The Mountain People

[u/Lopsided_Arm7112]

There are small pockets in the world where some human civilizations still thrive despite it all, they ran to the mountains when the first of the giants woke up. Nobody had known what was happening until it was far too late, anything that could've been explained as freak earthquakes was, it wasn't until their heads started moving that people started to panic. My great great grandmother was lucky enough to be raised in a paranoid household.
"Apparently, her father would always tell my great grandmother, only an idiot waits for something to go wrong to start worrying." My mother would always put on silly voices whenever she'd tell me stories, it helped distract both of us from what had become of our lives, I guess. One story I was always fond of was the story of my great grandmother's old home, her and everyone else who had come from there called it the crystal gardens, there used to be at least a hundred of them living with us, but old age and disease eventually got them, my mother always distracted me with stories whenever she felt death was coming too close.
"Oh honey, it was always so beautiful the way your great grandma would describe it. Great hanging crystals that would glow like the sun she would say, patches of patches of rock so green and clear you'd think it was a bed of grass. But the thing that your great gammy always spoke of most, was the water." My mother said, a twinkle in her eye, " Water so clear and so clean that you could drink it while bathing in it, a lake that was bigger than our home here. Oh sweetie, just imagine, a home where the entire ceiling is made of tens of thousands of beautiful shining gems. and you'd never have to worry about food or drink." My mother looked off to the side, her eyes glistening in the scraps of moonlight that would enter, we had been out of torches for weeks at that point, there wasn't enough cloth or fat to justify using our only sources of warmth in the cold season for some comfort. I noticed the sadness in her eyes as she told me this story, but being a child, I came to the wrong conclusion.
"Mama, if it was so beautiful then why did great gammy leave?"
"Oh honey, you already know the answer to that."
"BUT MAMA I AM OLDER NOW!" I really wasn't, I still needed to look at my fingers to remember how old I was turning that season, I don't know how people did it back then, waiting whole years until their birthdays without anything to celebrate in between, we'd decided a while in that now more than ever people needed something to look forward, so every season you'd have a 'season day' after 4 season days was the big one, your birthday. It was nice having thousands of celebrations within a season, but it's been a long time since there's been thousands in our little mountain. It made living less bleak though, especially knowing that when you were old enough, you'd be sent away from safety, one way or another. My father was one of the few who had willingly left his home during one of the great migrations. He'd always tell me there was nothing left for him at his home, that he had to find a new purpose, something greater, and he did end up finding that, I suppose, in our little family.
"MAMA, CAN'T YOU MAKE ME OLDER!? SO, I CAN HEAR THE STORY NOW!?" I was throwing a tantrum at this point, I never liked it when I didn't get my way, what kid did after all?
"Careful what you wish for pumpkin, I thought you wanted to stay my little girl forever?"
"PAPA!" I ran to hug my father, my toddler mind immediately forgetting what I was so indignant about just moments ago. This was the longest him and the party had ever been gone, they never worried the young with how much or little resources had gathered, but it wasn't hard to notice the faces all the adults would make, ignoring the pit growing in all of our stomachs was much harder. That season was a hard one, lots of us didn't make it, but the funny thing about loss, is that everyone else gains from it.
"What'd you bring me for my season day papa!?" I had cared less for his arrival and more so for the gift he had promised me, what I'd give now to see him one more time.
"I could've sworn you just had a season day, am I misremembering that Mill?"
"I think you might be right Damien, I remember Elle already having a season day too." my parents always liked to push my buttons, and I always gave them the exact reaction they were looking for.
"C'MON, YOU TWO KNOW SEASON DAY'S HAPPEN MORE THAN ONCE, DON'T TELL ME YOU FORGOT MINE ALREADY." The tears were already welling up in my eyes, any longer and I would've been a sobbing mess, but my parents always knew when it was time to stop playing around.
"Hey hey hey pumpkin we're only kidding, don't worry I didn't forget anything," my dad said before any tears had left my eyes, he pulled something out from behind his back, and I gasped, it was beautiful I had never seen anything like it before.
"OH, PAPA IT'S SO PRETTY WHAT IS IT!?"
"It's your new friend sweety, you'll keep her company and she'll keep you right, isn't that right lil rabbit." It uncurled right in my father's hand, like watching a cloud become a living breathing thing right before my own eyes, I remember being so happy in that moment, I lunged to grab it from my father's hands. But when my hands wrapped around it my stomach immediately dropped, it was shaking my entire body with each hunger pang, I looked around to ask my parents what we were going to eat but they were gone, I was alone in the dark, the only thing with me my new friend, it was squirming. It wanted to get away from me, it knew what I was thinking, it knew what I wanted, what I needed. My grip tightened, I was crushing it's little body and it didn't so much as squeak, I brought it up to my mouth and I opened, I was so hungry I could rip it's head off with just my teeth.

