Page 7 of Blood Red Woes

After making it about thirty yards, I have to stop and catch my breath. I glance behind me and find that, whatever it is, it doesn’t leave the forest. The ridiculously tall trees are a wall, separating the field from the dark, gloomy forest that stretches on behind them. It was so dark in that forest I didn’t even realize it was daytime. That’s how thick the tree canopy was.

As if sensing my need to collapse and sleep for hours on end, Rune says, “Shouldn’t be too far now. I believe there’s a settlement just past the hill over there.”

The forest’s edge abruptly stops, the field taking its place. A mile or so away sits a gentle hill. It’s not very high, but it’s high enough that I can’t see past it from where I am. To remind me how hungry I am, my stomach growls.

If I would’ve known I’d be transported to God knows where, I would’ve eaten more ramen.

“So, do you have eyes or something? Can you see the hill?” I ask, resuming my walk. Breathing hard, I realize just how out ofshape I am. It’s a good thing that animal wasn’t really hunting me, because if it was, I’d be food by now.

“Do I look as though I have eyes? Please.” Now Rune sounds irritated, but if I have to guess, I’d say that’s his normal state of being. “I can sense things. Anything that’s around you. I may not be able to see out of your eyes, but I am aware of our surroundings all the same.”

I don’t get it, but I don’t ask him any follow-up questions.

To the hill I go. There’s no way around it, so I have to walk up it in order to see this so-called settlement Rune claims is close. Thankfully it’s not a huge hill, and the incline isn’t steep. By the time I reach the top, I’m not as out of breath as I was before.

My legs hurt, though. Like, my calves are killing me.

The moment I reach the top of the hill, I spot the settlement. Or village. Whatever. I don’t give a shit what it’s called; there are wooden houses and farming fields and everything. Less than fifty houses scattered in a small grid pattern, so not the largest village by any means. Still, hope rises within me. Maybe I won’t have to make it to Laconia city after all; maybe someone here could get Rune off me.

Get Rune off me and help me get back home. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

I keep walking, my goal singular: find someone to help me. I make it to the settlement’s outskirts and pass beneath a stone archway that hangs over the dirt path leading through the village. I’m smiling, hope fresh and new inside me, but that smile dwindles and fades into a frown as an uneasy feeling washes over me.

I walk along the main dirt path. Besides my own footsteps, I don’t hear anything. I don’t see anything. I’m… alone? No way.

“Hello?” I ask, raising my voice to just under a shout. “Is anybody there? I need some help!”

Nothing answers me, and I slow to a halt when the dirt path widens into a circular, wide-open section smack-dab in the middle of the settlement. Empty stalls line the outskirts of the circle, and I have to assume it’s some kind of marketplace.

“Rune,” I talk to the annoying wizard on my wrist. “There’s no one here. The village is empty.” Even as I say it, I don’t want it to be true. How could everyone be gone? How could there be no trace of them? People wouldn’t just abandon their homes. It couldn’t be some settlement-wide field trip. There’s no way that’s a thing.

“Hmm.” He seems thoughtful. “It does appear as though everyone is simply… not here. I wonder how that could be?”

I should be surprised that the know-it-all on my wrist doesn’t know the reason why this place is a ghost town, but the dread that built inside me while walking through it drowns out anything else I might feel.

“Something’s wrong here,” I mutter with a frown. “Something’s very, very wrong.”

The wind picks up, blowing my hair every which way. Even the air feels wrong. Worse than it did in the forest. I thought I was in the clear, but I was wrong. This isn’t me being in the clear; this is worse. Much, much worse.

I whirl around, hoping that I’d blink and suddenly the village would come back to life—but nothing happens. Nothing changes. It’s all the same.

Something in the street to my right catches my eye, though, and I’m drawn towards it, to whatever it is. Something blackened and small, leaning up against the side of the building. I have no idea what it is, not until I get closer.

No, it takes me until I’m standing directly in front of it to realize what it is.

Or who, I guess.

Skeletons. Two tiny skeletons huddled together, hugging each other. Not a lick of flesh on either of them, their bones charred and black. I’m not good at guessing kid’s ages, but I’d say neither had hit puberty yet. The bigger one was maybe ten, and the smaller one… fuck, a toddler, maybe?

“What could’ve done this?” I ask Rune, wanting to be sick. Maybe it’s a good thing my stomach is empty, otherwise I might throw up.

Those two kids… huddled together in their last moments… what did this? What could’ve killed them and blackened their bones while leaving the wooden structure behind them untouched? The house is not burned or charred at all.

Rune takes his time in answering me, his voice soft, “I don’t know. Maybe this is what happened to the entire settlement.”

I step away from the blackened bones of the children. “Are you saying you think everyone here isdead?” The last word doesn’t want to come out. It’s so… wrong. I might not know these people, they might be strangers to me, but how could I look at the scene before me and not feel my heart breaking? Whoever they were, they were only kids. They didn’t deserve this.

“It is looking more and more likely, unfortunately,” he whispers.

---