A stone's light

It's just a normal day for Laura until she finds herself accidentally lost in a run down part of town. There, she ends up seeing something she shouldn't have, leading her to a chase for her life.

Laura's breath caught in her breath as she forced herself to continue running, weaving through the dense trees. The forest seemed to stretch forever as she was forced to twist and turn around the trees and thick underbrush. She came across a moderately steep rocky cliff. Hearing sounds of pursuit close behind her, she knew she didn't have time to go around. She jumped down and began half running, half sliding down the cliff. Several times she almost tripped, but she managed to right herself just in time and continued down. Finally, she reached the bottom and toppled to her knees. Her breath was ragged as she pulled her weary body to her feet. She made herself start running again as the sounds of pursuit reached the top of the cliff.

“I heard her go down this cliff!” a female voice said. “Come on.” Behind Laura, the sounds of several people sliding down the cliff could be heard. She suppressed a small giggle when the sound of someone tripping and tumbling down the cliff reached her.

Laura wondered how she managed to get herself into this situation. Just a little while ago she was walking around town after school, admittedly a little lost. She had only moved to that town a month before, and she still didn't know the way around a good portion of it. She had turned down a street, thinking it would lead to her house, but quickly found herself in what looked like a bad part of town. The neat, well-taken care of houses were quickly replaced with older apartments. Many of them had boarded up windows rather than glass and trash covered the streets.

She had turned around once she had noticed the change, but she had only managed to get herself deeper into the bad part of town. She had a lousy sense of direction, as her older brother was always quick to remind her, and she found herself getting more and more lost as she walked. Laura finally stopped and took out her phone to call someone to come get her.

As she stared into the screen, Laura's face turned red. Her phone was dead. She had meant to charge it last night, but she forgot. Now what was she to do? Looking around, she spied a telephone booth across the street. She walked over to it and stepped through the hole in its side since the door had been smashed. Fishing in her pocket for some change, she grabbed onto the phone. Laura found some money and pushed it through the slot. Then she pressed the numbered buttons to call her mother, who should be home about now.

She waited for the ringing to start, but as she stood there, alone in a broken telephone booth in the middle of an empty street, she realized the phone was still completely silent. She looked down and saw, to her dismay, that the cord had been hacked off. She angrily slammed the phone back onto its holder and stormed out of the booth. It had even eaten her money.

She continued following the street, turning onto streets that looks like they were in better condition than the others in the hopes it would eventually lead back to the better part of town. As she walked, Laura noticed a phone booth in the corner of her eye. She thought she'd try again and walked towards it. However, as she neared it, she noticed that the door was smashed in and the phone cord was hacked in two. She stomped the ground as her face flushed. She had walked in a giant circle. She dropped to the ground and put her face in her hands. Here she was, lost, sitting in a street full of muck, and without any idea of what to do. She was so embarrassed of herself.

She was still wallowing in self-loathing when she heard the sound of several voices. Laura had been in this area for a while now and the entire time she had seen and heard no one. Unable to hold in her curiosity, she quietly headed towards the source of the sounds. She turned into a small alley and slowly peered around the corner. In a large, circular dead end of an alley, several people talked in low voices. Laura couldn't see most of their faces, as their backs were towards her, but she could see a man and a woman. The woman was pale with dirty blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was tall and fairly thin with long, elegant fingers that she pointed at the people around her. She looked to be the leader and didn't look like she ever had to do any of the hard work herself. Beside her was a short, slightly pudgy man with dark hair who fidgeted constantly as he stood silently. He didn't look like one to do any work himself, but it was obvious that the other people listened to the woman, not him.

Laura couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was unlikely that they were doing anything legal, as they were conducting business in an empty alley in a overall empty part of town. She turned to leave before she got caught, but found herself staring into the eyes of another person. He was a younger man with jet black hair and smooth skin. His face wrinkled into a frown as he looked at her. Without saying anything, he grabbed onto her arm and clutched it tightly.

“You shouldn't be here,” he said darkly.

