Greenpoe
06-14-2008, 04:26 PM
Introduction:It is written in second person, because when I started writing it, I sought to put the reader in the action.
You, Zoe, and others are visiting a little-known island, but something strange is going on. Zoe asked questions that the tour guide refused to admit those answers, so she ran off. You followed her, but after some exploring, a beastly creature follows, as you make haste in a sliver of hope to survive.
The story begins...
"Run, Zoe! FASTER!", you scream.
The pep talk does little. It gets closer and closer...Huh? Where did the noises go? You turn around around and see--no one! Just a dense forest. Where did they go? You begin the march back to find your answer. Step, after step - after step - after step...Nothing. Maybe they stopped running straight, after all, zig-zags get you from alligators. You throw your hands out with a great mix of strong feelings - Ouch! What?! You hand hits something and before you know it, you're...bleeding?! Severely. You'll pass out in a matter of minutes at this rate! Before your mind goes blank, you remember a lion-like growl coming from the right in your vicinity.
You awaken, confused. No blood stains, cuts, or marks. You stick your hands out like a blind man to feel for that invisible barrier. Uh oh! No time to question your sanity now - the signature screech of the swamp monster tears right through your ears! You will never forget that sound. Something slams right down to the tropical floor. "Again?!" you wonder. As you look up, millions of horrible thoughts rush through your head. You don't think this is an illusion like before - it must be...the monster! You mutter some prayers before hearing the beautiful, soft, cleansing, and angelic voice:
"Hi there!" It's Zoe! You are left speechless, confused, and most of all, happy!! "Don't say a word - I've got to show you something." You listen an abide by her commands. You take her hand and the both of you begin walking somewhere, following and odd trail of moss. "Don't be afraid." She smiles at you. "Me? Never!" You reply with an egotistical grin. She laughs.
"In here," she points to a great metal door. There is so much vegetation growing directly on it, it could easily be overlooked; in fact, you remember passing it as your first wandered from that lame tour. She fools with an electronic panel beside the door.
"This door," you begin, sarcastically,"is amazing." She ignores you. A few minutes later, old ironsides begins to move and sparks fly out. You, remembering some old lectures of electrodynamics, shock Zoe, literally!
She laughs and says, "Enter already!" You slowly walk in, being as precautions as need be. "A racing snail goes faster than you!" You pick up the pace to move a bit faster than the speed at which you'd be most comfortable.
You and Zoe approach another door. This one opens automatically and instantly. You smile and her expression follows and intensifies. You see and old man muttering intense calculations and scientific knowledge very quickly, leaving out words vital for the soliloquy in it's entirety to make sense. Zoe's expression falls rapidly. She approaches the man demonstrating not even the slightest signs of a xenophobe. Highly confused, she emits a few questions, " Dr.Carl? What are you doing? What is happening?" Your mind is now a tornado's aftermath. To clear some of the fog, you question, "What's going on?" Zoe's really looking like she's been here before.
She answers slowly, "I had been here once before - not ages ago, but just a couple of minutes. After we were split up, I kept running until I figured I'll get tired before it does. I saw a dark opening through a 'tropical mountain', by shear reflex, I dashed in here." Zoe has incredible reflexes, one thing you always lacked. You remember back to the card game, Speed. Never got close to winning, not once. "I sprinted down from that hall to Dr.Carol here. His security system caught and confronted me. I felt like a criminal - a trespasser - fugitive, but it was too late, far too late. He greeted me, told me about the lab here, said he was...uh...abandoned on a government mission, but wouldn't reveal his prior task. Now he struggles to remain alive, hoping infinitely for his destiny to change, for an escape to materialize." she pauses, dead cold. You know something is horribly wrong by her expression, but what and where?
"Run. We have to get out of here," she says calmly. You know better than to disobey her serious tone. You listen, and run to the horrors awaiting outside.
Sprinting. Curosity and fear rapidly rising. Fatigue beginning to arise. You run out the colossal door of poor electric circuits. It looks like the wiring is held by paperclips and bubblegum! No time to laugh, no breath leftover. A spark hits you. It erupts enough motivation to keep moving you moving just a bit longer...through the jungle...Zoe slows.
