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"It's coming."
My fingers grapple at Elianas vibrant shirt as they dig into her skin, my body heaving itself forward through the aching pain the ripples through my veins. There's a slight chill to the air as I push her into the musky fabrics hung within the dark, dusty wardrobe, the scent of untouched cloth filling our senses. I grab at the handle of the door lined with small identical gaps. Wood smacks against wood, a click ringing out as my knees thud against the carpeted flooring, my fingers feeling the bottom of the boxes littered there by me when we first moved in with nan, years ago.
My nerves tingled as something bangs against the door, a repetitive clang of flesh couliding with wood, a faint cracking grows stronger with each blunt thrust it makes.
"God, where is it?" I murmur beneath my breath.
The light is nothing shy of nonexistent, leaving me with only the sense of touch to guide me as I search for the cool chill of the metal that resides in one of these boxes. A box I never thought I'd have to uncover.
A long drawn out splintering of wood whispers against the tired walls of the apartment, and then a loud smack rings out through out our apartment, companied by the shattering of glass, shards and the thuds of the creatures feet scramberling the area around it, searching the creases of the small home.
It's hunting us.
"Naseria," her voice is small, barely a whisper.
My fingers gaze over a cardboard that has wilted and and collected a thick layer of dust. I dig into it, my skin grazing a cold, hard metal from within. A shiver runs up my stiff back, my heart thudding against my throat as my fingers wrap around the heavy handle, grasping it within the loose grip of my palm.
I found it.
I feel a tug on my jumper, straining across my chest as it gets pulled upward, a slight shiver running down the fabric with the motion. I stop, motionless for a brief second as realisation dawns on me.
It's no longer breaking our stuff.
My body is cold as my eyes shift to the door we just slammed close, a heavy, laboured breathing seeps through the small shields of fluttering light, a rot killing any other form of sense I once had.
Crimson teeth peek through the gaps, cheeks dripping with dark blood, eyes white as death itself fleeting through the wooden planks, searching.
It can't see us, not from that side. When I use to played hide and seek with Eliana, I always chose this spot, because no one could peek through the blinds from the other end, the shields positioned in a way where it protected you from their beady gaze. And most were too impatient to actually search through the cupboard for a child, I just hope the same applies for it.
Slowly, I grip the handle firmly between my fingers and leave it gently from the box it had been hidden within, until the gun is levelled with the creature on the other side, mere inches away from the loaded barrel. Its nostrils flare, a gush of air filling its lungs as though it's smelling for us. Its eyes stop moving, now deathly still as it gazes through the blinds, locked on its victim.
Its lips move, just slightly, forming a singular word.
"Human." It is low and gutural as it draws out the unfamiliar word from the depths of its being, an inhuman speech.
A click rings out as it extends its jaw open, never stopping as it only gets wider by the second. My eyes gaze at the creature as it tilts its head back slightly, its jaw now cracking as it extends, like a snake, it widens its jaws for the prey that is to be devoured, bones snapping as a low screech gurgles from its throat. Eliana wimpers beside me as she crouches down where I kneel on the floor, her fingers twisting into the fabric of my shirt. Through the small gap shining light through, I witness in terror as the skin at the corner of its mouth begins to tear, splitting in two, as though it was never large enough for it. The flesh rips the fpale flesh of the puffy cheek apart, the stings of the inner muscle twitching as they hold the remaining jaw together. Its blooded teeth now visible through the side of its face.
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Vines of Hunger | ONC 2024
Science FictionDeath was once something I feared, an illusion that brought darkness with it, but now I plead for its mercy in this time that survivors have come to call, The New Order. ••• It was only a cough to began with, something so simple, it had happened a t...
