Cold, no, freezing. Adding to the sudden flurry of sensations flooding his sense, the ashen-haired boy arose from a rather damp spot. For a moment, he wondered if he was in a freezer, it wasn't until his eyes opened and he gazed around that he found himself standing in the middle of a forest. Lincoln shot up, breathing heavily, fearing that this was some illusion he cautiously glared around, searching for any sign that this was fabricated. He took a few steps in the empty forest, his steps echoed with the crunching of leaves. Without warning, memories of his fight against Carol resurfaced; the pain she inflicted came back in numbing aches. The memory of watching her twist and break his limbs for her enjoyment sent shudders across his body. But it was only when he attempted to warm himself from the cold that he noticed something, or rather, a few many things.
For one, he was taller than he remembered; either that or his eye sight needed adjusting seeing the ground farther down than it should be. And with his height came another noticeable feature; his limbs, they were stretched out, slim, as was his body. Oddly enough, the last thing he expected to find himself wearing, in the middle of the forest no less, was a tux. The sound of running water caught his attention. While he could not drink from it, he could gaze upon his reflection and determine what exactly had been done to his body.
As he approached, he felt a growing anxiety bubbling in his stomach; fear encompassed his thoughts as he could only imagine what hideous appearance his ghoul form had taken up. Peering his head over, he dared to look, and almost wished he hadn't, at a face that made him recoil in fear. He had no eyes, no mouth, no nostrils or ears. Basically, a mannequin is what he resembled, only with long, slim limbs and a clean tux. God did he resemble a certain urban legend at this point. The sounds of slithering and moist squirming brought his attention to six active appendages, each acting as if sentient, minds separated from their attached host, protruding from his back. As far as things went, Lincoln was only startled by them, but not deterred. He'd seen these, felt them actually as they tore through his back to emerge and defend their host during the skirmish with Carol.
But, by far what frightened him the most was when 'she' took over. The voice in his head, the thing haunting him, seemingly speaking through him; had taken over and fought Carol in his place. The entirety of the fight began playing out in his head, the screams, the taunting, the way in which Carol was ripped apart by the thing in his head. But he had to intervene, solely because of the way he felt upon gazing down at the witch's bloody gore; hunger. He wanted nothing more in that moment but to devour her fresh remains, sinking his teeth into her innards and devour all that she was, all that he hated. But he couldn't. Something in the back of his head kept nudging him away from such thoughts.
'pathetic.'
Lincoln's head shot every which way, only taking a few seconds for him to realize where the voice originated from, more so who it was that spoke to him. One of the tendrils shot to the front, it's length showed more prominence to the rest as a pair of teeth formed near the tip, the tip peeled, revealing a mouth of sorts, smiling at him.
"What are you?" It said nothing, but the way it slithered around; free of his control, unnerved him. Lincoln took a moment to realize what had become of his voice, he still heard himself but with it came an echo of several other voices, some of which he found eerily familiar.
The tendril's grin returned, squirming about as if displaying some form of glee. He couldn't describe it, but it almost felt as if the thing was taunting him. If it could speak he assumed it would only insult and berate him. And given a little more time perhaps he could've gotten something out of it, but as he was to speak his mind, the tendril's attention, as did the others next to it, darted to a single direction. A low guttural growl reverberated amongst one another.
Lincoln caught a quick whiff of the air around him, and indeed there was someone nearby. He bolted up from his spot, head turning every which way to assess what he would be dealing with. The smell was human, there was no mistaking it, but, there was something off about it. Or rather, he felt something lacking. As stealthily as he could the ghoul treaded through the forest, much to his relief his steps were eerily inaudible, allowing him to traverse without giving away his presence.
Growing closer to the smell, his hearing picked up on what he assumed were sniffles, small sobs, and whimpers. With the smell growing stronger, indicating how close he was getting, he kept caution in mind as he slithered behind a tree, peeking slowly to see the human. To his utter shock, he knew the human; she was crying in the middle of the forest floor, her head darted in every direction. She didn't appear to notice his presence; rather, it almost looked as if she were searching for something. Or perhaps someone?
