Creatures from a video game,
From the broken screen they came,
Wrecked and set our world aflame,
Forever shall they roam untamed.
The hazy glow of the warm sunset painted the blank canvas that was the sky with its slowly undulating hues of red, ochre, and purple. The air was clean and fresh, and smelled faintly of grass and rain. Summer was just around the corner, so Mother Nature squeezed the last remaining droplets of rain that day to make way for the dry season. In a month, spring would be over. In a month, they would all graduate.
In a month, anything can happen.
Tyler was on his way home from college, tired from all the work he'd missed the days before, when a low whisper tickled his neck. "Turn around."
Startled, he spun around to come face-to-face with a certain someone he knew so very well. "Desmond! Goodness, don't do that."
"Can't help it. It's fun." The drummer stretched his arms and yawned. "Whatcha doing here?"
"This is the route I take going home."
"Eh? It is? It's mine, too! And Craig's, too. Too too too." He flashed a huge grin. "Do-doo-doo! HuskyMudkipz!"
"What reason do you have for following me?" asked Tyler, ignoring his friend's randomness.
"Craig didn't want to use his car anymore. Probably 'cause of last night. And hey, it takes some dying to feel alive, right?"
The bespectacled male was somewhat rendered speechless. He had no counter to that statement.
"Anyway," said Desmond, slumping an arm around Tyler's shoulders, "let's go. Craig's out with his girlfriend tonight, so it'll just be me and you. Bros, right?"
It was hard to fight back a smile. "Bros."
The dense overhang of verdant leaves cast eerie shadows upon the ground, dancing soundlessly to the rustling of the trees in the chilly wind. Beyond the two college students stretched a long road of untouched land, long since forgotten like the mosses crawling on the bark of the trees. The moon, in its delicate crescent shape, stripped itself of its clouds and now hung proudly in the deep navy sky. Whispers blown by the wind tickled their ears, gliding through holes and cracks in the rocks, vaguely mimicking the hooting of a tired owl.
"Are you sure we're supposed to go this way?" asked Tyler, wrapping the scarf tighter around his neck. The strangulation marks had mostly faded, leaving faint bruises in their wake. "I've never been on this path before."
"Silly Tyler, that's what makes it fun!" chirped the drummer, hopping a little in his step and making his spiky, pale blond hair jump with him. "Don't worry, I've been here before. Not at night, though, but I have been here before. I swear!"
"Are you absolutely certain we are not lost? I have a feeling we are miles from where we should be-"
"Loosen up a little, will ya?" Desmond took notice of a little pebble and started kicking it around as they hiked through the lush vegetation. He came to an abrupt halt when his head cocked to one side, ears not hearing, but listening. "Shh. Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" replied Tyler, who didn't want any of his friend's attempts to scare him. But there was something stern, something serious about the drummer's voice that indicated he was perhaps not joking.
"Shush, man." A pause. "What the hell is that sound? It's like... clacking... rocks...? Hmm."
As they stood there in eerie silence, the rattling noise grew louder and louder, almost to the point that whatever was making the clattering was just hiding in the bushes.
The bassist, exasperated and very much disconcerted, heaved and said, "Oh, for God's sake, Desmond! Stop fooling around-"
It was quick, that weapon. A shaft made of the sturdiest wood, and the head, so sharp and carved into the most precise v-shape; the entire body was structured in an almost-perfect straight line. At the tail end was the feather - "fletchling," as professionals called it - which tickled Desmond's outer ear when it nearly shot straight through the entire thing. He was at a loss for words; blood dripped from where the arrow had grazed it, staining his grey jacket.
The rattling had stopped. The winds stopped. Even the once steady breathing of the two students stopped.
Tyler was the first to speak up. "What-"
"Duck!"
His body immediately met the ground when Desmond pushed him to the side. Pain shot up his torso - curses for being so frail! - and atop him the drummer scrambled to get off him. Finally they had gotten up from the ground, and Tyler didn't looked happy one bit. "Desmond-"
"Run!" came the frantic reply.
Desmond wasted no time running from... what exactly? Baffled by his friend's behavior, Tyler stared at the darkness by the thick tree trunks, only to be stared back by two glowing red pupils hidden behind one of the shrubs. Slowly, ever-so slowly, a pale white object emerged from the cloak of darkness, except it wasn't just an ordinary object - it was a skull. And with its sharp crimson gaze, it stared back at Tyler.
He saw its skeletal hand pull the string of the bow back, to shoot another arrow at its target - none other than him. Had Desmond not called his name again, urging him to run towards the end of the forest trail, the bassist might not have moved a muscle and dodged yet another arrow shot by the skeleton.
Run, he encouraged himself. Run. Find Desmond, find the exit. Just run.
And run he did, quite swiftly for his pathetically wimpy body. The blonde awaited him at the end of the path, waving his arm and coaxing Tyler to sprint as fast as he could. Only when he reached the exit did he finally stop to breathe.
"Did you... did you see what I saw?" said Tyler, gasping for air like a fish on dry land..
Desmond did not reply; he was preoccupied with touching his wounded ear, the same one the arrow had pierced. "My ear... it's bleeding."
As the bassist leaned in closer, he noticed that it was, indeed, dripping blood. "Why... is it bleeding?"
"Because of that son of a fuck!" He shifted from shocked to furious in seconds. That was enough to scare Tyler, maybe even more than the skeleton did. "That fuckin' arrow flying by like it was some bullet or something, and that bitch thought it was funny, oh I bet he did!" On and on did he ramble about the mob.
However, Tyler took no notice of his friend's sudden outburst; he was too caught up in his own thoughts and came to a grim conclusion.
Monsters spawn in dark places. Nobody is safe at night anymore.
"Dude," said Desmond, finally having calmed down from his explosive rant, "let's just go home. No way am I ever gonna go through here again."
It was almost 8 in the evening when the duo realized that they should part ways.
"My place is this way," stated the drummer, pointing towards a path lined with several street lamps. They made the trail appear safer somehow. "So, uh, see you?"
"Will you be alright? Your ear-"
"My ear's fine, dude." Desmond let out a hearty laugh. "It stopped bleeding already. What I'm worried about is you. Will you be safe?"
That, Tyler could not answer.
"Well, y'know, I can walk you all the way home-"
"No, no, it's fine," replied the bassist. He could not stand the thought of putting his friends at risk. Then again, what made him think the mobs were following just him? It would be arrogant to think so. Haven't other people been reported dead or missing? Or was he just destined to die at the hands of monsters, who were once thought to be fictional? Either way, he did not want to lose Desmond or Craig or anybody else in the same manner. It would break his heart.
The drummer huffed. "If you say so. Just don't... y'know... die. Because seriously, that would suck balls."
"Don't tempt fate, Desmond."
"I won't."
Having their farewells said, the pair went off in their own direction, each of them worried about the other's welfare. It was natural to feel that way, wasn't it? Two friends, who had just brushed past Death, concerned with each other's safety. But they trusted destiny enough to not let them die that night.
Maybe destiny was saving it for another time.
A/N: You know you've been slacking off when you can't even follow your own 2K word rule.
I'm sorry for the slow update. I really am! I just couldn't find time nor energy to continue this. Don't think that I've abandoned this, because I hate leaving things unfinished. School is just... bleh. In a year or two, I'll be graduating. Stress is my best friend now.
...I wonder if you guys still even bother to check for updates ;u;
Reviews of all sorts are always appreciated!