chapter : 5

An eerie howl fills the night, loud and clear  like a siren.

I freeze as another nerve wracking shriek fills the night. A scream like that could only be a result of horror and pain.

 Seth and I move toward the building as shouts and more screams of terror follow from the open doors of the hall. We share a glance - his face laced with concern - before we walk through the doors of the hall to see what is going on.

Inside people are shouting out in confusion as the crowd of dancers rush toward the exit in terror.

"Seth" someone calls from behind and I turn to see Stacy run through the door Seth and I entered minutes ago. I expect Derek to follow her but she comes alone.

 "do you think-" she asks frantically "maybe" Seth answers before she can finish. Before I can ask either one of them what they mean, there is another bone chilling howl that stimulates more shouts from the fleeing highschoolers. It seems to be coming from the rear end of the hall where a set of double doors open wide to the garden.

The looks of  concern on Stacy and Seth's face turn into one of  recognition and contained anger. Seth turns to Stacy, his jaw set  "find Irene and Ryan" And Stacy turns to vanish into the crowd to find Irene and her twin brother.

"Ava" says Seth and I tear my eyes away from Stacy's disappearing figure to look at him and I see concern and fear hidden behind in the rage in his eyes. "You need to get out of here " he takes something out of his pocket and thrusts it into my hands, I look down to see a black car key in them. "Take my car and go home, don't worry about us, we'll be fine, just stay away from here" his voice is firm and commanding but his eyes are pleading. without another word he gives a quick kiss to my forehead and disappears into the crowd after Stacy.

I stare, wide eyed, at the place where I lost sight of him, too astonished to speak or protest. My surprise turns to anger. How can he expect me to just run away while he is going to run headfirst into whatever danger there is.

My fingers close into fists around Seth's car key and I stalk into the crowd moving towards the far end of the hall in the direction where Stacy and Seth had gone. It gets easier to shoulder my way through the thinning crowd as the large double doors come closer. When I finally reach the doors and step out into the garden there is no one left- everyone's fled. And it is clear why.

The scene in front of me makes me scream. 

Seth and Stacy are running to Irene and Ryan who are standing on either side of a girl dressed in pink and red, in front of five wolf-like creatures. The creatures are bigger than grizzly bears with hunched backs and elongated snouts ending with a fanged mouth from which saliva drips off in long strings. Their pointed ears and howls make them look like wolfish creatures that crawled out from hell . They are sparsely covered in gray fur revealing thick gray hide underneath.

I cover my mouth with my hand to stifle my scream but I have already gained their attention. Irene turns and notices me, her eyes are wide with fear as she shouts " AVA RUN ! ".  Now I  notice Irene and Ryan are not just merely standing but actually supporting the barely conscious girl between them who's pale pink dress was stained blood red. 

I can feel fear and terror take over my shock. Did those creatures attack her ? 

"RUN ! " Irene shouts again as one of the creatures starts toward me but Seth rams his shoulder into its side, sending both it and himself staggering off course. Irene shouts again and I try backing away as the other creatures start to run toward me with hungry snarls erupting through their fangs. But my legs seem frozen with fear, my knees close to buckling.

 But I follow Irene's advice and force my legs to run.

I sprint in horror toward the exit down the hall, my heels making a racket against the dance floor. I can the hear the fast approaching snarls and  clicking of claws against the marble floor behind me, getting louder by the second but I don't dare to look back and will my legs to run faster.  

Years of soccer practice makes me fast but I stumble in my heels. I can hear their  teeth trying to snap at me from behind. The adrenaline, from the the terror coursing through me, has already pushed me past my limits and I am so close to reaching the glass doors of the exit but I don't think I will make. 

Just when I feel the harsh, warm breath of  the creature on  my neck as it closes in, there is a loud crash and a series of snarls and yelps coming from behind. I finally reach the glass doors and can't help but turn back to look at the chaos.

Other than the three creatures that came after me there are two more, but they seem to be fighting off the others instead of joining them in hunting me down. They look different too : they are huge wolves, just as big as the ones they are fighting, both of which are covered in different shades of dense brown fur. The lighter colored wolf is engaged with one of the  gray creatures, snarling and biting at it, trying to rip its flesh apart, while the darker wolf is trying to fend off the other two on its own, desperately trying to keep them from getting to me. While the skinny gray creatures look like satan's hounds, the brown ones look like they have descended  from an unearthly mystical land where  dragons and unicorns and other creatures might exist. Even in this blood shedding battle, they look pure and majestic, yet fierce at the same time.

I am brought back to my senses when the darker wolf gives a high pitched yelp in pain as one of the creatures bites into its shoulder. It shakes it off and bites back, snarling before defending the attacks of the other creature. It won't be long before one of them manages to escape and come after me.

I hurry outside, the glass doors closing automatically  behind me, and spot Seth's black car parked a little away from where I am. My heart beats frantically in my chest and my legs wobble with both exhaustion and fear. Get in the car and get out of here, then you're safe  I tell myself. But before I can take a step toward it there is a crash and something slams into me making me fall and smack my head hard on  the concrete floor. 

Black spots blur my vision and my head pounds but I try to get up pushing myself up with my hands and feeling shards of glass pierce into my palms. 

I can feel its presence as it hovers over me. The demonic creature snarls and I feel its wet hot breath breath on my back. It pushes a paw into my back and slams me back down and I hit my head on the glass scattered asphalt for a second time. I fight to stay unconscious as its claws dig into me and I hear myself whimper in pain.

Sharp fanged teeth sink down hard into my shoulder and I scream  feeling  and hearing it crush my bones. Pain is so sharp and viscous is all I can feel and willing to give myself into the darkness this time when it comes crashing over me.

And everything winks out of existence, going black.