A chorus of squeaking and skittering sounds surrounded us in the darkness.

And a few boney arms scurried back after it walked on top of the ground illuminated by the torch. The light almost acting like a fire to these fiends.

But I didn’t pick up that torch. I felt that the moment I bent down to pick it up, I’ll be grabbed and whisked away into the darkness.

“Not yet?” I screamed back to the person behind me, scramming to open a package.

“Gods, why do they have to make it so difficult to open these,” Was her reply.

Oh Lord, we were going to die. I could hear the creaking sounds that surround me getting closer. My waving of my weapon frantically in every direction and the initial distressing light, losing its momentum. Being swallowed by the cacophony of cries.

I almost gave up hope, but another shout rekindled it. “Got it!”

A bath of light also followed this, flooding the room with light, making me finally see the owners of the cries. They all recoiled from the painful light, including the one which was right in front of me and in the midst of pouncing me.

Instead of being shocked by the sudden reveal like last time. I gripped my weapon and thrust it into its eyes. Since it was much closer than the last one, I could drive the pitchfork into the ground along with its head with both my hands, killing it instantly, which was confirmed by the flow of energy from it.

Something felt even closer than before like it was almost filled, almost going to fill over, so close to completion. But I ignored that feeling in favor of the circumstances.

“Let’s get out of here” I shouted at Lea. I was under no delusion that this would enable us to be victors against these gatherings. The best thing to do here was to retreat with the bag of supplies and hopefully never come back here again.

Lea took the big torch and got up, keeping it pointed at the horde, which was backing away from the light while shrieking as if a fire roasted them when they touched the light.

I took the smaller torch from the ground as we both proceeded to moonwalk towards the back door, walking gradually backward. I shined the light to our rear as well, deterred them from flanking us or attacking us from behind.

But we were a far cry from being safe. They tried to probe and sneak through the shadows and edges in an effort to reach us. Almost like how wolves hunted their prey, they tried to surround us and attack from our blind spot.

We frantically waved our lights in every direction to keep them at bay while walking backward slowly, and to our delight, hope was in sight as we finally could see the light at the end of the tunnel, the backdoor, our way out.

With rescue in sight, we increased our pace, walking backwards faster while smacking them away with our lights. The door was just a few meters away from us, we could practically reach it if we make a run for it.

But something strange took away my attention. While looking out for each and every one of them trying to sneak around us. I saw something.... something moving behind them.

Seconds slowed as I sensed it moving swiftly under the cover of darkness.

It was strange, sensing something under nothing and knowing with certainty that something was behind that veil of visibility. The most similar experience I could use to describe this was when watching my grandmother’s pond as a kid. Knowing that there was a big fish, bigger than you, swimming under the cover of the pond.

You couldn’t see it, but you could feel its enormous presence. You would instinctively feel wary of the seemingly empty pond.

I could feel something similar under the fog of darkness, something more terrifying. Moving soundlessly towards our rear we were backpedaling into. I dropped my lifeline, the torch, while holding the pitchfork in my other hand, and grabbed Lea’s hand to pull her closer, just as something swooped overhead her with a sharp gust.

To her credit, instead of being surprised, she instantly turned the light towards the source. But the light, as if unable to penetrate any deeper, dissipated after a few feet in front of us, only revealing a faint figure of the unknown attacker.

But that was more than enough to recognize how far our chances of leaving this mart dropped.

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The Komodo-werewolf from before was scary enough. It had each arm thicker than my waist, with big, boney sharp bones that made for its teeth and even though it only reached half my height, I wouldn’t have faced it and won wasn’t it for the surprise attack and luck.

Even so, it was still a beast in human size and could be said to be in the realms of manageable.

This though... I raised my head to meet its giant head looming over us. It was as big as a truck and, unlike its ugly half-plucked counterpart, was covered in silver sleek feathers. Silent as well, lacking the distinct squeaking noises its smaller versions seemed to love.

Even though its silver-colored feather should make it more discernable in the darkness, the giant creature was instead shrouded in the dark, almost as if it was dissolved into the darkness itself.

Quiet and still as the night.

It stood looming in the direction of our way out, the back door. Its intention clear. No one was leaving here.

We immediately turned around and ran, the smaller versions of the creatures parting away from the light. But the sight of a fleeing prey renewed their instincts and chased after us with vigor. I held Lea’s hand as we ran further inside the mart, away from the door and further into Death's claw.

