Regeneration

Chapter 17 - Don't Move

We darted through the streets swiftly, only making moves when the coast was clear. I had been right., things had gotten worse in the city.

It looked as though a hurricane had ripped through the place. The once secured houses had broken windows, curtains floated about lazily in the winds. Some doors had been stomped down, cracked pieces piled in the door frame, no doubt the work of the hunters desperate to sink their teeth into their prey.

There were a few of them on this street. We carefully avoided them as we crossed over to an alley. Romero peered around the corner, looking both right and left to see if there were any hunters roaming, there were only a few stragglers. He signaled for me to follow him.

He ran into the road dropping down behind an abandoned car. I stooped down next to him. The car in the middle of the road hid us from the hunters that were down the street.

We stayed in our position as a few of the hunters were turning to face our direction.

"It's too risky to make the run to the other side now," he spoke lowly as he glanced back, making sure we weren't ambushed from behind.

One of the hunters looked as though he was catching on to our scent. Sniffing in our direction then the other, perhaps assessing which direction it was coming from. I began to feel nervous.

Suddenly a blood-chilling growl pierced the air. A signal that the hunter had pinpointed our position.

Immediately after, several other growls echoed the first one. I heard the sound of a dozen feet rushing to our location.

"We have to move, now," Romero grabbed my hand pulling me to the other side of the road, going around the building.

We sprinted down the sidewalk, my heart pumping in my chest. The snarls and growls were getting louder, indicating that they were nearing us.

I glanced over my shoulder catching a glimpse of the savage vicious-looking people.

It was as though their one instinct was to hunt and kill. They were so desperate to get to us.

Did they know what they were doing?

"Stop," Romero brought us to a halt as we caught sight of another cluster of hunters in our path, further in the distance, they had spotted us too.

Romero turned around and began shooting down the hunters closest to us one by one as I nervously looked around for an escape.

"There!" I pointed to a vacant-looking alley.

We crossed the street running towards the alley. It led to a shopping complex with a variety of boutiques, all of which were in a similar condition to the houses we had passed earlier, with broken showcases and knocked over furniture.

Romero tugged me towards a coffee shop. We only had enough time to jump in and duck beneath the broken cafe window, the glass crunching under our shoes as we did so.

It was not long until we heard the hunters enter the complex, dispersing away from us, as they ravaged the place searching.

I noticed that there were coffee beans and powders spilled around the cafe creating a pungent aroma in the air. I could only hope that the scent would mask ours.

My breath caught in my throat when I heard the reckless footsteps a hunter approaching the cafe.

I looked up at Romero, he was already looking at me. He slowly raised his index finger to his lips, holding my gaze. His grip tightened on his gun.

A deep low growl reverberated from above my head.

A thin layer of sweat coated my body. I tried to keep my breathing controlled in order to be dead silent.

Any sudden movement or sound would give away our position and our lives would be at stake. He inhaled deeply as he scanned the cafe.

The hunter began to recede as he detected no sign of life. I released a breath and peered above the low wall to see if the area was now safe, as I did so my shoulder hit a nearby table, I immediately felt Romero grab hold of my arm, "Sorry," I mouthed at him.

We both froze and time slowed as our eyes flickered to a teacup slowly rolling off the edge of the table. It crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces.

I heard the hunter growl as it turned back to us, ferociously running back towards the cafe.

Romero sprung to his feet, quickly pulling his knife out. He recoiled his arm then sent the weapon soaring toward the hunter. I gasped when the knife hit the hunter directly in its left eye. Blood splattered from the wound as the hunter stumbled backward, losing its balance. It's lifeless form crumpled to the ground.

With one foot poised on the low wall, Romero grabbed my hand and pulled me as we dashed out of the cafe. We ran toward the direction that we had left the car, trying our best to stay undetected as we passed a few hunters.

Romero fired up the engine and we pulled out of the vicinity a few of them tailing the car.

"Well that was unsuccessful," I sighed

"I'm sure we can find supplies somewhere around here," he reassured.

"Hopefully with less of those things," I say, looking out the window.

"Nice throw back there," I turned to look at him this time.

I saw the corner of his mouth tilt upward as he stayed focused on the road.

We drove for another twenty minutes before pulling into the parking lot of a supermarket. The lot was vacant except for the few abandoned cars. It was eerily silent. I took the silence as a good sign. No noise meant no hunters to deal with.

I reached to open my door.

"Wait," Romero said, making me freeze in my position.

"What's wrong," I furrowed my eyebrows at him.

"Let me go in first, see if it's okay," He said.

"No way, I'm coming, I can handle myself. Isn't that why we've been training?" I reasoned.

He studied me for a moment before saying, "Fine."