The Calm Before The Storm Part III

2 hours before midnight.

"Leandrei it's time for dinner!" Terza shouted loud enough for Leandrei to hear. Leandrei came rushing out of his room with excitement. "What is it today?" He asks while sitting down on a chair. "It's soup with boar meat in it" Terza replies. He br and ecstatic.

Leandrei loves his food. He was a firm believer of that food must be enjoyed as much as possible, and today Terza is serving him his favourite dish which clouded his mind in immense euphoria. One of the only things that actually interests Leandrei about the life outside the village is the food. There are all kinds of delicacies in the outside world which he could only dream about tasting. Just the thought of it would make him drool.

While he was eating, Leandrei feels a sudden pain in the back of his head. It only lasted a moment so Leo sitting opposite him reading a newspaper and Terza preparing a bowl for herself didn't realise.

Although confused Leandrei ignored it as the food infront of him was pleading for his attention, he continued whilst savouring the delicious food. He really enjoyed the dish, probably because Terza's cooking skills were top-notch which made the dish even better. He finished eating and the bowl was left spotless to the point it was even shining a bit.

Leandrei then went back to his room to sleep a few minutes later as it was already dark outside.

At midnight.

Leandrei jolts awake from his sleep after hearing the loud terrified screams. He quickly got up and looked outside the window only to see several people screaming at the top of their lungs with faces of abject terror. They had tears streaming down their face and were running around. Some were pushing each other while others bumped into one another. It was complete chaos.

Leandrei squinted his eyes and saw a red glow and smoke emerging from the distance. The fire was spreading increasingly fast and was about to reach his house. Suddenly his bedroom door was slammed open "BAM!" with both Leo and Terza running inside.

"Mum what's happening? Why is there a fire outside?" Just as Terza was about to reply several loud growls and grumbles resounded in the village. Leandrei's eyes dilated and his heart began to beat faster as he slowly came to an understanding by himself, Leo grabbed him and said "There is no time to talk let's quickly escape!"

He leaves the house while still holding onto Leandrei's hand followed closely behind by Terza. As soon as they got out a burning tree was tossed at their house. All three looked at the direction it cam from and saw a huge bear looking creature standing on his feet and had a height of 6'7 foot tall. It was black with red symbols engraved its body, it's piercing red eyes glowed with intense rage and dashed towards them.

The family turns right and begins running and then takes a left, going through the gap between the two wooden houses infront of them. They dashed forward with no care for the others around them. Then soon after going through the gap, in the midst of running one of the villagers pushed Terza out of his way and coninued running on. Leo sees this and unable to leave behind his beloved wife goes back to help her stand back up. Once stood up, it was easy to spot that the left side of Terza's forehead was bleeding from the fall and right after a huge bird flew down and attacked Leandrei who was looking at his mother with worry. The bird hastily flew away but Leandrei got pushed to the side because of impact and landed down back against the ground. He began bleeding because of the scratch from the bird looking creatures claws. His parent rushed to his side while he groaned in pain "ghgg…ahggg" they forcefully got him up on his feet and continued running.

The bear from before was behind them munching on the human flesh, it's mouth was dripping with blood of his preys. He then saw them again and began coming over, it then leaped towards them, Leo saw this and pushed forward both Terza and Leandrei.

"Father!"

"Dear!"

Both Leandrei and Terza screamed at the sight of what was happening right after getting up. The bear had caught Leo and had one feet on his back pinning him down.

"Run away, run away!" he screamed, with a hint of worry in his while tears streamed down his face. Even while having a monster breathing right down his neck Leo wasn't worried about himself at all. Instead he looked out for Leandrei and Terza, his family.

The huge bear while drooling instantly tore of Leo's head leaving both Leandrei and Terza in utter shock.

Soon after recovering from his shock Leandrei tried running towards the bear screaming with a surge of anger in his eyes "Father!" But he was quickly held back by his mother. Terza still shocked by what happened and her eyes overcome by horror and despair said "Quick run!'.

They both unanimously agreed as Leandrei nodded his head. But the second Terza turned around to run her heart began to hurt, it was as if someone was tearing her heart to shreds and then burning it to ashes. Leandrei began running like he was told without saying anything, he was still bleeding and his breath ragged. He ran with his mother as fast as he could.

While running Leandrei saw many getting torn apart and devoured. Some even pushing their own family members towards the monster to halt the beasts even for a second.

Leandrei and Terza were close to leaving the village. He could see it right infront of him, it was within their grasps. However a beast on four legs leaped from the side onto Terza. Leandrei's eyes struck with terror but this time he didn't try to save his mother like he tried for Leo. He saw it in Terza's eyes just like Leo's, worry not for herself but for him, her dear child.

She yelled "Don't stop! Keep on running! Please live, live for us!"

Then the four-legged beast roared at her face and began enjoying his feast. Leandrei used this moment while he was being ignored to escape the village and run away.

He arrived on top of a flat hill top.

"Huff..huff" Leandrei tried to stabilise his breathing, alas it resulted in failure. The wound he received from the bird like beast grew even more and was bleeding excessively.

He managed to arrive on top of the hill and slowly stopped running to only fall down on his knees. The hill was covered with trees and bushes and the top was flat with the surface spanning a few metres. Leandrei stopped at a small open area surrounded by vegetation. It was a good place to hide.

He was exhausted, this was the first time in his life he had to run this much. He was already very inactive to begin with which led to him having very low stamina and got tired so quickly. The only reason he properly made it to the hill was because of the adrenaline rush, otherwise he would had been monster food as well.

'Mum…dad… they died. They died'. These words echoed in his head, gnawing at his mind, Leandrei began punching the ground covered in green grass. With continuous punches the green colour was now smeared in red and he could hear his bones cracking but didn't stop. He felt excruciating pain and guilt.

Leandrei then stopped and attempted to conjure a sentence from his mouth but struggled with the words "It's… it's" just before he could finish what he was saying Leandrei's vision got blurry and his mind felt like it was spinning. The moonlight dimmed and he finally collapsed with a "thud".