Laura knew she was in trouble. Quickly, she stomped on the man's foot. As his grip loosened in surprise and pain, she grabbed a hold of his and twisted it. He fell to the ground as his arm burst into pain. She had learned a couple moves from her older brother, but she never thought she would even actually have to use them.

“What was that?” a voice called from inside the alley. They had heard the commotion and were coming to check what it was.

Laura ran, knowing that she didn't have any time to think things through. She had to get out of there before she was found. Too late, she heard the sound of heavy feet on the pavement behind her. She had been seen. Behind her was several people, the ones that had been speaking quietly in the alley.

Laura began running down random streets. She was lost anyway, so she was hoping she could get them lost along the way too. Unfortunately, they somehow seemed to be keeping within sight of her. Even so, she kept running, taking streets at random and trying to push her pace. She was a fast runner, a member of the track team, so she tried to use the best aspect she had, running.

Eventually, the maze of houses thinned out and she came across a forest at the town's edge. She had heard that there was a large forest nearby, but she hadn't known it was in this area. Laura didn't have time to consider what to do, though, as her pursuers were still hot on her trail. Seeing no other choice, she ran into the forest.

Behind, she heard her pursuers stop at the forest entrance, wondering which way to go. Laura's hopes that they would think she had turned around were dashed as they split up, several going back into town while the rest entered the forest. She turned back to look where she was running and kept going. Around her the trees began to thicken and get closer together as the forest became more dense. She wished she knew where she was going so she could turn back towards the good end of town. There she could have found someone to help her escape the people coming after her. She wasn't in luck though, as she was obviously heading deeper into the forest rather than towards town. However, she didn't have the time to stop and figure out where to go.

And that's how she got to the point she was at. Laura didn't know what those people were doing, nor why they had to chase her just because she had accidentally come across them. All she knew was that she was now very deep in what seemed to be a very large forest as her pursuers somehow managed to keep within enough distance that they could tell where she was going.

By now Laura was getting pretty tired. As an athlete, she had a good amount of stamina, but running on the uneven forest floor was tiring even for her. It had to be the same for her pursuers, as she could hear the sounds of their labored breathing. However, they continued to chase after her, no doubt because of the woman leader. Just from the short look Laura had gotten of her, she could tell that she wasn't very patient. She was probably waiting outside the forest, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the news of her underling's success.

As Laura continued to run, she began to notice that the trees were getting taller. She must be in a very old part of the forest. All around her, large and small chunks of broken stone littered the ground. It looked like a ruin of some sort. She wondered what it was doing here.

Her thoughts were suddenly broken as the ground gave way beneath her. She let out a small gasp as she was sent tumbling into darkness.

* * *

Laura groaned as she regained consciousness. Her body hurt all over. Opening her eyes, she lifted her head from the dirt floor and looked around. To her surprise, she found she was in a small room with rocky walls and a wooden ceiling. The only light source was a small glass window in the corner.

She got up and walked over to the window, glad the ceiling was high enough for her to stand. Laura climbed into the small space around the window and knocked on the glass. Feeling the sturdiness of the glass, she moved her hand to the edge and tried to pull off the glass. The glass moved a little, but quickly became stuck. She bit down a curse as she pulled harder on it. Slowly it moved, alternating between inching forward and getting stuck. Finally, the window came off and Laura anxiously moved it away.

However, to her great disappointment, the light behind the window came from a small hand-sized rock. A tiny ray of light illuminated the rock, coming from a hole no bigger than her finger in the top of the space.

Curious, Laura picked up the rock and took it from the space. The her amazement, the rock continued to glow brightly in her heart, albeit a little dimmer than it had been in the light. Although she was hoping the window would be a way out, at least she had found herself a light source.

Carrying the rock, she walked over to where she had fallen. She lifted the rock above her head, revealing a hole in the wooden ceiling. The rock's light could reach several meters around her, but it wasn't nearly enough to light up the hole. The blackness of the hole swallowed the light, making it impossible to see how far from the surface the end of the hole was. Sighing, Laura gave up on the idea of trying to go back where she came from. Even if she managed to find a way to climb into the hole, there was no way she'd be able to climb all the way up. Besides the near vertical slope of the hole's tunnel, the thought of trying to climb through that tunnel made her feel claustrophobic, even while standing in open space.

