Chapter 38: Next Ten Please
"One little, two, little three little humans..."
"Four little, five, little six little humans..."
"Seven, little eight, little nine, little humans..."
"Ten little humans run around~"
The road was filled with thorny vines covered with fresh blood. The pungent smell of dead bodies lingers around the hellish pathway. Behind them, undead chasing them mercilessly to the end without any sign of slowing down.
The thorn brutally spiked through the bones of every single part of the body that made contact. But the torturous pain was nothing when compared to getting eaten alive by the gruesome undead.
One fell down, unable losing so much blood while running. He panted desperately seeking for help but everyone was running for their lives. Not even a single glance back. An undead jumped on him and biting every piece of meat on his body.
He wanted to scream but the pain was unbearable that he passed away without a single word. Only the expression of despair left on his dark face.
Later on his eyes, glimmers with dark light and what was once a dead body, risen again becoming a part of the chasing undead. The other nine faces were horrified with the scene.
One unable to bear and started to puke. Without the chance of being able to recover herself, two undead grabbed each of her arms, trying to take her for themselves. They ended up splitting her apart into two.
Eight left and they were still running relentlessly with blood covered feet. Their clothes were torn apart revealing their skins full of scars. There were so many cuts and wounds until the point that there were no more spaces for a new injury. The thorns cuts on top of their old wounds, intensifying the pain.
As times goes by, more than half weren't able to run anymore and left their lives to fate.
Three left running...
Thinking that dying was a blessing when compared to this feeling another slitted his own throat.
Two left...a man and a woman, hiding between the vines...
"Do you think we can live?"
"No one knows until we try..."
"We always been together since we were a kid...thank you for always being kind to me...and...if we survive this... let's get married!"
The woman blushed after blurted out her confession, waving her arms up and down. The man was shocked and only replied with a deep silence.
"I guess you don't want someone like me as a wife..."
"No... it's not that... it's just..."
Suddenly, several hands appeared between the vines and grabbed the woman from behind.
The woman cried pleading for help as the undead bit her to the bone. The man gave her a single glance and ran away.
"Who wants to marry an ugly girl like you?"
Angered, the woman tried to struggle herself out while raging in despair. She forced herself out without caring what happened to her body. She spat out blood screaming in anguish!
"I gave you my everything you bastard! I.. I gave... ughh.. every... ughh..."
Her eyes turned bloodshot. Her limbs that were caught torn apart from her body. Although she seems alive, there was only the scent of dead coming out from her body.
"M-m-monster!"
From ten, only one left running for his lives. It only took five minutes for nine of them to get eaten to death and raised again becoming undead. But the short five minutes was the longest moment for this one person who was struggling to get away.
His body all worn out. It looked like he's been running for days without eating or sleeping. His feet were covered with the colour of red. Every step he took, stains of blood would be left on the ground. He gritted his teeth and continue as tears continue to drop thinking about the death of his comrades... and the fate that brought him here...
It all began after they killed the little sister, Delilah.
The entire world suddenly enveloped with a painful screaming voice that could make you pull your hairs out. The voice sounded like hundreds of people were brutally tortured at the same time.
A huge density of mana exploded from Delilah, shooting towards her big sister, Eliza.
He can't forget how much his mana sense was reacting to the mana surrounding Eliza. Although he had years of experience as a mana user, he never sensed the powerful aura that comes out from Eliza's mana. It was sinister... and dark.
Dark to the point that there seems to be nothing could be sensed from it. No feeling, no emotions. Void from anything that existed in this world. The darkness swallowed her whole changing her entire body into a living skeleton. Even so, she could be distinguished because she still had the clothes she worn.
That time he looked toward Eliza, and Eliza was looking directly deep into his soul... looking at him with her empty eyes socket.
And it wasn't him alone. Everyone who was present had the sensation of Eliza looking directly at them at the same time. It feels like there was hundreds of Eliza yet there was only one. While locking their eyesight, she grinned sweetly and yet... it was horrifying for those who were there.
She laughed...and he could hear a multitude of laughter coming out from nowhere...
It seems to be Eliza who was laughing, but the voice seems to come in every direction. No matter how much he tried to concentrate and focus on his mana sense, he could not pinpoint the source of that several laughter.
The longer he heard the laughing voice the more anxious he became. His body felt heavy as if some kind of burden was put down on his shoulder. He was worn out and exhausted so suddenly that he might faint anytime. Within his heart, a feeling of guilt, regret, despair, and various kinds of negative emotion swelling up. He wanted to throw up.
Then, from his friends to his family, everyone he knew started to attack each other. Biting each off as if they were doing an act of cannibalism. He was fully in awe watching the gruesome scene happening in front of him. Blood spurting, organs hanging, limbs were flying all over the place. It feels like a festival of blood. A great massacre.
