(no subject)
Sand and pebbles crunched under the man’s feet as he sprinted across the parched ground. Even at night, the ground remained warm and the air desiccated. His Springfield rifle thumped up and down his back as he ran, ensuring bruises were definitely in his future. His legs screamed for him to stop, to cease the misery and take a moment of breath. But he couldn’t. Not when they were so close behind him. The night beckoned, and he kept running.
The howling was coming closer. They were gaining on him.
He hadn’t known fatigue like this since the trenches in France five years ago. His body wanted him to sleep for years, but his survival instinct kept him up and moving. Sleep or no sleep, he wanted his skin intact.
The trees reached out to him with their twisted claws. He pushed through. Pale moonlight gave him brief moments of clear vision. Finally, he crested the ridge and was confronted with a view of the town in the valley below. Less than a mile. He could make it. H paused to take a sip of water from his canteen and glanced behind him. Darkness swallowed the warm desert air.
The moonlight flickered as a dark shape came round the bend from his path to the ridge. As he turned and practically hurled himself down the slope, and the unearthly noises began again. An otherworldly howl pierced the night, shrill and gurgling horribly as if caught in the throat of a dying man. Two, no, three more cries joined the first, and swift thudding footsteps picked up behind him. That made a total of four of them on his trail now, four creatures, no, things, behind that seemed to be beyond fatigue.
The howling was coming closer. They were gaining on him.
He hadn’t known fatigue like this since the trenches in France five years ago. His body wanted him to sleep for years, but his survival instinct kept him up and moving. Sleep or no sleep, he wanted his skin intact.
The trees reached out to him with their twisted claws. He pushed through. Pale moonlight gave him brief moments of clear vision. Finally, he crested the ridge and was confronted with a view of the town in the valley below. Less than a mile. He could make it. H paused to take a sip of water from his canteen and glanced behind him. Darkness swallowed the warm desert air.
The moonlight flickered as a dark shape came round the bend from his path to the ridge. As he turned and practically hurled himself down the slope, and the unearthly noises began again. An otherworldly howl pierced the night, shrill and gurgling horribly as if caught in the throat of a dying man. Two, no, three more cries joined the first, and swift thudding footsteps picked up behind him. That made a total of four of them on his trail now, four creatures, no, things, behind that seemed to be beyond fatigue.