Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Beasts All Around ❯ One-Shot

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Beasts All Around”

&nbs p; We were always hunted. At least, that's the way it's been for the past two-and-a-half thousand years. Some died from the torture while other, were taken and never seen again. At one time my people where aplenty. Now, we are so scarce, there are more animals than us. My people and I live on the tropical planet of Euran. There was a time when we flourished like no other planet in the galaxy. There were no wars, no sophisticated technology, just peace. There were no plagues or unknown deaths. We knew everything of the world around us any where everything came from. All was wonderful until that fated day when the star of Neun disappeared and fell to our peaceful world. The way legend described the moment, which changed our lives forever, is passed down to every child. It was so carefully passed down that every detail made us feel as if we were there.

&nbs p; The atmosphere blared white as if the sun melted and surrounded the planet with the strongest light it could. From the white, the light narrowed to the color of a greedy flame. A large black coral-like sphere charged to the ground and slammed into our uncorrupted surface. It was if this monstrous turning point shook not only the planet but the whole function the core. A large fire engulfed a fourth of just my people's continent. It didn't give any living thing a chance to run, nor realize what had happened. That's when our troubles were forged.

&nbs p; No one knows exactly how it happened, or why.. From that day, many of our kind seemed to turn against us. Many bones of humans appeared even though none were missing. Many believe that the object changed the way we thought, or something was so spectacular there, that greed arose. Whatever it was, no one saw it and returned a normal person, nor would they tell what they saw. One of my ancestors however, said differently. His tale was passed secretly throughout the generations of my family. We were to tell no other soul. Many thought that my ancestor was crazy however, I believe that they were the only sane ones. All of my life I've been taking in any story or information about strange happenings that could finally lead me to the truth. My name is Aruru, and I thought that I wasn't afraid of anything until the day I found out the root of all chaos.

&nbs p; My family tradition is that, all grandfathers tell their grandchildren the secret of the black star, which fell to Euran, really was. My ancestor and his brother wished to find the cause of the strange changes in our people at the time, like many before them. It was about three months since the star fell. Husbands turned away from their wives and children, saying things like, they there tired of being in the clan. Come became untrustworthy and suspicious; they stayed however many others disappeared, never to return, the odd ones with them. Siblings who have loved one another; were the pride of the tribe, thought all of a sudden and caused great sorrow. All of these happening lead to one thing; they had recently gone to see the black star; hoping to find some truth. My ancestors thought they could do some good too, however, they never expected that they were half wrong.

Their names were Goran and Titus. They, like many, packed what they needed, and journeyed to the star. Their one change of plan was to not tell any of the other people in the tribe, as a test. It was painful to leave their families but, they felt that they had a chance to find the finality. Everyone knew the way to the site. The pants grew differently there. Ash buried low the bushes as if someone had just dumped their fire's remains the day before. As they got closer, the black trees got denser and denser. Soon enough their eyes fell upon the monstrosity. There, in front of them stood the star. Its black craterous surface seemed to have never had sunlight touch its. It rose above the trees like a storm cloud threatening to release its furry. Looking at this horror almost caused the brothers to forget their mission.

&nbs p; Titus when ahead while Goran hid behind trees and crept forward ever-so-slowly, still accessing the scene. It was too quiet, even for and object of chaos. Suddenly, a loud screeching exploded in the once silent air. The tone could make eardrums bleed. The flash of quick movement happened in mid-blink. Titus was knocked down to the ground as if a large animal had pushed him form behind. A blur of gray movement attached itself to Titus. Goran felt so helpless and scared however, what kept him back was the future of his race. His heart shattered and his stomach lurched as he saw the madness before him. Even though the unknown force was moving in the quickest of movements, the horror brought the world to a slow.

&nbs p; His brother's screams turned his blood cold. The beast's feature-less figure was carefully slicing through the basic covering of Titus' skin. He cut a line with the thinnest and sharpest of knives Goran had ever seen. From above his tailbone, to the back of Titus' neck, did the beast quickly slash. The cries tearing out of Titus' throat were of fear more than pain. Goran's eyes were streaming with tears as he put his face in view for his brother but hidden enough from the occupied animal. Goran lay his right fist over his trembling heart in a warriors respect and allowed the tears to fall. Now the beast, as if slicing him carefully wasn't enough, grabbed a hold of the sides of the parted flesh and slowly pulled them apart. Titus' anguish could no longer he heard from his eyes rolled up in his head and he died. Goran kept looking into those lifeless eyes as the outer skin of him was removed, revealing only his muscled corpse. Like someone were simply taking off normal clothes, the skin folded, as it lost its solid surface. There was no blood but there didn't need to be to start the fire of hate which welded up in Goran's heart.

