A horrifying scream, like a banshee crying out rips through the forest. Everybody jumps up awake, everyone alerted. The sound is still echoing between the trees, high, raw, unmistakable. Soren is the first one to react, "Elena"

  "Did you hear-" Sofia begins

  Another echo of the scream cuts her off, strangled now, distant

  Adrian's face drains of all colour, fidgeting with his hands in the process, "That was her. That was Elena!"

  Vera already rushing out towards the sound of the scream, turns arounds and shouts, ''Quick we need to get to her fast''

  We follow in pursuit in the direction of the scream, my mind racing with countless thoughts. 'We told her not to split up. Why did she go alone! Elena that idiot! Is this even the right choice, chasing after her, this could lead us to our death as well!'

  'No wait what am I thinking! Even if there is a chance that she is alive we have to save her'

  As we get closer towards the origin of the scream, the forest begins to open up, the trees thinning just enough for the ground ahead to become visible

  Then I see her

  My breath leaves my lungs all at once

  ''Elena''

  Half of her is on the ground dragging herself towards us forward inch by inch, her arms clawing desperately at the dirt. The motion is wrong, unnatural, like something half-finished. Her fingers are torn and bloody, nails cracked and bent back as she pulls herself away from something that isn't there anymore

  Behind her his a bloody trial of her flesh and blood, her intestines spilling out of her body, every movement leaves a smear across the forest floor, creating a bloody painting of her final moments

  She's still alive

  That's the worst part

  Her cries aren't screams anymore. They're broken sounds, raw and wet, dragged out of her throat with every breath. Each inhale rattles, each exhale comes with a strangled sob as if her body hasn't realized yet that it shouldn't be functioning

  Sofia drops to her knees behind me, vomiting violently into the leaves

  Adrian freezes, his mouth opening and closing, no sound coming out

  Vera takes a step forward, then stops, her face pale, eyes wide, hands clenched so tightly her knuckles turn white

  Lukas just stands there, still unable to process what's going on, his mouth left agape

  I feel nauseous, my vision going blurry, my whole body starts swaying, my words becoming slurred

  Her head turns toward us at the sound. Her eyes are unfocused, swimming, but when they land on us they widen in desperate recognition

  "Soren," she gasps, blood bubbling at the corner of her mouth. "It hurts. It hurts so much"

  Her breathing becomes fainter and fainter ,''It tricked me, it turned into Oskar''

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  Now her voice gets even quieter as if whispering , ''Save me, Save m-''

  What's left of her body slowly comes to a stop, her head slumping down, no more quiet whispers continue to come from her body, her blood starts pooling behind her

  ''She's dead'' Sofia cries out, ''Oh god she's dead''

  The silence after that realization is worse than the scream

  Vera exhales slowly through her nose, but her composure is thin, "It mimicked him," she says. Not shocked. Not confused. Just stating a fact. "It turned into Oskar"

  Sofia shakes her head violently. "No. No, no, no. That's not possible. It can't just wear them like that!"

  Lukas responds his voice monotone, ''But it did''

  I close Elena's eyes. They don't want to close. I have to press harder than I should. Her arm is still stretched toward us

  Still asking

  "Save me"

  Those words echo in my skull

  I swallow hard, but something inside me feels different now. Not broken

  Hollowed

  "It left her alive long enough," I say quietly. "So she could tell us"

  No one responds

  Because they understand

  This wasn't feeding

  This was a message

  Adrian in short breathes tell us, ''We can't just leave her like this, lets at least bury her''

  We all look at each other, then look back at her body, her terrified expression still etched across her face. Our eyes never leave her while creating her grave. Our friend. No. She was more like family to all of us. We've all become like family since coming here. But now she lays in the ground, mauled apart. Brutally killed

  The dirt thuds softly as we press it down over her. No one says a prayer. No one knows what to say.

  "We're going to starve"

  Lukas head cocks back, ''Who said that, why the fuck would you say that!''

  The culprit Vera raises her voice, ''You think it's easy for me to say that as well. Look at the situation! We have no food, there's no fucking animals here!''

  ''There are bugs I say, we can't eat her, not Elena''

  Adrian throws up, the thought of both too much for him to handle

  Sofia on the verge of a breakdown says tearily still in shock , ''Oh Elena, why did you go by yourself''

  As we all surround her grave, a distant voice interrupts us ,''Save me, save me''

  Soren frantically looks around, ''Who said that?!? Did you all hear that''

  All of us agree in unison and we all start looking around searching for the origin of the voice. We all unconsciously back up into each other, our bodies pressing up. We all hear it again. But this time not a sentence, no words come from the abyss surrounding us. Just mocking laughter

  Then it says it again, this time in a familiar voice. Elena's voice. ''Save me, save me.'' Before we can all react it's voice changes to become deeper, ''You picked the wrong person to mess with.'' It's Oskar's voice. It just continues to laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh. Why is this happening to us! We can't even do anything while it stands their within our reach laughing!

  Sofia screams, Adrian places his hands on his ears crying, Vera breathes are frantic as if her lungs are failing, Lukas crouches down his hands over his eyes muttering to himself. Only I in a half sane state scream, ''Run, get out of here, RUN!''

  I violently pull Lukas by the collar pulling him upright and we all sprint for our lives. We don't know where we are running. We don't know for how long. We just run

  It's voice now a mix of Elena's and Oskar's just mockingly laughs at us, it's stupid laugh mocking us from all directions

  "You left me"

  "Why didn't you save me?"

  ''It hurts so much''

  "Stop listening!" I shout. "It's not them! Don't listen!"

  Adrian stumbles but keeps running, tears streaking down his face. Sofia is shaking as she runs, hands clamped over her ears. Vera's jaw is locked tight, fury replacing fear. Lukas breathes like he's drowning

  The laughter grows louder

  The more we run the quieter the laughter and the voices become allowing us to catch our breath, our chests heaving up and down as we ran for our lives. No one speaks. We just stand there, bent over, shaking, listening for something that doesn't come

  It didn't chase us

  It didn't finish us

  It just wanted us to run

  Vera is the first to lift her head, ''It can change forms, that must be how it isolated Elena''

  Adrian laughs once . Hollow, "It's not killing us"

  The realization settles in slowly

  Heavy

  It could have taken any of us while we were frozen back there

  It didn't

  It wanted us alive

  Breathing

  Breaking

  I look back into the trees we just fled from

  "It's not hunting, this can't even be called hunting it's just having fun" I say quietly

  And somewhere deep in the forest. A single branch snaps. Not close. Not far

  Just enough to remind us

  It's still there