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墨書 Inktalez
“Ayu, did you hear that just now?” I suddenly stopped beside a grave mound, panting as I asked.
“No, not at all,” Ayu replied, also out of breath.
I listened carefully again; it seemed there were no more dog barks. I shone the flashlight in the direction we had come from, and everything appeared normal. The oppressive atmosphere we had felt earlier seemed to have dissipated.
After catching my breath for a moment, I asked, “What’s your name?”
We both paused, and after a few seconds, we simultaneously asked, “Why were you running?”
In such a bizarre atmosphere, it was unexpected that we could find humor in the situation. Unable to hold it in any longer, Ayu and I burst into laughter. With that laugh, the surrounding atmosphere felt less eerie.
Once our laughter subsided, Ayu said, “You were running through the grass; aren’t you afraid of snakes?”
“I am terrified,” I admitted. “But I was more scared just now. I don’t know what it was, but I felt like something was about to emerge from that place. So out of fear, I just shouted for you to run.”
“I felt the same way. It was so suffocating. Then a gust of wind blew by, making me feel uneasy. I wanted to escape this place quickly.”
“Alright, alright. Now that we’ve made some noise, I’m not as scared anymore. Let’s think of a way to get out of here.”
To my surprise, Ayu fell silent again.
My heart sank as I realized he probably didn’t have any ideas either.
Just as I was about to say something encouraging, I thought I heard a few dog barks nearby—much closer than before.
I held my breath and listened intently. “Woof woof—woof—woof woof!” It was definitely barking, but it sounded deeper and more rhythmic.
At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Ayu tilting her head, as if she had heard something too.
"It really sounds like a dog barking now. Did you hear it?" Before I could respond, Ayu suddenly spoke up.
"Yes, it seems real. It’s coming from our left front," I indicated to Ayu.
We both turned in that direction, our flashlights illuminating the area. All we could see were graves and patches of grass; there was no sign of a dog. Looking further ahead, it remained pitch black with no movement. At that moment, I felt the barking grow more urgent. What was going on?
After observing for a few seconds, I turned to Ayu and said, "We might as well follow the sound and see what's happening. If there's a dog, there must be some life around here; it's too eerie in this dead place. Wandering aimlessly won't help."
Seeing no other options, Ayu thought for a moment and agreed. We switched on our flashlights and cautiously made our way toward the barking.
With two flashlights in hand, we searched but still couldn't spot the dog. However, the barking became clearer and seemed to be getting closer, yet it maintained a distance as if guiding us to follow it. We walked slowly, stopping intermittently. After a short while, I noticed that the graves around us were becoming sparser. Just then, the barking suddenly stopped.
We immediately halted, unsure of where we were. Ayu shone her flashlight around and suddenly exclaimed, "We've found it! This is where we dug last time."
I was puzzled by her exclamation but quickly turned my flashlight around as well. Indeed, we were just a few meters away from the solitary grave! How fortunate! While I was reflecting on this, my peripheral vision caught something at the edge of the flashlight beam—next to the solitary grave, a shadow flickered and vanished.
Ayu leaned closer and whispered, "It's that wild dog from last time!"
The wild dog from last time? It hadn’t died? How could it lead us here? Was it really that miraculous? What was going on? I felt confused as I looked at Ayu; he too was staring in bewilderment at the direction where the dog had disappeared. It seemed this question wouldn’t be answered anytime soon. Without hesitation, I moved forward to dig again. After making a hole, I signaled to Ayu to continue moving forward a couple of steps, and surprisingly, we walked right out of the grave mound. Both Ayu and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Later, when we discussed what had happened in the graveyard, we unanimously felt that there was an overwhelming presence of negative energy there; whether something existed or not remained unknown. It had certainly disoriented us; even our compass might have been affected. But it was definitely that wild dog that guided us out of the grave mound. Since ancient times, dogs have been believed to possess Yin-Yang Eyes; having a dog with us at night felt like having an extra helper. Many dog owners have experienced similar situations—when walking their dogs at night, they often bark at empty darkness or towards directions where no one is present; this indicates that dogs can see things humans cannot. Moreover, folklore suggests that black dogs can ward off evil spirits; the dog we encountered last time was indeed a big black one!
