On a sparrow's wings

Chapter 17 - Run

  Anastasia and Michael made their way through the streets as carefully as they could while Ava followed close, Michael didn’t let her out of his sight.

“Can’t you loosen the rope a bit? My hands are getting purple and I don’t think that’s good.”, Ava complained.

“Why don’t we?”, Anastasia asked.

“Because if we do she will kill us both.”

“No, I won’t.”

Michael kept his silence as he often did and Anastasia followed his advice. They keep making their way through the city. Darkness still surrounded them, but they didn’t dare stop yet, as they were too close to the Red Fist base and Michael didn’t want to risk it.

  “Come on! A little bit looser won’t hurt.”, Ava complained again.

But this time Michael stopped and turned around to face her, “Listen here I-”, a loud noise broke his sentence in half and he shuttered back and groaned with pain. He placed a hand on his shoulder and it was covered in blood. Shouts echoed around them and after them men popped out, their guns in hand and aimed at. The bullets rained, flashes going around the distance, like tiny fireflies.

  Michael grabbed Anastasia and they bolted through the street. The loud noise of gunfire went all around Anastasia’s ears. Bullets went past her body and hit the wall and ground around her, barely missing her. Michael clutched her hand tightly as he ran, his shoulder spewing crimson red blood. They ran and ran, Michael trying his best to keep them in cover of the bullets. Michael groans echoed along with the gunfire, every time he moved his shoulder to run. He clenched his teeth but the groans made their way around them and into Anastasia’s ears. She had had enough.

  She grabbed Michael by the hand and pulled him into a building to take cover.

“What are you doing? We have to run!”, he screamed.

“We have to tend to your wound.”, Anastasia tried her best to keep him stationary.

“I am fine. We have to go. Now.”

“That wound does look very nasty.”, Ava had managed to follow them through the gunfire.

“What are you doing here? Aren’t those your people out there?”, Michael spat out at her.

“Hey they are trying to kill me to!”, she leaned against the wall, “Give me a weapon. I can help.”

“Not a-”, Michael groaned.

“That’s enough!”, Anastasia pressed him to sit, he didn’t fight her.

  Anastasia took off her backpack and found an old bandage, it wasn’t in great condition but it would have to do. She rummaged through Michael’s backpack ignoring his protests. She took out a bottle of whiskey. She had done this for Ethan she knew what she was doing, mostly. She poured the whiskey on top of Michael’s wound, he clenched his teeth and groaned as he lifted his head. He quickly tied the bandage around his shoulder. She noticed the silence outside. Why did they stop shooting?

  Screams echoed through the night one by one they grew and the gunfire returned with it. Something was wrong, it became quieter and quieter and they found themselves in silence again. Anastasia heard it, the screech, the same one she heard that night at the book shop. She froze in her place when she realised what was happening. Ava moved back to them, her eyes crazy with fear as well. Michael was breathing heavily as he leaned against the wall.

“Oh s**t, oh f**k! f**k, f**k, f**k!”, Ava was pacing around, panicking more with each word.

“Shut up.”, Michael groaned.

“Don’t you get it? We can’t fight that thing! We’ll die!”, Ava turned to them, her eyes enveloped in madness.

“I said shut up.”, Michael groaned again.

  Anastasia heard the heavy steps of the beast that was approaching them. They stomped through the night, slowly getting louder and louder. Anastasia’s heart pounded against her chest wanting to pop out of it. She slowly walked backwards until the wall forbade her from doing so. She heard the growling, slow and stable on the other side. Anastasia couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She heard the growling come from her left and shaking she turned her head and she saw it. A giant grey head of misshaped discolored flesh in patches and spots, flopping about on top of a gaping pit of a mouth as large as her torso, rolls of misshapen black teeth littered it. It’s disgusting saliva dropped to the floor and sizzled as they hit it. Small green eyes stood above a deformed long nose, no pupils, no irises, no soul. It growed and it’s nose moved, the giant head slowly turned in Anastasia’s direction. She clutched her mouth so hard she would break her jaw if she held any hard. Her breath froze in her throat and couldn’t smash against sweaty palms.

  A gunshot echoed through the room and the beast reeled back in a deafening roar of pain. Anastasia found herself on the street, Michael pulling her by the hand. With the visage of the beast out of her sight she finally felt she could move once again. She saw the greys start to envelope them, a grey tide hitting the shore and they didn’t have a boat. Their screeching making it hard for Anastasia to even think. Anastasia nervously looked around as they ran through the streets that were getting quickly filled with more and more grey. She heard that same screech again, the beast was chasing them once again. His stomps sounded like a stampede behind them. Anastasia looked around frantically for anything that might help.

  She saw the roof of a building barely being held up by a single wooden pillar. She pointed it out to Michael and they rushed in. The grey beast following after them. Michael stood behind the pillar taunting it and spiting at it’s face. It lowered it’s giving head and rushed Michael, crashing into the pillar. the roof landed on top of the beast it giving out a deafening roar as it finally felt the weight of the debris on its body. They quickly ran out, the greys outside grasped at their ears and shook their head, as if the deafening roar had stunned them. They made their way into an apartment building and barricaded the inside with as much stuff as they could.

  They finally managed to take rest for a bit as they got to the highest floor. Michael quickly took a position next to the window, looking at the beast struggling to escape from under all the rubble, screeching and roaring, reeling it’s ugly head around. Anastasia sat against the wall and she could finally release the breath she was taking in the whole time. It came out large and she couldn’t speak for a while and when she could she didn’t know what words to say.

“What the f**k? What the actual f**k?”, Ava echoed, “You f*****g shot the f*****g King.”

“And he didn’t f*****g care.”, Michael couldn’t lift his eyes from the giant grey.

“The King?”, Anastasia asked.

“That’s what we’ve been calling it.”, Ava took a seat next to Anastasia, “The King of the greys.”

“Get some sleep. We might not get a chance latter.”, Michael said.

“What about you?”

“Go to sleep.”

Anastasia still tried to take his advice and sleep but she couldn't. The night was spent turning and rolling as the screeched echoed outside the window, not allowing her thoughts to rest.