Fighting for their lives

Then things started going south slowly. As they ran, sharp pains hit them. It began with Alicia trying to run further, but the pain was getting down on her. It was getting too painful to bear with it. Sweat had formed on her forehead. His eyes completely turned blue. She felt electrocuted and almost dropped to the ground. She tried to move, but her body seemed to have been paralyzed. She dropped with a thud alerting Jason and the others.

"Alicia." He shouted, running back. He let go of the girl's hand and tried to check on Alicia. She was turning. Her eyes were blue and long fangs were coming out. Even her claws were showing. She greeted her teeth in pain, but it was not enough.

"What's happening?.. What the heck… what's wrong with my daughter" Patrick approached them and asked. The sight before him terrified the whole of his body. In all his imagination, he had seen his daughter as a werewolf.

"What's happening to her is happening to me as well." Damian came close, and his eyes were red. He was feeling dizzy. His legs were becoming weak as well.

Jason picked Alicia from the ground as the rest of them became more worried. He wasn't sure what was happening, but whatever it was, it was not good.

Max remained behind, releasing his aura, the entire of his body covered in flames. He was the only one at the moment who could help them delay those things. They were in the shit. Patrick regretted not listening to Jason. He foresaw everything and warned them. His presence there was supposed to protect them. He can imagine with him in the group what would've happened to them so far. But that was not the time to blame anyone or regret. they had to find a way to escape

Everything was going as planned by a certain someone, but that person didn't imagine Jason was not the key but someone else. Too late to change anything. Things were going the opposite of what that mighty figure planned. He wanted to garner as much power as possible, but Jason and Sally's meeting was not supposed to happen.

The rest of the people didn't know that the key was two-sided. One was a positive key and the other a negative key. When either of them was used, it could have a negative or positive effect.

Jason was to be used to open the doorway to the underworld. This would allow the people left behind years back to have access back to their homes and others to have access to the world. But they didn't know Jason was the key to closing down the little opened space or the doorway when it's opened. The doorway will be closed permanently when Jason is used, and he will die.

For Sally, it was different. According to the legends, she was the key to opening the doorway to the underworld. The daughter of the darkness. She was meant to fight the opposing key to the death and destroy the hope of ever closing the door again. It was said that when the Darkness key and the light key meet and connect, they can either work together to destroy or save the world. That's why it was never meant for Sally and Jason to meet. They are more powerful together than apart. Of course, nobody knows of this yet. Except for the old man playing chess behind the scene

The group was getting overwhelmed, running through the streets, carrying Alicia. Damian and Jason felt it but not to the point of collapsing, but their body was feeling the effect. Anytime, they would drop as well. Alicia was running a fever. She was poisoned. Her lips had turned purple, slowly going black.

"What's happening. Why are we the only ones affected?" Jason was feeling it. The pain was too much.

"I don't think you inhaled anything weird. You still have the gas mask on. What could've happened before we wore the mask?" Miriam analyzed, looking through everything that happened a few hours ago till that moment.

"Let me ask, is there something else in the pink wood powder you are using to hide our scents"

"Not really, but a bit of monkshood was used. But it was not enough to affect them," Patrick said cautiously.

"Then that is it. It's acting slowly. It will reach a point they will not move, and without the antidote, they will die eventually" Miriam bend down to look at Alicia on the ground and the now panting Jason and Damian. He had never been this weak, even when poisoned by the actual monkshood. His mind was getting muddleheaded. He would turn on anyone if not careful. The same went for Jason. He had little strength left.

Do you have the antidote with you?" Miriam turned to look at Patrick, but the man looked down. He never intended to allow the creatures to survive, so he never carried antidotes. Things were getting out of hand.

The creatures were crawling down on them. It was hectic. Max released this fire on them, but they were too many to fight alone. The hunters had to join in, including Miriam. Taking Jason, Damian, and Alicia out of there proved hard with them surrounded.

Max was getting overwhelmed as the smoky creature jumped over him, attacking the rest of the people. Though they released the mist, it did not affect them, thanks to the gas masks.

Just they thought they were going to die, the young girl in their group screamed sharply. Something like an earthquake happened, and all the smoky black creatures coming on to them have pushed kilometers away. The buildings that were before them collapsed one by one. The effect was too big to ignore

Patrick and the rest, including Max, were shocked, their mouth hanging open.

"What the hell?" Max was the first one to react. The others didn't have time when to react when they felt dark clouds gathered in the sky at night from somewhere else in town. The dark cloud was getting bigger and seemed to be moving its way.

"Something is coming. Let's go. We are going to die if it gets us" Miriam was shoved with a notebook in her hand. She read and put it back in the girl's hand, picking up Jason with the girl's help.

Patrick carried Alicia while Max and other hunters helped carry Damian

"Hurry up. We are done if we get caught," She shouted, running out of town into the woods. That's the only way they could be covered from the aerial monitoring by the cloud creature or whatever that thing was.