's body and immediately burst into flames.
" YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU LIKE I KILLED YOUR WHORE! " The teen screamed, and smiled a crazed grin at the man, black blood and saliva dripped down his chin as the flames rose up higher on his body.
The flames illuminated the woman's face for the first time, her eyes were completely white, like she was blind, and red tattoos adorned her face; similar to tribal markings. The boy's father raised one of the shotguns at his burning son, now entirely consumed in flames, screaming and spitting curses at the room.
"I love you son." he said.
" AAAAAAAAAAAA! " the teen replied as the man fired a round off and splattered his son's brains all over the wall.
A tiny road snaked its way through a mighty grey forest under dark clouds, a dark red jeep drove the desolate road.
Takashi Shirogane woke up suddenly in the passenger seat, an annoying ray of sunshine was hitting him in the eyes. He groaned and rubbed his face tiredly before grimacing at the slight stubble he felt on his chin, he really needed to shave soon.
"Are you up Shiro? I think we just crossed the Tennessee border." a female voice piped up from beside him. Allura, his fiance, was taking her turn at driving to the old Shirogane family cabin. Her silver hair was reflecting rather beautifully in the sunlight. Shiro yawned hugely.
"Fucking hell..is it morning already?" he asked, rubbing out a few kinks in his neck from sleeping in a moving vehicle. Allura quirked an unamused eyebrow at him.
"You know you promised to try to take it easy on the swearing. You wake up and first thing out of your mouth is 'fucking hell'?" Shiro smiled sheepishly at her.
"I fucking promised that?" he grinned at her fake glare before kissing her cheek and knocked on the back window lightly.
"How you hanging' back there Charlie?" Charlie, an old mutt, whined slightly and gave Shiro sad dog eyes that made the man's heart melt.
"Hold that old bladder, we're almost there buddy..."
Allura sighed slightly, Shiro looked at her questioningly. "Do you think it'll work this time? You know how Lance is, he'll find some way to weasel out of this."
"Yeah, we just gotta make sure he stays this time...by any means necessary." Shiro stated grimly.
Allura stared at the road, worry clear on her face.
"It was too close last time." she whispered, Shiro held one of her hands tightly.
"I know," Shiro looked out the window before noticing a familiar dirt path, "wait, this is the turn."
Allura turned the jeep right and went down a narrow dirt road path, quickly coming to an old asphalt bridge that rested over a deep creek, Shiro took note that the water was almost reaching the bridge.
After crossing safely, they continued down the path deeper into the forest. Soon enough they reached an old cabin surrounded by overgrown grass and a pile of rusty junk, it really looked like no one had been up there in years. And really, no one had. A familiar couple of people stood beside a white van.
Allura parked the jeep next to an old rusted tool shed and turned it off. Shiro grabbed two black backpacks from the back, letting out a whimpering Charlie, and walked over to the now waving Hunk Garrett. He was in his usual green vest and orange bandanna wrapped around his head.
Shiro stared at the cabin in astonishment, "Wow, this place has really gone downhill."
Allura smiled and hugged Hunk tightly Shiro as did too after. "How you've been Hunk?"
"Same old, same old Shiro, I see you and Allura are still together. Naturally." Hunk teased.
"Naturally." Shiro smiled, then nodded at Pidge who gave him a dry look and continued to read a large book.
"You get that engineering job yet Hunk?" Allura asked, setting down her backpack.
Hunk nodded excitedly, "Yeah, and I-"
"You were supposed to be here two hours ago."
Pidge gave both Shiro and Allura an irritated look, the former smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Pidge I got turned around a few times trying to get here and-"
"Whatever." They interrupted before returning to their book, Shiro sighed and look at Hunk.
"Pidge is still mad at me, I take it?" Hunk nodded, "How many times am I going to have to apologize? I didn't know when she decided to not be Katie anymore. I've know her-"
"Them." Hunk interrupted softly.
"-them, my whole life, along with their brother."
Hunk shrugged helplessly, Shiro sighed before looking around.
"So, where is he?"
Lance sat on the remains of a '73 Oldsmobile Delta 88 swallowed by Vegetation. His normally curly brown hair was flat and lifeless, his naturally dark skin a lot paler than normal. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep and was sickeningly thin. He wore a worn out navy-blue Galaxy Garrison sweatshirt and baggy black sweatpants, simple grey toms adorned his feet. In his hands, a notepad. He was sketching the cabin in a better time, not weed overrun and junkyard piles.
