Chapter Four

I woke up feeling cold and sore. I half expected to be back in my bed, but the hard ground underneath me told otherwise. I groaned and shifted painfully to get off the sharp rock jabbing into my side. I opened my eyes, blinking many times as I strained to see through the inky darkness. Somehow we had been transported underground and the only source of light was tiny orbs of light that were suspended in the air. There was a large shallow pool nearby and from the ceiling hung many rock formations that hung down. It looked like some bizarre world out of a fantasy novel. But where were Sam and Tucker?

"Sam? Tucker?" I called out their names, but the only thing that replied was a deafening roar that made the icicle shaped rock formations on the ceiling of the cave start to tremble and ripples in the pool to appear.

My breath began to quicken and I clutched my pistol nervously, preparing for the worst. No more than two seconds later, the wall behind me shattered as another roar shook the cave and I went flying forward, smashing to the cave floor. I immediately got to my feet and swung around to see what exactly came through the wall.

It was a monstrous creature that I never could have come up in my wildest dreams. It was large and dragon like with spikes covering almost every inch of its lithe ebony body. It had dozens of thick white teeth dripping over its lower jaw like a sabre-tooth tiger and its eyes flared fire. Standing on two legs, I was sure that its head could easily touch the roof of the cave. It was then that a noticed, embedded between its two eyes, was a small silver orb.

That was Penny's soul and this, standing in front of me, was the Pravus.

Before I could shoot, the Pravus swung its spiked tail and I yelped as I leapt behind a boulder. The tail and the rock collided with such a force that the rock split in two and I was showered with tiny pieces of shattered rock.

The Pravus roared with rage at the fact that it had missed its target and I charged out, managing to shoot it in the leg before diving behind another rock. The bullet wounded the creature, creating a deep wound on its leg that spurted crimson blood. But it had learned its lesson before and instead of smashing the rock, the Pravus climbed over the boulder and before I could run, it picked me up with its wounded leg before slamming me back down to the cave floor. I coughed and gasped for breath as it knocked the wind out of me. I tried to squirm away, but I was trapped between two of its massive talons and its blood was running down on to me. It had a terrible stench like rotting flesh and I had to crane my neck to make sure it didn't run into my mouth. The Pravus lowered its head so it was inches from my face and opened its mouth slightly. I knew the end was near, but I struggled anyways, letting out a cry of frustration as the creature held me tight.

Suddenly, its grip loosened and I craned my neck to see Tucker behind the massive creature shooting repeatedly, creating several bullet holes deep in the Pravus' side. The Pravus screeched in agony and whirled on him, releasing me from its talons. Sam appeared behind me and helped me to my feet. I glanced at her silently and she nodded before we both charged, guns out, ready to defend our friend.

The battle between us four raged on for what seemed like an eternity. Each of us had suffered multiple lacerations and were at our last scraps of strength. Even the Pravus was beginning to let up. Its scaly skin was torn in several places and blood pooled all around it, but it wouldn't give up and I knew it wouldn't stop until it was dead.

I don't know what happened next, whether something just clicked inside my head or I was chasing after a crazy theory, but I suddenly felt like I knew what I had to do.

"Sam! Tucker! Distract it!" I screamed at them.

They seemed to understand as they drew the attention away from me long enough for me to scramble up a tall enough ledge to get a good aim at the Pravus. I didn't need to wait even fifteen seconds before I got a good shot. Whatever happened, I hoped that this would work.

The Pravus figured out that only two people were battling it and it sensed my presence behind it. Before it could react, I ran off the ledge with a cry and landed on the Pravus' snout. At the same time, I aimed my gun and shot it straight at the silver orb between its eyes.

A brilliant white light erupted through the entire cavern and the Pravus began whirling about, thrashing its head from side to side as it screamed in pain. A heartbeat later, the soul exploded beneath me and I went flying into the light. I don't know how long I was falling for, but it was broken by water. It flooded my nose, my ears, and my mouth and made it impossible to open my eyes. All air that had been in my lungs had been knocked out when I hit the water, but I couldn't figure out which way was up in order to get a breath. As I sank lower and lower, I knew there was no hope. This was it. This was the end.

Please let Sam and Tucker be safe.

And with that last thought, the bright light faded away and darkness washed over.

I didn't expect to wake up, but I did and it was to the noise of dripping water. I felt cold and sore, but that wasn't any surprise. What did surprise me though was what greeted me when I opened my eyes.

Ten meters away at the most, in the all black room, was a pool of light coming from the floor as there was no other source. Two figures in black cloaks were standing in it, each on the opposite ends of what looked to be a small stone pool of water.

I got to my feet, walking hesitantly over to where they were standing.

"H-hello?" my voice came out as a whimper.

The figures instantly turned their attention to me, their heads snapping immediately in my direction as I spoke. I froze in place as I instantly recognized them. It was Sam and Tucker, but instead of their normal, friendly faces, their features were surrounded by shadow, making them look dark and sinister. As I walked forward when they beckoned me with their hands, I noticed that their eyes were lined with thick black eye liner and it was only when I looked down at myself that I realized I was wearing the exact same black cloak.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

"We succeeded," Tucker replied, her voice hardly carrying any emotion.

"At the cost of our own souls," Sam added, equally as ominous.

Then they turned away from me and looked into the basin of water that was before them. I joined them and looked into the crystal clear water. What I saw nearly stopped my heart. Their reflections were disfigured, their eyes completely black and their skin looking sunken and lifeless. Only I looked the same and I reached up and touched my cheek. It felt warm and soft like it normally did, not at all like them.

"You mean…you're dead?" I whispered.

"This is how we'll live," Tucker murmured, his gun flashing to his hand.

"For all eternity." Sam glanced over her shoulder and I followed her gaze to see more hooded figures coming to join us. None of their faces were recognizable as they were all shrouded, but a sinking feeling began to form in my stomach.

"Who are they?" I asked, my voice shaking, but my friends ignored me and continued to carry on with their speech.

"We are now the undead," Tucker continued.

"Neither living, nor dead," Sam said, taking a step towards one of the beings that was sauntering over to us.

"And here we'll stay."

"To rule over this place."

"Creatures of the night."

"Stealing souls and taking prisoners."

I began to back up, my hands shaking as I started to feel claustrophobic. There were now twenty figures walking towards us, each of them darker than the last. I backed up into something and felt it grab me, one cold arm around my waist and the other around my chest constricting my arms.

"You'll be one of us," the figure whispered as I helplessly struggled. "Soon."

"No, please! Stop! Let me go!" I screamed.

Sam ad Tucker's faces snapped towards me and the figures reverted their attention over to where I was.

"Those who are not like us…" Sam whispered.

"Do not belong here," Tucker growled.

"They must either accept their fate…"

"Or be killed."

"Because by definition, if you're not with us…"

"You're against us."

Tucker snapped his gun in half effortlessly and it clattered to the ground.

A chorus of eerie laughter filled the cave and the figure tightened its grip on me. "One of us…" they whispered close to my ear and I whimpered as I felt the slow drag of a tongue come into contact with my neck. A fiery pain seared through me a moment later, followed by my body going completely numb like how when Penny had cured my snake bite wound. Then the figure dropped my body and I crashed to the cave floor in front of the hooded figures.

"Have at him," Sam commanded and with a screech, they were upon me and the world faded from view.

Ghosts. Are they real? Do they even exist or are they just made-up being used in Hollywood to scare people? Personally, I was never one to believe in ghosts myself. That is…until I became one myself.