A woman came barreling down the hill, shrieking and raving about something in the trees.

  “It grabbed him,” she kept sputtering. “Right when the light went away. It just…appeared.”

  Everyone who still had a pulse gathered around her. The plane had nearly finished burning, but a trio of fires circled the survivors. Each flicker sent angry shadows across the sand, and a cold droplet of ice ran down my spine as I saw something moving beyond the light.

  “What did it look like?” Michael asked.

  Her frantic eyes settled on the group. “Big.”

  The trees beyond groaned, and everyone stepped back.

  A hunched shape moved in the darkness, massive and fur covered. I only saw brief glimpses of it, visions of antlers, of a slanted face covered in bone. It stopped, then roared, the sound vibrating my bones.

  Michael pressed forward, sword in hand. No one moved to join him.

  “Oh my God,” a woman beside me stuttered. “Oh my God.”

  The little girl was crying again, but I couldn’t blame her for it. Part of me wanted to start crying too.

  “Be ready,” Michael said, as if any of us could do a damn thing.

  The crawlers had been horrifying, but the beast in the blackness was something far worse. Even if no one could get a good look at it, we all knew how fucked we were. I’m sorry, Avery. I’d go down fighting, but this looked like it could be the end.

  Then the thing started talking.

  “Meat,” it said, voice full of gravel.

  No one dared make a sound. We all just stood there, huddled around our pitiful fires.

  “Meat,” it repeated, sour breath blasting me in the face.

  “What should we do?” someone in the crowd asked.

  “Meat,” it said once more, voice raising. It was starting to get pissed off.

  “I think we should get it some meat,” I said, not taking my eyes off the forest.

  “Where are we supposed to get that?” another person asked.

  That guy who’d been looting the dead spoke up next. “There’s plenty of bodies in the clearing. They’ll do.”

  A few people voiced their disgust, but then the beast roared, long and guttural. I covered my ears, the sound rattling my skull. By the time it stopped, someone was already trying to drag one of the corpses across the sand.

  The little girl started crying even louder, and the beast grunted its displeasure at the sound.

  “Lady, shut that kid up or I will.”

  I glared at the guy who said that, but he was partially right. She needed to quiet down.

  “Hey,” I said, shuffling closer. The girl’s mother was holding her daughter so tight, I wasn’t sure how the girl could breathe, let alone cry.

  “Leave her alone,” her mother said, twisting away.

  “That guy is a dickhead, but she needs to stop.” I glanced over my shoulder. “She keeps going like that, and the monster might decide it wants her for a snack.” The girl whimpered and I again felt like the world’s biggest asshole. “What’s your name?”

  The girl’s mother hesitated for a moment, then she spoke. “My name is Vinessa.”

  “Well, Vinessa, whatever you can do to calm her down, you need to do it.” What I was saying felt silly considering I could see fully grown men nearby who appeared to have pissed themselves.

  I leaned down. “And you, what’s your name?”

  The little girl slowly turned, her face glistening from tears. “Lyra,” she croaked.

  I smiled at her. “It’s going to be okay, Lyra. You know how monsters are scared of the light?” She nodded. “Well so is this one. He might talk a big game, but he’ll never get us while we’re by these fires. So, you keep holding on to your mom and don’t look anywhere but at her, okay?”

  It felt like I was talking to Avery. She’d had so many nightmares after the accident. There were dozens of nights she’d wake up screaming, saying something had come to pull her under. She’d start hyperventilating, her nails digging into her throat. I’d cradle her in my arms, tell her it was all going to be okay. It was a lie then, and it was a lie now. But sometimes a lie is what people need the most.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Lyra wiped the tears from her eyes, then turned back into her mother’s embrace. Vinessa just kept watching me as the girl’s sobs grew quieter and quieter. She mothed a thank you to me just as we had to part.

  Somebody was dragging a body through the crowd.

  “You,” the corpse looter said, pointing at a random guy. “Help him toss the body.”

  The guy was hesitant, but then he grabbed the charred man’s legs. With the help of his terrified partner, they carried the body toward the trees. Michael stood to block them, but then he gritted his teeth and stepped aside.

  They heaved three times, then launched the dead man through the air, His body hit the sand with a thud, then rolled. We all stood and watched, waiting for something to happen.

  A hand stretched out from between the trees, the arm it was attached to thin and darkly furred. Each of the beast’s fingers was about as long as my body, each ending in a long, yellow nail, the tip pointed and stained red.

  It pulled the corpse into the darkness, then a horrible crunching filled the air. The crowd squirmed under the weight of the sound. It seemed to go on forever.

  “More,” the beast snarled.

  Nobody moved.

  “More!” it roared.

  “You heard the thing,” the corpse looter said. He started pointing at random men and women in the crowd, those who appeared terrified but with enough sense to follow orders. He commanded them to retrieve more corpses, his words clear and authoritative. He’s used to ordering people around.

