As I engrave every detail of blood and organs into my mind, I laugh at how pitiful my world has become.
Who would have known a few days ago? I never imagined I'd be somewhere like this—somewhere where life is like a twig. If you step on it, it snaps. It's just like life. Hahaha.
Thump.
I glance over at the old man who just collapsed onto his knees in utter fear. I find myself feeling a cold dread for my own future. What will happen to me? I am probably all that's left of my family.
Moving my feet down the pathway, I see a pit to my left. It is so deep that light can never conquer its darkness.
Should I jump? I ask myself as I pass over the great canyon.
Would it be better to join my dead family?
In the end, I couldn't even keep the promise I made to my mom. What if my sister is one of those incubators? What would I do if I found her like that? Thinking of it, my legs start to tremble. Would I have to kill her to save her? Would I have to kill my six-year-old sister?
I show my teeth to the sky as I look up, feeling a bottomless pit of agony. I should just kill myself. Glancing at the pit, my trembling legs finally give out. My knees hit the floor.
"Hah... haha," I whisper to myself in a shaky voice.
I can't do it. I'm so scared to die. What if it hurts when I hit the bottom? What if it doesn't have an end? Would I be falling for eternity?
I am so pitiful.
As I look down, I feel someone grabbing my shoulder. I steer my will once more for a final push, and I hear that ominous voice once again.
"Move."
I walk down countless paths, seeing unimaginable horrors. Flesh being ripped off the bone like a lollipop. People screaming as their heads are eaten while they are still alive.
I wonder to myself: Which one of these will become my future?
After walking for countless minutes, we finally reach our destination. What I see shocks me.
I've seen this before.
Standing in front of me is something darker than obsidian—a jagged object I saw in the sky the first day my world fell apart. All around it are people with the same tool I have, trying to chip away at the orb.
"Go. Mine."
Hearing that voice, I instantly understand what I was brought here to do. Hahah. I'm becoming a slave. I see people with eyes devoid of life, some missing arms and hitting the orb with one hand while blood seeps from their stumps.
Will this be me from now on?
Picking up the pickaxe with my uninjured hand, I use all the force a twelve-year-old can muster. I swing at the orb.
Chunk.
Again.
Chunk.
Chunk.
Someone screams. "Stop! Leave me alone! Someone help me!"
I see a girl screaming, grabbing onto a man as a monster chases them. The man shouts, "Get the fuck off of me!" as he tries to break her grasp. The monsters jump on both of them, tearing their flesh. They rip the hair from their scalps. Hands, feet... nothing is spared.
And the worst part... the woman had life in her stomach. That dim light that didn't even get to see the sun was viciously ripped out of her and devoured before it could even take its first breath.
The screams start to overwhelm me. My head spins. Eyelids feel heavy. Blood trickles from my nose from the stress of the past few hours.
I feel sick. I feel sick.
"Mommy, it hurts. Will you save me? Just like you did from that fire? Save me. Save me. Save me."
I say it like a chant to an evil god. I grab my hair so hard it pulls out of my scalp. My pleas for my mom blend into the sound of people being molded. Finally, every inch of will leaves my soul. Every emotion other than madness leaves my being—a madness that could devour my devourers.
Grasping for my sanity, I grit my teeth so hard that blood comes out of my gums. Picking up the pickaxe, I channel all that built-up rage into my swings. One. Two. Tens. Hundreds. I feel only pain and hatred. Hatred for this twisted world I've been put in.
When do we stop?
They haven't told us to stop. It hurts. I need to stop. But every time someone stops, a whip cracks against the flesh of our backs.
The pickaxe drops from my hands and a whip cracks almost instantly. Unable to dodge, it strikes my back.
Pain... just pain.
As I cry out from the pain, I feel the blood dripping from my back. Shedding tears, I pick up the axe and swing it again.
Crunk. Crunk. Crunk.
As the bright sky dims to darkness, I hear it—a loud BOOM, as if an explosion went off. I try to find the source. I see a mist of red. There is something here that can make that color of crimson.
As the mist clears, I see it. There is a person in the middle. As my eyes adjust, I'm struck with terror. Standing there is a girl. She's the most beautiful girl I've seen—long blonde hair, pale skin. Even covered in dust, she is beautiful.
But the other side of her body is in flames. Her skin turns to ashes, muscles falling from her hand. The worst part is that she is still alive. It is said that if the flames are hot enough, the pain receptors are destroyed, causing the person to feel no pain.
But I can feel her pain. As she lies there, still awake while the flames ravage her body, she watches her own flesh melt like glue—unable to do anything. Unable to scream. Unable to make a sound.
As her emotions are trapped, everyone, including her, watches as the human torch is slowly turned to dust.