Chapter 7: The Worm and the Trap

Chapter 7: The Worm and the Trap

"That's it, the boat is there," Nick pointed the way for everyone.

"Let's go!"

The white sandy beach, covered by the darkness from the sky and thick fog, had turned the surroundings into a misty and rainy area. The waves crashing on the shore with the might of the ocean's power.

"Crashing waves"

"The boat that got washed ashore couldn't get out of the island."

"Oh no!" Nick expressed his frustration before turning to look at everyone.

"Crumbling"Lilly's small fists and her priest's ring hand hit the sand emphatically, trying to pound the sand with a heavy heart.

  "Crying" accompanied by tears dropping onto the sand without caring about the raindrops.

"Phak might survive," Nick wanted to reassure everyone.

"You didn't see, did you? What happened to Phak," Lilly, who witnessed the events clearly.

"They want Phak to die already, not to save him. He can stop looking at the world now."

"I just want to say something better than now."

"What should we do?" Nick tried to regain everyone's attention through conversation.

"Now, we should get away and probably no one will follow us anymore. We might have time to figure out what to do next."

Night, sitting on a rock on the beach.

"Night! Get a hold of yourself."

"Oh, we just encountered something unbelievable just a few minutes ago. How can you expect me to think clearly now? Where do you want me to get my sanity from?"

"What should we do then? How do we get out of here? There's no way to escape, or should we go in again, or hide and wait for them? No matter what we do, they'll have to look for us. How long can we escape?"

"Do you know about them?" Nick asked Lilly

"Yes, I know some things."

"Is there anyone who can help us from the inside?"

"No, there's no one... no one else can give blood, and the women who did, most of them went mad or killed themselves. They captured you and locked you up for years, including me. They gave us fertility drugs and anti-aging treatments, which make us live long but at the cost of endless bloodletting."

"So, can we survive this?" Nick began to tremble.

"No, they took you as servants or entertainment. What they did to Phak was just a sample," Lilly emphasized Nick's fear.

"Oh, you, you've left us with no real choice."

"Let's try to get captured and imprisoned there once," Nick suggested.

"Oh, but how, Phak left an antidote for us when we were leaving. You probably won't need it anymore, right? Night, take it."

"What do we do next?" Lilly asked Nick. "We don't have anything to lose now. Whatever happens, they'll have to come after you. We can't escape for the rest of our lives. Dying would be better." "And what do we do? We have nothing left," Night asked his older brother.

"......" Nick remained silent for a while.

"Who said we have nothing?" Lilly thought of something.

She looked at Red Sun's boat...

"We need to find someone outside to help us."

"Can we trust anyone outside? If not them, then their descendants."

"Lilly, it's you. We'll go and save our little brother ourselves. Come on, you!"

"No, I've escaped enough already!!!"

"Night... my little brother!"

"No! I'm going with you and her. The storm, rain, and the jungle water have destroyed our resort, brother. We have nothing left."

"Damn it, what do we do to survive, man!"

"Okay, there's nothing left to lose."

"So, what's the plan, Lilly?"

10 years ago...

In the early morning, the sky was dark and foreboding, with black clouds covering it as if rain was about to fall. Looking ahead, there were houses adorned in red, with red roofs, and old houses in front of them. In front of the house, there was a large road with big trees on the right side, which looked eerie even though it was early in the morning.

During Phak's childhood, he was very close to his mother. In the house with the red roof, Uncle Kath had two sons, Phak and his older brother name "Ton", who were three years apart in age. At that time, Phak was 5 years old, and his older brother was 8 years old. One day, when their parents were not at home, something unusual happened on a day when they were still children. On that day, Phak was with his older brother.

"The sound of the television was loud."

The sound of the television came from the living room around 6:30 a.m., a time when it was a Saturday, a day off for children from school. Phak, who had just woken up from his bedroom, came to watch TV with his older brother. His older brother always woke up before him because he didn't want Phak to grab the remote control, as they liked to watch different channels.

