I ran—
Faster than I'd ever run before.
The once peaceful town was now filled with the sounds of screams—the sounds of people dying.
Tears streamed down my face, splashing against the ground in tandem with the rain.
In the distance, I spotted my friend trying to help someone who had fallen. A black creature with a disc-shaped body and ten thin, black legs was headed straight for him.
PLEASE, NO. I started running in his direction.
"JACK, RUN!" I screamed.
He looked up at me—and before he could react, the black creature consumed him whole.
The person who had fallen screamed as the creature devoured them. I didn't bother watching. I turned and ran in the opposite direction.
The only thing on my mind was getting as far away as possible. My head was ringing, my heart beating harder than it ever had before.
They're all dying—every single person I knew.
The thought hurt more than anything in the world. No pain could top what I was feeling at that moment.
Climbing over the top of a hill just outside of town, I tripped on an exposed root from a nearby tree.
I tumbled down the steep part of the hill, nearly falling into a crater caused by one of the meteorites, before my hand managed to grab a rock deeply embedded in the ground.
"Holy shit," I exhaled, out of breath.
Luckily, I got out of that with just a few bruises. Standing up, I looked over the edge of the crater. In the center, a meteorite glowed purple with a calming hum.
I looked again. It seemed to be about a 10-foot drop, but the sides were covered in roots from the forest.
Scaling down the side, I jumped the last few feet onto the ground below. The meteorite was huge, about the size of a family van.
But it's weird… a meteorite this big should've caused a much larger crater. I walked toward it slowly.
I should be running.
Something about the meteorite just drew me in—something unexplainable. My hand brushed against its surface.
Wait—how did I even get down here?
A chill ran down my spine as I realized not only had I come down without noticing, but somehow, all my worries were gone… like nobody I cared about had just died in front of me.
I tried to back away, but my hand refused to budge. The purple glow around the meteorite seemed to swirl in my hand's direction.
Suddenly, without warning, a searing pain shot through my arm. Lines of black like veins forced their way beneath my skin.
"Agh!" I gasped as the pain spread through my body. "Nngh…" My eyes bulged as blood streamed down my cheeks like tears.
MAKE IT STOP! I screamed internally.
A scream broke free from my lips, burning my throat. It wouldn't stop. I didn't notice the black creature peeking over the hill at me—nor could I, even if I'd wanted to.
"⍰#≋₱₪✖︎⋄✠ʬ₭≠⊹⋇⧖ꖎ⟆⧊?" a calm, powerful voice asked—completely alien and incomprehensible.
"➹ꓘ☈↯⊗꙰҉☍⧝⇌₣҂☈✷," replied another ungodly voice, it's tone no less disturbing.
The purple light wrapped fully around me as pain continued to surge through my body. The glow intensified—then finally reached a blinding climax.
I vanished.
A black, spider-like creature landed right where I had stood a second before. In confusion, it turned around and walked away.
A bright light streaked across the sky.
BOOM!
The Earth shook—
And then all was silent.