chapter 8
826 Words
**Chapter 8: No More Running**
The creature didn’t attack.
Not immediately.
It *studied* them, its head c****d at an unnatural angle, its too-long fingers twitching at its sides. The morning mist curled around its emaciated frame, making it seem almost spectral.
Noah buried his face in Elena’s neck, his entire body trembling. Jake took a step back, his breath shallow. “Don’t move,” he whispered. “Maybe it’ll lose interest.”
Elena’s arms ached from Noah’s weight, but she didn’t dare shift. The thing’s eyes—milky white, veined with black—tracked the movement of Jake’s hand as it inched toward the knife on his belt.
A low, wet sound gurgled from its throat.
*Laughter.*
Then—
It *moved.*
Faster than anything Elena had seen. One second it was ten feet away, the next its clawed fingers were raking toward Jake’s face. He barely dodged, the knife flashing as he slashed upward. The blade bit into the creature’s arm, spraying blackened blood.
It didn’t even flinch.
Elena stumbled back, clutching Noah tighter. “Run!”
---
The forest became a blur of branches and terror.
Behind them, the creature shrieked—not the mindless howl of the infected they knew, but something sharper. *More intelligent.*
Jake skidded to a halt at the edge of a ravine, his chest heaving. “s**t. Dead end.”
The drop was sheer, at least thirty feet to the rocky river below. No way down without breaking bones.
Elena whirled. The creature was closing in, its limbs scuttling over roots and rocks with spider-like precision.
Noah’s fingers dug into her shoulders. “Mom—”
Jake grabbed a fallen branch, brandishing it like a club. “Stay behind me.”
The creature paused, its head tilting again. Then, horrifyingly, its mouth stretched into that same grotesque smile.
And it *spoke.*
“Ssssoft,” it hissed, the word slurred but unmistakable. “Ssssoft *meat.*”
Elena’s blood turned to ice.
*It could talk.*
*It could* think.
Jake’s face drained of color. “Oh God. It’s not just a mutation. It’s an *evolution.*”
The creature lunged.
---
Elena didn’t remember deciding to fight.
One moment she was frozen in terror, the next she’d shoved Noah behind her and swung a rock the size of her fist straight into the creature’s jaw. Bone crunched. It reeled back, shrieking—but Jake was already there, driving his knife into its throat.
Black blood gushed. The creature thrashed, its claws slicing Jake’s forearm to the bone. He yelled, but didn’t let go, twisting the blade deeper until the thing finally collapsed, twitching.
Silence.
Then—from the trees around them—*answering cries.*
“There’s more,” Elena gasped.
Jake clutched his bleeding arm. “We can’t outrun them.”
Noah tugged Elena’s sleeve, his voice small but steady. “The river.”
She followed his gaze. The ravine was a death sentence—but the roots snaking down its side? Those could be a ladder.
Gunfire erupted in the distance. *Flicker soldiers.*
Jake met Elena’s eyes. “Go. I’ll hold them off.”
“Like hell.” She grabbed his uninjured arm. “We’re *done* leaving people behind.”
The first of the new infected burst from the brush, its jaws unhinged.
Elena didn’t wait. She hauled Noah to the edge, guiding his hands onto the thickest root. “Climb. Don’t look down.”
As the boy started descending, Jake turned to face the horde, his knife dripping. “Better hurry.”
Elena snatched up the creature’s own severed claw, its edges still razor-sharp. “Together or not at all.”
For the first time since they’d met, Jake smiled.
Then the monsters reached them.
---
The river was freezing.
Elena hit the water first, the impact driving the air from her lungs. Noah surfaced a second later, sputtering, just as Jake crashed down beside them. The current was strong, dragging them toward jagged rocks—but away from the shrieks above.
Elena grabbed Noah, kicking desperately toward shore. Jake floundered, his injured arm leaving a trail of red in the water.
They washed up on a sandbar half a mile downstream, coughing up river water. Noah collapsed onto his hands and knees, vomiting. Elena rolled onto her back, staring at the sky.
Alive.
For now.
Jake groaned, pressing his hand to his torn arm. “That… could’ve gone better.”
Elena sat up, scanning the tree line. No signs of pursuit. Yet. “They’ll keep coming. Voss won’t stop.”
Noah crawled to her side, his lips blue with cold. “Why do they want me?”
Jake’s face darkened. “Your blood. It’s the key to a cure. Or a weapon.”
The boy’s chin trembled. “So they’ll never stop?”
Elena pulled him close, her voice fierce. “Then we’ll stop *them.*”
Somewhere in the distance, thunder rumbled.
Or maybe it was gunfire.
**End of Chapter 8**
- Writer