Keith, Lance's high school sweetheart and nine-year boyfriend, sat beside him silently. Watching Lance draw and an arm wrapped around his waist tightly, as if he was afraid to let him go. Worry clear in his violet-gray eyes, Shiro stopped ten feet away from the couple.
"Hey Lance," Shiro said quietly. Keith turned and waved slightly at his brother but Lance did not look up. He took a drag from a cigarette, Keith's fingers twitched like he wanted to pluck the cancer stick from his boyfriend's mouth.
"Surprised you came Shiro," Lance mumbled.
"Of course I came, we all care about you Lance." the Cuban took another drag, blowing out a smoke ring before crushing it on the hood of the car. He flicked it away.
Turning to look at Shiro, Lance raked a hand through his hair tiredly. "I know I probably look like roadkill right now."
"You look fine." Keith said, pressing a kiss into the other's cheek, Lance grinned.
"Still a shitty liar." Keith rolled his eyes but held the other tightly.
Shiro stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say, but suddenly Charlie came trotting right past Shiro and sat at Lance's feet. The Cuban's face broke out into an enormous smile and quickly pet the old dog's head affectionately.
"Charlie! Hey there buddy, how ya' been? Bet you love this place huh? Fresh air and a hundred trees for you to piss on." Lance kissed the dog's head softly.
Shiro's eyes softened and looked at Keith who was smiling sadly at Lance and holding his hand tightly.
"He missed you, ya' know?" Shiro commented, not just the dog but all of them had missed the Cuban terribly.
When Hunk, Pidge, Keith and Lance all graduated High School, Lance and Keith both decided to go to the same college together. But then Lance became friends with two kids, Rolo and Nyma. They seemed like good people until they got Lance into drugs. Harmless at first, just pot. But then they showed him the hardcore ones. Ecstasy and Heroin.
Lance became a whole other person when he was high off the drugs. He became more depressed and violent towards others but mostly to himself. Once, when he was on some new drug, he saw people made of fire chasing him, he almost jumped off a bridge running away from them.
If Keith hadn't come after him, Lance would've died.
The Cuban used to crack jokes, smile, and laugh all the time. It was one of the things that made Keith fall in love with him, but now he would hardly smile at anything. Movies he used to love were plain and boring, he used to eat all the time and worked it off by exercising with his boyfriend, but now he was never hungry.
He only ate when Keith begged him to or they would take him to the emergency room and stick a tube down his throat. Lance just didn't find life fun anymore unless he was high on something or with Keith.
Shiro glanced at the two again before remembering something Lance's abuela had given him when they had picked up Charlie.
"Tell him to keep to his heart," She had said sternly.
Shiro looked at the silver medallion with a tiny lamb engraved in, "Hey Lance,"
The Cuban looked up from his petting and barely caught the necklace when Shiro tossed it to him, "Your grandmother told me to tell you that you should keep close to your heart."
Lance looked at the medallion and smiled softly.
"Always."
"Huh?"
"A..Always keep it close, she was very intimidating." Lance laughed loudly, the two brothers were very pleased.
Lance quickly pulled the necklace over his head and tucked it under the sweatshirt before smiling shakily, "O..Okay, guess it's show time."
Shiro nodded and walked back around to the front of the cabin to get the others, Lance stood up and went to follow but stopped and turned to Keith suddenly.
"Keith, promise me you'll stay here with me till the end." Keith quickly took Lance's hands and held them tightly.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Cross your heart?" Lance whispered, eyes wide with fear.
"And hope to die." Keith finished and and made an 'x' over his heart.
Lance smiled shakily, Keith kissed the other gently.
Everyone was now gathered around the well, seven in total now that Coran had showed up, he was Allura's uncle and a nurse-in training. He was there to make sure Lance was healthy and functional. But everyone had already known Coran for a while as he was Allura's only living relative and basically raised her himself.
The mood was serious, like they were attending a funeral. All circled around the old well with Lance in front.
"Um, dearly beloved?" Lance chuckled awkwardly, "Thanks, guys, for driving out here to support me. And a special thank you to the Shirogane brothers for lending us your family's vacation spot. There's...there's no way I could do this alone."
Lance slowly pulled out a small nylon sack out of the pocket of his sweatshirt, it held a few grams of some kind of yellow powder, Lance held it over the well and spoke in an exaggerated solemn tone.
"May my friends, family, and 'soon to be' family, witness this act, an irrevocable promise of my commitment, that..." Lance paused and swallowed thickly, hands trembling. Keith grabbed Lance's empty hand and squeezed it gently.