You hear a magnificent explosion, but can see no fires through the jungle environment. It must've come from within the old man's lab. There's no time to investigate. Looking through the deep fog, you see -- Another person from the tour! When you escaped, you thought the worst danger was a bee sting, but now, another soul to your party is an absolute godsend. He's slightly overweight, obviously doesn't exercise as much as you. His name is Nick, you remember him complaining about the humidity before the rain. He stands, frowning, speaking, "You shouldn't have walked off."
"Then why did you?" Zoe snares back. She doesn't like being corrected when her mistake stood obvious to all.
"I was worried, for you. I thought you might be in danger. I thought I could--"
"You shouldn't have come," Zoe interrupts, "Now we're all in grave danger." The signature screech of the demonic beast erupts through the forest. It awaits your final destiny. "Running is no option." Zoe says firmly. Too intimidated to stand against her idea, you stand proud. If death awaits, fear will be still. Nick looks confused.
Zoe commands, "Alright, you dig a hole and cover it with leaves and branches, whatever you can to make it look natural. Nick - find something that looks tasty and inviting for your friend. Bring and it plenty back here." As the digging begins, you hear Nick's soft footsteps fade into the topics...
Hours pass...or maybe minutes. Hard to tell when you're vehemently fighting relentless mental stress to accomplish a simple physical task. Nick returns. He doesn't look well, probably just forgot to take his medication. He carries some large grape-fruit like spheres. They smell great! Zoe's voice, now sonorous, calls to him. "Throw it up here...great!" After a moment, you recognize her. In the canopy, she lowers a vine, with the delicious fruit tied with it. It hangs a few feet above your contrived caw of the tropical floor. She orders Nick to smear the remains around the trees, to permeate the scent. He begins to crush one like a lemon. A thick goo escapes the fruit's pores onto his hands.
"Don't eat any of it," he calls, "It tastes wretched."
"Are you brain dead?!" Zoe incisively rants, "That could be poisonous! Stay away from us. Don't spread the contamination." She seems paranoid, but she's just precautions. You don't mind his actions. The end is near, you can intuitively sense it...but a thick goo is resonating from his hands. Your eyes, fixed, are stuck to the fluid. It keeps growing, slowly. Worried, you look to his face...its horribly disfigured. Something is wrong. The goo isn't growing from the fruit, it's pushing out from his pours! Too weird. Can't be happening. It's a dream...a lucid dream. You'll awaken soon...you hope. Zoe doesn't notice the changes on Nick's skin, so you ignore it. Maybe it's tranquilizing him, because he doesn't sound worried. You lay down against a tree, close your eyes, and await the future: This dream to end, or death to come...
Zoe's voice awakens you, "Nick, how are things down there? You've been awfully quiet."
Nick doesn't answer. You open your tired eyes, moving past the branches to check on him. Terror strikes. The creature from the river is sleeping where Nick was. Unrelenting panic dominates your mental state. It ate him! It must have...but why didn't it go for seconds?
You tell Zoe what you see. She jumps down from the branch, hitting the ground hard, but shrugs it off like a light breeze. Maybe you can impale the beast with a stone. Before long, you find a jagged boulder, hardly mobile by your human strength, but you can undoubtedly kill it with Zoe's help...then, Nick's voice croaks. Where is he? "What are you doing with that?!" The subhuman voice screeches and echoes lightly amongst the trees...is that...Nick's voice..? "Why is my voice so loud?" It yelps. You don't know what's going on, but Nick's voice is definitely coming from the creature, yet it does not strike you...You suddenly realize the horrifying truth, "Nick is the monster!" Zoe nods, as if she knew all along, withholding the threatening accusation.
"Nicholas? Hello?" Zoe asks. You hear a very low slurping sound as his words limp out of his trembling jaw. He looks like something that prowled out of The Creature from the Black Lagoon by now. Zoe tip toes closer, "Can you hear me? Do you speak our language?" The latter, a half-joke. The goo is becoming thicker and thicker, escaping slower from the glands of his epidermis. "It must have been the fruit," Zoe says, "With all that goo being produced so rapidly, it must make his metabolism excruciatingly high. He needs food, or his pores will kill him." He doesn't move. Nick only stares, standing, probably panicking inside...