  "Radio waves" the TV at home was an old model that sometimes had static interference, which could be annoying when watching movies or cartoons.

"Television sound" the static would come and go.

"Open this channel, Phak wants to watch cartoons."

"I don't want to watch this channel right now."

This made young Phak pout.

"Power outage sound" The TV suddenly did something strange. The screen turned off and then back on, like a malfunctioning CD that skipped.

The lights flickered and occasionally went out, which was a common occurrence in the house. There would be morning power fluctuations, along with the buzzing of various insects around the house, making their nests clearly visible. From the cliffs, it was a quiet and strangely different morning. Strangely, at that time, there was no familiar sound of morning.

"Where did Mom go,?"

"She went outside."

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'll take you to eat."The kitchen and lunch were already prepared for the two children that day. After eating, Phak did his homework and watched movies until the afternoon. However, in his heart, he still had some apprehension about this unusually quiet day. He wondered how he would manage if his parents weren't home.

"Phak, dear," his mother's voice called as she handed him a white shirt and asked him to come closer, extending her arms to help him put it on. Young Phak didn't hesitate and ran over to embrace his mother, looking up at her with a happy face. But this woman was not his mother, and Phak's expression changed suddenly because of her strange smile. It made Phak squirm and finally break free from her embrace.

"Phak!!"

"Where are you going?!"

"Boom!!!" "Dreaming, huh? It's actually quite scary." Probably because watching movies until you dream the sounds, plus my mother watching it in a scary way, like the Thai horror movies or Japanese horror movies where they smile in a scary way, like people with mental illnesses who are always ready to stab us with a knife or hug us tightly until we can't breathe.

Deep down, the fragile soul of a little child is being tested by something, and fear is hidden in their heart. They're thinking about their mother... but they don't know where their mother has gone.

"At around 5:30 PM, Phak came out to play in front of the house because his older brother, who had snatched the computer game, which was the only one in the house, made him come out. Little Phak walked around and picked up sticks to play with, venting his emotions like most kids do.

"Hmm, hmm," the little dog wagged its tail. The little dog's name was Jaom Jom. The two siblings called him Jaom Jom. Jaom Jom was the first dog they had raised together. Meanwhile, Phak and Jaom Jom were playing in front of the house under the Ratchapruk tree, a large tree that was blooming with beautiful yellow flowers. The wind started to blow strongly, and the yellow flower petals fell to the ground and along the roadside, creating a beautiful yellow carpet for passersby.

At that moment, Phak felt like someone was watching him from a distance, making him aware of something during a certain time. Then the wind blew, accompanied by strange noises, along with a flock of large birds flying around and some perching on the electrical poles one by one."

"' Whoosh'"

"'Ph...'" The sound was like the wind passing through the air.

"'Phak...'" Phak raised his head but didn't respond to anyone. He looked left and right to see who was calling.

"' Whoosh'..." Phak heard a faint sound, almost not even a sound, as if someone was calling or whispering. The feeling turned into a voice, and the voice started becoming clearer. At first, Phak wasn't sure who was calling. It sounded like an elderly man, around 45 years old, calling first before the tone gradually shifted into a female voice. The voice grew louder and clearer when Phak listened carefully, and it was directed at him. Eventually, Phak was sure that someone was calling him for real, and the calling voice morphed into the voice of his mother, the voice he heard regularly. Phak didn't hesitate to respond.

"Yes, Mom, where are you?" His mother's voice called again, louder and louder, until it seemed like she was whispering in his ear.

At that moment, after thinking about her all day without seeing her, Phak searched everywhere but couldn't find her. However, the voice continued echoing in his ears, deep inside his heart. Phak ran around looking for the source of the sound, which seemed to come from the main road with fast-moving traffic. In that moment, his mother's voice resonated from the middle of the road, inviting him to that spot.

"Come find Mom, Mom's here."

"Come find Mom quickly!" She secretly stood by the lamppost before waving her hand to signal Phak to follow, ensuring he was confident that Mom was right there, playing hide and seek with him.

