The creature twisted its form, its grotesque limbs writhing as it hovered over Rex. A pit opened in my stomach. There was something so wrong about it not just the way its flesh seemed to ripple like tar or the broken limbs that jerked unnaturally, but something deeper. An ache. A pull.

  Rex, still on the ground, groaned as he pushed against the dirt, arms trembling from the force of being thrown. His breath came in sharp gasps, and his eyes darted around wildly. He tried to roll away, to crawl, but the thing was relentless. It hovered closer, claws twitching.

  “Move, now!” I shouted to Calix, my voice raw with fear.

  Calix fired an arrow clean shot it sank deep into the thing’s side. It didn't flinch. No scream. No reaction. Just that low, awful sound, like metal grinding under water.

  I fired too. My hands shook. The arrow went wide and only grazed its limb. Still nothing.

  The creature turned toward us, its movement sharp, fast. Too fast.

  It screeched that sound would stay with me and lunged.

  "Look out!" Calix yelled.

  He shoved me, and we crashed into the dirt just as the creature slammed down where we had stood. Leaves and dirt exploded into the air.

  We scrambled to our feet, but my legs felt like rubber. My thoughts were spinning.

  What was that thing? What the hell were we up against?

  “Rex!” I shouted, scanning the clearing. “You okay?!”

  “I’m yeah!” he gasped, still coughing. “I think so!”

  He was lying. I could hear it in his voice. His breathing was off. Too ragged.

  The creature pulled itself upright again, limbs twitching, dragging pieces of the earth with it. The ground shook beneath it. My pulse pounded against my skull. I couldn’t stop trembling. My fingers were slick with sweat.

  Could we fight this? Could we kill this?

  Then, amidst the chaos, I heard it.

  A voice. Not a human one no but buried beneath its guttural rasp was… something. A tone. A rhythm.

  It spoke something about taking what it wanted.

  But that voice. It struck something in me. Like the brush of a memory just out of reach.

  My lungs froze up.

  Why did it sound so…?

  “Don’t think about it,” I hissed to myself, trying to force the thought down. Focus. Focus, damn it.

  “Hendrix!” Calix shouted, jolting me. “You good?!”

  “I don’t know,” I muttered. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the thing. My legs wouldn’t move. My brain was screaming run, but I just stood there.

  Rex was crawling now, frantically pawing through debris. “Where is it?!”

  “What?” Calix asked.

  “The flare gun!” Rex snapped, overturning bags, gear, anything he could grab. “I dropped it, I had it... it has to be here!”

  “We don’t have time!”

  “I need it, Calix!” Rex's voice cracked. “Just cover me!”

  Calix looked at me again. “Hendrix, come on! Snap out of it!”

  But I couldn’t. My knees buckled. I dropped to one.

  Why can’t I move?

  The creature was circling us now, its body twitching and spasming like it was short-circuiting. The eyes no, don't look at the eyes I forced my gaze down. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about the voice. Don’t think about how it looked when it spoke…

  My breath caught again.

  Was it... was it looking at us like it knew us?

  No. No. Don’t. Not now.

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  The creature turned sharply and lunged.

  I barely had time to scream.

  The blow struck like a battering ram. My body hit the trunk of a tree so hard I heard the crack before I felt the pain. My head whipped back. My ears rang. My vision swam.

  Everything spun.

  I gasped, coughing up air as I crumpled to the forest floor.

  “HENDRIX!” Calix’s voice cut through the ringing.

  My vision blurred, but I saw him rushing toward me, then pivoting sharply.

  “Hey! Over here!” Calix screamed at the creature, grabbing a branch and hurling it.

  The branch struck its side and bounced off harmlessly, but it turned toward him anyway. A split-second opening.

  I forced myself to move. My ribs ached. My hands shook as I pushed off the dirt, biting down a scream.

  “Got it!” Rex yelled from behind me. I turned and saw him flare gun in hand, eyes wide, face bloodied. “Everybody down!”

  He fired.

  The flare screamed into the sky, exploding in a blossom of red.

  The forest lit up, and for a heartbeat, we could see everything the gnarled roots, the broken trunks, the terrified expressions on our faces… and the creature in full.

  I froze.

  My breath stopped.

  The light touched it, and every inch of it was… wrong. Not just monstrous, not just inhuman but off in a way that twisted in my gut. The shape. The proportions. The way it moved.

  My heart pounded against my ribs like it wanted to escape.

  “Rex… Calix…” I rasped. My voice didn’t sound like mine.

  Calix stepped beside me, panting. “You alright?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  Rex stumbled toward us, keeping the gun raised. “It’s still moving…”

  The creature hissed. Its silhouette shifted, twitching. Still standing.