Your feet feel cool. You look down, the lush vegetation is cooling. The water freezes. The skies begin to precipitate. It's getting colder. The forest floor is turning to ice, slowly. It morphs from dark green to light blue. Mesmerized by the changes. You've never seen anything like it. You begin to ask Nick how he's feeling through the changes. As you look up, you see the goo being frozen. First it occurs at the outer layer, then freezing it into a hard shell. You see the circulation of the fluid slow. The ice continues into his pores. The ice keeps freezing. Freezing. Killing. His eyes are that of absolute horror, almost as if he took the insight of the ages to the grave with him. Now he's gone. Forever. Only a statue. A perfect ice statue temporarily petrified by the amber of ice. You can't help but stare. You've never seen something so unreal. The same feeling you get when you see a recording of murder, counterbalanced by the beauty of the statue, the same feeling you get when you see a beautiful painting of a slaughterhouse. Guilt.
"I will return," you whisper to the lifeless demon.
"We'd best be leaving now. If it can do that to him, I don't want to know what it'll do to us!" You know she's right. Despite your urge to stay and die, to rid yourself forever of the guilt, you listen. You take one last look around before leaving. One panoramic view -- the trees, the ice, the trap, and...Nick.
Zoe smiles. Although the traumatizing events forever altered the remains of your schema--the death of one dear friend, the explosion of a highly valued lab, constantly on the run for your life, on trip and it could all be over--her smile makes everything seem better. You smile, despite horrible thoughts rushing through your head, you hope for the best, that you're cynical pessimism is not contagious.
"What if everything shifts again?" You wonder, "It could all go to desert, or a land of fire."
"All we can do is hope for the best. We both want out, right? Pandora's hope will keep us alive," she replies. Her smile remains. Strong. Happy. Flawless. You know survival is not an option. She hasn't see what the creature could do. She hasn't seen its strength and speed.
You hear the monster screech again. "How convienient," you sigh.
"This way!" Zoe yells to you. You take off running. It approaches, coming ever closer. Zoe follows a chaotic path through the thick brush, but the creature's speed totters only slightly. "It's even more agile than before. This is a different beast, or it adapted, shutting its pores, slowing the metabolism to fit the jungle's alteration." It doesn't look much like a jungle anymore. It looks like a Pluto planet in a science fiction movie.
Despite your daunting path, it continues to gain...before long, it is only a few yards away. This is the end. Countless thoughts, insight and images flash through your mortal mind, in the space of a split second, before your final gasp of air. Maybe it will slow down, wear you out, have some fun with the prey before our final demise...giving one last chance for us...No. It runs on instinct. Lacks a mind, it abides by the drives in its system.
No hope, only panic. No future, only torment. All the things you've wanted to say, gone. Too late. The words you wished to conceive for your friends' benefit, to tell them how much they helped, how great they were, how perfect. Zoe will die, not knowing how deeply you held respect for her. One more hope: Sacrifice. If you throw yourself at it, catching it off guard, you might slow it down by a few precious seconds. It might even eat you immediately, allowing Zoe all the more chance to escape. She's the resourceful, cunning, quicker one. If anyone can survive, she can. You turn around and slide beneath it's feet, grasping it's leg as best you can. It squeals in shock. Zoe stops. What is she doing?! Doesn't she know what's about to happen? This is her only chance! The opportunity is burning dry. Disappearing. In another second, the monster will free itself. If she doesn't move, she has at best a few seconds to live. She remains. Despite your last resort having taken hold, she let it pass. She reaches into her pocket, and pulls out some of the fruit...lifts it up....then it hits you. She knows as a human, she stood a snowball's chance of survival to the outside world, but if she eats the fruit, if she transforms into the monster itself, she might live. Isn't better to die human, than live as a relentless monster? Didn't she see how it ended for Nick? Doesn't she remember? She tosses it to the beast, giving you both another moment of life's sweet elixir. She must be thinking you tripped, that she can save you, but the dreadful contrary is true. She's too humble to let you die, alone. The creature eats the fruit. Mesmerized, you don't move. The spectacle is unreal. Muscle spasms are dominant, spreading to ever organ of the beast's body. Maybe it's becoming human. Maybe it will implode! Its eyes focus on you. Fear returns, but it looks fatigued. You stand, and jog away, pacing yourself steadily to make the best of your empty reserves. You don't hear it pursue, so you and Zoe keep going, allowing you time to think. It must've ate the fruit from the trap, that explains why Nick died, yet this lives. The fruit sped up the adaption process. Ahead, you see a boiling pit of tar, steam rising from the surface. "What should we do?" You stop and ask Zoe, staring across the chasm. She's awfully tired out. Too tried to speak. You could grab a hanging vine and swing across, but if the vine fell, you'd die. You could pursue a path around it all, but who knows how long that might take?