`Those monsters!', he thought to himself infuriated and gritting his teeth, to keep from screaming and charging to the animal and cut its throat out.

The beast did not end there. Goran had to look away as he heard the devil eat the left over flesh, leaving only the bones. To make matters worse, it licked the entire inside of the removed skin of Titus, as if the preserve it. Quick to the moment, it slipped into the prize like a man would after cleaning an animal's hide. The new Titus then, licked his finger with a white tongue and ran it up his back, flexibly, as if to seal his new figure. Goran realized that these monsters were not only man eaters but, parasites. He was so frightened by what he had witnessed that he froze in his hiding spot, not daring to move a muscle. The new Titus grabbed the clean, meat-picked bones and threw them off into a random place in the woods in Goran's direction. An entire finger bone landed by him, thinking of this as the only proof and reminder that the real Titus was dead; he took it with a piece of cloth. He didn't dare touch it while knowing that the beast's saliva was still there.

&nbs p; Even though the eyes looked the same color, that of his brother; their coldness dug into him as if he'd been the one whose flesh was removed instead of Titus. What he did notice, besides the pale whites of the beast's tongue, was the red ring around the eyes pupil. Even from where he was positioned from knowing his deceased brother so well, he could see the rings and if he were standing nose to nose with the thing.

&nbs p; `Skinners,” he thought, “That's what they shall now and forever be called. Even if not now, but someday, you will dies in such a painful death, it will not compare to the pain you have done to by brother and people.'

Snapping out of his thought, he journeyed home as fast and undetected as possible.

My ancestor was not believed amongst the tribe. Tough many wished to believe it, very few did. Goran's wife was the only one who did. Titus came back eventually however, bad luck, lie many who returned before, was bestowed upon the tribe. Half of the people became missing within the next month, soon enough, the alien Titus did too. Never to be seen again.

Over the generations of my family, only we believed the tale. The first-borns would receive the finger bone of Titus after their fifteenth summer. All of the men in my family were fortunate enough to have a woman at all who loved and believed the horror which happened. I was the last born to my tribe and family. There were no males in my generation. I find this a sign; a sign that the fright and fear should end within my life time. And I will be the one to figure out what is happening to my people. I know who the monsters really are but, I need to find out how to expose them.

For the past five decades, my people have turned to live in the trees. Very few, and only the strongest and trained were allowed on the ground, and only for food. Medicine plants were brought by trained birds and tree climbing animals who knew where to find them. There were no strange disappearances or acts for about thirty years. Many feel that the threat was over. Some wished to go back to the ground, while others thought there to still be a threat and that we should stay in the trees. I however, know it's not over. I may be the only one to realize that, for I'm the only one who climbs the canopy of the trees. Ever since my fifth year of age, I have climbed up the tree to the up most part and have created a watch tower. Just in case the threat came from above, than bellow. For the past ten years, now that I am at my nineteenth summer, I have noticed that, where the fallen star was said to be, there was a black mountain instead. It has been dormant since for a very many years. Lately however, there has been smoke arising from its peak and around it. I don't like it at all.

Yesterday triggered my life-turning decision. I was at home, alone separating healing herbs for my grandmother when, I heard a loud scream from the village. The hair on the back of my neck stood up I knew where the scream came from and from whom. My best friend Myra, who I sent just a few minutes ago to the city's water well, a rain water stored empty tree log. I dropped all that I was holding and burst out of my home toward her scream. I knew I was too late when the warning bell rang. I didn't stop, the bell just made me pump my legs faster in determination to save my friend. One I've probably sent to her death.

After finally getting through the maze of bridges and ropes from one tree to another, I spotted where I needed to be. The area of the well was now surrounded by many villagers. I frantically pushed to the front of the crowd where one of the Guard of Bellow was trying to calm people down.

“What is going on? Where is Myra?” I yelled over the chattering crowd. The guard knew me so he motioned for me to come with him on the side. He was one of the few people who believed in my mission.

“Well, she was just walking her and suddenly Tanar, the oil lamp maker's son, grabbed Myra and with ungodly speed ran off with her and jumped off of the town border. “ ,he explained. I was breathing quickly now, I knew where all of this was leading. “However,” he continued, “I ran after them so see if they even survived the fall, no one has ever. I didn't see any bodies, not a sign of them.” He stopped and gave me a worried but knowing look. “Be careful. I'd come too however, I must keep my part and protect the many still here. Find out what you can and come back you hear?” He smiled gruffly. He was a great friend. I was very fortunate to know him.

“Good bye.” I said to him, patting his shoulder and left.

I ran through the woods like a bear was chasing me. I had to find not only my friend but the answer I had been seeking out for my entire life. I must have been running for a few hours, a while back I had already lost their trail, that son-of-a-gun, but I didn't have to follow a solid trail to know where they were going; the black mountain where the star hit and caused all of this madness.

