Escape The Night

Cold

She shivered as she rubbed her frozen arm , trying to regain feeling in them. She glanced to her right, at the little girl, Merie, sitting beside her. Merie was staring unseeingly at the beasts in front of them. Her eyes were glazed over in horror. The beasts were eating something that once resembled an animal , but all that was left was a carcass that was almost picked clean of any meat. The crunching of bones and the slurp of blood was the only thing that filled the hollow silence of the cold, dark night . "Carmin , how much longer are we supposed to stay here ?" Merie asked , shifting her body weight to her left . The girl , Carmin , put down the binoculars she had been holding  and shook here head mutely . Even if she wanted to , she could never speak a word . She was born mute , silent , and probably would be forever . 

Carmin silently stood up behind the bushes and pulled something from her pocket . She read it quickly and silently handed it over to Merie . The paper said 

               Watch the movements of the creatures , and then report back to us at about 4:00 P.M . If you do not show up fast enough , we will be forced to move on ahead without any vital knowledge of where they are . 

Merie handed the crumpled paper back to Carmin and reluctantly looked back at the beasts . They had finished mauling away on the bones of the carcass and were now rolling the head around , as if it was a toy . Merie cringed as she watched them . The beasts were slumped , animal like beings , with sparse , thin hair all over there body . Under the grotesque hair , they had a sickly shade of gray skin , like they were rotting , and some of them were . They had pieces of their body missing , some not so noticeable , others apparent . There were small parts , such as an ear , maybe an eye , occasionally a foot . But others were missing whole legs , arms , or even a few ribs . Some were even missing chunks out of there head and chest , as if someone had ripped peices out of them . 

Merie watched them and felt like gagging . They gave off some sort of rotten smell , the smell of dead and dying things ,of decaying flesh and organs . An indescribable smell . Some of the beasts' skulls were cracked and slightly open , revealing dark scarlet purple mush underneath . Their limbs usually bent at odd angles , signaling that they were broken , but the beasts didn't seem to notice. When they wanted to, they could move faster than a full grown human adult. 

Carmin trained her eyes on the nearest creature , a small , scrawny thing that seemed to walk on air . Carmin guessed it was once a little girl . It had a thin layer of light, dirty blond heir on her/its head , which had a few flakes of dried blood in it . The little girl was sitting apart from all the other children - looking monsters , gnawing on the skull of an animal , blood coated on her freakishly long fingernails and fang - like teeth.

Carmin shook her head and took a deep breath . One of the creatures gave a sharp yip and sniffed the air , obviously smelling something . The others stopped playing with the skull and sniffed the air as well , but they could not smell a hint of danger , or better yet , prey . They continued playing after a few moments of listening and sniffing . Carmin let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding during the creatures moment of hesitation . 

Merie looked at her and shrugged . The creatures could sometimes be very strange . Merie glanced at her watch to find that they had five minutes before they had to return to camp , which was a 45 f minute walk from there , plus they had to be extra quite so the beasts wouldn't hear them leaving . 

Merie quickly nudged Carmin and pointed to her watch . Carmin's eyes widened , to were they seemed to almost pop out of her head . She nodded slightly and grabbed her backpack , her eyes flitting to the beasts every once in a while . Merie kept her eyes trained on the animal like people and touched Carmin's arm when ever they stopped playing to look up and sniff . Finally , Carmin hoisted the heavy backpack onto her slender shoulder and stumbled toward the opposite side of the bush , away from the flesh eating monsters . Merie followed her obediently , wanting to get as far away from the awful creatures as possible.

Carmin and Merie silently trudged through the dark , cold forest , avoiding twigs and dried leaves , for fear of something hearing it and coming after them . Carmin held Merie's cold , clamy hand and tried to keep herself from shaking . But , unfortunately , she couldn't . She was shaking like a leaf by the time they got halfway to their base , which was actually more of a camp . 

There were guards at the metal gates , shotguns in hand . "Merie Hesting and Carmin Sterl ," Merie yelled , putting her hands up in a show of friendliness . The guards didn't lower their weapons , but they seemed to relax greatly . "George , open the door . Walter , keep your gun trained on the forest , just in case a few of them rush the girls ," the chief , his badge read Colton , said to the other guards . They nodded and raised their guns toward the forest . Colton walked to the black iron gates and unlocked it , allowing Merie and Carmin to pass through . 

Carmin shook her head and walked faster , wanting to get as far away from the gate entrance as possible  . (Exactly how I feel whenever that happens . ) Merie didn't seem to notice and continued walking with her hand in Carmin's , her steps brisk and loud . Colton turned back to the gate and hurriedly locked it , probably expecting to see a creature lunging at through the opening . But , thankfully , there wasn't . 

Merie and Carmin continued walking into the camp , looking at all the tents and shelters as they passed them . There was mostly adults in the camp sight , but there were still a few kids and teenagers . 

Merie took her hand out of Carmin's , not needing reassurance now that they were back in the camp . Carmin wiped her hands on her jeans and started walking toward her own tent , which was at the very back of the camp sight , isolated from all the other campers . Carmin didn't particularly want to live near people who would try and talk to her , although most of them new she was completely mute . 

Carmin quickly reached her tent . It was a sagging , old , mishapen peice of canvas , but it was all that she had , so she made do . Carmin entered the tattered , worn tent and sat down on her bed . Her bed , was actually just a few blankets and a pillow on a cot , but she seemed to like it enough . 

Carmin picked up a book from a small pile by her bed and started reading . About an hour later , she heard a small scraping sound , like something was being dragged . There was a sudden scream . Carmin covered her ears and bolted out of the tent , bracing herself for what she would find .