Without another word, we slipped behind the trunk of a massive tree and pressed ourselves against the bark.

A few seconds passed. Then a scream echoed through the forest. A human scream. Curiosity got the better of me. I carefully peeked around the side of the tree. A man came tumbling down the slope ahead, rolling through the mud before scrambling back to his feet. He immediately continued running, panic written across every movement.

He was probably heading for the same safe zone we were.

The Teleporter appeared at the top of the slope. Its distorted black body stood completely still.

Watching. Waiting.

"No, no, no..." the man muttered as he stumbled forward.

Only then did I notice the metal collar around his neck.

A prisoner. The same kind of collar I had worn before. He had a dirty beard, closely cropped hair, and a torn white shirt stained with blood around one sleeve.

The man looked over his shoulder while running. That was enough.

His foot caught on a root. He crashed into the ground beside a fallen tree. The same tree I had climbed during my own encounter with a Teleporter.

"Shit..." he muttered as he tried to crawl backward. "Shit, shit..."

Half of the Teleporter’s body stretched toward the man like living tar, halting just inches behind him. Then the rest of its form whipped forward and slapped together with a wet squelch, the black mass quivering like jelly for several sickening seconds as it stabilized.

It lunged, its clawed hand seizing the man’s ankle with bone-crushing force. He screamed as the creature hoisted him into the air, his head dangling helplessly, blood already rushing to his face. His mouth opened wide in terror.

The Teleporter’s hand shot forward and rammed between his jaws. Fingers like writhing eels forced their way down his throat, then twisted. With a sickening rip, it tore his mouth apart, half the jaw splitting sideways, the other half yanked in the opposite direction. Teeth shattered. Flesh shredded. A wet, gurgling shriek bubbled up from the ruin of his throat as blood and saliva poured down his chin in thick ropes.

The monster wasn’t done. Its hand liquefied and reformed into a long, razor-edged blade of black goo. It plunged the blade straight through the man’s chest with a meaty thunk, the tip bursting out his back in a spray of arterial red. The man’s eyes bulged, his ruined mouth working uselessly.

"N-no..." he gurgled, pink foam spraying from the wreckage of his face. "Gah..."

The Teleporter slowly dragged the blade upward. Ribs cracked and splintered like dry twigs. Organs tore with wet, ripping sounds. Intestines spilled out in slippery loops, steaming in the cool air as they uncoiled toward the forest floor. The man convulsed violently, his body jerking like a broken puppet as the blade carved through his sternum and up into his neck. A final, choking spray of blood fountained from the massive wound.

With a casual flick, the creature finished the cut. The top half of the man’s torso slid off and hit the ground with a heavy, wet slap, while the lower half remained dangling from the monster’s grip for a moment before it too dropped like a sack of meat. Blood painted the leaves, the dirt, the trunks of nearby trees... every surface glistening crimson in the dim light.

The Teleporter didn’t stop. Its arm stretched like rubber, scooping up the severed upper half. Then it pressed the corpse against its own oozing torso. The man’s body began to sink into the black mass, flesh and bone dissolving, being absorbed with grotesque sucking sounds. Muscles melted. Bones softened and folded inward. The corpse disappeared inch by inch, sponged into the creature’s form.

"Hey, wanna come and play, kiddo?" the Teleporter said, its voice now a perfect, chilling imitation of the dead man’s.

"Mother, no! Please get up!" it called out in the same stolen voice, the words twisting into something monstrous.

"Come and pla-a-a-y... Come and find me!" it sang, the voice cracking unnaturally. "Hey, there. Hey there. Hey there!" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The creature tilted its head, scanning the area. Then its body elongated again, stretching and rippling as it slithered further down the road, the same path they were supposed to take.

I glanced left. Ken’s face was twisted in pure horror, his skin pale. Everywhere around us, the forest was drenched in blood. Not a single leaf or patch of earth had escaped the slaughter.

"Gods..." Ken muttered, voice hoarse. "Did you see that?"

"It... yeah," I whispered. "Damn..."

I walked out from behind the trees and looked at the scene again, and even though I had already seen what happened, the sight still hit me harder the second time. The blood, the torn flesh, the scattered remains of what had once been a man, it was all too much even for me. I had already seen enough unnecessary death to last me a lifetime, and this was just one more ugly thing piled on top of everything else.

"We... we could have helped him..."

"Help?" I asked. "He was a prisoner, Ken, and that thing was a Teleporter. We did not stand a chance, trust me."

"Gods... this is just..." He swallowed hard and shook his head. "Ugh."

"We should take the other route," I said. "We do not want to go wherever that monster went."

Ken nodded and looked away from the body before turning back toward the slope. I glanced at the scene one last time before following him, because yeah, it was a real mess, and if we were not careful the same kind of fate could be waiting for us too. That thought alone was enough to keep me moving.

"I heard what Teleporters do," Ken said as we started forward again, keeping a little distance between us and the place where the prisoner had died. "But that was just disgusting, man."

"Yeah," I muttered. "We need to finish this task fast if we want to get out of here."

"In two hours, no less," he said, exhaling through his nose. "Gods help us."

"Hmm."