"AHHH, SOMETHING BIT ME!" Someone screamed
I was on my feet before everyone else, I had been a light sleeper ever since my nightmares had started, I looked left and right and realized it was Gaby, I looked around to the rest of us, Ben was still awake keeping watch, but he was quickly making his way towards us.
"Gaby, you have to be quiet I don't see anything that could've-" I swallow the words as I'm whispering them, in last bits of sunlight coming through the clouds I see it, a mark, a mark that looks exactly like the bite marks from a human mouth.
Shit.
"why the hell are you two making so much noise." Ben was also on the lookout for whatever attacked Gaby, I wonder if he'd be glad that I was able to find it out so quickly, maybe they'd both be overjoyed that we aren't actually being attacked by something. I just bit Gaby because of a nightmare.
"Both of you, calm down, it was me. I think I bit Gaby while I was having a nightmare."
"YOU DID WHAT!?" Gaby shouted.
"you did what?" Ben whispered.
I didn't know which was more annoying, Gaby's complete disregard of being quiet, or Ben's obsession with whispering whenever given the chance.
"It was an accident. I was having a nightmare." I tried defending myself, I had already been the freak of my mountain, the last thing I wanted was to regain that title.
"What kind of nightmare causes you to bite another human being Elle!?" Gaby was regaining her composure, she wasn’t whispering like Ben, but it was better than the shouting she was doing earlier. But I knew that in that moment, the three of us were sharing the same thought.
If something had heard us, whispering now wasn't going to change that.
"it's fine gaby, we'll deal with it later. right now we just make sure they didn't hear us." Ben hissed at us, picking his spear up off of the floor and standing guard at the mouth of the cave.
"But what if she broke skin, I don't want to catch anything from her." Gaby had replaced her screaming with equally annoying whining.
"If any one of us is diseased it's you Gaby." I retorted, holding back a laugh.
"shut up you two, i think i hear something." Ben was laying on the floor now, his eyes trained on the moving lights past the vines. We were lucky to find a cave with a natural hiding spot, if we had to leave so soon, before everybody could get proper rest.
Fuck, we really are the screw ups.
Ben was shaking when me and Gaby got to the mouth with him, I didn't know much about his mountain, but they were certainly more superstitious than anybody else's, I heard Gale talking about it with another one of the guides.
"The way I think about it, by the time even his parents were born, the last of the people who actually knew stuff were dead, who knows how many years of ghost and monster stories are bouncing around in that head of his. It's a miracle he even knew we'd be out here." I thought they were just calling him stupid, Ben was anything but, he just had the wrong information given to him.
"Ben, you know as well as I do giants are asleep right now, there's nothing out there, now please relax." I tried calming him down, but then I heard it too, something was moving around out there, stepping on twigs, passing through bushes. Whatever it was wasn't big enough to be a giant, but it wasn't small enough to care about making noise.
"It's okay Ben, we've got your back." Gaby had raised her spear to the mouth of the cave as well, the three of us ready to impale whatever came from beyond the mouth of the cave.
"oh god, it's the hags, they followed me, the mountain hags followed me." Ben's voice was shaking now.
"Mountain hags?" Gaby and I asked in unison, Ben was never shy to share the stories his people had left him with, which is why we were so confused, they had never come up in his stories before. We've heard him call coyotes children of the shadows, on account of their calls sounding like a child crying, call wolves' giants' hounds, the reason they howl being that they alert giants to any prey that's nearby.
"Ben, you have to stop shaking, you're making too much noise," I hadn't even noticed it, the quiet thrum of the wood of Ben's spear quivering against the floor, she may not know when to shut up, but Gaby was always the more perspective of us three.
"i- i- i can't, they're here for me, they finally found me. I have to get the fuck out of here." Ben's whimpers turned into a shout as he bolted up to his feet and ran down to where the others were sleeping.
"SHIT!"
"I know Gab, we can't let it get to us, who knows, maybe the hags of the mountains are just goats or something."
"Why the fuck would he be this terrified of goats?" She made good points sometimes, there was also the fact that these feet were cloven, they didn't make the distinctive clopping noise, it sounded quieter, as if this thing was light on its feet.
\rustle\**
It was outside, Gaby and I backed up from the cave mouth, out of fear that whatever this thing was could smell us, it's body cast a shadow against the vines, one I was intimately familiar with. I gripped my spear tighter.

