Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 156
156
It was dark. Too dark. He could barely see where he was going, but he couldn't stop. He had to keep going. His kids needed him to keep going, no matter what. They were all so tired, but there wasn't any time to rest.
It was gaining.
Come on! James yelled, pulling them along, urging them to go faster, but it was no use. They were dead on their feet. Even Luke could barely take another step. Tim and Val were holding hands, trying to help each other along, but this was a case of the blind leading the blind leading the blind. If only it wasn't so dark...
It was coming up behind them, crashing through the woods. Every footfall was like a blast of thunder in his ears, louder and louder. Trees snapped in half and tumbled to the forest floor at its approach.
Come on! James crouched down. Just put her on my back!
He felt her weight press down on him. She was so small.
Daddy, it's coming!
Just hold on, sweety! I've got you!
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face against his back. He could feel the warmth of her tears through his shirt.
Luke! Tim! Take my hands! Don't let go!
It was so dark he couldn't even see them on either side of him, could only feel the panicky tightness of their grip.
They ran through the darkness in a shambling line, tripping over logs and stones and deep piles of underbrush, but still that noise was coming closer. Those thunderous footsteps.
Daddy! Valery cried. It's coming, Daddy!
It won't catch us, sweety, I promise! Just don't look back!
I want Mommy! Where's Mommy!?
Luke and Tim were falling behind. James constantly had to wrench them along.
I can't! Tim whined. Dad, I can't!
You have to! You have to keep running!
But he simply couldn't anymore. His legs gave out and he slammed into the ground with a crash, pulling James down with him. Valery fell off his back and began to cry in the dark, wailing and shrieking, gasping for breath.
Valery! Tim! Luke! James shouted, groping in the dark. The sounds were almost right on top of them, loud as the destruction of the world itself, closing in from every direction. He could actually feel the earth shaking beneath his body.
Daddy! Please don't let it get me!
He found Valery's hand and squeezed it tight. I won't let it touch you!
He reached into the shadows and Timothy's hand closed around his fingers in a death grip. I'm sorry, Dad! he cried. I'm so sorry!
Shush! It's not your fault!
He tried to pull them up, but they were too heavy. No... he was too weak. He was supposed to be their father, and yet he couldn't even find his own feet. The shaking was so bad he could feel the vibrations reverberating through his skull.
Luke! he screamed. Where are you!? Help me with them for gods' sakes!
But Luke was just a kid. A kid who was hurt and afraid.
You'll protect us, right, Dad? he asked. James could not see him, but he could hear the tremble in his voice. No child should have to go through something like this.
He seized his eldest by the hand and pulled him in close. He had all three of them now, together in his arms. His children, trembling in the dark, too tired, too cold, too hungry, too afraid to go on, counting on him to keep his promise, counting on him to keep them safe.
I've got you, don't worry, I've got you!
Could they even hear him above this ungodly noise? This rhythmic, earth shattering stomping?
An eye opened inside the darkness. A single, bloodshot eye, casting a hellish red glow across the ground like a spotlight, enveloping them all. A wicked mouth, lined with teeth like razor blades, split the sky asunder.
Daddy!
I've got you! Don't look at it! Don't look at it!
It was coming for them, shaking the earth with its footsteps, a sound so deep and loud James could feel it invading his body, overwriting even his heartbeat, swelling from the inside, an evil pounding that simply would not cease.
James hugged his children, shielding them from this terrible sight, that all-seeing eye bearing down on them, and the chomping jaws, slicing its own gums apart with every bite, raining blood upon a black sea of snow.
I've got you! Don't let go! James covered their ears as best he could, anything to dampen that noise, that insistent hammering, that ear-splitting pounding, like someone knocking on his skull, about to crack it open and -
Sorry for the short subchapter. The next ones will be longer.
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