"Run for God's sake!" Bella shouted, still dragging me forward, away from the horrific monster chasing us.
Paul, on the other hand, stayed silent, panting heavily, his focus clear.
We rushed under the bed, scrambling toward what looked like the entrance to a rathole. But my mind wasn't on escaping. It wasn't on survival either.
No, all I could think about was the image of a torn-off leg hitting the wooden floor, with a loud thud.
"Get your shit together!" Zoey's voice snapped me back to reality as she slapped me across the face.
Even she was shaking.
I turned around and forced myself to run. Paul and Bella released their grip on my arms but kept their hands on my back, urging me forward.
"It's not far anymore, we can make it!" The old, bearded man shouted.
Loud thuds and deep rumbles erupted with every step the monstrous shadow took. I risked a glance back, only to see a hollow, crimson-glowing eye staring right at me.
My breath caught in my throat as the creature's scrawny, shadowy hand reached for us, scraping against the ragged wooden planks.
"It's reaching for us!" someone screamed from further up the group.
The hand missed this time. But the force of its grasp sent tremors through the floor, knocking some of us off balance. Dust swirled in thick clouds, clogging the air with its stale, woody scent.
No one stopped to help the fallen. No one except Bella, Paul, and the elderly man.
"Come on, stand up! We need to get out of here!" Bella urged, hauling a woman to her feet while glancing over her shoulder to see if the creature was reaching again.
I coughed dryly, my vision blurred by dust.
Then the arm came from the left, blocking our path to the rathole. In one swift motion, it grabbed the entire front row. Stopping just a hair's width in front of Zoey and me.
I locked eyes with one of them, a woman, her face twisted in terror as she screamed for help.
The hand dragged her out from under the bed.
For a while there was Silence.
Then the sound of bones cracking.
The noise cursed my ears, followed by the unmistakable metallic scent of blood.
So much blood.
Corpses, crushed beyond recognition, tumbled to the ground. One of them, the woman, lay with her eyes bulging from her skull, staring directly at me.
As if Blaming me.
My stomach twisted, worse than when I ate that flesh from the wall. But I couldn't stop. Paul was still dragging me forward.
Zoey ran ahead, looking back with clear distress in her dark, empty eyes.
We reached the rathole. Zoey dove in first, then me, then Paul, Bella, the woman they helped, and finally the old man.
Paul and Bella stayed at the entrance, making sure the survivors got in.
By the time we sat down in a loose circle, our group was barely half of what it had been. I sat between Bella and Zoey while the others tried to set up a small fire with whatever scraps they could find.
I focused on the acrid smoke burning my nostrils, until my attention was pulled elsewhere.
"It was Frank..." someone uttered, their voice shaking as if holding back tears.
"Who's Frank?" I whispered to Bella, making sure no one else could hear.
She sighed, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close.
"Frank was the man who... got torn apart," she murmured, the last part barely audible.
"What is this nightmare? As if the tunnel wasn't bad enough!" someone snapped.
Tension cracked.
The man swung, his hand connecting with the soft cheek of the guy beside him.
"And why the hell is this my fault, you bastard?!"
A fight broke out.
Fists flew. One punch landed, then another. A third man got knocked over and retaliated, bashing the attacker's head in return. Chaos.
The dull, wet thuds of fists hitting flesh drowned out the crackling of the fire.
I exhaled heavily, inching closer to the warmth and ignoring the madness. I had bigger problems than dealing with these lunatics.
Bella and Paul, however, tried to stop it, unsuccessfully.
"Guys, please! We can't afford to fight now!"
"Calm down, all of you!"
Bella took an elbow straight to the nose, blood immediately streaming down her face.
I clenched my fists. Then released them, thinking it isn't worth it.
Zoey, sitting beside me, just looked, bored. "Idiots..."
Then a voice struck like thunder.
"Everyone, STOP!"
The old man.
His expression was grim,'like a grandfather about to lecture his misbehaving grandchildren.
Silence.
Everyone turned to him, fists still raised, caught mid-motion.
I barely held back a chuckle. So did Zoey.
