Chapter 7

HER POV

I was not sure how long I had been running. That growl was the scariest thing I had ever heard. Everything inside me shouted to put as much space as possible between me and the source of it.

Gianni was some feet behind. I could hear his steps and laboured breaths...

Until he wasn't there anymore. He had fallen behind.

I decided to slow down, to allow him to keep up. But I couldn't stop.

Never stop. Not with something that could produce that growl, free to roam.

"So quiet", I mumbled, both to myself and to test the silence. There were no birds, no rustles, even the bugs had fallen silent.

The fog had snaked away, a little, and I could make out the outlines of ghostly trees on either side of the lighted path.

The forest was eerily empty. Even the screams of my human fellows were long gone.

Was it because they had already been drained by vampires? The problem was, I didn't know if they were vampires. I had a feeling they weren't...

Suddenly, I noticed trees on the left side of the path shudder, as if grasped by unseen hands.

'What is that?!'

I gasped, eyes widening.

"Damn it, Gianni." I cursed, aloud, "Where are you!"

Going against all my survival instincts, I turned and ran back, tears scattering in the wind and caught in the thickest fog.

I almost missed them, but the blue light from the torches reflected off the lenses.

It was then that I saw them. His glasses! My heart fell when I noticed that one lens was chipped.

I picked them up and brought them to my chest, trying to figure out where he had gone, hoping to catch a glimpse of his inky hair and lanky smile.

"No." I sobbed, my eyes searching.

Gianni had left the main path.

"Nooo!" This time I yelled.

Oh God...did he follow the voices? He wouldn't!

"Gianni!!"

And I did the most stupid thing. I left the path too...

###

Trying to gain an idea of where Gianni was, my mind was swirling in a maelstrom of thoughts.

Between that scary growl that had left a permanent fear within me, and Gianni's disappearance, I had acted stupidly. Impulsively.

I felt watched and exposed here, in this forbidden land.

Suddenly, out among the pillars of rock and tree came the slight echo of small stones rolling. My tears stopped and my heart began to pick up its pace slightly. Then the sound came again, closer, this time followed by a strange thumping and slithering sound.

So very silently, I hid in the hollow of a tree, bringing my knees up to my chest. The sound grew closer and closer and soon out of the semi-darkness a shape began to form. It looked like a man at first. But it wasn't. The head was too long, legs and arms strange.

Peering at the silhouette, I almost died when I saw what lay between the shadow's legs.

'Could that be what I think it is!?' 

The creature had a tail dragging behind it... It was making the slithering sound as the beast pulled it over the ground!

"Mmh, what do we have here?"

I froze, tears trickling down my face. Oh no.

"Oh my, my" he droned. "Aren't you delectable? Let me see you,"

It was the end. I was going to be eaten!

The beast was covered in green scales and rubbery spines. Yellow eyes lay atop a long snout-like skull. It was a crocodile head with some snake features in it.

He was so close. And he smelled like... raw meat.

I prepared to make a desperate run for it, but what happened next, was either a miracle or a tragedy.

"Please don't!" A voice came a meter away from my hiding place.

I froze.

My heart stopped.

No!

##

AN/ Do you like it so far? Please cheer it up!!! :D

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