The Skin,We Shed

Chapter Nine: The Dividing Line

​Bursting back out into the dense pine forest, Leo ran blindly through the dark, the snapping of branches and the mechanical screeches of the creatures echoing fiercely behind him.

​The terrain was changing. The thick forest began to thin out, replaced by jagged concrete pillars and rusted chain-link fences half-swallowed by thorny vines.

​He was reaching the outer perimeter of Blackwood Ridge—the old industrial zone that had been abandoned decades ago.

​He ducked through a gaping hole in a rusted wire fence, scrambling across an overgrown concrete courtyard. Ahead of him loomed a massive, dilapidated structure with broken windows and a collapsed roof—an old telegraph relay station from the mid-century, long forgotten by the maps.

​Behind him, the pack broke through the fence line. Their heavy, uneven footsteps sounded closer than ever. They weren't just chasing him anymore; they were herding him.

​Leo scanned the courtyard desperately. The main doors of the relay station were boarded up with rotting plywood, but a rusted iron ladder attached to the exterior wall climbed straight up to an open second-story window.

​It was a vertical climb, wide open and completely exposed, but it was his only chance.

​He leaped toward the ladder, his bleeding palms catching the cold iron rungs with a sharp sting. He hauled himself upward, hand over hand, his muscles burning with exhaustion as the creatures flooded into the courtyard below.

​Looking down, Leo saw three of them standing directly beneath the ladder. Their bodies began to twist and melt together in the dim light, stretching upward like dark, liquid shadows trying to reach the rungs.

​Leo climbed faster, ignoring the fire in his shoulders, and threw himself headfirst through the open second-story window just as a cold, clutching hand grazed the heel of his sneaker.

​He tumbled hard onto a dusty wooden floor, rolling to a stop inside a dark, cavernous room filled with ancient, inactive mainframe computers.