Creature

Creature

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. It was everywhere now, he knew. Although he could not see it, he could feel its presence, the unimaginable heat it gave off on its rampage was almost overwhelming. He could barely breath as the creatures pungent, choking breath filled the hallway in which he stood. He pulled on his breathing apparatus, to protect him from the toxic fumes the beasts gave off.

Before long it would find him, and when it did it would consume him completely, it would tear the flesh from his bones, leaving only his disfigured skeleton, if that. It had killed many today, mindlessly hunting them down as it devoured everything in its path. He knew he must get the last living people out before the creature found him also, before it was too late.

He should never have even entered the building. His colleagues had warned him against it, saying it was suicide, and he knew that they were right. No-one could survive in this environment for long, not with the creature constantly hunting for them. But that was the reason he had to go in. He knew how long a person could survive being hunted, and if there were still people in the creatures path he had very little time to get them out. Already he had shown three people the way out, but there were still more inside and the beast would not stop unless it was stopped.

Already the hallways walls were black from the creatures poisonous breath. He hefted his weapon, the only defense against this monster, and set off once again, searching for any that had escaped its merciless attack.

As he ran he passed areas of destruction he searched for any signs of life. The monster had not been here yet but such was the effectiveness of its attack that even the area around was not left unaffected. He knew what had happened, of course, there was only one way it could have happened. People had let it get out of control. He knew all there was to know about this creature, he knew that whilst small and collared it was very useful, even if it was still dangerous. But once the creature was allowed to grow, to break free, it became uncontrollable, unpredictable, almost unstoppable. It did not kill on purpose, but it would destroy everything in its path and its hunger was insatiable, which made it even more dangerous.

Once again he stopped, this time to listen for the voices of survivors, for the voices of the trapped, awaiting rescue or death. All he could hear was the creaking of the building as it slowly collapsed around him, its ominous groan reminded him that his time was short. He ran on.

Now he could hear the horrible sound the creature made as it consumed its pray. Although he still could not see the creature he knew that it was close.

“HELP!!” came a choking cry from his left. He turned a corner and found himself facing a room, door firmly closed. He pressed his hands against it, checking for the presence of the beast in the room beyond. Nothing. He kicked in the door and ran inside.

The creatures harsh breath stung his eyes but he pressed on, searching for the source of the cry. Before long he found it. A young girl, huddled in a corner, tears running down her grimy cheeks, eyes wide with fear.

He picked her up and ran, back the way he had come, back through the hallway and to the stairs. Down, down as fast as he could, hoping to relieve the girl of the toxic atmosphere as soon as possible. He found his way blocked by a fallen wall. The beast was doing its work well. Before long there would be nothing left, save those things too tough to digest.

Knowing now that he was almost out of time he ran along the second floor, hoping to find a suitable way down to the ground and out of the creature infested building.

There was a loud groan as part of the floor in front of him gave way. The creature reared up, attempting to grab him with long deadly fingers, its shape constantly shifting, constantly reaching out for things on which it could feed. He could feel the it, its breath on the exposed areas of his face, its tongue licking at his flesh, as if it couldn't wait to claim him. Placing the child carefully on the floor he aimed his weapon at the advancing creature and fired. The beast fell back with a pained hiss, retreating away from the weapon loaded with a substance it found so deadly.

He knew it was far from over, this had only been a small battle a large war. The building was lost. His task was to save as many as he could, and to prevent the creature from moving on.

He picked up the child once again and ran to a nearby window. A fire escape stretched out down below him and he smiled. As carefully as he could he climbed out of the window and descended the ladder to the ground. He moved as fast as he could to where his colleagues were battling the creature from the outside. As he came up two of his friends spotted him and rushed over.

“We thought you were gone for sure,” one yelled as the other took the girl from his arms.

“I'm not that easy to get rid of,” John replied, wiping dirt and sweat out of his eyes. “If it wasn't for that fire escape, though, I'd be dead for sure.”

John removed his yellow helmet and looked up at the burning building. Even the untrained eye could see that the building was lost. “I can't believe I was just in that,” he said shaking his head. “Do we know what started it?”

His friend snorted. “Some idiot thought it would be smart to burn his papers in a garbage bin. He said he left it for a second to get more paper and when he came back the whole room was on fire. You're a hero you know. You saved four people tonight.”

For a time they said nothing, just looked up at the flames finishing off the building. You could hear the crackling as if it was laughing, happy at its work.

“You know,” John said, facing his friend once again. “Sometimes I could swear it was alive.”

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Hi, this is another really short one written for an exam. I hope you enjoyed it.