Dr Lockwood stood in a dark room. Four silhouettes surrounded him, each looking down at the man.
They remained silent. Simply staring at the doctor
"Dr Lockwood. Since the incident with Subject - 1244's mutation there have been numerous reports of you telling the other scientists that you are afraid to test."
"We have also had reports and seen footage of you attempting to re-humanise a subject. You refer to them as 'Mr Poole'."
"When we brought you here you knew your place. You knew that it was likely that something would happen that could get you killed."
"Although, we must praise you for the implant. We have used it on your favourite subject and it has worked beautifully. He can't remember any of his past life."
"We will use it on new doctors and subjects alike to ensure a lower amount of defects."
Two security guards entered from the darkness with this, preventing Lockwood from escaping.
"We're sorry for what we're about to do, Harry." One of the guards whispered as they stepped closer to the doctor.
"Despite your achievement. We cannot be seen as forgiving."
"We have collectively decided to demote you. Your new name is Subject - 0289."
————————PRESENT DAY————————
Once the three had stepped through the crack, everything changed. The trees around them were now in new locations and misshapen. Each of them with bulbous growths covering the dead and decaying bark. The sky was now a blood red to match the dense fog surrounding them.
"How the hell is this possible?" Reno questioned. "The sky cant change that quickly, right?"
"I don't believe it has changed. I am surprised I have to point this out: Our surroundings have not changed, our location has. All of the signals I would normally get from other phones and satellites have disappeared." PAI droned. "Perhaps climb a tree to see if there are any landmarks of note."
Reno nodded with this, pulling out a small whiskey bottle he had in his pocket and taking a few gulps before looking at his surroundings. Most of the trees looked far too brittle to support Reno's weight, although there were a few that seemed pretty sturdy.
After picking what looked like the strongest tree, Reno stepped closer. Then, taking off his coat and slinging it over the lowest branch and swinging himself onto it to climb.
As he got closer to the top, Reno began to see red shards of light burst through the foliage and stronger until he finally broke through the top layer of leaves.
Looking around, Reno saw nothing but the dense forest. Looking to the sky revealed that the place had a purely black sun, still somehow casting light onto the place.
It looked as if it went on forever, the horizon remained completely flat.
Reno stared onwards, eyes wide. Quickly climbing back down.
"We need to leave." The man muttered. "This place isn't normal."
Red and Sasha looked at one another, neither had ever seen him this shaken up. "What did you see?" Asked Sasha, her heart pumping.
"The sky is blood red, the sun is black." Reno answered, his voice shaking.
"I don't know if either of you two had noticed, our exit is gone." Sighed Red, shivers running down his spine.
PAI began vibrating with this. "I am getting a strong signal, different to that of the one before. But a signal nonetheless." Noted the phone. "And it would appear that the signal is allowing us to receive a message from an unknown contact."
'Ŵę ärę płēãšęd tø šęė ŷøū fįñâłłŷ hêré.'
Unknown contact. "PAI, where is the signal coming from?" Asked Sasha, curious yet cautious. "I... Can't be sure... It's coming from everywhere... Its almost as if these messages are from the forest itself." PAI replied, his voice seemingly displaying a sense of confusion.
'Who are you?'
'Ŵę ärę thè førëšt äñd ŷòû àrę øür vįçtïmš.'
"What the fuck do they mean by that?" Sasha angrily questioned. "Apparently this contact is the forest and we're it's victims."
"I don't like this-" Reno began to speak when the ground suddenly opened up below him into a large pit.
He quickly fell down at least 10ft before landing on some brown, slimy vines stretching across the hole's circumference. Looking down, he could see the bottom of the pit, jagged spikes of wood were growing out of it as he stared in fear. He screamed with this. "Get me the fuck out of here!"
Sasha quickly ran to the edge of the hole. "Help me get him out! This place is gonna kill him!" She shouted to Red who had backed away a few fee.
Eventually Red ran to her, pulling her away from the hole. "There is no way either of us are going to reach him. Whatever happens now is dependant on his own actions." Red spoke with a shaking voice, choking up as he finished his words.
'Ŷøü ŵįłł šūbmįt tø ûś.'
Sasha looked down at PAI reading the message.
Her anger overtook her before she had the chance to think her actions through. "We will not submit to you, let our fucking friend go!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. With this, some of the vines holding Reno up snapped and shrivelled.
"We won't fucking submit, you hear me?!" She again screamed before more vines began to snap.
'Thęñ ŷøü ŵíłł šúffęr.'
Two vines wrapped around Reno's wrists as the rest snapped, hanging him with his arms outstretched.
Sasha's ankle began to sink into the ground as this happened, ivy beginning to climb to her knee and latch onto her with it's thorns piercing her skin.
"We may not have the choice." PAI spoke, his voice remaining calm.
Sasha screamed in pain at the thorns digging into her flesh. Red rushed to her, pulling with all of his might against the against the unnatural force of the place.
Tears were now streaming down Sasha's face as she continued to scream.
Hearing Sasha's scream, Reno looked down once more at the jagged spikes and began to panic, foolishly struggling against the vines.
'Šübmįt tø üš.'
"It still wants you to submit." PAI spoke, reading out the message. "Perhaps doing it is a good idea."
Without a second thought, Red shouted "WE SUBMIT!" at the top of his lungs.
Almost as soon as he said it, the ivy released from Sasha's torn and bleeding leg. The spikes under Reno sunk into the soil and the hole closed up after he had been lifted out by the vines.
Sasha almost instantly retracted into a foetal position, leaning onto Red crying as the two hugged one another for comfort.
Reno wobbled over to the two, collapsing on his knees and taking a swig of whiskey before looking directly down, his hands visibly shaking. He did not speak.
'Ŷøû ŵįłł rętúrñ, wę ŵįłł âłłøŵ ŷøûr łëâve.'
Red read the text, hearing a familiar cracking behind him as he did so, turning his head he again saw the ominously green glowing tree.
The man took the opportunity quickly, picking Sasha up and nudging Reno to stand.
Reno crawled through first, grabbing Sasha's legs gently as Red passed her through, shifting their weight onto one another. Then with Red following behind, holding PAI. On the way back to their home, nothing was said, Sasha continued to cry silently.
Once the three got back to their home, Reno made no sounds. He simply walked to his room and sat on his bed. The others heard nothing from him from the rest of the night.
Red gently lay Sasha on the sofa, going into the kitchen and bringing out tea-tree oil and cotton pads, lifting her trouser leg gently to get to the wounds.
"Our friend Jack has been messaging us whilst we have been gone." PAI gently spoke.
Red looked at the phone. "PAI, now really isn't the-"
"Let me see." Sasha interrupted, holding out her bloodstained hand.
Red sighed, passing the phone to her before looking back to her legs.
'anyone here'
'Yes, it is Sasha. How long have we been?'
'month'
How could that be possible? She had seen the impossible the previous hour... Sasha's heart dropped as she came to the realisation of the only place that Jack could be, she had to be wrong.
'Jack, can you see the sky?'
'light from sky cutting through leaves'
'What colour is it? And the sun if you can see it?'
'sky red sun black'
Oh god... she couldn't help. But she may be able to get information from him that could change that.
'Do you know anything about the forest? Like, rules? How the forest works?'
'time move different'
'if die here everyone that knew you forget you, all evidence of existence disappear'
'three ways to die'
'What are the three ways?'
'turn'
'kill self'
'murder'