The screech echoes through the forest again: There's no time to think. Acting almost purely on survival instinct, you grab the nearest vine. You can't get a good grip, you're slowly slipping, you have to swing quickly, or meet with death. You thrust your body forth, and release your tightened hands, only to hold for dear life onto the jagged rocks at the far end. You pull yourself up, and look back. Zoe grabs the vine, and smoothly swings across, landing acrobatically. Ecstatically, you hug Zoe. She's still in survival mode, knowing the creature will continue approaching, continue toward you until both of the gladiators fall. She gently lifts a loose piece of the rock near your feet. It's sharp. The snow still falls. The wind is remains still. When she sees the beast grasp the vine to leap across, the stone cuts through the humid air, slicing the vine. The creature falls, carrying its prior momentum, slams into the rocky wall. Stabbed by a small pillar jutting out of the rock, it panics. Trying to escape, suffering, it pushes itself away, off the rock wall. It digs its claws into the icy rock, climbing, ready to avenge the attack. Zoe tosses the remaining fruit down below, into the heat of death. The creature excitedly leaps off, snatching the small fruit, chewing furiously, falling to its final demise. You stare down, watching it die, seeing it adapt before converging to its fate. As if to let out a death cry, or perhaps one unlikely attempt at murder, lighting shoots from it's heart to a nearby tree. It goes limp, admitting defeat, finally submissive.
"It's over," Zoe says, "The nightmare has finally ended."
The two of you walk from the memorial to nature's demonic creation.
One final glance at the perfect scene: A dimly lit jungle inhabited by a vast wasteland of tropical vegetation, whilst the snow solemnly floats down. Plethoras of icicles grow throughout the land. The ground slowly morphs to the arctic tundra. It is the epitome of nature's prowess...something spectacular catches your eye. Not too far off in the distance, it shines to your eye. "Let's go." Zoe speaks with a smile.
As you move closer, nothing further is said. The words, "There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." ring through your mind, but before you put your finger on where that phrase originated, you realize that you have reached the destination: An incredible diamond hangs from the ceiling of a vast cavern. You stare as if unable to remove your eyes from its refracting features.
"We'll be dead if we're found here." Zoe says.
"Yep. We're out in the middle of nowhere standing before a cave wielding a priceless gem."
"Not that..." Zoe says sedately, "The fruit."
"Fruit?" Confused, you lower and turn your head to look her in the eye, but before you do, you realize the object of her words: The cave is growing the biologically morphing fruit from vines stretching across its walls.
"You saw what it did to Nick, and how it strengthened that stalking behemoth. Can you imagine what this amount could do?" The nadir thought fails to provoke you: You have been breathing in this nightmarish wasteland. It can't get much worse. You hear her mumble, "--vile oasis, it curses the planet."
Eager to chance the subject, you ask, "Do you think Dr.Carol is still alive?" A loud screech. Another beast lives.
"Let's go." Zoe commands, yet it materializes before you: The new beast will spill your blood. It dashes toward you, then leaps over your head. Something took priority to your delicious veins: Glancing back, you see it rush toward the...cave. Together you and Zoe trot away, wordless again, perfectly aware that you're not alive, simply awaiting massacre.
The creature screeches, yet the sound is more intense than ever. You quickly lose orientation over your own corpse, becoming dizzy, the world spins fast: The only sight is a dark green canvas. Pain follows: A sharp stabbing at your back. In an instant, thoughts relentlessly rush through your capacity of mind. "This is the end of the line. One can only escape the grasp of death for so long." The screeching stops. Your vision slowly returns, but the pain remains. You glance around, no sight of Zoe. She must escape. She always escapes hard times, undaunted and ready for more relentless punishment to fight for the greatest good. She must...
In a final action, you grasp your crucifix necklace. Then it's all over. No pain. No emotion. No thought. Only one feeling: The worms dig into your decomposing cadaver. The end has passed.
