Ivory
Earth was a hellscape.
It became one approximately six years ago, though it’d been heading that way for a while.
We were ruining our planet for the sake of technological advancements like artificial intelligence, starting senseless wars with other countries, and most government officials were suspected or confirmed to be child predators.
It was a mess.
And then the monsters came.
Or rather, they’d always been here but got tired of humanity’s shit. They sprung up out of nowhere it seemed–Krakens dragging ships down, shifters attacking humans on nature trails, and demons giving certain individuals the final push toward damnation.
Humanity had an existential crisis, realizing for the first time they weren’t earth’s only inhabitants. The military mobilized–and failed to eradicate the ‘threat’–human-only towns were built, and God help anyone crazy enough to wander the wilderness alone.
It was a death sentence.
Or so our governments said.
I didn’t care.
Anywhere had to be better than the ‘village’ that’d turned its back on me, ignoring the bruising darkening my face or the stream of women that paraded through my house while I wasn’t home.
Everyone knew, it seemed.
But I was done being the martyr, the good wife. I prayed his dick fell off. That’d teach him.
I stumbled over a root, a laugh bubbling out of me as I caught myself on a nearby tree.
Okay, I might’ve been a little trashed. But what would you do if you had the day I had–hell, the life I had?
Food and water was rationed and somehow my husband still ate more than me. I’d had more concussions than some athletes used to get–sports were no longer a thing unless you counted underground fights.
He’d ended at least two pregnancies, after which I simply asked the doctor to remove the whole damn womb. Maybe it was pity that’d moved him to do it without consulting my husband first. Or the bruises mottling my belly and arms.
“Fuck,” I gasped, the world spinning for a solid five seconds. I froze, squinting into the shadows.
A twig snapped.
“If you’re gonna eat me…I’m not that tasty!” I yelled and threw my half-finished bottle of Prosecco. My cousin knew a guy who knew a guy who smuggled the hot commodity our government didn’t deem a necessity. Maybe they saved it for the soldiers they sent to die fighting monsters.
At least humans didn’t war with each other anymore. There were so few of us left…we had to be outnumbered.
Another twig crunched under a foot–or paw. Fuck, or tentacle. You never knew what you were getting in the wastes.
“Like a box of chocolates,” I muttered and straightened, locking my knees. “Alright, big baddie. Come and get me. I think I’m ready to meet my maker.”
A noise rumbled from the darkness, amusement perhaps. And I shivered as it spoke in a multi-layered voice like a thousand whispers erupting at once.
“Are you, human?”
“Maybe,” I squeaked, trying hard not to piss myself. “Promise to make it quick?” I sensed movement like only prey could, trapped under the gaze of something much, much larger. It shuffled closer but didn’t step into the meager light slanting through treetops from the moon sitting in the sky like a big fat coin.
“And if I don’t? Will you scream? Beg me to stop, to spare your pathetic existence?”
Jeez, rude much? Pathetic?
I frowned at nothing. “Hey! I may be a small, defenseless human but pathetic? You need me!” I shouted. I had to be fueled by pure adrenaline and liquor to argue with my imminent death but…hard life and all would do that to you.
“Oh?” It growled, a shadowed shoulder slipping from the darkness, towering several feet above me.
Yeah, I was going to die.
Whatever that was, it was going to eat me and maybe pick its teeth with my bones. I prayed it would be quick but it didn’t stop me from running my mouth. God, one day I’d learn–if I survived this.
“Y-yeah. W-what else you g-gonna eat, huh? You’re at the t-top of the f-food chain. I supply your diet.” I grabbed my chest for reasons unknown to me. “See? Soft, supple human flesh. You need me to survive, to,” I waved in its general direction, “fuel all of that.”
Another noise coming from it shook the air, like a choked laugh maybe. Well, if it was amused maybe it wouldn’t kill me immediately? I mean, a girl deserved a running start at least.
“You…are strange,” It said before approaching.
I stumbled back and that root I’d missed earlier? It tripped my ass and I landed hard, pain shooting through flesh and straight up my tailbone.
“Fuck,” I hissed, never taking my eyes off..It.
I didn’t know what the fuck it was, had never seen it’s like and the military tried to keep detailed records, sharing sketches with village leaders.
Pure shadows shifted and coalesced into a shape resembling a humanoid frame–two legs, two arms. But its arms were too long. They dragged at its side and were currently planted on the ground.
A round, dark head tilted, half of it covered in slitted eyes that moved independently. There was a slit for a nose and below that…no lips, just rows of needle sharp teeth bared in a macabre permanent grin. Its hands and feet ended in claws that dug into the earth and thin tendrils of darkness rose from its back and the top of its head, like tentacles and horns made of shadow.
Nightmare fuel.
And it was going to eat me.