She took a few steps north, but then she hesitated, turning to tread the south; only to hesitate again and remain in place. Lincoln shuddered, he smelled the fear in her, she was lost, and from the looks of things, she had no clue as to how to find her way home. Every instinct in his body was trembling, his tendrils were growling, not in anger; but with hunger. It made him feel sick, but it left him feeling famished. The despair and hopelessness in the atmosphere was tantalizing, and besides, she was lost in the forest; wasn't the first time someone went missing for good.
He slapped himself, regaining control as he peeked once more at the crying girl. He was tempted to walk away, there was a chance her family was around, but in the case they weren't…
In that moment, he smelled something else stalking closer; the only trait he could tell of this newcomer was the familiar scent of decay and malice; a ghoul, but he couldn't assess if it was feral. If it was the latter, Lincoln didn't even want to imagine the image that would follow. He needed to either stray the unknown away, or take the little one to safety, but therein lay a rather large problem; how was he to do that without frightening the child to death.
"A pity isn't it?"
Lincoln's senses picked up on the scent now being directly behind him, masked was the identity of this individual, but the mere sound of her voice gave her away; Carol. As Lincoln turned to face her, he noticed the blonde was in her ghoul form, stalking just as quietly as him towards behind the same tree, glancing towards the child openly crying on the ground.
"Believe it or not this happens quiet often, kids tend to hear noises, see strange things moving in the tree lines. But rather than be cautious, their curiosity gets the better of them; they wander, innocently, in search of adventure. Reality sets in not too long after, then they realize they're lost, alone, scared. So many riling emotions, all of which are enticing to a ghoul; an aroma none of us can sway from. A lost and scared child is a ripe target for a ghoul." As always, her manner of seeing humans as nothing more than food was of no surprise to Lincoln. However, the fact that this happens often was of greater concern to him. When his attention returned to the girl, he noticed movement in the trees, rustling branches, and shifting shrubs with indication of recent disturbance. "And everyone wants the reddest apple." Carol whispered, her face too close for comfort. Reacting on impulse Lincoln took a step towards the child, though, he was held back by a grinning Carol. "What do you think you're doing?" Her claws held tightly on to him, unwilling to allow him to wander off.
He tried once more to move towards the child, only for Carol to increase her grip. He heard a high pitched yelp; his attention was now fixed on the scene unfolding before him. The ghoul from the tree line jumped down to meet its prey, its form was near skeletal save for its mantis-like pincers and snapping jaw. It must've startled the little one, as her crying and whimpers had ceased, replaced with uncontrollable shaking. With each passing second it stalked closer, the little one had enough sense to back away, though; she was slowly being back unto a tree. She'd be trapped in. This ghoul behaved much like Carol did that night; teasing, stalking, and instilling fear into the heart of the victim.
"Save her if you want, but what do you think will happen if you do?" Lincoln's struggling ceased. "Stop and imagine it if you will, what will happen if you show up in front of humans with a child in your arms? She might show you gratitude…but what of the rest? Will they see you as some hero? Or a monster that needs to be put down? And the child, will she remember you as the creature that saved her, or will you be nothing more than a memory she chalks to being nothing more than a silly dream?"
Again, he could hear the ghoul growing ever closer, the fear in the air was overwhelming toxic, and he was pretty sure he felt a puddle of drool forming in his faceless mouth. How that was possible he cared nothing for at the moment, choosing to swiftly break himself from Carol's grasps and act. She said nothing more, instead opting to watch. This was by no means a test of skill; rather she smirked as the young Loud dashed in in the hopes of saving the day like one of his comic stories.
As the ghoul was about to sink its teeth into the young child, it seemingly froze in place. The little one, having shielded her eyes with her arms peered over to see the monster somewhat frozen, or rather, restrained. Tentacles gripped its body dragging it back with vigor, slamming the feral against a nearby tree.