You, Zoe, and others are visiting a little-known island, but something strange is going on. Zoe asked questions that the tour guide refused to admit those answers, so she ran off. You followed her, but after some exploring, a beastly creature follows, as you make haste in a sliver of hope to survive.
The story begins...
"Run, Zoe! FASTER!", you scream.
The pep talk does little. It gets closer and closer...Huh? Where did the noises go? You turn around around and see--no one! Just a dense forest. Where did they go? You begin the march back to find your answer. Step, after step - after step - after step...Nothing. Maybe they stopped running straight, after all, zig-zags get you from alligators. You throw your hands out with a great mix of strong feelings - Ouch! What?! You hand hits something and before you know it, you're...bleeding?! Severely. You'll pass out in a matter of minutes at this rate! Before your mind goes blank, you remember a lion-like growl coming from the right in your vicinity.
You awaken, confused. No blood stains, cuts, or marks. You stick your hands out like a blind man to feel for that invisible barrier. Uh oh! No time to question your sanity now - the signature screech of the swamp monster tears right through your ears! You will never forget that sound. Something slams right down to the tropical floor. "Again?!" you wonder. As you look up, millions of horrible thoughts rush through your head. You don't think this is an illusion like before - it must be...the monster! You mutter some prayers before hearing the beautiful, soft, cleansing, and angelic voice:
"Hi there!" It's Zoe! You are left speechless, confused, and most of all, happy!! "Don't say a word - I've got to show you something." You listen an abide by her commands. You take her hand and the both of you begin walking somewhere, following and odd trail of moss. "Don't be afraid." She smiles at you. "Me? Never!" You reply with an egotistical grin. She laughs.
"In here," she points to a great metal door. There is so much vegetation growing directly on it, it could easily be overlooked; in fact, you remember passing it as your first wandered from that lame tour. She fools with an electronic panel beside the door.
"This door," you begin, sarcastically,"is amazing." She ignores you. A few minutes later, old ironsides begins to move and sparks fly out. You, remembering some old lectures of electrodynamics, shock Zoe, literally!
She laughs and says, "Enter already!" You slowly walk in, being as precautions as need be. "A racing snail goes faster than you!" You pick up the pace to move a bit faster than the speed at which you'd be most comfortable.
You and Zoe approach another door. This one opens automatically and instantly. You smile and her expression follows and intensifies. You see and old man muttering intense calculations and scientific knowledge very quickly, leaving out words vital for the soliloquy in it's entirety to make sense. Zoe's expression falls rapidly. She approaches the man demonstrating not even the slightest signs of a xenophobe. Highly confused, she emits a few questions, " Dr.Carl? What are you doing? What is happening?" Your mind is now a tornado's aftermath. To clear some of the fog, you question, "What's going on?" Zoe's really looking like she's been here before.
She answers slowly, "I had been here once before - not ages ago, but just a couple of minutes. After we were split up, I kept running until I figured I'll get tired before it does. I saw a dark opening through a 'tropical mountain', by shear reflex, I dashed in here." Zoe has incredible reflexes, one thing you always lacked. You remember back to the card game, Speed. Never got close to winning, not once. "I sprinted down from that hall to Dr.Carol here. His security system caught and confronted me. I felt like a criminal - a trespasser - fugitive, but it was too late, far too late. He greeted me, told me about the lab here, said he was...uh...abandoned on a government mission, but wouldn't reveal his prior task. Now he struggles to remain alive, hoping infinitely for his destiny to change, for an escape to materialize." she pauses, dead cold. You know something is horribly wrong by her expression, but what and where?
"Run. We have to get out of here," she says calmly. You know better than to disobey her serious tone. You listen, and run to the horrors awaiting outside.
Sprinting. Curosity and fear rapidly rising. Fatigue beginning to arise. You run out the colossal door of poor electric circuits. It looks like the wiring is held by paperclips and bubblegum! No time to laugh, no breath leftover. A spark hits you. It erupts enough motivation to keep moving you moving just a bit longer...through the jungle...Zoe slows.
