Fire Summoner

Chapter Nineteen: Dark Things Hunt at Night Pt.1

Their footsteps echoed in Alice's head, aggravating her lingering headache with every foot step, as she and Connor fled the deserted school grounds. Before they rounded the corner of the school building, Alice spared a glance behind her as something huge and dark burst out of the tall grasses just beyond the playground and rammed into the frail chain link fence.

The massive shadow roared, possibly out of frustration, as it became entangled with the ruins of the fence. Alice felt the vibrations of that roar in her bones as her feet stuttered and she pitched forward onto her hands and knees, shockwaves racing up her joints.

Alice let out a shout of fright as the thing stood on its hind legs and tore through the wreckage at its feet. Connor reached down and tore her off of the ground, shoving her into a run in front of him.

That had to be a Koral. Alice's stomach pitched with dread as she heard another roar come from behind as the creature lumbered after them.

"We can lose it in town!" Connor panted as he pushed her along. "Korals only attack in secluded areas, when you're alone and vulnerable."

The town that Connor was talking about was maybe a good ten minutes away if they ran the entire way from the school yard they were just at. Alice didn't know if she could last that long. She knew Connor for sure had that type of stamina. In their days of college together, he would run a weekly 5k just "for the fun of it".

"I have to keep my mind and body sharp, don't want to get caught unaware someday," is what he would say with a wink towards Emily, as if the two of them shared a fun little secret. Alice teased Connor during these moments, "You know something we don't know, dude?" she had always said, never thinking it was anything more than just a quirk that Connor had. Now that she was becoming aware of just what she didn't know about her friends' lives, she wished that Connor had dragged her along on those runs.

Heavy footfalls sounded off in Alice's ears in a sharp contrast to the silent evening around them as the Koral gained ground behind them. The putrid smell of what could only be rotting flesh and decay became more and more abundant as the creature behind them huffed with every forward lurch.

As they tore down the sidewalk, Alice knew that she was not going to be able to make it to the busier part of town. She could feel her breath rattling in her chest already with each inhale. She was too out of shape, and the events of the past two days had drained what was left of her stamina.

They were going to have to fight this thing off.

Their surroundings began to brighten as they ran further into the neighborhood that was situated around the school. A pool of light illuminated their way every few hundred feet from the streetlights along the block.

"We need to hide," Alice gasps out. Her eyes searched wildly in between each of the houses on either side of the street for any kind of shelter they could use.

Connor's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist as she subconsciously began to slow down. There, just beyond a narrow stretch of land between two houses was what looked to be the entrance to a biking path disappearing into the tree line behind a row of houses. She wrestled her hand out of Connors grasp and veered sharply to the right, dodging around a minivan parked on the curb.

"Alice!" Connor shouted in protest after her as she left him on the sidewalk. A rhythmic thumping told her that he was following closely behind, the bag on his back thudding against his back and shoulders as the contents inside were jostled around.

As she jumped up onto the opposite curb, the Koral that had been chasing after them passed under a streetlight and Alice nearly tripped over her own foot as she caught a glimpse of a gaping maw full of rows and rows of teeth. Thich trails of saliva ran down its chin and splattered onto the pavement below. Little wisps of shadows rose out of the puddles that shimmered like an oil spill underneath the street light.

It was built like a bear. Long, hooked talons that looked like they belonged to a bird of prey protruded from the paws of the beast. The talons made a clicking sound as the creature turned its heavy body sharply, careening into the side of a streetlight a few hundred feet away. The metal of the streetlight made a high pitched sound that hurt Alice's ears as it bent at a sharp angle before the light at the top of the pole flickered and went out.

Alice lost sight of the Koral as it seemed to dissolve into the darkness. Snorts and heavy foot-falls were the only indication that the Koral was gaining ground.

Quickly regaining her balance, partly in thanks to Connor grabbing her wrist and propelling her forward again as he flew by her, Alice found a new burst of energy as they sprinted down the alley between the two houses. The fences on either side of them forced the two to run in single file.

"Go! Go!" Alice nearly shrieked, pounding on his back as Connor let go of her wrist. Fear constricted her airways. Neither of them would be able to fight this thing in these tight quarters if it caught up to them. Alice figured she would be pretty much useless if it came to fighting this thing anyway. It looked like it had at least a couple hundred pounds on her based off of the sheer size of it.

A roar that rattled her bones and reverberated down the narrow alleyway came from behind her.

Knowing it was the stupidest thing she could have done in that moment, but being unable to resist the urge, Alice chanced a quick glance over her shoulder.

There, backlit against the streetlights was the huge silhouette of the Koral. It slammed its head and shoulders against the entrance to the alley over and over, unable to fit past the fences on either side.

The bear-like creature stood up on its hind legs and made one last attempt to enter the alleyway by slamming its form into the bricks, but they wouldn't budge.

The Koral roared in frustration once more and gnashed its teeth together, saliva raining down on Alice and Connor. Alice threw her hands up in the air to shield her head from the shimmering, black drops- crying out in pain as they landed on her outstretched palms. Tears pricked in her eyes as she brought her palms to her chest and ripped her gaze from the Koral to face forward.

Connor threw a quick look over his shoulder at her cry. His eyes darted from her hands, his eyes widening at the smoking burn marks on her cradled hands, to the entrance where the Koral now stood.

Connor brought the both of them to a halt. "I can't treat your hands now, can you wait until we regroup with the others?" he asked, his chest heaving as he fought to regain control of his breathing. He didn't take his gaze off of the Koral behind Alice, like he expected it to burst through the entrance at any moment and cut them both in half with those sharp talons.

Alice nodded as she swallowed a whimper. She moved closer to Connor as she threw another glance over her shoulder to see the Koral lower its front legs back to the ground and begin pacing back and forth. Black clouds from its maw rose into the air, clogging the air around them until all Alice could smell was death and decay.

Connor wrapped his arm around Alice's shoulders and pushed her forward to put himself between her and the Koral behind them. "Alright, are you ready to run again?" he rushed out, determination settling on his features. "We just have to make it to the woods past that open space before it can round these houses. We will have more coverage and room to fight in the trees."

Before Alice could even reply, he was pushing her forward again. Alice couldn't blame him for forcing her along. If they waited for her to recuperate, they would have spent the rest of the night in that alley where the beast would have surely found a way to get to them.

Alice sprinted the last twenty yard stretch of the alley with Connor hot on her heels. As soon as they cleared the exit, Connor sped up to match her pace with ease. They tore through the knee high grasses of the empty stretch of land, sticks caught onto their shoelaces and tripped them up. Alice reached down and tore a branch lined with small thorns from her shoe and threw it to the side, ignoring the new cuts on her hand as blood slowly trickled down her fingertips as she continued on. The tree line was so close, another hundred feet and they would be out of the open.

As they crossed the threshold of the woods and the shadow of nature enveloped them, a roar broke apart the eerie silence of the night; the sound translating in Alice's mind as a beast beginning its hunt.