Blood & Cinders- Choose your Own Adventure Story

Chapter 28

The room was a cloud of gray haze, screams of terror rising through the thick fog.

Isabelle coughed. Ripping a piece of her beautiful dress into a strip long enough to cover her mouth from the smoke. She discarded the lace mask, it would only impede her.

She was bumped and jostled to the floor as the creatures pushed past her in a stampeding frenzy to get to the exit.

"Isabelle!" A black furred hand gripped her arm, helping her to her feet. Adam's muzzle came into focus as he pulled her tight to his chest.

"There's a hole in the corner that's boarded up!" Isabelle shouted in his ear over the noise, "Do you think you can break it open?" Isabelle didn't wait for his answer and holding tightly to his arm, guided him to the far right side of the room. A boar-like woman ran into her, tusk scraping her skin as she barreled past. Isabelle blanched as the blood started to drip from beneath the tear in her arm sleeve.

"Adam?" Adam's eyes darkened a deeper shade of red as he took a step toward her.

"You can fight it! I know you can. Please!"

His fists clenched tight at his sides and she could see him struggling to remain in control. He wasn't the only one.

A furry bear-like woman with four horns on her head and shimmering black mane dropped to all fours snarling at Isabelle. She sprinted in the direction of the screaming women, where the smoke was thickest and the fire started to blaze higher, eating its way up the thick drapes and snaking across the oil lined floor to devour tables and chairs.

Isabelle's face ran straight into the back of a red dressed blood maid toppling them both onto the floor. Isabelle scrambled to her feet, shoving the girl aside.

"Move. Move!" She pushed her way through the frightened girls until she could see the boards. They had pried one of the four off and blunt nail marks ran through the others. A snorting growl came from behind her accompanied by screams as the blood maids scattered. Isabelle spun around, her back to the boarded hole.

"Over here!" She waved through the smoke at the ball of black fur, its snout in the air as it sniffed for the scent of her blood. It shook its head unable to smell through the overpowering smell of the smoke but Isabelle's movements had caught her attention and the beast woman lopped toward her.

Isabelle had to time it just right.

She counted down the beast's strides in her head hoping her guess was right.

Four.

Three.

Two.

She rolled to the side, leaping out of the way.

The creature didn't have time to stop. Its body slammed into the wall, the boards cracking under her weight. The creature got up, shaking its head as it ambled to its seat, looking around. Isabelle stayed very still and when it padded off in the other direction she made for the hole.

Two of the boards had been broken clean off and one splintered in the middle. She kicked hard several times and with a final crack it gave way to a tunnel, the dark opening visible at the other end. She adjusted her sleeping mask tighter around her face and dove in. Crawling on her elbows and knees.

Isabelle dragged her body along the small hole. It was not a long tunnel but it was small. And despite her thin frame she barely had the headroom to crawl.

Isabelle crawled out into the hallway as smoke snaked out after her, also finding its way through.

She ran right down the hall turning right at the corner and stopping at the ball room doors.