"Didn't you hear? This place seems desolate!" protested a boy. "It's best to stay and wait for them to come for us!"
"And if that doesn't happen...?" The girl took the floor again. "Maybe we should act maturely and look for an exit."
"But it's scary. I don't want to leave this place."
"Yes... me neither. It's very eerie."
"I know it can be scary, but we'll do it as a group. We're all in the same situation, aren't we? We all want to return to our parents."
Absolute silence.
"Just stay behind us," the girl continued. "We'll guide the group and make sure nothing bad happens. What do you think?"
The protagonist was surprised to hear that. He had never offered to lead, but apparently he could no longer refuse.
"Sounds good..."
"Yes... let's do it."
"Alright, but if something goes wrong, I'll blame you."
There were no objections.
"Don't worry, nothing will happen. Now let's move forward."
The girl took the route to the left, but the boy who had hit his companion before stayed behind, dragging his feet.
"This is stupid," he muttered bitterly. "You'll see when something bad happens. You'll regret it."
"What's wrong? Aren't you coming?" the girl asked the protagonist, who had stayed behind watching the problematic boy.
"Uh... sure, I'm coming. I just got distracted."
Both took the lead while the group followed them, including the bad-tempered boy who kept grumbling.
For a long time, nobody spoke. They concentrated on looking for something that would give them a clue about where they were or, more importantly, help them escape.
But the place was exactly the same everywhere. It showed no changes, as if it were a labyrinth designed to confuse.
"Hey..." The girl broke the silence. "Thanks for what you did earlier. It was very helpful."
"That? It was nothing. You did almost all the work."
"That's not true. You were very brave. You appeared just when I didn't know what to say."
The protagonist didn't know what to answer and turned his head, embarrassed.
"You know... if we manage to remember our names, I'd like to know what you're call—"
"What is that thing?!"
The terrified scream from one of the girls in the group cut the conversation like a razor.
She had remained paralyzed, pointing at a small cave shrouded in total darkness.
"What are you talking about? There's nothing there!" reacted a boy, furious. "You almost scared me to death!"
He was right. The cave seemed completely empty.
"Can't you see it? It's watching us..."
Her conviction was absolute, despite nobody else seeing anything.
"Are you going to keep this up?! You're making us waste time!"
"I'm telling the truth... there's something there."
Her fear seemed too genuine to be fake.
"Maybe we're just seeing things because of fear," suggested the protagonist.
"Damn... if we keep wasting time with this, we'll never get out of here."
Frustrated, the boy headed toward the cave.
"What are you doing? Come back! It's dangerous!"
"I'm just going to prove there's nothing there so we can leave once and for all."
"No! Don't do it! Come back!"
But it was too late.
"See? There's nothing here." The boy entered the cave and turned toward them.
Indeed, there was nothing visible.
"Can we leave now? I really want to get out of here."
"Get out of there quickly..."
The girl was hyperventilating, completely terrified. Sweat ran down her forehead as she kept seeing something nobody else could perceive.
"What? Are you an idiot? I'm telling you there's nothing here."
But observing the girl directly, seeing her genuine terror, the protagonist knew something was wrong.
"Maybe you should listen and get out of there..." he told the boy.
"What? Are you going to start with that too? I already told you there's noth—"
The words were cut off abruptly.
A tentacle had completely pierced his stomach.
The boy began vomiting blood while looking down, incredulous.
Then the creature became visible.
It was an abomination. Giant jaw filled with teeth like daggers, multiple tentacles writhing like hungry serpents. It lifted him in the air like a rag doll and dropped him inside its mouth.
Crunch.
Bones breaking. Blood dripping. Flesh being torn.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
The screams of terror were deafening. The group scattered like frightened birds.
"Where are you going?" The creature spoke with a voice that seemed to come from the depths of hell. "I just want to have friends..."
"H-how is it possible that it speaks?" murmured the protagonist, paralyzed with terror.
"Don't let them escape. I don't want to lose any friends."
From its skin emerged smaller creatures, like hungry parasites. They began hunting the children one by one.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
"Don't hurt me! Please! AHHHHHHHH!"
"Why is this happening?"
"Mommy, I don't want to die!"
The place became a slaughterhouse. Heart-wrenching screams filled the air as the creatures devoured, mutilated, and tortured without mercy. Wherever he looked, he only saw torn flesh and blood.
"I told you!" screamed a familiar voice among the chaos. It was the boy who had been hit by his companion. "I knew something like this would happen! I was right!"
A creature had him grabbed by the arm, slowly tearing his flesh.
"This is what happens to us for being bad children!" he continued screaming, with a maniacal smile despite the pain. "Now we're all going to die! It's our punishment!"
"What did we do to deserve this...?" murmured the protagonist, horrified not only by the creatures but by the boy's words.
"Imbecile!"
Someone else touched his leg. It was another of the children from the group, with a creature devouring his back.
"I knew we shouldn't have moved from there..." he murmured, bleeding out. "Now look what happened! I blame you for all this!"
The protagonist watched him die in front of his eyes, while in the distance he could still hear the sadistic screams of the problematic boy:
"This is what we deserve! We're all going to die like the rats we are!"
Then, one of the creatures jumped toward him.
He tried to defend himself with his hands, but despite its small size, the creature was incredibly strong. Its disturbing mouth was getting closer and closer...
Whoosh.
An arrow covered in blue aura pierced the creature and disintegrated it. Black blood splattered his face.