It's a miracle, but Hestia manages to run. She clings to me and keeps pace, her breathing loud and harsh in my ears.
I don't dare look back. I can hear the other humans running too, their footsteps echoing through the trees.
I don't dare stop. We just keep moving forward, away from those things. Those monsters.
The howling and snarling continues, getting closer, and then further away again. I don't dare to slow down, not even when we reach the end of the forest. I don't want to see what will happen if I stop. I just keep running until we break free from the trees, stumbling onto an open field of grass.
Hestia is crying.
A girl, long red hair, runs past me. Her eyes are wide, she's screaming and scratched from - who knows what. She doesn't look ragged enough to have been bitten or clawed, but she's been freshly scratched by something.
She trips, right near us, tumbling, rolling.
One of those beasts pounce on her, claws raking across her legs.
She's.
Too far.
I can't just stop.
Hestia is with me, I can't fight those things, I-
Eric appears out from the mess of people ahead of me, and clobbers the beast with a large stick I have no idea where he got from.
It howls, turns, and lunges at him instead. The girl whimpers and screams.
He kicks it, hard. "Fuck off! Shoo!"
The creature stumbles back and growls again, but seems hesitant to lunge.
His eyes meet mine briefly as he helps her up, and gives me a short nod as I pass by.
As if I did anything.
I just ran, I-
Hestia's hand squeezes mine tightly, and her breathing has become shallow. She's shaking all over, but she hasn't stopped moving yet.
I swallow. No time for self pity now, Sarah.
It's just ahead. It has to be.
Just.
Keep running.
There are more of those things around me now, following alongside me, keeping pace. Some of them howl and snap their jaws. They're not close enough to attack - there's others between us and the beasts, and even then, the beasts seem to be reluctant to pounce anyone still moving. Like they want an easier target.
I hope that means they won't chase us for long, but it's hard to tell. Maybe they'll tire soon and stop chasing after all? I'm not sure how fast or how long these things run or what their stamina is like.
But it could be they're long distance hunters.
That could be good though, right?
If we just have to get somewhere to safety, then they'll keep chasing us until we get there and then we'll be safe, as long as we can keep running.
If we can't...
I shake my head and keep running, focusing only on my feet pounding against the ground and Hestia's tight grip on me. The sound of her breathing next to me. I can hear the beasts snarling and snapping, but I'm not looking. I don't dare. I just have to trust that we're still ahead of them.
It's a blur.
We're stumbling. Running.
There are people screaming.
Shouts. Shouts for help.
Shouts to run. Yells. Snapping teeth. Growling.
Howling.
People tripping, tumbling. Falling. Dropped to the ground. Claws ripping. Teeth snapping.
But.
It's not us. I just have to keep moving.
I can't help.
I'm.
I just have to keep going. Have to.
I'm going to make it back home, and so is Mia and Eric and Hestia.
It can't be anyone else but us. It has to be all of us, because that's the only thing that makes sense.
That's the only way it'll be fair.
We all have to make it home.
Somehow.
Some way.
We're going to make it home together, or...
I can't imagine we'd make it at all.
So.
We keep moving. I'm not sure what direction we're running in anymore, just that it's away from those creatures behind us.
I don't look back.
If I look back, I'm afraid I'll-
I'm the one least important to us getting home, anyway. If I get scared and stop running, it'd be better if Eric and Mia didn't risk themselves to save me.
But I can't do that.
I won't do that.
I have to get home and, even more important right now, I can't fail Hestia.
Hestia's grip is still strong.
She's not letting go of me. She won't let me fail her.
No matter how scared she is, she's strong, too.
And if she's strong, so am I.
...It's reasoning that makes sense to me.
It's reasoning that keeps my legs moving.
I'd be mortified to say any of it out loud, but-
All I know is I keep running.
"Quickly, this way!"
That's Mia, shouting from somewhere ahead of us, I can't see her. She must have gotten way ahead. She must have gone so far ahead, but-
I don't look.
I keep running. My lungs ache from the effort of breathing, and I'm sure that I'll collapse soon. That my legs will fail. But they don't yet.
Not yet.
"Toward the caves, hurry!" That's Eric this time.
He must have gotten far ahead too.
It must be that he can see that place we came from.
The caves where we spent the night before last.
I guess-
Now it makes sense why we stayed there. For people like Mia and Eric to know where to run.
So that those of us who are clever enough, who remember, can lead the rest of the cattle to safety in the rocks and cliffs.
--It feels surreal. Having such a lucid thought in the soup of panic and exhaustion I feel. It feels wrong. But it also helps, so I focus on that. On how the aliens probably have it all planned out. This is some kind of sick game they play, that--
That we're meant to live and--
Suddenly Hestia shrieks.
Her grip on me loosens, her arm slips from my grasp and I'm flailing to hold her back but it's too late. She's not beside me anymore.
I glance behind me and--
A beast is right there, it's snatched at her pant leg and pulled her down.
I don't.
Think.
At all.
My body moves before I know what I'm doing.
I'm turning, lunging, throwing myself toward the monster.
I'm not sure what I'm doing or how, but I collide with coarse fur and a strong musky smell, and then there's teeth snapping in my face.
I don't even have time to scream, to react at all. There's no thought involved. There's no fear. Just action.
My hands are shoving its face, but its claws are raking along my arms and legs anyway.
The ground is shaking with the weight of those people running, Eric is leading everyone and I-
I'm going to die.
I know that, even without thinking, without understanding.
I know I'm about to die.
Those are the last thoughts in my head.
The creature lunges for me. Its fangs tear into my shoulder. My arms are being ripped to shreds, and it hurts so much I can barely see straight. I can feel its teeth sinking deeper into my skin, digging in. There's blood pouring down my face and arms, and pain everywhere else.
I scream.
I'm going to die. I know I'm going to die. There's nothing I can do. No one is going to save me. The only person who could even try would be Hestia and--
But she can't fight, and I'm glad of that.
Because it means she's running and getting away from this monster.
A rock slams into its head.
The creature howls, and lets go of me, shaking itself and growling angrily.
Hestia.
Is standing there.
She's holding a rock so big it takes both of her hands. I don't know how she found it or even how someone as frail as her is holding it, but she's screaming and hitting the creature with it over and over.
She doesn't seem to be aware of anything around her, just the creature, just the thing in front of her, the danger, and the fact she's going to protect me.
I don't know how long she keeps it up. Long enough that I manage to stand again.
Long enough that we're running out of people, and about to be the stragglers.
"Hestia!" I scream, grabbing her arm. The beast lunges, but she smashes it in the face again, hurling the rock at it, and then she's moving. Running. I'm pulling her and she's keeping pace with me and--
I won't be able to run long with how injured I am.
I just.
Need to get Hestia as close to the cave as possible.
Close enough for Eric or Mia to see her and get her the rest of the way.
My vision is blurry. It's dark.
I can hear the howls and screams of those things behind us.
But they're getting farther away.
The screams are fading into the distance, too.
That's good.
So Hestia. Will make it.
"--Good."
I manage one word.
And then darkness swallows me.