Marianus walked past the creek. It was a shallow creek that ran down to nowhere. It looked refreshing, Marianus thought. It looked more appetizing than the cheap water bottles he had on hand. He decided to drink from the water bottles anyway, and moved forward.

  He wondered if he made the right decision. Every time he discovered doubt, he erased it with self-assurance. He reassured himself time after time. He knew it was dangerous, this investigation. It’s not the most dangerous he’s ever done, but it was the strangest. Something bothered him about it, so much so that he had to resort to handcuffing Sascha to a car. Drastic measures come from drastic cases. This was one such case.

  He didn’t want her involved, he admitted to himself. It was strange of him to think such things. Any other case, he would’ve let her follow, maybe even used her as monster bait. She was stunningly beautiful, after all. He smiled bitterly to himself, and moved forward.

  Much time passed without anything notable occurring or appearing. The situation was perfect for trouble—after all, here was a lone traveler deep in the backwoods of England searching for the hidden quarters of a mysterious cult. The forest was quiet. He was quite loud, and he didn’t make an effort to conceal himself. He was expecting something bad to happen to him, but unfortunately nothing did. He was a little disappointed. Instead, he amused himself by taking lots of pictures of the gorgeous scenery before him. He captured enough breathtaking pictures to comprise a photo album. He was thinking of making a photo album when he got back.

  It was fall, and the foliage was a bright red-orange. It looked a lot like fire to him, for some reason. He suddenly returned to memories of himself as a young boy, exploring not England, but America. He wandered the forest, lost in thought.

  After another hour, he was lost.

  “Tch,” was all he could say to himself. He was quick to reference his maps, unworried. He took a few deep breaths of the afternoon air. It felt good. He thought maybe he should forest bathe more.

  He ended up finding his way back to his original checkpoint. He referenced his map once more. He had searched all of the big interest areas marked on the map. Even though he appeared nonchalant, in actuality, he was focused, paying extreme attention to his surroundings (except at the end). He did not notice anything strange.

  He took out his phone. No signal. He looked at it like it was some odd, foreign piece of equipment. He was disappointed in it.

  Marianus marched back to the road stop, where he had separated from Sascha. Under the sweet songs of the birds, and the occasional rustle of leaves due to some squirrel or another, Marianus marched back untriumphantly.

  “We’re going to have to come back tomorrow,” he complained to himself. Such was life.

  He arrived back at the pit, but Sascha wasn’t there. He thought that was a little strange, but then again, Sascha was probably very angry with him. Who knew if she was purposefully late, or worse, if she “forgot” about him. He smiled bitterly to himself while taking out his paper journal.

  He recorded his observations for today’s exploration. There was a lot of fluff, but essentially it boiled down to “nothing interesting”. He couldn’t, however, leave it at that. His editor’s fury about these types of things knows no end, and for understandable reasons. Such are meticulous women, he thought. They make irritating bosses but are damn good at their jobs. He found himself laughing at that realization.

  He glanced over his notes for the case and thought again how unusual a case this was, and also how lucky he was to be able to cover it. A mysterious cult appears in multiple locations, chiefly unpopulated pockets of nature. They haven’t done anything heinous or noteworthy, at least not outwardly. However, Marianus felt—and a strong feeling it was!—that there was much more to them than this. He had been following their activity through secondhand sources, and most reports typically followed a set of strange phenomena. Animals acting strange. Strange sounds at night. People not feeling like themselves—people changing completely, then disappearing. They’re not much to go off of, and normally Marianus wouldn’t take a case so unreliable like this, but for some reason he felt compelled. He felt compelled to chase the ends of this. It was just a feeling, a feeling that has grown with every new report, with every new development and every new appearance in some other backwater. Sascha’s father must’ve felt this too, he must’ve known this too. That’s why he called Marianus, and with information too alluring to pass. Until now, Marianus only studied secondhand reports after the cult had switched locations. However Sascha’s father did it is not Marianus’s primary concern. Marianus now had information on the place before they left, if it was true, and he was going to see for himself if this was real, if his time searching and yearning had been justified.

  He was disappointed, unfortunately, which doesn’t happen to him often when it comes to cases. However, this case was different. This was his golden egg, and it was not looking so lucrative.

  He waited a few more hours. At that point, Marianus thought maybe he should proceed on foot. His phone still had no signal, and as beautiful as the forest was, he wasn’t feeling in the mood for another hike. Where is Sascha? He wondered.

