Apex

Chapter 19

•Kriss•

It was too much to hope that we would make it far. The screeching was followed by the scraping of claws against the filthy street. Sweat dripped into my eyes as I followed Zoe. It became apparent that those months in a cage did me no favors. I was falling behind quickly.

The metallic scrapes grew louder. The ground trembled as the giant blindly lumbered toward us.

By the time I'm made it to the intersection where I last saw the others, Zoe was just another shadow in the night. My throat burned. My muscles begged me to stop. A distinct rasp behind me was all the warning I got before my path was blocked by the creature. I slid to a halt.

Its body was covered in some sort of exoskeleton that shined in the moonlight. Its legs were bent in three places, tapering into sharp points that it balanced on easily. Stiff, fine hairs covered its limbs. It rose on four back legs, lifting the top half of its body to loom over me.

Its mouth was propped open by two pinchers longer than my arms extending from deep within its throat. A single green eye stared at me through a slit above its mouth. It screeched. Nails on a chalkboard.

I wasn't going to attempt to get past it. I backpedaled and sprinted to the right. I was met with a wall of dusty windows, but didn't slow. Raising my gun, I fired twice. The glass spiderwebbed around the holes.

Close enough.

I forced myself to stop long enough to give the glass a swift kick. Shards rang against the concrete. I was seconds away from climbing through when the creature screamed again. I caught its shadow moving in my peripheral. There was no time.

I slammed my body to the ground at the same moment it leapt at me. The tips of its legs scraped my back. Shards of glass on the concrete bit into my arms. It crashed through the window. I could hear it thrashing about inside the building.

I scrambled back to my feet, ignoring the stinging cuts all over my body. I turned right on the intersection, hoping that this was the same path Zoe took.

A vibration shuttered through the ground and raced up my leg. I froze.

Bright light shined on the street as a giant pair of legs stumbled past the buildings. The giant grunted, his hand gripped the side of one of the skyscrapers and his other was stretched in front of him, tentatively feeling around him. His eyes cried blood.

He paused. His head turned towards me.

Those bleeding eyes stared directly at me, unseeing. I was lightheaded before I realized I'd been holding my breath. It took a step in my direction.

The sound of gunfire stole his attention, followed by screams. He kept straight, guided by the noise.

I changed my course.

I took the street parallel to the giant. I'd find a cross street, take it to the rest of the group or even follow them at a distance while they dealt with the monsters hunting us down.

A pang of guilt assaulted my chest.

There was nothing I could do to help them, I thought.

I could barely manage to follow them, let alone fight, I thought.

If anything, I'd be a liability.

I ignored the sour taste this reasoning left in my mouth.

As the gunshots got closer, so did the screams. I stopped at another intersection. I pressed my back against the brick building to my left. My breath was stuttering in my lungs, I was drenched in sweat. I was being pursued by aliens.