You hear a magnificent explosion, but can see no fires through the jungle environment. It must've come from within the old man's lab. There's no time to investigate. Looking through the deep fog, you see -- Another person from the tour! When you escaped, you thought the worst danger was a bee sting, but now, another soul to your party is an absolute godsend. He's slightly overweight, obviously doesn't exercise as much as you. His name is Nick, you remember him complaining about the humidity before the rain. He stands, frowning, speaking, "You shouldn't have walked off."
"Then why did you?" Zoe snares back. She doesn't like being corrected when her mistake stood obvious to all.
"I was worried, for you. I thought you might be in danger. I thought I could--"
"You shouldn't have come," Zoe interrupts, "Now we're all in grave danger." The signature screech of the demonic beast erupts through the forest. It awaits your final destiny. "Running is no option." Zoe says firmly. Too intimidated to stand against her idea, you stand proud. If death awaits, fear will be still. Nick looks confused.
Zoe commands, "Alright, you dig a hole and cover it with leaves and branches, whatever you can to make it look natural. Nick - find something that looks tasty and inviting for your friend. Bring and it plenty back here." As the digging begins, you hear Nick's soft footsteps fade into the topics...
Hours pass...or maybe minutes. Hard to tell when you're vehemently fighting relentless mental stress to accomplish a simple physical task. Nick returns. He doesn't look well, probably just forgot to take his medication. He carries some large grape-fruit like spheres. They smell great! Zoe's voice, now sonorous, calls to him. "Throw it up here...great!" After a moment, you recognize her. In the canopy, she lowers a vine, with the delicious fruit tied with it. It hangs a few feet above your contrived caw of the tropical floor. She orders Nick to smear the remains around the trees, to permeate the scent. He begins to crush one like a lemon. A thick goo escapes the fruit's pores onto his hands.
"Don't eat any of it," he calls, "It tastes wretched."
"Are you brain dead?!" Zoe incisively rants, "That could be poisonous! Stay away from us. Don't spread the contamination." She seems paranoid, but she's just precautions. You don't mind his actions. The end is near, you can intuitively sense it...but a thick goo is resonating from his hands. Your eyes, fixed, are stuck to the fluid. It keeps growing, slowly. Worried, you look to his face...its horribly disfigured. Something is wrong. The goo isn't growing from the fruit, it's pushing out from his pours! Too weird. Can't be happening. It's a dream...a lucid dream. You'll awaken soon...you hope. Zoe doesn't notice the changes on Nick's skin, so you ignore it. Maybe it's tranquilizing him, because he doesn't sound worried. You lay down against a tree, close your eyes, and await the future: This dream to end, or death to come...
Zoe's voice awakens you, "Nick, how are things down there? You've been awfully quiet."
Nick doesn't answer. You open your tired eyes, moving past the branches to check on him. Terror strikes. The creature from the river is sleeping where Nick was. Unrelenting panic dominates your mental state. It ate him! It must have...but why didn't it go for seconds?
You tell Zoe what you see. She jumps down from the branch, hitting the ground hard, but shrugs it off like a light breeze. Maybe you can impale the beast with a stone. Before long, you find a jagged boulder, hardly mobile by your human strength, but you can undoubtedly kill it with Zoe's help...then, Nick's voice croaks. Where is he? "What are you doing with that?!" The subhuman voice screeches and echoes lightly amongst the trees...is that...Nick's voice..? "Why is my voice so loud?" It yelps. You don't know what's going on, but Nick's voice is definitely coming from the creature, yet it does not strike you...You suddenly realize the horrifying truth, "Nick is the monster!" Zoe nods, as if she knew all along, withholding the threatening accusation.
"Nicholas? Hello?" Zoe asks. You hear a very low slurping sound as his words limp out of his trembling jaw. He looks like something that prowled out of The Creature from the Black Lagoon by now. Zoe tip toes closer, "Can you hear me? Do you speak our language?" The latter, a half-joke. The goo is becoming thicker and thicker, escaping slower from the glands of his epidermis. "It must have been the fruit," Zoe says, "With all that goo being produced so rapidly, it must make his metabolism excruciatingly high. He needs food, or his pores will kill him." He doesn't move. Nick only stares, standing, probably panicking inside...