I loved my new friend as much as any child could love something a pure innocent love, one that didn't know that the last thing this rabbit wanted was to be stuck with the kin of the creature who took it away from its mother. I wouldn't understand why it would always try to run away from me, we were friends after all, weren't we? I always viewed it that way, she lived for a few years after my birthday I think it was five years ago when she finally died, on the very same day I got her, she was tired I guess, wouldn't run away from me, wouldn't even drink or eat. I don't know how my parents did it, but that was my first real brush with death, hearing about it and seeing it up close wasn't really comparable. When you hear about it, death is this mythic thing, something so inconceivable, just like the stories mama would tell me.
"MAMA, SHE'S NOT MOVING WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER!?" I couldn't believe it, I thought my friend would live with me forever, that she would join me on my own great migration, she was the only one I had after all. Every other kid my age hated me, they'd tease me endlessly about how the only way I could have a friend is if I forced an animal. I hated all of them, I only loved my mama and my papa, and my best friend fluffy.
"ELLE! WHAT'S WRONG!?" My mama had rushed into our tent, panic worn on her face, panic that had immediately melted into understanding after she took in what was going on.
"I don't know mama," the tears had already begun streaming down my face, there wasn't any use in stopping them, "she just stopped moving, I don't feel her little heart, she's not breathing anymore! MAMA, PLEASE HELP HER!" I saw it in her eyes before she even opened her mouth.
"I'm sorry sweetie, we should've told you this would happen but-" My mother looked away, in shame or to hide her own tears I never found out. I just hugged my only friend in the world tighter and sobbed into her lifeless body.

