To Kill a Man

My Brother and Johnathan

The front door behind me creaked awkwardly in the wind, aching to rot with the scene around it. I turned, no longer able to stand in the sunken house. I walked back out into the ruins and looked at the car. Roy now stood outside, puffing off a cigarette, his eyes wandering around the gravel earth around us. I walked over, pulling down my mask.
"You boys seeing what you've been looking for?" Asked Roy as I began pulling out my own note pad.

"We've hardly just begun" I muttered as I began writing down the details of the house just behind me.
"I would like to go further into the city, I'm sure Johnathan would too." I looked over at the tree that Johnathan had been tearing at.
"Where's Johnathan?" I asked. Roy looked over at the trees and paused.
"He wanted to get a look at an odd looking tree that he seen not too far back in the bush there" he replied, shaking his head. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking over the dead forest as I grew closer to its entrance. I couldn't quite see him, but I noticed a figure in the distance. It moved slowly, like a branch in the wind. I began making my way down the throat of the forest, over to Johnathan, ready to urge him to come deeper into the city with me. The trees grew thicker and thicker as it pulled me in deeper.

Twigs snapped beneath me in the hard forest floor. Dead animals were sprawled like sprinkles on a cake, carelessly, yet, almost deliberate. I took my camera out once more and it flashed, taking in the fly ridden bodies around me.
"Alphie!"

It was like a tired shout coming from every direction.
"A-Alphie!" The sound came once more, a screaming whisper. Like an off key piano, it sounded wrong and twisted, ringing into my ears as if it were a disease. I turned back to the figure ahead, but I could no longer see it.
"Johnathan?" I yelled. I began to move forward once more, hoping to find the sounds of the raw cry of my name.

But the forest was tightly knit with trees, all I could see was the path ahead.

I stopped at a haggard tree, awfully twisted like a snarl. Its roots warped around the earth and the bark on the tree was slightly torn, obvious work from the hands of Johnathan. My eyes narrowed as I looked at the other side of the tree. It was shredded as if picked at by a sloppy axeman. I pulled out my camera and it once more illuminated the forest with its flash. Just behind the tree was Johnathan. He hung from hands more gigantic than I had ever seen. His body mangled, torn and legs eaten in the mouth of the monster that crouched before me.

Johnathan's eyes flickered tiredly around before landing on me.
"Alphie" he whispered. The monster pressed its long finger to Johnathans head and pressed down, caving in the front of his head and continuing to feed. The sound of crunching bone and ripping flesh filled my ears. The monster brought the lifeless body of Johnathan up and shoved it into its gaping mouth. Its long, thin arms reached around, collecting the remains that it could find.

I turned around in a stagger as vomit dripped from my mouth.
"Alphie."
That wasn't Johnathan anymore. I felt my body begin to move in a way that couldn't quite be called walking. My vision blurred intensely as my eyes pinned to the dim light ahead of me. I had to get out of the forest. I looked up in the trees as my eyes welled with tears, my thoughts repeating. I had to get out of the forest. I forced myself forward and felt myself freeze momentarily as I heard the roar of an engine ahead.

I felt myself instinctively pick up pace. What was going on? The drag in my feet began to lift as I hurried. What was he doing with the car? I began into a sprint as tears fell from my eyes. Why did he start the car? I broke the tree line as my foot snagged a root. I crashed horribly to the ground, smashing my face into the hard earth. The car. I forced my head up. Where was the car? My heart dropped. a thin mist of dust hung in the air all the way back down the road. I was abandoned.

I felt something like a warm breath hit the back of my neck. It was wet and hot, like sticking your head into someones mouth. But most of all, I could smell rot.