"Out there, is a gigantic monster hunting us! It has already claimed many lives of our comrades! And you imbeciles think the right move is to start a goddamn fight?"
His face reddened, veins bulging. I almost couldn't believe that this gentle-looking old man could get so worked up. It gave me goosebumps.
One man tried to argue, but before he could utter a word, the old man slammed his cane into the ground.
Everyone flinched.
"No! You shut up when the elder is speaking! I don't care who started it, you were all part of it. Someone even hit a woman who was trying to de-escalate!" He pointed his cane at Bella.
She smiled awkwardly, wiping the blood from her nose.
"You need to get your priorities straight. People have died. We can't change that now. Instead of wasting time throwing punches, you should be figuring out how to make sure we don't die next!"
He was right.
But I didn't blame them.
It was hard to stay sane in a situation like this.
"We're sorry..." the two men who started the fight muttered.
Paul slumped down next to me, Bella beside him.
"Are you okay?" I asked her. Stupid question. Of course, she wasn't. That elbow must've broken her nose.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, sweetie," she said, taking my hand and caressing it gently.
"If I'm being honest, I don't think we're gonna make it as a big group," I said to no one in particular.
"Oh no, sweetie, that's not—"
Bella stopped as Paul interrupted.
"You're right," he said, hands trembling slightly. "People are starting to lose it. This won't be the last fight..." He sighed heavily, then added: "Desperate people are unpredictable."
"Oh, come on, Paul. Don't say that... We'll figure it out," Bella insisted, still clinging to hope.
But I looked at the others across the fire.
The cracks had already formed.
The group was splitting.
"Nah, it won't work out," Zoey said bluntly.
Bella fell silent.
For a while, no one spoke.
Zoey scooted closer, awkwardly draping an arm over my shoulder.
"Well... at least now we know what needed such a big bed," she muttered.
I let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Yeah..."
The guilt of surviving was a heavy weight.
But even so, a strange warmth spread through my chest.
Then the old man stepped forward.
"Young ones, may this humble old man request to sit with you?"
Bella smiled warmly. "Please, sit with us, sir."
And so he did.
"Are you alright, young lady? That elbow must have hurt... I'm sorry that happened." The old man's voice was thick with genuine concern as he pulled a slightly dirtied handkerchief from his pocket and held it out to her.
"Ah, thank you, sir, but I'm fine. It looks worse than it is, really," Bella replied, at first refusing the cloth. But the old man insisted, gently nudging it toward her.
In the end, she took the handkerchief, though more out of inevitability than willingness, and pressed it carefully against her nose.
She let out a pained hiss but forced herself to keep a warm smile, or at least she tried to.
"Oh, how rude of me… I haven't even introduced myself," the old man continued, brushing dust from his coat. "My name is Robert. It's a pleasure to meet you, even under these unfortunate circumstances."
He held out a hand to Bella first.
"Why, it's nice to meet you as well, Sir Robert," Bella murmured, shaking his hand with just enough enthusiasm to make it seem believable.
"Please, just Robert is fine. No need for formalities."
I sat nearby, silent, overhearing the conversation while blankly staring at the space where the cold cement floor ended and the flickering fire began.
"And you as well, young man," Robert said, his voice warm. A hand entered my vision. "It's nice to meet you."
I snapped out of my daze, twisting my head toward him. Through his long, silver-streaked beard, he offered me a kind smile, his hand still extended, waiting for me to shake it.
For a moment, I just sat there, staggered. The gears in my head locked up. I was still trying to figure out who I was, I simply couldn't handle talking to someone.
"Child?" Robert's expression shifted, concern replacing his smile.
"Oh, yes. Nice to meet you as well, sir," I finally responded, my voice monotone, lifeless. I hadn't realized my hands were trembling until that moment. If I could have, I would have pulled away, but I was already too far into the motion to stop now.
Robert studied me for a moment, his eyes filled with something that almost resembled sorrow. "I'm sorry, boy. I can't imagine how frightening it must be, not remembering anything."
He took a deep breath, about to say something more.
Then,
A strange noise crackled from the fire.
