I woke up to the cold, night air brushing against my face. I heard some quiet chatting in front of me as my dizzy vision cleared. It was John, and next to him was a guard, still dressed head to toe in armor, and still carrying a flamethrower.

“You,” I hissed, trying to move. However, I was held back by something.

“Tsk tsk,” he said cheerfully. “I suggest you don’t waste your energy. Those zip-ties are the kind used by the police. They aren't going anywhere.”

I twisted my body, trying to look behind me. Yet, the only thing I saw was Cleo, who was slowly waking up too. She was tied to a large metal pole like me. I heard her groan, looking to her left and right as she slowly came to reality.

“I am truly sorry about this,” John continued. “ Really. But a sacrifice is the only way to keep the beasts away. A few lives for the many, understand?”

He turned to the guard, “Find my brother and sister, please. They should have the other out here by now.”

He nodded, turning around quickly. “Now,” he said, turning back to us. “If there was some other way to keep the beasts at way, I would’ve found it by now. But it seems like animal meat can only get us so far. Sooner or later, they’re going to crave a different kind of flesh. I should get inside soon.” His smile now disappeared, “As I said before, I’m truly sorry for everything. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be waiting here to ensure your friend comes here safely. Or is she someone’s grandmother?”

As he waited, I tried to break free, but all my tries failed. John reached for his walkie-talkie, whispering, “Where are you? You should’ve been here five minutes ago.”

The dark could’ve made both Cleo and him invisible if it weren’t for the fact we were so close to each other. I looked up, to my left, and right. The things could be anywhere, I knew it. And, in the shadows, I could’ve sworn some were drawing near, watching and waiting.

Not even sixty seconds passed before Brie and Neil came, dragging a still conscious Greeta with them.

John stormed up, hissing something unclear at them. He sighed, telling him to tie her up. Neil got some zip-ties out, tying her to the pole. Greeta surprisingly remained quiet as she was zipped up.

“Let’s get back inside. Now.” John demanded. He was the first to go start walking. Brie and Neil looked at each other hesitantly, as if they were telepathically talking to each other. Neill nodded as he continued walking behind John. Brie, however, stayed behind. When they grew out of view, Brie stepped behind Greeta. To my shock, Brie undid her zip-ties. She then went over to me, undoing mine, and lastly to Cleo.

“What?” was the only word I could ask as she set us free.

“There’s no time to explain. You must get back to your car and get as far away from here as quickly as possible. Now.”

As if in some sheer lucky coincidence sent down from the heavens itself, I could hear the faint thumping of the feat on the ground. Not human. I could tell what they were and who they were coming from. It was them, and they smelled us.

“Wait, why help us?” Cleo asked.

“Because… Because Neil and I… We can’t watch this go on any further. Three months of this, and we just can’t let this slide.” It was obvious she heard something coming too. “Please, let’s get going quickly. We’re pretty far away, so we have to be fast.”

We were about to follow, but then she suddenly stopped. Out of her pocket, she pulled out a Glock. I stood back defensively. But, instead of pointing it at us, she handed it to Greeta. “I found this in your purse, ma’am.

***************************

I could feel my heart ramming in my chest as we narrowed around every corner. We slowly crept our way back, jumping at every single bump and crack.

“Shouldn’t be too far now,” Brie whispered. From the distance, I could see the faint glow of torches dancing and emanating down the pitch-black road. We rounded one more corner, only for Brie to come to a sudden halt. “Oh no…” I heard her groan. I looked past her, my eyes focusing on the hotel. In the distance, I could see John and a guard, standing behind another person. Neil.

“I know you’re out there!” John shouted into the darkness. “Did you really think I wouldn’t get wise to this scheme of yours!?”

Brie stepped forward. Cleo, and Greeta did as well, and with no other choice, I followed behind.

“Let him go,” Brie pleaded. “Please.”

“I have a hotel full of people to think about!” he called out again. “And I would rather sacrifice millions of people to keep this place alive!”

We approached slower, but John yelled, “Not a step closer or our dear brother is being burned alive.” We instantly stopped. But, Brie still kept on moving. Cleo tried to grab her, but she slipped away.

“What did I say!?” John demanded. “Do you want him to die?”

She still kept on moving, hands in the air. “I know you don’t want to kill him,” she said, almost whispering.

An unnerving smile grew on his face. “Oh, alright then.” He turned to his guard, “Do it.”

Brie froze, and time froze again. The guard lifted his flame thrower to Neil. I inhaled sharply as I watched helplessly.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three loud gunshots rang into the air. The flamethrower guard stammered back, falling to the ground. I turned behind me, to see Greeta aiming the gun, but now at John. He screamed out in a fit of rage, diving down to the flamethrower. Before his hands could grab hold, there were two more gunshots. They hit John, causing him to fly back on the stairs. Brie screamed in fear, running to Neil, helping him to his feet. “Are you alright?” I heard her ask multiple times, patting him up and down before hugging him. Cleo went for the flamethrower, picking it up in her hands. Neil turned around to look at his dead brother.

“What are we going to do…?” he murmured, walking towards his brother.

I looked at them, standing in shock over John. Something clearly told me the life they once knew, well atleast their life out here, was now over. They were kids, maybe barely seventeen; maybe they could survive out here, but I couldn’t just leave them out here.

“Where… Where are you going to go now?” I asked, basically blurting out.

Brie glanced over to me, “I… We don’t know. We were planning our escape for weeks, but we don’t actually have somewhere safe.”

“Then,” I began to say, looking over at the others. They knew what I was thinking, and they nodded in agreement. “Would you two like to come with us? We’re heading to Pennsylvania, maybe we can find somewhere for the two of you along the way.

They looked at each other, again seeming to telepathically talk to each other.

