Shadow Slave: Rainy Days

Rain's heart throbbed painfully because of the creature which loomed over the temple, it's massive and gruesome form a silhouette she never had wanted to ever see again.

She wanted to puke just because of it's form. The creature was a grotesque mix of a deep-sea monster, which resembled a shark, and a snail because of its large shell on the back. But what truly made it a horror were its limbs and ability to breathe over water.

Mark's breath cracked beside her, his eyes also fixated on the monster, and fear overtaking his mind.

"Ma-Maria ... w-what do we do ? We can't fight that thing."

Thankfully, the creature hadn't noticed them yet, its eyes, or rather the one that was left on its disgusting head, fixated on the temple that stood in front of it.

"We .. We should go back first. It seems like that bastard only cares about the temple right now, so we should regroup with the others and find a way to kill it."

"Al-alright, let's go back", Mark said, the fear in his body wanting him to just run away and never come back.

The two of them turned around and walked off, but not without Rain giving the monster- no, the thing beyond it one last glance. The temple gave off a certain aura, one that called her, told her to come towards it.

Rain shook her head, shrugging off the thoughts about the weird temple, before continuing to walk off again.

***

A few hours had passed of Rain and Mark walking back to to the chambers they had arrived on at the start, with nothing considerably important having happened.

As they finally entered the chambers, Rain instantly noticed John and Iris sitting near the pod, their heads laying low and thoughts probably negative. John was starring and the makeshift beds they had crafted out of cloths and some spare parts the had in the pod, while Iris was fidgeting with a loose strand of her hair.

Their heads turned because of the sounds Rain and Mark created.

"Oh, you both are back. Did you find anything interesting ?", asked John with a voice of frustration and boredom.

Rain nodded, stepping further into the cold and dimly illuminated chamber.

"We ... found a temple. There's certainly something weird about it. I think we should explore it, but there's a problem. That bastard that followed us to this cave somehow got inside, and is waiting there."

Iris's and John's expression dropped into one of primal fear at the thought of seeing that monster again, their bodies shaking because of the sheer respect the had for that creature.

For a while things stayed quiet, till an idea popped inside Iris's head, making her speak up.

"Hey, guys. If that monster is waiting in front of the temple, then it can't be at the entrance of the cave, right ? C-Couldn't we just turn back and leave ?"

'... Wow, she actually got a brain, she can only think about running away though. Hmm, that would certainly be an option, but ..

I feel like this is our best chance at killing that beast, because it's acting weird right now, because of the Temple. I also really want to know what's inside."

"We shouldn't go back.", Rain answered.

Iris's face twisted into one of anger and frustration at Rain's quick dismissal, not understanding why she wouldn't want to go. She clenched her jaw, her teeth creating an uncomfortable sound.

"Why shouldn't we go back ?! WHY would we not leave while we know, that that creature isn't waiting at the entrance for us ? Are you kidding us, Maria ? You've lost some intelligence since loosing your memories it seems.", Iris spat.

Rain just continued looking at her, ready to stand her ground.

"Running away will just lead us to our deaths. Last time, when we ran away from it from the main ship, it also somehow knew where we were and followed us, right ? It will certainly know again, and I don't think we'll find another cave we can flee into. This is our best chance at killing it, since even though it can breath without being inside water, it isn't its normal terrain, so it's probably weakened."

John walked inbetween them, wanting to defuse the situation.

"Both of you calm down, please. Let us think carefully about thi-"

"WHAT IS THERE TO THINK ABOUT ?", Iris snapped, her voice even more desperate than before. She was slowly falling into insanity.

"What makes you think we can fight that monster, Maria ? We stand no fucking chance. NONE !"

"Maybe we don't, but this is the best chance we have, fighting it on land, somewhere where it probably isn't accustomed to. You can run away for all I care, but I won't."

Iris stepped closer, her face an inch away from Rain.

"Stop acting all though, you arrogant bitch. You're just here to get killed, aren't you ?"

Rain's eyes narrowed down at the other woman, ignoring the pleas of Mark and John to stop.

"Say that again, you useless crybaby.", said Rain, her patience wearing thin.

"I'll say it as many times as I need, to get it into your stupid skull.", yelled Iris in frustration and anger, bringing her to shove Rain back.

The shove was all it took for Rain to snap too, making her shove Iris too, but this time hard enough to make her stumble. Iris, not even more angered swung her fist wildly at Rain, wanting to just release stress.