Without a moment of notice, the ground shook, and hundreds of hands come out from the ground taking hold of the villagers who came for the execution. Sounds of laughter then reverberate intensely as the ground below shook and started to split apart.
From there...
dead bodies rose up, trying to drag him and along with other villagers to the deep abyss. Except for Eliza.
Just by a single look, everyone could see that she was the centre of it all. Commanding all the undead that was coming out from the ground.
He didn't get the chance to analyse anything and already he was the verge of dying. Or so he thought...
Eliza brought the few survivors and gather them with the other villagers. She locked everyone within a dense domain of death. Every second feels like a week has passed. Unable to get out of the domain, people were enraged and becoming more anxious. Some unable to bear with the despair of the neverending nightmare and killed themselves. Slit their wrist and throat, hang themselves to death.
Eliza laughed observing the whole scene. She took a long paused before she finally decided to play a little game. She flicked her finger and thorny vines started to grow excessively, covering huge kilometres of area.
"Listen well, I'm going to give you a chance to live"
"Who would want to hear you, you cursed-"
The man who tried to retaliate turned into a blob of meats.
"I didn't tell you to get to choose. I'm telling you that you could live. What a disgusting bastard?!"
Other villagers stayed away and didn't even put an eye towards the blob of meat.
"Each time, I'll let ten of you try to run away from my precious undead. If you are able to reach the end of the vines then you will live. Simple right? So who would be the first ten?"
Most of the elderly only left their lives to fates but younger felt like it's unfair to end their life like this.
A girl comes up to him, and hold his hand, smiling.
"We are going to survive"
He nodded, and the next thing he knew was that he was left alone running, betraying her. Unable to hold his emotions, he cried while running. But all of that was pushed away when he finally saw the end of the thorny vines.
He glanced back checking the undead who was chasing him. He smiled and wiped the remaining tears from his cheek. He was worn out, his muscles was screaming of agony having being push to the limits for long hours.
One leg out. He couldn't hold his nervousness. He was in front of the door, but somehow everything moves slowly as if the time has froze. There was no reason for him to fail, but somehow he had the bad feeling that within this split of a second something might happen.
Then, he trips from one of the vines with his face fell flat on the ground.
'Shoot' He cursed in his heart thinking how stupid he was.
Losing all his hope, he just laughed and continued to lay there for a few minutes. And that when he realized, the ground was flat. He rolled his body around and saw the vast land covered by the thorny vines with the smell of blood lingering.
"I didn't know I could do it... but I survived! I'm alive!!! Hahahaha!"
He laughed and laughed until the point he could pass out from being too worn out. His tensed body finally relax himself and his eyes started to close slowly. Exhaustion finally took over him.
"Maybe, I'll rest for a bit...nothing would happen, right? Just a bit"
The man fell asleep after disregarding the hellish road he been through. He felt cold... and chilly... in fact, the chilliness could be felt grabbing around his body. His chest was heavy and it was hard to breathe.
He opened his eyes to see the dark sky. He tried to move, but he couldn't. It felt like nails were stuck by his hands and legs. Slowly, he could feel a creeping sensation coming out from the ground under him. It then slowly moves towards his head, passing his ears covering his cheek.
He tilted his head a little to look toward his body and saw that a chubby man was sitting on his body, munching his innards. At his arms and legs, more undead was having a feast until he could see his white bones. He wanted to see more, but the creeping sensation moves toward his eyes, and he could see fingers with some that were disfigured.
Another creeping sensation crawled toward his mouth pulling his lower jaw down. The fingers he saw drilled into his eyes blinding him from the world. The mushy eyes pierced through and blood spurted out. The man wanted to scream but his jaw was already pulled down too much until the point it broke away. Leaving only half of his face.
The rest of the undead continue to eat him away until he was risen again by Eliza as an undead.
Then everything was silent.
Eliza was floating in mid-air while watching the whole event. She even projected the whole things that were happening to the villagers. She clapped her hand feeling pleased. She doesn't understand why, but seeing the suffering of these particular villagers was satisfying.
"Next ten please!" She said in a bashful manner.
One of the villagers was enraged and questioned her
"You told us you would let us live if we reach the end of the vines. Why did you have to kill him? He was clearly outside the area!"
The moment he finished talking, two hands grabbed his two legs, immobilizing him in his place. Then two undead rose from the ground and started to munch on him slowly. Eliza flicked her finger again causing blood burst out from the orifice of his face. rendering him motionless.
Everyone was stumped and shocked, feeling puzzled with all that has happened.
Eliza then projected her voice towards the villagers
"Next ten please!" she said while grinning sweetly.