Screams in the Forest

In the clasp of the vines, Shen hung for a heart-stopping moment. He had been saved by their unexpected suppleness, which absorbed the momentum of what would have been a bone-shattering fall. He fought against their hold, writhing and twisting like an animal caught in a trap, until he eventually escaped and hit the wet woodland floor with a firm thud. He was cleaning the filth and adhering leaves from his body when he noticed an odd detail: his clothes had changed. The clothes were strange, but they were plain and functional.

He had a deep-seated desire to start a fire, a source of light and warmth that would keep the night from ending till morning. But he was always on high alert because of the uncanny, invisible noises that slithered through the trees. The ominous atmosphere of the woodland was intensified by every sound of leaves rustling and a twig breaking sharply under an invisible weight. Shen decided to move, to push into the darkness in the hope of finding safety—or at least another live soul—rather than risk unwelcome attention.

There was a clamor of disturbing sounds in the woodland. From a far-off hill came the melancholy howl of wolves, a spooky melody carried on by a savage wind that gnawed at his bones. In a fruitless attempt to create some warmth against the approaching cold, he rubbed his hands together. When he came upon a narrow river, its surface gleaming like a silver ribbon in the dim moonlight, a searing thirst snagged at his throat, a searing thirst snagged at his throat.

Shen walked cautiously down to the bank and squatted down to take a drink. He stopped. Downstream, the moonlight on the water's surface was blacked out by the enormous figure of a bear. The beast, which was nearly eight times his weight, was sipping idly and didn't seem to notice him. Shen had never seen a bear outside of a book, and as he watched it, afraid to make the smallest sound, his heart pounded against his ribs like a battle drum. He turned and ran back into the relative protection of the trees, taking advantage of the moment when the powerful creature was preoccupied.

Shen didn't look back as he raced, his mind conjuring up gruesome, harrowing visions of the bear tearing through the brush in hot pursuit. He was too preoccupied with the imagined danger behind him to notice the sharp rise in elevation in front of him. His foot caught, and he fell, his body slamming forcefully against the roots, pebbles, and uneven ground until he skidded to a stop at the bottom. Every muscle in his body screamed in protest as he let out a deep sigh, but the sound died in his throat when he saw what was in front of him.

The warm glow of a great fire pulsed against the darkness through a space between two massive, old trees. Although it was an unfathomable relief to see another human, there was something terribly, profoundly wrong about the scene.

He forced himself to stand, gritting his teeth against the pain, and started to approach the light gingerly. He became more and more excited as he approached, a frantic hope for help rising within him. His mouth opened, the word "Hello!" already beginning to form on his lips, but before he could say anything, the silence of the forest was broken by a spine-tingling scream. It was instinct. Shen hurled himself behind a tree's wide trunk, his mind urging him to watch before taking action.

A chill of sheer ice ran down his spine at what he saw. A gathering of people, their features twisted into masks of vicious cruelty, gathered around the raging fire. They were ruthlessly slaughtering other people—captives who were shackled and defenseless, their cries of pain echoing through the night. Then, to Shen's utter horror, the murderers threw the severed limbs into the fire and took them out a few seconds later to eat the charred flesh.

Cannibals. They were far too many for him to face or outsmart, he knew with a horrible wrench in his stomach. He had no choice but to back off. With great care, he planted each foot as he started to back away. However, it was useless. Something small and taut caught his heel, a secret trap. He was yanked abruptly off the ground and left hanging upside-down, swinging helplessly like a pendulum, as a rope immediately tightened around his ankle.

His senses were filled with icy, biting panic as the heads of the cannibals snapped at him. To warn the others of the new prey that had wandered into their web, one of them gave a guttural yell. Shen's terrified gaze swung to a knife stuck in a nearby tree trunk as he swayed. He started swinging, creating an arc with his momentum. He extended his arm with every pass, his strained fingers just touching the wooden hilt. With their predatory, ravenous eyes focused on him, the cannibals were drawing near.

Shen made one last frantic swing, his fingers wrapping around the handle of the knife, using all the strength he had left. He tugged. Deep in the wood, it resisted, but his instinct for survival drove him over the edge. Just as the first cannibal attacked, he ripped it free with one more painful tug. Shen stabbed the assailant in the skull out of sheer instinct.

Dead, the cannibal fell to the ground. Shen wasted no time in sawing wildly at the rope that was fastened to his ankle.