As I approached the start of the Ashen Forest, the stories and all of the history, which had been passed down for so long, unfolded before me. Every detail was exactly as it was said, give or take the few thousand years which aged it a bit. Now wasn't the time for daydreaming in the past horrors, I needed to get to that peak and fast, preferably without getting caught..

Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. As quick as I could, I dove into the nearest of bushes without looking twice. Bad move. As I fell to the ground, my body crunched down on a pile of what seemed to be my kind's bones. It was true after all. The smell was horrifying. The saliva had not been cleaned off of the bones and causing the ones on the bottom, the oldest ones, to slowly dissolve. That's why there weren't so many bones scattered around after these many hundreds of years! The beasts had a method of decomposing them! Except for one, I clutched at the finger bone which hung at my neck. Garon cleaned it thus, it didn't deteriorate.

I must have been still day dreaming about the past and lost focus because the next thing I remember, is darkness. I awoke to the awful smell of sulfur. Good God! I was underground! The only place on our planet that sulfur resides is underground; deep underground. Panicked, I jolted from my laying position without opening my eyes. My head banged off of something, or someone. I opened my eyes and let out a frightened yelp. It was my supposedly-dead-mother starring back at me except with red rims in her eyes. Even though the incident was when I was two years of age, I still could remember her face. It was said that, my mother was hanging wet clothes and someone from behind her startled her so much that she leapt in fright and accidentally fell off of the tree city's ledge. Her body however, was never found. And yet, here she was, right in front of me. I thought at first that I was dead and had passed onto the afterlife, and would have preferred that compared to what I saw next. What I used to know and a warm grin of pearly whites was now a set of black, sharp teeth with a marble-white tongue.

“Hello Aru dear!” she hissed in a voice far from what my mother's had sounded like. `Aru' was what my mother and grandmother always used to call me. Knowing the truth from hearing of it over and over was far from what hit me as I saw it right before me. I was scared out of my skin, or I would be if I didn't get out of there as fast as possible.

“What do you want creature!” I spat. Another wrong move. By the expression that spread across my dead mother's face. It seemed that the beast have still not revealed their true identity.

“What do you mean Aru?” hissed the skinner again. My mother's skin was now stretching into and angry expression.

“Don't call me that,” I yelled, if I was going to fight against these things, I might as well let them know what I know, “you aren't my mother! I know what you are you damn skinner!”

Every word seamed to sink into its stolen skin. I wanted to press further but the skinner had other plans. It snagged me by the throat. “What did you call me?” It rasped as black drool dripped down the side of my mother's lips.

“Oh,” I gasped, as intense as I could while its hand was still a hold of my throat, “you didn't know that we created a name for you? You haven't seen anything yet. Skinner.” This time I actually spat into its face.

The hand, which once embraced me when I entered this world, healed all of my wounds and tucked me in at night, now squeezed until I saw gray spots dancing before my eyes. It stopped accelerating its grip when another skinner entered the room and roared in command. The hand left my neck and I fell, like a sack of roots, to the ground. They began to snarl in a language which I had never heard. When they stopped, they looked upon me once more. The second skinner which had commanded my executioner to stop was wearing a skin I had never seen before. It must have been from another tribe.

Their eyes were now locked on me, they had decided on what to do with me. I begged myself to show no sign of fear. I didn't want to give them the satisfaction.

“Euranian,” it growled, seems that they had a name for us too, besides `food', “you are of no use to us.” , no surprise there, “we do not want you to cause alarm to our sulfur workers so, we will kill you in the most satisfying way possible.”

“Sulfur workers?” I asked, still gasping from the grip, “My death; satisfying to me, or you.”

It growled again. I don't think that it liked to be asked questions. “We do not eat all of your pitiful people. Some have proven to be good workers in our mine.” He gruffly explained, “We need the sulfur to keep our original bodies in preserve. The skin of your pathetic clan, burn our flesh after a while.”

I was so enraged by the filth he was putting on my race that I lashed at him, only to be thrown across the room in silence. I saw stars. “You'll never get away with this you disgusting filth!” I managed to yell. Or at least I thought I did; I was too dizzy to tell.

“You have until two hours before sun down before we commence your execution.” Before the two of them left, I believe that they grinned evilly. Where those heartless beasts capable of smiling?

The hours, before the moment I would have to face death right in the eye, were excruciating. I stayed in that one intoxicating room the whole time, with not a single plan popping into my head. My two lower ribs were cracked and my shoulder was shattered. All I could do was attempt to bind my wounds and gain some strength back.

