Intro: Why me?

  The night seemed to last forever, the stars sparkled and winked, yet they offered no solace in the never-ending black. I let out a slow controlled breath. The fog condensed around my mouth giving off a puff of smoke. My hands shook with more vitality than I thought I had. A deep growl began from below me and for a moment I thought they had found me.

  Then I realized that ferocious beast was my own stomach aching for sustenance that would not come any time soon. I clutched the tattered remains of my shirt surrounding my torso with white knuckles.

  ‘Why did it have to be me?’ Everything that had happened. All of it going wrong, 'why did it have to be me? Why Me?!’

  A deep sob broke free from my chest. One that held days of sorrow that I had kept inside. Tears began to roll down my face. I waved around my place on the tree while sobs wracked my body. I pressed my face again at the rough bark hoping it would give me a sense of comfort and warmth. I was only met with more cold.

  “He-he-he, I found you. We found you.”

  The high-pitched shriek of each of their voices one after another yet overlapping in an inhuman way made my heart flip flop into my throat. While my crying had stopped it was replaced with a small whine that I was not proud of making.

  ‘No, no, no, no!’ I began to repeat those words in a constant stream in my mind as I slowly turned my head towards the trees adjacent to mine swaying in what I had thought was the breeze, but that's when I realized the absolute absence of wind.

   Immediately my grip on the tree gave and I slid off the branch I was seated on as my hands once again realized their function and grabbed fruitlessly at the trunk tearing my skin free as a ground down all the way to the bottom. I landed on the pine needle-filled ground along with the cascade of wood chips that had fallen free for my descent.

  Now was not the time to be thinking about the pain, I stood pushing myself from the ground with my bleeding hands groaning with pain and fear as I raised my head.

  I saw them moving without making so much as a whisper, bodies pale like the moon jaws hanging open so wide you'd think they must touch the ground at times, filled with rotting teeth stained red from things I wouldn’t want to imagine, yet the worst part of all was the eyes, smiling happily like they were seeing a long lost friend.

  Except for the way, their freakishly long arms popped up randomly at different angles and hands clicked into places that shouldn't be possible did not exude happiness. Just deep, overwhelming hunger.

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  I didn’t let myself waste any more time as I bolted with all the strength I had within my weakened legs. The lack of noise from behind me did little to settle my pounding heart as I knew how deadly quiet they were.

   My feet hit the ground with dull thumps, each step spurred by pure adrenaline coursing through my veins. I kept on running, yet I knew I couldn’t deceive myself from the inevitable, my time and come, death doors were open wide and their cold embrace waiting, with my impending doom looming far nearer than I was ready for. As my arms pumped along with my legs I prayed to everything I could, hoping someone would save me from this pit of hell.

  At that moment in the shade of the starlight, a small root was hidden beneath the pines, which caught my foot, stopping my lower half completely, sending the rest of me into the brambles.

   I rolled multiple times finally coming to a stop after landing harshly off a dip made by a large dirt mound that created a ledge in the normally flat ground. I groaned and exhaled deeply blowing dead leaves up. Slowly I lifted myself feeling the dull pulse of pain in the shin where the branch had struck me.

  A sudden crunch of leaves caused my eyes to beam forward expecting to see my pursuers, yet to my utter surprise what I saw instead was the face of a terrified young man similar to me in age around 13 or so. As I looked into his eyes they seemed to plead to me, asking with all their might for me to just continue running.

  “I’m sorry”, I whispered, hating myself for what I was about to do.

   I yelled, releasing all the fear and frustration I was feeling into the piercing cold quiet of the night. Finally, I felt my breath run out and in the dead silence the sound of wind rushing trickled into my ears, but there was no wind here. So I knew it had worked.

   In that same instance, I rushed the horrified young man grabbing him by the sleeve of his jacket and yanking him with all my might into the open area I had just inhabited while jamming my back as tightly as I could against the dirt wall. A fraction of a second later the creatures descended upon the spot I had thrown the man onto his back. His face stared straight at me, boring into my soul showing the deepest sense of betrayal and disbelief.

   “I’m so sorry,” I whispered again and again as their hulking bodies latched onto his limbs.

  They giggled in glee as they slowly pulled him apart. I heard the wet snaps and pops, his screams were those of more than mere pain, it was a pure animalistic gut-wrenching anguish. There was only one discernible word I could hear in his roars.

  “SASHA!” I wanted to cover my ears and pretend he wasn't screaming my name, but I would not allow myself that privilege as tears once again flooded my face.

  Then, came the tearing and ripping sound like velcro peeling off. All throughout I had locked eyes with the young man I had once known. As they mutilated him, I was whispering soundless apologies knowing it would never make up for what I had done.

  Finally, the screaming stopped, only to be replaced with their demented giggles and the smack of their lips as blood oozed from their bodies as they bathed in the gore they created. I exhaled ever so slightly no longer humanly capable of holding my breath any longer.

  Ever so slowly all three began to turn their heads towards me and that sick demented smile appeared on all of their faces.

At this point, I had given up. It was all over. Closing my eyes, I waited for my fate. Whatever happened next I deserved after what I had done. With the rush of wind, I said goodbye to this world and those I knew. And a small voice wished I would finally be reunited with all the ones I’ve lost.