Cradling the bloodied knife in his hand, he stumbled to his feet. His mind shouted, unable to comprehend what he had just done, and his chest heaved with ragged gasps. Slowly and cruelly, it came to him that he had killed someone.

His palm started to shake violently, blurring the image of dark blood streaming from the blade. His mind scrambled for a justification, anything to calm the tempest inside him. They would have murdered me. Another idea, frigid and sneaky, came right after: What if he, too, had no options?

Shen's knees struck the woodland floor with a dull thud as his legs gave up. With fear and excitement pumping through his veins, his breathing became shallow and quick. As his memory relived the scene, his whole body trembled: the moist crunch of bone, the horrible weight of the knife sinking in.

Unbidden but persistent, a voice from his past reverberated in his head. "Whom can you blame for their actions when it helps them live?"

Even though the night air was cold, Shen put a hand to his forehead, his skin saturated in a cold perspiration. His survival instincts had taken control, but now that humanity was coming back to haunt him, he had to face the heartbreaking consequences of his decision.

Was there anything I could do?

The faint warmth of blood still clung to the knife's hilt as his fingers curled tightly around it. Another, more horrifying notion arose as the picture of the cannibal's empty, dead eyes burnt itself into his mind: What if I was mistaken?

He was startled back to the horrifying present by the sound of the surviving cannibals shouting in rage. His legs shook under him as he pushed himself to stand. This was not the end of it.

The pursuit was unrelenting. With his legs wailing for rest and his lungs burning for air, Shen pushed his body to its breaking point. As he hurried, the wailing cries of the cannibals appeared to rouse others from the shadows, increasing their numbers. Before long, fire-tipped arrows were flying past his head, their flames creating glowing trails in the darkness. As he ran, the scorching heat rubbing over his flesh, he lifted his arms defensively.

He couldn't continue; his strength was gone. He required a strategy, a means of outwitting his assailants. His thoughts were about to descend into despair when he noticed a little gap between two enormous boulders. It might buy him the time he needed, but it appeared impossible. Shen pushed himself into the opening without hesitation. His sides and back were cut and torn by the sharp rocks, but he forced through the discomfort and eventually came out on the other side. He gave himself a brief moment of relief as he struggled for air—until he noticed a flash of movement in the bushes nearby. Like a stone, his heart fell.

A cannibal sprang out of the bushes and viciously attacked Shen. A wild tangle of limbs rolled and crashed into the soil below as the two fell down yet another steep slope. Shen was on top of his assailant when they eventually stopped. His fall from the trap had damaged the knife, which was still in his grasp. The weakening blade had become deeply embedded in the cannibal's chest during their fall. Shen yanked it free out of reflex, but the blade broke, and he was left with a handle that was worthless. He tossed it away and clambered to his feet.

Ahead, a flimsy wooden bridge spanned an abyss so deep it appeared to have no bottom. Shen fled as the sounds of the incoming crowd pushed him onward. He realized how dangerous the bridge was the instant his foot touched it. With each step, the ragged ropes sustaining the building swung wildly, and the aged planks creaked menacingly.

As they approached the chasm's brink, the cannibals paused and yelled wildly among themselves. They chose a more brutal approach rather than jeopardize the bridge. Watching them pull their blades and start cutting at the thick support ropes made Shen's heart sink. The tension snapped strand by strand, and the bridge moaned in protest with every savage cut.

The remainder of the ropes broke way as Shen got closer to the other side. He fell into the abyss when the bridge collapsed. His fingers closed around the shattered wood as it smacked against the cliffside as he grabbed for a loose plank, acting on a desperate instinct. The bridge now dangled vertically against the rock wall like a rudimentary and dangerous ladder.

Shen climbed slowly, painfully, with a desperation he had never experienced before. His muscles shook with fatigue, and his hands burned from the exertion. Then suddenly his back exploded with a burning ache. When he realized he had been hit by an arrow, he gasped and let out a choked yell. His hold wavered. His vision was blurred at the edges as poison, quick and strong, ran through him. At last, his power fled him as the world whirled into a dizzying tornado. He started to tumble.

However, a hand sprang out from the edge of the cliff and grabbed him by the arm with an iron grasp just as he was ready to drop into the never-ending darkness below. As Shen glanced up to see the face of the enigmatic person who had just saved his life, he dangled helplessly, his consciousness fading.