The fiends were closer to us this time, their nimble speed surpassing ours. One grabbed my shoulder with its sharp talons, but I forced myself away from its grip and continued running with a bleeding shoulder.

But another one grabbed Lea’s ankle, and she fell right into the ground, slipping away from my grip.

I turned back to see her screaming with an outstretched hand, surrounded by delighted squeaking and creatures crowding around her. In this situation, stopping meant getting swarmed from all sides, meant getting torn and eaten alive. It meant death.

I looked at the outstretched hands and decided on one thing. She was a lost cause.

But I dashed forward to that hand, my vitality coming to me instantly, waiting to be spilled. To be tipped over...something. I thrusted my weapon into one of the creatures that were swarming on Lea, my momentum tearing through its head, piercing it completely and killing it.

And it tipped.

Instantly, like something broke, something expelled out of me. Like a part of myself being released into the world. Time slowed as I saw Lea through the horde that covered her. Her crawled up inside the mob bearing their talons and claws on her.

I saw the fiend that was on my right, just outside my vision, about to claw on my thighs. I looked towards it and saw everything towards my right even before my head turned, its pale-skinny features finally being seen clearly.

I gripped my pitchfork and shot it towards its head. My weapon reaching its head before it could touch me. I looked back towards Lea and killed another one on top of her with another quick stab, all while my perception of the surrounding quickly increased.

I saw the entire mart and each of the creatures inside of it, their squeaking, their jittering as they moved around restlessly. Even the big one that was standing regally in front of the door, its head reaching the ceiling with its eyes observing us patiently.

I thrusted my weapon through the gaps of the fiends, into the one that was clawing at Lea and kicked the other one on top of her.

Previously, vitality felt empowering, made me feel energetic. Felt like it gave me a peak level of control over my body, but it didn’t actually make me physically stronger, it only felt like it did.

This wasn’t the case right now. Right now, it was like everything about me was multiplied. The creature on top of Lea flew off from my kick, almost like kicking a ragdoll.

I grab hold of the still outstretched hand and pulled her in. The claw that was grabbing her painfully ripped her back as I did so. I could see that clearly in my omnipresent vision. But pull her still I did while she screamed in pain.

I clutched her hands as I started running with her being dragged behind me. The vision of the whole mart started getting holes in it. Started disintegrating. But I ran with purpose, the destination already set in mind.

A room at the end with a thick and small doorway, small enough that the big one wouldn’t be able to enter.

I ran towards it while pulling Lea with one of my hands and the other holding my pitchfork. Lea, surprisingly, kept holding the heavy torch in her hands and while attempting to point it towards our back, preventing the horde from chasing us too close.

Jesus, this woman.

I saw the doorway to the room with my actual eyes and ran towards it; the doorway was too small for the big one to enter, just like how I saw in my vision.

And turned the torch back at the doorway, preventing anything to get past that door. The creatures stopped in front of the light, screeching and backing away from the ray.

For a few seconds, I kept staring, to see if the giant one will do anything. A minute passed as I stared daggers into the doorway.

Nothing happened.

I let out a deep breath and looked at Lea. She was looking better than I expected. Her shoulders, neck, and back were covered in claw marks, but less than someone would expect from being attacked by such a number.

I remember the unobstructed view of her being crowded by them. Only 2 or 3 were actually harming her, the rest were on top of her getting blocked by the other. Thankfully, I pulled her out as quickly as I did.

“You ok?“ I asked with concern and doubt.

She was breathing heavily, but quickly calmed herself down with my question and replied while panting. “Yeah…yeah, I think so.“

I looked inside the room, for any of the creatures, which there was thankfully none. I knew that from the vision from before, but just had to make sure.

I looked back towards the doorway; the light kept them outside the room, but the question was for how long? We had no way to escape from here, and even if we fought through that horde, the big one was still there.

For some reason, it wasn’t intent on hunting us itself, instead making sure that we don’t leave and let the smaller ones kill do the job instead.

Almost like a mother letting her child hunt for itself.

“What should we do?” Lea asked, appearing sweaty and visibly frightened.

"I don't know," I replied with despair.

We had our backs against the wall and I couldn't see any way in which we could escape out of here alive.