I'm being hunted, my skin crawls as I feel a single pair of eyes seeking me out.
"Aaarrrrrooohh!!" It's getting closer, I need to get to the water. My feet slip over wet stone as I hear the thing panting, air sucking down its snout, claws slashing a path through dense foliage. It can smell my blood, my fear. My foot steps into a cool current and I slip down, down into a deep pool.
"Aaaarrrrooh!!" Water swallows up my head, filling my open eyes, "I hope I'm not too late." #sinistercountdown
Drums echoed within his head, thundering all around the darkness. His body shift side to side as if dangling over an open abyss.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"Where am I?" Was what he wanted to say but his tongue, it seemed, had swelled inside his mouth. He opened his eyes, fear energizing his body. Colors swirled around his head. Below him ground passed by quickly. Piles of pine needles and leaves stared back at him as he traveled upside down.
"Mmph!" Gagging, he drew in a deep breath, cool air stinging his nostrils.
I am upside down. He thought, as the smell of smoke filled his nose.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The drums sounded louder and clearer now. He looked up, tears stinging his eyes as he saw his hands and feet tied to a thick wooden pole.
What is going on? Why am I here? Who's doing this to me?
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Two tall figures stood in front of and behind him, breathing heavily and grunting with the effort of carrying his body. In the dimness he saw their outlines, huge arms and heaving backs, thick horns curling back over their heads.
"Mmmrrphng!" His shout did little, but elicit a sharp grunt from the form at his feet. Their pace quickened.
Boom. Boom. Boom. The light began to brighten, dancing over the trunks of passing trees. A cloud of smoke passed over the three figures. The man looked past the figure hauling his body. Ahead of him flames danced in an open pit, great branches piled on one another, blacked by heat.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Figures danced in the light, twisted and shimmering around the open flames. His entire body started to shake. He could see two large iron poles, with forked tops, on either side of the fire now.
"Hhhrrrghng!" He screamed, but only strangled fear leaked through. "I'm going to die." He though, as the light became unbearable to his eyes.
I'm going to die.
The men holding him lifted the pole even higher, flames reached for him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
I'm going to die.
#sinsitercountdown
"Sammy we're not suppose to go in there! Mum told us not to!" Mark dug his heels into the dirt as his older sister dragged him towards the watershed's open door.
"Stop it! Let go! You're hurting me!" He twisted his arm, but his sister's fingers dug into his skin. The boy cried out, "why are you doing this Sam?"
His sister stopped, her head turned to the dark recesses of the shed. "I'm not your sister."
"What?" Mark fought down a sob, ears burning from the deeper, more menacing voice coming from Sammy.
His sister pulled tighter on his arm, continuing to drag him towards the sun worn building. It's single door yawned open, waiting for him.
"Wh-who are you?" She gave no reply, merely bent his arm painfully and force him to face the door, feet stopped inches from the darkness.
"Who are you!"
He looked back into a face he'd never seen, his sister's blond hair falling over a darkened brow. Black pits glared into his face.
"The Gatekeeper."
Mark felt himself thrown through the doorway into the waiting dark.
#sinistercountdown
The leaves whispered above me as I laid under the cool shadows of a tree.
"Rest, rest." The tree called with every breath of wind. I found myself lost in the moment, unaware of all around me. Which is why when I heard the screaming, I didn't immediately jump from where I lay.
Something dripped on my face and arm. Curious I opened my eyes. The leaves swung in the late afternoon breeze, red gold in the sunlight, blue sky unrelenting against the autumn colors.
The screaming continued.
Another drop fell from the bows above, splashing down onto my nose. A metallic tang filled my senses and I quickly raised my hand to my face. I wiped the liquid from my skin, smearing it over my cheek. It was warm and clung to my skin unlike ordinary liquid that fell from the sky.
More drops fell on me and I stood up slowly, a drop landing square in my open mouth. My stomach dropped and heart began to race.
It was blood.
Blood.
Blood was falling from the tree.
#sinistercountdown
Hands reached out with broken nails and bloodied fingers, swiping blindly through the shattered window. Moans of the dead filled the air as she screamed, "Open the door, open the door!!"
His hands fumbled for the key, scraping it against the lock. Behind the two figures wood groaned under the weight of a hundred bodies.
"I've got it!" He shouted, "I've-" CRACK! The door gave in, ragged corpses piling in like a mountain of sand. At the same moment the key caught in the lock snapping in half.
"-Got it." The woman screamed.
#sinistercountdown
They hung there, the smell of rot and decay clinging to their ivory surface as once had muscle and sinew. A diminutive figure on horse back raised a hand to the sky, shielding his face, "We must turn back Master, the Fates have left us their sign."
A raven cackled maliciously on a nearby branch.
"It is too late Igor," said the slender woman that stood beside her steed. She looked upon the grinning bones, cloaked in crimson, "The predator has become the prey."
#sinistercountdown
A metal spade scraped across dirt and stone, thundering down onto a warn wood lid.
"Don't do this! It wasn't me!" Soil continued to pour down heedless of muffled cries. The single pool of light filling the space darkened as he twisted, brushing against damp walls.
"Don't. Don't, d-don't bury me alive!"
#sinistercountdown
