Excerpt from FOREST OF THE DARK
A scratching sound caught his attention and he followed it to the large tree where he saw someone crouching by the roots poking through the firm ground. Through the blanket of torrents, he saw that it was a woman with long dark hair, dressed in red.
Rudra rushed to her and put his hand on her clammy bare shoulder.
“Nisha?”
The woman turned but, Rudra could feel his heart stop. Instead of the alluring face of the woman he had seen moments ago, he found himself staring at the grotesque face of a blackened creature with a snout and a ribbon of pink tongue. Her skin was dotted with brown spots and green streaks that looked like mold. But what was far worse was the malodor.
Rudra doubled over and gagged, clutching his stomach as the stench grew bolder.
“Leave me alone!” The creature warned.
“This isn’t you!” Rudra managed to say while trying to keep his nausea down. “Nisha... you were telling me something about my friends.”
“My baby!” She howled and resumed scratching at the ground with her clawed fingers. The nails were sharp and yellow and when they struck a rock, he heard a screech that made him feel faint.
Putting his hands to his ears, he staggered towards her. “Nisha… you don’t have a baby.”
The creature would not listen to him. She dug with her nails as fast as she could and Rudra could just about make out the white bone in the small hole.
Straightening, he realized what she was doing. “You were buried here.”
“He killed my baby!” She wailed.
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