Reborn as a Prophet in a Horror Movie

#041Reader Mode

#041

Airi’s eyes flew open, replacing the view of the ground below with the vast night sky above.

As her body soared, the cool night breeze caressed her skin, leaving behind the earthy scent that had lingered just moments before. There was no time to appreciate the sweeping view. The sudden shift in perspective ignited a flurry of impulsive thoughts in her mind. For a brief moment, her emotions were a chaotic storm, like an outcry, until clarity struck.

Her leap was off. Moving awkwardly in mid-air, she lost control of her form. Her body, usually as nimble as a feather, was now in danger of plummeting like waterlogged cotton. The reason was simple. It was the pain in her knee. An injury sustained from her first encounter with the monster.

The pain, where her knee had slammed into William’s collarbone, burned under her skin, making her leg stiff. It didn’t take long to grasp the gravity of her situation. Yet what formed on Airi’s lips was a daring smile.

Leaping had always been a conscious choice for her, made in spite of fear. Her heart pounded furiously, and cold sweat formed on her neck. But regrets? Such uncool words were not her style.

Her eyes, feverishly bright, blinked open, and she scanned the area below. Even her night-adjusted vision struggled to make out her friends’ expressions clearly. William’s too, was just a vague shape in her view.

In this pitch black world, only the ghastly pale body of the monster stood out sharply. Once a source of immense despair when underneath it, now the roles were reversed. Airi was above Monster X, holding the upper hand. It all happened in an instant – the jump, the turbulent thoughts, realization, decision, and action.

“Ahhh!”

With a determined shout, Airi’s lips pressed against her teeth, grazing her chapped lips. Before the taste of blood could reach her tongue, Airi contorted her body mid-air and yanked off the cap of a plastic bottle tied to her.

With the top opened by a pre-slit cut, its contents spilled out effortlessly, unleashing a foul, acidic smell. A concoction of oil and acrid liquid splattered across the monster’s pure white surface.

[SKRIIIIEEEK!]

Monster X’s reaction was instant and agonizing – it let out a piercing scream, convulsing in pain. Its slick, shimmering tentacles lashed out wildly, making a sound so sharp that it cut through the wind, reaching Airi’s ears.

Christina, adrenaline pumping, sprinted forward, her sneakers pounding the earth. Ignoring her sweat-drenched clothes and the scrapes from the underbrush, she was laser-focused on the Molotov cocktail gripped in her white-knuckled hand.

With a swift motion, she lit the cocktail. A bright blue flame rose along the wick jammed into its narrow neck. This was it – her moment. Without a second thought, she drew her arm back and launched it at the monster.

But things didn’t go as planned. Monster X was more sensitive to pain than they had expected. As soon as the lemon juice touched its skin, starting a chemical reaction, the alien unleashed a deafening wail, assaulting their eardrums. It writhed in excruciating pain, its movements so erratic they had to dodge desperately like scared rats. Airi’s attack had effectively stripped away its protective mucous layer, and the monster had realized that.

At the same time Christina’s arm swung forward, the monster’s tentacles shot upwards, taut and menacing. In a cruel turn, they struck Airi instead of capturing her. The impact bent her body unnaturally, sending her plummeting from the sky.

Airi’s stomach churched as the world spun around her, blurring into a disorienting whirl of shapes and colors like fast-flipping pages of a book. A searing heat flared from her side and a hot, bitter sensation climbed up her throat. But before she could vomit it out, Airi crashed to the ground, ominously silent. The scene was utter pandemonium, yet time seemed to pass both agonizingly slow and impossibly fast.

Christina’s grip weakening as she screamed for Airi, the Molotov cocktail falling short. William sprinting towards where Airi had fallen, Golden panicking in the background stupidly like Bobby, and a massive log flying toward them from the tentacles rampage!

The firewood pile, perfect for a bonfire, became an unexpected barrier for Monster X as it hindered its movements. The bonfire was an exciting feature at Hamon Campground, where there was little else to see except the forest. Of course for Seojun, none of this was remotely enjoyable.

