We were all deceived.
Arching his hand in the air, directing the flow of once-alive traffic like a demonic Poseidon controlling the seas, we come to understand. He had known all along. The old man's withered, parched lips had hovered precariously close to his ear, breathing words tainted with the foul staleness of age, bribing him to impossible power. The combination of odor and proposition was both irritating and enticing enough that he relinquished and accepted.
I had been the first to notice something was awry.
Entering a darkened room, black liquid decorated the floor in splatters. Eyes followed the trail, further and just a bit further, until a massive heap of bloody cloth was discovered. I squinted in the flickering light, trying to understand if what I saw was real. I screamed incoherently. I pointed frantically. They rushed to my side to understand the commotion when they saw it, too. Something very bad had happened here.
It was then that we heard it.
Scratches at the door.
"What was that?"
"It sounds like .."
"But .. but how?"
"Doesn't it kind of sound like .. ?"
Thuds against the flimsy, plywood barricade, like a basketball without an owner.
"It definitely sounds like .."
Why had we come here in the first place? Staring at the vibrating door, I recollected how this had all began. He had told us to come. He had led us here, all of us so naively laughing and telling stories as he brought us to our end. As the realization slowly crept into my skull, I turned towards him. He was smiling. Out of the four of us, he was the only one finding satisfaction in the impending attack. He had known all along.
His eyes caught the angle of my face and flickered ever-so-slightly. Not enough to turn and look at me.
Coward.
Just then, a scream.
I turned to my right to see decomposing, dismembered limbs dragging her away from us. Her long, black hair fell helplessly as her frenzied extremities attempted to grip onto something, anything to save her. She extended her hands to us, but she was already gone. We could no longer save her. Only three of us were left.
A too-convenient ax rested at my feet. Cautiously, I gathered it and braced myself to hack away at all that even approached me. He turned and faced us, taking steps backwards into the mass of rotted flesh, the remnants of those who once were. They quieted down and waited for his command.
An arch of his hand in the air and a wave began to descend upon my only remaining companion. He thrashed and squirmed and screamed. I tried to make contact between my blade and their skulls, but their teeth quickly sunk into his skin, the sounds of squirting blood and digested muscle drowning out his screams until there were no more.
I gripped my ax tighter, knuckles white, and turned to face him again. I tried to remember who he had been, but my instinct for survival was too strong. With the only battle cry I could muster, I swung my ax overhead and charged, driving the blade down with as much strength as my body would allow.
And then ..