  After only a few minutes, the survivors had a system worked out. Teams of two would fall back into the clearing and drag the corpses toward the fires. Then another group would drag the bodies to the edge of the light, then toss them to the beast. It kept munching on body after body, the ground at the tree line stained with blood. I noticed a small icon appear over its hand each time it reached for its next meal, but I could never activate it in time.

  A woman started yelling, battering away the men trying to snatch the corpse at her feet. It was the woman with the spear who’d helped kill the big crawler. The body below was the guy who got his head snapped off during the battle. A few other people had fought and protested when they’d come to collect the bodies, but none as fiercely as her. She started waving her spear at them until they backed off.

  A few corpses later and the monster burped, then fell silent. The next body that got tossed lay in the sand, the beast finally full.

  Everyone was covered in sweat despite the cold. I’d stayed by Vinessa the whole time, watching the never-ending trail of corpses. We looked like ants bringing food back to the colony.

  “My God,” someone in the crowd murmured. “There’s another one.”

  My heart fell like a stone.

  A second shape joined the first, then a third, one at each shoulder.

  “Meat,” the two newcomers growled in unison.

  People started frantically tossing corpses. After each toss, one of the monster’s would snatch the body up, the other grunting in anger. It looked like the world’s most fucked up game of Hungry Hungry Hippo.

  Somebody convinced spear girl to let the headless man go. They threw him into the dark and another of the creatures burped and sat back, satisfied at last.

  “More,” the third said.

  I waited for another corpse to be tossed. Then I realized.

  We were out.

  “We need to calm down,” Michael said as people started panicking. “We can figure this out.”

  “More!” The monster screamed so loudly the trees shook.

  Corpse Looter brushed Michael to the side and addressed the crowd. “We need to keep feeding that thing or we’re all dead.” He looked each man and woman in the eye. “Anyone want to volunteer?”

  No one said anything.

  “Didn’t think so.” He looped his thumbs into his belt. “That leaves us two options. Fight this thing and die, or sacrifice someone and live. I for one, am for option number two.”

  A hand brushed my elbow, and I turned to find the old man standing there.

  “Things are about to get very ugly,” he said. “But stick true to yourself. Never forget that. Never let them take that away from you.”

  “The wounded!” someone shouted. “Take one of them!”

  I turned toward the guy yelling, then back to the old man.

  He was gone.

  “An excellent idea!” The corpse looter said. “Grab one.” He pointed at two men beside him and they set to work.

  It was complete chaos after that. People started yelling, some shoving. Those still too wounded to move were huddled a little further back than the rest of us. There were five of them in total, three unlikely to see morning. But still, were we really doing this?

  A man grabbed an old woman by the arm. The woman’s entire left leg was scorched black. She screamed horribly as she was pulled backwards.

  “Stop!’ a young man said, coming to the old woman’s aid.

  The corpse looter came up beside him and pressed a sword to his throat. “You either back off, or you’re next.”

  Bow guy stepped back and nocked an arrow. He had it aimed right at the looter’s head.

  A few other people drew steel after that. I backed off with Vinessa and Lyra, putting myself between them and the others.

  Michael tried calming everyone down. His sword was still in its sheath, and he talked with his arms fanned out, his hands open. But no matter how much he pleaded, no one could stop what was coming.

  A pained scream split the tension. While everyone was focused on the coming violence, one of the monsters had plucked someone from the back of the crowd. We could still hear his screams as it began to feast.

  I hoped, prayed, that this would be enough.

  “More.”

  What happened next was almost too fast to follow.

  Someone stepped behind Michael and bashed the back of his head with the pommel of their sword. Bow guy fired after that, but the looter flashed white, activating some sort of skill. He ducked low, the arrow speeding into the void. Then he sprang forward, fast as an Olympic sprinter. His sword sliced across bow guy’s stomach, leaving a long red gash. His armor had kept the strike from gutting him, but the looter was angling his sword for a thrust.

  That’s when I shot him with a fireball.

  Did it without thinking about it. The spell kind of just materialized in my palm, then blasted him a split second later. And maybe it was because of how hastily I’d fired it, or maybe part of me was still pissed he’d shoulder checked me earlier. Because that fireball slammed right into his twig and berries.

  He grunted, then dropped his sword. He stumbled a step, then turned, eyes wild and full of fury.

  He flashed white again and slammed into me so hard and fast I had no idea what’d happened. I rolled, everything spinning. By the time I sat up, a massive hand was reaching toward me. An icon appeared, the only thing clear in my blurry vision. I activated it without thinking about it.

  Forest Glutton Lv. 50

  Information: Kill (1) to unlock.

  Notice: Good luck with that.

  I blinked, eyes clearing up. Then I saw the claws, the hand, the giant mouth in between the trees.

  Someone screamed—possibly me—then darkness closed in.