Thread: 8,496 Goodbyes

The shockingly bizarre sight of the monster demolishing the large vehicle sets off the gathered crowd like the crack of a starting gun. For the most part, everyone runs. Everyone except Ava and Ariel. Fortunately, their independent gambles pay off the beast seems more attracted to motion than anything else. Its claws dig into the parking lots asphalt and then the soft grass of the park as the beast takes off in pursuit of the crowd. The monster lowers its armor-plated head as it catches up with the slower wave of fleeing citizens. It bucks its head to the left as it passes an elderly man, goring him with its jutting tusks. The old man shrieks as he falls to the grass just feet before the sidewalk blood oozing from the gaping wound. The monster manages to gore a second person, an overweight teen gasping for breath, before its claws leave shattered cement sidewalk in their wake. Still, the beast does not stop. Adrian manages to get the metal slide down not a moment too soon. The beast slams head first into the shiny metal grating, leaving a car-sided dent in the protective barrier. The beast stumbles back from the screen, shaking its head and now gore-smattered mane. It bellows in frustration, then turns to continue on after the rest of the fleeing crowd. The metal screen saves Adrians life, but clearly wont be able to deflect another charge and may not be able to open either. Kathleen had apparently been a less desirable target, and the few moments of time granted by the monster ramming Adrians hardware store had given her and a few others the chance to slip through the open doors of the one grocery store in downtown Milriver. Kathleen and those who followed her scatter throughout the sadly barren shelves. There hadnt been a truck with fresh produce to Milriver in months and the once bountiful shelves of dried and packaged products were now a skeleton of their former glory picked clean by the desperate citizens of Milriver. Instead of following the crowd, Ava let them run past her as she snuck slowly in the other direction. Storefront property on Main Street, Milriver wasnt a particularly prestigious honor, but in this instance it lets Ava slip out if sight safe for the moment. Still, her door is unable to stop the sounds of screaming people punctuated by blood-curdling shrieks and the faint, but unmistakable sound of shattering bone that echoes through the handful of streets that comprise downtown Milriver. But at least Ava doesnt have to watch. Aribella is witness to the violence. She watches as the beast chases the crowd away from the park as she strolls cautiously over to her waiting truck. Alas, the flash of silver and crimson catches her attention as she checks her sidearm. A handful of people had doubled back on the next street north from Main. They look back over their shoulders and smile in premature exultation that theyd left the monster chasing after the others. Aribella watches as two blocks north from her position the handful of citizens are beset by a pair of the same monsters. The monsters rip into the fleeing humans with abandon tusks and claws rending flesh to tattered red and pink shreds. The screams of the last of that particular group are silenced when one of the two beasts crushes the mans skull into a pink froth between its jaws. One of the pair of monsters seems satisfied to devour the dead for the moment, oblivious to Aribella. The others attention seems caught by something, and it trots out of Aribellas view to the west. Out of Aribellas view and into Kathleens. As Kathleen pokes her head from the substantial metal door at the back of the grocery store she sees the gore-smattered face of the monster looking back at her inquisitively. She screams and tries to closed the door, but the charging monster rips the entire metal door from its hinges as it charges at Kathleen. The monster slips and tumbles into a dumpster just beyond the door as Kathleen falls back from the now gaping hole at the back of the grocery store. By the time Kathleen scrambles to her feet, the beast has gained its balance and is already moving through the hole ripped in the back of the store. The monster pounces after Kat as she runs back towards the front of the store. Its claws catch her in the back and drive her to the floor as the two of them slide across the linoleum grocery store floor. Her stomach twists, and she vomits as the monster lands on her back shattering her spine and ribs. The windows at the front of the grocery store rattle as the monster bellows the last sound Kathleen Sanders hears before the beast rips her neck from her shoulders and ends her short life.