By the time Chad finally came to, he was met with the inquiring faces of none other than his men. They were all looking down at him, alongside the ceiling, and besides the constant "he's awake!" muttered by Stevie, all was silent.
"Were you guys the one who hit me?"
Although his tone was not blaming anybody, the fear that it inspired among the three onlooking men was more than enough to cause them to quiver in their boots. The boss had always been known to be a gentle soul among many things — at least, for those who belonged in the Red Wolves that was — but just having seen a glimpse of his fury once was more than enough to let these three know that he was not one to cross.
"I am really sorry, boss," Haimesworth, the glasses one, finally replied. "We should've looked who it was first before..." He stopped, knowing that the sentence didn't need any continuing.
"Why were you three so stricken in fear that you need to do such a thing? That is the question I'd like to ask you three," Chad managed, after having gotten back up from the hard, cold ground. He knew that such an act would've not been let off easy if it were in any other circumstances, but he was genuinely curious as of the reason why. Especially whether it was related with the presence of that boy he had just seen.
"And you too, Stevie- Why did you run off?"
Stevie looked down to the ground as soon as he was called out. Out of the three, he had always been the one most obedient to the boss, but this time his fear had gotten the best of him. The moment he sensed that malicious aura, his body could do nothing else but run. He had no choice. He knew that if he were to stay any longer that entity that was making its way through the woods would pick up his scent...
And he didn't want to imagine what that could have meant for him. Even now, the thought sent shivers up his spine.
"So- so sorry boss," Stevie stuttered. "I don't know what it was, but... There was an evil creature lurking out there! Whatever it was, it was scary and dark! I'm, I'm really sorry but my body just couldn't let me stay in place!"
Having always been the one to wear his heart on his sleeves, Stevie slowly broke down into his own emotional fit. It was a normal occurrence among the crew, and Chad knew not to pry too much. Thus, he decided to ask the other two for further clarification.
It was without a shatter of a doubt the work of the boy he saw from before. Absolutely no doubt about it! But he needed further confirmation...
"And you two? Where did you run off to?"
Dallas, who was still not as bulky as he would be ten years down the line, came to answer his boss. Deciding that coming off clean would be best, he left nothing out of his explanation.
"Haimesworth and I..." He began. "We left our post this morning thinking that we could have some fun. Hunting, scavenging or anything of the sort. And so we went and did that for like a couple of hours and we were just about to go back when suddenly-,"
He paused mid-sentence, gulping in the process as he recalled a memory that he wished he could erase. Whoever that boy was, it was clear that his presence itself simply stroke fear in anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. Seeing this sudden hesitation in Dallas' words, Haimesworth quickly decided to take the initiative in resuming his partner's explanation.
"We saw a boy. He couldn't have been more than fifteen. He was whistling out loud, not a care in the world. Almost as if he wanted to be noticed... Of course, seeing such an easy prey, the two of us couldn't help ourselves. We followed him, and was getting ready to ambush when the right moment would present itself; it all immediately came falling down as soon as our ego took over. We barely escaped with our lives."
"That's more than enough, Haimesworth," Chad interjected, holding his hand out. "Stevie, Dallas, the four of us need to go back to base. Now!"
Hearing the urgency in their boss's voice, all three men immediately returned to their senses. Without having to utter even a single word, Chad led his men out of the small building and straight back to their base of operation.
"Come on! We can't be too late!" Chad let out in frustration.
It had only been a hunch of his seconds ago, but now that he finally thought of it, the direction where that boy was going was... No! It couldn't be true! It had to be false! But still...
Why did his heart say otherwise? And why did his body act otherwise?
None of the three men running behind him even questioned this sudden change in action, and none of them complained; they all knew what the boss was thinking. Even if their heart grew heavy with the realisation of what the worst-case scenario held for them, they still ran as fast as they could. They had to make sure. They had to protect what they were tasked to protect. Even if such a disaster were to land on their clan — the people they had grown up with — they had to save whatever was left.
As the Sun slowly bid its goodbye to the world, darkness began to encase the whole horizon. As the four men slowly got closer and closer, all that was left audible to their ears was the haunting echo of the boy's whistling.
A whistle that sounded as if to guide all damned souls straight into Hell itself.
***
By the time they arrived back at camp, all that was left was nothing. And by that, literally nothing!
Nothing was left in the place where the camp of the Red Wolves should be in, and all that could be seen was just a gaping huge crater in the middle of the woods. It was like some sort of black hole had suddenly appeared right in the center of things, and devoured the whole damn thing.
Seeing such an intangible damage to what was basically their whole life, their whole cause of living, the four men who had just arrived could only look at the void with nothing but pure confusion and shock.
