A Crumbling Society

Part 2-22

"What should I do?", I asked her, coming around to face her while she continued to look at the trail of blood trace up her body. Dusk responded, when she told me she didn't know her voice changed from feminine to demonic in turns. I couldn't think of anything, the only idea that seemed logical was to keep moving to get out of here. Motioning my hand to follow I told her we needed to move so that we don't get noticed and she agreed. We had made some good progress during our conversation and were not too far from where she said would cut our time. It was still going to be a walk and that was the bad part. She could turn at any minute, or second, and then I'm finished and I'm not sure what to look for to get out. "Look for the same structure we entered through, you'll know when you see it", she let me know. At least that question was answered but I still made her follow me, this time at a faster pace. Reluctantly she had no complaints about me rushing her, she was doing her best to try. Cutting through a block of grass another crowd came into view. I checked to see if she would be able to manage and her eyes were fully black this time. A nod and I said "okay", she looked sick, the gut-wrenching kind where your stomach is writhing. Hunched in her steps she was really forcing herself to follow so we could leave, and we still weren't close to the exit. I'll give her credit for powering through, but it made me feel bad, when I tried to slow down to help her out, she pushed me from behind. Claws poked into me, this was probably going to get bad fast, and I can't do anything. We were finally reaching the crowd and I looked to see if anyone had noticed us yet. It was like the world had stopped, no eyes were on us, but I noticed her, standing to my right. It was Liza and she started walking away and I had to follow her. I know what Dusk said but it was literally her, my eyes welled a bit, and I wiped them fast so nobody could see. Maybe ghosts don't cry, there's still some gray area with all this. Changing direction, I darted off to chase Liza.

Leaving Dusk was unintentional, I sort of acted without thinking and now I'm chasing Liza and lost sight of her while she's having a bad time. Bad timing was for sure upon us since she was starting to turn, but I can't not try to see Liza. Running down towards a lamp post I thought I saw the brown hair, but when the woman turned it wasn't her at all. Continuously blinking in awe, truly this woman was her, it had to have been her. Checking my whereabouts, a glimpse of Liza appeared again walking in the opposite direction, hurrying over a group of ghosts walked in front of me. I had to pause so that I didn't come in contact with any of them. One of their hands almost hit my stomach while they were talking, and I had to look down to focus so it wouldn't. Backing up a little to further secure being out of the way the ghost kept on just missing me by an inch. When they were clear she was now walking further away, hustling this time, weaving intricately through ghosts I got there in time. My hand stretched out I called her name again and right before I grabbed her hand somebody grabbed mine. The woman in front of me turned and looked startled, it was not her at all. It wasn't Liza, I had sworn to myself it was her and now I'm thinking that maybe I thought all of them were. Soreness in my hand forced me to make a ghastly look, I apologized to the woman and turned to see what was gripping me so aggressively. Dusk had caught up, only she wasn't looking like herself anymore. Her fangs were larger, more prominent and what was once pale skin now had turned gray, tufts of fur were sprouting from her as well. My eyes scanned her hand to her face and body before meeting her eyes, "It's not her, I was trying to tell you". The look on my face grew larger, "You, you don't look- ", was all I got out before her demonic voice stole the turn. "You have to go now, no, chasing ghosts or", she was wincing every few words, "messing around, I'm". She wasn't capable of finishing her demands, the fur finished growing in some places and her body grew a bit in size in an instant. Wings clawed themselves out her backside before flapping a bit, they rested themselves beside her really creating a presence, this one meaning trouble.

In all seriousness I wasn't sure how nobody noticed her changing the whole time I was running around, or me since I almost ran into quite a few ghosts. Hairs were prying themselves upward on my arms and back as the harrowing roar echoed throughout the square. This caused a call of attention, and everyone was turning to stare us down and wonder what was going on. Great, a demonic Dusk Vampire, a hoard of ghosts and I lost the directions to the exit, I'm doing awful. The only instinct working was to run so I did just that, pivoting a hundred and eighty degrees to look at what was once behind me I started. Full speed hightailing down the stone street passing so many ghosts and not thinking about what I was doing. I was also running right through each of them, the gasps blended together with the roars. Some of the ghosts I had run through showed their true colors stretching their mouths real wide to howl. Their humanoid façade was gone and now they too were acting like creatures. Vampire and Ghost heading my way caused adrenaline to force myself to move faster. Speeding up was killing my energy and exhausting me quicker but the numbness drowned it out by telling my brain not to stop. Turning the corner and the same scenery extended before me but with different buildings. Being in a maze would be more enjoyable than this place but the situation is what it is. Taking one peak behind me to see what was following I tripped over a trash can, it not only caused me to jump but it dawned on me that I was able to touch it. I used this to my advantage and got up in a hurry, gripping the top of it and hoisting it off the ground I chucked it. Spinning a little helped build momentum and when I let go it barreled towards the creatures. Hitting a few of the ghosts they dispersed into ghoulish clouds of smoke, the Dusk Vampire knocked it sideways with her head. Trying to lose no time from hurling a trash can I turned and continued my sprint down the road, more ghosts looked at me confused. Not paying any mind to them I noticed the tube system station area and headed in that direction.