Umbral Feast

<~> Chapter 2

When I woke there was a white glow on the ceiling. I reached up and wiped the dried tears from my eyes but flinched when my nails poked my face. I pulled back my hand and looked at it. Rather than the hand I expected, my hand, I found something large and dark. Giant claws came out of my fingers and ended in sharp points that shined in the light.

My breath caught and everything that had happened came back to me. I looked down at the... once giant wolf that was lying atop me. It didn't look so big anymore. I dragged the thing off of me and stood up.

As I looked down at the monster something came over me, I felt ravenous. Unable to stop myself I tore into the monster, my giant fangs dug into the monster's flesh and I ripped off large pieces of meat and swallowed them down. The thought of raw meat sounded disgusting but the taste of it was sublime. Eventually the hunger subsided and I cried at what I had done when I came back to my senses.

When I fell back on my butt I had another wave of vertigo. I cradled my head in my hands until the feeling passed. Once the nausea subsided, I looked over at the corpse that was lying next to me. It was as big as it had been before. I struggled with my wounds and sore muscles but managed to stand up and take a closer look at it. It had been ripped open at the belly, large amounts of its meat had been ripped right off the bones and I could see giant teeth and claw marks against the shredded edges of the hide. It looks like it had been ripped apart by a giant animal...

I touched my face in disbelief only to find... nothing. I looked at my hands again, finding the old hands I knew. I looked down at myself. I was naked and my body was caked in blood but I was... normal.

I looked around at my surroundings. Like I thought I was in a large cave but I didn't see anywhere on the ceiling I could have fallen through. Everything looked smooth and featureless. In the distance, I noticed a small river that was reflecting white light. That white glow made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I quickly looked all around me, desperately looking for another of the monsters. ...there was nothing here but me.

I hesitated but decided to regain my bearings. On the ground were the ripped-up remains of my clothes. They were torn along the seams but were little more than bloody rags now. I picked up my phone that had been in my right pocket, the entire screen was smashed and it wouldn't turn on. I was surprised to find my purse next to the monster too but it was mostly empty now. I slipped my broken phone into it before checking on what else was still inside. There was a little bit of makeup and my wallet had luckily stayed in its zippered pocket. That would be good, if I could find out where I was then at least I would have money to get a taxi or something. Assuming I didn't get picked up for indecent exposure.

The leather sheath my survival knife had been in was on the floor next to me too, that knife saved my life. I looked over at the corpse and found my knife still sticking out of its neck. With a little bit of effort, I was able to pull it free, it didn't look any worse for wear. The knife managed to tear the monster's throat open with its serrated edge on the back, that was where all that blood had come from, I must have hit something important and it all drained out onto me. I was really glad my dad had given me this gift the last time we went camping, he literally just saved my life. I cleaned the blade and put it back in its sheath but I kept the snap undone in case I needed to draw it quickly. I looked around but other than a few more things from my makeup bag, all I could find were the scraps of my ruined clothes. I looked at the remains of my bra, it had also been torn apart and there wouldn't be any way I could fix it without a sewing kit and lots of work. Instead, I decided to tear it open and pull the underwire from it. I didn't have much on me and a metal wire might come in handy. I wrapped it up and put it in my purse with the rest of what I found.

Looking over my bicep, I found that the wound there had sealed up. I wasn't sure how but it didn't look as bad as I thought it was. The bite marks had scabbed over already and the skin looked red and purple but my arm wasn't torn apart like I thought it would be. Though maybe I would have just bled to death if it had actually been that bad. I limped over to the water that ran through the cave, looking out for anything else that could be around. When I peered over the water's surface I saw those eyes.

I jumped back and spun around, looking for the other monster... but again, I didn't see anything. I stood still for maybe ten minutes before I felt confident that there was nothing here with me. I peered back over the water and I realized what I was looking at. ...they were my eyes. MY eyes were glowing.

Since the water was moving I couldn't get a good look at myself but it was clear that it was my

 reflection that had glowing white eyes. ...maybe eating that monster hadn't been a dream after all. Am I hallucinating? Am I going to turn into a monster? ...is that what happened earlier? I stepped away from the water and tried to calm down. I was hyperventilating, I think I was having a panic attack.

I sat there for a while trying to take steady breaths, eventually, I felt okay enough to keep going. I looked down at myself. I was covered in blood from head to toe, it would be nice to wash off but I was worried I wouldn't have anything to start a fire with. I also wasn't sure if it was safe to start a fire in a cave like this. Maybe I could dip some of the rags in the water and clean myself with those. I tested the water with my hand and was surprised to find that it was pretty warm. Maybe washing myself in it wouldn't be too bad, I could dry myself off with the rags instead.

Before that... should I drink some of it? The water looks clear and spring water is supposed to be safe to drink. But it was moving through a hole in the cave so there was still a chance it could be unsafe from something upstream of me. You were supposed to boil water but I didn't have any of the tools to do so, not even a canteen or water bottle to carry some with me.

