Don't Get Eaten

Chapter Fifty Three

They didn't come straight towards us, so I'm assuming it was because they couldn't see, but more listening instead. Slowly reaching out to grab Matty's shirt sleeve, I get his attention as he carefully turns his head to look at me. His eyes were wild with fear, his posture stiffened and tensed. Raising a finger, I indicate for him to stay silent and gently place a foot backwards to let him know to quietly move away from this area.

He nods his head as he too does the same thing. I don't let him go, afraid that if I do we'll get caught or something. Zared, who was right behind me, holds onto my hips and does as we were doing, careful that our feet weren't making any noise.

Which was damn hard to do when the street was covered in dirt and debris that was never cleaned up from the weather of this place. I was afraid that with no eyes they relied more on their hearing, which meant better accuracy of vision sounds for them. So, it's possible they could even hear a single pebble being slightly moved.

It was slow going and my breath caught when the closest one to us starts moving forward, jerking its head in every which way trying to pick up any sound that it could. Placing my other hand over my mouth, I feel the sweat of my brow dripping down onto my face. Clenching his shirt tighter, I couldn't help but jerk him a little closer to me.

We all instantly stop as his foot skids a little against the dirt, causing a small sound around us. My heart hammers into my chest, the sound slamming into my ears hearing the blood rush within me. The creatures all jerk towards us as they hear it, the closest one moving faster now, their hands dragging on the ground in the most horrific way.

It opens its mouth wide, "Arggghhh." The sound was loud and slow, like its voice was unused and dry.

Zared pulls on me to get moving as we realize it was getting closer, but it not seeming to know we were quite in front of it too. I start moving again, pulling Matty carefully this time away from the monster that was searching for us.

Once it starts moving faster the others follow suit, making me curse inside that we may be in more serious trouble than I thought. It wasn't that we couldn't get away from them, it was the fact that while being this slow other monsters could spot us and then we would definitely be dead meat. But hopefully the sun will rise soon, and we wouldn't have to worry about it.

We were so focused on the creatures that none of us thought to check our surroundings as we backed up, because Zared right then ends up crashing right into a trash can that was out by the curb of the street, causing it to topple over onto the ground. The noise was so loud that it made my heart skip a couple of beats, while I jumped in my fright.

I quickly swirl my head to stare at him in dread, his look just as fear filled as mine was.

"ARGHHH!" The booming screech pierced my ears and none of us waited a second more to jet to the side, running as fast as we possibly could.

Once again Matty was way ahead of us. Damn that boy could run. But I was having a bit of trouble as my ankle decided it wanted to be difficult in getting us the hell away from those things that were now chasing us like crazy, the sounds of their dangling arms hitting the ground like pounding horse hoofs.

My bruised ribs throbbed as I exerted myself to go even faster. Zared was right next to me, never leaving my side as he kept looking back to keep an eye on how close they were to us. Fuck, because of me he wasn't going as fast as I knew he could. I was slowing him down big time.

"Shit!" he whispers heavily, he's breathing in pants as he pushes a little harder, wildly looking around now.

That didn't sound good. Which means they were gaining on us. How many of them were there? Ten? Fifteen? I didn't even bother to count but I knew it was a big group of them.

Just then we heard another scream in the distance, and it was like Zared was waiting for that chance for the monsters to get distracted enough to grab my wrist and make a sharp left down another alley way. He slams us against the wall behind a big dumpster, pushing me just behind him and we instantly became quiet.

Our movement had been so sudden that the monsters didn't even notice we changed course. They ran right on by without slowing down. Another scream rent out and I knew they were now heading to wherever the sound was coming from. Worry slams into me that it could be one of the others, or Matty who had left us completely behind in his fear driven mind.

I couldn't even be mad at him for doing that. Even though it was a douche move to leave us like he just did. But I can't worry about that right now. We sat there together, breathing heavily trying to clam our loud pants. The sky was getting brighter, and I prayed we could make it out in the nick of time.

Zared leans in next to me as he stops looking around the dumpster. He grabs my attention and mouths, while pointing up into the sky, "Wait for sunrise."

I nod my head in agreement. Once the sun was fully up we should get moving then. But not right now, not when both my foot and torso were burning like hell from the pain I just made it go through by running.

Subconsciously, he grabs my foot, while listening carefully to our surroundings, and starts gently rubbing the sore spot. I nearly hissed at the tenderness that caused but caught myself. He knew. He freaking knew that my ankle nearly gave out back there and it was the reason I wasn't running as fast as I normally could.

It was the reason he stayed with me after all.

I stare at the side of his face while he kept checking our location with a concentrated frown. Unlike Matty, Zared would never leave me behind for any reason. And the fact that I did when those jerkwads were chasing us made me feel like shit about myself.

Sure, I tried hard to stay with him. And sure the others were the reason I had to leave him there by himself, but I still left him. It was same thing in my book. I lean into him and wrap my arms around the one that was softly stroking my ankle and squeeze him to me, while burying my face into his shoulder.

He has no idea that with each passing moment, with every little thing that he does, I was falling even harder for him. Who would have ever thought that it was him that I couldn't live without? I sure as hell didn't.

He turns to me but doesn't say anything. In fact, he pulls me closer and together we sat there, hoping the sun would hurry the hell up and reach the sky.