A day that had started off as mildly weird had escalated into nothing but horror.
Mjiormire was washed with both water and blood.
The moon was kind to them, but the beast wasn't.
They turned to the alleyway by their left, almost getting stomped on by the beast by a narrow margin.
The stunt had given them a little distance from it.
It had come to an abrupt stop.
Even with its slender build, it was too large to maneuver into the tight space of the alley.
Marcus turned around, this time he was a little relieved.
The beast backed up slowly.
The boys were now nearly at the end of the alleyway.
[Boom! Boom! Boom!]
Marcus turned around to the sight of the beast tearing through the walls.
It was closing in on them.
His relief was gone.
"Left or right?" Leo asked.
He had been awaiting Marcus's instructions.
"Right!" Marcus instructed.
[Huff, Huff]
[Tap, Tap, Tap]
The sound of their heavy breaths and steps enveloped the silent night.
They were now in an open street.
Only one world could describe the state of the town; Carnage.
They were soaked wet, not from the rain but their own bodily fluids.
For the first time tonight Leo looked back.
He saw nothing.
Surely they weren't hallucinating like mad men.
He nodded in disagreement to his thought.
The sight before his eyes told him otherwise, nobody was spared.
They could easily become part of the casualty toll that night.
[Boom!...Boom!!...Boom!!!...]
The sound was muffled but apparent.
It was the sound of building walls being bulldozed through.
It was coming from their right.
"I thought we would've gotten some distance between us by now.
There should be a path by the left" Marcus recollected.
"Now left!" He instructed.
They did as told, and ventured into the open street.
They couldn't hear a thing except for the noises they made.
No more sounds of growling nor grumbling.
"Why are we on another street?
Shouldn't we be on a narrow path?" Moore questioned.
[Huff Huff]
Moore was running out of breath.
"Stop talking and save your strength.
Just do as I say." said Marcus.
They took a right and kept running, following Marcus's instructions, this went on for hours.
***
After many turns and short breaks, they were now on the main street and close to the middle of town.
Rubble from buildings could be seen everywhere, but yet still no sign of life.
A large pile of rubble blocked their way.
"Going around will take too much time…" Marcus thought.
"Let's climb!" Marcus said.
Leo was the first to climb, Moore followed, then they assisted Marcus who had trouble climbing due to his arm.
After reaching the peak, they descended.
They kept running in a straight line, but adrenaline could only take you so far.
They were drenched in sweat, exhausted, thirsty and famished.
"If we stop now we wouldn't be able to get up again, then again it doesn't look like we can go on for much longer.
…We need a safe place to recover.
Scratch that, nowhere would be safe" Leo thought while nearing his limit.
Their pace had greatly reduced, they had defaulted to walking.
There was a building barely damaged to their greatest surprise, It was to their left.
They decided to scavenge it for resources, Moore stood outside on watch.
"In and out as quick as possible" Leo told Marcus.
He nodded in agreement.
Stepping in, they scurried around, looking for whatever they could get.
It appeared to have been out of use for a long time.
After gathering everything they could scavenge, all they could manage to get was a broken lamp, some rags and wooden staff.
The scavenge yielded naught.
"What do you intend to do with the staff?" Marcus questioned Leo.
Leo spun the staff around.
"Self defense,
We can use it to attack that thing." He replied.
"You think 'that' could damage it" Marcus questioned him.
"What's keeping them?
It's so cold." Moore thought as he stood outside waiting for them.
He shivered as the wind blew against his wet clothes.
"And how can they even see inside, I can only barely see outside"
Back inside they checked inside if they could find any other thing.
They could only muster up a nearly empty match box.
Marcus's ear twitched; and Leo's too.
They could hear footsteps, multiple.
The heavy footsteps of the creature, but something was different this time.
Marcus and Leo looked at each other.
"It can't be…" Leo said subtly.
They abruptly left the building, startling Moore.
"Why did you guys tak-" Moore was held by the hand before he could finish speaking.
"No time to explain" Leo said.
They started running.
He looked behind to check.
There was nothing.
He looked again.
-
[Boom!]
Lo and behold there it was.
The beast charged through the rubble that had previously blocked their path.
But something was weird.
It stopped, stood there then let out a loud shriek.