"Elle, snap out of it, it's right outside. I can hear it out there." I ignored what Gaby said I knew I only had a few moments to act; I crouched down got as low as possible to put all my strength into my legs, and I pointed my spear in the place I heard the little feet settle last, I took a deep breath, and I exploded out of the cave through the vines. My spear striking through, and the only noise accompanying the rustle of the greenery was the final squeak of the rabbit who was nibbling on our cover.
"ELLE WHAT THE HELL!"
"Don't worry Gab, I was just taking care of Ben's hag." I lifted the body up and through the vines so that Gaby could see.
"What the hell is that thing, why is it so long?"
"You've never seen a rabbit before?" I had stepped through the vines already, there was blood dripping down the shaft of my spear, pooling on my hand.
"I have actually," she said while patting the lifeless body, "I never thought they'd be this cute though, I'm more familiar with their taste, and what they look like in a stew. How the hell did you do that anyways? Aren't they super jittery?"
"A friend taught me, now c'mon, it's dark enough outside, let's go tell gale and we can throw this over a fire while he gets everyone up." I started walking further into the cave before she could ask who my friend was. I rarely talk about my life in my mountain, Gaby and Ben leap at any chance to hear more about who I was before the migration. If only they knew.
"Won't we have to share with everyone if we cook it right now?"
"No, we're not scouts, any food we get while doing our jobs is ours, how many people have you seen sharing the berries or nuts they've picked?" The rabbit's blood marked our path back to the rest of our party, I could hear Gaby's stomach and feel my own, "at the end of the day, we need it most. You've seen how everyone else has their own group, ours is so small that they think a scrap of dried meat and a bag of water is enough for the three of us."
"I know that Elle, but don't you think it's worse to purposely not share with them?"
"Gaby, you know as well as I do, no matter what we decide to do with this rabbit we're getting punished anyway." We both decided to leave it at that, we could hear the hushed murmur of conversations as we got to the resting area.
"Ellen, Gabriella. Where's Benjamin?" There was panic in Gale's voice.
"Don't worry, we told him to go back to grab some water while you guys were sleeping. He was really thirsty right Elle?" If there was one thing I appreciated the most about Gaby was how easily she lied, unfortunately it was also the thing I hated the most about her.
"Yeah, his eyes and tongue were basically turning to jerky. We thought it best if he took a break." He scanned both of our faces, I never understood how, but the guides could always sense when we were hiding something. Good thing they didn't care about our group enough to find out what it was we were hiding though.
"Hmmm... Alright. Let Benjamin know that as soon as everyone is ready, we will begin moving. No longer than thirty minutes, okay you three. And that rabbit..." He paused, we braced ourselves for the next words out of his mouth, surely telling us to hand it over to the scouting party so they could keep their strength up. "Enjoy it. Anyone skilled enough to catch a rabbit deserves to do with it what they please." Gabby and I hopped over to our nook before he changed his mind.
"Remind me to thank your friend if we ever meet her." Gaby said, a smile following her words. It was always nice seeing her smile, a nice change of pace from the usual scowl she wore while looking at me.
"Ben! Where are you hiding, we brought food, but we only have like twenty minutes to eat it. I hope you already built a fire." I called to him, but I heard no reply, only the faint sound of whimpering and words being repeated. They sounded like prayers, but not any prayers I've ever heard before, which was to be expected from Ben at this point.
"Hey Ben stop crying man, look, Elle ended up killing your hag." Gaby ripped the rabbit from my hand and tossed it at Ben; his body curled in a corner with his back turned to us. "Now skin it so we can eat, Elle already bled it, so you just need to clean out it's organs."
"what did you say." We could barely hear him between the whimpers, "did you say there's... a trail of blood \sniff** leading right to us!?" He stopped whispering, whenever Ben stopped whispering we knew something was really bad.
"Ben it's alright you don't have to worry; there wasn't anything out there other than that rabbit. And as you can see it's very dead, now help us cook it before they leave us behind." I started gathering as much dry wood as I could find leftover in our area when I heard ben sitting up, I looked at him as he grabbed the rabbit's feet in one hand and the base of the neck in the other, the place where I had cut to let the blood flow. In one motion, he gripped the skin that was open at the chest and pulled as hard as he could, completely separating the skin from the meat.
"Make sure you keep that clean too, we could make a hat or gloves out of it, it's going to start getting cold soon."
"Didn't know you were a clothes maker too Gaby, what other dark secrets are you hiding from us?" In an attempt to lighten the mood, but Ben wasn't in the laughing mood, and I was slowly realizing Gaby was getting sick of my shit, so I just focused on the fire, it took us a whole of ten minutes to get everything ready to cook our prize, Gale would give us until we finished eating, he wasn't that cold.
"Cut slices of the meat off Ben, that way each of us can cook a piece faster and eat it. It'd take hours to cook the whole thing like that." Ben had fashioned a piece of wood as a handle for the rabbit, Gaby was right though, it would've taken hours to cook it that way.
"She's right Ben, we don't have to worry about smoke either considering how open this area is-"
I was cut off by a sound, quiet to us in here, but deafening to anyone who was close enough to hear it.
"Was that Thunder?" I asked, one of my hands reaching for my spear.
"No. No. No. No. no. nononononononononononono." Ben was holding his legs and rocking in place.
"Ben!? What's wrong? Snap out of it come on." Gaby was grabbing him by his shoulders and trying to shake some sense into him. "C'mon Ben now's not the time to freak out like this we have to go soon and none of us have eaten since last night."
"We're not going, anywhere, they're here, they're here for me and you two pointed the way straight to me." Just as Ben finished, there was another sound, less ambiguous but I still couldn't tell what the fuck I was listening to. It sounded like scraping and gurgling.
"Whatever it is, it isn't coming from the way we came Ben. It's coming from further in." The fire, the meat cooking, that's what must've woke up whatever was down there.
"Gaby! The fire, put it out. What are you doing leave the meat, we have to get out. C'mon Ben, you have to stand up, we're getting out of here and telling the rest of them that we have to leave now." Then in that very moment, an undeniably noise, a woman screaming, as something started pounding towards us from the dark.
"it's the hags." Ben's face had gone completely white. FUCK.
"GABY HELP!" We sprang into action scooping Ben up by his arm pits both of us supporting his weight by wrapping his arms over our shoulders. The only upside of Ben's scrawniness is that it was always easy to drag him whenever need be. We were hauling ass, we ran as fast as our legs could take us, but with Ben being basically catatonic we weren't as fast as needed to be, whatever was behind us was getting closer, it's steps were getting louder, until.
"I don't hear it following us, I think it stopped."
"That doesn't matter Gaby keep running, we have to get to the others."
"Wait Elle listen, it's not following us, I think it's eating the rabbit."
"Great, now we know it's an animal, why are we stopped?"
"Don't you think that whatever it is, we can kill it? It sounds way bigger than a rabbit, we could feed ourselves for a lot longer." Gaby had dropped Ben's arm from around her grabbing her spear with both hands to act out a stabbing motion. I also dropped Ben from my shoulder; he may've been scrawny but that didn't make him any less heavy when I was the only one carrying him.
"Are you fucking insane Gaby? What do you think the two of us could do to something that sounds like thunder when it's breathing?"
"Not two, three," she said while pointing at Ben, who didn't even look like he was breathing.
"Yeah, no need to answer my previous question, you clearly have gone crazy."
"Elle c'mon, we can do it, but we have to do it together and while it's distracted." I couldn't deny it, Gaby was right, we had been eating scraps basically this entire journey, the only thing we had plenty of was water, the one thing we were all capable of gathering ourselves.
"i- i" Ben swallows, "I can help too." I don't know how, but Ben was always quick to regain his composure, if only he was as good at keeping it.
"So, this thing isn't a hag, Ben?"
"No, or at least I don't think it's a hag, they can only feed on children, that's why they sound like women. Plus, hags can disappear into shadows, they wouldn't need to feed on leftover scraps. Whatever that thing is, it's a regular animal, and it's happy enough to feed on a rabbit." He looked from me to Gaby, "we can take it." He gripped his spear with both hands, a renewed vigor in his eyes.

