Run

Lies

Lies

She was laying on the ground, still. Brooklyn turned and looked at me. His expression showed exactly how I felt. We ran to the edge of the stream where she lay. Annabelle had a huge wound in her left side. Blood stained her white top.

“Bryony? Brooklyn?” she said, her voice sounding dry and cracked.

“Yes, we’re here Annabelle. We’re here, what happened?” I said, clutching her pale hands.

“It was a wolf,” said Annabelle, her breaths becoming less frequent.

“There are no…” said Brooklyn and then we both realised. Rubinus was about.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry Annabelle, I’m so, so sorry. This is all my fault,” I said, dropping to my knees and burying my face in my hands.

“I don’t under…” she started but I shook my head.

“No, no Annabelle, no we need you. We all need you,” said Brooklyn, holding the sides of her face.

“It’s ok, Brooklyn, its ok. Tell everyone I love them. Thank you Bryony… for everything,” said Annabelle as her grip loosened.

Suddenly, she stopped breathing. Brooklyn wrapped his arms around her and turned away from me as sobs started to overwhelm him.

“No!” he yelled, tears rolling down his face.

“See what you did! See what you did! Come out, come out wherever you are!” I yelled, into the dark shadows at the spring of the stream.

“Isn’t that what the wolf said in that oh so familiar fairytale… the three little pigs. Except the first little pig has died, what a shame,” said a dark sinister voice.

“Brooklyn… go,” I whispered.

“But…,” he protested.

“Warn them, run to the city. Take cover, find shelter. I have a plan, just evacuate the house and go,” I whispered.

Brooklyn kissed me on the cheek and then kissed Annabelle on the forehead, then he started to run down the hill.

“You coward show your face! You are a sick and evil beast!” I yelled, marching up to the shadows where I knew Rubinus was lurking. A small, low laugh echoed around me. The sort of laugh from a horror movie, from an evil clown or mad scientist. Except this horror movie was real. Very real.

From the shadows, stepped out Rubinus in human form. He looked evilly and cynically handsome. He was a raging fire, deadly yet beautiful.

“Nice to see you again,” he said his voice deep and raw.

Rubinus’ hair was a deep auburn, like the colour of rich, dark blood. His eyes shone like torches, bright and yellow. He looked better than any model could ever hope to look like.

“Why are you here? What are you, Rubinus?” I said, not daring to go any closer.

“Let’s just say, your father did more to me than he told you,” said Rubinus smirking.

“Oh please do go on. Let me hear more of what my father kept from me,” I said.

“I love you Bryony,” said Rubinus, closing the distance between us.

“I… don’t love you. I love Brooklyn,” I said, staring him in the face. It was so easy for me to say, because I did truly love Brooklyn.

“No you don’t, you love me, I know you do. Your father studied my emotions and wanted to see if he could turn me human. He tried his best, but he couldn’t turn me physically human. Instead he merged human emotions into my brain. He tried out love on me, and I fell in love with you. Do you remember that night? When you had an incredible migraine? Well, your father attached a chip into your head, making you love me. He wanted to see how much love I could feel. That night, he turned off the chip, I lost you. I lost your love,” said Rubinus, standing way too close for comfort.

“I never truly loved you Rubinus. I too was caught up in that experiment. I don’t love you, I never have and I never will!” I spat, and turned away.

My plan was to make sure I could see everybody escape from the house, safely and make sure they were in the city boundary. Henry would be with them, so he could get them in. I would wind Rubinus up, as he had a very short temper, and get him to chase me to the city. There I could show the Upgraders how dangerous the upgraded animals are. Hopefully then, they would kill Rubinus, put an end to his misery.

I turned so I could see over his shoulder, but he couldn’t see that I was watching everybody climb out of the hatch. Brooklyn did thumbs up to me as I saw him lock the hatch. He ran and caught up with the others who were at the bottom of the field.

“Don’t lie! I was there for you, I was your best friend!” he yelled, catching her wrist.

“It was false! It was a lie! It wasn’t true friendship! It was based on cruel technology!” I screamed back, tugging back my wrist.

“It was your father’s fault! He turned me into this!” said Rubinus, clenching his fists.

“No Rubinus! You were a beast when they first found you! I’m sorry Rubinus, but you are just a wolf,” I said, stepping away.

“You’re not leaving until I can have you back, I need to turn that chip back on,” growled Rubinus, marching ever closer.

“Never, never,” I whispered, turning away and starting to jog down the hill.

I heard Rubinus start to growl and bark. I turned briefly to see him transform into the gigantic, ferocious beast. Fear struck through me and I started to sprint down the hill. The ground was wet from the dew and I nearly slipped. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rubinus charging after me, his eyes glinting in the moonlight that was just appearing through the clouds.

I knew that he would soon outrun me but I ran on.

“I’m coming Bryony!” yelled Rubinus as he leapt onto me.

I screamed in shock as his huge paws, almost as big as my head, flung me to the ground. I scrambled up from the sloping hill and carried on running. I was almost at the bottom when I tripped on a rock and went flying into the low, stone wall surrounding the field.

I tentatively brushed my shoulder, which had taken most of the impact. A large cut was there and blood soaked into my top. I shook my head, trying to regain strength and clambered over the wall and sprinted along the path, leading to the city gates. I noticed on a lamppost overhead, a picture of me was pinned and in capital letters the word LOST was printed underneath.

I could still hear Rubinus’ heavy footsteps behind me, but I kept focused on the high, metal gates. I saw the little glass cabin, next to the gate, with a man in there waiting for anybody to go in or out. As I got closer to the gate, I heard Rubinus’ barking at me, but still I didn’t turn.

“Hey! Hey you!” I shouted at the gatekeeper, but he didn’t hear.

I ran up to the cabin and banged on the window.

“Please let me in, please!” I begged the gatekeeper.

“Well first I’m going to need some ID,” said the gatekeeper, his face bored.

“I’m Bryony Forrest! Daughter of the head scientist, Edward Forrest,” I said desperately.

“I am still going to need some evidence,” stated the man.

“Please just let me in, did a family come in recently? By the name of Charleston,” I said, trying to bide my time before Rubinus caught up.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you miss,” he said, beginning to turn away.

“No! I need to know! Please! Your life is in danger, everybody is in danger!” I shouted, frantically tapping on his window.

“Yes, the Charlestons came by recently, they were in a huge hurry,” said the gatekeeper, turning around curiously.

“Thank you, now please open the gate,” I said, clutching my shoulder.

Then, Rubinus landed in the clearing.

“What the?” said the gatekeeper, mouth aghast.