Chapter 102: The Little Girls' Expedition Stumbles Into a Death Trap - This Team Is Impossible to Lead!
The college students, scared out of their minds, didn't even notice Carrie and the others leaving. They only knew that the monster, which had been thrown back into the cabin behind them, was letting out an even more terrifying roar.
Survival instinct overrode everything. They screamed and charged madly into the forest, disappearing in a stumbling run.
"Let's get back to camp—now!" Carrie pulled Lily's hand and quickened her pace. That seemingly effortless move had actually consumed a lot of her mental energy, and a fine layer of sweat had already beaded on her forehead. She just wanted to get back to Edward immediately; only there was she safe.
However, Lily gently pulled her hand away at that moment. "Carrie, I think... I think we're lost." Her small face showed a hint of well-placed panic and helplessness. "We ran too fast, and I don't know the way back."
Carrie froze, stopped, and looked around. The surrounding trees became taller and denser, the light in the forest grew dim, and the ground was covered with thick fallen leaves, making it impossible to discern any clear path. They had indeed subconsciously followed the two fleeing college kids for a while, but now that she calmed down and looked, the surroundings were completely unfamiliar.
"Don't worry, the camp is by the creek. We just need to find the creek and follow it back," Carrie said, trying to sound calm, but a sense of dread rose in her chest.
"But... which way is the creek?" Lily tilted her head, blinking her innocent eyes.
Emma expressionlessly scraped tree bark with her wooden stake, seemingly unconcerned about being lost. Esther, on the other hand, kept her lips pressed tight, vigilantly scanning every suspicious shadow around them, her whole body tense.
Carrie tried to recall the way they came, but all the surrounding trees looked identical. She tried to extend her telekinesis, wanting to sense the flow of the creek, but this forest seemed to possess some strange interference that greatly disrupted her perception; her mental energy became fuzzy after extending just a short distance.
"Let's... try going this way." Carrie pointed in a direction based on her gut feeling.
Lily nodded obediently, actively took Emma and Esther's hands, and said with a sweet smile, "If we hold hands, we won't get separated."
Her smile was sweet and innocent, but if Carrie could see into her heart at that moment, she would find that the entity belonging to the demon Marquis wore a cold and pleased expression. Of course she knew the way, but why go back? Although the monster in that cabin was disgusting, the aura of fear it exuded was like dessert for her. And now, she could feel that deeper in this forest, an even grander... feast of fear seemed to be taking place.
Thus, under Lily's intentional guidance, the four-person team moved further and further from the original camp, gradually delving deeper into this unknown wilderness of West Virginia.
After walking for about ten minutes, new screams suddenly echoed through the forest—sharp, full of despair, and from more than one person.
Carrie's heart jumped.
"Someone else ran into a monster?" she murmured.
"Let's go see!" Lily's eyes instantly lit up, and she practically dragged Emma and Esther toward the sound.
"Wait! Lily!" Carrie, helpless, could only quickly follow.
Pushing through a dense thicket, the sight before Carrie made her stop dead. Two young people, covered in wounds and wearing torn clothes, were scrambling toward them—a guy and a girl. Not far behind them, two grotesque and hideously deformed figures were cackling as they pursued them at a leisurely pace.
"Help! Help us!" The guy named Jonesy saw Carrie and the others, and like grasping a lifeline, shouted desperately. The girl beside him, Amber, was even more terrified, her face deathly pale, crying as she ran.
"What are those things?" Esther lowered her voice, her small face full of wariness and disgust.
Chasing them were two deformed "people." One was short and stocky with an oversized head, holding a rusty hatchet. The other was tall and skeletal like a stick figure, with disproportionately long limbs, running like some kind of bizarre spider. They both wore tattered overalls, their faces bearing moronic yet cruel grins.
"They're cannibals! They're cannibals!" Jonesy shouted breathlessly as he reached Carrie. "Run! They'll eat us! Elena and Mara... they already got them!"
Cannibals?
Carrie's mind spun. What the hell was going on? She only remembered her dad John saying that the neighboring camp was doing some kind of "digital detox," so how did cannibals suddenly appear?
