Nathan Hystad - New Threat

“That’s not something you want to walk in. Let’s see if there’s a way across this way.” She pointed north, and we found much the same issue. Doubling back took valuable time, but the ground was eventually firmer, and soon we were making our way to the village in the right direction.

In a few minutes, we could see lights from the town: a soft glow in the darkness of an ominous world. It called to me like a beacon, and suddenly I remembered the time my car broke down on the highway in the winter when I was first off at college, right before the days when cell phones were in everyone’s hand constantly. It was the middle of a snowstorm, and after seeing no one else was crazy enough to be on the main roads, I spent an hour walking down a gravel road seeking a house. Just when I thought my toes were going to fall off, I saw a light in the distance. I ran, more stumbled, toward it, and the family let me call a tow truck and stay there until the driver picked me up.

When I saw the village light, the same feeling hit me, and I ran ahead. A few steps into my sprint, I felt the ground make way for water and I fell forward, going under.

It happened so fast, my brain couldn’t comprehend it. One second I was moving in the warm air, the next my head was under water, a thick sludgy liquid. I flailed my hands, trying to find something to push against, but they just sank into the muck on the bottom of the ground.

I finally swiveled my legs out under me and pushed up, my head breaching the muck.

Laughter shot at me from behind, and I turned to see Mary’s outline snickering at my epic fail.

“Laugh it up, chuckles,” I said, angry I was so stupid to get into this situation. That anger was heavily mixed with embarrassment. “Can you guys just help me out?”

It looked like I was in a small pond, only thirty feet across. All we would have had to do was walk a few steps to the left and avoid it. If I hadn’t rushed forward, I would be up there with the rest of them, dry and clean.

Slate stepped forward and reached a hand out, when something brushed against my leg.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, shaking my leg.

As I stretched my hand out to grab his, I felt it again, this time harder.

“Guys, something’s in here with me.” Panic was creeping into my voice, the embarrassment all but forgotten. Slate grasped my wrist and that was when the creature underwater made its move. It wrapped around my ankle, pulling at me. I still couldn’t see it, but it was constricting tighter by the second. Another tentacle twisted around my waist and before I knew it, I was gasping in murky water, flailing for air.

I hadn’t even noticed, but Slate was still holding my arm, tugging at me, a tug-of-war where I was the rope. I could hear shouting as my head ducked in and out of the water, me just trying to get air when I was able to. There were multiple tentacles now, and I had no idea if it was one multi-limbed attacker or a group of snake-like animals.

This was it. I was going to die my first hour on a new world. Water gushed into my nose, and I tasted the stale muddy water as I was tugged under it once again. The strong hard grip of Slate’s hand was gone suddenly, and I was pulled down and away from my friends. Clenching my eyes shut, I tried to stave off the panic, and fought to pull one tentacle from its crushing force on my abdomen. Nothing worked.

The water muffled sound, and I thought I could make out Mary’s voice from the ground a distance away. The swamp area was far larger than I’d initially thought, and I kept being pulled farther in. My lungs burned for air, and I knew it wasn’t going to be long. Light flashed in my closed eyes, and my body went from tense and flailing to calm and serene. The light was there for me.

Something splashed nearby, and I felt a surge of hope. The pressure on my waist ceased, and before I knew it, I wasn’t being pulled any longer. Next the grip on my ankle was gone, and an arm was under my chest, lifting me to the surface. My feet found muddy purchase on the swamp floor, and my weak knees helped keep me in an upright position. It was dark, and I retched out water, bile mixing with the thick stinky liquid.

“Are you okay, Dean?” Mae’s voice asked in my ear. She was panting, and my eyes made out her form beside me in the dimly-lit night sky.

“Mae,” was all I could muster through my clenched teeth.

“Oh, thank God,” she said quietly.

She was holding a knife in her hand, and that’s when I saw the floating tentacles to the right of us. She’d dived in and killed the thing with a blade. The others were calling to us from forty yards away. Mae helped me to them, dragging the creature behind us like a prize kill.

Slate reached down, picking up a limb and pulling the thing onto the ground.

“Dean!” Mary called, her voice strained and tearful. “Are you okay?”

I was out of the water, pushing my body further away from the swamp just in case another of those monsters decided to swing an arm up and grab me.

“I think so,” I said, lying on my back. For a moment, I just stayed still, staring at the strange star clusters overhead. I let my body tell me what, if anything, was wrong with it, and other than a tender abdomen and a pulsing ankle, everything felt normal.

“Mae, that was amazing,” Mary said. “She didn’t wait a second. As soon as Slate lost grip, she dove in, knife in her hand. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I turned my head and saw Mae’s outline watching the water, still holding the knife. She was soaked like me, her hair hanging long and dripping with mud.

“Looks almost familiar, doesn’t it?” Slate said, poking the dead creature with his heavy boot. It resembled a large octopus, but with six thick tentacles, each at least the length of a human. Beady black orbs sat on either side of its head, and even though the thing almost killed me a minute ago, I felt bad for it lying there dead. It was just doing what nature taught it to do, and we were the invaders.

“Amazing,” Mary said, looking at it now too.

I finally got up, testing my ankle and feeling it take the brunt of my weight. I lumbered over to Mae and put my arm around her waist. “Thank you, Mae,” I said. She was still looking over the swamp, and she leaned her head down against my shoulder. We stood like that side-by-side for a minute before Slate cleared his throat.

“We should keep moving. We’re almost there.” He took the lead, and I stayed back waiting for Mary.

“Dean, I’m so glad you’re all right.” Her fingers slipped between mine, and I squeezed her hand back.

“So am I. Mary, if anything ever does happen to me, just keep going on. We need to finish the mission.” I felt foolish for saying it, but a near-death experience was sure to bring up a couple of unwanted conversations.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to think about that. You’re fine now. A little wet and dirty, and to be honest, stinky… but fine.”

I sniffed, and the putrid swamp water that covered me did make me smell something terrible. A shower was probably out of the question. I laughed and pulled her close. “Now you can smell bad too.” She fought me off, and we were so distracted with each other, we nearly walked into the barn-sized man, Slate. He turned and shushed us like an annoyed parent. His finger went to his lips and he held his hand up, telling us to stay still.

The village was a few hundred yards away, and we were coming up to the first building in the area. A few dim lights were on, a soft yellow glow making me wonder just how different the inhabitants were from humans. It looked like a scene from a hundred years ago. I took comfort in the similarities, but knew it was only right to be cautious at the same time.