AWAKENING PART 6A

Day 6; 0716 (Morning)

Focus: 513

513, who was snuggly jammed inside a small cavity amongst an endless network of roots, slowly woke from another night of uncomfortable rest. The defiant sparkle that was once present in his eyes had eroded away. Their luster lost, along-side any ambition or optimism he had for the future.

Since his departure from the rocky hill, he had slowly grown to accept the inevitability of his own death. His hopes for rescue had disintegrated the moment he conquered his own state of denial -- that he was no longer on Earth.

The only thing keeping him from ending his own life was his stubbornness; he was fully intent on fighting to the bitter end.

513: “Still alive, huh?”

He quietly mumbled to himself as he watched his warm breath float listlessly in the cold air.

He was alone. Alone in a place he did not recognize or understand.

For a man like 513, who had become accustomed to long stretches of solitude due to his profession, the creeping loneliness he felt in the back of his mind wasn’t an issue -- so long as he was preoccupied. He could go weeks, even months without human interaction. The key to maintaining his sanity was: obsession.

Right now, 513’s obsession is survival.

*SLAP* *SLAP*

Realizing he had started to mull over trivial things, he lightly slapped his cheeks in order to regain focus. [Alright, enough of that.] He lectured himself as he leaned forward to look outside.

Peeking through the cracks in the makeshift wall that blocked his entryway, an opaque mass of white came into view. [Fog?] he questioned inwardly as he tilted his head in confusion. [Did the temperature rise?] he asked himself, attempting to find a cause.

As he waited for the fog to pass, he felt a strong foreboding of imminent danger. His senses heightened as fear trickled up his arms. [Shit, not again.] He complained inwardly as he fell into a minor panic.

Shutting his eyes, he initiated a sequence of actions he had become familiar with in his struggle to survive.

Through breathing exercises, he entered a state of meditation. He found that, by centering his thoughts and calming his nerves, he could quickly regain composure and enact decisions with a level head.

As his panic subsided, one thought came to the forefront of his mind. [I’m being hunted.] He told himself confidently.

513 had suffered through several panic attacks since his arrival, and following each panic attack was an assault from a stalking predator. Following this logic, he had a good idea of what waited for him outside.

[Show yourself, motherfucker.] he cursed in his mind as he clasped his hands together to stop them from trembling.

*FWOOP* *FWOOP* *FWOOP*

The eerie silence of the forest was broken as the undulating flaps of large, oversized wings vibrated through the air. The ground shook and the trees rustled as each flap generated gusts of wind strong enough to topple saplings.

*FWOOP* *FWOOP* *FWOOP*

The winged creature drew closer to 513’s location, as if it knew where he was hiding.

Loose tree bark and moss were upheaved from the ground and sent flying across the forest as the creature hovered meters from where 513 hid himself.

*THUD*

It landed ungracefully, sending tremors rippling out from where it collided with the ground.

Still crammed inside his hiding spot, 513 could only imagine what he had done to garner its attention. [It must have noticed my presence back then.] He thought inwardly.

Grabbing hold of nearby tree roots, he braced himself, expecting the worst.

*RUSTLE* *SNAP*

Plantlife and ground debris were shoved aside as the creature slithered its way through the forest. Branches snapped and buckled under its weight as it used its lizard-like head to poke and prod every hole and crevice it could locate through the thick fog.

As it inched closer to his location, 513 tightened his grip on the roots he held-on to, to the point his knuckles white.

Before reaching his hidden entryway, the creature suddenly stopped.

Using its large, disjointed mouth, the snake-like creature siphoned the surrounding air, causing the nearby fog to distort and warp.

*ROAR*

With lungs full, it bellowed out a roar that shook the ground and pierced the thick fog. A clearing in the fog spread outward, like a cone -- it’s vertex, the creatures mouth.

With its vision now slightly unhindered, it resumed the hunt.

[I had a feeling it was you.] 513 thought to himself, as nervous smirk appeared on his face.

Looking through the cracks in the wall, he could see the figure of the creature became more defined as the surrounding fog dispersed from the area. [Fucking echo serpent.] He cursed in his thoughts. It was a name he had given the creature, after its unique hunting style.

513 first stumbled upon the echo serpent a few days ago, during his search for clean, drinkable water. Luckily, the armor of moss he wore that day helped him blend into the environment and mask his scent. Otherwise, he would have been its next victim.

While his presence was hidden, he took the opportunity to observe the serpent’s activities, specifically its hunting methods. Like many of the predators he met before, the echo serpent had a strong penchant for toying with its prey.

It would echo the sounds of the creatures it hunted, causing confusion and panic. If the creatures hid from sight, it would use sound as a lure, enticing prey to emerge out from the safety of cover. The techniques reminded 513 of the different game calls hunters would use to lure out animals.

