'Damn! I think the bath salt is kicking in!'
The atmosphere was cold and humid. The forest's trees rustled in the soothing wind and the fallen leaves danced in it as well. Then out of basically nowhere, a group of four people appeared out of a green crack in space. They were surprised just as anyone who would've seen them appear but there wasn't a single person who saw them appear.
The group were shocked about their change in locations. One second, they were on the walkway of a road in Denton City that smelled like garbage and various perfumes but now, they were in a forest that smells like wet soil and heated trees. Whatever they smell like.
"What the fuck?!" A stern voice snapped them back to reality. The group was stunned as they weren't expecting to be instantly transported to a forest when they were just in a city not so long ago.
"Babe, I'm scared!" A lady with ginger hair clinged unto a taller man's shoulder. She wore a white dress that wasn't too stylish or too plain as it struck a balance between fashionable and casual.
"Don't worry boo. We'll get out of this place somehow." The taller man scanned through the surroundings. He wore a simple white top and black regular trousers.
"Don't panic guys. Let's try our best not to make loud sounds okay?" The stern voice from earlier suggested to the group.
"Tf do you mean we shouldn't panic! We are in the middle of nowhere!" The tall man looked at the man with the stern voice who turned out to be a short muscular man with beards.
"We're not nowhere, we're in a forest and loud noises would attract animals to our direction." The bearded man said with his voice still stern as that was his natural tone. The group was silent as they all contemplated the best course of action.
"You're right." The tall man finally agreed to the bearded man's suggestion and his girlfriend nodded in agreement as well.
"That makes three of us. What bout you?" The bearded man addressed the person that had been quiet ever since they had appeared in the forest. The quiet person had messy brown curls on his head and he wore a grey tracksuit. Despite their dilemma, he had a smile on his face.
"Me? I'm just... Hanging around." He said almost as if he was in a trance. His pupils were dilated adding more to the fact.
'Crap! The bath salt is insane. Are these people real or is this my hallucinations?' The quiet man's head throbbed with the question.
"Whatever. We have to look for higher ground. That way we can survey the place and deduce our location." The bearded man explained and even included hands gestures.
"Nice idea. But, how are you used to this? Is this your normal Friday or what?" The lady questioned the bearded man composure that contradicted their situation. All of them except the quiet person that was now smiling awkwardly. Such a weirdo.
"Oh. I used to be a boy's scout, I was a camp councilor and I'm in the army presently. I just came back to Denton because my wife just put to bed." The bearded man responded as he began moving. The rest trailed him as he walked around avoiding some paths that looked open and even checking the soil for any signs of warmth.
"What are you doing? That path was clear and open. Why did we have to pass this tight bushy area!" The tall man complained as he pushed away branches from his view.
"Open spaces are usually watched by predators. The more open it is, the more prone to an attack we are. Besides, we don't even know what we're dealing with yet." The bearded man responded as he avoided some vines on the ground and the group did the same after crossing it.
The vine twitched when the quiet man accidentally stepped on it then the vine recoiled as his feet raised away from it. The quiet man chuckled to himself. He knew it was possible for a vine to actually move on its own so he didn't alert the others as he believed he was hallucinating.
"There's a hill up ahead. We get there and we find our way out." The bearded man announced as he turn a very slight turn.
"Finally! I can't spend another second in this place. I'm just glad there are no mosquitoes." The lady sighed in relief but just then, they heard a woman scream. The bearded man instantly turned back and brought out a combat knife from his boots and he began running in the direction of the scream.
"Wait. We're not the only ones here?" The tall man asked no one in particular as he followed the bearded man.
"Cool." The man in the grey tracksuit muttered to himself as he chased after the bearded man as well.
"Hey. Don't leave me here!" The lady followed.
As they ran through the forest, it looked blurred as they were all at full speed. The man in tracksuit noticed rabbits with horns but that wasn't the weirdest thing about them. The rabbits were entangled in vines that hung them on a tree upside down. He was startled but he ignored it once again. He believed he was hallucinating.
They finally reached the source of the screaming and what they saw wasn't what they expected. They saw an open field with green foliage stained in the blood of five corpses mutilated beyond recognition. There was a woman that wasn't dead yet as she was far away from the perpetrator of the murder. It was a creature.
No. It was too strange and large so the name Monster would be befitting for it.
The monster resembled a gorilla but it was larger than a regular gorilla and gorillas didn't have a jaw full of jagged long teeth. The monster noticed the new arrival of human to munch on but there was one of them infront of the others pointing a sharp iron object to it.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" The bearded man asked the woman that ran to the far back of him. He took that as an answer then he yelled. "Leave this thing to me! You guys retreat. Go away from here as fast as possible!"
