《Storm of the End》Chapter VII.II: No Time To Cry
Advertisement
Desperately, I glanced around and noticed that on one of the windows in the room there was a fire escape ladder. That was our one way to get out of here.
I ran over to the window, stepping over the corpses strewn about the room and tried to pull it open. It wouldn't budge. I swore, then screamed, "Come on, open the hell up! Open up!" It still wouldn't budge, we'd have to smash it open and risk climbing through the broken glass.
My eyes urgently darted around the room, looking for something to smash open the window. I saw a chunk of the wall that had been torn off and swiftly scooped it up in my hand. I cringed as I slammed it into the window, shattering it and sending shards flying in the air. With a few more swings, the hole was big enough for us to fit through.
Without hesitating for a moment, I picked up Aaron and pushed him through the window. I heard him cry out as his legs were cut by the glass, and at the same time I heard the door at the end of the hall tear open. "Go down! Now!" I said urgently. Time was running out. I pulled myself up onto the window sill, took one last look at my wife's face and then dove through. I wanted to scream but held my cries as I cut my arms on the glass. As I hopped onto the metal platform, the cold air and rain added to the chill of fear. I wasted no time and instantly started climbing down the ladder. I heard the things running down the hall. The screams assaulted my ears so violently that I almost let go of the ladder to cover my ears. When we made it down one floor, I heard what must have been the door fly off its hinges and crash onto the opposite wall.
Advertisement
Did they know where we went? Would they come after us? I pushed the thoughts aside, I just thought about climbing down the ladder. The ladder soon stopped on another metal platform, which was connected to a series of stairs. Aaron was already another floor below me. Good. As we made our way down the stairs, I kept glancing up to see if anything was following us. As I looked, I noticed that the fog had become much thinner. I didn't ponder too much on it. Go! That was the one thought taking up all of my mind. Escape!
I saw Aaron had stopped on the platform below me. I was about to ask him why he stopped, but then I saw why. The next set of stairs had been torn clean off, either by the strong winds or by the creatures. The ground was still too far below to jump.
We had no choice but to go back inside the building.
I tried the first window, and was surprised when it opened easily. It was low enough for Aaron to get in on his own, so I decided our best course of action would be for me to go in first, in case those abominations were waiting for us on the other side. I peeked my head in, all I could see was darkness. I took the flashlight out of my pocket and switched it on, revealing an empty storage room. The door was open on the other end of the room. I hesitated for a moment, but then swiftly pulled myself in when I heard the screams ring out overhead. Aaron climbed through an instant after me.
I looked at his face for a moment before we continued on, it showed despair buried beneath exhaustion. My face must have looked the same. The adrenaline and panic of the moment was burying our sorrow, but only for now. When we made it out of this, if we made it out of this, we'd be free to let it all out. I pushed the thoughts away again and we sprinted out the door and into the hallway. We came out into the main staircase, the first one we had taken, on the third floor. We both paused for a second when we heard a crash from the fourth floor. They were coming back down. We almost threw ourselves down the stairs, we were moving so fast. Our breathing grew ragged. The adrenaline rush was starting to wear off. The exertion, combined with the terror and sadness... it was starting to really weigh on us. I didn't know how much longer we could go before collapsing. We needed to make it to the car and get the hell out of here or we'd be finished.
Advertisement
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Aaron tripped and fell.
Without missing a beat, I picked him up in my arms. My body ached with pain, but I ignored it.
We couldn't give up. We had to survive. For Jessica's sake.
The screams echoed down the stairs, and I knew that they were almost there. We had to move, and move I did. I barrelled through the lobby, manoeuvring around the debris all while carrying Aaron. Everything was a blur. In mere seconds I felt the rain on my skin, and knew I was outside. My lungs felt like they were on fire, and I knew I was going to collapse if this went on for a moment longer. I leaped into the car and put Aaron into the passenger seat, all in one motion. I put the key into the ignition, and turned.
It didn't start. I tried again, and again and again. It still wouldn't start. The car had finally crapped out on us, at the worst possible time imaginable. I slammed my hands down on the steering wheel and let out a howl of rage, which made me start to cough. My vision started to get blurry. I really had overexerted myself. We couldn't die like this... we couldn't... This was my fault.
I tried to get up out of my seat, but I only fell back in. Pitifully, I turned my head towards the building and saw three hunched figures step out of the doorway. So there were only three in the building. Three! All it took was three of those things to cause that much damage.
My vision blurred to the point where it looked like I was in a chlorine pool and blackness started to envelop the corners of my eyesight. My mind slowly started to go blank. I was falling unconscious. The three creatures shambled towards the car.
