Leilah's eyes were teary as she read aloud the memo's contents:
To anyone reading this, the camping trip didn't go as well as we thought, in fact, if I was told by a random stranger that a strange bear like beast would attack us and shatter our trip, I'd call that stranger a lunatic.....
But it turns out, It was true....
Leilah burst into tears once again as her friends consoled her whereas Jane hugged flora tightly while Ava cried in Luna's arms. It was an emotional moment for everyone as leilah cleaned her eyes,mustered courage, and continued reading the memo with Daryl placing a supporting hand on her shoulder, trying really hard to smile while tears were on his eyes...
We all woke up abruptly to find Alan staring at a giant bearlike beast with no eyes at all and we were shocked.... As It almost pounced on Alan, Ricky pulled out an axe from his tent and hit the bear...
(Basically, you all know the story from chapter 1, no use writing it again though).
-------- meanwhile --------------
Jimmy walked carefully as he navigated the forest's thick vegetation. He had strapped the shotgun from earlier around his shoulder while a knife was in his pocket in case of close up encounters. He also had the tracking device with him as he made his way into the deeper parts of the forest, precisely to the place where he last saw Alan.
" Shit, if only i had some rope left, i could have made a mini grappling hook, oh well ", Jimmy sighed as he went further into the forest, carefully following the burn trail he had ran past earlier with hopes of finding Alan first, then searching for Aaron would be the next course of action.
" I wonder if my memo has been seen by them, hopefully we can all have some more time to relax after all this...", Jimmy wondered as he stopped to take his water bottle out when a hum broke the previous silence, causing a cold shiver to run down his spine as the hum came again, only, closer!.
" I'm a hundred percent sure that i wasn't followed or tailed in any way ", Jimmy thought to himself as he quickened his steps while ducking behind a bush and peeking through to know the person tracking him, but the eerie hum came again, only getting louder and louder as a swirling purple mist flowed through the air, heavy with blood as the portal which turned out to be alive materialized into existence by using Alan's body.
Jimmy closed his mouth in shock as he saw Alan, although he didn't see the strange figure turn into Alan, he saw Alan staggering to his knees as he turned back to reveal strange marks on his back, stained with a purple liquid.
Jimmy cleaned his eyes twice to be sure they weren't playing tricks on him, but it all seemed too real as the Alan-like figure spoke in a strange language.
" /•\||°\/•°•/\/|°•°|`|`` ", the figure muttered in an unknown language, making jimmy to believe that Alan was hallucinating, confusing divine language for gibberish while slowly dropping his shotgun and approaching Alan with a look that screamed "if-i-sense-anything-strange-i'll-make-a-run-for-it".
" A-Alan?, i-is that y-you bro ", Jimmy asked, a hint of fear and worry flashing on his face as the figure smiled and responded...
" Jimmy...", the figure asked, pretending to be weak and exhausted. Upon hearing Alan's response, Jimmy swallowed hard and touched Alan's shoulder, only for the tip of his fingers to burn as bright red bioluminescent worms crawled on his fingertips and released a strange chemical on them, causing a loud scream to escape Jimmy's lips as he leapt back, but he realized too late that what he was staring at wasn't Alan...
The figure that once resembled Alan changed in shape while jimmy watched in horror as the figure looked at him with pitch black eyes that had a green tint while blackish green veins coarsed through his face muscles, then its arms mutated into slimy black tentacles and the rest of its body reshaping itself, obviously struggling to maintain the human form despite its cover being blown, giving the figure a grotesque appearance while strange symbols flickered into existence in the air as they hovered around the figure.
Before Jimmy could turn and run, a sharp pain seared his arm as the red bioluminescent worm poison started to take effect almost instantly, causing Jimmy to shriek in pain as he stumbled to the ground, yet still not giving in to the excruciating pain as he started to crawl towards the bushes where he dropped his shotgun while the figure started to move towards Jimmy as the grass beneath its slimy black limbs shrunk and died instantly due to excess poisoning.
