Liam woke up in a pile of bushes, staring up into a canopy of towering trees and thick greenery. Gray moonlight pierced through foliages to touch his skin.
"Ugh." He groaned as he rose from the ground.
His first thought was, "Ew, I was lying in dirt." He brushed off the dirt from his clothes and hair, grimacing. His second thought was also disgust, "Ew, there's so many people here." Even more people had woken up around him at the same time.
"Guys... where is this?" a voice called out from the crowd. The man was as tall as Liam and just as good-looking, maybe better at taking care of himself. The difference was clear in his immaculate hair, middle part styled to perfection. Whereas Liam's hairstyle doesn't even have a name, the most suitable name for it would be 'I woke up and I don't give a shit.'
"Where am I?" The question rippled through the group. None expected to wake up in a moonlit forest after falling asleep in their cozy beds.
"I don't kno—"
A snake slithered out from the underbrush and bit the man on the foot.
"ARGH! Get off me!"
"I'm coming!" The man with great hair rushed forward, shaking the snake off the bitten man. "Get off! Guys, help me!"
"Comin'... ARGH!" another man yelped, suddenly bitten from behind.
"AHH!"
"FUCK!"
"ARRGGH!"
The crowd's anxiety grew as more struggled and exclaimed from being bitten.
"What's happening?!" someone cried.
"I got him off! I got him off!" Hair man finally kicked the snake away. "You okay?"
The bitten man didn't reply with words, but with black veins that began spreading across his body and face. Hair man flinched at the unexpected sight, his grip loosened, and the man collapsed to the ground.
The man now laid lifeless, black veins spider webbed his every inch, even his eyes.
"He's... He's... dead."
One by one, the bitten began showing the same black veins, and they fell like flies, thumping onto the ground, startling everyone around them.
Panic exploded.
"AHHHHH!"
"RUN!"
"RUNNNNN!"
"EVERYONE, HEAD TO THE BEACH! FOLLOW MY VOICE!" Hair man yelled. "THE SNAKES WON'T SNEAK UP ON US THERE!" He sprinted towards the beach while pointing at that direction, guiding the people around him.
"Good idea," Liam thought out loud, and ran toward the voice.
"LIAM!" Tyler shouted, catching up to him. "Have you seen Bryan and Melissa? I think this is that 'Would You Rather' scenario we picked!" Tyler was already sweating profusely, his face intense, his chest heaving.
"Follow me! Follow my voice!" Hair man screamed again, pushing everyone forward to the beach.
"There." Liam pointed at a girl nearby who wasn't running, and Tyler whipped his head around to that direction.
"Melissa, RUN! What are you—" Tyler started, but her face twisted with black veins before she collapsed.
Tyler gasped and froze up. He stopped blinking, he stopped moving, probably stopped breathing. Noticing that, Liam grabbed his wrist, dragging him forward.
They sprinted with the crowd, all lead by the hair man. Liam was unusually calm compared to the crowd. But instead of being composed and calculated, he was more so apathetic and lethargic, even when bodies were dropping left and right.
Eventually, they reached the beach, where the snakes can no longer disguise themselves in the green.
"Grab a sharp stick or rock! Attack the snakes when they come near!" Hair man commanded, and the crowd obeyed.
"Bryan!" Tyler called, spotting a familiar silhouette the the distance.
"Tyler! Come on! Let's just swim out of here!" Bryan shouted, diving into the sea.
"Wait." Liam tugged on Tyler's wrist, stopping him from jumping in too. "Look."
Snakes were swimming swiftly toward Bryan, faster than he could swim.
Tyler gasped first, his jaw trembling.
"BRYAN, GET OUT OF THERE!" Tyler shouted gutturally with all his lungs.
"ARGHHH! THEY CAN SWIM!" Bryan screamed as the snakes bit into him, his arms flailed, splashing water. Black veins spread quickly; his body froze lifeless.
"NO! BRYAN!" Tyler fell to his knees, devastated. Liam on the other hand, was still calm as a cucumber.
Black veins spread faster now, taking victims one by one, crushing hope. Hair man shouted to keep morale high.
"KEEP IT UP! KILL THE SNAKES! WATCH THE SHORE! THEY CAN COME FROM THERE TOO!"
Liam, unaffected by panic, gathered two stones and a bundle of sticks. Using friction, he struck sparks until flames caught.
The fire's light brought hope. Some survivors who noticed the light even cheered.
"YESSS!"
"LIGHT 'EM UP!"
"SUPPORT THAT MAN! BURN THE FOREST!" Hair Man shouted with resolute eyes, pointing at Liam.
Survivors with weapons, sharp branches and stones, guarded Liam as he advanced towards the forest with the fire, and with slow, casual steps.
"LIGHT IT UP!" someone yelled as Liam hurled a burning torch into the forest.
"It's not spreading!"
"It is! It just takes time!" Hair man reassured. "Focus on killing the snakes for now!"
More people fell victim to bites, but the fire gradually created a growing barrier between forest and beach, as it burnt through leaves and branches.
"YEAHHH!"
"LET'S GO!"
"DON'T CELEBRATE YET! SNAKES ARE STILL COMING FROM THE SHORE! FOCUS THERE!" Hair man warned, pointing towards the sea, but his lips did curled into a faint smile.
The survivors shifted focus, defending the shoreline.
Fewer people were dying now. Snakes couldn't enter from land now, not when there's a literal firewall in the way.
Tyler sat shell-shocked, watching his surroundings with empty eyes. Liam approached and stood beside him, not fighting, not grieving like Tyler either though.
They had started with about eighty-eight people. Now, only around fifty remained standing on the beach.
Tyler stared out at the horizon, then at the survivors brave enough to guard the shoreline, then at the survivors not brave enough, trembling.
"They died, Liam..." Tyler's voice were quivering bad, "they... they died."
"They did." Liam nodded.
Tyler broke down in tears, burying his head in his knees.
Liam felt nothing. He barely knew Bryan and Melissa. Their deaths didn't hit him.
A frail, short woman approached Liam.
"Thank you... you saved our lives." Her eyes were blurry with tears.
"Okay." Liam nodded, indifferent.
Inside, his mind whispered: "What's happening...?"