𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐒𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑶𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄.

𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐀 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.

There were quickly so many Rosie couldn't count them.

She was no herpetologist, but they seemed angry. Their beady eyes were trained on her and only her, she couldn't move quick enough as she stumbled back and gave Toby a look of terror.

"Go. Go, go, go." She rushed out, he scrambled to his feet as he saw the dozens of lizards coming for her.

She hadn't deemed them all that big when she didn't see them as a threat, but now their thick curved claws and large heads seemed massive. When the first one grabbed at her ankle she could hardly stifle a yelp as it dug its mouth onto her skin, its teeth easily cutting through her khaki trousers. She shook it off and followed Toby as she rushed down the rock. They weren't going for him, she figured they only attacked if you hurt one of them. They must have been connected intrinsically, their minds woven together like a hive.

With their blinding rage, they lost all sense of self-preservation as they threw themselves off the waterfall by accident in their need for revenge.

As she stumbled down the rocks another one grabbed her wrist and she tried to shake it off but it wouldn't let go. She grabbed its body and once more tried to tear it off her and then she threw it as she moved as fast as she could. She felt Toby next to her as he pulled another one off her.

They weren't faster than a running Toby or Rosie, but they weren't slow and easily caught up.

Toby stomped on one with his boot and the lizards quickly split their efforts between the two of them, confirming Rosie's theory that they wouldn't hurt anyone that didn't hurt one of them. One began crawling his trouser leg and Rosie swatted it off and grabbed his wrist, pulling him to run.

She ran passed the pool of water the waterfall emptied into and glanced over her shoulder, there were easily fifty of the lizards, they still poured out of the brush at the top of the waterfall. As they toppled from the top of the waterfall they struggled for a few seconds before going still and floating motionless—they couldn't swim.

Rosie felt something climbing up the back of her trouser leg, in her haste to blindly pull it off it tightened its grip on her. She felt its beastly claws puncture both her shirt and skin like a knife through butter. She cried out at the new, deep wound above her hip. Toby stopped and retraced his steps back to Rosie and swiftly killed the lizard with the knife he still possessed, blood and a green liquid trickled out the deep wound. They didn't have the time to stop and assess as the lizards continued on their warpath to the teenagers. Their sprinting had put distance between them and the creatures but it would easily be eaten away at if they stopped for longer than absolutely necessary. Toby's hand squeezed Rosie's, making sure she didn't fall behind.

The wound felt like someone was holding a hot poker to her side, the pain was blinding.

"They can't swim," Rosie told Toby what she'd put together from her glance at the waterfall. She wasn't completely certain of that fact, but it was better than just trying to run, especially as she felt a warm patch of blood beginning to soak into her shirt, and drip onto the band of her trousers.

Toby directed them as Rosie's vision went hazy, her feet felt heavy as she lifted them to run. But she couldn't stop, not for a moment.

Eventually, they found a stream, they didn't have the option of searching for a fallen log so they could save their shoes from getting wet, so they just jumped in. Rosie didn't realise she was thankful that her feet hit the sandy bottom, the frigid temperature shocked her system and woke her up from the haze that began to consume her.