Mountain [18+] ✔️ Complete

Six • Dead

Marius chuckled and kissed the top of my head, a sweet gesture that made me feel warm. I was glad he wasn't put off or insulted by my question.

His body suddenly went stiff as a board, and my brow furrowed in confusion. Was he put off? Did the realization of what we'd just done hit him? Did he regret it? Shit, this was the kind of inner turmoil that my friends and I had managed to avoid, having been with each other all these years.

"Get dressed." His voice was hard with an edge of panic to it that unsettled me to the core.

"What's the matter?" I asked without moving. Icy fear licked the back of my neck and I shivered. He didn't answer, just simply rose to his feet, taking my naked form with him. My legs were wobbly for a few seconds but the adrenaline starting to pulse through my veins steadied me, and I leaned down to grab my pants.

Something wasn't right, and it wasn't just his sudden change in demeanour that told me that. I felt off somehow, like the world had tilted slightly off of its axis. A knot of anxiety tightened in my stomach as I threw my shirt back on, and Marius grabbed my wrist as soon as my arms were down.

He took off at a trot, and I had to run to keep up with his long legs. I tried to stay light on my feet, pushing off with my toes wherever possible to avoid tripping over anything and slowing us down.

The adrenaline was faster now, my heartbeat so quick and hard I thought my chest might explode. I was glad he was navigating us, because the forest looked foreign to me, and I had this overwhelming urge to get back to the others.

I needed to make sure they were okay.

It was more intense than when I'd sought out Marius that night to see if he was okay, but the same type of feeling. That subconscious urge, that underlying knowing that something wasn't right.

We burst into the clearing and I dug in my heels, stopping short, mouth falling open in a scream that never came.

A massive shape hovered in the air above the fire, absorbing the smoke in its deep purple depths. It looked like a cloud, a collection of matte molecules that absorbed light, and cast out darkness and abhorrence. Looking at it made me utterly cold with dread, as if I were staring at the death of the world.

Marius let go of my hand, yelling something that sounded dim and far off to my ears. I blinked my eyes lazily, what seemed like slow motion, and lowered my gaze to the three lumps by the fire that  were starting to move.

Lyla was up first, immediately launching herself into Archer's midsection as a tendril of cloud swooped down at him. They rolled safely out of the way, and Damien crabwalked backwards from his sleeping bag, mouth agape and eyes wide.

I fell to my knees, unable to do anything else, clutching at the grass with my fingers so tightly I thought my bones would break. I stared helplessly as Lyla grasped the back of Archer's t-shirt, pulling him staggering behind her away from the death cloud.

Marius dove for Damien, grasping his bicep in his massive hand and pulling him to his feet. The ground was comforting, the grass almost seeming to brush my knuckles to soothe me.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared up at the cloud, and it twitched and shivered, a tornado-like cone lashing out towards me. A blur flew across my vision, and then a massive burst of air that plastered my hair to my skull caused me to close my eyes.

"Saph, Saph get up!" Archer's voice, and I felt him hook his arms under mine to pull me to my feet. I gripped the grass harder, pulling up two fistfuls, and upon opening my eyes realized the cloud was farther away, high in the sky. It was pulsing, confused, flickers of red beneath the surface tension of the purple wisps.

"Go!" Marius yelled, barreling towards us with Damien in tow. Lyla looked shaken, staring at her hands, and Archer smacked her on the shoulder to wake her up. She glanced at the cloud that seemed to be circling back around to us, and then at him, then at Marius who practically flew past us towards the forest.

In unison, our flight responses kicked in, and the three of us took off after them. I hoped we could stay close enough so that we wouldn't get separated, and I tried to focus solely on the back of Damien's blonde head glittering in the moonlight. It kept all of the panicked questions at bay for the moment.

When we hit the treeline, Marius slowed down, seeming to rethink how he was going to lead four of us through the forest in the dark.

"Fuck," he cursed hotly, and shoved Damien against a particularly thick tree trunk.

"Are we safe under here?" Archer asked, chest heaving, trying to peek up through the leaves at the cloud. It was a lot more difficult to see under the canopy, and I could barely make out my hands in front of me, still clutching grass. I opened them and let the blades fall to the forest floor, still trying to partition my brain to keep from losing my mind.

"Not really." Marius actually laughed the words, sounding slightly hysterical. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"I'm not convinced it actually is happening," Lyla said between gasps of air. The sprinting coupled with the adrenaline was not something cardio routines could prepare us for.

"It very much is happening," Marius assured her, running his hands through his hair.

"Then what the fuck is it?" She snapped back. "And what-"

"No time." He waved her off. "It wants to kill us."

"Then how do we kill it?" Damien piped up, pushing away from the tree. "Lyla did - something - that affected it."

"We can't fight it." Marius shook his head. A dull roar started to rustle the leaves overhead and he groaned in frustration. "We need to outrun it but I can't keep you all together, so you scatter. You'll be too slow holding onto one another, so just scatter and run as fast and far as you can. Don't hide, just run."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Lyla shrieked, and the roar started to grow louder, dread sinking down over me. I could almost feel tendrils of the cloud tickling me from above, snaking through the leaves, and panic gripped at my windpipe.

"Trust that I will find all of you, please, just run!" He bellowed, and I felt his command wash over me like a tidal wave, urging me from the inside out.

What the hell was happening? The others immediately darted off in all directions, but I swayed on my feet as I tried to resist his orders, reaching out to him.

"But-" I started, but he'd already burst back out into the clearing.

"RUN!" He screamed back at me, and the word felt like a slap in the face, physically forcing me in the other direction.

I ran.