  Before Calix could answer, the beast lunged at us with a guttural roar, its jagged limbs slicing through the air like knives. The creature's jagged, spindly limb shot forward with terrifying speed, piercing Calix's arm before he could react. His scream tore through the air, sharp and pained. Blood splattered onto the dirt as he staggered back, clutching at the wound.

  "No!" Rex yelled, his voice raw as he sprinted toward Calix, the empty flare gun now clutched tightly in his hand. "Leave him alone!"

  Rex hurled himself toward the creature with reckless abandon, grabbing Calix by the shoulders and trying to pull him away from the monstrous limb that had skewered him. But the creature wasn't done it twisted, snarling, its jagged limbs poised to strike again.

  I gritted my teeth, heart hammering. Move, move, MOVE! My limbs felt like they were wrapped in chains, but I forced them to obey. "Get away from them!" I roared, grabbing the nearest rock and hurling it with everything I had. It struck the creature’s side with a dull thud. It barely flinched but it turned.

  Rex and Calix bolted, half-dragging each other through the dirt. But then

  A sharp, white-hot lance of pain split through my chest like lightning. I collapsed, wheezing, limbs buckling as though gravity had tripled. The ground hit me hard, but I couldn’t feel it over the fire inside me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. What’s happening to me? Why now?

  The creature laughed low, guttural, inhuman. It echoed inside my skull. I wanted to scream, but no air came. Its head turned to follow my brothers, its claws twitching.

  "You think you can run? You think you can hide?" it sneered, dripping with cruel glee. "This is pointless. You're mine."

  Rex and Calix bolted, half-dragging each other through the dirt. Blood poured from Calix’s arm. He looked like he might pass out. Rex was pale too, fumbling to tear his shirt and press it against the wound.

  "You okay?" Rex rasped, hands shaking.

  "Yeah... yeah, just... stings," Calix lied, his teeth gritted.

  They were alive. For now.

  "No!" I roared again, voice hoarse, throat burning. I grabbed another rock smaller this time and hurled it. It struck the creature’s leg. Barely a sting, but it turned. Silence fell. A silence too sharp, too heavy.

  "Hey! You twisted freak!" I forced my body to rise. My knees wobbled. My vision blurred. But I stood. "Come on! I’m right here. You want me? Come and get me!"

  It growled a sound that shook the trees. "Oh, Hendrix," it said, mockingly tender. "So brave. So foolish."

  It stalked toward me. I took a step back. Then another. Each one felt like my bones were shattering under my skin. You can’t do this. You’re not strong enough. You’re dying. My mind screamed. But I couldn't stop.

  "Go! Now!" I screamed toward the trees.

  Rex hesitated. He looked at Calix, his expression torn. "I’m not leaving you!" he shouted back. But Calix gripped his sleeve with trembling fingers.

  "We have to," Calix whispered, his voice strained. "He’s buying us time."

  Rex’s eyes locked onto mine for a brief moment, raw pain flickering in them. He didn’t want to go, but he knew. He knew there was no other choice. "I’ll come back for you, Hendrix!" His voice cracked with the promise.

  Then, without another word, they turned and disappeared into the woods, swallowed by the night.

  The creature watched them go with slow, deliberate disdain before turning back to me. Its mouth twisted into a grin that didn’t belong on anything living. "You’re stalling," it said. "Admirable. Pointless."

  My heart raced. The air felt heavy, thick. I could barely breathe, could barely move. The panic, the fear, it was suffocating. They’d said they’d come back for me, but deep down, I knew. I knew it wasn’t a guarantee. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t....

  "Don’t think about it," I whispered to myself, gritting my teeth.

  The creature was circling me now, its uneven steps slow, like it was savoring every moment. And then it spoke again.

  "Hendrix," it crowked, the way it said my name sending a chill down my spine.

  I froze.

  Why did it know my name?

  My body stiffened, my breath caught in my throat. I couldn’t look away, couldn’t pull myself from the abyss of fear that was threatening to swallow me whole. The words echoed in my mind, the tone... so familiar. My pulse thudded in my ears. I was scared. More than I had ever been before. My mind. My strength. It all felt like a lie.

  The thing grinned wider, sensing my hesitation. "You were always so full of fight," it mocked. "But look at you now. So... afraid."

  I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. The weight of everything pressed down on me the crushing fear, the suffocating uncertainty of what was happening, the raw, gnawing terror that I might never see my brothers again. Uncertainty of my mother. Everthing...

  It was too much. The darkness crept in closer, but then something sparked inside me. A flicker of defiance, of rage, a whisper of that fight I had left.

  I forced my feet to move, despite the shaking in my legs. Despite the fear that gripped me like a vice. I wasn’t going to let it win. Not like this. Not now.

  With everything I had, I hurled the last of my strength into the fight. But my fear, my doubts they were still there, clawing at me from the inside.