Beast Soul

"What the hell do we do now?"

Desperate, the Chief looked around, trying to assess the situation in a calm manner. But even he couldn't keep it together properly. "F*ck!" He screamed loudly before pointing at the path that they had taken to get to here, and continued, "We have no other choice! We should just head back the same way that we came!"

Peter stared at Chief Henry, who slowly got up from the ground and, while leaning on the wall right behind him, he began to move in the direction that they came. 

"Ah, screw it!" Peter decided to do the same thing, and so did Linda, who saw the two men heading back the way they came. 

"Hah!" Chief Henry jumped towards the opening to the area with the eggs, and leaned to the wall once again. 

Peter was about to follow Chief Henry and head out of the egg room when all of a sudden, the roof above them began to crack, and large pieces of rock and dirt particles fell down, making Peter scream right before trying to jump out of the way!

BOOM!

Another loud explosion took place, as countless rocks dropped down from above the roof and crash landed on the ground, blocking the pathway that Peter and the rest wanted to take to get out of the caverns. 

"Peter!" Chief Henry, who had already made it to the other side, screamed out loud, but the rocks were still falling down and didn't look like it was about to stop anytime soon, so the Chief reluctantly took a few steps back, afraid of being crushed to death by a rock. 

"Ugh… wha- what the hell just happened.." On the other side of the blocked pathway was Peter, who was lying on the ground and murmuring under his breath, grabbing hold of his head and groaning. It seemed that he had slammed his head on the ground. He continued groaning as he readjusted to the situation at hand. 

"AHHH!" However, as he began to readjust to the situation, the confusion and the blurry images were soon replaced by an enormous amount of pain that passed through his body like a lightning bolt, and he screamed loudly in pain.

Peter had a horrified expression on his face as he stared at his right leg which had been crushed by a large boulder, with blood dripping out of his torn skin and revealing the white bones underneath, soaked in crimson red.

"Fu.. fu*ck! F*ck! F*ck! Help! Help!" Peter began panting heavily and he screamed for help with all his might, but no one was around to help him.

"...Peter?"

Well, all except one.

"Linda?" Peter had a relieved expression on his face as he saw a confused Linda appear from the corner of the pathway, and he waved his weak arms at her. "Oh, thank god that you're here! Please! You have to help me! I can't die here!"

"Ca- Calm down, Peter…" Linda held her head as her ear started to ring and she groaned in pain. 

"Linda? Linda?! What's.. what's the matter? Please, you have to help me!" Peter screamed with a confused and anxious expression on his face as he saw Linda lean towards the wall. He was afraid that if he stayed inside the cavern for too long, he'd faint and would inevitably die from blood loss. 

"Ugh… my head.. it f*cking hurts!" Linda looked annoyed as she pressed her fingers onto the sides of her head, right above the ears, and after a few seconds, she stood up and slowly moved towards Peter, who had regained some hope in his eyes.

"Can you.. can you try to move that boulder away from my.. from my leg?" Peter's hands were trembling as he pointed at the large boulder that was lying right on top of his leg, crushing his bones and flesh and making him feel an insurmountable amount of pain. 

"That.. boulder?" Linda held her head and groaned slightly with pain as she stared at the enormous boulder that was in front of her, and gulped down the saliva in her mouth. "I- that thing is huge!" She then turned her head towards Peter and expressed her opinion. "How on earth would I be able to move that?"

"I don't know? Listen, you have to help me! You have to try! Please!" Peter didn't want to take no for an answer and screamed back at her with a look of despair on his face. "Please.. please.. you have to…"

Linda didn't know what to do, and she simply stood there for a few seconds, unmoving. Peter kept yelling at her, trying to get her to move the boulder off from his leg, but she couldn't hear any of it. 

'Ugh.. it's that ringing again…' She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth as she closed her eyes shut, and her ears continued to ring. This time, the noise was even more loud, so much so that Linda wanted to poke her ears with something sharp just to get the noise to stop.

"AHHH!" All of a sudden, Linda yelled out loudly, and her loud voice echoed throughout the cavern, even making Peter, who was screaming and yelling all this time, shut up and stare at her with confusion and shock. 

She looked back at him, staring at his face and his eyes, and Peter gulped down his saliva. For some reason, he could feel that something was off. There was something different about the atmosphere from before. 

What the hell was it?

"Lin- Linda…" Peter said with a stuttering voice, but before he could finish his words, Linda suddenly turned around and began walking away from Peter, who stared at her back with shock for a split second before screaming loudly, "Linda, Linda! Linda, please! Please don't leave me! You have to help me!"

Peter continued to desperately plead for help, but Linda used her fingers to cover her ears and simply continued walking.

"Is.. is this about your son? Is that why?" Peter didn't know what he could say to make Linda stop walking, and so he continued to yell out whatever he could think of, hoping that something would make her stop. "We decided on it together, didn't we? The whole community did! It wasn't just me! You were in it too! Why is it all my fault!"

Peter saw that Linda didn't stop even for a second, and his voice got even louder. "Linda! Linda, I'm sorry! I'm sorry about your son!" Tears began to roll off from his eyes as Peter apologized. "I'm sorry! Linda!"

Peter's voice got lower and lower as Linda walked away from him, until she couldn't hear his screams anymore. 

Or rather, she couldn't hear anyone or anything anymore. 

"AHHH!" "He- Help me! Someone, please!" "Oh god, I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" 

The people around her were screaming loudly, afraid of dying as they ran around, trying to find a way out from underneath the cavern but to no avail. However, Linda ignored the cries and screams of everyone around her, and she walked through the pathway, back towards the egg-shaped structures as the roof cracked and rocks continued to fall down like raindrops. 

BAM!

A large piece of rock and dirt fell right near Linda, and dust and dirt particles shot right towards her face, with a piece of pebble grazing by her chin and scratching her face, causing blood to drip down.

But Linda only touched the wound on her face and looked at her palms for a split second before showing no reaction to it and continued to walk towards the eggs.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Linda stopped as she was right next to one of the eggs. She stared at the mysterious structure in front of her with a serious gaze. These eggs, unlike the ones that were present in the apartment complexes, were blueish green in color, with a touch of purple.

Linda stretched out her hands and slowly brought it closer to the egg, pressing her palms lightly on the outer shell as her eyes sparkled.

"My baby.." She whispered softly under her breath as a faint smile slowly appeared on her face, and she rubbed her hands on the egg, stroking it with gentle care.

Creak!

All of a sudden, the egg began to shake softly, and Linda's eyes widened as the outer shell of the egg slowly began to open, with the previously hardened shells now behaving like curtains, moving with the fluidity of clothes.

"Oh my lord…" Linda couldn't help but whisper as a bright blue light shone on her face, enveloping her as multiple tentacle-like objects slowly stretched out from inside the egg and grabbed onto her body.

Linda slowly closed her eyes, as though she had accepted her fate, and the tentacle-like objects began to slowly drag her body into the egg with care.

Whoosh!

The eggshell closed itself once again, this time with Linda inside of it.