After changing my clothes and putting the ones I was wearing to wash, I headed to the main building, where I was going to teach the kids about the world. Pops’ voice rang in my ears, ‘Try not to be pessimistic around the children. I share your feelings, but let them reach that conclusion by themselves. Or not.’ I could see some of the kids getting close to the building and their families dropping them off. Maybe I could give them a heads-up about today’s topic. Just to avoid any problems after class.

There was still a good 30 meters between me and the main building when I heard a single ring of a loud metallic bell. A sound that made the entire village freeze for a second. That was an alarm, a very specific one only to be rung if an Eater appeared. Since it was an artificial sound, it would attract the monster to an area outside the perimeter Pops made and give us a chance to hide.

A second later, a different bell started ringing. The second bell was a decoy, something made to give us even more time to react. Everyone turned to the watchtower, which was built outside the village and now had a red flag hanging from the side. This was another signal, one that made sure everyone understood that they had seen an Eater. But it was the first time it was a red flag.

Usually, it would be green, letting everyone know that it was safe and there was nothing close by. Yellow was just a warning, telling us that there was something nearby and we should be quiet. And if possible head inside to hide. Red meant there was an Eater close by. Very close by. And that we should rush to one of the places that might be safe in case of an attack.

Everyone did their best to stay as quiet as possible and started moving toward the houses or any place they could hide, as it was the procedure when something like that happened. Even if this time, everyone was more panicked. Most people who were already outside rushed to the main building, more specifically to the side door that would lead to the underground shelter.

That was another place that Pops isolated in hopes of hiding people from the Eaters. Again, I doubted this would actually work. Those were monsters from nightmares, creatures made to kill you, to kill all of us. Still, it was at least a chance to make people feel safer, and it was better than just trying to outrun them.

People rushed to that side door, and I ushered them in, helping people walk inside and keep the kids quiet. I could feel the cold sweat dripping from my back, and the distant memories of what made me lose my parents started to flood my mind. I was just a kid, and in all honesty, that was my earliest memory.

The only thing I remember from my parents were their screams and the sound of their bones being crushed by an Eater. Their faces contorted in pain as they were devoured alive. The smell of blood and ripped flash, and the screams of… so many people. All that came back flooding my mind, and all I wanted was to hide, to get away from this living nightmare.

I didn’t want to see one of those monsters, not again. Not when I saw them almost every time I closed my eyes. To my dismay, those who first entered the shelter corridor had no clue how to open the reinforced door at the end. I could hear them struggling, and they were making way too much noise.

Suddenly, while realizing that the decoy bell had stopped ringing, I heard something from my right. The sound of large pieces of wood bending without breaking. I glanced in that direction and saw something moving in the trees. With a gulp, I tried to push myself inside the corridor, but the place was tiny and already full. If I pushed more, people would start complaining and panicking. And the children could start crying.

I felt a tear running down my face, and trying my best to keep some semblance of composure, I touched Cindy’s back to move her enough to the side so I could close the door. She looked back at me, confused for a moment, but after seeing what I was doing, realization dawned on her. As I slowly closed the door to the corridor, she didn’t break eye contact, a silent tear going down her face in a mirror of my own. A small comfort that we both knew could be my last.

With a soft click, I closed the passage, seeing an odd message in the door.

[Warning: User’s body in the process of breaking down. Cannot continue with system integration in such conditions.]

Break down, yeah, that sounded about right. The sound of wood grew louder, and I knew what was getting closer. Part of me wanted to just close my eyes and wait for everything to end. But another part of me, the petty, angry part of me, refused that idea.

If I was going to die, I would look the monster in the eye. I would go down fighting, even if I had no chance to win. I wouldn’t give up the life my parents gave me. The life Pops helped shape. If a nightmare wanted me dead, I was going to make it work for it.

Finally turning towards the sound, I started seeing it. First, it was a sickly gray tentacle wrapped around a tree trunk. It undulated from side to side without moving from its spot. Then, a large and thick spider leg appeared from the tree. Another three tentacles followed, reaching for the vegetation nearby and pulling the rest of the body forward. More spider legs appeared, all of them almost as thick as the trunks of the forest, and it continued moving until its full body came into view.

There was no face, no head, no arms, only the legs connected in a circle. And at their intersection, a mass of several tentacles that didn’t stop moving for even a second. They were light gray at the tips, turning into a tar-like shade of black when reaching the base, vanishing in that unnatural agglomeration of shapes.

Each of those appendages had a different size. Some seemed smaller, while others were much longer and thicker. There was a single long tentacle that was just resting on top of the entire body, and when it shifted, I saw a vertical maw filled with shiny black teeth. When the mouth opened, a pale light glowed from inside the creature.

One would think that this would allow me to see the shape of the tentacles, but that wasn’t the case. The glow only served to show how pitch black the tentacles became, how even under the light of the sun or the light created by itself, it was impossible to discern the shape its appendages had.

I watched the monster moving closer to the village. Each of its 9 legs moved in perfect synchrony, the type that could only be replicated by a machine. Yet, the tentacles were everything but organized. They flailed around wildly, like the arms of a blind monster, grabbing anything they could find before gripping, squeezing, and breaking whatever they could and bringing to its mouth.

Wood, bark, and leaves were constantly dropped inside the maw of the creature, but they would just fall from underneath the central part of its legs a moment later. Those plants were now ripped to shreds as if someone had chewed them, only to spit it out. The Eater continued moving, and it was about to cross the perimeter that Rakeen created.

My heart pounded almost loud enough for the creature to hear it, even from 100 meters away. I had no weapons on me, not that it would make any difference. My goal was first to run and take it away from the village. If I was going to die, I might as well give some chance for the others to survive.

Mentally, I said my last words. I wanted to say something brave or noble. Yet, I could only think of small things. Cindy, your meat pie is awful. You use too much salt. PJ, You are my favorite student, but you have to stop interrupting others.

Pops… I love you, thanks for everything.

Yet my thoughts were meaningless as my death didn’t come.

The Eater stopped right in front of that perimeter. It halted completely and didn’t even reach out towards it. Instead, continued moving as if it was going around a mountain or something. The line made out of copper wire and magnets worked. The monster continued moving without ever touching the village area.

I spent the next 40 minutes completely still as I watched that creature move from side to side before going back and getting farther and farther away, heading towards the direction of the bell and then beyond it. My best assumption was that it had given up and was now going back home. If it even had a home.

Only when I saw the green flag on top of the watchtower did I let my legs finally fail as I collapsed to the ground in tears. I survived. I was alive. One of the monsters from my nightmares came and went, and I was still here, just like waking up from a dream.

But this was reality, and I did the worst possible thing. I deluded myself into thinking that this was the last I would see of that particular Eater.