The creature whimpered in pain, struggling to maintain balance as it snarled at the newcomer that dared interrupt its meal. Though, upon seeing the newcomer, the ghoul was a little less than intimidated to see one of its own standing upright, tentacles slithering around him, and all the while he wore a slightly dirtied human garb.
Without warning, two other ferals emerged from the thickets, each taking flanking positions. Their snarls were aimed both at Lincoln, and each other. The ghouls were by no means a pack, rather, they were lone wolf hunters, and they each saw one another as competition for the same source of food. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Lincoln's tendrils quickly scooped up the girl, a quick yelp escaped her lips as she was hoisted into the boy's grasps. This did not go unnoticed as the other ghouls now focused their attention on him, and judging by the way they were stalking towards him, they were attempting to strike at him in the hopes that they'd be able to snatch away their meal.
What made this a rather surreal moment was the fact that these ghouls were unsettlingly similar to one another in appearance. Was this what ferals became? Mindless drones, all of them losing any semblance of individuality and thought. Lincoln couldn't dwell on that thought as the first ghoul charge straight at him; it lunged with an open jaw prepped to sink its teeth into the opposing ghoul. By reflex alone, or so he assumed as he did not act on the attack, three of his tendrils shot forward, smacking the feral away with a forceful slap before colliding against the feral attempting to flank left. The two were forced against a tree, letting out a yelp before whimpering at the pain they'd been feeling from the attack.
"Ghouls are relatively thick skinned." Lincoln's head shot up, Carol was sitting comfortably on a tree branch, watching this all unfold while snacking on what Lincoln could only assume to be some forest creature she snatched up. "Against any other foe we are formidable, damn near impossible to kill. But against a fellow ghoul, our attacks yield a greater result due to our bodies being made of a damn near same genetic makeup, regardless of certain factors that should make it relatively impossible. Simply put it; against humans we might as well be tanks. But against one another…well. Oh…and heads up, honey." Her bloodied smirk gestured to his right, the feral was midway into its lunge when one of Lincoln's tendrils shot forward, grasping the ghouls by its neck.
'Dammit, focus!' The voice in his head shouted, she must've been the one to react to the attacker. Which, in this one instance, made Lincoln glad to have her on his side. With a swift motion the ghoul was tossed towards the other downed ferals. The other two wasted no time throwing their kin to the side, their attentions focused on the human child cocooned within this ghoul's tendrils.
Carol was watching everything unfold, her eyes fixed on Lincoln as she watched his rather indecent appendages slither about, a plethora indecent scenarios formed in her head. And while there was much she still needed to teach the young boy over, she wouldn't deny herself a bit of fun. Still, she was wary of the extra voice roaming in Lincoln's head. While she was by no means close to offing Carol, the blonde wouldn't deny how pushed against a corner she felt in her match against this female version of Lincoln.
From her position, she watched the three ghouls try and flank him once more, even going so far as to attempting to gnaw off his tendrils, only for the appendages to grow back at frightening speed, and his tendrils sending his opponents flying backwards once more. Carol knew Lincoln couldn't fight these three forever, he'd tire, and when he did the ferals would make every attempt to claim their prize; the human.
Of course, even the boy realized how outmatched he was. Without warning, Lincoln managed to hoist the three ghouls into the air, and toss them against several nearby trees. It wasn't the act that surprised her, but rather, the fact that when her eyes returned to Lincoln, the ashen ghoul had disappeared. She quickly caught a faint trace of his scent, as did the other three as they rose up to give chase. But before they could bolt into action, Carol raised a palm, and they froze in place.