"But—" The tall man tried to offer help but the bearded man barked once more. "I said LEAVE!"
They didn't ask anymore questions or anything. They all began running away in the direction of the hills they had noticed the first time around. None of them looked back except for the man in grey. He noticed the way the bearded man charged at the gorilla with the combat knife and tear open the gorilla's skin.
The gorilla roared and retaliated with a blow that sent the bearded man towards a tree. The man in grey couldn't watch any longer so he looked front and kept on running. They finally reached their former location, the spot where they found the hills and they went to the hilly plain and ran all the way up to the top.
The group collapsed at the hilltop, breathless and terrified. They had just left a man back there with that abomination but no one said anything. They were still trying to accept the fact that it was reality.
The air there was cooler, thinner. The trees weren't cluttered and from there, they could see more of the forest, stretching almost endlessly in all directions.
The man in the grey tracksuit swayed. He felt his head throbbing, his eyes dulling.
"Wait.. The sun's purp—" he mumbled before dropping face first in the dirt.
The ginger haired girl crawled towards him in panic. "Is he alright?"
Her boyfriend knelt beside him and checked his pulse. "Still breathing. He must have passed out from the shock."
"We are lucky to still be alive." The injured woman chimed in weakly from the side holding her wounded leg tightly.
The man in the grey tracksuit wasn't in the forest anymore, he was back in Denton City. People bustled left and right, cars honked in chaotic rhythms over bad traffic or 'bad driving' and a dog barking from a corridor.
The familiar stench of perfume, engine oil and probably dead rats blended with the air that the residents couldn't even tell the difference anymore. There he was.
The man in the grey tracksuit. On a curb staring into space. He reached into his pocket and brought out a vial. Shook the last liquid in it and filled a small syringe up with the liquid. He tightened his left arm with a small piece of rope then injected it into his arm.
Nothing happened.
Then light out of nowhere enveloped him and next thing he knows, he's in a forest.
He woke up coughing. Dirt on his face and messy brown hair containing leaves. His chest tight and aching. He sat up slowly then he looked at the sun. Or whatever that large purple thing in the sky was.
The sky had darkened but it was still daylight. Whatever it was, it was darker than before. Three pairs of eyes turned towards him causing him to hold his head as he still felt a slight concussion.
"Ain't no way all that shitt was real?" He muttered to himself as he adjusted his eyes slowly to the environment.
"You alright?" The tall man asked, arms folded.
"Define 'alright'." He responded with a sarcastic look on his face.
"You passed out earlier, are you okay?" the ginger haired girl said, brushing hair from her face.
"No biggie. It's an aftereffect of the ba— drug I took earlier." He managed to mutter.
"I'm Mark. She's Debbie." The tall man introduced himself and his girlfriend.
"I— I'm Sandra." The injured woman said timidly clutching her leg bandaged with a torn blouse.
"Devin. How long was I out?" He asked still rubbing his temples. He couldn't make out the time as the sun or whatever that it was, was oddly colored.
"You tell me.." Mark shrugged looking up at the odd sky then he faced Devin back. "Wait, Devin? As in Devin Cardenas?"
"In the flesh." Devin almost chuckled.
"Wow. I never expected to meet you like this. Small world isn't it?" Mark smiled extending his hand for a shake that was awkward later on.
"It's no big deal. Besides, my dad's the hotshot." Devin smirked faintly.
The moments after that was awkward and silent.
"We need to figure out what we have," Mark broke the silence. "Drop everything—pockets, bags, whatever."
They each emptied their belongings.
Debbie had a compact mirror, a lip gloss, and a pepper spray keychain.
Mark on the other hand, had a wallet, a dead phone, and a cheap multi-tool.
Sandra, the injured woman had nothing. She lost her belongings when the gorilla-like monster attacked.
Devin shrugged and placed his gear: three lighters, a plastic bag filled with weed, and his phone.
"You brought drugs into the another world," Mark said flatly with an expression like he'd just confirm a rumor.
"Hey to be fair, I thought I was hallucinating the whole time," Devin said raising his hands in surrender.
"Whatever. We need to keep warm." Mark stood up and Devin followed. They gathered sticks, piled them into a crude teepee of wood and dry leaves, and after a few flicks of Devin's lighter—flames sparked.
Everyone leaned close to the fire, grateful. They warmed their hands in silence. Four strangers. One missing man who was probably dead. A monster lurking in the trees. And the fire crackled on.