Fire.

  Burning fire.

  On the houses-

  And on the people.

  “What the hell-” Kayle let out a breath.

  “Kayle!” I grabbed him- staring.

  “Y-yeah?”

  “Go-go to your family, I’ll go to mine!”

  “Ri-right!”

  Kayle ran the other way, but just then he came back-

  “What?”

  I didn’t stop-

  Through the fire-

  Through the screams, through the things running about devouring-

  “I don’t have a family!”

  We were both shaking and it was really hard to speak-

  “I thought you had a father?”

  “No, I don’t! That was Bambo!”

  “Oh, right!”

  We chuckled.

  Why?

  Perhaps to distract ourselves.

  Perhaps to stop the dreadful thinking that we were really, doomed.

  One-

  Just one of those things had wiped out two of us and probably would have killed all four of us.

  How we survived?

  I didn’t know.

  But one thing I did know-

  This was not going to go well-

  “ARGHHH!!!”

  Stolen story; please report.

  Screams all around us-

  People were dying.

  Some were dying from the fire, some, from the monsters and some just running around screaming-

  “Grr-”

  Oh no-

  One of those things-

  “Go-” Kayle said, his sword in front. “I’ll take care of this-”

  Burns, cuts- bruises- we were tattered.

  Kayle, much more than me, and yet-

  “Take care? Mmhh…” Giggles. It sniffed. “Wait, why do you have Borche’s scent?”

  Red eyes.

  Scales across its body.

  Somehow a little different from the one we fought before.

  But one thing was for sure- the damn thing was powerful as hell.

  “Oh, your pal?” Kayle grinned. “It was fun seeing its head roll around like that. I even kicked it like a football.” He chuckled loudly- gave me a push. “Go-”

  Gritting my teeth- I quickly ran.

  I didn’t know if he could do it.

  I didn’t know if he could last against that thing.

  And I didn’t want to either.

  I just wanted to believe.

  Believe in him that he’d be okay.

  Damn it!

  I ran past everything-

  Every single damn thing, even my burning neighbors-

  Finally making it to my home-

  But-

  It was already on fire.

  And there was a thing holding my father-

  “Father-” I spoke-

  “Star-” He managed, blood spilling out slowly from his neck- yet his lips curled, teeth showing. “Run… Son.”

  As the thing bit into him-

  The monster.

  “Ah, you must be the son they kept talking about….” The high-pitched voice came out.

  My father dropped on the ground-

  “They?” I spoke.

  “Ah yes, the other two as well…” Teeth, jagged.

  It was thinner than the others and had a plump chest covered in scales.

  A female one…

  “You killed them all?”

  I slowly unsheathed my knife- it was the only thing I still had.

  The grin widened. “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about yourself?”

  I could hear my heart- why was it going so fast?

  My breath- I couldn’t control.

  My vision- going slightly burry-

  With tears?

  My father-

  My sisters-

  Gone?

  Just like that?

  A slightly salty taste- my blood… I was perhaps biting too hard on my lips.

  “Yes-” I said, pointing my hand forward.

  I knew I couldn’t outrun it.

  I knew I couldn’t win against it.

  And I knew-

  Perhaps-

  I was going to die here…

  “Mage? You know magic?” It snorted. “With that amount of mana?” Thunderous laughter as it checked me out.

  “BURN!” Runes surfaced- as a blue fireball blitzed forward- immediately setting the damn thing on scorching flames.

  Scorching blue fire-

  ‘Blue?’

  I’d done this before-

  But it was never blue-

  Even just a few hours ago-

  Damn it!

  The thing screamed- but I somehow went past it- “Father!” I yelled-

  “Run-” He managed, going out cold.

  Still breathing-

  ‘Thank goodness!’

  I ran inside, both my sisters were on the floor-

  Both bleeding-

  Grabbing them-

  They-

  Cold bodies-

  Dry blood…

  “Dead-” The words came out.

  The fire burned bright- and not.

  Yet, my body-

  Had gone cold.

  No…

  Argh!

  Sharp-

  Sharp pain on my neck-

  “They were too weak you see-” It whispered-

  Shing!

  I swung my knife like a maniac- and it jumped back; bleed dripping from its cheeks; a fresh cut. “How scary. You had me scared back then you know….” It licked its lips- “And rather tasty blood… hmmm….” Teeth showing. “I see…. I see… why not?” It grinned.

  “Why not- what?” Every word drained my breath- harder and harder to breathe.

  Vision going pale-

  Throb-

  “Argh!”

  My head throbbed-

  It throbbed- hard-

  Damn it-

  Why now!?

  “You see-” The thing came forward- my vision continuously swayed. “This village, is a hindrance. I hope you don’t mind.” A wink- her feet rose up- above my head-

  And slowly-

  But surely-

  Came down.

  Thud!