Her eyes were fixed on the path where Lincoln escaped through. She slid down, landing in between the beasts; each quickly bowed and stood aside for the blonde. They made no attempts to attack her, and with every movement she made, they awaited her call. Carol raised a single palm up, causing the small group to once again freeze in place. With an uninterested expression, she waved her hand, the group dispersed almost immediately as they had been called. To where they went she cared nothing for, the only thing that mattered to her was their obedience. As she walked towards a small clearing, the faint sound of rustling branches caught her attention. She gave whatever emerged from the thickets a half-hearted peek. She watched as a classmate, a jock she knew of, stumbled out of the bushes. His cloths were tattered, dirtied, and his constant grumbling was heard from where she stood. He had a colorful vocabulary, at some point she had to keep herself composed when he mumbled to himself about meeting a certain someone deep in the forest.
She stood in place, watched as he dusted himself off before realizing there was a blonde staring at him in the middle of a small clearing, the fresh blood dripping from her mouth and the dead creature still in her grasps. The look on that teen's face was…boring, she'd seen the horrified and the confused before, it meant little to her now. Although, it wasn't the expressions on these human's faces that got her riled up.
"C-carol?" He stuttered, seeing his classmate with the half eaten corpse of a forest creature held firmly in her hand. All the while she was staring at him with lifeless crimson orbs, and from the look of it she was actually chewing faintly on what could possibly be a chunk of the flesh, if the unnerving crunch sounds were of any indication. "What the hell…" He began backing away, his feet treading cautiously as his hairs stood on end with the sound of rustling leaves above him.
With a small wave of her hand, there was a sudden pounce from the treelines, following the sudden yelp was a screech of unbridled terror, mixed in with the tearing of flesh. The bloodcurdling scream ended too quickly for her liking, but nonetheless, she relished in every second of it. When she peered over to where her ghouls were ravaging their kill, she could no longer discern any feature that would've given hint that the prey was ever human; only a bloodied and torn jacket remained. The kill was a quick and, from how she trained these ferals; excruciatingly painful death for whatever she deemed a target for them. The only issue was how quickly they finished off their target; preferably the human's screams would've lasted longer. Though, given that their first meal was denied to them, the quick consumption of the jock was to be expected.
She couldn't care less for these fools for wandering so far into the forest, and she wouldn't pass up a fresh meal for the hungry. Humans were abundant after all, what's one less in the world?
Leaving these three to their meal, Carol paced calmly down the trail Lincoln escaped through, still munching on the critter's carcass as she traversed the forest.
Meanwhile, having swung through the tree lines thanks to the added assistance of his tendrils, Lincoln was able to get a good distance away, stopping only once he reached a river. Surprisingly, he found himself in no way short of breath despite the mad dash he made to escape. He would've relished the added stamina that came with his new form, however, what broke the moment of appreciation for his ghoulish abilities; his tendrils were trembling. Not on their own accord, though. Rather, when unraveling, Lincoln could hear the barely hushed sobbing of the young child he managed to save from the ferals. She was shaking violently in his grasp, her eyes shut tightly, refusing to even peek when she was placed on a boulder by the water.
Lincoln said nothing, he didn't know what to say; this child was scared out of her mind, what could he say to calm her down when he vaguely resembled the very things that attacked her?
Knowing he needed to get her back to civilization, and quickly if he was going to avoid another run-in with the ferals; he needed as much information from her as he could get. Very softly, he spoke, the eerie echo mixed with gargling following with each sound he made.
"Hey…" She flinched. He almost felt guilty. "Kid…" She didn't respond, choosing instead to keep her head low. Lincoln knew it would take time for her to adjust and slowly attempt to trust him, but right now they were on a time limit, and Carol would not give him a second chance to attempt a rescue. "Darcy." He called her by name. A mistake, probably, but he needed her attention at its fullest.
Slowly, she raised her head up, her eyes still filled with fear, and tears streaming down her cheeks. However, upon locking eyes with him, one could detect a faint sense of curiosity. He knew the girl, he'd seen her a couple times with his younger sister, though, he'd never actually spoken to her much before.