"Fuck it." Lance hissed and opened the bag, letting the powder fall into the well.
"I promise. To not. Fucking. Touch. This. Shit. Ever. Again." Lance crumbled the bag and let it fall down the well too, then took a deep breath.
"Let's play cold turkey." Lance took a long look into the well before Keith dragged him away and over to their car to pull out their luggage.
Shiro stayed with the others by the well as Coran began to tell them how it was going to go down.
"Alright everyone, here is the Detox 101 rundown: It's going to take three days for him to get through the hard withdrawal. But we're talking about the worst the days of his life. In a couple of hours, he's going to start experiencing extreme muscle soreness, vomiting, chills, paranoia, hallucinations, the works."
"Why three days?" Hunk asks, frowning at the well.
"Because after that, the pain subsides. And he'll be off the hook for good." Coran explained.
"He'll make it, right?" Allura asked worriedly.
Coran gave them a weak smile and nodded, "He'll be fine. Lance is strong, I believe in him."
Everyone waited on the porch while Shiro fished out some rusty keys deep from his backpack.
"The lock might be messed up," he commented and tried to put them in, he paused, "What the-?"
Shiro gently pushed open the door with one hand, it swung open easily. First glimpse inside was of a dusty framed photo of a smiling maternal woman with long shaggy black hair and silver eyes. It was Keith and Shiro's late mother. The door knocked against something and a loud bang registered in the cabin. It was a crowbar. Shiro picked it up and walked inside fully.
"Looks like someone broke in," he commented, a furrow in his brow. Hopefully nothing was stolen, but that was probably unlikely.
The cabin was covered in a thick layer of dust, a few small rays of sunlight filtered in through the shuttered windows. And even though the walls were covered in photos that were only a few years old, it looked as if the place had been neglected for decades. Lance suddenly covered his mouth.
"What's that smell?" he hissed, his eyes full of disgust.
Shiro walked cautiously into the cabin, Allura looked at him confused.
"Shiro?"
"Wait here guys." Shiro said and walked further into the backrooms, crowbar still in his hand and was ready to use it against lingering intruders if necessary.
Shiro searched the cabin, crossing the dusty living room and checking out the kitchen. From hallway, he looked into the master bedroom but everything too dark.
Looking down the hallway Shiro's eyes were drawn to movement, it was at the end of the hallway behind a curtain. Shiro slowly walked towards it then yanked it back, crowbar held high when a giant crow squawked loudly in his face making the older man shout in surprise and fall on his ass. The crow flied out the front door wildly and scared everyone in the doorway, Pidge clutched their chest.
"Shit! Man, I hate birds." they complained, oblivious to Hunk and Lance's synchronized snort.
Shiro came out and gestured for them all to come in. "It's all clear. Some kids must have broke in here to drink and party."
Keith walked into the living room and gazed at the old pictures of him and Shiro with their mother nostalgically.
"Mom would have hated to see the cabin like this." He commented, Lance held his hand and squeezed it in comfort.
Keith smiled softly, and squeezed back.
Hunk wrapped a arm around Lance shoulder gently, "It's not too bad, we'll make it livable."
Lance smiled tightly at him, Pidge nudged his other side, "Maybe there's some nice curtains over there by that rat corpse." Lance choked on a laugh so hard that Keith had to smack his back a few times to get it all out.
"Jesus Pidge."
After cleaning out the cabin and making it livable again, the group stumbled upon an old box filled with memories of the groups younger days.
Opening it, they found old pictures and yearbooks of them all in high school, minus Coran of course, when Hunk, Keith, Lance and Pidge were Freshman and Shiro and Allura were Seniors. Keith with his mullet and Shiro with long hair got a few good laughs.
Lance, who was looking paler and weaker than before, pulled out a dusty photo album labeled: SQUAD STORIES. Pidge groaned.
"No thanks, I'd rather not look at that, makes me feel older already." Lance opened it to a random page and immediately started to snort and laugh, looking at the other.
"Fuck it, lemme see." Pidge demanded, Lance let them take the album.
The picture was all of them dressed up in ridiculous costumes, it must have been Halloween. Pidge was in a green frog costume and holding a unicycle over their shoulder. Hunk and a sweet chubby girl named Shay were dressed as Frankenstein's monster and the Bride of Frankenstein. Lance and Keith were both power rangers, blue and red respectively. Allura was an Alien princess, fabulous as always, and Shiro looked like some greaser from the 50s. It was a good memory.
Too bad good things never last.
A bad storm was brewing over them, and the wind was starting to blow harder.
