I Followed The Trail Of Blood Coming From This Half Of Him. Although The Blood Had Already Dried, The

POWER

I looked at my hand for a moment clenched it in triumph

Moments later I was lying there anew with that fucktard right beside me

''Are you ready to lose to me another time?''

''Not this time.'' I said grinning

I held up my right hand

Closed my eyes

Concentrated

Drove the energy from deep inside into it

As I opened my eyes again they were there.

Those deep black talon like claws My skin slowly falling off, revealing what is beneath

It was difficult to hide my agony the pain of the transformation was tormenting but I managed

I was still grinning, like a maniac and I looked at him, saw fear in his eyes

I felt amazing,

POWERFUL

''Hey, you're cheating. That ain't part of your body''

''I made it part of mine''

Then his face turned

He began grinning it felt like looking in a mirror and then I realized

This wasn't me

''That's all I wanted to hear, boy. You may pass''

Picture Glowing by Eemeling [EDITED]

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

She clapped half sarcastically“Lucky shot”

“...thanks, any chance you could... give me some tips for the more precise aiming too? Like... hitting that snowball over and over again?”

“Not much to tell you there, look at your target, focus and gather much experience. You'll learn the best way to aim through just shooting and hitting or missing. And don't get impatient, latter will happen more frequently.”

“Ok, thanks”

I thought about her words; Look at your target, focus and gather experience. Guess of those three I'm mostly lacking experience... which isn't easy to acquire, but that's what makes it worth the work

“It's just like reading tracks, either you hit or you miss. Only more literally”

I nodded in understanding “I'll give that stag another try. You... do whatever you feel like...”

“I'll be in the bushes behind you” She said with a smirk and disappeared out of sight again.

Ok, first I'll see if I can find those arrows.

I found the arrows. At least three of them. The one I shot at the stag I never saw again. As soon as I lost contact with it while still in flight it was doomed to be lost forever.

After that I took on hunting down the stag. It was exhausting following it, it ran quite a bit. But I managed to track it down. Although I was wondering how Ingrid was holding up, and how we'd get that big animal all the way back, naturally only IF I was able to get it.

I was in close vicinity to him again. Was already down crouching. He was feeding of something growing from trees. Curious, never seen that before. Gotta ask Ingrid about it later.

Wåtchà tãlkîñg 'bøüt, bûddý?

Oh not you, fuck off for a moment, would you?

Nãh, Ï fêél lìkê $sstæyïng

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Just a Nightmare?

Underground

‘Where am I?’

Yøü? Yõü ærrê ïn mÿ tèrrrítørrý. Wåñnâ knøw whæt'ss fùñ about zãt?

Its voice was omnipresent. It came from everywhere. And it was so deep that it was soothing and horrifying alike. I was unsure if I wanted to know, but I asked. 'What?’

Zæt whílè yøû årrê hërê, Ï hâvë còñtrrøl. Ha Ha Ha

I didn’t see anything. But still I felt how devilishly that thing on my back was grinning. What does it mean by that? It has control? Control over what? And where is its territory?

Picture Blackout found on 巫女miko's blog

Music Underground by ◄-NATURE-►

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Whø ëls$ê shøµld håvæ döné ìt?

Errh... I don't know

Æxåctlý

But still, why?

Årë yøû såýìng yôu'd råthër bê dæd nøw? Håd räthêr gôt chøppéd òf yøµr hëâd bý thîs såd ëxcú$sé ôf å swørds$smân?

Nono... Just wonder why you do help me

Ëâsy, yøû'ré nøt thè önlý ønë thât dïê$s

...Wait... what?

Yøû hærd mê, nów léàvê mê bë

No! If I die, you die too? But you're just some... thing, you'd just go back to where you came from.

He didn't answer anymore. What he said really left me wondering. If I'd die, he'd do too. But that shouldn't cause any problems for him. He's just some... I don't know what he is, but I can't imagine dying being of any concern to him and his like.

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

How? What? Where?

Sam Rosenthal: six: thirteen (stretch mix 1)

I snapped out of it I was back again. On the hard, cold ground of the forest.

'How did you do that? What are you? Where are you?'

Nothing. Not a single word. First then, as I listened closely, I noticed all the sounds around me. A crack here, a bird there. Then, a crackle. It came from a bush a few paces in front of me. I didn't know if I should run away or go to it, so I just sat there. Staring at it.

It was just a beaver. It looked at me shortly and then turned around and ran away.

Wait... a Beaver. That means there's a body of water near. I'm sure it'll return to it sooner or later. I went the direction the beaver disappeared into but there was no trace of it. I just continued in the general direction.

Picture Forest by gugu-troll

Music Sam Rosenthal: six: thirteen (stretch mix 1)

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

What Attack?

Prepare for the Onslaught

Rrëmêmbêãrr zê ãttâck?