"I need you to tell me if you remember how you came to this part of the forest." he spoke as gently as he could; a sign of relief was seeing her fear slowly subside.
"How do you know my name?" She asked, timidly.
"I hear and see many things in this forest; secrets, memories…and I have seen you many times." Truth be told, that wasn't much of a lie. Although, if only seen as a small technicality.
Darcy looked at him with owlish eyes before her head drooped down. "I want my mommy." She mumbled, making Lincoln realize how eerie his words were to the child.
"And I will take you to her. But first, I need you to tell me if you remember how you got here." His words did little to ease her, and when she shook her head it made the situation all the more difficult.
"I don't remember. I saw a nice lady and she told me there was something cool she wanted to show me." Nice lady? "I see her a lot when my sister brings her over." So, a friend of her sister's? Maybe another ghoul by chance? If that was the case, he already had a good guess as to who it was. "I followed her…but she was too fast for me…" She started sniffling; remember how she came to find herself lost in the forest. "I got lost; I called for help but no one answered…and then those things…"
She didn't need to finish, it was short and simple, but it got the message across.
"Hmm, alright." He rose up, took a quick glance around, hoping to spot something, anything really, that would give him an idea as to where to take this girl. As he shifted, her head rose up; watching him extend into the sky, proving her savior was almost as tall as the trees around him, at least from her point of view. "There has to be a way to figure out where to take you…" He mumbled, his tendrils copied his motions; each glancing every which way, taking whiffs of the air to find some form of bearings. One stopped mid sniff, the others followed suit as their attention faced south. Lincoln's head turned to the south. The scent gave away an approaching newcomer, as the rustling bushes were a clear indication. He could hear and smell them, though, it was faint. That meant this newcomer was still a ways away.
Still, there was something about their smell that left him with mixed feelings; it was a human. Just from the smell alone he couldn't tell whether this human would someone he could leave the girl with, or perhaps an unsavory type whom would only cause more harm than good. It was a wild card, but it had better odds than leaving her with a ghoul, that much was certain.
Believing himself to have more time before this human reached their location, Lincoln turned back to the girl. "There's someone coming this way, hopefully they will help you out of the forest." He commented, glancing up to the trees and hoping they'd be thick enough to hide him enough to keep an eye on the two as they traverse the forest, the last thing he needed was Carol or one of the ferals sneaking up on them. The sounds of rustling bushes forced his head to snap towards the noise; once again, he knew this human. Of all of the people that had to stumble into the forest, at this very moment, at this exact location; if there was a god, then he was tormenting the boy on so many levels.
The reactions this newcomer showed were exactly what he expected, she gazed at him with widened eyes, rubbing them ferociously before attempting to glance back. When the faceless figure was indeed real and not some figment of her imagination; she did what most would. She fainted, falling backwards unto the shrubs she emerged from.
The two by the river looked at the teen's body unceremoniously strewn over the leaves with no words to describe this. Of course, the fact that she was closer rather than far, according to his senses, meant something was off with him. Either his ghoul senses were failing him, or something was tampering with his awareness.
"Jackie?" His attention was caught by the young girl hopping down from boulder and crossing the shallow river to reach the unconscious teen.
Lincoln followed, cautiously, if his sense didn't pick up on how close she was to begin with, then it was possible there were more humans around he didn't pick up on. Keeping his distance, he watched as Darcy leaned over, getting a better view at the high schooler. "You know her?"
She nodded, her eyes bulging at the realization that the creature that saved her was still present; and the teen in front of her had seen it too. She glanced back to the creature, her body still shaking upon seeing it still rather close to her. It bent over, seemingly examining the unconscious girl as well.
For Lincoln, this was another hindrance in his attempt to take the girl to safety, mostly due to the fact that there was now a possible group of humans searching for Darcy, and it gave Carol more viable subjects for her experimentations. Or, and worst case scenario; the ferals would have a field day with the live game for them to hunt. But then, that also raised another alarming issue; the forest was silent. Save for the passing wind and flowing streams, Lincoln couldn't smell wildlife. He caught whiffs of birds and rodents in the trees, but they were eerily silent.
