Death Comes With Open Arms

Chapter 6: Monsters (Thyra's Point-Of-View)

I open my eyes and I feel like I'm dreaming. There was a man with purple tentacles for arms and other mother people. I look around me and pale some. "It wasn't a dream," I say out loud. "Nope, Thee. Not a dream," Ryker says as he helps me stand slowly. "Ryker, where are we?" I ask Ryker. "Well... A safe place. You'll blend in here. Don't stress too much. They won't hurt you," Ryker says as he takes my hand and guides me deeper into the town with the purple-tentacled man. This is so weird. The town looks exactly like the one we were just in but darker-looking. The houses look darker and worn. The town looks rundown—almost like no one lives in it. The only thing is people do—not people—creatures. I can't even register what these things are. Some have multiple arms, some have different colored skin, multiple eyes. They look sickly. It's almost as if the whole town had a sickness. "These people look... Disgusting," I say. "Hey, that's very rude," says a woman, or what I believe is a woman, with eyes all over her body and is taller than Ryker and much larger than him. "Oh, we're sorry, Miss Clementine. She didn't mean it. She's new here," Ryker says, flashing Miss Clementine an apologetic smile. Moss Clementine huffs and walks away. She didn't have a mouth on her face, I realized. Though, as she walked away, I caught a glimpse of a disgusting one on the back of her head. "Ryker, these people are freaky. I want to go home," J begged as I tugged on his arm. "There is no home to go back to, Thyra," Ryker says, "Don't you remember that? Besides, we just got here and you need to give this place a chance. It's the only safe place we know of. You can't leave me, okay?" I watch him then sigh softly. "Okay, but if I catch anybody eating something gross, I'm leaving without you," I say. Ryker chuckles at my statement and says, "I'd expect none the less."  He leads me further into the village then stops at a large building. A tree-like man stands there with a spectacle over one eye and a clipboard in hand. He scratches at the clipboard violently with his stick-like finger. The sap from his finger, which I assume is his blood, colors the pages like ink. He has multiple ax-marks over his body and even a few chunks of his bark-like skin gone. Everytime the man moves, he creaks and green leaves grow from his body like hair, on the top of his head and on his face like a beard. "Name?" he growls out, not looking up at us. His voice sounds raspy and he sounds older than most. "Ryker and Thyra," Ryker says, "We're here to-." "Reason of business?" the man asks, interrupting Ryker but not seeming to care. Ryker clears his throat then says, "We're here to see the mayor. Is she-?" "Not in office at the moment... I'll schedule you an appointment," the man says, interrupting Ryker a second time. "Great. Than-," Ryker says as he walks away. "You're welcome," the man says as he interrupts Ryker a third time. Ryker leads me away and I watch the man, who is standing behind me. "Ryker, he doesn't have ears," I say. "He has ear holes but sometimes, they don't work," Ryker says with a huff, "You've got to be patient with him though. He's pretty ancient." I nod softly before Ryker lets go of my hand. I bump into him in front of me and stumble back but he catches me by the waist so I don't fall. "Oh, my bad," I say, feeling my cheeks getting warm. No, Thyra. You have a boyfriend at home. "Want me to take you on a tour?" Ryker asks, snapping me out of it in the process. "O-oh. Sure," I say, giving him a smile. When he turns around and starts walking, I silently scold myself. You stuttered. How the fuck could you stutter in that situation? Oh, my gosh. You're so pathetic. I pause when I see Ryker staring at me. "Are you okay...?" he asks me. "I'm fine, totally fine. I'm great... How are you?" I ask, leaning on a stack of barrels to give off the cool vibe. Though, and to my own surprise and disappointment, the barrels were unstable and fell over... Along with me with them. "Oh, shit. Are you okay?" Ryker asks as he helps my dazed ass up from falling. Embarrassing. "Mhm. Let's just get on with that tour," I say as I stand and dust myself off. "Okay...," Ryker says, "You sure you're-?" "YES!" I say quickly, interrupting him in the process. I clear my throat then calmly say, "Yes, yes, I'm fine." Ryker nods slowly but doesn't argue. He continues to lead me on the tour around the town. He showed me the rundown-looking library, houses, a church, and surprisingly, a little bar that also sold some weird drink called 'coffee'. It was weird, not bad though. "Alright. It should be around the time we get to see the mayor," Ryker says, snapping me out of my daydreaming. "Oh, alright," I say. We start to head back but I pause when I catch something out of the corner of my eye. I turn to look at it and behind the other cottages, there's an old, rustic, rundown one. It's falling apart and the wooden roof is cracked and the wood is dead. The windows on it look cracked and some chunks of glass are missing. "Hey, Ryker. What house is that?" I ask. Ryker looks at me then the cottage and quickly walks over. "Stay away from there, Thyra!" he says as he grabs me and drags me away from it. "What? Why?" I ask. "It's dangerous. Promise me you won't go in there," Ryker says. "Wh-?" I ask, being cut off by him. "Promise," he says. His voice sounds fearful and as if he's giving me a warning like my mother would. I nod and he gives me a hug, slowly leading me away from the cottage and towards the tall building with the tree man. "Hey, Ektor," Ryker says. The tree man, Ektor, looks up at him then at me and says, "She's ready to see you." "She? Who's she?" I ask as Ryker pulls me into the building. He leads me down a long hallway then into a room. The room is nicely decorated and looks to be in nice shape, despite the rest of the village. A woman sits at her desk with crimson red hair that hangs over her face as he looks down at her desk. Her hair reaches her mid back and is straight but wavy at the ends with curtain bangs covering her eyes. She has pale skin and rosy, red lips and white, straight teeth. Her nose looks perfect and she appears thin and taller. Her figure is petite and her hands are smooth and delicate with her long, well manicured nails painted green. She looks rather normal compared to the other people here. Maybe she is normal. I feel a smile creep onto my face... That was... Until she looked up. She looked up at Ryker and I and her eyes were completely white. Scars cover her eyes and the only thing visible in them are two, slitted pupils. Her ears, which were covered by her hair and are now visible, are pointed and heavily scarred. She's terrifying. What happened to her. "Ryker, I assume you've come here with good reasoning and not just to distract me from my work," she says. I look at Ryker, who chuckles at her remark. "Of course not, Mayor," he says, "We came here to ask for a place to stay for a few weeks. You see... We've had an encounter with the hunters." "WHAT?" The Mayor yells as she rises from her seat, "You better pray to the gods above that you were not followed or so help me-." "Mayor, Mayor. Of course we were not followed. I know better than that," Ryker says with a grin. The Mayor sighs and sits down in her chair. "Have Ektor escort you to your temporary housing," she says, waving us off. Ryker nods and starts to walk out. "Ryker, you stay. She can do it," The Mayor says, pointing at me. "Oh, yes, ma'am," I say before walking out of the room. I hope Ryker isn't in trouble.