"Mmm, fresh fear, and it's doubled." Lily whispered beside her, taking a deep breath with an intoxicated look. "It's... much purer than the smell from that pus monster earlier."
Emma, meanwhile, developed a keen interest in the two deformed individuals. She wasn't scared; instead, she seemed to be observing rare specimens, intently analyzing their body structure and movement. "Their joint range of motion is different from normal people. Is it congenital deformity or something else?" She even quietly asked.
Carrie had no time for these two problem children now. She looked at the approaching cannibals and the glinting weapons in their hands, immediately making a decision.
"You two, run! I'll hold them off!" Carrie shouted at Jonesy and Amber, while shielding her three younger sisters behind her.
Jonesy and Amber were stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting this seemingly fragile girl to say such a thing. But the will to survive left them no time to think, so they immediately bypassed Carrie and continued fleeing deeper into the forest.
The tall, skeletal cannibal let out a strange cry when he saw his prey escaping, pulled a crude bow from his back, nocked a crooked arrow, and aimed it at Amber's retreating back.
"Watch out!" Carrie's eyes widened.
"Twang—"
The arrow left the string, flying with a whistle straight for Amber's back!
Just at this critical moment, Carrie extended her hand. Invisible telekinesis instantly enveloped the flying arrow. Without anyone noticing, the arrow's trajectory underwent an extremely subtle deflection.
"Thunk!"
The arrow grazed Amber's arm and embedded itself deep in a nearby tree, leaving a trail of blood.
"Ah!" Amber cried out in pain, but thankfully, she wasn't critically injured. Jonesy pulled her along, and they disappeared into the woods without looking back.
The tall cannibal, seeing his shot miss, tilted his head, seemingly confused. His vacant gaze swept over Carrie and the three "little girls" behind her, as if assessing the threat level of these new prey.
"Hehehehe..." The short, stocky cannibal waddled up with his hatchet, standing beside his companion, a greedy glint in his cloudy eyes.
"So gross." Lily wrinkled her nose, not hiding her disgust.
"Can I dissect them?" Emma tilted her head, asking a question that made Carrie's blood run cold.
Carrie took a deep breath, focusing her telekinesis. She didn't want to kill, even if the opponents were monster-like cannibals. But if they kept approaching, she wouldn't mind letting them experience getting hit by a truck again.
However, just as both sides faced off with a fight about to break out, a steady and powerful voice came from the woods to the side.
"Hey! You two freaks, over here!"
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice to see a muscular, hard-faced middle-aged man in camo pants and a black tank top emerge from behind a tree.
He held a military combat knife in his hand, and although he had some wounds, his entire demeanor was like a coiled predator ready to strike.
It was the retired military officer, Colonel Dale.
Colonel Dale had just dealt with a cannibal accomplice disguised as a harmless old man and was looking for other survivors when he heard the commotion.
When he saw the two cannibals threatening four little girls, he appeared without hesitation.
The two cannibals immediately shifted their target upon seeing Colonel Dale.
In their simple minds, this adult male exuding a dangerous aura was clearly a greater threat than a few little girls.
They let out excited growls, abandoned Carrie's group, and flanked Colonel Dale from both sides.
"Get those kids out of here—now! Run that way, there's an abandoned paper mill, try to hide there!" Colonel Dale roared at Carrie, then engaged the two cannibals.
Colonel Dale's combat experience was extensive. Facing the pincer attack of the two deformed monsters, he calmly sidestepped the short cannibal's powerful hatchet swing, and at the same time, with a flick of his wrist, his knife viciously slashed across the creature's arm.
The short cannibal cried out in pain, while the tall cannibal took the opportunity to sweep his disproportionately long leg at Colonel Dale's lower body.
Seeing this dangerous scene, Carrie immediately pulled her three younger sisters, preparing to retreat.
But Lily stood still, watching Colonel Dale and the cannibals fight, a playful smile on her lips.
"The show's just getting started. Why leave now?" she whispered.
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