Laura turned away from the hole and began shining the light towards the walls of the room. She had almost turned a full circle when she finally managed to find a space like an open doorway leading out of the room. Without a second thought, she left the room, finding herself in a large tunnel.

The tunnel was much like the room before, wooden ceiling, rocky walls, and a dirt floor. To her relief, there were windows like the first one, spilling light into the tunnel. However, they were far and few between, leaving many dark spaces where the light couldn't manage to reach. In addition, she could see in the distance that there were several that were no longer lit.

Laura cradled the rock in her hand. She was glad she had taken the rock with her. While she was not normally afraid of the dark, the thought of walking through the eery underground tunnel without a light was enough to give her shudders.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed all thoughts of being in a dark tunnel away and began walking down the tunnel. The path was mostly straight, with the occasional slight curve in one direction or another. Every one in a while, she saw a different tunnel branching off in a different direction. However, she didn't dare go into any of them. She didn't know where she was going and had no way to keep track of any turns she could take. The last thing Laura wanted was to get lost underground, so the best option would be to continue following a single path.

After walking for a while, Laura decided to take a rest. There was no way to tell how much time had passed, but she could tell it had been quite some time as she was getting tired. Leaning on the walls, she let herself sink to the ground. Cupping the glowing rock in her hands, she began looking back on the day so far. How could what seemed like a normal day go so bad? She wasn't able to hear what the people were saying, but it had to be something bad since they had chased her for so long. Laura sighed as she let her head drop. Why did she even go to look at what they were doing in the first place? She was in a bad part of town, she should have known better than to go see. She guessed the saying “Curiosity killed the cat” was perfect for her.

The sounds of echoing footsteps suddenly shook her from her deep thoughts. Terrified, she leaped to her feet and strained her ears to listen. How had they found her? She didn't have time to ponder the question as she could hear the sounds of the footsteps gradually getting louder. She had to get out of there, and quickly.

She turned away from the direction the footsteps were coming from and began running through the tunnel. As she was running, she faintly heard the footsteps stop and then start again, faster than they had been. If she could hear them, then they could hear her as her footsteps resounded in the empty tunnels.

Coming to a turn, Laura quickly turned into it and continued running. Earlier she had wanted to stay straight so she wouldn't get lost, but now wasn't the time for being careful. They would find her in no time if she continued on the same path. She would have to loose them and figure out how to get out later.

Right. Left. Left. Straight. Right. Left. Right. Straight. Laura huffed with exertion as she took random turns, sometimes taking them, sometimes continuing past. Still, she could still hear the footsteps behind her. They had not gotten louder, but they hadn't gotten softer either. She wondered how they could manage to keep up with her even though her path was so random. Picking up her speed, she tried to leave them far behind.

A couple minutes after the chase had begun, Laura, hopelessly lost, was forced to slow down. She put her hand on the wall for support as she took gasping breaths. She had never run so much in her life, and it was beginning to seriously wear her down. There was no way she'd be able to run any more without some rest. Despite that, she continued down the path, though she could manage little more than a forced speed walk.

She once again turned out of the path she was on to another. However, she was surprised to find it wasn't another tunnel. Instead, she found herself in a large cavern. Although it was filled with the glowing rocks, it wasn't nearly enough to illuminate the gigantic space. Laura clutched at the rock in her hand as she walked into the cavern.

Looking around, she noticed that the cavern was not empty. Clustered in little alcoves were huge birds. Their golden feathers gleamed as they reflected off of the stones giving off a soft light. She couldn't tell how many there were, but there had to be dozens at least, all peacefully sleeping. Even curled up, she could tell that they were very beautiful birds, though she didn't dare get closer. She didn't want to wake them from their sleep.

Laura was suddenly shaken from her enchanted revere though, as she placed her foot onto the ground which immediately collapsed with a crunch. Surprised, she tripped and accidentally dropped the rock. Afraid to leave the rock behind, she bent over to retrieve it and was met with an even bigger sight.

