Decaying marionnettes

I was backed into the alley, gripping the broken lantern like it was my last lifeline in this nightmare. The once-peaceful village had transformed into a rotten husk of its former self. Houses were now ruins, their roofs caved in, and the cobblestones underfoot were cracked and uneven. Even the air smelled different—like damp wood mixed with something sour, something dead. 

The villagers weren't far behind. I could hear their uneven footsteps scraping the ground and the strange, wet creaking of their joints, like rusty hinges straining to move. 

"Alright," I muttered under my breath, glancing at the broken lantern in my hand. "Not ideal. Definitely not ideal." 

I peeked around the corner. A group of villagers was gathering at the mouth of the alley. Their movements were jerky, like puppets whose strings had been pulled too hard. Their faces, which had once been unnervingly friendly, were now pale and stretched tight over their skulls. Hollow eyes stared at me, unblinking. 

"Yup," I whispered to myself. "Definitely a nightmare." 

One of them rushed toward me, its movements jerky and unnatural. "Stay," it rasped, its hollow eyes fixed on mine. "You cannot leave." 

"Nope, no way, José," I shot back, taking a step back, gripping the broken lantern tightly in my hand.

The villager lunged at me, its limbs bending in directions that wasn't humanly possible. I swung the lantern instinctively. When it connected, the villager collapsed, its body crumbling. 

'They're weak physically, but there are too many of them,' I thought grimly. 

The others weren't deterred. More shadows poured into the alley, stumbling over one another in their desperation to reach me. I gritted my teeth and swung the lantern again, forcing them to keep their distance. 

"You guys really don't believe in personal space, huh?" I said, stepping back toward the alley's end. The walls on either side felt like they were closing in, the jagged bricks stretching toward me. 

I bolted out the other side, the villagers rushing behind me. The streets twisted ahead, narrowing and turning in ways that shouldn't have been possible. Still, I ran, maneuvering through the chaos. 

As I rounded a corner, something slammed into me, sending me sprawling to the ground. I looked up to see another villager—a woman this time. Her face was half-decayed, her jaw hanging at an odd angle. She raised a rusted farming tool high above her head, ready to strike. 

With no time to think, I hurled the broken lantern at her. It hit her square in the face, making her stagger backward and collapse. Scrambling to my feet, I stomped on her head for good measure before snatching up the lantern and running again. 

I stumbled into the town square, the largest open space I'd seen so far. More villagers poured out of the shadows, their movements increasingly erratic. Some dragged their feet like broken marionettes, while others crawled on all fours, their limbs twisting grotesquely. 

"Alright, alright, think!" I said to myself. "Can't fight them all. Where's the exit?" 

My gaze landed on a towering structure at the far end of the square. The temple. Its dark silhouette loomed against the sky, the alien stars glowing eerily above it. Somehow, I knew that was where I needed to go. 

"Of course," I muttered. "Because running toward the creepy, ominous building always works out." 

The villagers surged forward. I sprinted toward the temple, weaving through the crowd. I swung the lantern wildly, but for every villager I struck down, two more took their place. 

"Not fair!" I shouted. "There's like, twenty of you! Maybe thirty! You can't all want me dead!" 

Their rasping voices answered in unison, sending chills down my spine: "Stay. You cannot leave." 

I swung the lantern in a wide arc, clearing a path to the temple steps. The villagers hesitated, their movements growing more frantic. They twisted and convulsed as though struggling against invisible strings. I didn't stick around to find out why. 

I dashed up the steps and burst through the temple doors, slamming them shut behind me. For a moment, the only sound was my own ragged breathing. 

"Okay," I panted, leaning against the door. "That… was unpleasant." 

Turning, I took in the massive chamber before me. At its center floated a strange mechanism, its gears and dials glowing faintly. Above it, the alien constellations shimmered, their light filtering through cracks in the temple's ceiling. 

I swallowed hard. "Alright" I muttered. "What the hell do you want from me?"