Chapter 14
Twenty days later. The city turned into a skeletal graveyard. The setting sun bled orange across the ruined skyline, casting long, distorted shadows that clawed at the broken pavement.
Abandoned buildings stood like rotten teeth, windows gaping black holes.
Roads were fractured rivers of ground choked with debris – shattered glass, twisted metal, and the rusting husks of cars, their windows smashed in.
Elias moved like a shadow. His black shirt and pants were stained with grime, his grey hoodie pulled low over his forehead.
The worn fabric of his backpack dug into his shoulders, heavy with scavenged essentials: bottled water, protein bars, a first aid kit, a flashlight, some bundles of rope, and bandages.
He sprinted down a narrow alleyway choked with overflowing dumpsters and scattered bricks, the rough concrete scraping under his worn boots.
Behind him, the frantic scrabble-scrape of claws on the pavement echoed off the grimy brick walls. The hoarders – the dog-like nightmares – were gaining on him.
This part of the city was a maze of deep shadows, the dying sunlight blocked by the towering ruins, granting the creatures free rein.
One hoarder, faster than the others, closed the gap with terrifying speed.
It's hot, rotten-meat breath washed over Elias's neck a second before it lunged, aiming to snap his head from his shoulders.
Elias spun, the cold weight of the crowbar already swinging in his left hand.
THWACK!
The impact jarred his arm as the steel connected solidly with the creature's skull. A sickening crack echoed in the alley.
The creature yelped, a high-pitched shriek of pain and fury, staggering back. Elias didn't hesitate. Fueled by raw survival instinct, he brought the crowbar down again.
THUD.
And again.
CRUNCH.
Each blow landed with brutal force, the wet, tearing sounds mixing with his ragged gasps.
He hammered until the thing's single yellow eye was a ruin of dark, viscous fluid and bone, its head a pulped mess of black flesh and blackened fur.
It collapsed, twitching onto the cold concrete.
Elias stood panting, sweat stinging his eyes, his lungs burning. The metallic taste of fear coated his tongue. But the scrabbling behind him intensified. He risked a glance at the back.
More dark shapes surged from the darkness of the alley, their single eyes glowing like malevolent embers in the twilight. A pack of hoarders, driven by mindless hunger.
"Damn it!" Elias spat, the word ragged. The hoarders were relentless.
Yet, twenty days of hell had forged him. His muscles screamed, but they obeyed. He shoved off the wall, the rough brick scraping his palm, and bolted down the alley.
Ahead, the narrow passage opened onto a wider street bathed in the last, direct rays of the setting sun.
He poured on a final burst of speed. Behind him, he heard the frantic panting and snapping jaws closing in.
One creature lunged, its teeth snagging the frayed fabric of his backpack, yanking him off balance for a terrifying second.
He stumbled, ripped himself free with a grunt, and burst out of the alley mouth into the open street flooded with fading golden light.
The pursuing hoarders skidded to a halt at the very edge of the shadows, mere inches from the sunlight.
They recoiled as if allergic to the light, hissing and snarling.
They paced the shadow line, their single eyes fixed on Elias with pure, frustrated hatred, their guttural snarls echoing in the ruined street. But they would not cross.
Elias bent double, hands on his knees, gasping for air.
Relief washed over him, mixing with the bone-deep exhaustion. He looked up at the sky. The orange sky was deepening. Stars were beginning to prick through the haze.
"Sh*t!" he breathed, the fear returning cold and sharp. "It's almost night." He couldn't stay in the open.
He pushed himself upright, ignoring the ache in his limbs, and started running again, his boots pounding on the cracked pavement.
He had to make it back to the relative safety of his makeshift shelter before the last light vanished and the shadows came alive. The ruined city swallowed him as he raced against the dying sun.