&nbs p; Finally, the door was unlocked. This time three different skinners entered. The middle one, who seemed to be in command, motioned to the other two to drag me towards him; knowing that willingly I wouldn't. My elbow which one of them grabbed first sent painful signals up my arm and up my neck; I almost passed out again. I bit my lip trying not to yelp. I must not show weakness. Through many tunnels we traveled. I didn't see any workers but I could hear their tools working and their groans fill the atmosphere. My heart shattered for them. I could have been the one and only chance to save these people, and I failed.

Eventually, we reached the surface. To the right I could see our two suns setting. Looking around, I noticed that there was a line of about eight skinners, all with decaying flesh barely clinging to them, in a line, holding strange weapons. I had a really bad feeling about this.

“Euranian!” barked the same son-of-a-gun which threw me across the room only a few hours before, “This is your day. You death day! Now y…” I interrupted the ugly hack.

“I'm not interested in you feel-sorry speech skinner! Just get this done and over with!” The mention of their name caused the already heavy mood to become polluted with anger.

“Believe me, there's nothing I'd want more,” he muttered to himself then began to bark orders again, “we are going to release you into the wild. You have two hours to get as far as you can. Once the second sun has gone bellow the horizon, the hunting bell will sound. From then, you are going to experience the biggest hell in your life. All eight of these men,” I spat at the word as if it were a bitter fruit on my tongue; I got an evil stare in return, “men, will be released into the jungle after you. There is no way of surviving. If any hope arises within you, these men will smell it a mile away and crush you along with it!”

I would have rather died in that moment but, these monsters wanted me to suffer. I was ready to run for my life when the leader grabbed my injured arm. This time I actually let out a scream, I got a bunch of, what I assumed were laughs. The creature began to whisper into my ear. Its breath burned in my senses. “We can only hold the flesh of the givers for about a hundred years and as you can see, soon enough, they begin to rot off. All of these men are kept longer so that the hunt is more intense. Oh, and one more thing.”

“What's that?” I whispered sharply ready to punch him if necessary.

The next moment was a blur. Another pain seared up my injured arm which he still held. All of the skinners let out an anguished exhale.

“They cannot resist the smell of blood.” He finished and shoved me towards the woods, which I was more than happy to comply and run like hell was after me; which was what it was going to soon enough become.

I couldn't find anywhere to hide; the whole area was scarce of any trees. I held onto my bloody and shattered arm as it pounded against my shaking fingertips. My breathing could not be controlled I was so frightened. Up ahead, with the remaining light left, I saw the thick jungle, I knew so well, once again. Maybe there was a way to survive this. I doubt they even thought about getting familiar with other surrounds other than their own.

Before I knew it, as the first scent of the familiar trees reached my nose, the hunting bell sounded. Fluids of panic raced in my head, and my blood pounded in my temples. I didn't have much time left. As I blindly ran, the shadows of the trees made me paranoiac; looking like the beast which, no doubt, was close behind. My uncontrolled exhales seemed like screams in my ears. Every noise around me sounded louder by tenfold. My usually in-shape legs burned in fear. Soon enough, I heard one of the beasts in particular, who must have passed the others by a long shot, closer than I wanted it to. My eyes became wide and wild, trying to find any means of escape, even if it meant jumping off of a ledge.

The number one rule to if anybody or anything chases you, is to not look behind you. I broke that rule and I wished I hadn't. The beast was now about five feet behind me and it was tearing at the decaying flesh that barely clung to his limbs. I then saw what it really was, and I stopped running, how much it horrified me. The world slowed to almost nothing. The red bug-eyed parasite was and ugliness one could throw up on. There were no physical features that stuck out. Its body was gray, almost a pearl white due to the lack of sun for so many years. The mouth, good god, the mouth was what frightened me the most. If it had ears, each corner of its evil grin would literally go from ear to ear. It didn't even have lips, the mouth was just a mad enormous hole in the face which could twist in ways that could scare a child to its grave. It had two teeth like the giant rabbit of our people, which I used to adore on them. Its eyes were wild and glowing ready to engulf me with only a stare. As it got closer I saw that in the back of its mouth, there was a row of hooked teeth for tearing at our flesh. And the white tongue flicked out in greed. Its black saliva sprayed at my face as if it were changing my flavor.

Then it snapped, if I was going to die by this atrocious thing, I might as well fight. This time, instead of running away, I charged. My act seemed to have angered it more. I was still frightened out of my wits, when I needed them. Or maybe I didn't. The next thing I did changed my fate all together. I grabbed the nearest object I could get a hold of and hurled it into the skinner's bare face. Once my object struck, the angry expression changed entirely. A moment ago, it was ready to tare at me limb from limb. Now, its own flesh sizzled and began to melt. The smell would have made me hurl my insides but, I didn't want to miss a thing. For centuries my planet suffered from these things. The screams that now escaped form it caused me and my people great joy. I finally knew what could defeat the skinners.