The explosion almost knocked out, but I managed to push through. That was our last resort. Our hail Mary, our light at the end of the tunnel. From what anyone knew, it had been decades since the last ti an Eater was hit by a blast like that. Maybe we would be lucky. Maybe they had lost the defenses they had in the past, and the explosion of a missile could kill them. Or maybe this group lacked the capacity to survive this from the start.
Either way, I kept running as the pouring rain flew at my face, almost as if trying to stop from moving. My legs burned with the strain, but I couldn’t stop. Not now, not this close to where those creatures were. I couldn’t even call for Pops. Or anyone, for that matter. If I did, that could lure the surviving monsters towards . But he should be ok. I made sure to only start the fuse when he was already far from our ho. Even if he was an old man, he was fitter than most people in the village.
For the others… I could only hope they managed to get away safely. If not, I hoped the explosion killed them. That would be a far better fate than being devoured by an Eater. Speaking of it… I didn’t even get to taste the cake. We were in the middle of singing happy birthday when everything started.
I shook my head. This wasn’t the ti to think about that kind of thing. I had to run. I had to survive. Even so, it was a struggle to move through the dark woods in the middle of the night. I could barely see what was in front of . The only thing that illuminated the area were the occasional lightning strikes.
Glancing back, the ash and dust finally had stopped falling. From the raging fire that had once been my ho, shadows of creatures made out of tendrils appeared. So struggled and fell, hopefully dead, but others continued. Searching for the one responsible for their pain.
We knew almost nothing about those creatures. Where did they co from, why they attacked us, how were they so hard to kill, how they were able to evolve so quickly? No one had the answer to any of those questions. But one thing people knew. An absolute rule that everyone who faced one of those monsters should rember. Never attack an Eater. Or else they will chase you until the ends of the world.
There were stories about how, back in the old world, soone flung rocks at an Eater just before boarding a plane to the other side of the country. A few weeks later, that sa Eater appeared in front of them. It ignored all the other attacks it received on the way and devoured that person whole before going after new prey.
But maybe I wouldn’t have that problem. All said reports ntioned guns, rocks, arrows. In other words, all those cases had one thing in common. The Eater saw the attacker. This was a trap, not a direct blow. Maybe that would be my saving grace. The fact that I wasn’t there when the missile went off.
My arms were firmly in front of as I rushed through the forest. The storm was getting even more violent, and the rain that once was refreshing began to sting due to the cold. At so point, I would need to look for shelter, there was a tall mountain nearby that could work. The hunters used a cave to rest when they had to spend the night away from the village.
When they asked to join in one hunt, they also showed that place to . As long as my mory was right, and no Eater was chasing , I would be safe there. Hell, maybe I would get lucky and soone left so supplies.
A noise coming from my left made stop. It was a telltale sound of tal grinding against tal. The noise that ca from the maw of an Eater. Without even thinking, my body shifted to hide behind a nearby tree. From my vantage point, above a small hill, I could still see the flas created by the explosion in the distance, but the shadows were no longer there.
Could it be one of the sa monsters? No, they were too far away, and even if they survived the blast, they couldn’t move this fast. It had to be another.
Maybe a weaker one that wasn’t able to reach the village in ti. Or one that was waiting out here to catch anyone who ran. Could the Eater have so sort of hierarchy where only so of them were allowed to attack a settlent?
Taking a deep breath, I peeked out of my hiding spot. A lighting struck right at the sa ti, allowing to see the Eater properly. It had one of its sickly gray tentacles undulating from side to side as it moved. And another dozen more reaching everywhere around it. Large thick spider legs that beca bulbous near the ground, turning into hundreds of tiny needle like pegs just as they were about to hit the floor.
There was no face, no head, no arms, only the legs and tentacles connected in a circle. In the middle of its body, where all the appendages joined together, was an unnatural aggloration of flesh. If its tallic skin could be called that. The Eater’s limbs were gray, but as it got closer to that center, they turned unnaturally black. It looked as if its own skin was being charred, or tainted by whatever was inside its mouth.
Inside the maw were hundreds, if not thousands, of tal teeth that rotated in various directions. From it a ghastly pale light emanated, but it struggled to illuminate the black limbs that looked more like shadows trying to devour the light.
Despite the sight, my eyes focused on sothing else, and a second flash of lightning confird my fear. Beyond the Eater, crouching near a couple of tree were Pops, my grandfather, along with Michael and Vanessa, two of the children that I taught. All three of them staring at the monster with terror in their eyes. Another shot of adrenaline hit my bloodstream as my mind started working on overdrive.
There were three people there, the Eater, and then . If it was just Pops, I know what he would say. We both run and pray we can escape. It’s likely that one of us would get caught, and even more likely that Pops would try sothing to save . But if I tried to distract the Eater in any way, he would sacrifice himself to give a chance to flee. This was a conversation we already had before, and those were the terms he put forward, refusing to change anything no matter how much I argued.
Michael and Vanessa were also there. If they were alone, the answer was obvious. I would run and leave them behind. Even if I did sothing to save them, how could two 10-year-olds survive alone in the middle of a forest filled with Eaters? It would hurt, and I could never look their parents in the eye again, but that was the best option.