The vegetation had grown exponentially, to the point that he felt if he left these two humans to wander; they'd be lost a mere few seconds after venturing into the thickets.
'Incoming! Behind you!'
Lincoln acted, shielding Darcy as he felt a wave of heat splash across his back, earning a painful snarl from the ghoul. After assuring the young girl was fine, or rather, that she wasn't too hurt, he turned to face his attacker. What he saw was of no surprise, but rather, he hated the ever so smug grin she sported as she approached him.
"Hello love…" The blood smears around her mouth were of little care to him; but he could hear the whimpering coming from the little girl as she, surprisingly, clung to him tighter. "How did it feel to play the hero? Did you have fun? Good." He recognized that tone, she was getting antsy; his defiance was unnerving to her, and the fact that he'd go out of his way to save a human rather than obey her greatly irritated the mimic ghoul. "Now, I think we've had enough of this…" Carol outstretched her arm. "Give her to me."
Lincoln could smell the fear from Darcy, she tried hiding behind him, dong anything to avoid being under Carol's gaze.
"Now." She lightly snarled, all of which with her usual grin.
"Why?" Lincoln kept a hand on Darcy, hoping to reassure her as he took a few steps back. His tendrils slithered over to the passed out teen, slowly enveloping her into their grasps as Carol's focus was solely on Lincoln.
She pointed towards the young girl. "She's seen too much, she cannot be allowed to leave this forest." Her voice deepened, a hissing snarl escaped alongside her demand as she inched ever forward.
'She won't say anything." Lincoln argued, his tendrils hissing at Carol as she continued forward. "And even if she did do you really think people will believe the stories of a child?"
"It doesn't matter." Carol stopped, a mere few feet from the boy. "All it takes is one. It doesn't matter if its truth, a lie, or rumor…in the absence of evidence humans will believe what they want to believe. Imagination will take hold; they will create their own theories of what our presence means. Some will say we are from only the beginning of the end; a holy war of heaven and hell with us as the spark. Others will attempt to explain it logically; via a virus, an otherworldly cause, or that we are a dormant species awoken from the constant meddling of humanity's destruction of the planet." Carol's grin lost its hostility, replaced by a moment of both irritation and genuine giddiness. "But the truth won't matter, nor will the lies. Because the only thing stronger than fear; is curiosity. They will come in droves; parties of all kind will wander the Royal Woods forest in search of these strange beings. And when the death tolls start to rise; our existence as nothing more than a child's tall tale will come into question. Our people will be discovered eventually, and genocide will follow. Mark my words, love."
That was not what he expected, by far. Lincoln expected Carol to make some outlandish claim that the humans are better served as food for the ever growing ghouls. But, even she, despite her obvious disdain for humanity, saw the prospect of war between a species of enhanced supernatural creatures that ranged in the low hundreds against a species in the billions would indeed be a one-sided war. Granted, given the unique abilities of ghouls, Lincoln was sure if such a war ever occurred, the ghouls would deal a great blow before being killed off.
But then, something sparked in his head from Carol's speech; parties will wander the Royal Woods forest. They were in Royal Woods, meaning home was closer than he expected. Granted, Darcy's presence kind of gave that away, but now it was confirmed. Not allowing Carol a chance to continue talking, or attempt to catch up to him, Lincoln hoisted Darcy into his arms, pulling his tendrils close to him with the teen wrapped firmly in place, and dove back into the forest.
All the while Carol remained in place, showing no attempt to give chase; she didn't need to. She knew exactly what she said to her ghoul, and she knew for a fact he'd use that to quickly find a way out of the forest. She didn't deliver that speech for no reason either, it wasn't aimed at the child; she probably wouldn't even remember it come the following morning. No, it was meant for Lincoln, and as soon as he realized it, the teen that had regained conscious but remained limp and silent. It surprised Carol that Lincoln hadn't noticed, she did, and it took all her will power not to show her face to the girl, given that the two attended the same school.