There it was again. What attack? It all flushed back into my mind in an instant. I was there again.

'...Survive' She yelled. I ran out back. Suddenly she started crying 'Leave me be, please. I don't want to die' 'Like I give a shit. It's all on the king's orders' Hahahahaha

That laughter. I knew it from somewhere. She started screaming. Louder and louder. You could feel her pain in those screams.

I turned around and ran. Ran to the forest. I didn't turn back anymore, I just ran. Ran for my life, hoping I never have to feel the pain I heard in those screams

Picture Burning House by Nemo-Li

Music Prepare for the Onslaugt by Epic Score

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

She left shortly after Wasn't anything here for her, she said, so she didn't want to waste time

I had a few questions I wanted to ask her What she'd tell that guy if she met him again, where the nearest town is, what her name is but I didn't want to keep her, wasn't anything important anyway and in my current situation I did neither need nor want company Especially not some stranger who'd see me eat nearly a quarter of a deer, half raw, and in less time than some need for a 'normal' portion of meat

I found some branches, sharpened them on the rock walls of the cave, put some meat on them, and placed them over the fire

I was hungry, and that made me impatient so I held one stick right into the flames it took only a few moments till it was scorched on the outside but that was all, inside it was still as raw as before I didn't care, I did that a few times till that hole in my stomach began to fill Then I became patient enough to wait, but there still was one problem I had no idea of cooking, so it was still raw in the center

After eating all the meat I had prepped earlier, I put on the clothes They weren't completely dry yet but at least no longer soaked So I went to the road, by the pond on the way there, only had to choose which way to go now, east or west I'm unsure but I think I came from west, better go east then, I'll have to tell them that I'm alive some other time

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

I ran and tried thinking of something.

Come on. I need ideas... ideas... IDEAS!!! come on, right now!! what can I do... what can I do... wait... what can I do, that a deer can't... ok, now we're getting somewhere at least... lets see... I can... climb... … … … damn it! There must be something more... if it'd be just the hound it may be worth a try, but with that rider behind me...

Yøû kñöw... yóµ cåñ dø zï$ önê síng zæt nø ônè æls$së cân dö he he he he

What?! NO! That'd be the last option, that I wouldn't do before he had cau-

Suddenly I hit something with my foot, and I wasn't moving only straight forward anymore, I was... moving towards the ground too.

In that blink of an eye lots of things happened.

First I saw the ground in front of my head, less than an arms length away, I was falling.

Then I realized that I must had stumbled over something, as I slowly looked behind I saw what too. A giant root protruding from the ground

I looked a bit further behind me and saw the hound, already preparing to jump over the root, and the rider only a few steps behind the hound.

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

Note from the Author

Hey Sorry for the 'long' (I know, it was just a week) break from my side, was sick and in no condition to write anything. Anyway, I'm back to 'normal' and there'll be posts. Double as usual... But only for this week :D

Thanks for reading and thanks for the feedback so far ;)

PS: Ok, it was more than a week, just realized it's Wednesday already :D

At first I went right through the water, but noticed after a few steps that it was quite a lot louder than I imagined because of the shallow water. So instead I went a few steps beside the beck, always having it in sight.

It didn't take long till I was at the pond again. Keeping in mind the unknown dangers of it I trod with caution and tried to re-trace my steps.

Ok think... you found the pond... went up on a tree... lemme see... no... no... no... ah! That one!... from there down... and... … into a bush... into... that bush! After that... … I went to the pond... ...why?...

I pondered over that for a moment, Why did I go to the pond? What was there for me to do there?

Hmm... no matter... IT warned me of the pond... then I went further up the stream again...

As I began walking back up the beck I noticed how the area seemed very familiar so I followed that sense of having been here before, the feeling of having seen this before.

After much looking around and searching I found my old camp and all my stuff too. Looks ransacked... hope it was just some animal who hoped to find anything edible here.

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016

The start of my day was successful. Quite successful to be honest. 'Discovered' some (most probably) edible plant and had already found a way to enhance my meals with it. In my opinion a very good start of the day.

But the day continued, and so I had to continue too.

Continue looking for any tracks of animals. Preferably something large like a deer. Something to get a bit of profit out of.

I remembered the the berry bush I found. There had been some animal eating from those.

I inspected the bush again. The traces were on the upper part of the bush, so it couldn't have been a rabbit or the like. Might have been a deer. Or at least something similar in size. A cow maybe... here in the forest? Well you never know.

As I inspected the bitten of stalks I noticed that they were already dry and brown were it got severed. Guess it's been some time since something fed from that bush.

But I didn't give up. Up until now I had only known how to trace animals by their tracks in the snow, now I could maybe learn how to follow them by other kind of traces they leave.

© The Zero 零 Squad, 2013-2016