Prolouge
“Aria" she said in a whisper. "Get ready...on my count." I could feel the fear in the air. Palpable as I watched the quick rise and fall of my and Emily's chest as she peeked through the crack in the window of the bathroom we had taken refuge in as the screams in the night echoed through the forest of the compound.
"Are you ready?" she whispered.
My hand clutched the door knob tighter, palm sweaty with anxiety as I fought the apprehension bubbling in my chest catching at the base of my throat. I cursed myself internally for not being able to keep myself under control as I willed myself to speak.
Emily stared at me intently waiting for my reply and I could barely croak out "Yeah."
The words left my mouth in such a hushed whisper I wasn't even sure if she could hear me.
That fear was eased when Emily gave my body a once over before she gave me a quick head nod before she turned back to looking out the crack in the window that allowed her to look out to the horrors happening outside.
I could hear the screams grow fainter in the distance as Emily paused and then turned to me.
"It's getting quieter now. " she whispered.
"Now’s our chance."
I gripped the door knob in anticipation. Aria turned to me and grabbed me by the shoulders.
"Aria."
She stared me in the eyes hard as tears welled up in her eyes that I could tell she was fighting back.
I knew everything about Emily.
Why wouldn't I? I've known her all my life. My first memories had her in them.
She was my older sister.
"Aria," she continued. "When I say go. You go. You run. Whatever you do, whatever you hear, Whatever you SEE. Don't look back. Keep running. Don't stop. Don't stop for anything. AnyONE. Nothing. Keep going. Even if something happens to me. If you lose me don't stop. Keep going until you reach the tunnels. Do you understand?"
I thought about everything that meant when her clutching my shoulders tighter snapped me out my own thoughts and back to her soldering gaze.
"Aria, Do you understand?"
"Yes" I replied as my voice cracked at the thought of us not making it through this together.
How did we even get here?
"Aria, you have to promise me. You have to promise me you'll keep running. That you won't stop. Even if we get separated."
Tears welled in my eyes as she continued.
"Okay? I'll find you. No matter what. I WILL find you. Okay? Promise me you won't stop."
I nodded meekly at her and she shook my shoulders gently one more time.
She always did know how to handle me.
"PROMISE me." she said sternly.
I could hear the desperation in her voice as every word she spoke fell like a hammer.
I paused. It wasn't a promise I wanted to make.
All of a sudden Emily cocked her head towards the window.
The screams that had faded into the distance were suddenly gradually starting to get closer again.
She turned back to me.
"Aria. We don't have time. It's coming back. Aria, PROMISE ME."
I glanced to the window, then back at her. Another scream rang out. She was right. It was coming back.
It was now or never. The amount of victims were dwindling and there was no telling how long we had until it caught our scent.
"okay." I told her.
"No. Say it. " she said adamantly.
"Promise me you won't stop. For ANYTHING. Not even me. Keep running. No matter what.”
“Emily, no. Don't talk like that. Say We're going to get through this together. Like we always do." I pleaded.
"Aria. PLEASE." she begged through glazed eyes. A single tear streamed down her face making a trail down her right cheek through her dirt smeared face.
The scrapes on her arms and knees and the dirt all over her body were the only evidence of what had transpired over the course of the night. And even despite it,
with Emily's petite frame, her usually neat high bun now messy hanging lop sided and loose as it hung from for what seemed like dear life at the bottom of her head resting at the base of her neck, despite it all, with her piercing green eyes and freckles stretched across the bridge of her nose I could still see my strong beautiful sister. Despite everything the events of the night had done little to dull her beauty.
Staring at her now though she seemed to be but a shell of who the radiant person I knew her to be. The events of the night had taken their toll.
I wondered for a moment what I must look like in comparison.
I hadn't even had the mind to look in a mirror this entire time.
Our day to day happenings of school, social lives and superficial vanities seemed so far away from us now.
But that was then. Not now. Right now we needed to survive. Right now Emily needed ME to be strong this time. So we could make it through whatever the hell this was.
I stared at her solemnly. Every second passing feeling like the stretching of hours.
I couldn't help but wish everything would stop. Pause right in place. So maybe I could think of another solution other than what I was about to say.
“Okay. I promise. No matter what happens. I won't stop. I’ll keep running. Till the end.”
I could see Emily visibly breathe a sigh of relief as the tension of her grip loosened around my shoulders.
She let her arms slide down my arms and go limp at her sides as her eyes shifted down to stare at the floor.