She could only speculate, and it was a small stretch; the second voice had something to do with Lincoln's senses being tampered with. Carol smiled, realizing this little anomaly was surprising her with twists around every corner, and she was absolutely giddy over it.
Once she couldn't catch Lincoln's scent, she decided to play out the next phase of her plan. One was to see whether or not Lincoln could actually hold his own against another ghoul, to test out his abilities and determine whether or nor her theory was correct, and the next batch of ghouls would be similar to Lincoln. The second phase was simply to force the boy's hand. With this test she would throw at him, there would only be one end to it, and damned if Lincoln was going to go soft on her at any given point. As she'd done before; Carol raised her palm. However, rather than three, only a single ghoul emerged from the thickets.
Its height was around the same as Lincoln's ghoul form; however, this creature was bulkier in its anatomy. Stitches adorned its body as it slumped forward, walking on its arms and hooves, its upper chest and shoulders were shrouded in thick dark brown fur, with a furless pale-like abdomen. Adorned atop its head was the skull of a deer, piercing yellow orbs broke through the eye sockets as the creature stopped at Carol's side.
This thing was no pinnacle of creation, nor was it her magnum opus. But she wouldn't deny it to be her favorite achievement. It was strong, intimidating, ruthless, sadistic, and most importantly; it was obedient. Among other things, this ghoul was not feral, but it wasn't sentient either. At least, not in the way she and Lincoln were. Something occurred with this one's reformation stage, its body progressed at an accelerated rate, but his mind regressed. And now, what she was left with was a creature with less than half a brain, a near indestructible body, a kink for torturing its victims before slowly killing them, and unwavering obedience to her. It should've been a dream to have such a thing in her possession, but Carol wouldn't deny that she found something lacking in this creation. Something she had hoped to find in Lincoln. She gave it a half-hearted glance, it would understand her orders, it retained that much of consciousness at least. "The ghoul is not to be killed." It snarled, quietly. "The child is to be left alone." It growled, clearly annoyed by her reluctance to allow it to have its fun. "But anything else…" Her grin returned. "Is yours." Needing no further orders, the creature growled just a bit louder before charging into the same direction Lincoln ran in.
Carol watched as its silhouette disappeared among the green. She walked calmly forward, following their trail. She intended to see how this all played out, but she was not heartless either, regardless of what others claimed. She had released another one of the ghouls she had in her possession to aid Lincoln. However, whether or not she'd be useful was still to be seen. And, of course, whether or not Lincoln would be able to control her should the inevitable arise.
Ok, let me start off by saying this update is long overdue, and I mean that in the way that I had planned to publish this a while back, but had to hold back on it cause I didn't like how I wrote it, and none of my rewrites satisfied me. And believe me the original chapter that I completed was way darker than what I settled on. Helluva lot more gory than what this chapter had. That, and I wanted to extend lost in the forest story. I realized I was rushing way too fast with the story so this will take, not too long, but enough to add a small arc to my story. Keep in mind guys this was a co-written story before I had to take full reigns. So, updates will be a little slow, but I will add as much as I can to them to keep you guys on your toes. With that said, I'm here is not dead, and I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter.
Also, for the ghouls in this chapter, specifically the three ferals; I had the Flood from Halo in mind when I wrote them. I was playing Halo 2, reliving some childhood memories, and as I was playing the levels with the flood involved I listened to the noises they make and I thought to myself; damn…these still creep the hell out of me….I think you all know what default sounds I gave the ghouls in this story. To make it easier, it's more along the lines of Flood horde/ Gravemind scream. Have fun with that! (And this is not the end of them, they shall comeback later on)
The big one though, at the end, has no scream, just deep guttural grunts and snarls…like flood tanks…