349 Carvings on the wall (1/2)
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It was but a mere feeling…fleeting, but also lasting.
'What was that just now?' She asked herself. 'An attack? But that can't be. There's five of us here, how can it pass through our defenses?'
'And I'm not hurt...' She told herself, 'In fact, I don't think it has any bad intentions. But what was that?'
”Luna, you good? Is there something wrong?” Ellen asked, seeing her friend's unnatural expression.
She shook her head and replied: ”No, it's nothing. It's must've been my imagination.”
Ellen's gaze lingered at her for quite sometime, she wanted to ask more but it seems that Luna didn't want to tell so it's best to not push it. She figured that whatever caused her to be like that must not have anything to do with the mission.
”Alright, let's pay close attention to this place. Let's see if there's any survivors, maybe we can ask them what happened here.” Luna said, throwing that thought at the back of her mind and focusing on the mission.
”Well, I hope there really is one.” Paul commented as he walked in front of them. ”Cause from seeing all of this, we might as well consider it a miracle if we see an intact corpse.”
Paul raised a very good point there, and because he mentioned that, the team now noticed that he's correct.
They had been walking inside the cave for a decent pace all this time, yet they never came across a single intact corpse. A severed head is the 'most intact' body they have seen, while the rest are just pieces of flesh and bones.
The team moved on in silence, trying their best to check if there's something they could find that will give them some clues.
”I see some intact bodies right there. Let's make a turn.” Anne said to the team while she points at a certain direction. The team didn't hesitate and started moving towards the location she was pointing.
They eventually came across the 'Breeding Area', the part of the camp where the cages women were.
One glance was enough for them to realize where they were, and of course the sight of the malnourished and naked women didn't make any of them happy. If anything, it just dampened their mood even more.
”Let's check if any of them are still alive.” Luna gave the command and the team immediately went on the move.
They dispersed and checked every cage, using their senses to see if there's someone alive. Unfortunately for them, all of them are dead.
They regrouped and shared their thoughts to one another…
”I've got none.” Mark reported.
”Same.” Anne added.
The rest shook their heads as well, signaling that they didn't find anyone alive either.
”Well, that sucks.” Paul commented, ”Guess we have to keep searching then.”
”You know…” Ellen said, ”There's something weird about these corpses. But I can't put a finger on it.”
”Right?” Ellen said, ”Of all the corpses we encountered so far, these are the only one's intact. All of them looked like they just fell asleep and never woke up again. What's up with that?”
”There's also no signs of struggle when they died.” Mark added, ”The injuries they received are weeks old, if someone did something to kill them, there should be some kind of injury on their bodies, but I didn't see one. In fact, none of them even had a fatal wound. There are no streaks or stains of blood on their cages.”
”So you mean to say that they died from a mysterious cause?” Paul asked then commented, ”That's creepy.”
”No that's not it.” Luna said, catching the attention of the team. However they were shocked her face is revealing some kind of an annoyed expression, but somehow she's trying to suppress it.
She sighed and said: ”The cause of their death is not from a mysterious source. They were offered Salvation, a chance to end their torment and go to the other side.”
”Oh, is that so?” Paul reacted, but Luna's expression was really bothering him so he asked: ”Is there's something wrong? Why's your face like that?”
”What do you mean?” Luna asked, genuinely confused by his question.
”You look like a child who's candy had been taken away from you.” Paul added, but Luna's still confused.