I decided I wouldn't risk it for now. Maybe I would find something to boil water with later or find someone to help me before I got thirsty enough to risk it. I was already probably going to need antibiotics and a rabies shot when I made it back to civilization. But should I risk bathing in it? I decided against that too, I had too many open cuts and they could get infected if the water was bad, it was safer to wash myself off with a rag I think. I dipped the remains of my shorts in the water and cleaned myself off, the water felt nice and it felt good to wash away the crusty dried blood that was all over me. It took a while but eventually, I felt relatively clean again. I tied the remains of my shirt into a makeshift skirt. It wasn't ideal but at least my bottom half would be covered for now.

Even while wet it didn't feel that cold in the cave anymore, I looked over myself to make sure I wasn't growing fur or something. I still seemed normal. I looked over at the giant wolf in the corner again and decided I needed to get away from that thing. For all I knew it would attract other predators and I only saw one way out of here.

I followed the stream to an opening in the cave but it just opened up into a different cave. These looked like natural tunnels, not just one hole in the side of the mountain like I had expected. I wasn't even sure how long I had been here, I was in and out of consciousness when I was still pinned under the wolf. I grabbed a rock from the ground and tried to make a mark in the wall, just something to leave a trail. To my surprise, the rock cut deep into the stone, almost as if it had been made of clay. I touched the rock with my hand but was confused when it felt normal, like any other rock.

I shook my head, this place is strange, I'm better off not worrying about that right now. I kept a hand on my survival knife and slowly made my way through the tunnels. I was still really sore so I wasn't moving very fast but that suited me fine anyway, I didn't want to draw attention to myself if there were other wolves around. I stopped to mark each of the walls I passed and left markings to track each direction I turned. I wasn't a crazy survival buff or anything but I've seen enough of those survival shows to know it was a good idea to avoid getting lost.

There was a noise. I stopped in my tracks, got low to the ground, and perked my ears. It was like a scratching noise but the echoes in the cave made it difficult to discern where the noise was coming from. I stood still in a crouch, hoping my glowing eyes wouldn't attract any attention. I wasn't sure if they were as bright as the monster's had been but they let me see the entirety of most of the caverns I've entered in their entirety.

Something turned the corner and covered its eyes with its little arm. My body shot forward like an uncoiled spring and my knife sunk deep in the creature's chest before I even realized I had moved. The thing looked up at me with me with a confused look on its face, frozen in its death. I'm sure my own face shared its confusion until I realized I had killed it without thinking.

I stepped back, the knife easily followed me while ripping chunks out of its chest, I gripped the knife tight in my hand as the corpse fell to the floor. For a split second I thought I had killed a child, but no. It was a short humanoid creature that wore only a brown loin cloth. It smelled awful as if it hadn't bathed in weeks and its ugly green-brown skin was covered in muck and grime. It had an oversized head with bulbous eyes and a wide mouth filled with needle-like teeth. This thing was also some kind of monster.

A yell rang out from my left, the awful noise sounded shrill to my ears. I turned to look and four other similar creatures that froze the moment I saw them. Their yells died in their throats as they looked at me like deer caught in headlights. I squeezed the handle of my knife. It felt light in my hands. The creatures spun around to run and something in my brain overrode all other thoughts.

PREY

My clawed hand squeezed around the neck of the closest one and broke it in an instant. I didn't remember closing the gap. The others were still running. My knife plunged into the chest of the next one and I left it there for now, the monster was already dead. The next I slashed with my claws, my strong nails tore its body apart, bones and all.

The last one's blood filled my mouth as I bit deep into its torso. My jaws could almost fit the entire thing in my mouth. The taste was vile. Like black ichor that poisoned my tongue. I ripped its body in half and spit it away from me before stepping away to cough out the disgusting taste.

I closed my eyes.

When I opened them next I stood in the center of the tunnel once again covered in blood. This time the smell made my nose twitch in disgust and a horrible taste coated my tongue. The memory of swallowing the savory meat of the wolf didn't even compare to the horrid taste of this disgusting creature. It began to dawn on me that something in me had changed. My mouth watered at the thought of that wolf creature's meat.

I looked at my hands. They looked normal again. The only thing that was left of the clawed hands was the blood on the tips of my otherwise normal looking nails.

Another shrill yell and I saw another of the monsters charging at me with a makeshift spear. On reflex, my body twisted out of the way and my right fist punched it right in the face. With a sickening crunch, the body of the creature fell backward with a crushed skull. It was dead before it even hit the ground

I gasped and stepped away from it, not expecting it to die with only a punch. I looked around for more of the creatures but didn't see anything else. I picked up the creature's spear, pulled my knife out of the other monster's corpse, quickly wiped it down, and returned it to its sheath. With those two weapons in hand, I began to follow my marks back to the stream.

I had to get this horrid taste out of my mouth.

 

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