Carter's breath came out in short, panicked bursts as the beast let out a pained roar, staggering from the deep wound he'd inflicted on its front leg and ribs.
Blood dripped from the creature's side, its once-fluid movements becoming more erratic as rage consumed it. The beast's eyes glowed brighter, locking onto Carter with renewed fury. His heart hammered in his chest.
'I actually hurt it,' he thought internally with disbelief, adrenaline surging through his veins.
The dagger in his hand, which had seemed so useless just moments ago, was now stained with the beast's blood. But there was no time to feel victorious. The creature was far from dead.
It snarled again after feeling the painful deep wound, licking its wound, before lunging at him once more.
Carter spun on his heels, bolting through the trees behind him, his feet pounding against the forest floor. The sound of the beast crashing, and even cracking a tree sent chills down his spine.
He ran like his life depended on it… because it did.
Branches whipped at his face, roots threatened to trip him, but Carter didn't slow down even a little bit. His lungs burned with each breath he took, and his legs were beginning to ache.
Carter's endurance was already failing, but fear kept pushing him forward. Behind him, the beast's growls became louder, closer.
Just as he risked a glance over his shoulder, he saw it—blood still dripping from its side, but its speed had decreased significantly. The injury he'd inflicted was slowing it down, allowing him to keep a lead.
'Hehe, it's really hurt,' Carter thought, though it provided little comfort. His stamina was fading fast. He couldn't keep up this pace for much longer.
'But I won't last forever either.'
Ten minutes passed, the forest flew by in a blur, yet the beast was still followed. Carter's legs felt like they'd turn to jelly at any moment.
He could barely keep his eyes open due to sweat pouring down his face and into his eyes. His body screamed for rest, but stopping wasn't an option. Who wanted to become nourishment to a beast the size of a horse?
'I can't keep this up,' Carter thought internally, desperation clawing at him.
Another five minutes dragged on like hours. Every step felt heavier, every breath harder to take. His vision began to blur, the trees ahead blending together into an endless stretch of green and shadow. He pushed himself further, refusing to give in.
'F*ck, how long does this forest stretch on for? Am I gonna die h—'
But then it happened. His foot caught on something—maybe a root, maybe a stone—and he fell forward, crashing hard into the dirt. He hit is left knee too hard. Fresh blood began seeping from the cotton pants he wore.
"I-I've become one of them? One of the h*es that falls during the killer chase scene? F*ck, my luck is sh*t!"
His body skidded across the ground, pain shooting through his limbs. The dagger flew from his grasp, disappearing into the underbrush.
Carter lay there, his chest heaving as he tried to push himself up. But his arms shook, his body too weak to cooperate. He thought he might pass out from sheer exhaustion.
'Get up, Carter, get up!' He screamed at himself in his mind to move, to fight, to do anything. But his body refused. The pain, the exhaustion, the fear—it was all too much.
The clearing he'd stumbled into offered no cover, no protection. He was completely exposed, nowhere to hide, nowhere to run.
And the beast knew it.
From behind him, the creature let out a growl, a sound that sent chills racing down Carter's spine. He glanced back, his heart sinking as he saw the beast stepping into the clearing. Its movements were slower now, but there was a look in its eyes that sent a wave of dread through him—triumph.
The beast's lips curled back into a mocking snarl, its fangs gleaming in the moonlight. It was almost enjoying this—almost gloating.
Carter could see the excitement in its eyes, the thrill of the hunt coming to an end. It had him, and it knew it.
With a low growl, the beast crouched low, muscles tensing as it prepared to strike.
"This is it," Carter says, in defeat. "This is how it ends."
The creature lunged, claws outstretched, ready to tear him apart.
Suddenly, something impossible happened.
Just as the beast pounced, a crack in space opened above them. The air itself seemed to rip apart with a loud crack, and before Carter could even process what he was seeing, a figure burst through the tear at an unseeable speed.
The creature had no time to react. Then, a blinding flash of light illuminated the clearing also exited the crack in space, a split second after the figure flew out. An earth-shaking boom followed there after. The force of the blast sent a shockwave rippling through the forest, obliterating everything in its path.
Carter shielded his face with his arms as the shockwave passed over him, the wind howling in his ears. He felt something wet splatter against his face and arms. When he opened his eyes, the sight before him almost made him retch.
The beast was gone—completely obliterated. Only the scattered remains of its body were left behind.
Guts, blood, and bits of flesh were strewn across the clearing. A piece of what looked like its small intestine had landed on Carter's arm, and the sight of it made his stomach churn.
"Oh God…" Carter gagged, quickly brushing the intestine off his arm. He could feel the bile rising in his throat, but he forced himself to hold it down.
'Keep it together.'
He glanced around, trying to make sense of what the hell just happened. The trees to his left were completely obliterated, as if they had been struck by a force far greater than anything he could imagine. Nothing was left, just dirt, no roots.
For miles, the forest had been leveled, leaving only smoldering ashes in its wake. Directly in front of him, where the beast had leaped from, the trees were smashed but not obliterated.
