Olivia thrashed against the air, her limbs flailing as she plummeted into the pitch-black void. The wind swallowed her screams, confused and panicked.

  There was no floor, no ceiling, only the agonizing wait for a collision that might never come, or one that would end her before she could even blink.

  Suddenly, she felt an immense pain before the world went black.

  In the hollow silence of her mind, a figure materialized from the far reaches of the dark.

  It was a sickly, vibrant pink. Tall and skeletal, it leaned forward with a heavy, horizontally oval head and hands ending in talons that seemed to itch for a grip.

  It didn't move closer; it simply loomed. Those disfigured eyes stared into her soul, matched by a mouth twisted into an empty, triangular peak, a grin that defied every law of nature.

  After a few minutes, Olivia opened her eyes weakly as she slowly regained her consciousness and stirred from her dream, feeling the pain as if her head had been smashed like a tomato.

  She reached her trembling hand up to touch her head that was resting on a rock, staring at her own blood sliding down her hand.

  "... what did I do to deserve this," she grumbled, fatigued, as she slowly and wobblily stood up. She heard something moving in the bushes, causing her to dart her eyes vigilantly.

  She realized the weird, depressing environment surrounding her now, the flat, grassy, and hilly ground like a Windows XP wallpaper, except for the dark-gray, plain sky (or what seemed like a sky) as she looked around in a trance.

  She quickly averted her eyes back to the bushes when she heard the noise again.

  A little bunny emerged from the bushes. It was a mangled thing, skin stretched too tight over bone. The moment it saw her, it unhinged its jaw, letting out a shriek so shrill it threatened to burst her eardrums.

  She bolted away as fast as she could, trying not to pass out again from blood loss as her blood continued to river from her head down to her neck, staining her clothes.

  She kept running aimlessly until she found mountains and a thin, tall, pink door in one of the gigantic mountains.

  She was panting when she stopped running and started observing the door with fatigue and contemplation, debating with herself whether it would be stupid of her if she asked for help from whatever was behind that door or not.

  "... Maybe it was stupid of me when I agreed to that challenge in the first place," she mumbled, "I swear, the minute I'm out of here, I'm going to strangle those jerks." walking to that door anyway.

  "It's not like I have mountains of options now." she creaked the door open, surprised at its neat and rustic interior. She was expecting something like the fever-dream environment she saw earlier.

  Cautiously, she stepped inside, walking toward the bathroom to start rummaging for a first-aid kit.

  While she was busy bandaging her head in the bathroom, the door creaked open slowly.

  She quickly hid in the under-sink cabinet. She held her breath, praying whoever was in the bathroom wouldn't hear her.

  She peeked at the creature through the small crack of the under-sink cabinet.

  She instantly regretted her curiosity as she watched a tall, pink, and huge bunny-looking monster with its teeth covered in dry blood. Its wide eyes and fixed, manic grin directed straight at the cabinet, straight at her.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  After a few seconds, it suddenly ran out of the bathroom.

  She stayed hidden inside with wide, quivering eyes in shock for a few minutes before getting out of her hiding spot cautiously.

  She took a hand mirror and angled it out of the bathroom door to scout the hallway.

  Seeing that the coast was clear, she slipped out and crept toward the kitchen on her tiptoes, silently rummaging through the cabinets for food while keeping her eyes wide open and vigilant.

  She clamped her hand over her mouth, fighting the urge to gag as the stench of rotten corpses parts hit her.

  Suddenly, she heard someone sprinting toward her with heavy steps shaking the floor beneath.

  She darted her eyes at it immediately with shock, seeing the huge bunny monster with an axe stained in dry blood.

  Despite its permanent smile, its wide eyes looked insane and furious; like it was planning to slaughter a chicken, but it fled.

  She scrambled away toward the window and jumped out of it in terror and desperation.

  Bolting away, she looked back and froze. The massive mountain wasn't stone at all; it was a flat, jagged sheet of cardboard held up by wooden struts, and the house was just behind it.

  After a few minutes of running, Olivia discovered another house, a treehouse in fact.

  "... From a trash to another then... well, I've got nothing to lose but my life, whether from hunger or from those freaks... It's best to at least try anything." she observed the treehouse from afar before sneaking to the dusty treehouse after climbing the crooked ladder.

  The minute she opened the front door, a horrible smell backed her off in shock.

  She noticed A dark slick of blood seeped from the kitchen inside, staining the worn floorboards. She stepped inside cautiously with her hand covering her nose at the smell.

  There, a guy around her age, no older than eighteen, hunched over a human, rotten corpse like a starved animal, his teeth tearing through putrid flesh.

  Olivia stepped back the second the guy looked at her with wide eyes, almost excited and sad at the same time.

  He abruptly rushed to her with open, blood-covered arms.

  Out of panic, she punched the guy right in the midsection, forcing a strangled croak from his throat as he doubled over, clutching his belly in pain and shock.

  "w-wait WAIT! I'm a human too! My name is Jacob, Jacob Crane... and... you are?" Jacob's words tumbled out in a frantic rush. His green eyes were wide and flickering against a mess of blood-clotted brown hair. His skin, once a soft bronze, had turned a sickly, pale one that clearly had never seen the sun in months. He wore black boots, baggy jeans with a long black coat that hid most of his frame, but it couldn't mask the stench of his shirt underneath-a tattered, gore-stained rag that had long ago lost its original color.

  "... You seriously need a long shower. And a hospital," Olivia said, glancing at Jacob's hand, which had a missing thumb and a deep cut. "I'm Olivia, Olivia Wilson. How long have you been here? On second thought, you must have been here for months or even years 'cause no sane person would eat a human corpse..." she coldly replied.

  Jacob chuckled nervously with guilt. "Yeah, I just... had to... Oh- wanna join my team?"

  "Team? There are more people?" Olivia asked, surprised and worried.

  "Why of course! I mean, if we managed to fall, then there are surely more as well. But don't worry, we only let the harmless people join us, so we're good. On my team, we help and provide for each other. So, wanna join us?" Jacob sounded too enthusiastic for someone who had just eaten a dead body seconds ago.

  "Wait... how can you trust me that easily? I literally just punched you seconds ago. And how can I trust you?" Olivia rattled off questions with a wary edge.

  "Nah, don't worry about the punch, I know you were just scared and all. And you really don't have any other options down here. You met a monster too, right? Those beasts are wild yet intelligent; they will eat you for breakfast if you wander around alone. But don't worry, we learned lots of things about those backwards, so you wouldn't regret being with a team like us," Jacob replied confidently.

  "Uh... sure, ok then..." Olivia reluctantly agreed, glancing around in wariness

  "Great! Now we should really get out of this treehouse. It was never safe here." Olivia nodded, walking with Jacob as he led the way to his friends.

  ---

  Hello, I'm Hnocookie, or Hno for short. A new writer and hoping to entertain my audience as well as improving my writing in English. I'm always open to suggestions and criticisms.