Bird's Eye View

Prologue

A howl causes my body to jolt up from my sleeping bag, startling me awake.

"Aspen!" I hear a foggy voice shout my name.

Footsteps rush around me and I quickly unzip my tent, grabbing my flashlight. It's the middle of the night and the darkness hides the scene, but I can tell there's chaos all around me. Bodies fly, growls and snarls come from the shadows, there are shouts and screams coming from my companions. Panic and disorientation rise in my chest, but I can't seem to understand or process what's happening. I'm still half asleep and my brain is foggy. My rapid heartbeat engulfs my hearing as I sit partially inside of my tent, breathing heavily at the scene, frozen in shock and horror. A dark liquid covers the ground in many different places and I can barely make out the shapes of the Unkempt attacking us.

Suddenly, an arm plants down on my wrist and drags me out of the tent, pulling me out of that trance as well.

"Run!" I see Kilo's face in front of mine, the urgency in his voice unmistakable.

His eyes are wide open in shock and fear, his face pale. He plants a flashlight in my hand and turns it on. I just stare at him for a second in confusion, still unable to fully grasp the scene, before he yanks me up and drags me along with him as he runs.

"Help me!" I recognize Jule's screaming, her voice clawing at her throat.

I shine my light towards the direction of her shouts and I see some creature on top of her, clawing at her stomach as she cries out for our help, her pain obvious in her screech. Tears stream out of her eyes and blood bubbles at her mouth. Something dark splatters on the soft grass as she tries to push whatever it is off of her. Her insides spill out of the gaping wound in her torso and make a soft plop when they hit the grass.

I rush to help but Kilo's grip on my arm doesn't loosen and he pulls me back towards him, causing me to trip.

"You can't save her, we have to run!" He hisses.

He sprints in the opposite direction of the commotion. I stumble on the branches and stones before my body fully wakes up and I become completely conscious of my surroundings and the situation. I'm well aware of the rocks and nettles underneath my bare feet, stinging my skin, as we run through the thick forest. My adrenaline is pumping, allowing me to not care about the pain and to push forward. I can hear growls and rapid footsteps chasing us, my breaths are short and my heart is beating in my chest rapidly. It feels like it's stuck in my throat. I'm panicking. I need to stop panicking.

"What happened?" I ask him with a shaky voice, still partially confused about the whole situation.

"Unkempt attacked our camp," he explains as we run.

A screech from up ahead causes my eyes to widen. The Unkempt launches itself at me, but Kilo steps in the way. They land with a thud on the ground and I stop running to turn back.

I can see the shadow of a few more Unkempt in the trees, racing to get their catch.

"Just go! You know the rendezvous!" He yells as I watch the Unkempt's hand bury itself in his ribs.

Kilo screams a blood curdling scream, his voice tearing at his throat. The Unkempt clamps its teeth down on his neck, blood gushing out as it tears away at his flesh. The Unkempt shakes its head roughly, still firmly latched onto Kilo's.

The sound of bone cracking echoes through the forest as I freeze. An object rolls to my feet and I look down slowly, dreading what I'll find. There it is, Kilo's lifeless eyes looking up at me, blood running out of his mouth and pooling on the ground. I look back at the rest of his body. It's like time slows as I turn around and begin running once again. I can only hear my breaths and heartbeat, everything else is numbed out. The trees blur in front of me as I run, dodging branches and dead logs on the earth beneath my feet.

I didn't have time to gather my things, I'm not even wearing shoes. Everything I knew has just been torn from me in a couple of minutes. What do I do now?