The boys had to cover their ears.
"Argh! What's that noise" Moore screamed.
The beast turned around, it seemed like their predicament had come to an end.
"Did it get tired?" Leo's mind was in turmoil.
Then forth they came.
"There were more?!" Leo cried out.
There were multiple creatures that resembled it, but they were far smaller, about the same size as a big dog.
This nonetheless did not change the fact that they were merciless beasts out for blood.
Now with a numerical advantage, In a magnitude of 70.
Leo had overtaken the others, Moore was now behind.
Moore looked behind, the sight was horrifying; even more so the thought of getting caught.
The beasts were gaining in on them.
"We're gonna die!" Moore said.
Now falling behind, he was in a panic and had started hyperventilating, he had lost hope.
His pace had dropped drastically.
Marcus looked behind, he noticed how much the gap had widened.
He slowed down, extended both hands backwards and widened them.
"Hop on Moore!" He screamed at the top of his voice.
Moore shook his head rejecting the thought of dying, he hopped on Marcus's back.
The horde was very close now.
"Leo is so far ahead, can we make it?" Moore asked Marcus.
"..." Marcus was silent.
He took a deep breath, sucking as much air with his mouth.
He stopped and got into a crouch stance as if being set for a race.
"What are you doing?
Have you run mad….huh?" Moore couldn't believe his eyes.
Yellow sparks could be seen around Marcus.
"Do my eyes deceive me?" He thought, as he looked in dismay.
[Whoosh]
He accelerated nearly instantly, leaving the beasts behind and catching up to Leo who was more than 150 metres in front of them in less than 17 seconds.
Such incredible speeds at his age, he was barely 16.
Leo was shocked as Marcus sped past him.
"How in the world?
Was he ever this fast?" He thought.
He ended up tailing Marcus.
***
Hours had passed, the beasts were still chasing them.
As they ran more and more joined the horde, they now numbered in the thousands, nearing tens of thousands.
They closed in on them from all directions, and could be seen from the rubble of the flattened houses.
They had long gone past their limits, and were moving with pure will alone;
Maybe something even more.
"How much longer can we keep this up
I can't feel my legs, what am I running for?
Why are we running?" Leo was no longer in his right state of mind.
Light had left his eyes, he looked up and sought hope.
The sky was getting brighter, and sunrise was imminent.
He looked below at the gradual descent towards the end of town.
A wagon could be seen.
"Am I hallucinating?" he shook his head.
It was still there.
He looked at Marcus who was zoned out, Moore who was being piggybacked was dizzy.
"Guys! [Cough! Cough!!] Look ahead!" Leo shouted at them.
Marcus snapped back into it, hope had come back to his eyes.
Leo took another look and he could tell.
For the first time in over 8 hours he smiled.
He had seen that very green wooden wagon countless times, it was four wheeled and pulled by 2 horses.
There were two men seated on the front and a woman and little girl inside the wagon.
"It's my dad!" said Leo joyously.
His expression soon changed once more
A little beast jumped towards the carriage from an alley in front.
"Daaaaad!!!"
***
[Bang!] The sound came from an object.
It was fired by the other man in the wagon.
Leo was relieved.
"Ruuuun!" The men from the carriage urged the boys.
They were getting close now.
"There's a woman there.
Is that mom? Is Hermes lying inside the wagon?" Leo thought.
The wagon started moving now.
"Why are they leaving us behind Leo!" Moore, who was now stable, asked.
"It's nothing like that, they need to be moving before we get there.
If not we'll be caught by those things" Moore answered.
They were now very close to the wagon, which was now transitioning from the paved road to the hardened soil.
They inched closer with every step.
A man stood at the end of the carriage waiting to assist them.
Marcus was the first to get close enough,
The man helped up Moore who was on Marcus's back.
Marcus then climbed over by himself.
Leo was the only one left.
He was close but couldn't seem to get any faster.
As a last ditch effort, he leaped.
He was close, but not close enough.
A large hand grasped his hand and dragged him into the wagon, it was a familiar face.
It was Marcus's dad.
He closed the hatch of the wagon, and got an embrace from his son.
As the carriage moved, the three watched the horde relentlessly chase them.
But they were relieved, they were now in capable hands.
***
The sun rose.
They had survived the night.