You Start Hearing Voices

Take him... bring him to us...

Your head darts around, eyes searching behind you for the source of the voices. There's no one there. No one you can see, at least, but you can certainly feel it. You feel... darkness. The cold, black silence of the night that surrounds you encroaches on you somehow, like it seeks to breach your very soul. It's an unsettling feeling. The voices return.

Claw him... rake him... bring him to us...

This time they sound louder, less like a silent thought and more like a faint whisper. It's like someone stands beside you, speaking in hushed tones that are meant for no one else. Steve marches on ahead, oblivious to it all, but something is happening here. You know it. You can feel it.

Maul him... bite him... kill him... bring him to us...

The voices sound like they're spoken from your own lips, and you can taste the malevolence that they drip with. It's hate, of a pure sort that you've never felt before, emanating from that voice. No, not from the voice...

BRING HIM! KILL HIM!

You collapse, holding your face in your hands. The voices scream at you now, your head exploding with pain. It's like they're trying to break free, trying to tear their way out of your mind and into reality. You think you scream, but you don't hear it. Steve turns to you, speaks to you, but he doesn't make a sound. All you can hear are the voices, voices that no longer seem alien, voices that echo your own thoughts. With a renewed vigour you leap to your feet, with the unnatural speed you move towards your prey, with inhuman strength you clench you maw around his throat. You feel your teeth on his neck, feel him screaming in pain and terror. You feel victory. Then you feel nothing.

***

With a sudden gasp, you find yourself returning to life. Your body aches and your mind is fuzzy. You try to think. What just happened? You don't know. Where are you? You can't say. And Steve is he...

No. Now isn't the time. Your concern is great, but you stand alone, your surroundings unfamiliar, unsure if you're waking from a nightmare or living in one. Trees surround you, but they look odd, almost artificial, in ways that you can't explain. The ground is covered by a thick grass that cushions your back while you lie on it, but the touch of it on your skin makes you uneasy. Even the moon and the stars above you shine with an unnatural light, and somehow you know without knowing that they are doppelgangers. You don't know where you are or why you're here.

All you know for sure is that nothing here is as it should be.