The Long Way Home (Part 4)

Walking through the woods looking around. Making sure nothing is following. I can't help but think about the creature. Still wondering where it came from. Why was the map blacked out? Why the fences? Why the secrecy? Questions I should have just left alone.

Walking for what seemed like a couple of hours, we come to a clearing. This is not the way back. We are back where we started but how? Blood and pieces of what looks like flesh thrown about. Covered in mud and leaves flies all around. The stench of death thick in the air.

Cristal gasps and grabs my arm in shock. I turn and see tears flow from her face as she trembles with fear. Looking towards the direction Cristal is looking at, I see it. The body of Myra. What's left of her. Dried blood all over her shredded clothes. Her face frozen in pure terror and incredible pain. I walk closer to get a better look. Cristal pulls my arm whining a bit. "It will be ok I just need to look" I assure her.

Leaning forward, the flies buzzing around, the smell is intense. I step back trying to breathe in the horrible smell. I close my eyes and take a breath of fresh air. I look up and off in the distance between some trees I see it: the creature.

Cristal grabs my arm and I can feel her shaking with terror. She sees it too. We slowly get down without making too much noise. It hasn't noticed us, yet. It is hunched over with its back towards us. I look around hoping for some way to get away without being noticed. I can hear it crunching on something. It sounds like it's eating something.

Looking around, I noticed a small path to the right of us a few yards away. I motion to Cristal, and she nods. Looking towards the ground, and glancing back to the creature, we make our way slowly so as to not give away our position. I lead Cristal away from the creature, and hopefully back to the direction out of this hell hole.

Making our way towards the path, I can feel a small sense of relief. The creature hasn't noticed us. We keep low and keep moving. I look back and I see the creature still hunched over. Completely involved in whatever it is eating. Distance is being put between us and the deadly creature. For what seems like an eternity, we move away far enough that we can't see it any more. Feeling like it is safe enough to get up and walk, I take another long look towards the direction of the creature. Just making sure it's not following us.

Seeing that it's all clear, we make a little jog to put more distance between us and the creature. Not wanting to get too winded in case we really need to make a run for it, we start walking again. I pull Cristal to me and crouch by a large tree. I whisper to her to be quiet. We listen and look closely around to double check the area. Once we know we are good, we get up and continue or way back to the truck. Hopefully we are back on track, and won't get turned around again. I'm still trying to figure out how we ended up back at the place we got attacked at.

Feeling like we have been walking for hours we lean up against a tree to catch our breaths and plan our next move. Cristal sits on the ground, taking her boot off to get little pebbles out. I lean my head back against the tree, looking up to the branches hoping to see a blue sky. As I look up, something cold drips onto my face, landing on my cheek and forehead. I flinch as it catches me off guard. I look down and smirk thinking it's just tree sap or rain drops falling off the leaves. Cristal looks up at me.

"What's so fun..." Her words fade away as I can see terror in her eyes.

Her chin trembles as she points to my face. I touch my face and wipe away what I thought was just sap or rain drops on my face. I look at my hands and see reddish brown liquid. It has a weird smell to it. I move away quickly from the tree, and notice the ground covered in the same liquid. Dripping all down the side of the tree. I look up and see Charlie. What's left of him.

Cristal whimpers and crawls away backwards. Tears flowing from her face. She tries to be very quiet. I quickly wipe my face with my sleeve. I hurry to her and help her up. A low guttural growl is what meets our ears behind us. A single tear falls down my cheek. Cristal stifles her cries with her hand. SNAP

A twig breaks behind us. It's so close we can feel the hot humid breath down our neck and backs. Frozen with fear, we stand there, backs towards the creature. I don't know what to do. My mind is blank. Except for three words "This is it. "

Cristal whimpers again, but with a higher pitch. From the corner of my eyes, I see her get nudged forward a bit. She grips my hand so hard her nails dig into my hands. I feel a stern nudge against the back of my head, and feel the hot breath of the creature. It is sniffing us. Growling can be heard again along with what sounds like dripping sounds. Almost like saliva dripping from the creature's mouth. Cristal screams and takes off running as fast as she can.

In an instant, I see a blur of fur run past me along with a loud growl. It chases down Cristal. Loud ear-piercing screams can be heard along with the furious growling and snarling of the creature. I turn and make a run for it. I can't save her. I can hear her howling in pure agony.

The screaming stops. I keep running. I couldn't save her even if I wanted to. I keep telling myself as I run as fast as I can. She made the choice to run. What did she expect to happen if she ran?

I stop at a large boulder to catch my breath. It hurts to breathe. My legs burn. I look around to figure out my next move. I can hear a flock of birds fluttering about, and then taking off as if something startled them. I take off running again. The creature is coming. I can hear it. The pounding of the creature's paws and it chases me. Tears are welling up in my eyes. Mixed with my sweat, it's making it hard to see where I'm running to.

A horn echoes over the trees. A car horn. My heart is pounding. I run towards the sound. I can hear someone yelling. It sounds like more people. I have to keep running. I glance back as the creature is gaining on me. Branches whip my face as I run past the trees. I can see a truck. A military truck.

I can see people. Military. I am almost there. Almost safe. I yell out for help. Something crashes into me, knocking the air out of my lungs before I get the words out. I fall hard to the ground. I get flipped over, and the creature is over me. He raises his massive paws and swipes at my face. I can feel warm liquid dripping from my face. Intense pain shoots up my face. I try to scream, but nothing comes out. I turn over and try to crawl away, and I can feel something hanging from my face. I reach for my face and feel flesh dangling. So much pain. Tears flowing. I can see the military personnel climbing into the truck and pulling away.

I try to call for help but nothing comes out. The pain is intense. The creature flips me back over and he kneels down to my face. He opens his mouth and sharp teeth covered in blood and a bit flesh can be seen.

"This is it."

The end.