Amidst the chaos, a vibration jolted through the air. Running so hard for his life that his mouth tasted sweet, Seojun struggled to find a moment to look around him. His sense of direction was a mess, unable to figure out where the sensation came from.

Then, in a swift move, Johan pulled Seojun towards him, bending his body like a stick bug, away from impending danger.

“Ugh!”

Seojun stumbled, a clumsy grunt escaping him as a gust of air whirled by. Almost immediately, a loud crack echoed across the campground. He glanced back, shivering, to see a huge log wedged into the ground at an angle, massive enough to be mistaken for an artillery shell.

But Seojun didn’t have time to ponder the resemblance. Johan, quick to react, wrapped an arm around Seojun’s shoulders, pulling him into a protective embrace. His hand, covered in wounds, gripped Seojun firmly despite the pain.

“Jun, we need to back off. The Molotov cocktail failed.”

Seojun glanced at Johan’s injured hand, questioning if he heard correctly.

“What?”

Following Johan’s gaze, Seojun saw the Molotov cocktail had missed its firewood pile target, landing just shy of the monster instead. The fire caught some of its tentacles but wasn’t enough to fully burn the alien’s pale body.

Seojun bit his lower lip in frustration. And the first to grasp the situation quicker than anyone else was already near the monster. Christina. The flames had barely missed engulfing the strange alien by an inch.

Still holding her torch, Christina doubted it could produce more firepower than the Molotov cocktail. And to make matters worse, Airi was nowhere in sight – probably fallen at the forest’s edge. Did William find her in time? Or was Airi already dead, explaining the grim absence of her voice? Nothing was certain.

In that moment, Seojun and Christina’s eyes found each other. The night was dark with the moon hidden behind clouds, but the glowing embers from the failed cocktail threw a dim light around them. It was just bright enough for Christina to see the unwavering trust in Seojun’s deep, dark eyes.

Pulling out a warm aluminum can from her pocket, she saw the fire’s light revealing her friends, all hurt and bruised, with blood staining their bodies.

Christina glanced at her arm, finding it mostly unscathed. Her palm, slightly singed, seemed a minor inconvenience. She was fit enough to carry on.

Reason whispered between the wrinkles in her brain. Should she let Johan, their best thrower, take over as he suggested? But was there even time to deliberate? The idea of asking her slightly older childhood friend to brave yet another danger for her seemed almost selfish.

The monster was trying to shake off the burning embers. If it reached the lake, everything they had done so far would be in vain. The opportunity created by Seojun, Johan, William, Golden, and Airi would vanish. How much more of this senseless suffering could they endure?

Almost without realizing, Christina clenched her fist, her courage gathering despite the burns. Her courage told her to step forward. Her feet moved instinctively.

“Christina, stop! It’s too dangerous!” Johan called from behind her.

Hearing him, Christina understood that the voice whispering in her head was driven by fear, not reason. She bit her lip hard, drawing blood – the sharp pain steadying her crumbling mind.

Christina knew the courage she could gather was very small. She couldn’t soar through the skies like Airi or confront monsters head-on like Johan. But she could walk. She could run. And she could throw. If she couldn’t do even that much, she wouldn’t be able to face her friends.

Squeezing every ounce of courage she had left, she moved forward. Grass and unknown flowers brushed against her ankles, small insects skittered over her sneakers. She pushed hard against the ground, her body teetering, almost losing balance. With no strength to correct her leaning torso, Christina flung her arm forward, sending the butane gas can flying with all the might she could muster.

An explosion rocked the very earth. Christina, overpowered by the blast, was thrown back. She landed hard, her body rolling across the ground helplessly.

“Huff,” she gasped for air, the hot air scorching her face. She forced her eyes open against the dazzling bright light.

Before her, the campsite had transformed into a blazing inferno. Monster X, now vulnerable with its protective mucous dissolved, was engulfed in flames. Its tentacles writhed in the fire, eerily resembling a dance or the waving arms of a festival crowd. Fire and shadows merged, creating a spectacle of destruction and celebration.

It was a massive bonfire, rarely seen anywhere else in the world.

The firewood and Monster X’s pale body collapsed into the flames, creating a bright pyrotechnic display against the night sky.