Survival

I slip my hand into one of my pockets and quickly pull out the metal balls as I jump over a large root but when the rustling gets closer, I turn and raise my hand. Suddenly, I'm hit in the face with familiar white fur!

I fall back and land on my ass as I quickly reach up to grab the monkey. He allows me to pull him off and I can't help but feel an overwhelming amount of happiness at seeing the little guy! I pull him into a hug and lightly giggle as I say "You found me! Good lil' monkey."

He coos in my arms before saying "Chee Chee!" and bouncing. Confused, I let him go and see him quickly take off. I try to catch my breath before pushing myself up and quickly following after him. If you had told me I was going to find myself running for my life and taking directions from a monkey a few weeks ago, I would have laughed at you.

But here I am, following the monkey as I blindly run for my life. I try my best to keep up but I was seriously starting to reach my limit. My side was cramping and I felt like I was going to puke but as I continue running forward, I suddenly crash into someone!

The metal balls in my hand instantly turn into a blade and as I bring it down, ready to kill but a large hand grabs my wrist! Suddenly, I see familiar ice blue eyes. "Thane..." I whisper out in disbelief and release the blade. He looks like he had been running as well!

He quickly looks me over before pulling me into a strong hug and asking "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?" Tears come to my eyes but I quickly shake my head no as the monkey jumps up and down next to us in excitement.

"Good job, CheeChee." Thane says before looking to me and saying "We have to keep going." I nod my head and allow him to grab my hand and lead the way. Did he just call the monkey CheeChee? The monkey continues to show the way as we blindly run through the woods but when I literally can't keep running, Thane stops and kneels down in front of me.

"Climb on. We're still too close to their base." I don't want to climb onto his back but I also know that I have no choice. I'm slowing us down... I grit my teeth and climb onto his back as I make a silent vow to become stronger.

Thane easily hikes me up and starts running again. Suddenly, a thorny vine reaches out towards us, scaring the crap out of me before I use my wind power to cut it! A piece falls to the ground next to us as the rest of the vine recoils.

Thane keeps a steady pace with the little monkey leading and only after what feels like an eternity, do we finally come to a stop. I slide off Thane's back and look at him in concern but he waves me off and says "I've trained with bags heavier than you, I'm fine. Are you sure you're not hurt? What happened to your neck?" He gently reaches out to my neck with concern in his blue eyes.

I subconsciously reach up and touch my sore neck as I say "They used a copper band to keep me from using my powers and normally that would be pretty smart but I have my ways." Thane's eyes darken as he says "We'll get some ointment on it as soon as we can."

I slightly nod as the monkey jumps up on my shoulder. I quickly glance around before asking "Where are the others?" Thane looks around us with sharp eyes as he says "They're back at the base. They wouldn't be able to keep up with my pace so they stayed to keep the city from blowing everything up."

Suddenly, Thane and the monkey both turn to look behind me. I quickly spin around, expecting to see the guy in white again but what I end up seeing has my heart nearly stopping. Thane's large hand wraps around my arm, almost painfully so as he pulls me closer to him.

It's... it's a Ghoul!! Thane lifts his free hand and makes the universal 'Shhh' at me as we slowly start to back up. The little monkey is so scared, he's practically become one with my neck! The Ghoul was downright terrifying to look at!

Its entire body is made up of a black substance but its arms, legs, and even head are constantly changing. If it touches you, you're dead. Anyone who's ever been touched or devoured are never seen again.

Rumors say the reason the Ghouls are always changing their heads and faces, arms and legs are because of its past victims. They say it's their past victims trying to escape from the bodies of the Ghouls.

Heroic and brave men in the past have tried to attack it but nothing works. Shoot or throw explosives and the Ghouls literally devours it. You don't even see or hear the explosions! They've even tried sharp blades but they are instantly sucked up and devoured so everyone knows that if you come across one, the only thing you can do is run!

It slowly moves closer to us but it doesn't seem to know we're here. They're either blind or nearly blind so it's said that if you can hide and stay out of its way, you can live to see another day. Thane and I struggle to calm our breathing but all the running we just did was making it difficult.

When it suddenly stops and turns towards us, I slowly lift my hand and cover my mouth and nose. I hold my breath as it lifts its head and acts like it's sniffing! Its solid black face, devoid of any real characteristics, turns to look straight at us.

Its face suddenly starts to shift, making it look like something or someone is howling in a silent scream! My eyes water from fear as I try not to move but I'm starting to get a bad feeling. I think it knows we're here...

Its mouth continues to elongate until an entire full-grown man could fit into it! Suddenly, it lunges at us!! Thane pulls me so hard, he nearly dislocates my arm but I don't care! We take off running at the speed of light, faster than we were running before and this time, we really are running blindly!