The rock, still glowing brightly, had landed next to a human skull. The light of the rock gave the white skull a sickening and eery look. The shadows of where the eyes and mouth had once been seemed laugh cruelly at her.

Breath caught in her throat, she fell back, away from the laughing skull. Laura heard a sickening crunch as she felt the ground give away beneath her hands again. Down on the ground, she was forced to see it. All around her were the bones of humans, all remnants of flesh stripped away. The ground itself was a bed of broken, dismantled skeletons.

“There she is!” a voice called, accompanied by the sounds of footsteps close by. Heart beating in her chest, Laura quickly stuffed the rock into her pocket and stood up. She stood up and immediately began to run, although her legs complained furiously at the extra exertion.

“Stop her,” a commanding sounding female voice yelled. The people behind her ran into the cavern. Unfortunately for Laura, they did not seem quite as tired as her and so were able to quickly catch up to her. They swiftly shortened the distance between them and her, not even noticing what they were stepping on.

“Caught you,” a rough voice said menacingly as a man twice her size grabbed onto her arm. His vise-like grip sent darts of pain up her arm as she struggled to wrestle it away from him. A twisted smile distorted his face as watched Laura's terrified expression. She desperately kicked at him, but it didn't seem to faze him. Several other people slowly approached, taking their time.

“Well well.” the blond haired woman said, her red lips curled into a feral smile. “This has been quite a chase, but it looks like it'll be ending here.” Laughter resounded through the cavern as the group of people smiled crudely in anticipation. Silver flashes glinted in the dim light as sharpened blades were slipped from their hiding places and silently flipped open.

Meanwhile, over a hundred eyes slowly set their sights on the people as they were awoken from their sleep. The giant golden birds began to shift in their nests, watching the movements of the group as they waited for something.

One bird flew from it's nest and landed several feet away from the people. One man near the edge of the group turned and caught sight of the huge bird as it slowly hopped towards them.

“Cool,” the man said, awed by the sight. The bird eyed the knife in the man's hand as they approached each other. The man slowly put his hand out towards the bird. When it didn't make a move, he lowered it towards the bird and placed his hand on the bird's feathers. They were cool to the touch. “Awesome.”

At that moment, the bird struck. It's beak stabbed through the air at the hand holding the knife. The man screamed in pain as the beak knocked the blade away and sliced up his hand. He fell to the ground, cradling his bleeding hand.

The man's scream alerted the others. They turned to see what was wrong just in time to notice that several birds had joined the first. Nearly circling the people. They hopped without rushing, not feeling any need to be quick.

“What are you waiting for? Get rid of them!” The woman's angry shout urged the people into action. They put their knives in front of them as they quickly advanced on the birds.

The first one to reach them, the man that had grabbed onto Laura earlier that day, swung his knife down on the bird without hesitation. However, the moment the knife stuck the feathers, it slid off without causing any damage. The feathers were hard. The man, dumbfounded, froze for a moment. That was all the bird needed. It, as well as one other, swiftly jumped onto the man. The man's agonized screams tore through the air as the bird's beaks were stabbed down towards him again and again while the man's limbs thrashed. After a couple moments, the screams died away, and the man's body finally stopped moving. The two birds turned towards the rest of the people, their beaks died a deep scarlet.

The rest of the group shuddered as they stood, frozen in place by sheer horror. The woman, paler than usual, began shouting at them. “Hur-hurry up and kill them!”

Several people broke away from the group and ran for the tunnel they had come through, screaming in terror. Half a dozen birds took flight and intercepted them half way there and enclosed them in a circle. The birds slowly advanced towards the trapped humans, some snapping their sharp beaks open and closed while others stabbing their beaks towards the people. Once they got close enough, the birds jumped towards the people. Some of them held up their knives and tried hopelessly to block the beaks. One fell to a heap on the ground as the spirit left him. Either way, the birds were quickly able to overwhelm the humans and the air was filled with more screams as blood soaked into the ground.

Laura, held in place by the same man, watched in horror as the birds continued their attack. Already, half of the people who had been chasing her had fallen prey to the giant birds. The enormous creatures with bodies strong enough to resist being cut by any blade. She felt revulsion at the sight of the birds eagerly feasting on their meal. Soon, everyone in the room would end up like the many skulls littering the ground.