The last thing I saw was a set of headlights speeding towards the three beasts, I heard tires screeching and then everything went black.
Advertisement
- In Serial63 Chapters
Dominion Expansion (a 4X LitRPG)
Clay is one of the world's top players of 4X games, a genre where the goal is to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. He's also one of the only players in the world to so stubbornly stick to the one city strategy, a favorite tactic of his that involves only ever using a single city or planet depending on the game's setting. All that matters to him is winning with his favorite strategy, but earning the respect of his fellow players for taking a sub-optimal strategy to its highest level has always been a nice bonus. And now it is because of his skill and entertaining determination that he has been chosen to represent a higher realm in a strategy game where the fate of Earth and dozens of other worlds are at stake. To the victor goes the spoils, and the spoils include entire worlds and billions of lives. That's how he ends up representing the ascended realm of Hell in a grand "game" between an entire pantheon of godly beings and other higher powers. But while it may just be a game to those overseeing it, it is a genuine war for survival to those participating in it where billions of real lives will go to the victor of whoever wins, and many will die before the game is over. Quick Author's Notes: System inspired by Civilization, Endless Legend, Stellaris, and Crusader Kings 2. Combat mechanics inspired by the Total War series. Slow-paced with many long-term plans. Protagonist has a personality heavily inspired by Ron Swanson. Know who that is and love him? You should like Clay. Know who Ron Swanson is and hate him? You'll probably hate Clay. Planning on writing every single day (turn). Days with important things happening will have the system/game mechanics be the priority of the chapter. Days where there isn't really anything important happening will be more slice-of-life and focused on character interactions. Designed a dice-based randomized map generator to create the world as the story goes on, so I don't even know myself exactly what's going to happen as a lot is dependent on world generation. Tech tree with hundreds of technologies already designed. There is a "harem," but it's not the main focus, the girls won't be cardboard cutouts, and I'm not going to completely forget about any previous women in the relationship whenever a new one comes along. One last thing. The "game" starts off with primitive technology level. The current plan is for the "endgame" tech level to be equivilent to WW2-era technology. After that and war just gets boring until you end up in space. Cover is temporary and made from royalty-free stock images while waiting for the real cover's commission to finish.
8 143 - In Serial41 Chapters
Dragonheart - Dungeon Ritual
Teiming, second son of the king of Antalia always had been outshadowed by his older and younger brothers. Desperately trying to gain his fathers approval, which he had lost for pursuing necromantic studies, he obtained a dragonheart. The glowing heart of a dragon, a powerful magic relict used for powerful creation and destruction magic. His goal: Forming a dungeon, bound to his every will. Sadly the unexspected happened. He created something entirely different. A insect had formed inside the dragonheart. What is it? What powers does it have? And can it make the right decisions to survive this world after hatching? Airing every sunday (with occational bonus chapters).
8 346 - In Serial34 Chapters
Room 1997 | J. Jungkook ✔
"Would you dare to go inside?"JEON JEONGGUK+ contains gore, profanities, and violence+ suggested to read during daylightREVIEWED BY @TheBTSWriters AND @regan4life THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!cover created by @suwubins
8 250 - In Serial16 Chapters
Secrets of the Arcane
A Fantasy Novelby J. D. SHINOHARA During a reincarnation in Aidinth in Dragon Wolf's year, a baby is born and dies before he can take his first breath.During a reincarnation on Earth in 2001, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale. That baby becomes the 21-year-old Julien Weiz, a weak but strong-willed man.What if there were second chances? Third chances? Fourth chances? Would you eventually be able to save yourself, your people or the world from skirmish Arcanist who kill each other? Would you even want to?The Dark Emperor who is the shadow of Julien Weiz and his truehearted lover, Freya, as their magical lives tumble through turbulent events in different realms, again and again.However, Julien finds himself troubled by his magical ideals and becomes overwhelmed with moral questions. Will his conscience allow him to do whatever is needed to stop the Arcanist?J. D. SHINOHARA explores Arcane, Spell Arts, and Beautiful Empires to full effect in the fantasy novel to end all fantasy novels.
8 175 - In Serial14 Chapters
The 19th member [NCT FF]
"Boys....I know it's almost time for debut,but...." "WHAT?!?!" 1 girl. 18 boys. Lots of Laughs. Sadness. Arguments. A messy dorm. A story about a girl and her 18 members who go through lots of stuff together as a team. highest rankings: #939 in nct2018
8 186 - In Serial37 Chapters
MaAn : The fairytale
So, its my first ff....hope u like it....Pls koi bhool ho gayi ho toh maaf kar dena..🥺🥺Enjoyyyy
8 439