" No,no,no, this can't be happening... ", Jimmy said as his hand felt the rough edges of the shotgun and he dragged it closer to get a better grip. " S-stay back, i have a w-weapon and I'm n-not afr-fraid to use it ", Jimmy stuttered as he aimed the double barrel shotgun at the grotesque figure that was slowly stabilizing its form to that of a human and pulled the trigger, releasing two powerful shots that got deflected instantly, the recoil knocking Jimmy in the face as his vision blurred while he wondered where he went wrong. " But i shot him, atleast he should be stunned, at least he should be-"
The figure's transformation was complete as it resembled a man in his thirties, with brown hair, black eyes with a dark red tint on both pupils, standing at an astonishing 6ft 6in, while putting on a full black tuxedo as he grabbed Jimmy's neck and threw him towards a tree with so much force the tree fell, while jimmy coughed up a mouthful of blood as the impact broke his spine, paralyzing him as the figure grabbed him again and pinned him to another tree and stared into Jimmy's eyes...
A sharp shriek tore from Jimmy's bleeding mouth as a sharp pain was felt in his chest when a metal like object stuck itself firmly in his heart, spreading purplish black veins of poison through his heart, forcing it to pump poison around his body as green veins bulged out of his skin, draining his life force rapidly as Jimmy screamed once more, birds scattering across the trees into the air as it travelled for miles and miles...
---------------- Meanwhile -----------------
The memo reading was interrupted as a chilling scream passed through the gathering. " Th-that's j-jimmy, THAT'S JIMMY!!!! ", flora shouted as the chief of police shouted to his troops. " HEAD TO HIS LOCATION IMMEDIATELY, FIND AND BRING HIM HERE, NOW!!! ", he yelled as they ran in the direction of the scream in an attempt to find Jimmy while the others followed immediately.
—–—–———– meanwhile ————––—
Jimmy's body, or what was left of it froze as the figure pulled its arm out, letting Jimmy collapse to his knees with his hands drooping while his burnt fingertips touched the ground lifelessly as he felt the emptiness in his chest and wondered how he was still alive despite his heart being directly poisoned and strange black ichor flowed out of the wounds in his body, hissing as they made contact with the grass beneath him.
" No one in this realm can see me, and if they do, they never live to tell the other mortals about it...", the figure said, staring down at a broken, bleeding and nearly lifeless husk of what was left of Jimmy who was on the brink of death, his breath fading, blood and black ichor flowing out of his wounds and hissing whenever they made contact with the ground aseven the forest was silent for miles and miles ahead.
" ... But it was per Hephaestus's request that i bring you to our realm... ", the figure said with a grin that stretched the corners of his mouth to his ears, revealing rows of sharp teeth dripping with strange dark blue poison that melted the ground it touched instantly, sinking deeper and deeper into the earth until it couldn't be seen again.
" Now tell me mortal boy,....", the figure continued as he squatted, lifting Jimmy's chin with his left arm as a twisted smile formed on his face, revealing empty black holes where eyes should have been, blood and venom seeping out of them, giving Jimmy a wraith like appearance.
" Are you worthy of this honor.... ", the figure asked with a whisper into Jimmy's ears, already stretching his right arm back to sever Jimmy's head off when a voice escaped his lips.
" If I wasn't worthy...would i still be TORTURED LIKE THIS?! ", Jimmy yelled with his last strength left, shocking the figure for a split second.
" No mortal could live through this..... hell.... but you still had energy to raise your voice at a being you cannot comprehend ",the figure said, shock turning into amusement as a sadistic smile formed on his face and he looked at the Sky and cackled loudly, thunder crackling as a rift materialized into existence behind Jimmy. " Hephaestus, you picked a good host,.... I rest my case there... ", the figure turned to look at Jimmy who had died from internal organ rupture as his body eventually succumbed to the lethal poison. Then the figure walked into the rift, dragging Jimmy's corpse with him as the rift sparked out of existence, closing in as time and space repaired the hole caused by reality distortion.
————— a few minutes later —————
The SWAT team arrived at the scene with Flora, Jane, Luna, Diana, Xavier, Jason and Ava as they gasped in shock at the horrifying scene...