It wasn't very long before the birds set their sights towards where Laura was being held. With an ear piercing squawk, one of the birds jumped towards them. It knocked into the man holding her, causing him to let go of her arm. Laura was thrown to the ground nearby as the man crumpled under the weight of the bird. As she tried to get back up, she accidentally met eyes with the man. His eyes pleaded for help. The man who had eagerly captured her now wanted her to save her. Unfortunately, as she had locked eyes with his, she also saw the moment when the light faded from his eyes. She had watched the man die.

She had no time to dwell on her feeling of guilt for something she had no hand in however. Laura slowly got to her hands and knees and silently began backing away from the bird enjoying its bloody meal. Hoping that it wouldn't notice her, she tried to put distance between her before turning around towards the exit on the other side of the room. She made herself as small as possible as she carefully maneuvered the uneven ground so as to not make any noise.

Luckily for her, the blond woman, forced to watch all of her underlings die in gruesome ways, decided to take matters into her own hand. She pulled out a handgun from her pocket and pointed it towards a nearby bird.

“Die you filthy beasts!” she spat as she pulled the trigger. With a loud bang, the bullet was sent soaring through the air. It collided with the bird, causing bright sparks as it touched and then deflected off of the feathers. Even the power of a gun wasn't enough to wound the creatures. However, it was more than enough to catch the attention of birds who had not yet partook in the feast. They all gathered around the woman, snapping their beaks. The woman continued to shoot at the birds, but none of the bullets could harm them.

It was a lucky break for Laura. While the birds were distracted, she quickly jumped to her feet and ran across the room, exhaustion forgotten. A couple birds saw her running, but decided to stick to the prey closest to them.

Heart thumping wildly in her chest, Laura finally made it out of the cavern and continued running, no longer caring where she went, just as long as it didn't bring her back to that awful cavern. Eventually, she heard the sound of gunshots stop, and she knew that they were all gone. She felt a pain in her chest that had nothing to do with exertion. Even though they had been chasing after her, trying to catch her, she knew it had been her fault. She had brought them to this place, albeit accidentally, and that had caused their death.

Laura was in such deep thought that she didn't notice she had reached a dead end until she crashed into it. “Ouch!” she cried as she fell to her butt, her face sore. Looking up, she finally realized where she was. The room was different from the rest of the tunnel. The walls were brick and the ground was a mix of dirt and brick. The ceiling arched up and was made of concrete rather than wood. The most interesting thing though, was a small tree sapling that grew up and out a hole near the ceiling.

Laura almost jumped in joy at the sight. She hadn't even realized that the tunnels had been sloping upwards towards the surface as she ran. Excited, she reached for the hole, but the tree was in the way. Whispering a sorry, she pulled the top of the tree out of the hole. Then she pushed the bricks around the hole. Luckily, they were loose enough to move, making a hole just big enough for her to fit through. She grabbed onto the edge of the hole and jumped with all her might. Just barely managing to get her chest onto the edge, she began to pull herself out of the hole.

Meanwhile, as Laura was busy pulling her weary body outside, a snake returning to its nest caught sight of her. It flicked its tongue in anger at seeing its nest messed with by a human. Red eyes flashing, it struck out at her, just catching her right ankle as she finished pulling her body out. The snake waited, flicking its tongue as it watched the human for any signs of her trying to mess with its nest again.

However, Laura did not even notice the snake. The pain of the bite was dismissed as one of the pains of her already aching body. Once she managed to get out of the tunnels, she picked herself up and tried her best to brush the dust all over her body. She then took out the rock that she had stuffed in her pocket earlier. It didn't shine as brightly as before, but she kept it in her hand anyway. She decided it was about time to get home and started walking, although she limped a little on her right leg. Ignoring it, she left the snake behind to try to find her way out of the forest and towards home.

As she walked, the stone in her hand slowly began to fade.  

Author's Note

Revised now, I hope the title is somewhat fitting. It was written in conjunction with an artist for a thing called the two thousand words project.