What had happened?
What sort of demonic ability allowed such a thing to happen? How could something cause an area of land to simply disappear? And if it that was indeed what had happened, where were the others? Did they all also simply disappear?
"Lars! Marie!" Chad called out into the night. Hoping for a response, and yet knowing somehow that it would never come. It was a futile attempt, but nevertheless something done out of formality. Soon, the four men began their search around the perimeter of the crater and looked to no avail for any survivor. It was an absolutely harrowing sight to see even after an hour, and none of them could even fathom what had to have happened. Instead of the fire or carnage that they were expecting, they were presented with this.
What the hell were they supposed to do!?
"Boss," Stevie claimed, panting heavily. "I don't think we can find anything here! No idea where they've gone, but just looking around aimlessly would be pointless! There's practically nothing."
Hearing this, Chad knew that this was the truth.
It wasn't only the camp and the Red Wolves which had disappeared, the culprit himself too was nowhere to be found. It was almost as if he had disappeared into thin air.
Still, how could one simply just walk away when their whole people had out of nowhere vaporised away from existence!?
"No! We can't!" Chad insisted, although his mind knew better. The cracks were slowly showing, and it became more and more apparent that he was going to break character. He was lost, and he simply couldn't put up with it anymore. He would end up disappointing his men in his failure to maintain his calm, and this would sign the end of what was left of the Red Wolves.
However, right before this breakdown could even happen, everything was stopped from being set into motion by a calming hand that reached out to the boss himself.
"It's okay boss. We all don't know what the hell is going on either," Dallas said, trying to comfort the clearly distraught soul right in front of him. Although it surely came as a surprise to all three of them to see the boss in such a state, they all knew that there was nothing one could do against the surge of emotions that would well up in such a predicament. Faced against something completely unknown, how could one maintain their calmness?
It was simply natural. Nothing could have been done.
At the end of the day, they were all confused and scared shitless but if they couldn't even find comfort among themselves, how could they survive? They all knew deep down they were absolutely terrible human beings, but who were they against the cold, dark world around them?
Clearly nothing, as shown by how easily their comrades were easily wiped out.
"I guess you're right," Chad agreed in the end, having come to terms that they were indeed in the dark about the whole situation. "I'm sorry, you three. I shouldn't have been like this..."
"We blamed nothing on you," Haimesworth immediately said, cutting off any further attempt of apologising.
"Yeah boss," Stevie joined in. "Totes fine for us. I mean, we're all pretty much terrified right now, but that doesn't mean we want you to apologise to us. The logic is lacking behind that train of thought, don't you see?"
Chad could only look at all three of his men with the utmost gratitude.
If he could be reborn one day into a life much more forgiving than this one, he would've made it his life goal to bring these people with him to the highest echelon of society. To live in pure bliss without having to worry about a meal. To be able to live without having to kill. To live freely without a care in the world.
Sadly, it seemed that there was nothing awaiting for them on the other side except for the clutches of Death itself.
It was at that exact moment of clarity that suddenly a voice could be heard calling out from the darkness. Help... Help... Please, help me...
Hearing such desperate pleadings, the four men immediately got back on their feet to search for the source of this voice. It was faint, but thankfully they managed to pinpoint its general location quickly. It was dark, and the moon was nowhere in sight, causing it to be extremely difficult to find where the person was, but by the time that they did, it didn't matter to them the difficulty that they had faced just moments earlier.
Someone had survived, and that was what mattered the most.
"Bucko!" Chad called out, as soon as he caught sight of the short fellow. Chad quickly pulled the man out of the debris, and although Bucko had just fallen unconscious moments ago, it was a good sign to know that he was still breathing.
"No injuries at all," Haimesworth noted at the sight of this sudden update. Having made his own fire out of some sticks he had picked up, this allowed them to have a much easier time in identifying any mark nor scratch that had plagued their unconscious friend's body. Oddly enough, after a second thorough checking, they still came to same conclusion.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
"What is this sorcery?" Chad asked out loud, truly baffled by the situation. Clearly, something otherworldly had just happened, but he had no idea of what exactly that something was...
Unlike that sudden groaning noises coming from the woods around them.
"Shit!" All four conscious men swore unconsciously. Without even wasting a single second, all of them quickly got back onto their feet and ran for dear life at the sound of the incoming wave of Undeads. Judging from the volume of these groans itself, it was clearly apparent that there was a huge horde coming along their way.
Having nothing else but a bat and a couple of knives to protect themselves, all they could afford to do was to try to make an escape, but even that seemed like such a distant future!
Although the night was still young and there was still a long way ahead of them, it seemed that things had already made a turn for the worse...