However, they were together. Pops was more than capable of taking care of the children while finding a safe place. They wouldn’t be alone in the forest, and with a bit of luck, they would be able to reach a new village and find another ho. Maybe their parents were running to the sa place, allowing them an emotional reunion.
It was their life weighted against mine. And, just as my parents did before , I decided my life was lighter.
Clenching my fist, I reached for the ground as the Eater moved closer to Pops and the children. Grabbing a random rock, I tossed it at the monster.
“Pops, kids! I love you. And co get , you ugly ass nightmare!”
I yelled at the top of my lungs. A last farewell for them to understand what I just did. Still, only when the rock hit the Eater and the tentacles turned in my direction that I started running again.
This ti it wasn’t just an attempt to flee what could be there, but a race against a relentless being that would never stop. The fact was, I was dead. There were no two ways about it. If people said that humans were persistence hunters, that only ant they never saw an Eater. Try to escape a creature that never sleeps or rests before saying I’m wrong.
Even so, Pops didn’t raise a quitter. I wasn’t going to roll over and let it devour . My dying breath will be with fighting against it. I don’t care if it’s a pointless battle. I’ll struggle to the end.
Running felt much easier this ti. Knowing that a monster like that was after was a massive incentive, but that wasn’t all. While escaping the village, I tried not to attract attention. To move swiftly, but silently. The necklace that Pops gave as a birthday present hit my collarbone following the rhythm of my steps. It was a nto from my late grandmother, who I never t.
I guess that would change soon.
Now, any semblance of care went out of the window. Speed was the na of the ga, and between my participation in the hunts, my daily exercise routine, and the forest parkour that Pops taught , I felt I was doing pretty well. But that lasted only a mont. The tentacles of the creature lashed out at with a tallic clang. A noise that beca the only thing that served as a warning.
I ducked, feeling the rapid movent of wind just above my hair as the tentacle snapped and split a nearby tree in two. A single hit from one of those things would be more than enough to kill . Another clang beca a second warning. This ti, forcing to jump, kicking off from a tree and tumbling forward. A branch pierced the side of my shirt, which ripped almost instantly as I refused to stop for any reason.
The longest tentacle of the Eater started to coil, and with the sound of a tensioned spring being released, it shot out towards . If a lightning hadn’t flashed just at that ti, I wouldn’t be able to see the attack coming. My body shifted to the left, yet it wasn’t enough to get out of the way completely.
Even with a glancing blow against my shoulder, the attack was capable of sending tumbling to the side down a hill. At the sa ti, a loud sound echoed through the forest as the tentacle hit a massive tree that was directly in front of the Eater, causing it to fall on top of it.
I don’t know how long it took to start moving again, but when I looked up, the forest was silent. Maybe I got lucky and the Eater left? No, that shouldn’t be the case. Since when do monsters give up a prey?
Trying to get back to my feet, I felt my dislocated shoulder and warm blood dripping from my arm. Reaching down, my hands found a large tal pole that was just there. Rusted and abandoned. A relic of the old world. Ignoring that, I grabbed a branch from the ground and shoved it in my mouth before popping my arm back in place, struggling not to scream. Not just because of the arm. My ankle was sprained, maybe even broken. Any hopes of running were now gone.
Just as I spat out the branch, the tallic sound of an Eater appeared again. On top of the hill, the sa creature that was chasing appeared once more. Now it had fewer tentacles and an odd white ichor dripped from various parts of its limbs. Another lightning revealed the nurous pieces of wood embedded on the monster’s body.
I chuckled, “That’s what you get, bitch.”
The Eater’s entire body shook, as if it was screaming, before the legs lowered and the creature jumped. Using the last remaining strength in my body, I grabbed the pole from the ground and pulled it up. I could only take one side off the ground, but maybe that would be enough.
“Aaaaaaahhhh!” I roared, doing my best to aim the sowhat pointy end of the pole at the Eater.
The monster slamd onto the tal pipe, and I saw how part of its maw being torn apart by the impact as I, Cassandra, impaled an Eater. Any sense of victory quickly vanished as I felt a pain in my stomach. Looking down in shock, I knew there was nothing else I could do.
I might have impaled an Eater. But it impaled back. One of its tentacles was now lodged inside my stomach, still undulating.
I coughed blood as my strength started to leave my being. More of the tentacles moved towards , but they were just a bit too short to reach. With a smile, mories of my parents ca to mind. I would finally et them, if there was such a thing as an afterlife.
The last thing that I saw was a pure white light. Not one at the end of the tunnel, but the light of a lightning that had just struck the pole in my hands, electrocuting both the Eater and myself. Before I lost all conscious, I could’ve sworn that my chest was glowing. Then again, that didn’t matter now.
And to think that just two days ago, everything was fine. I guess life was about that.
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[New user detected.]
[Identified as the first human user in the network.]
[Human registered as the 7th intelligent species in the network.]
[Warning: User’s body in the process of breaking down. Cannot continue with system integration in such conditions.]
[Searching for solution…]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[Solution found. It will require use of nearby available resources. In addition, solution requires temporary relinquishnt of motor functions.]
[Solution cannot be implented without users’ permission.]
[User Cassandra. Do you wish to live?]
[Yes] [No]
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