THEM

Chapter 23

It happened so fast, I barely had time to blink.

The second I felt the weightlessness of free falling as I let go of the railing, a pair of powerful jaws were snapping its teeth inches away from my face, missing me by mere inches.

I only had time to let out a rushed scream as I fell, before I felt my body collide with the plastic balls of the ball pit below me.

The moment I made impact, I was instantly scrambling to my feet to shout up at the rest of the group.

"They're here!" My desperate scream rang through the mall like an alarm knowing that that was no need for silence now.

They had already found us and who knew how many of them were in here.

Another scream echoed through the air as I watched in horror as the beast who had nearly taken a chunk from my face just a few seconds earlier now had its large grotesque head turned in the direction of Arden who had been next to me.

It sniffed the air once before letting out another blood curdling growl before slowly stalking toward its next prey.

Arden.

Shit.

I had to think, and fast or Arden was done for.

She needed to let go of the railing so that she could fall into the ball pit below but to do so she had to maneuver herself towards the left first so that her body would fall into the pit and not the floor.

There was only one problem.

If she moved her body to the left that would mean putting her directly underneath that beast.

It was the same for everyone. Everybody needed to move to the left so that their bodies were over the ball pit before dropping.

I only had a few seconds left before it'd be directly above her, and it'd have no problem reaching over and ripping her to shreds.

Seeing no other option, I did the only thing I could think of in the moment.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled for all I was worth.

"Down here!"

I watched as the beast who was now mere inches from Arden froze and turned its head toward the sky, again taking a deep sniff from the air before its head snapped down towards me.

I knew now that they couldn't see but the way its cloudy eyes suddenly made contact with my own had a shiver running down my spine.

I swallowed harshly before letting out another yell.

"That's right down here! If you want something to chew on, I'm right here!"

To my relief and horror, the beast stepped away from the railing and started thundering towards the escalators that would lead it down to the first floor.

Towards me.

I glanced down to my right.

To me and Danny.

I was now running on auto pilot with only seconds to make the next decision that would either mean life or death.

"Danny listen to me, burrow yourself underneath the balls and do not move or make a single sound until your mother or one of the others comes and gets you, okay?"

Danny's frightened eyes were glued on the creature that had now just cleared the steps of the second-floor escalator.

One more set and he'd be on the first floor and running directly towards us.