Page 39 of Daemonium

"I'm fine," I replied, though my heart was racing.

We reached the farm, its eerie name spelled out in faded, crooked letters above a large, closed gate.

"Field of Lost Souls." The sign creaked in the early morning breeze, adding to the unsettling atmosphere. The gate had a smaller sign that simply said, "Now Open."

“This looks really familiar,” Lana said, her voice tinged with unease.

It did, but only because we’d walked through a cornfield on Troy Sainte’s property.

“I’ll go in first,” Earl volunteered, stepping forward.

“No, wait—” Lana began to object, but Carol cut her off.

“It’s fine. Let him go.”

Earl shuffled ahead and pushed open the gate. There was a soft click and the whirring of a tape, but no voice accompanied it.

“So creepy,” Hayven murmured, her light blue eyes darting around.

We proceeded forward, sticking to the center of the path in case someone was lurking in the corn stalks. The tall plants swayed gently, seeming to close in on us. As we ventured deeper into the maze, the air grew colder, the sense of foreboding intensifying with each step. At the end of the trail, we reached another gate. Earl stepped forward and pushed it open. This time, a voice began to speak from an unseen source.

"Mary had a flock of lambs whose eyes were black as coal.

They nibbled at her sanity, gnawing at her mind, leaving shattered memories, and dark whispers left behind.

In fields of endless darkness, where shadows dared to play, the lambs turned feral, monstrous, and devoured Mary's soul.

So tread with care, dear contestants, and heed this tale of woe for Mary’s lambs now stalk the night, and they will claim you all."

“I do not remember it going like that when I was a kid,” Dion said, shaking his head.

Mel laughed. “My mom probably sang that to me when I was a baby.”

"That is messed up," Brody commented.

"Your mom's a bitch," Maverick added.

"An understatement," Lana agreed.

"All of that’s true," she acknowledged. "But was that little rhyme supposed to be our hint?"

"Oh, they're here. We just can't see them yet," Ciaran said, his tone matter of fact.

"Care to elaborate?" Lana asked, her eyes narrowing.

"If you see someone in a sheep mask, let me know," he answered. "Let's go." He made sure she walked with him as he set off again, apparently already knowing where he was going. There was a barn a few feet ahead, dark with its doors open.

As we got closer, a spotlight clicked on, and figures began to fill the doorway. Our group paused and we all took one another in. They wore masks and carried weapons, with two sitting on ATVs.

“This just got fun,” Brody said with a grin.

“We need to split up,” Maverick suggested.

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea,” I interjected, feeling a surge of anxiety.

“I saw that movie too,” Dion muttered.

“Keep moving straight and you’ll reach the edge of the property. They never leave the farm,” Charon advised.

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