“But you have to promise me too.”
Startled, she looked up at me as she locked eyes with mine. Her look both curious with anticipation while at the same time showing an underlying apprehension.
She knew.
There was a catch.
What else could you expect from me?
I’m Emily's sister.
“What?” she said. Her tone laced with suspicion.
“You’re going to live too. You're not going to give up. No matter what happens. No matter what you see. No matter what you hear. You’ll keep running too. And if we get separated you’ll keep running. You’ll do whatever you have to do to survive. And then when everything settles, you’ll come find me.”
Emily’s eyes glistened in the moonlight as she fought back more tears.
The screams in the distance were drawing closer.
Both of our eyes shifted to towards the window and the door separating us from what lied outside.
If it gets here before we get out that door won’t hold.
Our only chance is the tunnels.
“You have to promise me” I took both her hands in mine.
Emily stared blankly at the window. As if lost in a trance of the visualizations of what awaited us out there.
“Emily!”
I shook her hands, breaking her from her listless state and she looked back at me.
“Promise me.”
I shook her hands, breaking her from her listless state and she looked back at me.
Her eyes glistened once more. She gave my hands a gentle squeeze.
“Okay. I promise too.”
“Whatever happens. We’ll survive. And then we’ll make it back to each other.”
I nodded as I squeezed her hands back.
“Come here,” she said.
She drew me in for a tight hug and I held onto the moment of it.
At that moment another scream rang out.
Closer this time.
Emily and I looked at each other.
She whispered to me “We have to go. NOW.”
I nodded and grabbed the door handle again. Emily peeked out the window to gauge our surroundings.
“Don’t look back Aria.” She said. Not even looking at me as she stared at the window.
“Got it” I said. Looking at the door knob as I twisted it preparing to run and not at her.
“Hey Ari?”
“Yeah Em?”
“I love you.” She said.
I looked at her. The moonlight casting a glow on her face through the blinds.
“I love you too.”
“Good” she said matter of factly.
A branch broke in the distance.
“Now RUN!” She shouted.
I tore open the door and we both darted out into the humid night. I could hear trees and branches snapping in the distance heading in our direction and they were gaining speed.
“Follow the plan!” Emily screamed at me as I nodded and we both sprinted in opposite directions into the brush.
She had said it. I thought to myself as I replayed it in my head. Run through the brush. Divide and conquer. Distract it. It couldn’t chase both of us. Or could it?
I shook the thought from my head.
FOCUS.
I continued running in spite of the burning I could feel through my legs.
I could hear the branches snapping in the distance growing closer until abruptly… silence.
‘Did it stop? It must have made it to the clearing.’
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind did the sounds of tree branches breaking in the distance start picking back up again.
Only this time they were louder, and they were heading in my direction.
‘Faster.’ I thought.
I pumped my legs faster hoping with all my might that the force would carry my feet forward faster.
"It's behind me.’
‘Just a little bit farther.’ I thought frantically. ‘I'm almost there.’
I could see the river bed getting closer in the distance. ‘Almost there, just a little closer. I can do it. I have to.’ I looked over my shoulder in anticipation only to see the darkness behind me swallowing the path from which I had come. In the distance I could see a sliver of moonlight breaking through the trees where our refuge had been.
Just as I reached the foot of the riverbed the soundtrack of breaking brush that had been progressively getting closer suddenly ceased.
I turned and my eyes darted around the forest panickedly in order to catch sight of my aggressor.
After a moment of standing paused and hearing and seeing nothing I turned my attention back to the glistening sheet before me. The water of the river usually crystal clear in the daytime now a stark contrast to the abyss of blackness in the night now.
I inhaled a deep breath as I prepared to jump in hoping I would find Emily on the other side.
Just as I was about to jump I heard a branch break in the bush to the left of me. ‘What was that?’ Just as I was turning to look I saw Emily suddenly break out of the bushes to my right.
“Aria! Move!”
“Emily? You made i—” I started, but before I even could finish my sentence Emily crossed the length of distance between us and in one motion pushed me into the river as I saw a shadow come from the left from the corner of my eye towards the spot that Emily now stood in where moments ago I had just been.
“Emily!” I screamed as I fell backwards into the water. The icyness of the water began to envelop me as I watched Emily give me a small smile on the shore line before I saw a flicker of fear in her eyes before she disappeared altogether.
The last thing I heard was her scream.
Then…Nothing.
I closed my eyes and let the freezing darkness overtake me.
