//------------------------------// // Prolouge: You Can't Return What's Lost // Story: The Plauge // by William w2 //------------------------------// ....Crunch....Crack....Snap! I awoke up with a start. The sound of rustling leaves invading my eardrums, I focused on the source. I was disoriented from the darkness of night shielding my eyes from sight. I was sitting on my bed in a cabin out in the woods. I had fallen asleep before I meant to last night, hoping that I would actually be able to get some sleep; still finding myself awake in the middle of the night. "Nyuuuh. What time is iiit?" A voice directly below me called. "Shut up, Jarod. I think I can hear something." I whispered to him in a commanding tone. Again, the noise of rustling leaves echoed throughout our cabin. Jarod had instantly jumped up out of his bed; flipping out his 9" knife and readying it. I wanted to laugh at his effort, but didn't want him to hear me, so I just kept the emotion on my face instead. We waited in silence for the sound to occur once more.... Nothing. "Alright I think we're clear. It was probably just a squi-" I was cut off by a scream coming from outside the cabin. "AAAAHHHH! HEEELLP" A shrill voice yelled out, followed by several rapid shots, then silence. "Shit! Jarod, stay here with the pistol, and if anyone tries to get in, shoot them!" I ordered. Before I ran out into the barely visible atmosphere with my shotgun at my side. Remington .45, and my 30-30. The screaming started again, but was coming from a different direction. I couldn't rush to the sound. I didn’t know what was out there, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way.. I ran from tree to tree with my firearm at the ready. I was only 50 feet or so away from where I had heard the scream. I peeked from around the tree and saw...nothing. 'Where the hell are you?!' I thought. I was starting to feel sore from holding my weapon so tightly. I readjusted my grip. I knew there shouldn't be any of.....them here, but better safe than sorry. "Hey! Hey you!" I heard a voice yell to me from the slowly brightening morning. "Shit." I mumbled under my breath. I wondered if it was a trap or not. I sure hoped not. The whole reason I moved to these damn woods was so I could get away from everything. It was just too much back there. But I would kill if I had to. "Help me! I can't get her by myself!" There was a hint of desperation in the voice. I was having an internal battle of if I should try to help, and get trapped, or let the victim die. "What's her condition?" I yelled out. "She’s bleeding very badly. She needs medical attention, now!" The voice yelled back. I turned around the tree and saw two people in the road. One male and one female. They both looked to be in their late teenage years. I saw that the boy had blood stained on his shirt. I couldn't tell if it was his or the girl’s. I got a good look at the two. They had oddly peculiar hair styles. The boy had spiked green hair and the girl had a borderline black/brown hair with one purple stripe in it. I walked over to the girl and got down on my knees to examine her wound. It wasn't quite a bite mark, but it wasn't possible for a gun to do that kind of damage, but what was? "What happened to her?" I asked as I tore off a large piece of my shirt; wrapping the wound. The bleeding needed to be stopped. "I-I don't know! We were walking, looking for our friends and then...I don't know!" They boy said in a rush. "There's more of you? How many?" I asked, hoping that it wouldn't be too many. "There's 5 others with us. We got split up when we got here." "...Got here?" I asked after a pause. "Yeah. Twilight here, she was going to try to teleport us to a different dimension, but I don't really know if she was trying to make us go....here." Dots were slowly starting to connect in my head, but fell apart when he said 'teleport us to a different dimension'. I looked up at him from my crouched position. "Do you know exactly where these 'friends' might be at?" I asked. "Um....no." He said plainly. 'Well that's going to help!' I thought sarcastically. "All I know is that they were taken by a group of people that called themselves 'Resistants'. "Shit." Was all that got out of my mouth before I hoisted the girl into my arms and started on my walk back to the cabin.