  Harboring a little resentment, he finally got up. He looked around, then up. The moon was absent. It wasn’t evening yet, but the shade of the trees made the ambience of the forest seem much darker. It was darker than earlier, after all.

  Marianus wasn’t one to be afraid of the dark. In fact, he welcomed nightfall with open arms. He amused himself with such thoughts to ease his creeping concern.

  As he was loitering about the pit, taking more pictures, writing a stream of consciousness of sorts in his journal, he received a call.

  It was from Sascha. At that moment, it appears he had but one bar of signal. He answered the phone quickly.

  “Sascha! Where the heck are you! Why did you leave me here! Ah, it’s not like I’m afraid of the dark or being alone or anything… Actually, I’m a little afraid and I’m very sorry. Please come pick me up!”

  Marianus didn’t receive a response. There was only static. It was an old CRTV-type static that made Marianus very curious.

  After some time, the static grew in intensity. Marianus looked out into nowhere, his eyebrows furrowing more and more with every grinding halt of static. He listened intently. Then Sascha finally responded.

  “...... Don’t..!” The call hung up. No signal.

  He held his breath. He wondered what had happened. Was Sascha warning him about something? Was she calling out to him for help? He couldn’t deduce. There was too much background noise. He clicked his tongue.

  Then there was another noise, a larger one, very unlike a useless piece of communication equipment and more like a human’s voice. It was a child’s voice. It was a child’s scream.

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  Marianus stood up, his body on edge, its hairs pointing up like a frightened cat. He dashed in the direction of the sound.

  He ran and ran and ran, tracking carefully the source of other footsteps, of some more screaming, until there was screaming no more. He hid between the trees, like a forest animal. He put on his night vision goggles, and turned it on.

  That was when he saw it. A little girl, bloodied, on the ground. A figure in a large, baggy robe, a tinted visor helmet, designed to protect the eyes. Marianus had the impression that the figure was staring at him through the goggles with cold, hard eyes.

  That was only his imagination though. The figure did not notice him. It hovered over the little girl, like some maniacal alien monster. Marianus felt like at any moment, the figure would grow a number of gross appendages that would tear the little girl apart.

  Instead of something so gruesome and quick, the figure chose a slower, crueler form of execution. He pinned the girl down and clasped his hands around her neck. He was choking her.

  This was really bad, Marianus thought. It was terribly bad. He felt angry at himself, because he did not move. He stayed hidden behind the trees, watching carefully. He knew his best option was to safely evacuate. If he got involved, he might possibly be able to save the girl, but he had no info on the figure. Worst case scenario, they could both die. The best option is to evacuate without their noticing, and then re-infiltrate. He took a few photos of the scene for evidence. This should convince my father to finally get involved, he thought.

  He quietly scurried away. He quietly evacuated. He quietly walked… extremely bothered. How could he leave a girl to die like this in front of him? His mind screamed doubts, and the self-assurance was ineffective here. He was prioritizing his own life and the case over one girl’s life. But, he reasoned, if there are more like her, getting caught would spell the end of the investigation, and the loss of many more lives, possibly! And he could do little in this situation against the unknown figure. It was the smart decision. To prevent a stir was the goal. To prevent getting caught was the plan.

  He battled his mind as he forced himself to walk away. He was resolute. He had already witnessed the horrifying scenes of bodies upon bodies of lifeless young children. He decided to personally bear the burden of yet another one.

  He looked back just once more. That was when he saw her face. Light peeked through the leaves and illuminated the girl’s young, terrified face. Marianus ripped off the night vision goggles and charged back. He charged. Before he realized it, he rammed into the figure.

  Why! Why am I doing this! He screamed at himself internally. It was too late, however. He wrestled with the figure. He pulled it off of the girl and pinned it down, whatever it was. He could hardly believe it was human, but wrestling it in this way, he was comforted to know it was.

  But what human could do such a thing as strangle a child? Not any human that he wanted to know, anyway. He had such trivial thoughts as the figure, in a moment’s notice, overpowered him. The figure pulled out a knife and threatened Marianus with it.

  Marianus didn’t hesitate when he stripped the knife off the figure very expertly. Maybe it was all the adrenaline. It was probably the adrenaline. Marianus spaced backward, putting himself between the figure and the girl. He shielded her with his back while facing the lone cultist.

