CHAPTER 63: As I Run

The ground trembled and shook slightly. Similarly, my body was trembling. All of a sudden, I didn't care about the precarious situation I was in and just wanted to run for my life.

I had never even seen a stampede before, but I had the feeling that the cause of the quaking ground was the cause for my earlier discomfort.

The gut-wrenching, unease I had had for a while was finally making sense

For a while now, I had been able to get a sense for when something bad was coming my way, like something was creeping up on me. Call it a premonition if you will.

For that reason, I shot to my feet, ignoring the outcries of my soon-to-be captors and made a mad dash for the river.

As I ran, the darkness felt like it was pressing down on me, making me breathe harder than I should've and stumble over various things.

It was just a short distance from where I was to the river, but it felt like an eternity. Evey step I took made me feel like I had walked a mile.

Even as I ran, I knew the way I was acting was very irrational, after all, nothing had happened yet. Why was I in such a panic?

I told myself that, but I couldn't stop running. The inky black sky bore down on me, making me feel like death already had his claws around my neck.

It was for that reason that I kept running.

I reached the water and dove inside. Because I was in water, I didn't notice how I was drenched in sweat. I swam and swam until the feeling of death looming over me lessened, then looked back.

The group had gathered by the river and and were looking in my direction, yet they made no move to chase me.

I was surprised and my face melted into an expression of relief, but swiftly morphed into another of horror as the moon shone down for the first time this night.

From the trees behind them emerged beasts, beasts that perfectly embodied the word 'ferocious'. Sharp claws, teeth and eyes like those of a predator.

As I watched, the beasts pounced on them, ripping them to shreds while they screamed inhumanly, a heart-stopping sound that I never would have thought possible to come out of a human's mouth had I not seen it firsthand.

The blood from the group gathered into a pool and slowly dripped from the bodies in the beasts' mouthed onto the ground and flowed around the rocks into the water, dying it a light shade of crimson,

I just floated there and watched the spectacle, a passer-by might mistake my gaze and interpret it as being transfixed, but no, he couldn't be more wrong. It was genuine terror, which was quite strange given what I had been through.

When Professor A had skinned those two people in front of all of us, of course I had been traumatized. Who wouldn't? But still, it wasn't that bad. I had gotten over it quickly and put it at the back of my mind.

What made that experience different than this one? One thing and one thing only, the sharpness of the blade and where it was pointed.

To further elaborate, when Professor A killed those two, it didn't have that much of an effect on me because he was like a sheathed blade that was only slightly pointing at me, so I wasn't that threatened.

But in the face of these beasts, it was a like a sharpened blade was right above my neck, just waiting to fall. I had never experienced true fear before, even when I had fought with others.

There was a difference between a human and a beast. And that was natural bloodthirstiness. A beast would always have an air about it that made one instinctively fear them. For the first time, I was bombarded with that bloodthirstiness upfront.

That left me in a state where my body was refusing to comply with my instructions and rendered me immobile.

As if sensing my presence, one of the beasts turned in my direction. It was wolf-like except for the horns atop it's head and the abnormally long claws. I couldn't really see it's eye well but I could feel it's gaze on me.

It's mouth opened, forming an arc that resembles a twisted smile, although it wasn't probably meant that way.

It was only then that I regained my motor movements and swam away. It was probably the most desperate I had been in my entire life, the way I swam frantically, almost maniacally.

There was no such thing as rest for me, I swam for what could have been an hour or two, or even three, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it was only two minutes.

The sound of water splashing was the only thing I focused on. I would have have stopped due to exhaustion if not for the splashing behind me, informing me that I was not out of danger. But the splashing grew closer and closer, until it was almost on top of me.

But it got no closer, holding it's position while I swam for my life.

As time passed, I got the feeling that it was playing with me, toying with it's meal before finishing it of.

Indignation rose within me, but I didn't have the luxury to indulge it as I clung to the fleeting, yet still existent ray of hope that was escape.

However, no matter how strong a person's will is, the body has its limits. I reached my breaking point, and despair fully set in.

Just as I was about to give up, their was a clicking sound, like the sound of a switch being turned on or of, and the entire area around him and beyond fell into complete darkness. Thick, choking, suffocating, darkness that threatened to bury one alive in it.

In the midst of all that, a strawberry-blonde girl hung off a tree with her two legs, holding seven tags in her hand.

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