Lance was outside with Charlie playing fetch, but he was tossing the ball rather aggressively. Trying to distract himself from his own discomfort.
"He's going to kill that old bastard..." Pidge commented softly, heart throbbing sympathetically for their friend.
Keith had joined everyone on the porch, letting Lance be alone for a while. He looked at the sky and frowned thoughtfully.
"Looks like it's going to storm." he mumbled.
"Keith, there's something we need to discuss." Coran said, Keith turned to look at him and everyone else.
"Okay?"
Coran looked at Lance sadly, Shiro was clutching Allura's hand tightly, but Pidge and Hunk both refused to look at Korean entirely.
"We've...already tried this whole thing before, when you and Shiro went to Japan to spend time with your family for the holidays last year, Lance made the same dramatic vow of sobriety before chucking his dope into the toilet..." Pidge said, now looking at Keith.
"He lasted eight hours, then quit." Hunk finished.
"That's why we don't want to give him the chance this time." Allura whispered, Shiro nodded solemnly.
"What?" Keith asked, confused at how this happened to his boyfriend without him aware of it? Why didn't Shiro tell him?!
"I knew what was going on, but Lance didn't want you to worry, so he told me to not tell you. So you could enjoy time with Dad and me…" Shiro admitted.
"Keith, when he breaks, and believe me, he will, we don't want to let him leave." Hunk stated, looking at the Korean.
"What? So you're planning to keep him here by force?" Keith questioned, "Why the fuck didn't you guys tell me, I enjoyed a nice holiday while my boyfriend suffered?! I could have been there for him!"
"Look at him Keith!" Pidge hissed, "He won't survive another overdose!" Keith gasped.
"Wh..What? Lance overdosed?" Pidge's eyes widened in shock, had no one told him?
"He didn't just overdose dude, legally my best friend - your boyfriend, had died. They had to fucking defibrillate him." Hunk growled.
Keith sat down heavily on the porch railing, held his head in shock.
"Lance..." he whispered.
On the lawn, Lance continued to play fetch aggressively with Charlie, oblivious to the conversation behind him.
"We really need your support on this Keith. We can't fail this time."
The thunder roared closer than ever.
It was the dead of night when Shiro is awakened by a loud scream coming from Keith and Lance's room.
Shiro hurriedly shot out of bed, Allura not far behind, and ran down the hall to see the door already occupied by a tense Hunk and Pidge. Shiro looked at them, Hunk shook his head while Pidge clenched their teeth and walked back to their room.
More screams made Shiro and Allura jump. Inside the room Lance was in the throes of hysteria. Keith was holding him back, trying desperately to calm him down while Coran attempted to talk to him calmly.
"THAT FUCKING SMELL! I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! LET GO OF ME!" Lance twisted and turned in Keith grasp, desperate to break free from him.
Keith just held on tighter, a haunted look in his eyes. "It's okay, it's okay..I'm right here, we're all here for you. Calm down, please hon. Breath baby..breathe."
Lance's rage soon turned into a desperate cry, and slumped in Keith grasp which quickly turned into a tight hug. Lance sobbed loudly into his neck. Shiro was stunned by Lance's violent anger. Lance never got angry, violent was out of the question.
Shiro really fucking hated those two kids.
A few hours later, Lance had calmed down enough for Coran to give him a shot to calm him down. Keith held Lance in his arms tightly, his skin even paler than before and he was completely limp, staring at nothing.
"Withdrawal is kicking in pretty bad. These are ten milligrams of Diazepam, it should get you through the night." Coran stated and wiped up the dot of blood on Lance's hand from the shot.
"I...I just can't take this stench anymore..." Lance whispered brokenly, Keith rubbed his arm comfortingly.
"Maybe we should call a doctor..." Allura said, looking gently at Lance who continued to stare at nothing. Coran glared at her slightly for the comment.
"What the fuck is wrong with you people?! You can't smell that?!" Lance growled, scowling at everyone in the room. Only Allura flinched.
Hunk stepped outside, Pidge followed him after a few seconds.
"Something is dead, and it reeks ." Lance hissed.
Coran sighed and looked at Lance, "There is no smell. You're just extra sensitive right now. It's a normal part of-" Lance cut Coran off aggressively by getting right up in his face.
"Fuck off! " he spat, Coran looked at him surprised.
"Hey-!" Coran started
Hunk came into the house, Charlie on a leash.
"Come on Charlie, help Lance." Hunk said to the dog.
"If there's a smell, he'll find it." Hunk said to Lance, who only blinked.
