Chapter 5.2
Chapter 5.2
It had all been a dream. But which parts?
“…Damian?”
The house was silent. Not even the ticking of a clock broke the stillness.
She couldn’t tell what time it was. The house lights were off, which meant it must be the middle of the night. They were automated.
No one was there. No one.
Just like thirteen years ago. The same fear. The only difference was that this time, there truly was no one. Not even the neighbor boy to sit with her while she cried through the night.
Terror slammed into her, a physical blow that left her frozen, rigid. Her pulse hammered against her veins, threatening to burst through. The chilling memories buried for thirteen years clawed at her heart. She saw Serpiente inside her home, her mother’s frantic hands shoving her into the wardrobe. She remembered peering through the crack in the thin door, the monstrous shapes shifting in the darkness. She remembered how they devoured her parents, the blood pooling, spreading.
Now, the corpses in her memory morphed into Damian. Damian, missing his left arm. Damian, who promised never to leave her. He tilted his head, looking at her, smiling.
A crushing pain seized her chest, as if someone were choking the air from her lungs. Something warm and wet trickled down her cheeks.
‘Am I…crying?’
‘I’m not that scared, weak little girl anymore. I’m not fourteen.’
She pressed her palms against her eyes, but the hot tears continued to flow. “You promised you wouldn’t leave, you bast*rd…”
She didn’t know how long she stayed there. All she knew was that the air in the bathroom had grown thin. Then, she fainted again.
***
Bang! Bang! Bang! The brutal pounding on the door dragged her from whatever semblance of sleep she’d managed. Her head throbbed, and as she sat up, the gnawing emptiness of her stomach reminded her that the egg sandwich from yesterday morning was the last thing she’d eaten.
Bang! Bang!
The insistent knocking allowed her no respite. She stumbled to the door. The pounding stopped. Click. The lock disengaged. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. She winced, not from the sudden influx of light, but from the sight of the person standing before her.
“…Luce Grade?”
“…Uh… Adeline.”
Luce faltered, as she took in his appearance. His eyes were hollow with exhaustion, his short red hair a mess. Even looking like a wreck, Luce still held a certain endearing quality. He opened and closed her mouth, his face contorting as if he might cry.
“Sorry to bang on your door like that. You didn’t answer, and I… I thought something had happened… Especially after yesterday’s… news.”
As she watched Luce’s distress, the pieces of yesterday began to click into place. Damian. Outside. Serpiente. The bathroom. The nightmare. The breakdown.
Thankfully, nausea didn’t follow. A slight wave of queasiness passed, but after yesterday’s emotional turmoil, her mind quickly regained control. Perhaps it was Luce’s presence, the comfort of not being alone.
“…Come in. We shouldn’t talk out here.”
Luce followed her inside, his eyes darting nervously. Adeline was grateful for his presence. Without Luce, she might have spiraled again, starving, weeping, and collapsing into another faint. Forcing herself to move, she made tea and brought out some snacks. She glanced at Luce, who sat at the table, his legs still trembling.
“I was going to come find you anyway. I saw your name on the survivor list.”
Luce paled visibly at the word “survivor.”
“It… uh… I… we… we all survived because of Damian.”
“Luce.”
“Huh?”
“Take your time, but tell me exactly what happened.”
The unease that had settled in since the authorities arrived yesterday intensified. Something felt wrong. The pieces didn’t fit. No bodies recovered. That was strange, especially for soldiers. Death she could understand, but this… this was unsettling.
Serpiente hated tobacco. Every member of the squad had coated themselves in tobacco dust before the mission. How could they have been devoured? And not just killed, but devoured.
“…It wasn’t Serpiente.”
“What?”
“They… sh*t. The trap… it wasn’t Serpiente caught in it. It was corpses.”
“What are you saying? Explain it clearly.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. A premonition, cold and sharp, whispered through her.
“It was human bodies in the trap. It was a setup. When we got there… there were dozens, no, sh*t, I don’t even know how many. Serpiente. All over the ceiling. It’s a miracle any of us made it out.”
Her head swam. Luce’s voice faded into the background, “…all thanks to Damian… he sacrificed himself…”
“And the tobacco didn’t work. I saw it. I saw them tearing into bodies covered in tobacco.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s true. We all coated ourselves before we left…”
“No, not the tobacco. The trap.”
“Huh?”
“You’re saying Serpiente planned this? Set a trap?”
Luce’s unfocused eyes slowly sharpened with understanding.
“…Yeah. They set a trap and waited for us.”
It was absurd. Serpiente were physically superior, monstrous, but they were animals. Driven by hunger. Mindless, savage snake-creatures. They couldn’t… plan.
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