I turned my head and saw Paul standing over it, pulling a burning stick from the flames. He held it up like a torch, silent for a second. Then he turned to us, his expression hardened.
"Let's get moving!" His voice cut through the quiet, sharp and commanding.
Whispers spread through the group, murmurs of dissatisfaction. Paul was asserting himself as a leader, and not everyone seemed pleased about it.
I, however, had no objections.
Without a word, I stood, dusting off the back of my pants, then offered a hand to Robert and Bella, helping them up.
"Staying here is too dangerous. We don't know what's waiting for us," Paul continued. "I'll go and search for a hideout. Or at least somewhere safer than this."
He wasn't wrong. This open space was far too exposed to be safe. If another one of those creatures came creeping from the shadows, more people would die. A tighter, more enclosed space might actually be better, even if it sounds counterintuitive, but when fighting smaller creatures, our chances of survival were much higher than against a colossal nightmare.
We waited for a moment, some rising to their feet, others hesitating.
Paul let out a heavy sigh. He knew it, too, this was where our group would split.
He didn't bother convincing the others. He just turned, walking past me, his arm brushing lightly against my shoulder. Then he stopped and glanced back.
"I hope you guys make it out of here alive. Farewell."
With that, he stepped forward, marching into the darkness.
The rest of us followed, letting the flickering torchlight guide our way.
We were barely a third of the group, the other two-thirds remained huddled around the fire, unwilling to leave.
"It was to be expected," Zoey murmured as we walked. "After everything that happened, there was no way the group would stay together. Better for the split to happen sooner rather than later."
Her words were blunt, but she wasn't wrong. Now that we were a smaller group, the risk of internal conflict was lower.
"Don't fall behind, kids! It's dangerous!" Bella called out, urging us to close the gap.
We walked.
And walked.
And walked.
"How big is this goddamn mansion?" I muttered under my breath after what felt like an eternity.
Ten minutes, maybe. But still, too long.
Screams started.
They came from behind us.
We all stopped, heads turning toward the sound. No one spoke. We just listened.
Paul was the first to break the silence. His voice was cold, detached. "It was to be expected. At least now we know there are creatures here as well."
Without another word, he turned and continued walking.
We followed.
Eventually, we reached what looked like a wall, cobbled together from wooden planks and whatever other materials had been scavenged. Paul examined the area for a moment before finding a lever.
He grabbed hold of it and yanked it down.
With a loud bang and a cloud of dust, a gate crashed open, revealing what lay beyond.
I squinted through the haze.
It was a shelter. A crude one, just a few planks nailed together to form small, rickety structures. A burned-out campfire sat in the center, the remains of past occupants long gone.
"A shelter..." I murmured.
"Yeah," Paul confirmed, stepping over the fallen gate. "Looks like some people were here before us."
"Does that mean there are other people still here?" Zoey asked, peering inside.
Robert, who stood just behind Paul, shook his head. "Unlikely. It looks abandoned. And has been for quite some time."
Paul continued forward, cautiously surveying the area.
The sight of a place, any place, that seemed relatively safe made my body relax instinctively. It wasn't good. Letting my guard down could get me killed, but after all that running, the exhaustion was catching up fast.
Zoey yawned beside me, rubbing her eyes. She was feeling it too.
"Hey, this is good, right?" Bella said, her voice lifting slightly with hope. "We can use it. It should be safe enough for now. Maybe we can rest here, at least for a little while."
She sounded too excited about it, but I couldn't blame her. The exhaustion was weighing on everyone, not just me and Zoey. Running for our lives, barely clinging to survival, it was taking its toll, both physically and mentally.
In that short moment of calmness, Images flashed in my head once more.
The torn-off foot. Blood pooling beneath it.
I swallowed hard. That image wasn't going away anytime soon.
"Yes," Robert agreed, nodding. "Since the walls are still standing, I'd say this place is safe enough, at least for now. The previous inhabitants likely moved on. That would be the most logical explanation."
"What are you waiting for? Get in! We need to close the gate!" Paul shouted.
No one hesitated this time.
One by one, we stepped inside.