Kate
“Go! Run!” Claire’s voice shrieks from behind me. Her hands slam into my back, pushing me out of our hiding spot, and I stumble forward over the metal face. My legs crumple instantly and my knees crash down hard on the cracked sidewalk. I don’t feel the pain, though, all I feel is the racing of my pulse and the need to grab Claire and get away.
I whirl around and reach for her hands. Her eyes are wide and glazed and terrified. They’re looking over my shoulder, behind me, to the creatures that are now slowly shifting toward us.
I scramble to my feet and my hand hits the edge of the discarded mask. I grab it without thinking. It vibrates under my fingertips as I dig my nails into its surface. Maybe I could use the stupid thing. It’s possible they’ll spare our lives if I give it back to them. I hug it against my chest and pull Claire out onto the sidewalk. I shove at her arms, pushing her to run down the street. “Run as fast as you can. Go around this corner if we separate. Into one of the buildings.”
The creatures don’t take notice as Claire fumbles past, half crawling—dragging her legs away from us. Nope, the dark black holes where their eyes should be are fixed on the mask in my hands.
“Leave us alone and I’ll give this back to you,” I yell, my voice cracking and hoarse.
Instantly, the three creatures are in front of me, bending their large frames over me. I flinch back against the wall, praying that my sister made it more than halfway down the block. Hoping my father is somewhere helping her and getting her to safety, because I think I’m about to die.
“Touch me and I’ll break it,” I growl, trying to make my voice way stronger than I feel.
My words go unheard as the closest creature thrusts out his arm with a brutal punch to the brick wall behind me. His fist crushes through the stone and it crumbles down around me. Rocks and pebbles pour down over my head, and fall down the collar of my vest. I want to scream and shove this thing away from me, yet I’m too frightened to move. His other hand reaches for the mask I’m cradling high on my chest, but before his silvery fingertips touch down, his body recoils back, away from me, flies through the air, and violently smashes against a wrecked car long ago abandoned in the street.
My eyes focus on the large, dark shadow that stretches up behind the remaining creatures. It’s the one they attacked. It’s the one whose mask I’m clutching in front of me using as leverage to save our lives. There’s so much thick red blood on his face I can see no recognizable features. Something out of a horrible horror movie that I can’t switch off.
Shit. It’s coming right at me.
A scream bubbles up in my chest, but before it makes it out, my entire body explodes in excruciating pain. Thethingclosest to me is trying to pry the mask out of my hands, but I’m paralyzed in such utter agony that I can’t move. The metal hands feel like pure acid on my skin, seeping through my pores and surging through my veins. I can’t control my fingers or the guttural roar that rips out of my throat. I’m on my knees instantly, swallowing back bile. My body jerks sideways and bounces like a rag doll down the sidewalk. The scraping of my skin along the concrete is a welcoming sensation in place of the touch of these monsters.
I try to focus my tear-filled eyes to see what’s coming for me next. Will it be the maskless, blood-soaked creature coming to take back his face, or his metal freak friends?
But, when my vision clears, there’s something worse coming toward me.
Much worse.
Up ahead I can see Claire crawling her way back to me.
My eyes bite with burning tears. She’s got to get away. What is she doing trying to get back here? “No!” I manage to wheeze out, coughing and gagging on bits of rock and grit. “Stay away!”
On my other side, the creatures are thrashing around trying to get to me, but the unmasked one is flinging them around effortlessly.
Time feels like it’s slowing down and my head pulses with a thumping that seems to come from the middle of my forehead. Weakly, I pull myself up on the wall, using the cracked bricks to steady my balance. The throbbing in my head continues and spreads down through my cheekbones and along my jaw. My eyes blink slowly, a giant black shade, shutting and opening, scraping against my vision.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
My breath comes out in a sluggish stutter.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Metal crunches against metal, sharp and brutal. Blue sparks explode, blasting flashes of light and heat. All in slow drawn-out motions.
Thump, thump.
My chest tightens and my hands clasp around the mask that’s somehow still in my hands.
Thump, thump.
Before me, the fight changes. The three masked creatures have the unmasked one on his knees. Blood is everywhere, thick and dark on the pavement in front of me.
“Kate!” my sister’s scream echoes through the chaos. She stumbles through the smoke and flames. “Kaaaate!”
Thump, thump.
The creatures are on her instantly, leaving the unmasked one to collapse face first into the asphalt with a sickeningthwat.
My heart stops.
No. No, no no no no!
My sister’s eyes widen in terror just as they grab hold of her in their metal grasp and shoot up like bullets into the liquid black sky.
Her backpack thuds softly on the pavement and a handful of coins fall out noisily.
Claire’s gone.
And I’m still here. Alone.