Your feet feel cool. You look down, the lush vegetation is cooling. The water freezes. The skies begin to precipitate. It's getting colder. The forest floor is turning to ice, slowly. It morphs from dark green to light blue. Mesmerized by the changes. You've never seen anything like it. You begin to ask Nick how he's feeling through the changes. As you look up, you see the goo being frozen. First it occurs at the outer layer, then freezing it into a hard shell. You see the circulation of the fluid slow. The ice continues into his pores. The ice keeps freezing. Freezing. Killing. His eyes are that of absolute horror, almost as if he took the insight of the ages to the grave with him. Now he's gone. Forever. Only a statue. A perfect ice statue temporarily petrified by the amber of ice. You can't help but stare. You've never seen something so unreal. The same feeling you get when you see a recording of murder, counterbalanced by the beauty of the statue, the same feeling you get when you see a beautiful painting of a slaughterhouse. Guilt.
"I will return," you whisper to the lifeless demon.
"We'd best be leaving now. If it can do that to him, I don't want to know what it'll do to us!" You know she's right. Despite your urge to stay and die, to rid yourself forever of the guilt, you listen. You take one last look around before leaving. One panoramic view -- the trees, the ice, the trap, and...Nick.
Zoe smiles. Although the traumatizing events forever altered the remains of your schema--the death of one dear friend, the explosion of a highly valued lab, constantly on the run for your life, on trip and it could all be over--her smile makes everything seem better. You smile, despite horrible thoughts rushing through your head, you hope for the best, that you're cynical pessimism is not contagious.
"What if everything shifts again?" You wonder, "It could all go to desert, or a land of fire."
"All we can do is hope for the best. We both want out, right? Pandora's hope will keep us alive," she replies. Her smile remains. Strong. Happy. Flawless. You know survival is not an option. She hasn't see what the creature could do. She hasn't seen its strength and speed.
You hear the monster screech again. "How convienient," you sigh.
"This way!" Zoe yells to you. You take off running. It approaches, coming ever closer. Zoe follows a chaotic path through the thick brush, but the creature's speed totters only slightly. "It's even more agile than before. This is a different beast, or it adapted, shutting its pores, slowing the metabolism to fit the jungle's alteration." It doesn't look much like a jungle anymore. It looks like a Pluto planet in a science fiction movie.
Despite your daunting path, it continues to gain...before long, it is only a few yards away. This is the end. Countless thoughts, insight and images flash through your mortal mind, in the space of a split second, before your final gasp of air. Maybe it will slow down, wear you out, have some fun with the prey before our final demise...giving one last chance for us...No. It runs on instinct. Lacks a mind, it abides by the drives in its system.
No hope, only panic. No future, only torment. All the things you've wanted to say, gone. Too late. The words you wished to conceive for your friends' benefit, to tell them how much they helped, how great they were, how perfect. Zoe will die, not knowing how deeply you held respect for her. One more hope: Sacrifice. If you throw yourself at it, catching it off guard, you might slow it down by a few precious seconds. It might even eat you immediately, allowing Zoe all the more chance to escape. She's the resourceful, cunning, quicker one. If anyone can survive, she can. You turn around and slide beneath it's feet, grasping it's leg as best you can. It squeals in shock. Zoe stops. What is she doing?! Doesn't she know what's about to happen? This is her only chance! The opportunity is burning dry. Disappearing. In another second, the monster will free itself. If she doesn't move, she has at best a few seconds to live. She remains. Despite your last resort having taken hold, she let it pass. She reaches into her pocket, and pulls out some of the fruit...lifts it up....then it hits you. She knows as a human, she stood a snowball's chance of survival to the outside world, but if she eats the fruit, if she transforms into the monster itself, she might live. Isn't better to die human, than live as a relentless monster? Didn't she see how it ended for Nick? Doesn't she remember? She tosses it to the beast, giving you both another moment of life's sweet elixir. She must be thinking you tripped, that she can save you, but the dreadful contrary is true. She's too humble to let you die, alone. The creature eats the fruit. Mesmerized, you don't move. The spectacle is unreal. Muscle spasms are dominant, spreading to ever organ of the beast's body. Maybe it's becoming human. Maybe it will implode! Its eyes focus on you. Fear returns, but it looks fatigued. You stand, and jog away, pacing yourself steadily to make the best of your empty reserves. You don't hear it pursue, so you and Zoe keep going, allowing you time to think. It must've ate the fruit from the trap, that explains why Nick died, yet this lives. The fruit sped up the adaption process. Ahead, you see a boiling pit of tar, steam rising from the surface. "What should we do?" You stop and ask Zoe, staring across the chasm. She's awfully tired out. Too tried to speak. You could grab a hanging vine and swing across, but if the vine fell, you'd die. You could pursue a path around it all, but who knows how long that might take?
