Tainted

CRASH! A loud glass-breaking noise erupts from the second floor. I’m not up there, and no one else but my younger sixteen-year-old sister is here. We've been alone since the Tainted started to appear and drag people to their graves only to have them resurface as the Bleached.

That was over a month ago, and even in that short time, the world has changed. There's no running water, no electricity, and no internet, mainly because the world outside is chaotic as the Bleached, bloodless zombie-like creatures rampage and kill humans. It's almost like they hunger for something, but it isn't brains, contrary to all the books I've read. Instead, the Bleached drain their victims of their blood and morph into another Tainted, just to begin the cycle again.

“Clara?” I yell as I sprint up the stairs toward her bedroom.

My sister's pink twin bed is empty, the blanket and sheets flung on the floor as if she’d been dragged out of it. My heart swells with panic, and I worriedly look around the room.

My eyes land on the pile of shattered glass in front of her window. My heart sinks further into my chest as I glance over her treasured heart-shaped locket that lies in the middle of the rubble; the chain broke as if it was forcibly removed. “Please no,” I whisper to myself. Clara wouldn't have left without the locket our mother gave her before she passed away years ago.

I glance out of the window, and her body is nowhere to be seen. “Clara!” I shout into the darkness outside, panic swelling in my chest with every beat of my heart.

“James! Help me!” she cries loudly, her voice caked with fear.

“Stop messing around, Clara!” I shout back, the panic subsiding as I figure out it's a joke. There have not been any reports of Tainted or Bleached pulling people from their beds.

“I can’t break free from it! James! HELP ME!” she shrieks.

I catch a ball of white from below the trees. I look above the small ball of white, making eye contact with some sort of creature, its eyes wild and terrifying. Its face is almost humanoid, half of it distorted into a burnt, blobby mess. A sinister humming fills the air as the white blob flails around frantically as it’s pulled into the dense forest.

That white blob is my sister!

Panic sets back in as a weight crushes my chest. I sprint down the stairs and shove my feet aggressively into my steel-toed work boots. I don't bother to tie them as I rip open the front door, my bow, and quiver in hand as I race around the house toward the woods. I’m not even sure I shut the front door back, but I don’t care at this point.

I walk for what seems like forever, the cold air nipping at my bare arms. I don’t know where I am in the forest, and it’s too dark to see anything. I shouldn't be out at night.

The forest is vast, dark, and cold. The heavy smell of dew is in the air, a smell I hate. The sound of crickets rings loudly through the air, continuously pounding that annoying tone against my ears.

“James!” her voice breaches through the annoying repetition of those damned bugs.

“Clara! Where are you?” I can’t tell where her voice is coming from. I’ve never felt so helpless.

I sprint forward, hoping I might get lucky and be running in the right direction.

The cold, crisp leaves crunch under my boots; winter is close- too close. If we stay out here much longer, we’ll freeze to death. Not to mention she’s in danger from that thing.

“James,” her voice is quieter than it was before.

“Shit!” I hiss to myself, and I turn quickly on my heels as I run back the way I came.

A loud blood-curdling scream breaches through the air as I reach a clearing in the forest. Almost no vegetation grows around this big circle, no trees, grass, or weeds—just a flat dirt opening with a single willow tree in the middle.

My heart drops as my stomach swells with nausea at the sight in front of me.

My sister’s neck hangs limp, broken so severely that her neck looks fake. Blood oozes down her white nightgown staining it red. I don't know where she’s bleeding from, but by her neck alone, I know she’s dead. Her feet hang off the ground- something is holding her up. But what?

“Clara,” I whisper as I look up. The being has large pencil-length fingers and a single hand wrapped around her throat. Its large black nails are what caused her neck to bleed, and they’re punctured deeply into her skin. My sister's dead body obscures the being's face and body.

A sinister hum rings around me as my sister's body is dropped. The humanoid figure is worse than I thought. Its human-like side is pitch black, and the other half is indeed a burnt, disfigured blob.

“Noisy,” the being clicks with gill-like appendages on its neck to talk.

Tears stream down my face, frozen in fear. What the hell am I looking at? My skin on my cheek screams as the being rubs its crisp black hand down it. It purrs as it admires me- no, my body.

“Bayu-bayushki-bayu, Ne lozhisya na krayu. Pridyot serenkiy volchok, On ukhvatit za bochok. I utashchit vo lesok. Pod rakitovy kustok,” it hums in a foreign language I can't understand.

It hums once more, but this time I understand. “Baby, baby, rock-a-bye. On the edge, you mustn't lie. Or the little grey wolf will come and grab you by the flank. Drag you into the woods, underneath the willow-root.”

My heart sinks further as tears stream down my eyes. I can't move, and I’m paralyzed with fear. My body begins to move on its own as I drop my bow to the ground, now unarmed and vulnerable.

The creature screams as it lunges toward me. A scream erupts from my dry lips. I smash onto the ground with my back as the beast tugs me further into the circle by my feet. The breath is knocked out of me as I gasp for breath.

I twirl around and try to grab onto the dirt, but my hands can't find something to grip onto. My fingers hurt from how cold they are- but I don’t care.

“HELP!” I scream as loud as I possibly can, making my throat raw.

Its sinister hum grows louder, almost as if it is happy, as we approach the willow tree. "You'll do nicely."

Its crisp black hand grabs me by my arm and turns me over. It purrs in delight as it grabs me by my head, and with a sick smile, it drags me into the darkness.