Charlie went straight for Lance and licked his hand, but Lance didn't react. Then suddenly, Charlie went very still and darted over to the middle of the room. He began to dig at the carpet for a second, whining. Shiro quickly removed it and they all looked at a trapdoor in the floor.
"The cellar..." Shiro whispered.
The door was closed, a huge black bloodstain showed drag marks leading into it. Lance then quickly vomited all over the floor.
Shiro slowly opened the cellar door and everyone, except Lance who stood far away due to the smell, looked down and gagged when they were all hit simultaneously with the stench of something rotten.
"What's your expert diagnosis now?" Lance muttered to himself.
"It fucking stinks." Pidge replied anyways.
Shiro, Keith and Pidge all gathered flashlights and venture down the long steep cellar steps.
"Careful guys, this wood is old and humid." Keith cautioned them.
"Yeah...like the rest of the whole fucking house." Pidge grumbled.
They continued down and saw that each and every step was smeared with blood, like someone had dragged a body down them.
"What the hell?" Shiro questioned himself.
When they reached the bottom, Keith flipped the light switch, but it only provided a small amount of illumination. The cellar had stone walls but they were covered only in tools and old stuff, nothing strange or gross.
"There's nothing in here." Keith stated, but Pidge pointed to a hidden door in the shadows.
"Back there."
The smell was getting stronger the closer they got to the door.
"Can't we just call someone? Like a service or something?" Pidge asked, almost gagging.
"Yeah, sure...'Backwoods De-Stank-ifyers.'" Keith deadpanned. Pidge grumbled about 'not needing a sarcastic comment'.
They slowly opened the door, making Pidge and Keith gag violently, Shiro almost puked like Lance. Inside was completely pitch black. Fumbling along the walls, Pidge found the light switch and flipped it.
The ceiling was covered with dozens of headless crows and cats dangling.
"Oh my god.." Shiro said, horrified.
Over on the side of the room was a big stone tank filled with rainwater to the top, it made an echoing dripping noise that really set the creep factor.
"Whoa..." Pidge said, stunned.
"What is this?" Keith whispered.
"Looks like witchcraft to me." Pidge remarked.
Shiro takes in the room, in the corner of it, something catches his eye.
"Oh, shit."
On top of a metal desk was a shotgun with ammunition, and a book.
The cover was the face of a man screaming in agony. All the dust floating around it seemed to have stopped, frozen.
Back in the living room, Pidge held the book in their hands. Fascinated with it.
"That's one ugly book..." Coran commented, looking alarmed.
Lance was curled on the coach, head resting in Keith's lap.
"Guys, let's not freak out over this. First thing tomorrow I'm going to go bury those rotten dead animals out back. The smell will be gone in no time." Shiro stated calmly, but was still tense from the cellar.
"And what about that voodoo shit they did down there?" Lance asked cautiously, gripping Keith's knee slightly.
Pidge's gaze was still fixed on the book when they answer, "No, voodoo is more about salt, dolls, and personal artifacts...this is something different."
"Pidge, please" Hunk whispered, slightly freaked out.
"It's probably the work of those druids down in Redcliff creek. They sacrificed some wild animal and played with an Ouija board..." Keith said, rubbing Lance's back.
"You shouldn't have touch anything down there." Lance stated.
He couldn't take his eyes off the cellar door.
Allura turned on the electric saw and started cutting off slices of cold beef for lunch, looking out the window she could see Lance clutching his arms and walking in circles outside in the pouring rain.
Next to Allura, Coran poured himself a mug of hot coffee.
"What's he doing?" Allura asked Coran, who sipped his cup and looked outside.
"Running it out of his system. They say the cramps are so painful you want to hacks you limbs off with a chainsaw."
"I feel so bad for him.." Allura whispered softly.
Outside, Lance walked in circles around the lawn under the rain. He was barefoot but didn't even notice as he trampled over twigs and thorns. His face was twisted with agony.
Inside, Pidge took out a pocket knife from their bag and looked at the horrifying book in front of them.
Pidge tried to work the piece of leather binding the book together free, it quickly snapped off.
Pidge slowly opened the book, and outside a distance scream was heard, No one noticed it.
Pidge looked at the first page, it read: Naturom Demonto . Flipping through the pages, they found disturbing drawings and images of creatures.
"My god..." Pidge muttered, horrified.
On one page there was a demon with wings,another was the spiny backside of an animal, and another was a woman on fire...Pidge kept reading, thrilled by what might be an important academic find.
"This is unreal,Tenure, here I come."
