The Unfound

Chapter Twelve Part Two

I turn around to see the whole thing covered in a sheet of prickly frost. In confusion, I slowly stood from my place on the ground. The fog grew around me making it nearly impossible to see anything. The grass felt like sharp needles pricking at my feet. An overall eerie feeling swept over me.

Instinctively I crouched down into a defensive position. I stationed my legs shoulder-width apart and let my arms fall to my sides. Tense, but still movable. My eyes darted around, searching for anything in the midst of the fog. But, nothing.

Behind me, I suddenly heard the crunching of leaves. I whipped around and prepared myself to strike.

It was a boy. A little boy, no more than eight years old. He stood and looked at me in shock. Immediately, I loosened up so that I wouldn't seem like a threat. That seemed to make him relax a little bit but still looked rather concerned. He was pale-skinned with brown hair and freckles here and there. He looked like a troublemaker, but at the same time, he looked so innocent. Almost familiar.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you were something else." I say, sympathetically. He didn't say anything. I try again.

"Where are your parents?" I ask. Still no response.

I don't understand. Was he the one making the frost? That would be impossible unless he had an ability, but that was still doubtful. He looked at me blankly, all emotion that he had shown disappeared from his face.

"Zero."

"What?"

"Zero."

He said it like he was requesting me. It didn't even sound like a question. Just so monotonous, almost dead sounding. But, it didn't last for long. A look of worry spread across his face like he had watched his best friend disappear.

"What have they done to you Zero?" He said, looking up at me.

His face, I know his face. He can't be one of the scientists, he was too young. Maybe the son of one of the workers? No, I would've known his name. "I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," I say, trying not to have a tinge of annoyance in my voice.

He looked like he was about to reply, but a loud cry came from a distance. Now, I say cry, but really it was more like a painful screech. I looked back at the boy and he looked as scared as I was. What was that? A damn banshee?

I looked around frantically for the source of the noise. But, it came before I could even see it.

I can't possibly explain how terrifying the thing that I saw was. I wish I could sugarcoat it, but I don't think that it's possible.

Eight terrifying spider legs, twice the size of shovels crept from the fog. Every step it took I could hear the cracking noise of its joints rubbing against one another. It was sickening. But, the thing that scared me the most was its face. Distorted with pain. Pale. Lifeless.

The worst part is that it had no eyes, only empty sockets where they were supposed to be. Its mouth hung open, actually looking like it was unhinged at the joint. Blood pooled from the top of its head, filling all the holes in its face, which is basically like putting a cherry on top of a hairy, gory, dead-looking ice cream.

It stopped and faced the two of us for a couple of moments. I could only assume that it was examining the two figures in front of it, though I don't know how. Up close, it was roughly eleven feet tall. That's basically twice my size. I let out a slow quiet breath. Putting my hand in front of the boy, I slowly backed both of us up.

"Be very slow and very careful," I whisper to the boy.

He nodded and we proceeded to walk backward. Taking in short breaths, I made sure that the creature wasn't moving. It did nothing. I don't actually think that it saw us.