“Okay,” they both said in unison.

“Let’s not waste any time then,” I continued.

I unlocked the car door, quickly hopping in. I started the car, quickly driving out. The car sped down the road, swerving past any obstacle to come in our path. My vision focused, ignoring anything going on around us. The headlights beamed on the moonlit road ahead of us.

“We need to find somewhere to stay,” I said.

“Let’s focus on getting out of here first,” Cleo shot back.

My foot slammed harder on the pedal.

“W-what is…” I heard Neil stammer.

Cleo looked the way he was looking. “Markus, drive faster,” she demanded.

I didn’t need to know why. Out of my peripheral vision, deep in the shadows, I saw the reflections. Though faint, I knew they were there. I slammed my foot harder against the petal, pushing the car as fast as it could go.

I drifted down each road, painfully listening to the tires screech across the asphalt.

“Oh dear lord,” Cleo disbelievingly whispered. I couldn’t look, and a part of me didn’t want to. Suddenly, she screeched, “Watch your head!” before literally pushing my neck back. Before I could respond, a talon-like hand slammed through my side of the window. It tried making a grab for anything it could get its hand on. Cleo, instead of trying to jab at it, opened the door. With one hand, she grabbed onto the door, and with the other, she heaved up the flame thrower.

“Keep the car steady!” she shrouded.

I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it. A stream of fire shooting out like a jet. A deafening howl. And then a thud. I only kept driving forward as fast as the car could take us.

“Keep your heads down!” I screamed to everyone, only for them to ignore me.

We drove, and we drove, and we drove further. I don’t know how long it was, but by some unknown miracle, we could see the edge of the city.

“Just a little more!” I said.

I looked at the rearview mirror. I silently cursed to myself, seeing that the horde of monsters did not stop. I could feel my knuckles crushing the wheel and my foot starting to hurt.

“We’re almost th-” Greeta was about to say, but then there was the jolt. It came from the back. My heart sank as I realized what it was: a tire. One of those monsters must’ve popped it.

“Come on, come on,” I begged the car, nearly praying to it. I slammed my hands on the wheel as it still pressed forward. “Yes, there we go…”

I sat back in my seat. For some reason, I couldn’t help but laugh. Cheating death… Never thought I could do that. Cleo joined too, laughing. She turned her head, looking out the window. As if in an instant, her smile wore off. Her expression turned from shocked joy to fear. Before she could open her mouth to say something, the back left door was ripped off its hinges with seemingly no effort in the slight.

“Greeta!” I cried out. My shouts, my screams did nothing. What did I expect, even? She was grabbed, her neck wrapped in the hands of those damned claws. With no other warning or hesitation, she was yanked out of the car.

I cursed out loud, nearly slamming on the breaks. But, before I could, I felt a powerful force ramming against the side of the car. In the movies, something like this would’ve been captured in slow motion. That, however, didn’t happen. In the span of seconds, the car was flung to its side. No. It wasn’t simply “flung”. More like, it was thrown. We all screamed in unison as we were thrown around. Luckily, I was wearing my seatbelt or else I would’ve been flung out. And yet, the force of the car being thrown caused me to hit my head on the steering wheel.

I blacked out for God knows how long. I soon came to it. My dizziness soon wore off as I slowly came to it. Cleo grabbed my arm, groggily telling me, “Wake up… We have to go…” I could only nod as I struggled to burst the door open. She helped, force-kicking it open. I snapped off my seatbelt and climbed out.

I stumbled to the back, helping Brie and Neil get out too, who also looked to be alright but very scratched up. I helped pull them out with Cleo.

“The flamethrower? Where is it?” I asked her. I hate that it was the first thing I thought of, but my mind was in a different place.

“Yeah… Yeah…” she grumbled. She did some digging, pulling it out. “Crap,” she groaned. “It looks damaged…”

“I don’t feel so good,” Brie whispered, kneeling to the side and throwing up.

“Do you smell that?” Cleo asked.

“Gasoline,” I replied. I looked to the car, only to see the canisters now dripping out.

I couldn’t yet focus on that. Not yet. From the darkness came growling. And from it limped a monster. It looked… Injured. Though there was no blood, I could tell we somehow did some damage to it.

Cleo was the first to step forward, grunting as she did so. She aimed the flamethrower at it, and silently said something quiet to it. She then pulled the trigger, and instantly a large stream of fire came rushing out. It quickly engulfed the thing, swallowing it’s torso and part of its arms and legs. The beast screeched, falling to the ground and rolling over.

The gas. I nearly forgot about it leaking out on the ground. As I watched, unable to process what was going on in front of me, I realized it was getting close. Way too close to the gas.

With all my might, I shouted, “Everyone get back!” but it only came out as a regular whimper. We all stammered back as the flames reached the leaking canisters. As if in an instant, more flames burst to life. I didn’t react, and I’m not sure if I could. It felt as if I lost all emotion for tonight, used up completely. We all stared in awe as it lay unmoving. Dead. If I had the strength to, I would probably be laughing.

The flamethrower in Cleo’s arms broke down like in a cartoon. She threw it off to the side. She looked at all of us, and without another word, we started walking. No point in searching for Greeta. As much as it pained me and probably everyone else to think about, we knew it wasn’t smart to go back. Hours felt to pass, but it was maybe only minutes. Despite every part of my body telling me to stop, I kept marching forward. Down the endless road, we went, and through the night we went. Yet, as all hope seemed to end, through the shadows, we saw a house.

“Over there,” I pointed out, only able to throw my hand up a small bit. We beelined over instantly. It seemed to be a forever ways away, but we soon grew closer. On the porch, I saw someone step outside with a gun in their arms. I could only mutter out a cry for help, raising my hands slightly. And then, Brie collapsed to the ground.