A Savage Village

   

Our adventure trip, a group of friends and I, began in a vehicle unlike any other – mine. This marvel of engineering could be both pulled and pushed, adapting to the demands of the terrain. It resembled a monstrous GMC Hummer EV Edition, boasting a staggering 1000 horsepower and a mind-boggling 11,500 lb-ft of torque. Our destination: a remote, ancient village nestled on the fringes of the Bengal border.

The journey was a nightmare from the outset. The roads, mere tracks through shifting sand dunes, twisted and turned like a labyrinth as we penetrated the village. The inhabitants, diminutive and unsettling with their pointed teeth, watched our arrival with palpable hostility. Then, disaster struck. One of them, with a chilling ferocity, bit our beloved dog, Toby, inflicting a gruesome wound.

Panic seized us. Dr. Dev Kumar, the village veterinarian, resided in a dilapidated cottage at the maze's end. We had to reach him. As we pressed on, the sky turned an ominous crimson, mirroring the growing unease. The locals, their faces contorted in fear, urged us to retreat. But Toby, his leg swelling alarmingly, clung to life. We couldn't abandon him in this forsaken place.

Then, the vehicle lurched violently. Shoumik, my friend, and I, driven by desperation, stormed towards Dr. Kumar's residence, a decaying mansion. Eerie shrieks pierced the air as the villagers fled in a frenzy of terror. My gaze fell upon the mansion's entrance – a grotesque tableau of a hand, dripping blood, pulsating like an infernal doorbell. It was cutting itself, the flesh regenerating before our eyes.

Terror, cold and paralyzing, gripped me. My friends had vanished. Toby, now in a frenzy of fear, bit my hand and fled into the encroaching forest. I pursued him, but the dense undergrowth thwarted my efforts. My friends, their voices strained with urgency, beckoned me back to the vehicle. The road had become a treacherous quagmire, slick with mud. I slipped, falling repeatedly, dragged along by my friends.

An unseen predator, swift and silent, stalked us. The road, as if possessed, began to cleave in two, the fissures widening before our eyes. We couldn't see what pursued us, but the encroaching darkness concealed horrors beyond our comprehension. One by one, my friends were devoured in the suffocating silence of the night.

Finally, I reached the maze's end, exhausted and bereft. There, bathed in the eerie moonlight, stood Toby, transformed – a monstrous, tree-like creature. He spoke, his voice a chilling whisper, directing me towards a hidden shortcut. As I fled, I glimpsed Toby battling the unseen beast, its form gradually dissolving into the pre-dawn haze. I escaped, but the horrors of that night, the screams of my friends, the malevolent presence that stalked us, would forever haunt my soul.