The fire was now far behind her, she didn’t stop though, not even taking a second to look back. For all she knew, the manor could hunt her down in some monstrous terrifying way. She kept limping along the gravel path towards any kind of civilization. The closest place was that gas station they had come across on the way here, however that was 3 miles away and she didn’t think she could make that distance in her condition.
Suddenly she heard a loud deep screech behind her, this was when she turned around.
The fire was far in the distance, it illuminated the whole manor giving it a deathly imposing look, as if the fire was only a decorum to the true hideous nature of the building. Trinklets of rain fell near her.
The noise hadn’t come from the manor, it was off to the right in the woods. She couldn’t make out anything in the forest only the looming dark and the brush.
She heard the roar again, this time closer. Her fears had confirmed themselves; the manor was coming…to hunt her down.
-Predator-
Power, that’s all the beast felt as it rose out of the fire. It ripped away the front doors surprised by its incredible strength. The monster had a mission, which it held closer than anything:
“Continue the cycle”
It locked onto the weak smell that had trembled out of the manor a few minutes earlier. The scent was ecstatic filling the monster with a sense of glee it had never felt before. The feeling to hunt, the feeling of victory in its overpowering grasp.
The monster couldn’t help itself and roared at the top of its lungs, feeling his enormous muscles twitch under the powerful strength of his lungs. He loved everything about his body, and wanted to share its gift with everyone, starting with this flesh which had stumbled out the gates of the manor.
It pounced into the forest, making one metre leaps as his incredible limbs catapulted him of the ground. His speed was incredible, there was no way his prey was going to escape.
-Prey-
She had no choice now, with fear welling up inside her, the girl ran into the left forest. Although the dark was at first blinding she had soon got used to it as the stimulus from her fear gave her the newfound strength she needed. Although she didn’t know if she could escape this monster at least she could make an attempt.
She suddenly stopped though when she heard a noise behind her, it was feet. Not just normal sounding feet but the type of feet which a predator would yield just before it had taken its prey. In a last-ditch effort the girl threw herself to the ground covering herself in the mud which had formed from the rain. Hopefully covering her scent.
The sounds of pounding flesh stopped, it was at least 10m away from her whatever monstrosity was pursuing her. She questioned the very reason she was doing this; it was obvious the manor wouldn’t let her leave. Her fate had already been decided by the book.
A different sound filled her ears now, this soft cracking of leaves. Slowly creaking towards her nearly 4m away. She closed her eyes and attempted to hold her breath. The sound was now 1m away from her. She could hear it, the breathing. It was raspy and deep. The breathes weren’t long though, like the creature was excited. Taking in each breath like a new experience.
The creature had to be nearly on top of her by now…either it had lost her scent, or it had found her and was now simply playing with its food.
Either way she wanted this to end. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.
“Ahh…..there you are” a unknown voice said in the distance.
It sounded familiar to the girl, she listened closely to what the voice said next.
“I guess you couldn’t help yourself could you, It doesn’t matter we can’t stay here anymore. Your job is done for now”
The creature growled angrily, like it was upset about something.
“No….no one survived THAT” the girl assumed the strange voice was talking about the manor. It filled her with sadness knowing that all her friends might be dead.
“You got all of them, anyway, now come back. We’ve got Maisy and Jonathan we can continue our experiments another time and another place”.
The girl gasped silently. Jon and Maise were still alive but they were being ‘experimented’ on. Whatever it was she couldn’t think about it now. Obviously she had bigger things to worry about.
“Now come here boy, lets go” the voice instructed.
The monster followed the voice like some well-trained dog. It was surprising that this monster would just follow this woman like this.
“Let the ashes burn, Ryan. We can find new ones elsewhere” that was the last thing the girl heard before the monster and the unknown woman walked off down the gravel path.
The girl climbed out the mud, completely drenched by it. She creeped back onto the road looking into the distance. The two of them had gone. She looked back towards the manor. The rain was putting the fire out now leaving a cloud of smoke above it. She contemplated her survival and realised how lucky she was. This horror was over for now.
However she knew, wherever those two monsters went which had just pursued her:
Horror followed them.