It was cold. Very cold. The muttering sound of rain and the funereal wind was lingering outside. Outside, an even colder place. An even darker place than this hellhole of a house.
We used this house for the sole purpose of safety, or rather the illusion of safety. We had never felt this safe in a long time even though we knew that this house was the opposite of safe. It was still the best we could get. We both knew we deserved better than this. After five years of running, five years of hiding and five years of avoiding death all we wanted was a nice dinner and a whole night of resting our sore legs. But the world is unfair. This was the best we could get. A small fireplace to sit in front of, and an old dusty couch to sit in. This was the best we could get, and the best we've had for a long time.
"Synthia." I said, quietly.
She looked at me with her big blue eyes. Eyes that had always been giving me hope, since the very beginning.
She did not need to say a word, she never needed to say anything. Her expression always meant more than words ever could. She was a very quiet person. Not that she was shy, she just thought it was best to only speak when necessary. If only she spoke more often. Listening to her was like listening to an angel, looking at her was like looking at an angel. I always thought of her as an angel, a quiet, peaceful angel.
I looked her in the eyes while pointing towards the green bag laying besides her. She gave me a weak nod as she picked it up, opened it and took out the content inside of it. In her hand she held a half a loaf of bread, which she then gave to me. It was our only property, except for the clothes we wore. I broke the bread in two and gave Synthia one part. She denied it by gently shaking her head. I got more worried every time she acted like this.
"I care for you," I said, trying to sheer her up like always. "A lot".
"I know." She answered.
Her answer surprised me. It was the first time I got an answer while saying that. The sudden knock on the front door of the house surprised me even more. It wasn't really a knock, it was more like someone was trying to kick the door in. But who? We hadn't seen any other humans in weeks.
I quickly looked at Synthia, she was already looking at me. For a second I almost thought that she looked calm but as soon I saw her hands I forgot that thought. They were shaking, much more than they usually were. I was shaking too. I was afraid. Was it one of the creatures? What else would it be? The thought itself made me want to disappear. Death seemed like an easy option.
Both me and Synthia stood up at the same time and slowly approached the door. I could hear the sound of metal falling to the ground. It was one of the hinges from the door. I shivered intensively as I heard deep breaths from outside. A sudden noise echoed in the house as the door fell of the last hinge and, with another echoing noise, hit the ground. Synthia immediately stepped back, away from the opening to the world outside wile I just stood there, frozen, looking into the eyes of a beast. I had never seen one from such a close distance before. Its mouth was open, revealing a thousand teeth, and was letting out a river of drool mixed with blood, most likely not its own blood. A stain of blood slowly revealed itself on the dirt in front of four gigantic hairy feet.
It took a step forward, towards me. And another step, and another. It pushed me aside, almost stabbing me in the shoulder with one of the horns on its forehead. I fell to the ground. I was still frozen, just lying there, watching as the beast approached Synthia. She backed away slowly. Tears were dripping down her chest. She looked away as she was impaled. Two large horns, one straight through her heart, the other through one of her lungs. I was too chocked to even think it was real. It couldn't be real. This cannot be happening.
The beast kept running, carrying Synthia with its horns. She was pushed to the wall. Blood spurted out of her mouth on impact. For the first time, her expression said nothing but one word, death. Death, the easy way out. I never thought death could hurt so much.
The fiendish creature backed away from the wall, turned around and stared me deep into my eyes. What did it want? Was it hungry? From my view, there was no possible explanation.
As I tried to stand up, the beast run up to me, let out a sound that was worse than anything. A loud squeaky noise that could make a man's ears bleed. I had heard that sound before, many times. It had never been related to anything good and will never be. The sound suddenly stopped when the beast stomped on my back, breaking my spine and crushing my ribs. I saw blood. Blood that slowly faded to black. Everything went dark. Death wasn't the easy way out after all. But it was a quick way out.
It was cold. Very cold. The muttering sound of rain and the funereal wind was lingering outside. Outside, an even colder place. An even darker place than this hellhole of a house.
