The Demons in the forest

Part 1: The eyes of a demon

   It was very late at night, but even so, no one could sleep. The people in the room were too loud, and the topic was too crucial. There were about five of the Colombia's top generals in that room, all making the noise of a hundred. The topic at hand was whether to attack the Peruvian-Bolivian coalition, or to build up a better military first. The argument ended in a second when a loud voice was heard to not only the generals, but the entire building.

    "Quiet! We will get nothing if we continue arguing," yelled Pablo Hernandez, the most powerful general in the room. No one dared to even think about proceeding to talk. Pablo was the only one in the room with a gun on him, and it wasn't for the sole purpose of self defence. He pulled out a sheet of paper, and placed it in the middle of the table.

    "This is Octavio's orders. He sent it to me before the meeting, and we are already prepared enough for an offensive war."

    "Tell him we have no intention of taking over a nation without support from many of our soldiers or any of the Colombian people," said one very brave general.

    "Well, I'll be sure to tell him who died," answered Pablo. He took out the gun from his holster, and shot the general. "Anyone else wishes to oppose direct orders?" The room went silent. No one ever dared to challenge the command of the emperor and came out alive. "Now, to execute these orders."

    The lights suddenly went out. Pablo raised his fire arm again, despite the fact he couldn't see. He heard someone scream, and he felt a splatter of liquid on his right arm. Blood, he thought. He aimed his weapon and shot in the direction where the blood came from. The noise from the shot stunned him for a few seconds, and as he recovered, he realized that no one was making a sound. "Whoever you are, identify yourself!" He shouted. He backed up against the wall, hoping to find the window. It started to rain outside, and then lighting and thunder began to follow. The room light up for only seconds while the lighting was striking nearby, and he saw a silhouette of a reptilian creature, about four feet tall.

    The creature's red eyes were lit up by the lightning. Pablo, now terrified, tried to open the window in haste. The window wouldn't budge. We locked the windows before the meeting, he recalled. He felt something push him with a strong force. The push was so strong it broke the lock open, but that didn't matter. He was falling down two stories.

    He landed in a garden, but he still lay there, almost losing consciousness. He tried to crawl away, but his leg felt like a sack of bricks. He turned over, hoping to be able to evade the animal. He found himself looking directly into it's eyes. He tried to let out a scream, but then he felt a blade stab him. Stinging pain spread throughout his back. Pablo started to go numb. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. He merely lay down to rest, and he never got up again.
Chapter one
July 28th, 2062
Caracas, New Gran Colombian empire
    It was a day of chaos. Mateo watched as his home was overwhelmed by soldiers and tanks. He felt the heat of the fires around him. He heard the bullets and explosives that zoomed past him. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He saw what his home had turned into. No amount of running He went up to a house and jumped up to barely get a hold of its roof. He climbed up and looked at what his city had become.

    An entire portion of the Caracas was up in flames. People were being thrown onto the streets and either murdered or kidnapped. He had never seen things this bad. Not when Colombia invaded, not when there was a continent-wide war, not even when his parents disappeared. This was madness. He once again began to run. He jumped from building to building like a thief on the run. His legs were ready to let him collapse onto the ground. Just keep running, Mateo thought. I've been running for half my life. How is this any different?

    Earlier that day, Mateo was at home, having lunch with his sister, Ana, and his friend, Miguel. They were just eating, not saying much. They had the news on but they hardly payed attention unless something came on.

    "Mateo, did you here about the protests in the town square?" Miguel asked.

    Mateo replied, saying "yes, I can't remember why though." "It's because of the occupation. A few popular politicians were seen murdered while attempting to propose a constitutional monarchy," Miguel said. The TV, whether coincidental or not is unimportant, was discussing this exact issue. Mateo noticed and told Miguel, "there, they are talking about it right now. I wonder what they will say..." The room went silent as the headlines on the news changed from "Protests in Caracas" to "Top General Pablo Hernandez found dead near Imperial Offices."

    Miguel stood from the table, and said in a nervous tone, "I'll get some food for dinner before they apply an early curfew or whatever."

    "I'll go with you. You might run into Juan," Ana said.

    Juan was one of Miguel and Mateo's classmates. He was one of the rich, popular kids, and, in Ana's words, a "weak, cowardly jerk." Juan mainly picked on poorer kids, since no one believed them when they tried to get help.

    "Try not to almost kill him this time, Ana," Mateo told Ana. He said this since Ana had tried to defend a family who was begging for food. Long story short, Juan went to the hospital and Ana barely escaped being caught by the police. Ana was that kind of person.

    "Normally, I would say it was an accident, but I will take credit for that," she replied. "Also didn't Miguel steal a two litre bottle of soda and a large bag of chips?"

    "At least I didn't almost get caught, Mrs 'I thought the door was unlocked,'" Miguel answered. Times had been tough then, so Miguel went to surprise the others with a luxury; soda and chips normally not that expensive, but it was reserved for children of other economic classes, not theirs. Miguel did get away with it easily. One person saw him, but people normally knew no one would listen to them when they alerted the police, so no one really spoke of the crimes they saw. It was a strange time period, to say the least, but Miguel knew what to take advantage of and what is better to leave alone nonetheless.

    "Let's stop pointing fingers and actually do something," Mateo turned off the old TV they had. "Remember they might place a curfew if a general died. I will stay here and clean up a bit. You two get food," Mateo commanded. The other two went off and left Mateo to clean. He started to wash dishes and clean up the kitchen. After half an hour he heard explosions and gunfire outside.

    Life wasn't always like this. Mateo could still remember life before the occupation. Venezuela was a magnificent place and one of the few democratic countries left. After decades of civil war and chaos that happened long before Mateo was born, Venezuela became a world power. Mateo still remembered the restaurants, the museums. He even missed the radio broadcasts, which Mateo didn't like before. He found it beyond boring, but it was better then living in fear.

He looked outside to see what was happening. Probably the usual insurgents trying to secure an area. Probably a gang war that started to get out of hand. When he looked outside, it was something completely different. It was starting to get dark and a cloud blocked the sunlight. All I saw was a few soldiers with flashlights. It appeared normal, but one of them dropped the flashlight and screamed. A flash from his gun alerted the other soldiers, who now looked. Another fell, shooting a few more times. The two last ones managed to both shine the light in the direction of the second one to drop. A body with claw marks in its back was illuminated. From what Mateo could see, there was a pairs of glowing, demon-like dots behind them. They both suddenly dropped, no shot, no screaming. Mateo closed the tattered curtains, locked the door, and shut off the lights. This demonic creature needs no sign of me being here, he thought to himself. He sat there in silence for an hour when he heard a crash in a different room. He crept toward it slowly, and opened the door. A pair of demon like eyes was all he saw, and for a moment the last thing he thought he would see.

To be continued...