The Grey Moon

"Argh! Fuck!"

"Hold on, Hyuna! Try to handle the pain, don't let it get to you!" Shio shouted from across the room. Hyuna was there, lying next to him in a tatami mat, as she continues to wince and scream in pain.

Her pain was coming from one of her legs, the left one that had been struck by the monster's claws before. Everything was all well earlier, the group was sitting in place at a nearby house that old man Jarvis had brought them to and, they were eating all together there.

Some didn't bear an appetite, seemingly as what they had witnessed right in front of them was truly traumatic and fear-inducing. One wouldn't be able to forget how simply someone they were not even close with, or just mere acquaintance being torn to shreds as their decapitated body slowly get eaten by the monsters, with their screams heard throughout the entire area.

It was horrifying. However, there were some from the group that was hopelessly tired, with stomachs growling loud as it desperately tries to search for food. They could not help it, they were starving. Especially at times like these, where your survivalist nature is tested, a person will need the energy to continue living here until they could somehow find the way back to where they should be.

Jarvis hurriedly opened the door with his hands, slamming it loudly. He was carrying a basin filled with hot water and a towel in it. He turned to look at the wound, that was now all swollen and purple and almost gagged at the site. It looked disgusting, Shio was holding back the feeling to vomit as well.

The old man set down the basin of hot water next to Hyuna, as he began to squeeze the water out from the towel that was soaked in the hot water. He was about to place it at the swollen part of Hyuna's leg when they had suddenly seen it move like there was something underneath her skin. It was pulsating, sure it may be her vein, but it wasn't shaped like one. It was rounder and its length was more visible than any veins from her body.

"Aaaahhhh!!!" She screamed, her face was now twitching as she tries to rise up from her bed, only to start feeling another gush of pain coming from her left leg. The swollen area began to wiggle more as Hyuna bit on her lip, trying to hold back her screams from getting too loud. Her eyes were watering, tears were forming and she doesn't know what's going on with her leg.

"D-Did you see that?" Shio stuttered, his hands going up to his face as he rubs both of his eyes together. He was doubting about what he just saw—after all, there was no way that the swollen part of her leg suddenly gave a wiggling motion. He eyed her wound closely as he tries to stop himself from puking at the sight of it. "I must be tired... There's just no way that her wound just did that."

"Well, I think it just did. Can you tell me what happened to this girl's poor leg? A monster you say, right?" Jarvis asked as he proceeded to put the warm cloth on top of the swollen wound. Hyuna flinched at the contact of it, her leg feeling all tingly and painful. It was only at first, but she could finally feel some ease from the pain even if it were only a little bit. At least the pain was more tolerable and less excruciating.

"Yes, and it was a terrible one. It had a mutilated head of a pig and had stitches running down along his face and body. He was big and tough-looking too. The one that got Hyuna was its claws, it was long and sharp like... Like a bear's! It was only a little longer, but honestly, I couldn't really understand what the monster's structure was really like..." Shio explained, trying to elaborate what the monster had appeared to be in front of his eyes, in hopes that old man Jarvis might know the answer to what kind of creature was that.

Hyuna was noticeably getting calmer, her breath was gradually steadying and screams had stopped as well. Though, she was still twitching and wincing from time to time. Shio looked at her again and saw that she was all sweaty and her face was a mess from the tears and snots that trickled down her face.

"Hmm... I see. A pig-looking monster, huh?" Jarvis replied, thinking. He suddenly faced the other direction, opposite from where the door was, and where they were, he looked at the open window that was displaying the bright grey moon. Jarvis ponded for a while as he stares at the round object filled with craters. It was visible—its craters—even if they seemed far away from it. Somehow, Shio could see it despite the distance between him and the moon itself; he also felt that the moon seemed to be following him as it slowly gets close to him.

"Did it eat some human flesh?"

Shio nodded. Jarvis's face suddenly lit up as he clicked his fingers together. He turned at the young male who was confused at the sudden change of behavior from the old man. Jarvis took Shio by his shoulders and looked at him straight in the eye, saying, "I know what attacked you, son! It was a demon!"

"A demon?" Shio repeated. Sure, they may be in the afterlife but they weren't even in hell, yet there were already demons appearing out of nowhere. How great is that?

"That's right! Animal-looking demons tend to carry some parasite with them that they mostly get from eating raw meat and perhaps, from forests, as the parasite deliberately feeds off of them, sucking their nutrition-filled blood bit by bit. I'm not so sure, but maybe a form of parasite had entered Hyuna's body from the claws that had inflicted on her." Jarvis said as he placed his hand on the damp towel on Hyuna's wound. He took it and put it again at the basin of hot water, doing the same process once more as he put it on top of her wound again. The wound did not look any better from before, but at least, Hyuna stopped screaming from the pain.

"What should we do about it, then?" Shio asked. He was curious and anxious at what will happen to his newly found friend here in the afterlife, and seeing one of them die again would be too much to handle. Even if it hasn't passed a day since their encounter with the swarm of monsters, Shio considered Hyuna as a friend.

"I... don't know, but I'll try to get some help from the other spirits here. Maybe they'll have an answer." He said, trying to reassure the young male beside him. "Don't worry. I'll try to help you."

Jarvis stood from where he sat and walked to the door as he places his hand on the handle, sliding the door sideways as it opened to a new hallway where the others were staying. "I'll be resting in the other room, you can stay here for a while. Your other friends are also in different rooms, feel free to visit them."

"Alright. Thank you." Shio nodded. Jarvis left the room soon after as he let out a heavy sigh. This day had been stressful for him, also very unusual. He still can't believe that all of these happened in just one day and they couldn't find any explanation for all of these, even old man Jarvis has no idea why they were suddenly transported from the real world to here, in the wretched afterlife.

Shio stood up and decided to look out the open window in front of him. He walked around Hyuna's laying body and leaned on the wall, his head outside of the window. There, he saw the large grey moon that was brightly shining from its luminescence. It was beautiful and below it, was the busy local fish market they had witnessed earlier. Many stalls were still open with different kinds of creatures there, going around buying as some were selling.

Most of them did not look like regular humans. There were human-looking still, like old man Jarvis, however, most of them were a mixture of both. It was like a human but had different features, like having a human face with horse legs. It was like that.

"This is so strange. I wonder if this is a dream." Shio muttered as he puffs air out to the cold breeze that was still with the night sky. He remained there by the window for a while as he keeps on thinking about how would they be able to get out of here and when. The taker's red menacing glare suddenly came on his mind, remembering the way he called out to him all so eerily.

"How did he even know my name—"

"Shio..." Hyuna suddenly calls out. Shio turned his head to her and quickly saw her face, dreading in fear. "Please help me."

She was holding the towel, covering her wound, now filled with her blood. This had alarmed Shio as he rushes to her injured leg, removing the towel as he saw the parasite that had made an opening at her wound.