Having exited the grave mound, Ayu and I instinctively quickened our pace, eager to distance ourselves from this place. After walking for a while, I couldn’t help but glance back. Underneath the hazy moonlight, the vague shadows of graves and tombstones were still faintly visible; strangely enough, there was no fog anymore. "What an eerie place," I muttered as I hurried my steps.
Ayu was still ahead while I followed behind. After some time, I asked, "Ayu, are you sure we're heading in the right direction? Don’t waste any more time!"
"Don’t worry; it's fine here—it’s all open land now; we won’t get lost. But you should check what time it is; we need to keep track of time."
I raised my hand to check my luminous watch; it was almost one o'clock. "We need to hurry, it's almost one," I said, skillfully directing the beam of my flashlight onto the ground ahead of him so he could use his flashlight to scout the terrain while I followed closely behind.
"Okay." Ayu quickened his pace, practically breaking into a run, and I had no choice but to keep up with him.
Before long, I heard Ayu mutter something under his breath, and his steps slowed. I couldn't catch what he said, so I matched my speed with his and asked, "What's wrong?"
"These guys aren't listening; they're coming for us! Damn it," Ayu said angrily.
"Huh?" I replied in surprise. "Where?"
"Over there!" Ayu pointed to the left front. I looked over and indeed saw a group of figures in the distance making their way toward us.
"These guys actually dare to disobey orders," I cursed under my breath, though deep down I felt a warmth; they must have been worried since we had exceeded our time and rushed back to find us.
Since they were already on their way, we didn't need to rush anymore. Ayu and I decided to stop and rest in place while we waited. Ayu simply squatted down; after all the exertion earlier, we had exhausted too much energy.
I leaned on my knees, catching my breath for several moments before straightening up to look at them again. After a short while, suddenly a chill ran down my spine! Cold sweat broke out all over me!
"Ayu, Ayu, wait! It's not them," I said, my voice trembling with fear.
"What?!" Ayu, who had been resting on the ground, immediately stood up and looked in the same direction as me.
The figures in the distance drew closer. Ayu took a few steps forward to get a better look, but I could tell he realized something was off too because he suddenly froze in place.
Those were definitely not our classmates! First of all, there were far too many figures—definitely more than eight people—and it was impossible to tell how many there actually were at a glance. This ruled out the possibility of them being from our class or any other class. Secondly, there wasn't a single beam of flashlight or light coming from that group; they moved through the wilderness shrouded in darkness, their shadows flickering indistinctly under the moonlight. Thirdly, there was no sound at all. With so many people marching, it shouldn't have been silent—there should have been some coughs or murmurs—but this group advanced toward us like a ghostly army without making a sound.
"Old Wang, do you see who they are?" Ayu asked as he stepped back a few paces.
"I don't know." I felt a deep sense of unease. Could it be a military exercise from the nearby garrison? However, our troops would always carry signal lights or necessary flashlights for safety and communication during night marches. This nighttime marching unit did not fit any of those criteria.
As the approaching group drew nearer, Ayu anxiously asked, "Old Wang, Old Wang, what should we do? They're coming towards us!"
What could we do? I looked around; it was an open field with no place to hide. Running was out of the question; the rain had turned the ground into a muddy mess, and it was too late to escape now. But retreating back to the grave mounds was something I would never do, even if it meant death.
I swallowed hard. That night when we turned back, I had seen a group of people. Was this the same group? Did they always appear around one o'clock? If this group wasn't human, then what were they? Ghosts?! Honestly, I had never seen a ghost and had always been skeptical about such things. But now, the thought sent waves of fear through me.
Watching horror movies and experiencing real fear are two different things! I gritted my teeth and managed to say a few words: "Let's just observe for now!" With that, I immediately raised my gun and attached the bayonet, slinging it across my chest. Perhaps it would amuse some onlookers, but as a soldier, my instinct in the face of danger was to rely on my weapon.
Seeing this, Ayu followed suit and attached her bayonet as well. We stood side by side, tense and alert, watching the increasingly close group.
I signaled for Ayu to turn off her flashlight. At that moment, I feared that if the light shone on figures resembling zombies, I wouldn't be able to handle it. Additionally, I thought that turning off the light might reduce our visibility.
I pulled Ayu back slowly, hoping to avoid crossing paths with the group. But before we could move more than a few steps, they were already right in front of us!
(To be continued; more exciting developments tomorrow!)
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