Rain was never physically strong, since she was a girl and didn't have the opportunity to build up muscles, the food in the outskirts not being very protein rich and the amount also not being enough. Since she still needed to survive somehow, she started learning how to fight, her natural reflexes making her pretty damn good at it.

This was also the reason why her body started to act on autopilot, making Rain dodge Iris's fist and punching her back, hitting her square on the jaw.

Iris fell back, landing on her butt. This was enough for her, she wouldn't let this continue.

John pulled rain back, still having hope that he could somehow diffuse the situation.

"Girl, please. This isn't the time to fight, we are a team, remember ?"

But the situation had already gone overboard, as Iris stood up again, having pulled out a small knife out of her pockets, before having lunged at Rain.

Rain, sensing and seeing the danger, shrugged John off, before dodging to the side. Iris instantly turned around and continued her attack, aiming her knife at Rain's chest.

John and Mark screamed for them to stop, now ready to physically stop the fight. But they weren't fast enough. This wasn't the first rime Rain had fought against someone with a knife, she had done it often before in the outskirts. It was always dangerous, every fight having brought her close to death, but those experiences had also made her confident.

Rain hand shot out, holding Iris's wrist in place like a vicegrip. She turned her hand around swiftly and brutally, forcing Iris to drop the weapon onto the ground. Iris gasped a painfully, her body suddenly freezing in fear.

Rain didn't waste any time. She snatched the dangerous knife up herself, holding in with her trembling fingers. This wasn't her moving, it was her bodies need to survive. She saw Iris as a threat to her survival. Justification and survival blurred, as one singular thought started to appear in her mind.

'Remove the threat'

Rain tightened her grip on the knife, read to kill the person in front of her. But before she could plunge the knife into the fear frozen Iris, John stepped forward, aiming for the knife that sat in Rain's palm. And then, there was only blood. Her face and hands got completely covered by the blood of the man she had just stabbed, and before she knew it, he dropped dead.

"Y-Y-YOU MONSTER ! WHAT DID YOU DO ?"

Rain's breath hitched, her chest rising and falling painfully. Her mind spiraled and her thoughts were overtaken by something dark.

'They are just illusions … just illusions. They bleed, they scream, they fear just like how humans would … but they aren't humans.'

Her eyes widened, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She looked down at the bloody blade in her hands, which made her breath stagger even further. Her mind was clouded by chaos, and there was no way for her to escape it in this situation, since the weight of her actions had just hit her like a brick.

She stepped over John's dead body, her eyes locked onto Iris, who stood there paralyzed.

'She's not real. I'm real. Me killing them is justified. My life is worth more than the life of these illusions. They are just memories of the past.", she thought before stabbing Iris in the throat, more blood covering all of Rain.

Her heart pounded at the sight, two lifeless bodies laying on the ground, all because of her. She turned around, seeing Mark, who was looking at Maria with fear in his eyes.

"W-who a-are you ? Maria would never do that !"

She just stood still for a while, every sound around her muffled, except for her painful breathing and her dark thoughts.

'Why is he looking at me like I'm a monster ? I DID THE RIGHT THING !'

Rain took a step forward, making Mark take a step back and trip over a stone. Another step, and another one she took.

'Stop looking at me like im evil !', Rain thought, her mind slowly breaking down.

"Why are you looking at me like this ?", Rain asked, not understanding what she did wrong. They were all just illusions after all … but they didn't know.

"M-monster ! YOU'RE NOT MARIA ! SHE WOULDN'T- THEY WERE YOUR FRIENDS FOR GOD SAKE !"

'… friends ? Oh right, he doesn't know that I'm not Maria .. he doesn't know that he isn't real.', Rain thought, her mind completely falling into darkness.

'I'll end his suffering, his Nightmare.', she thought, before ultimately killing him too.

***

Rain sat ln the cold floor stones, her body trembling and her hands smeared with blood. The silence around her was painful and oppressive, a reminder of what she had just done. She was just a scared girl .. just someone, who had wanted to survive. No one could be mad at her for killing them, right ? They weren't real after all.

She looked down at her hands, the sight making her want to puke.

'But the blood around my hands feel warm … i heard their screams … i saw and felt their fear. Those were real .. and I wonder … why do i feel less human with every life I took ? Why do I feel like the Creature in this Nightmare ?'

Rain then started to cry, a deep and authentic cry, something that she hadn't done in years.