MARIN POV:
The sun dipped behind the buildings. It was officially nighttime and that means more threats. Ari stands next to me testing his skills with his baseball bat. Kieran’s with
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Kylo going through the bags deciding when to eat the granola bars. “We’ll end up dying if we just eat granola bars forever.” I don’t look behind myself at them.
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“This is only temporary Marin.” Kieran tells me sounding exhausted. “Temporary is a luxury we don’t have.” I mutter. He doesn’t respond. The moonlight hits the roof in a
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sharp shards of light. Kieran sits on a vent with the backpack over his shoulder. Kylo next to him in the ground with his eyes still red rimmed from whatever he saw down there. “We need real protein and map that isn’t five years old. And to find out why that ‘waiting woman’ is now skipping her broadcast.” I say turning around to loom at them all.
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Ari stops mid swing with the bat and turns looking at me, his bright blue eyes reflect the moon light. “Maybe she got tired of waiting.” He says, laughing under his breath like it’s funny.
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“Or maybe.” I say turning looking at the darkness where the mountains would be. “They stopped because there no one left to tell anyone.” Kieran’s jaw tightens. He hates when I say what he’s thinking.
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He’s trying to be a shield but he’s starting to look more like glass.
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“We sleep in shifts.” He says standing up from the vent. His voice dropping into the ‘leader’ tone that makes me wanna roll my eyes.
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“Ari, you and I take watch first. Marin and Kylo can rest for now.” I hear Ari mumble something about not being a watch dog as he drags himself with his bat over to Kieran. I give him a smirk because I don’t have to work right now. He sticks his middle finger up and I smile.
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KIERAN POV:
The dumpster fire alone with the moonlight were the only source of light around. We were sitting on the edge of the roof. Ari’s legs dangling off the edge tapping his baseball bat on the side. A repetitive annoying sound making this worse than it had to be.
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“Can you stop that.” I demand looking at the light from the dumpster bellow I was standing against a chimney gripping the pistol. “It’s to quiet.” He responds continually tapping the bat against the roof. I didn’t look at him. I was looking at the dark skyline. “The silence is how you hear them coming. If you don’t and you’re making noise. Your
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dead. Simple math.” He stopped tapping the bat. “God, you always do this. Act like we’re all ‘simple math.’ Number to be calculated. It’s annoying.” He turned his head looking at me. My jaw tightened. “Like, when was the last time you even slept.” I looked up for a moment then I push off the chimney walking towards him. He immediately stands up.
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“I’ll sleep when we get to the mountains. Right now it’s ‘keeping moving.’ And that doesn’t involve sleep.”
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Ari scoffs. “Then we’ll all end up dead.” I step closer to him. He’s about 5 feet away from the edge. “And who’s gonna save you? Marin? She’s already looking for the next exit. Kylo? He to busy crying about monsters in suit.” His voice breaks. My eyes
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narrow at him as I step closer forcing him to step back. I think about what I can say but my brains fogged.
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“I don’t need saving, Ari.” “Liar.” He snaps back immediately. We were chest to chest now. We stayed like that for a second. Too tired and too angry. The air between us feels like a wire. I look at his face. Freckles dotted everywhere and bright blue eyes. His hair in messy tangles around his face.
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Part of me wanted to push him off the roof. The other wanted to pull him closer.
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A distant metallic clacking sound is heard dragging across concrete.
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I naturally pull Ari down behind the vent. “Man what the fu-“ I cover his mouth so he doesn’t alarm whatever that was. The dragging sound is heard again and he stops squirming. I peek over the vent and down to the ground. At first I don’t hear anything. I let go of Ari to get a better look.
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And walking down the street holding one of those street lights is a huge Hollow roughly 9 feet tall and 4 feet thick. It was groaning and walking down the street. I can hear my heart beat thumping in my ears. It almost looks like its skin is in tears around its body and its teeth are like a hippos.
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I look at Ari and gesture towards Kylo and Marin. He looks hesitant to move but we gotta do something. I get up myself a quietly maneuver to Marin. I shake her awake. “Kieran?” I put my pointer finger to my lips and then point to Kylo. She’s confused but she listens. She shakes Kylo awake. Then, there’s a loud roar. It sounds like a deep
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raspy bellow. Everyone freezes my expression stuck on my face in terror. Ari quickly gets up from the edge and runs over to us shaking his head frantically and drops down with us looking shocked and traumatized. I give him a look to get him to be quiet. We huddle in the middle of the roof away from its sight line.
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I’m praying it doesn’t smell us or know how to climb or kick over buildings. Kylo has a terrified smile on his face with wide eyes. Marin stares at the ground with no expression in shock.
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I feel Ari shaking against me. The ground vibrates every time it walks. Then, static. The radio. Everyone’s heads snap around. “North of the rainwood mountains. The green zone is secure. We have medicine-“ there’s another bellowing roar. Marin full
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speed runs to the radio and kicks it repeatedly slamming and jumping on it until it shuts up. The bellowing finally stops but the we feel a huge “Bam!” Followed by the roof shaking and rumbling. Kylo shrieks and now I know we need to run. I stand up running to edge and stop when I get there. The thing is on the other side of the
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building. There’s another “Bam!” And I hear rumbling from the walls falling down where it’s standing. I look down. It’s long jump but we have to. “Move!” I scream. Everyone runs towards where I am. More of the wall falls down behind us.
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I jump first. I tumble to the ground and bruise myself as I hit the grass patched ground. I stand up as fast as I can and look at Ari jumping off. He lands next to me and falls onto his hands and knees the slowly pushes himself off the ground.
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Kylo jumps shortly after hitting the ground and collapsing on the ground. “Marin jump!” I scream. “No! No, I can’t I- I can’t!” She shakes her head roughly and backs away. I stand there unsure. There more rumbling sounds and the building start collapsed more. “Marin!” Kylo shouts. “Come on! I’ll catch you! You’ll be fine!” He says putting his arms out. “No! I’m not doing that!” The thing roars again and she jumps back.
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“Marin, I need you to trust me ok?! I’ll catch you! I need you to trust me!” He shouts up at her. She hesitates a moment. There’s more bamming and rumbling. Eventually the building starts falling. “Marin!” Kylo screams. She looks at us on the ground. A moment after she jumps. Kylo steps forwards a grabs her losing his balance but
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holding her so she doesn’t hit the ground completely. There’s a giant dust cloud as the building collapses behind her as she’s falling. Everyone coughs violently and my eyes burn in the debris.
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“Let’s go, fast.” My voice sounds weaker. Everyone gets up as fast as they can. We run into the city and the thing behind us searches the rubble of the building for us.
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and then Add to home screen.