"Hehe," Phak laughed with delight, and as a child, he quickly ran into the middle of the street, shouting for his mother.

"Mom, where are you?"

"Mom, please!" But her voice disappeared, and there was no response. The woman who had hidden by the pole had disappeared without a trace.

"Mom..."

"Mom..."

"Mum..."

"Mum..."

... ... There was no answer except the sound of his own voice.

The surroundings were extremely quiet, like being in a vacuum. He couldn't hear anyone, and it felt like being in another world without any sound. He screamed for someone, but there was no one. He even screamed for his older brother to help find their mother, but his brother didn't hear him. His body felt frozen, as if he had lost the ability to move or speak, like a condition known as "sleep paralysis" or the local term "being possessed by a ghost"!!!

His mother's voice fell silent, waiting for a moment, and then a hand came to pull his shirt. It transformed into his own brother who snapped Phak out of it

"Before the appointed time..."

  "Woof woof."the dog name "Chaochom" is voice, a black-spotted dog resembling a soldier's uniform, barked, showing signs of agitation.

"The dog barked aggressively, showing its teeth." the menacing growl of the older dog accompanied by snarls and trembling legs. The leader retreated from the spot where Phak stood in the middle of the road, with his tail dropping to the ground, showing fear towards something ahead. In that place, there was no one passing by, and the young boy began to notice the abnormality in the leader before realizing his own abnormality.

"As soon as he heard the dog name "Chaochom" is barking and threats, the young boy noticed the peculiar gestures of his younger brother, who was playing as usual. Normally, his little brother would come and sit beside him while he played. However, he now observed that his younger brother was talking to someone, but it seemed like he was talking to no one else. It was a strange stance. In that strange moment, a large pickup truck was speeding towards them, but for some reason, his little brother seemed unaware of the approaching vehicle. It was as if he was talking to himself and paying no attention to the truck.

The older brother sensed the danger. A gut feeling told him that his younger brother was in danger. He rushed out of the house, grabbed him by the shirt collar, and pulled Phak out of the road..."

"Come stand here, what are you doing? Can't you see the car?"

"Mom called me to come here."

"Mom's not at home, she went for training in another province."

"Is that true?"

"Mom called me here, didn't you hear? Did you see Mom at all?"

"Is she crazy? Mom's not at home, you idiot."

"But I have to go now."

"I'm sorry." "It's okay..."

CRASH!!!!!!

The sound of a violent collision between the cars echoed loudly.

"Woof woof." the pack of crows that had been perched nearby flew off in a frenzy. From the sound of the loud collision, yellow chrysanthemum petals scattered from the tree onto the road, spreading across the entire area. This event tragically took the life of the older brother, Phak...

Not long after, the chrysanthemum petals fell into the grave of the leader, who was like a friend to Phak. Hearts were heavy, and everything changed...

the blood of Phak spread across the stone altar like flower petals, before his body was taken to the flower graveyard where it was laid to rest. Amidst the rain, wind, and raging storms, the earth in that area was ready to nurture the seeds. These natural disasters showed their power and the various dangers they posed, destroying everything in their path to cleanse the invaded territory.

In secret, Rose approached Phak's lifeless body.

"It's a shame we had to meet this way, hehe."

"I thought you'd join us again. We all liked you, you know. But you loved the humans too much, thinking you'd protect them. So, we'll hunt them down and kill them. No matter what they do, they won't survive. I'll capture them and keep them, drain their blood until they beg for us to kill them, hehe."

"...Except for you, who woke up to protect Lilly."

"Rest well, Phak,"

eand before long, Phak's blood flowed around the stone altar, forming a pool that cradled his body. His body was then pulled down into what resembled a flower grave. It didn't take long for the area around the stone altar and the bloodied area to be covered with chrysanthemum flowers in full bloom. But these flowers were black!!!! The sky, once stormy, turned into a clear blue, the sun shining brightly, causing the flowers to slowly absorb the sunshine and turn red like blood.

"Is this abnormal, Mr. Joseph?"

"I'm not sure either."