The entire clearing had been reduced to rubble in an instant.
Carter was too stunned to speak. His mind struggled to catch up with the events that had just unfolded.
'What… just happened? Did God send an angel to save me? Was this some kind of divine intervention? What was that crack in space?'
Before he could fully process his thoughts, a strange feeling stirred within him—a hunch, almost an instinct. Something had crashed nearby. He could feel it. Whatever—or whoever—had come through that tear was still out there.
Normally, Carter's instincts would scream at him to stay put, to avoid whatever had just caused the utter destruction around him. He was half African American, after all, and if horror movies had taught him anything, it was that going toward danger was never a good idea.
However, he clearly knew now that this world wasn't normal. Nothing about this situation was normal. And there was something about the presence that had saved him—a pull, an indescribable urge—that made him curious.
"To hell with it," Carter muttered, wiping the blood and guts off his face. "None of this makes sense anyway."
He pushed himself to his feet, still unsteady on the knee that scraped, and began walking in the direction of the crash. His body protested every step, his muscles aching and sore, but something drove him forward.
The forest around him was eerily quiet as he approached the site of the impact.
Eight minutes passed before he finally reached the place where something had collided with the ground. The destruction left behind was breathtaking—a trench about twenty meters long carved deep into the earth.
Carter's heart raced as he peered into the trench, his eyes widening in shock. There, at the center of the crater, was a mass of black and silver, glowing faintly in the darkness. As he inched closer, his breath caught in his throat.
It's a person.
A woman, to be exact. Her limbs were slender and slightly tanned, her body half-buried in the debris. Carter's heart pounded in his chest.
"How… how could she still be intact after that?" The destruction around her was unimaginable.
Any normal person would have been reduced to nothing, yet here she was—completely intact, her body unmarred by the force that had obliterated the beast and leveled the forest.
He continued stepping closer, his hands trembling as he crouch-walked forward until he was at her side.
'I-I-is she still… breathing?' Carter internally asks himself, shocked and baffled at how durable this elegantly dressed woman is.
Carefully, he turned her over onto her back, sucking in a sharp breath at what he saw. Her chest, though heaving faintly with breath.
'Mountains. Mountains. Mountains. Mountains.'
The woman's chest was very endowed, leaving few things for one to only imagine.
Carter quickly closes his eyes and takes a deep, slow breath. Impure thoughts are a distraction at this moment. Plus, he was not a creep who'd take advantage of a woman. Especially one that was unconscious.
Her chest rose and fell with slow, shallow breaths, though the sight was startling in itself. Carter's hands trembled as he took in the rest of her appearance. The woman was stunning, breathtakingly in fact, but it wasn't just her beauty that struck him.
Her clothes, or rather the remnants of them, were strange—made from a material he had never seen before, silver-black and form-fitting.
His eyes drifted downward to a deep gash near her ribcage that was 8 inches in length.
The wound was alarming, yet what drew his attention most was the fact that the bleeding had almost entirely stopped. The skin around the gash seemed to be healing, albeit slowly, but with a speed no normal human could manage.
He hesitated, taking in the sight before him. She had come from that tear in the fabric of reality, that much was clear. Whatever she was, she was far beyond human.
Is this… an alien? The thought came unbidden to his mind, and for a moment, he wasn't sure whether to feel fear or awe.
All the conspiracy theories about aliens and ufos he'd heard growing up, flashed through his mind. But this woman was real, tangible, and right in front of him. More importantly, she was still alive.
Carter crouched down beside her, gently placing his hands under her. Her skin felt soft, unnaturally smooth, like polished marble.
There was a strange warmth to her, despite the cool night air, as though some kind of energy pulsed through her veins. Lifting her carefully, he was surprised at how light she felt.
Sensing something, Carter looked up in a direction, then turned 180°. He did not find anything, but still felt as though a pair of eyes were on him.
"I need to get you out of here," he murmured, more to himself than to the unconscious woman. His mind was racing. What had brought her here? And more importantly, who was she?
The wound, though still healing, needed to be tended to before infection set in. Whatever she was, Carter doubted that she was immune to bacteria or rubble in the wound.
As far as he could tell, her body was in the process of recovering at an unnatural pace, but the sight of the cut still nagged at him.
He couldn't stay out in the open for long, especially not with whatever else might be lurking in the woods.
"I have to hide her," he says. "No one can know. Not even Uncle Ket."
With newfound determination, Carter adjusted his grip on her body, cradling her carefully against his chest as he turned back toward Sarnath.
He began the long trek through the forest, every step cautious as his mind raced with questions. Who is this woman? What kind of power did she hold? And most importantly, why had she been sent to him—if that was indeed the case?
He would find out soon enough. But for now, the most important thing was getting her to safety. Whatever forces had brought her to this world, she was his only clue to understanding what had happened to him.
As he made his way back to Sarnath, the woman's face remained peaceful, as though she were simply asleep. But Carter knew better. This woman, whoever she was, held secrets that could change everything.
Though, unbeknownst to him, an invisible force was following along right behind him.