  It was surely the cultist, if nothing else. What else would stand so suspiciously imposing? The cultist threatened Marianus’s life, and he had no choice but to face it—no him—right here, right now.

  Why did Marianus jump out? He couldn’t hardly believe it himself, but he had done it. It’s the girl’s fault, he would’ve reasoned. Why did the girl have to look so much like his kid sister? He cursed the gods for these circumstances.

  Marianus pulled out a gun. He pointed it at the cultist. The cultist did not move.

  They had right then and there a stand-off. The birds were quiet. The forest was sleeping, though sunset had just arrived. Sweat ran its uncomfortable way down Marianus’s right cheek. He felt it slowly slide, like butter. As for the cultist—well, who knew if he was sweating.

  “Don’t move!” Marianus yelled. He spared no shred of doubt. He was ready to kill.

  The cultist moved. He shot, and killed. The cultist fell to the ground with a plop.

  Marianus released his bated breath. He relaxed his muscles. He turned toward the girl, who was alive and well. She flinched in fear.

  “Ah, relax kiddo. You’ve been through some stuff, huh? This man has saved your life. Be grateful.” Marianus tried to be as nonchalantly reassuring as possible.

  “... Thank you,” It seemed to work.

  “Girl, what’s your name?” Marianus asked.

  “Polly,” she replied.

  “Right. Well, Polly, let’s get the heck out of here.”

  He stood up and extended a hand. The girl didn’t move, so instead Marianus lifted her up and carried her atop his shoulder. He laughed, and Polly was alarmed. How out of place this was, but Marianus really thought that maybe this girl was his kid sister after all. How long had it been since he did something like this?

  He froze. There was another sound. He dropped the girl and readied his gun. There was scurrying, from who knew where. He turned around rapidly, looking and looking and looking.

  From behind a bush, illuminated in some strange light not belonging to any celestial figure was a cat. It was simply a cat. A stray, it seemed.

  “Ah… You scared me. I thought you were another cultist.”

  Marianus turned around. Polly tugged at the hem of his shirt.

  “S... Sir... “

  “Hm? Call me Marianus, or Mario, if that’s easier. What’s up?”

  “The… The cat..! It’s-”

  Marianus didn’t have time to react, because before he knew it, he felt a slash and burning pain at his right eye.

  The cat. It attacked him square in the eye. Marianus was blinded, he couldn’t see. Blood gushed forward. With his other eye, he regained his bearings. Just barely, he could see the cat’s outline past him. It turned its eerie head. Its eyes were a solid shade of crimson red.

  It jumped at him once more. Marianus didn’t have time to react, still blinded from the previous attack. He braced himself for another hit and closed his eyes. He was not hit, however.

  The cat had attacked Polly, who fell to the ground. Her legs were slashed deeply. She cried out in pain.

  “Fuck! Fuck!” Marianus jumped for his gun. Doing what he could, he aimed and shot wildly at the cat, being careful not to hit the girl. Doing what he could, he fired and fired. He couldn’t do much.

  That was because the cat strategically positioned itself between Marianus and Polly. Every time Marianus had a clear shot at the little demon, it was always in an inconvenient place located by Polly. He would risk shooting her too, so he wouldn’t fire. Then, he would suffer yet another minor cut.

  It was cut after cut after cut after cut. He could do nothing against this. This was no ordinary cat. It was as if it was conscious and intelligent. It was as if it was human, or controlled by a human.

  Marianus didn’t know why, but he looked over to the fallen cultist on the ground. No sign of movement. He was surely dead.

  But what’s with this cat? Why is it attacking them?

  Marianus could only come to one conclusion as the cat jumped for his throat. It had a clear view. His flesh was an easy picking.

  Sayonara, Marianus thought.

  Then out of nowhere, Sascha appeared.

  She appeared!

  Sascha appeared and smashed the cat with a baseball bat. The cat didn’t go down that easily. It jumped at Sascha multiple times, enduring hit after hit. Sascha slipped one moment, and missed the cat, who chomped her ferociously, like a rabid animal.

  Fortunately, it bit only her side. One more hit from Sascha and it was down.

  It was down for good.

  Marianus breathed a sigh of relief. Sascha ran over to hug him. Marianus didn’t budge.

  “Tch… You fool!” She cried. “This was… this was why I should’ve come with you?”

  “Sascha… What’s the report? How are my injuries?”

  “Shut up, you asshole. Let me sit here a moment.”

  Sascha held him and sobbed. She applied excellent first aid.