The Hole of Melton

Part 1

There was a flicker of light beyond the trees. It was bright enough to catch Lauren’s eye as she crouched in position, awaiting her next prey, if it could be called that. This was not the way life was supposed to go, but since the hole opened up in the center of town, anything was possible.

It wasn’t a ‘normal’ hole, not a pothole that the town decided to ignore, not a hole caused by the falling of a giant tree, not even a hole caused by a meteor. It was like the earth was imploding and the hole was continuing to grow bigger. Every day its size increased. Every day, the news station sent updates to the residents. Every day, Lauren was pushed further and further away from her home. She wasn’t even from this hell hole, but had gotten caught here. She was trapped and needed to protect herself. These people had gone crazy. She didn’t know what else she had expected to happen, but she hadn’t counted on the residents turning into murderers and looting every store in town. The hotel she had been staying out was not only robbed, but it was also burned to the ground. She had run away at that point, abandoning most of the hope she had. She couldn’t go far though. Only to the limits of the hole.

Since relocating, she had had to move her base a few times. Only because the hole had expanded in size. Its growth seemed to be slowing.

Lauren lowered herself closer to the ground, trying to get a better glimpse of the light that was approaching. She could tell now, that it was definitely a flashlight. Someone was wasting their battery life looking for her. Of course, it was possible they stocked up while looting and didn’t care about their current waste. Lauren wasn’t as lucky.

When the light flashed out, Lauren’s breath caught in her throat. The brief moment of light had tricked her eyes for a moment, now she struggled to make out true shapes. She felt along the earth for a weapon of some kind, she felt dirt cake her nails, but didn’t care. She listened to the sound of quickening footsteps. Were they coming for her? She couldn’t quite tell, but a scream was working its way up from her stomach. She tried to swallow it back down.

The sound bubbled up as a face appeared in front of her. It’s mouth was open, but no sound came out and where there should have been there was nothing. What Lauren had once thought was a light, she now realized were the pale hands of the figure in front of her. The hands were reaching for her, scrambling along her arms and shoulders. The contact brought Lauren back to her senses and reminded her of the task at hand. Her own fingers latched onto a rock and she swung it with all her might. The figure, whatever it was, immediately stopped grappling with her. It fell to the ground, completely still.

Lauren rose to her feet, the rock still clutched in her hand as she stared at the figure on the ground. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized it wasn’t a monster after all. It was a person. A severely disfigured person.

“What the hell,” She whispered, afraid to say anything as she lowered herself to get a better look. The figure's lips were cracked and caked with blood, gauge marks covered their neck, and the skin around its eye sockets were scarred and swollen. The vision made her want to vomit. Her stomach lurched when she saw the blood dripping from the side of the figure’s skull. The hood of its sweatshirt had fallen off, revealing a shaved head beneath that was just as pale as the figure’s hands. She reached down and pressed her fingers to the side of its neck, she looked away, waiting to feel something. Anything.

Whoever or whatever it was, was dead. She had taken a life. She hadn’t wanted to. Since the hole had appeared she had just been focused on protecting herself. As an outsider, she was seen as an easy target. No one had a connection to her so they wouldn’t care what happened to her. She debated what to do, glancing around the darkness. Would someone be looking for whatever this was? Did she really want to be around when whoever that was came looking?

Probably not.

She bent down and reached into the pockets of the figure’s pants, finding nothing but lint. She wasn’t in the least bit surprised. She debated getting rid of the body, but knew that would take too much energy. She hadn’t had a real meal in too long and after recent events that was the last thing on her mind.

Her meager belongings fit in a small backpack she had found on the side of the road. It had been full of classroom items and a small wallet with a pink pony on the front. She held onto the wallet, it still held a Student ID for Tara Wane. Lauren had no idea who that was, but she hoped the girl was okay. She wouldn’t let herself imagine what could have happened to her. Maybe she simply dropped her bag when the hole appeared and ran home. That’s what must have happened.

Before leaving, Lauren kicked down the small lean-to she had created from tree limbs. She would leave no trace of being here.

She wandered through the woods for a while, trying to be as quiet as possible. She wanted to hear if anything else was coming towards her. At this point, she didn’t know what to expect. She wouldn’t wander too far from the hole though. She could see it through the trees on one side of her. She wanted to be the first one to know of its changing and if someone was coming to help.

“Caw.”

Lauren froze, holding her breath as she waited for another sound.

From behind her came an answering, “Tweet.”

A man and a woman were communicating. They weren’t even trying to hide their whereabouts. Confidence was dangerous. But there were two of them and only one of her.

She held her bag tight and glanced around at the trees. There was one that looked suitable to climb. She didn’t know how much time she had, but she didn’t have many options. She didn’t know much of anything and that thought terrified her more than anything.

Lauren started to climb.

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