The screech echoes through the forest again: There's no time to think. Acting almost purely on survival instinct, you grab the nearest vine. You can't get a good grip, you're slowly slipping, you have to swing quickly, or meet with death. You thrust your body forth, and release your tightened hands, only to hold for dear life onto the jagged rocks at the far end. You pull yourself up, and look back. Zoe grabs the vine, and smoothly swings across, landing acrobatically. Ecstatically, you hug Zoe. She's still in survival mode, knowing the creature will continue approaching, continue toward you until both of the gladiators fall. She gently lifts a loose piece of the rock near your feet. It's sharp. The snow still falls. The wind is remains still. When she sees the beast grasp the vine to leap across, the stone cuts through the humid air, slicing the vine. The creature falls, carrying its prior momentum, slams into the rocky wall. Stabbed by a small pillar jutting out of the rock, it panics. Trying to escape, suffering, it pushes itself away, off the rock wall. It digs its claws into the icy rock, climbing, ready to avenge the attack. Zoe tosses the remaining fruit down below, into the heat of death. The creature excitedly leaps off, snatching the small fruit, chewing furiously, falling to its final demise. You stare down, watching it die, seeing it adapt before converging to its fate. As if to let out a death cry, or perhaps one unlikely attempt at murder, lighting shoots from it's heart to a nearby tree. It goes limp, admitting defeat, finally submissive.
"It's over," Zoe says, "The nightmare has finally ended."
The two of you walk from the memorial to nature's demonic creation.
One final glance at the perfect scene: A dimly lit jungle inhabited by a vast wasteland of tropical vegetation, whilst the snow solemnly floats down. Plethoras of icicles grow throughout the land. The ground slowly morphs to the arctic tundra. It is the epitome of nature's prowess...something spectacular catches your eye. Not too far off in the distance, it shines to your eye. "Let's go." Zoe speaks with a smile.
As you move closer, nothing further is said. The words, "There is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre." ring through your mind, but before you put your finger on where that phrase originated, you realize that you have reached the destination: An incredible diamond hangs from the ceiling of a vast cavern. You stare as if unable to remove your eyes from its refracting features.
"We'll be dead if we're found here." Zoe says.
"Yep. We're out in the middle of nowhere standing before a cave wielding a priceless gem."
"Not that..." Zoe says sedately, "The fruit."
"Fruit?" Confused, you lower and turn your head to look her in the eye, but before you do, you realize the object of her words: The cave is growing the biologically morphing fruit from vines stretching across its walls.
"You saw what it did to Nick, and how it strengthened that stalking behemoth. Can you imagine what this amount could do?" The nadir thought fails to provoke you: You have been breathing in this nightmarish wasteland. It can't get much worse. You hear her mumble, "--vile oasis, it curses the planet."
Eager to chance the subject, you ask, "Do you think Dr.Carol is still alive?" A loud screech. Another beast lives.
"Let's go." Zoe commands, yet it materializes before you: The new beast will spill your blood. It dashes toward you, then leaps over your head. Something took priority to your delicious veins: Glancing back, you see it rush toward the...cave. Together you and Zoe trot away, wordless again, perfectly aware that you're not alive, simply awaiting massacre.
The creature screeches, yet the sound is more intense than ever. You quickly lose orientation over your own corpse, becoming dizzy, the world spins fast: The only sight is a dark green canvas. Pain follows: A sharp stabbing at your back. In an instant, thoughts relentlessly rush through your capacity of mind. "This is the end of the line. One can only escape the grasp of death for so long." The screeching stops. Your vision slowly returns, but the pain remains. You glance around, no sight of Zoe. She must escape. She always escapes hard times, undaunted and ready for more relentless punishment to fight for the greatest good. She must...
In a final action, you grasp your crucifix necklace. Then it's all over. No pain. No emotion. No thought. Only one feeling: The worms dig into your decomposing cadaver. The end has passed.