Where am I?

Right now, she knew she should be in a fever dream. 

One might ask, why one would doubt the reality they are in?

She KNEW she was just running her usual route earlier, and then sat down and closed her eyes a bit to rest. How did this happen then?

As if to prove a point, she looked down at her branded shoes, dark, ugly, loose sweatpants, and her pink sports bra. Wearing the right clothes, check.

She lifted her slightly trembling hands to her face to feel the heat and the perspiration. Yep, she is sweating, check.

She looked around and once again, the huge trees, the absence of the birds chirping, and the silent volcano whose crater she could see even from afar threatening her to scream for help.

She swallowed her fears and reached for her phone from her backpack. 

Activating the screen, she could see there was no signal at all on her phone. She frowned and she reached into her pockets and this time, pulled out a compass.

She sighed in relief, "At least the compass is working."

She looked around once more and looked closely at what surrounded her.

Tall trees that seemed to be five stories tall, sparse bushes that seemed to have barbed thorns, there were several 'paths' that seemed to indicate there was foot traffic at least, and... she closed her eyes and listened. The sound is different. No birds were chirping but there seemed to be some animals screeching or screaming somewhere.

The path does seem to be a bit dark, the place she is standing in right now is an open space the span of a football field. A grass field full of wildflowers slowly nodding off on the light heat of the morning. 

Looking up, a bright, blue sky seems to be glowing, and fluffy clouds sparsely decorate the view.

So far, everything seems to indicate she is in a dream. 

"Why can't they put me here for a vacation? Damn!" She angrily said. 

"The only thing missing is the cottage that I will be leaving off. Where in the hell is this paradise?"

She shook her head and slowly walked toward the path going west.

Well, she hopes she won't regret this.

*******************************

After about an hour or so, she did regret it.

She thought earlier that it would be an easy walk since there is a dirt path she could just follow to go somewhere with people, but no!

After thirty minutes of walking the path abruptly stopped and there were no other traces of people could be found.

She also spotted several small animals, probably chipmunks, that were squeaking their way to the trees, always hiding before she could even take a good look at them.

She frowned and once again felt a bit concerned. She squinted at her watch and it was already four o'clock.

She signed and frantically looked around the dark forest, then once again studied her compass. If there was no road, then she could just continue going west right? She should be able to encounter people by then.

Straightening her back, she briskly walked over to the west with resolve on her heart.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen.

Every minute that passes without anything happening makes her heart beat faster.

And where the hell is she anyway? Now that her surroundings had become a bit darker, she took out her handy flashlight and saw that it was a rainforest.

There was no rainforest at all where she was at. Was she kidnapped and she just forgot?

'That might be possible,' she thought. 'I, Emily Howard am a rich and popular gamer and fantasy writer. It will be no shock to anyone that I was kidnapped.'

'But it's weird; if they kidnapped me, why did they leave me here alone, in the wild? Why not just kill me if they already have the ransom? Is this like that weird book where they kidnap people to kill each other?'

She chuckled at that. Anime plot in real life. Pfft. She should limit her imagination on her books and her gaming.

Suddenly, a loud screech followed by shouts of glee thundered all around her. She froze, turned off her light, and climbed up a tree.

She was just settling on a tree branch when she heard footsteps below her. She squinted her eyes, and looked down.

What she saw made her close her eyes in disbelief.

Lean and muscular men are walking barefoot and wearing skirts are walking in groups of 5, carrying a huge slab of meat, whose blood is still dripping on the grass. 

She swallowed her disgust and kept watching. There goes her wish of meeting people to escape this place. Ask these people for help. No way!

She counted and there were 10 groups of men, so a total of 50 men, all looking excited over their hunt.

Two men in particular stopped by below her and began speaking in a language she could not recognize.

"Lluba?" a smaller man is asking a taller man. 

"Nein." The taller man answered. She does not know if that was a signal or what but the smaller man nodded and followed the others, leaving the taller man standing just below her.

She waited and unconsciously held her breath. She silently prayed that the man would go away and leave her alone.

A few minutes more passed, and the man began to walk away. Finally!

She closed her eyes and sighed. She counted to a hundred before making her way down the tree. 

She felt dizzy, the sharp, sickly sweet smell of blood was still in the air and she felt as if her stomach wanted to empty itself. 

She started to slowly walk away from the bloody scene before a heavy hand landed on her shoulders. She screamed!