Chapter 4 (part 1)

Her first encounter with a demon

We walked together within the school grounds, searching for the Hive class demon that caused this horror show. Astrid walked up front, her shield raised, ready for any oncoming surprises, whereas Tinu and myself walked side-by-side behind her, I was holding my weapon defensively so as to be prepared for an attack, but Tinu was carrying his sword in a rather relaxed way, the blade dragging on the ground behind him.

As we walked the outside corridors of the school memories flashed in my mind, nothing I really wanted to remember though, just going back and forth between rooms for lessons along with all the other girls who attended the school. Thinking back on it, the school was a lot creepier with no students or teachers walking around, and depressing knowing that most, if not all, of them were probably dead. 

"Hey, Delia?" Tinu asked, breaking the silence. "Do you think you'd be able to use your magic again?" 

I turned slightly to look at him. "You mean, against the big bad we're about to reap?" 

He nodded. "Yeah, it'd probably come in pretty handy." He grinned. 

"I honestly don't know," I turned away from him and faced forward once again. "I think when I controlled it back in the courtyard it was a fluke, it only allowed me to use it to save itself." 

"You think your magic is conscious?" 

It took me a moment to recognise what I had said. "I suppose I do." I hadn't actually said out loud before, I never even really thought about it, but it makes sense of it a little, the only time I've been able to control it was moments before the zombie horde were about to consume my soul. 

We passed by the entrance to the dormitories, which had been barricaded from the otherside. I found myself running up to the double doors and peering through the window on the left door, hoping to see some sign of survivors. I frantically tried to look through the gaps in the random furniture until I found it, the sight I needed to confirm my hope, the door to the students quarters opened slowly and a living girl peered out, checking for any danger, before closing the door once again. The look on her face haunted me, no colour seemed to remain within it, her eyes were bloodshot, as if she had had no sleep and, although she moved quickly, I could tell she was shaking like a leaf. She was completely terrified. 

"Survivors?" Tinu's voice said beside me. 

I turned to him and nodded. "The demon didn't get everyone."

"And if we hurry we can still save them." Astrid's voice said bluntly behind us. 

We both nodded and followed her. We had to kill this demon more than ever, we had to save those left behind. 

We walked without interruption from the undead horde until we came to the school's field, where it would usually be used for P.E., and in the middle of the field was the very thing we were hunting. 

It was a gruesome sight. 

The three girls I had erased from existance had become twisted into one being, facing away from eachother, joined by a fusion of their ankles, elbows and the backs of their heads, and some sort of red cord seemed to be running through their hips, keeping them tethered. They continuously turned, as if searching for something, while they levitated and I could see that each of their faces were deformed, they looked like melted plastic, they had no eyes, just hollow sockets, and their mouths gaped open with protruding fangs coming from each of their top lips, their hair had grown to extreme lengths reaching down past their feet, they seemed to be naked but their skin was covered in murky gold scales. Around them shambled a horde of walking corpses, mostly consisting of the former faculty. 

I couldn't help but recoil in a mix of fear and disgust. But from the others I heard a soft chuckle. 

"Ugly, isn't it?" Tinu said under his breath, just loud enough for us to hear. 

"But there's three of them?" I responded in confusion. 

"Not anymore," Astrid answered. "Their minds are linked, just like their bodies, that's why their known as Hive class demons, multiple minds and bodies working as one." 

"And there can be more than three," Tinu added with a strange grin. "What's the most we've seen in a Hive demon?" He asked, turning his head to Astrid. 

"I think it was about fifty," She turned to the fused trio. "And even that one wasn't as ugly as this poor excuse for a demon!" She yelled, smiling gleefully at them.

One of the bodies of the demonised girls suddenly faced us directly, they let out a deafening scream with a constantly shifting pitch and the zombies surrounding them stopped shambling, they slowly turned towards us, and rushed towards us. 

All three of us readied our weapons, Astrid stepped out in front and struck the first zombie that made it to us with her shield, Tinu swung his sword over his head with one hand, slicing another zombie right down the middle, then he proceeded to swing his sword horizontally and chopped two more from the waist, again only using one hand, it almost looked like he was flying along with it from the weight of the sword alone. While the other two were keeping the horde busy I tried to use my magic again, trying to invoke the same white flames as before, but no matter how much I concentrated no flames emerged, almost like the magic was ignoring my calls. I pushed this aside for now and rushed forward with my scythe, spinning twice before getting to a zombie, to build up my momentum, cutting through the former male teacher diagonally from the right, slicing through him like a hot knife through butter. 

We fought against the demon's own personal horde without thought or worry for ourselves, we were unflinching in our resolve, I was more determined than I ever had been before, their evil had to die, there was just no way they could stop me. 

When their horde was cut down to a bare few they screamed again, the same deafening scream as before but even that didn't stop our slaughter of the dead. A countless number of zombies ran in from other parts of the school, attacking us with the ferocity of a pack of hungry wolves. Though a majority of them went to Tinu and Astrid, only a couple, at most, attacked me. It left an opening for me to attack the demon.

And I wasn't going to miss it. 

I rushed towards the fusion of the three girls, my scythe trailed behind me, ready to strike. I could feel the look on my face turn angry, I was ready to strike and end this once and for all. 

And then they laughed. 

I stopped in my tracks, not because of their laughter, but because their murky gold hair had suddenly extended and shot towards me, wrapping around my wrists and ankles and pulling me up into the air, their hair that gripped my wrists tightened, forcing me to drop my scythe, they felt sharp, like razor blades pressed against my skin. As they pulled me closer towards them I struggled and grunted out of frustration. 

"Look, girls," Said the voice I remember belonging to the leader of the three. "It's the Orphan!" 

They swivelled twice so the other two heads could see me before returning to the first face. 

"The freak." Each head said as they saw me, almost like an echo from the past. 

"The freak that killed us!" The voice said, angrier this time, manoeuvring me in the air so I was almost upside-down and pulling me down closer so our faces were practically touching. 

I forced out a laugh. 

"You think I'm the freak?" I asked with a soft chuckle, hiding the pain they were causing me. "Have you seen yourselves lately? You're all more of a freak than than I ever was!" 

I spat into one of their empty eye sockets as I continued to struggle but it just caused them to tighten their grip again. They laughed again as I screamed out in pain. 

"Oh, hun, you haven't felt real pain, not yet anyway!" 

"She doesn't know..." One of the other voices said, almost like a whisper and less dominant than their main voice. 

"...doesn't know how it felt..." The third voice said, in the same way as the one before it. 

"...how it felt to die..."

"...like we died..."

The face in front of me grinned darkly. "You're right," She said as more strands of their collective hair rose into the air between their three heads, looking like serpents ready to strike. "Let's give her a taste!" Their hair shot forward again, piercing me in different places all over my body like hundreds of needles penetrating me all at once. 

I cried out as pain engulfed my body, it felt like I was being electrocuted and being physically beaten all at once. 

Their echoed laughter continued through my pain, I tried to block it out as my body jolted and stiffened simultaneously. 

They moved their face to the side of my head. "This is just a fraction of the pain we felt!" She screamed in my ear. 

The strands of hair that gripped my wrists and ankles tightened, actually cutting into my skin, though the tight grip kept the blood flow to a minimum. 

"She should join us..."

"...become one with us..."

"...and feel it all..."

"...feel it all forever..."

They cackled. "Yes, she should join us in our eternal pain." They grinned briefly before opening their already gaping mouths wider, much like a python before it swallows it's prey whole. 

With pain still coursing through my body I was unable to do anything, I couldn't even feel afraid or give in to panic, I could only hope that they were lying about their never-ending pain.