All of the pages were filled with handwritten notes, some in different handwriting, colors, and an unknown language.
Some notes in red jumped out from the page at Pidge.
LEAVE THIS BOOK ALONE
SONO TUTTI MORTI
HE'LL SUCK YOUR SOUL DRY
DAD IS OUTSIDE AND TRIED TO KILL US...
Pidge wondered if they might be warnings from others who had come in contact with the book.
Down in the cellar, Shiro used a red box cutter to cut down the headless crows and cats hanging from the ceiling. He quickly put the tiny rotten corpses in a black trash bag.
Pidge continued to read the book, taking notes in between and attempted to translate the language, but they stopped on one page that caught their attention the most.
In the center of the page were four words that had been violently scratched out, Pidge looked at it intrigued. Next to the words were scattered notes of warning:
DON'T FUCKING SAY IT
DON'T SAY IT, DON'T WRITE IT, DON'T HEAR IT!
THEY OPEN THE DOOR TO HIM !
Pidge couldn't help but smile at all of it, "Awesome..."
Pidge grabbed some blank printing paper from the desk drawer, tore off a small piece and placed it over the scratched out words. They took a pencil and started tracing character by character to find out the words. Pidge finally got the first word and said it out loud.
"Kunda..."
Outside the sounds from the forest seemed to completely stop, Pidge read on.
"...Astratta..."
A wandering coyote was suddenly decapitated, thick red blood splashed vividly against a tree.
"...Montosse.."
In the cellar, Shiro reached up to cut down the last bird before it suddenly began to flap violently and fall down to the floor, dead once more.
"What the fuck?!" Shiro exclaimed, having jumped back once the bird had started moving.
Pidge finally uncovered the last word.
"Can'da."
Lance stopped running around in circles to vomit violently all over the grass, he fell to his knees and sobbed and wiping his face with his sleeve. He looked like death had warmed over.
"Please God, give me a break..." he begged and looked out into the forest.
By the tool shed, Charlie started barking loudly at something in the woods. Lance turned to where Charlie was growling and froze.
There between the trees a few meters away was a starving coyote, watching him. It's eyes were completely black, gold, and disturbed. It stared right at Lance, who stared right back.
The beast twitched anxiously, then a thick thread of blood dripped from its snout, too much to be real. The trees and branches next to the coyote seemed to bend and crack violently. Lance continued to look, unafraid. Just pissed.
Inside the cabin Keith was sitting on the couch listening to Hunk and Allura talk about some mundane thing he really didn't care about. His thoughts only on his hurting boyfriend, when suddenly the cabin door flew open violently. Lance entered, clearly agitated. He ran to the backroom he was staying in with Keith and grabbed his bag, throwing clothes and other junk into it.
"What are you doing?' Keith asked quietly, watching the scene unfold.
"I'm sorry, but I have to get out of here. Now."
Lance zipped his back and stomped back into the living room where Hunk and Coran were sitting.
"Oh no, slumber party isn't over yet." Hunk said, crossing his arms.
Lance laughed bitterly, "Yeah, we haven't played 'Fuck, Marry, Kill' yet huh?"
"Lance, please..." Keith whispered.
"There's something fucked up with this place! You guys all know it! You're just not telling me!" Lance accused, sneering at them all.
Allura looked in from the kitchen, and Shiro came out of the cellar just in time to hear Lance's screams. "Lance, what's going on?"
Lance finally broke down into tears, "I'm the one who decided to come here, it was my choice! So I'm the one who says it's time for me to go! And I'm telling you it's time!"
Pidge came into the room, looking shocked at the scene in front of them. Hunk gave them a look, Pidge bit their lip but nodded.
"I will go on with this, but at home. Just not here. Deal? Let's load up the cars please?" Lance whimpered, gripping his arms tightly.
Pidge swallowed heavily, "Lance, we're not taking you back."
Lance froze, and slowly turned to stare at the smaller adult.
"What?"
There was only dead silence in the room now.
"We've decided we're not driving you home..." Hunk continued nervously, "...you're gonna have to stick this out so we don't lose you again."
Lance laughed and picked up his bag, he turned to Keith.
"Babe, drive us home." Keith didn't move.
"C'mon baby, we'll have a road trip back to Flint, like when we were in high school!" Lance had begun to sound totally manic.
"Lance...I'm sorry, but maybe they're right..." Keith pleaded. Lance's face went blank and cold.
"You were supposed to here to support me. Not them."
