Alone Once more part 1

Many hours ago, before Emma woke up alone in the woods, Matt hiding from monsters as they had been alerted by the sound of the branches, he had stepped on with his boots and a snoring Emma, who was placed carefully over his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. The creatures stopped and turned their heads to their direction, the thorny bushes, he travelled through, hurt his back and every part of his body but had to endure it and place his body as a shield for Emma, as she wouldn't be able to handle like he could with them hiding in the bushes, hoping for the scent of the bushes would cover the smell of sweat, fear and anxiety that were coming from him.

He wanted to scream badly but he held his breath and used his hands to cover Emma's mouth as her snoring had gotten a lot louder. The creatures, who were heading for their direction stopped as they heard grunts from their leader, who was feasting on the detached neck of a female, who seemed to be a leader for a group. The creatures had black skin, not covering them from the cold but that didn't seem to stop them, short ears located at the top of their head, red eyes that gleamed over the scattered humans around them, trying to flee and prevent themselves from being eaten like their deceased companion, whose carcass was being eaten.

Matthew listened to the footsteps of the monsters, while walking even faster, ignoring the scratches and bruises all over his body as they would heal either way, but a dead person can't come back, no matter how much one wished they could. He stopped moving after he didn't hear they footsteps anymore, he stoop up with Emma and let out a sigh of relief and removed his hand from her mouth as he noticed her pulse seemed to be low and her facial expression looked like she was in pain. He decided to take a peek and check up on the others, wondering and silently hoping they killed those monsters.

He wished that he never looked back, getting a view of the remaining parts of his friends. The leader's detached head was ripped of its skin, the skull as visible, eyes were ripped out, a huge crack in the middle of the skull, leaving only blonde hair at the back of the head covered in blood, the hair was the only way he could recognize it was her. The others were no different from the leader, their eyes were half eaten, bodies that floated in a pool of their own blood and the monsters' saliva mixed into it. He didn't have to watch the massacre to tell how it happened. They clearly struggled to fight for their lives, and he hid like a coward, convincing himself that he was waiting for a moment to strike but couldn't do anything.

He could feel his heartbeat even louder by the minute, the more he looked around the bloody scene. It felt like his heart was ready to jump out his chest, he felt his body was ready to shut down but refused to give into that feeling as he moved himself with Emma quickly from the scene, he rather not have a panic attack, it would leave him vulnerable and unable to protect the child in his arms. The stench of blood was sickening and overriding his senses, he moved quickly as the smell could attract more monsters, that would probably drink the blood like water. His body almost gave up on him, the experience was still fresh in his mind. He was aware that it would affect him later, but he was focused on the now, he was able to carry Emma and him to a secluded place, located in the very same forest before he ran out of stamina.

Emma was placed carefully on the rich grass as she was covered with an orange blanket, Matt had managed to take from the campsite before he stumbled upon his group fighting the monsters. He collapsed to the ground, his muscles ached, tears rolling down his lightly stained cheeks, he was tired, physically, emotionally, and mentally. But his will for survival, he stood up and carefully broke some tree branches, gathering them and rubbed them against each other until it produced some sparks that fell on the remaining branches, which landed on them and started a fire almost immediately. He found a huge plank of wood and placed Emma safely on it, he laid on the ground, breathing heavily and placed his hand in his backpack, he felt a lot of water bottles in it.

He realised that there was no food for him or Emma, leaving him to think of a way to gather food and noticed the fire making a thick smoke that filled the sky, which was leaving a trail that would make it easy for any person or monster of any kind to find them alone in the forest. It gave him an idea, he waited for the trail of the smoke to be heavier in the air but not too suffocating for Emma. He stood up after some minutes, as he had enough energy to what needed to be done, he climbed up the nearest tree, sitting on the highest branch, bringing out a Glock 17, refilling it and patiently waited.

A few minutes later, Emma woke up, but Matt didn't say anything or showed himself to her. Eventually, he heard the sound of trees falling down and heavy footsteps from behind them. 'It's close.' He thought as he quickly jumped to another tree to prevent being brought down, his body was hung upside down after the creature barred its fangs against Emma, ready to tear her apart. He should feel bad for using her as bait but he would feel bad later, he pulled the trigger and shot the creature at its neck, watching as it fell to its side, accepting its fate.

'I am becoming a monster, but I need to be one to survive.'