House of Monsters

Chapter 10: Letting Go

  Warning! A bit of blood and gore! I warned you!

   We were running down the hall. They'd found their way in. They were right behind us.

  "HOOLOOLOOLOOLOO! HOOLOOLOOLOOLOO!" 

  I was running out of energy, there was no way I'd make it to the end.

  I hated myself for being so stupid. Why didn't we check the walls? Why?!? We'd been walking up the passage when we heard the sound of crumbling dirt... And the hollering. What happened after that is pretty clear; we started running.

  I didn't get a good look at them, but when I caught a glimpse earlier, they seemed... Short? I thought. 

  "HOO! HOO! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

  What am I thinking?I don't really wanna know what they look like, not after last time. I berated myself.

  My legs were starting to burn, and I felt like they really were burning off, creating a trail of ashes behind me. But I continued, somehow, a small stumble throwing me off time to time. Evey and Amber were starting to tire out a bit, too. The creatures weren't so close, but they weren't so far either. A trip and fall would mean a certain death. With no escape in sight, we would have to keep running, or perish like the others. An end that would probably include lots of pain, screaming, and blood.

  We continued to run, not speaking at all, not sparing any oxygen for anything other than our circulatory system. 

  "HOO! HOOLOOLOOLOO! HOOLOO! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" 

  They were speeding up, or maybe we were slowing down, drastically. The hooting seemed happy, a sign that supported my theory that we were gonna get eaten. Alive. 

  Thinking about getting eaten alive brought images of Caroline being shredded before our eyes in my mind, causing me to falter and fall down, landing with a dust cloud.

  This is the end... 

  "HOO! HOO! HOO! HOOOOOOOLOOLOO! HOOLOO!" 

  The distorted, delighted whoops drew closer, and I looked up the passage, but Evey and Amber weren't there.

  Huh?

  I felt a pair of hands grab mine and pull me up and running again, just as the creatures dived right where I had been.

  "Why?" I asked. 

  Neither of them replied.

  The tunnel seemed to go forever, but luckily, I could hear the creatures slowly tire out, the footsteps slowly fading away one by one. I guess having longer legs had a huge advantage in this situation.

  We continued to run for a while longer, Amber looking back every now and then to make sure we were successfully getting away.

  Finally, Amber said the most beautiful words I've ever heard in my life.

  "It's safe to stop." 

  We all collapsed to the ground and stayed like that without moving for a good five minutes, gasping for breath, sweat running down our foreheads. 

  "I wish we brought water." Evey said with a dry voice, scratching her neck.

  "We all do." Amber replied.

  We stayed still in silence once again. Taking a break we definitely deserved after all we'd been through. Now that my body had cooled down, I was cold. I didn't really mind it though.

  Amber rose. "I'll go check on them." She offered, causing our other comrade to jump up.

  "Be safe." I said, sitting up.

  Evey watched with concern in her eyes as Amber cautiously made her way down. When Amber was about 20 meters away, Evey decided to go after her, leaving me alone. 

  I started to daydream about escaping this place when I heard a scream down the corridor. I jumped to my feet, and looked down. There was nothing, yet I still heard screaming, which confused me because Evey and Amber hadn't gone that far to be out of my sight. 

 Suddenly, the wall behind me exploded, knocking me over. I then felt someone or something stampede over my back. I looked up to see Amber running out, screaming at the top of her lungs. Another screaming someone or something came running over me, which I assumed was Evey. I got up, knowing they would only run if something was chasing them. When I caught up with them, I saw the horror-struck expression on their faces and wondered if it was the Long-necked-I-will-eat-you-alive-o-saurus or the other thing.

  "Which one is it?" I asked, my messy hair repeatedly blowing into my face as we ran.

  "What?" Amber asked, her eyes still wide. It must've been unnerving, whatever they saw.

  "Was it the Long-necked-I-will-eat-you-alive-o-saurus?"

  "WhAt?" Evey turned her head at me. "Why are you naming things that kill people? Did your brain commit oof?"

  "I'm okay, what did you see?"

  "Y-" 

  The wall next to Evey exploded with the little creatures, and this time I got a good look at them. 

  They were short, each of them an average of one foot in height. They were shaped like the letter A but in the puffy graffiti font, but their bodies weren't puffy, if you get what I mean, which you probably don't, because I'm terrible at describing things. The body was a light pastel-ish green, and in the triangle part of the A was the face. The face consisted of two large, black dots which probably are the eyes, and a rectangular mouth with rounded edges that displayed jagged, blood-tinted teeth which were shaped a perfect triangle, as if it were from a cartoon. On top of their head was a long, dark green leaf which varied in sizes for each of them. Their left and right sides each sprouted one humanoid hand, colored just like the rest of the body. Their main self-transportation system were their legs, which were located at the 'legs' of the A. Again, I'm bad at describing things. They would've been cute if they weren't trying to kill us.

  Evey turned her head just in time for one of the creatures to jump on and cling to her face, making her trip and fall.

  "HOO! HOO! HOO! HOOLOOLOOLOOLOO! HOOHOOHOO!" 

  With one hand, it began clawing at her eyes. 

  Evey started to scream as more and more Hand Plants started to climb on.

  "EVEY!!!" Amber screamed, and started to rip off the Hand Plants as fast as she could. I ran over to help, and Hand Plants were starting to climb on all three of us. The ones we managed to fling off always came back, more vicious than before, vigorously clawing at us. 

  "RUN!" Evey called out.

  "I'M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!" Amber screamed as tears started to flow down her face.

  "Let go." Evey suddenly said in a chill tone before one of the Hand Plants ripped out her tongue and gobbled it down. 

  Amber stood still, eyes wide as Jeff the Killer.

  I grabbed her and dragged her away from the growing pool of blood as the Hand Plants feasted on Evey, covering her body from our sight.

  "Come on!" I said desperately, trying harder to drag Amber away. 

  I eventually managed to drag her to a safer spot, far away from the murder.

  "Amber. We need to go. You heard her. Let go." I said as I leaned over to look her in the eyes, and I could see something had broken into a million pieces inside of her.

  "Yeah... I just need to... Let go."