Keith bit his lip, "I..I am baby-"
"GOD! I was so stupid...to think for once in my fucking life...I could actually count on you!" Lance screamed and yanked off a silver ring on his left hand and threw it at the chest of his stunned boyfriend.
"Lance! We're just trying to help you!" Hunk begged as Lance shoulder checked Pidge on the way to the backroom.
"Yeah, well FUCK YOU VERY MUCH!" the Cuban screamed before slamming the door shut.
Keith fell to the floor and picked up the silver ring with trembling hands, Shiro gripped his brother's shoulder tightly.
"You did the right thing..." Shiro whispered to the crying Keith.
"Did I?" he whimpered, not really believing it anymore.
Pidge stopped Hunk from going after the other, thinking Lance just needed some space, before realizing something was missing.
"Where are my car keys?"
The loud roar of an engine tipped them off.
"Oh no no no..." Coran gasped and threw open the cabin door, it was pouring now outside and the white van drove off recklessly down the muddy road.
"LANCE!"
Inside the van, Lance gunned it and saw though the rear-view mirror his friends and boyfriend running after him, he sobbed violently. Lance's face was full of anguish, he wasn't proud of what he was doing at all.
Tears rushed faster down his face and made it even harder to see through the pouring rain.
Lance screamed out his frustrations and struggled to see through the rain, when he sees the starving coyote from before in sitting in the middle of the road, it looked right at Lance and screeched like a human being.
It was too late to hit the breaks, so Lance smashed into the animal head on, he yanked the steering wheel, and the vehicle violently slid in the mud and through thick vines before crashing into a deep lake. The impact flung Lance's face against the dashboard violently and knocked him out.
When Lance came to, there was some blood on his forehead and his hands were trembling in shock. He fumbled around for the keys and tried to turn it on, it didn't work as most of the van had been submerged in lake water.
"Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!" Lance screamed hysterically, hitting the steering wheel and crying. He wanted Keith.
Lance slowly opened the van door, causing more muddy water to rush in, he gasped from the cold but shoved himself out the van, it was deeper than he had thought. The water went right up to Lance's chin, he sputtered to keep from swallowing the gross fluid.
Once reaching the shore, Lance trembled and rubbed his arms to try and get warm. A low growling noise, made him look up sharply. There was nothing around, but looking back towards the water, Lance froze seeing a muddy human figure looking at him.
Screams forced their way out of his throat as the figure began to crawl towards him. Stumbling to get to his feet, Lance quickly raced into the woods to get away from the creature. Thorns and branches cut viciously at his now exposed legs, his sweat pants had been torn off at some parts from getting caught on the thorns.
The growling noises had turned into human shrieks, those made Lance run faster. Lance raced faster and faster till his foot caught on a small rock, making him tumble right into a big black thorn bush. The lamb pendant his grandmother had given him was torn off and away from his neck.
He tried to protect his face and keep moving, but it felt like the vines were wrapping around his arms and legs, one even wrapped around his neck tightly, leaving barely any room to breath.
Lance whimpered and fought hard to get free, but the thorns dug deep into his exposed flesh until he stopped completely. Lance couldn't move at all now.
Then out of the darkness of the forest a familiar figure stepped into the Cuban's view, he froze.
It was him...but not him.
This version of him looked almost white and his hair was muddy and very dirty, it was also naked. But the worse part was it's eyes. His normal sky blue eyes were replaced with golden black ones that seemed straight from hell itself.
Lance whimpered as the double smiled and let black saliva drip down its chin and opened it's mouth wide as some black tentacle eel thing covered in thorns slipped out of it's mouth.
The black thorny tentacle slithered quickly to where Lance was bound, curling up his leg and up into the bottom of his torn sweatpants, soon reaching his boxers. Lance's eyes widened in fear at the realization and cried to scream when he felt it breach him and force its way painfully inside him completely. Lance screamed in agony and clenched his legs together. His double cackled demonically and the Cuban passed out.
Keith ran down the dirt road, calling for Lance, begging him to come back. They had found the car abandoned by the road and the driver door wide open, Lance nowhere in sight.
"LANCE! PLEASE, ANSWER ME!" Keith shouted out into the woods, then he heard it.
" AAAARRGGHAAA! " Lance's pain-filled screams filled the dead-silent air.
"LANCE!" he cried out and bolted into the direction of the screams.
Running through the marsh, Keith looked around frantically for his missing boyfriend, he stumbled right into some muck, passing an enormous dead tree.
He suddenly spotted a silhouette frozen in the fog.
"Lance?" Keith asked hesitantly.
Like a nervous animal, Lance paused there.