If neither method worked, the echo serpent would increase the volume of sound it produced until its prey was either immobilized or attempted to flee. Those choosing to flee would be stunned by a concussive sound blast that travelled faster than they could run.

From what 513 saw, there was no scenario where the hunted could escape. Every single creature the echo serpent pursued, was killed -- most weren’t even eaten; it hunted for enjoyment.

513 held his breath in desperation as he waited for the echo serpent to act.

Perching up like a snake ready to strike, the echo serpent closed its large, marbled eyes and unleashed a terrible cry.

Voice 1: (foreign language) “What are we hunting anyway?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “I thought I told you already? We are hunting one of those weird looking things.”

513 winced as the booming voices of two strangers drilled into his ears. He couldn’t tell what language they were speaking, but the echo serpents' use of “human” voices meant two things: [1] it was confirmation that he was the target; and [2] that there were other people present in this world.

[How comforting, and depressing.] 513 muttered in his thoughts as he grit his teeth in pain.

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Huh?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “A monster.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Ah. A monster. Should be easy, right?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “I’m not sure about easy. Apparently it’s a new breed.”

The two voices began to diverge from each other as the echo serpent continued its deafening mimicry.

[Fuck. Why did it start out with this attack?] 513 mumbled inwardly as he carefully plugged his bloodied ears with moss. [Damnit. I must have pissed it off.]

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Ah, hell. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “I DID tell you...you know what your problem is?”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Damnit, don’t start this shit now, alright? I just found out we are hunting something new.”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “...you did NOT just find out.”

The unintelligible conversation continued loudly as the voices became more disjointed and further apart. It wasn’t long before the sound of the voices began to emerge from multiple locations, sometimes abruptly ending, while other times, popping-up in random areas.

This was due to the echo serpents’ expert control over projected noises. It was capable of truly projecting sound over long distances, which served to confuse and frighten those it targeted.

When 513 observed this phenomenon during his first encounter, he was reminded of a ventriloquists’ voice control. However, unlike ventriloquism, which makes sound seem to appear from a distance, the echo serpent made sound actually appear from a distance.

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Drop it.”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “Fucking hopeless. That’s what you are.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Tell that to your-”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “My wife? Yea. I heard that one before.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Piss off.”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “Thanks for the reminder.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Wait, why are you stopping?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “I’m taking a piss.”

The wash of noise continued to pepper the surrounding area. Each spoken syllable was like an impact of shrapnel from a clustered explosion. At this point, 513 could only endure and hope he would survive the ordeal.

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Did you hear that?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “Don’t talk to me while I’m draining my snake.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Is that a flying serpent?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “Nope. It’s very well attached”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “I’m not talking about your peni...shit, it spotted us!”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “Wait, let me-”

*CRUNCH*

Voice 1: (foreign language) “No, no, no, no! I WILL AVENGE YOU!”

*THUD*

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Too...early...it’s too...early...I don’t...I don’t want to die-”

*CRUNCH*

A brief moment of respite came as the conversation ended in silence. [Is it over?] 513 thought to himself, relieved that the noise had stopped. [No, it’s not over...did the echo serpent-] He was interrupted as the voices started back up.

Voice 1: (foreign language) “What are we hunting anyway?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “I thought I told you already? We are hunting one of those weird looking things.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Huh?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “A monster.”

Voice 1: (foreign language) “Ah. A monster. Should be easy, right?”

Voice 2: (foreign language) “I’m not sure about easy. Apparently it’s a new breed.”

Once again, 513 endured the noise. However, it didn’t take long until he noticed something peculiar with echo serpents’ sound-based attack. [This is familiar. Is it a loop?] He mused inwardly.

As the disjointed conversation between the two strangers continued, 513’s initial thoughts were given credence. [It’s definitely a loop, but is it mimicry or a recording?] He thought to himself, just before hearing the crunching of bones repeat in the same sequence as the first loop. [A recording. Interesting.]

513 had deduced that the echo serpent was able to produce a playback of the audio it recorded during previous encounters with targeted prey. This made the attack predictable and exploitable. Unfortunately, he was in no position to take advantage of this information. Even if he could time its attacks, he had no way of killing the echo serpent, let alone outrun it.

So, he waited.

The onslaught continued for hours, but 513 remained stoic.

Coincidentally, the moss that he had stuffed in his ears to stop the bleeding had the added benefit of muting external sounds. This meant that, though the volume of the echo serpent had not decreased, 513 could easily withstand its attack.

Eventually, the noise made by the echo serpent drew-in the curious. Many of which were rival hunters.

*GROWL*

As the snarls and growls of other predators grew closer in proximity, the echo serpent ceased its attack on 513. [Is it over?] 513 thought to himself while leaning forward to look through the cracks in his makeshift wall. [Nope.] He quipped in his mind as he witnessed four towering shadows surround the echo serpent, just as it launched itself into the air.

---Chapter End