𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃. ˢᵗᵉᵛᵉ ʰᵃʳʳⁱⁿᵍᵗᵒⁿ ²

001

▬▬ 001. 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑏𝑜.

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄. All she could see were sparks and flames and clouds of gas wafting around her in the air. Shards of glass broke beneath her feet. It was everywhere, the glass was everywhere— the glass roof above completely shattered, leaving slivers on the floor and fragments all about. The place erupted in bright, flashing lights, so blazing that it blinded her eyes. And her nose stung, it stung bad from the fumes. Sparks were everywhere, exploding from every corner, at every height. Flames coated the ground below. It was hot, really hot. All she could see was sparks and flames and clouds of gas. And the thirty foot monster on the Starcout Mall floor beneath her.

She gripped another firework hard in her hand, the heat from the sparkling fuse radiating on her fingers. In the midst of it all, she neared the edge of the balcony and threw her arm back, swung it forward and let the firework erupt midway through the air— colliding straight with the side of the creature's head.

Her chest rose and fell in a panic she'd never quite known before. Her breathing was heavy and she couldn't stop it. Inhale quick, exhale faster. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Her heart battered against her ribcage and her body spiralled in a fear unlike any other— a consuming, panic-ridden, terrible aching fear. Hands shook as they grappled for the next firework in the basket, totally and utterly scared shitless of what was happening in front of her. She stared with wide eyes, at the creature growling down below— her throat closed up and she felt like she couldn't really breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Another firework. She felt like throwing up.

She inhaled the smoke every time, and felt her chest tighten from the fumes. All the sparks. The heat. The heat stung at her skin, scratched at her face and coated her body in sweat. Her eyes were wattery from the flushes of it. The steam from the burning firework in her hand. Her body ached with fear and ached with exhaustion, but still she kept reaching for those fireworks in the basket behind them, rushed up to the balcony ledge and threw them at the monster flailing and hollering. Inhale. Exhale. Another explosion of sparks, eupting in flaming embers thrown back in their direction. They sizzled around her, and some landed on her arms. She had no time to wince or shake them off. Another firework.

The monster hollered and shrieked. She'd seen the demodogs, she'd seen their bodies before. But this wasn't anything like what she saw months ago. This was big. And deadly. And made entirely of human flesh and organs. Humans. It stretched on for thirty feet high, and its legs were tall and lanky— spread out like a spider. And the head, the massive head— bigger than anything she'd ever seen before— was racked with endless rows of teeth and dripping with gore. Open and hollering. Screaming. Shrieking at every impact of fireworks. It was the most terrifying thing she'd every laid her eyes on. Massive. And deadly. Right there in front of her, wanting to eat all of them up whole. Inhale. Exhale.

She let out a yell as she threw the next firework, screaming with all her might as it spiralled through the air and hit the monster square on the side of its head. It bounded back from the impact. Her hand burned. Her nostrils stung. Her lungs heaved. There was smoke everywhere. The lights were flickering. Her heart battered hard against her chest, so hard that it nearly caused her to fall right over. But she grabbed the next firework anyways, the fuse ignited in tiny sparks and she swung it out over the balcony again. Inhale. Exhale. The heat burned her face, and her hair stuck to her neck. Her fingers stung from the sparks. Her eyes were glossy from the smoke. Smoke everywhere. Hot everywhere. Stinging everywhere.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
friday morning