Shaina Anastasi [Anastasi - Crimson

A warm breeze caressed against my face. I closed my eyes and leant the slightest forward until the tips of my boots felt like they were about to fall. The hood of the cloak slipped back, and red hair breezed in the warmth of the wind. It felt alluring and inviting. This sense of warmth was like a blanket to me. The ache of continuously running burned in the sunlight and eased the pain along my legs. My breathing evened out, and my heart wasnt eradicated any longer. I was at peace.

I was imagining being in a place where I didnt have to run. Where there was warmth all the time. The sound of seagulls made me smile, and I breathed a little laugh. Salty air carried in the sandy wind. The rushing of water. Waves crashed from afar and sunk lower and lower into the sea until they rippled along the edge of the shore.

I was someplace else.

I wanted to be someplace else.

Anywhere but here. I am always on the run.

My bracelet beeped, and that automatically made me open my eyes and look at why it made that sound. Two red dots were coming closer. That meant my time alone was becoming shorter. That means I need to get ready to start running again. But I am sick of running.

The roof suddenly shook and the edge that I stood on cracked. Rubble broke apart along the ledge, and I quickly stepped back. Aimlessly looking around, I went to reach for my weapon when a deep rumble came from below. From the eight-story-high building that I was on top of I widened my eyes slightly and stared at this giant monster that Id like to call Blob.

I know. Not very imaginative. But with so many monsters in the world, its easier that way.

Blob looks like a blob. Slug-like, kind of, with one sizeable beady eye. It uses a stump to drag its body. Blob also had a tremendous arm that resembled a sharp blade.

It was huge. About three stories high. It looked to be going into some sort of a rampage. Blob cried out, and when it opened its mouth, black, sluggish slime drooled down and onto the water fountain.

Disgusted, I went to walk away when I heard shouting and the rapid-fire coming from guns. I frowned when I noticed humans. They were on the opposite side of the plaza and were shooting at Blob while they fell back to leave through one of the narrow streets that leads out of the plaza.

I was up on this building for around fifteen minutes. I didnt hear those humans land or come into the plaza. I must have been too absorbed in my thoughts of someplace else that it closed off every other sound.

Thats bad. I need to be more alert. I need to be for Liam. I need to keep him safe and away from Glitch. It cannot have him.

Blob was angered by the fact that they were shooting at it. I mean, who wouldnt be? Not like their attempt at killing it was doing anything. Those bullets sunk into its thick and slimy skin like nothing. Blob probably doesnt feel anything at all. It was perhaps angry that someone was just in its presence.

Who could blame it? They were parasites, in a way.

My bracelet beeped again, alerting me that the red dots were within the vicinity of this city.

Lowering my arm again, I went to step away when someone caught my attention. Surprised, I moved further over the crumpled ledge. The blob had already killed a fair few, and there were two left that were on either side of the plaza. A boy was standing frozen in place, around the back of Blob. He had that look of newness. Someone untouched from death. Someone that has never seen a living monster before. But that wasnt what caught my attention. On the other side of the plaza, there was a man that wasnt running. He wasnt leaving like some had done. He wasnt going back to the spaceship. He was staying, and it was because that boy was on the other side of the plaza and couldnt escape. This man wasnt going to leave without him.

His actions surprised me. He was going to give up his life to save another. Someone that could mean nothing to him. A person that they were not particularly close to. Probably someone that he met that day. It was uncharacteristic. I see so many humans push, shove and run when they get a chance. I see so many humans sacrifice another human just so that they can survive. It is in their nature. They would do anything to survive. Absolutely anything. Yet, this particular human wasnt leaving. A part of me wanted him to run. To confirm that humans are all the same, but he was very persistent. I couldnt help but admire that about him.

And then it irritated me.

Run, you idiot. Or else Blob is going to kill you.

Blob advanced towards the man because the man decided to antagonise it to lure it away from the kid. Knowing that guns dont work, he pulled out a sword, and that made my heart beat increasingly faster. The thought of him dying petrified me in a way. And so, that forced me to move.

I reached under my cloak and grasped hold of the hilt of my sword and flicked it out. Eager to jump, an exhaled breath from near the door that leads to the rooftop caught my attention instead. Liam stood there, brows furrowed, wondering as to what I was doing. I wasnt even sure what I was doing. These haywire thoughts of that man dying made me move, but now that I look at Liam, I knew I was irrational. Laughing awkwardly, I went to step down and towards the fiery red-headed brothers of mine.

Garath, just leave me!

My eyes widened substantially. But mine were the only ones that did. Liams and Chucks narrowed, and they had pure and undying hate in their blue eyes. But a flutter rose within my belly, and I turned back around and jumped. I heard Chuck shout incoherent words, but they were hard to make out through the screeching of the monster down below.

Extending my arms on either side of my body, I glared at the giant monster as I fell. It noticed me. That single eye thinned and it grumbled, making the earth and buildings around it shake. Raising my arms up above my head, I then sliced down across its eye and saw the watery, thin black blood gush outwards. Blob cried out. It slammed its stump repeatedly into the ground while it wailed in pain.

I landed with a thump and dived out of the way when the stump slammed back down.

The monster was now blind. I relaxed a little and slowed my running and jogged instead.

Now at the back of the beast, behind the water fountain covered in moss and goo, I grimaced for a split second as I tried to figure out how to get to the monsters weakness. That was when I noticed the water fountain. I ran up to it, stepped up on the edge of the fountain, grabbed hold of the statue of a naked woman and scrambled up until I stood on her head. Slipping my tail out for more balance, I felt the slits open, and the metal poured out and shuddered. I crouched low on the statues head. My tail curled around her neck, and my arm flicked outwards with the hilt of my weapon grasped tightly within my hand. I jumped upwards, pounced in the air and raised my blade high and narrowed in on the second eye. The eye was smaller and incredibly weaker. It looked at me and widened the slightest. Blobs body tried to move enough so that I couldnt reach it in time, but it was too late. Slamming the tip of my blade inside, a gush of black blood poured out, and Blob cried further. Inhuman cries filled the air and Blob stumbled and fell backwards. Tar-like sludge dripped down on me, and so I ran further back and let it break into the fountain and turn the statue into rubble.

Sweat beaded down my face. My heart raced, and my calves were in so much pain, but yet I moved. I walked forward to where he stood, immobile. Those green eyes were familiar, and it brought pain, but I pushed it back. I drove the pain I endured back and deeper down and to a place I never want to go again. Instead, I remembered all the times I werent afraid of them.