"What are you doing out here? Please, come on, let's go back to the cabin..." Keith begged.
Lance turned towards him, his eyes were completely black and blood was dripping from multiple cuts on his arms and legs, he looked Keith right in the eyes.
The Cuban's screams echoed throughout the whole forest.
Pidge sat deeply in a armchair in the corner of the living room, pounding their ankle against the base of it anxiously.
Shiro, at the table, punched buttons on his phone. He tossed it down moments later in frustration.
"No reception."
Coran exited Lance and Keith's room back into the living room, Hunk jumped up quickly.
"How is he?"
Coran huffed slightly, not really concerned,"He's talking about a man in the woods, and how the forest attacked him. Common strange withdrawal talk."
"I think we should take him to a hospital..." Hunk suggested anxiously.
"We might be a little in over our heads here." Shiro stated grimly, Coran glared.
"I'm giving him the same treatment he would get at a hospital, minus the cold judgment. Do you really want strangers treating your friend like some worthless junkie?"
Hunk blanched and looked down at his feet, an awkward silence issued before Shiro ventures out.
"What about the wounds on his arms and legs?"
"I pulled some thorns out. Looks like he might have ran into a thorn bush out there," Coran frowned thoughtfully, "he might have done it on purpose."
"What?" Pidge hissed, glaring at the red head.
"Pidge. He's probably going to do whatever it takes to get out of here from now on." Coran stated grimly.
They all sat quietly, thinking that over.
In their room, Keith held a shivering Lance tightly. Whispered apologies and promises floated around, neither seemed to notice the thunder booming outside. Lance's gaze was fixated on his reflection in the small mirror at the corner of the room.
"You should probably get out of these clothes hon," Keith whispered, still clutching his boyfriend close, "You wanna take a shower?"
"Keith, please. Please, please." Lance whimpered, gripping the other's shirt tightly.
"What baby, tell me please."
"You have to get me out of here. Please." Lance begged, still staring at the mirror.
Keith flinched but held the other even tighter, "No one said this was gonna be easy baby..."
"No, no. You don't understand. There was something in the woods Keith..." Lance whispered, finally looking at Keith with terror, "And it's here with us now." The other frowned.
"You mean here...in the room?" Keith asked, Lance nodded quickly.
Keith sighed heavily and slowly detached himself Lance's desperate grasp, though it tore at his heart to do so.
"I'm gonna get you something to eat and drink okay? Go take a shower and get into some clean clothes, you'll feel better in no time." Keith forced himself to step out of Lance's desperate reach and walked out the door, shutting it softly.
Lance sobbed and clawed at his arms. He could barely breath, he turned back to the mirror slowly.
It was him, but his eyes were golden black. His face was clawed apart, part of his skull was showing and his mouth was gushing blood. He stuck out his tongue, it was split in two like a lizard's.
White pages filled with random words were scattered around the book. Pidge was studying it very closely now, taking notes and transcribing passages into paper.
But a drawing catches their attention. It's a figure, with black eyes in the middle of a forest, raising its arms high. In front of it is a four legged beast watching what it does. It's eyes were also black.
"You should really throw that thing away..." came Hunk voice as he entered Pidge's room, two cups of coffee in his hands. He gave one to Pidge who thanked him and took a sip.
"You don't understand. This might be a real find. It looks like some archaic spiritism manual. I still can't even figure out what language it is..." they explained.
"I'm taking notes, maybe some guys from the school library could tell me something about it."
Hunk shook his head fondly at Pidge's curious nature, then glanced outside at Shiro working on something and sighed.
"Maybe you should put that down for a while and go talk to your best bud for a while?"
Pidge glared at their notes, "I have no idea who you're talking about."
"C'mon, don't act like that. I know you care about him."
Pidge frowned, "He's not my 'best bud' anyways, he's Matt's. You and Lance are my best buds." Hunk smiled and ruffled the other's hair, making them grumble and swat away the hand.
Hunk laughed loudly, Pidge smiled but frowned when looking outside at a working Shiro.
Translations:
"Korkma, oğlum ..." - Don't be afraid, boy...
"Kötü kitap, kötü kitabın ne yaptığını geri alabilir .." - Only the evil book can undo what the evil book has done...
"Yap..." - Do it...
"... Bu onun ruhunu kurtarmanın tek yolu." - ...It's the only way to save his soul.
"Rahmını kurtar, bedenini zaten kınadı." - Save his soul. His body is already condemned.
"Yapma! Oğlunuza huzur verin!" - Do it! Give your son peace!