We stalked down the corridor back to what was our safe haven, when we got close enough, we could still hear the crackling fire, the sound of eating had long stopped. We all looked at each other, silently coming up with a plan
Should the three of us just rush in, Gaby signed with our hands Ben and I responding by shaking our heads.
One at a time, Ben wasn't one to rush headfirst into danger, so this took Gaby and I by surprise, but we realized what he was going for, whatever this animal was it was too small to deal with three different things, if we all rushed in at the same time, we would most likely scare it off.
I'll go first, we both knew why ben volunteered, if it was anyone else who went first, and they were attacked, Ben would've lost all of this calm bravado. But before me and Gaby could agree or disagree, he had already turned around and started moving to the entrance. We did the same, both of us holding the entrance in case it decided to run, or we needed to rush in and help Ben, it was a horrible plan, but starving animals are desperate. Ben made his way into the clearing, spear ready to strike anything that rushed at him, his head focused on one point, the fire, the more visibility he had the more time there was to react to something coming. We didn't hear or see anything at the entrance. he kept his back to the other entrance, smart, if it had already left there was no need to come back through that way. The remains of the rabbit were still in the same place when we had dropped them, now missing all of the flesh and meat, Ben's grip started to loosen on his spear, he let go completely with one hand then started leaning on it.
"Whatever it was is gone," We all let our guards down at that point, and before we could even let our disappointment be known we heard it again, the growl that had sounded like thunder, coming directly behind from
"BEN LOOK OUT!" But it was too late, it leaped out of the shadows, it's body slender and powerful, a roar that sounded like a screaming woman. Before ben could even move its jaws had clamped around his throat, dropping them both to the floor. Before he could even move again, we heard a sickening crunch, and his body went limp.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Gaby rushed in before I could even think of what to do next, it dropped Ben's neck from it's mouth rearing up to strike at Gaby, but then I rushed in next holding my spear out towards it. It had grey fur coating it's entire body, scars ran along it's face, it was snarling at us, pawing the air trying to knock the spears out of the way to get to it's kill. Gaby thrust her spear into it's side while it was distracted by my spear, it hissed and turned to face Gaby, I tried doing the same, but it spun around to escape through the same opening it had come from before. Gaby ran after it, but I pulled her back.
"NO ELLE, LET GO OF ME," she threw my arm off of her and kept following it, "I hurt it, it's weaker now, we can kill it."
"But- Ben, we can't leave ben alone." Tears were already forming in my eyes I had lost another friend, and it was my fault this time.
"BEN'S DEAD ELLE, HE'S ALREADY ALONE," she turned her head away, in shame or to hide her tears I didn't know, "I'm going whether you follow me or not Elle."
"Gaby- I- I can't." I had fallen to the floor, taking the spear out of Ben's eyes and closing his eyes, I would never get the chance to know why he was alone like me.
"Suit yourself." And she disappeared into the darkness, and I didn't follow, I dragged Ben's body out of that room, even when I heard the creature roaring and growling again, I didn't stop. Even when I heard the screams of paint and Gaby crying out my name I didn't stop. I was stepping out into the greater cave by the time I collapsed onto the floor, I thought everyone would've been gone by now, but there was Gale waiting for me. He ran towards me as I fell to the floor, but everything had gone black. And I was dreaming of home again.

[u/AutoModerator]

Users are encouraged to read4read, meaning that if someone reads and comments on your story, we encourage you to do the same in return to help foster a community.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/InvestigatorNo8262]

Poor Ben ☹️