Chereads / Veritas et Inanitas / Chapter 3 - Fourth of Death

Chapter 3 - Fourth of Death

In the darkness a man runs for his life. He is running as if the devil himself was chasing him. Behind this man is what appears to be a child, but with a huge difference, this child had spider legs growing out its back.

As the man continues running he starts feeling tired, so very tired. He stops seemingly against his will. The man turns to look behind him and sees nothing. The thing that was chasing him has disappeared.

"What was that!!!", the man screams at the top of his lungs, as he collapses on the ground. The he hears of quite voice behind him ask, "Uh, are you okay?"

He turns to his left to see a girl in a torn up school uniform staring at him from around the corner. The man also notices a couple of little kids hiding behind her looking worse for wear as well.

He calls over to them, "Yeah, I'm fine. You do not need to hide." The older girl starts to speak, but one of the kids behind her jumps out and runs over to the man. "High my name Annie, what is your name!?", the little girl asks excitedly.

The man kindly replies, "My name is Jim, nice to meet you." After seeing this interaction, the rest of the kids come flying out from around the corner as well.

"Hi, I'm Rebecca." "I'm Andrew." "Nice to meet you, I am Elise." "Aaron is my name." This cacophony of names sends Jim's mind spinning.

The older girl and the remaining boy walk over slowly and the older girl says apologetically, "Sorry about that, they have been through a lot today."

"Oh, by the way, my name is Lilith and the shy one next to me is Will.", she adds on. Then she commands, "Everyone back off, give the man some breathing room!"

"So, do you have any clue about what happened here?", Jim asks. He finally recovers enough to get up and start looking around. As Jim is searching around for anything that looks off, Lilith starts explaining what she knows.

"I was just getting out of school, when the sky turned dark. Thinking it was a major storm, like the one in a nearby city, I ran to go find the kids before the storm broke. Along the way, I ran into a monster and got all banged up.

"Well it looks like you have been through a lot.", Jim replies. He thinks for a second and then says, "Hey, maybe I can walk all of you home to make sure you get there safely."

The kids all start jumping up and down and talking over each other. Even the shy Will seems taken with the idea. After a few seconds of consideration Lilith sighs and says, "Sure, that would be a great help."

After that, they all start walking towards the shady part of town. No one seems particularly worried other than Jim who cannot understand why they are walking that way.

"Hey... ", the words are left half formed in his mouth as something moves in the shadows. Rebecca seeming to have not learned anything runs to investigate the movement.

Lilith reaches out to grab her, but does not make it in time. They all watch in horror as a giant tongue flies out of the shadows and grabs Rebecca by the waist. Andrew reaches out only to be dragged with her.

The two disappear into the dark and leave everyone stunned. Then Elise starts crying. The air seems to get colder and colder as she cries. And out from the shadows comes a horde of zombies.

"Run!", Jim commands as he picks up Elise and starts running. Will runs up behind him and Lilith drags Aaron with her.

They flee as fast as they can from the shambling horde. They seem to be making up more and more ground, until they here a growl coming from a different direction.

From the dark jumps a dog that looks as if half of its body was eaten. Jim kicks it aside and keeps running with Elise safely in his arms. Will jumps out of the way and then continues after Jim. Aaron and Lilith are not so lucky.

The dog manages to bite Lilith as they go by. Lilith tries to bite back a curse but a subtle "Fuck!" slips out. Only Will seems to notice though.

About two blocks later they stop to rest. Jim puts down Elise who has stopped crying, but still feels really cold. Aaron looks completely out of it, but relatively okay.

"When did that happen?", Jim asks when he sees the bite mark on Lilith's leg. Will, who looks excited, replies, "Back there with the dog."

Lilith just looks down and shrugs as if it meant nothing to her. Jim puts two and two together and realizes that these kids have not had such a simple life. He then asks, "Do you come from the orphanage?"

"Yes.", Lilith says while looking surprised. Will and Elise look at Jim as if he stole a cookie. And they all ask simultaneously, "How did you know that?"

Jim shakes his head and explains how he knows. "Six kids in beat up clothes running through danger into the slums is the first clue. Lilith not seeming to care about pain is another. Next, we have will who is more excited the more danger we're in. Finally, the fact I know the owner. By the way how is the old hag?"

"You were an orphan too weren't you?", Lilith asks. And then Elise chimes in, "Yeah the witch refuses to die."

"Watch it kid that witch might just cast a spell on you.", Jim replies smiling. He looks around then says, "I think we better get going, before we get attacked again."

"Don't jinx us now.", Lilith says as she starts to pull Aaron along again. But something isn't right. Aaron has gone ice cold and as soon as Lilith touches him, he attacks. And then the sound of giggling is heard coming from behind.

From whence they came comes Rebecca and Andrew dripping with saliva. Jim stands surprised by the turn of events. Will runs towards the two returning children and Lilith pins Aaron to the ground.

"Careful!", Jim calls out, but Will doesn't listen. He never notices the looming shadow or the unnatural way the others move. As he gets scooped by the tongue before he even comes close.

This triggers Elise to finally break. She starts glowing as she floats upwards. An aura of death can been seen around her. Under the two sets of miasma Lilith begins to change, but almost imperceptible.

With strength she did know she had, she snaps Aaron's neck and starts laughing. "I did it." she cries out while laughing, "I killed them all."

Jim steps out in front of her as a giant frog-like undead reveals itself. The undead being laughs in a way that causes all the hair on Jim's body to stand up. The thing smirks as well as it can with its frog mouth and says, "Move aside boy, I want the girl."

"No.", Jim replies and as soon as he does a tongue flies at him, which he catches. The undead looks surprised and tries to pull back the tongue, only for Jim to hold fast.

Jim pulls back hard on the tongue and drags the undead towards him. As the undead gets closer it begins to struggle more and more. And then suddenly it stops moving.

There in the carnage that has become of the giant undead stands Lilith. Jim calls out to her, "Are you okay?" But the next second feels a hand through his chest.

As he fades away he sees Elise shrouded in power, using it to calm Lilith who has become something more than human. As she passes out Jim says, "Thank you." to Elise and falls asleep never to wake again.

End Report

In a hidden room within a run-down orphanage.

"So she has finally achieved her awakening", a old lady says to herself. "And the older girl remains too", she adds.

"Well I guess I will have a lot of explaining to do later.", she states as she leaves the hidden room. She makes her way to the front of the orphanage and sits down in her chair.

"I guess the time has come.", she says smiling as if remembering something long past.

She looks towards the door as it starts to open with a glint in her eyes.

End Log