Chapter 424

The boy, no older than six, his name was Eli, he clutched a tattered bear. The fabric was worn thin, some of the stuffing poked out. He remembered his mother's soft voice, a forgotten melody now, something she said when she gifted him the bear, "this will always keep you safe, ok?"

The once-familiar city was now a twisted metal skeleton. Buildings loomed like broken teeth against a bruised sky. He didn't know what those...things... were, he only knew they took everyone. A cold dread sat in his small stomach, a knot pulled tight with each step he took.

He sought shelter in the hollow shell of a bakery. The smell of burnt sugar and stale bread still clung to the walls. His stomach growled, but fear subdued the hunger. He knew, somehow, they were still looking for him. Always looking, like a cold hand on the back of his neck.

Eli pressed his ear against the cracked window. Silence, a deceptive sort of quiet that made his skin crawl. The world felt too still, like it was holding its breath, waiting. He wrapped his small arms around the bear, seeking warmth in it's frayed embrace.

A sound, sharp and brittle, like glass cracking, reached his ears. Eli froze, eyes wide with terror. It came from outside, somewhere just beyond the shattered storefront. He squeezed his eyes closed, wishing he could vanish into the cold stone wall.

He held his breath, as if that would somehow make him unseen. But the sound came again, closer this time. Each tiny noise amplified by the terrible silence, now a cacophony of impending doom. "They found me," he mouthed, his voice barely a breath.

Peeking through the gap in the boarded window, he saw it. A tall, spindly figure stood in the street. Its skin was a sickly green, slick and glistening. Its head was large and oblong, with eyes like black oil slicks. It moved with a disjointed grace, each step too long, each limb out of place.

Eli backed away, his small feet scraping against the grimy floor. He didn't understand how they moved so fast, almost as if they floated across the ground. The being turned its head slowly, those awful eyes, somehow sensing his presence within the dark bakery.

He scampered behind a toppled shelf, knocking over bags of flour. A cloud of dust filled the space, momentarily obscuring his hiding spot. His heart pounded against his ribs, so very loudly he thought they would surely hear. "Please, go away," he murmured, his voice trembling.

The tall green thing, started to move towards the entrance, it's long fingers reaching out like claws. It didn't walk, but seemed to slide, to drift as if controlled by some unseen current. It was a terrible parody of a human form, something broken and wrong, and so utterly alien.

The being stopped at the entrance, its head tilted at an unnatural angle. It made a sound, not a voice, but a grating static. It was as though the air itself was screaming. Eli whimpered, his body starting to shake.

He decided to move, to find another spot, another room, any other space he could. He scurried to the back room, and he tripped on the way, his head hitting the ground. His world spun for a moment, the strange sounds seeming to fade.

His eyes teared up, the pain a very minor setback. He had to keep going, he had to survive. He could not allow them to catch him. It's what his mother would've wanted, to try at least. But his legs felt like cement, and his breathing became shallow and erratic.

He peeked out from the backroom entrance; it was still there, its large head still cocked to the side. It had not moved, as if it were waiting for him to make a mistake. It's presence was a suffocating blanket, a horror that felt like it was eating him from the inside out.

Eli tried to remember what his mother told him, about being strong, and brave. He wasn't strong, he was a child, a very small child, he knew he was not brave. The world was too cruel, and he felt very, very alone. He wished so much that she were here, to save him again.

He looked down at the bear he clutched, his mothers words coming back once again, "This will always keep you safe, ok?" He knew it wasn't true. It was nothing but an old stuffed toy. It was just a reminder of what he had lost.

With a small burst of energy, a feeling he was not familiar with, Eli bolted, he ran out the back door, his heart hammering in his chest. The back alley was narrow, cluttered with trash and debris. The shadows reached out like grasping hands, trying to pull him in.

He ran, his small legs pumping as fast as they could. The ground felt uneven and cold under his bare feet. He did not look back, but he could feel it, he knew it was behind him. He could sense it getting closer, its strange steps echoing against the empty buildings.

He did not know where he was running, he only knew he had to get away. He passed boarded-up windows, rusted metal fences and broken glass. The world was a maze of desolation, and he was hopelessly lost within it. It was all a cruel game, and he was the only player.

He turned a corner sharply, and nearly collided with a pile of rubble. He gasped for air, his lungs burning, he desperately wanted to stop, but he couldn't. He had to keep moving, had to keep going. "I'm not going to let them get me," He thought, but did not say it.

He spotted a small hole in the wall of a building, just big enough for him to squeeze through. It was dark and musty, and he didn't want to go in, but he had little choice. It was his only chance, his last hope, a very poor one, but still, one nonetheless.

He crawled through the opening, and landed on the cold, hard floor. The inside was a storage room, filled with boxes and discarded furniture. The smell was overpowering, of mildew and decay. He could hear it, the thing, moving outside, trying to find him, hunting him.

He could hear it's static voice outside, that awful grating sound, it was getting closer. He covered his mouth with his hand to try and quiet his breathing. He knew it wouldn't help, they already knew he was here. They always knew where he was.

Eli tried to keep still as he could, but it was so very cold in here. He did not know if he could endure this. He was tired, so very tired, and scared. He curled up behind a broken table, clutching his bear close to his chest. He was ready to give up, almost, but not yet, not yet.

The static voice got closer, much closer, until it was right outside the wall. Eli squeezed his eyes shut, praying, for something, anything, but the room was silent, waiting. The room fell deathly still.

He heard the wall creak, and a long, green tentacle, broke through, and the being had found him. Eli screamed, a high-pitched, frantic cry of terror. He did not want to die, he wanted to go home, to be with his mother.

The tentacle wrapped around him, pulling him from the dark space, he dropped the bear. Eli clawed at it, his small hands scrabbling uselessly against its smooth, cold skin. The being, pulled him towards it, a strange light filling the space.

He was brought to its body. It reached its other long, spindly tentacle, and it grabbed the top of his head. The pain, it was excruciating. It burned like hot fire, shooting through his brain, into his spine.

He cried out again, but his voice was lost in the static screech that came from the thing. He could no longer feel anything, it was as if his existence was being torn apart, piece by piece. It wanted him, all of him.

He saw flashes of light, of colors he could not describe, and then his small world started to spin. The pain was still there, but also far away, like a forgotten memory. He felt like he was being pulled apart, every atom of his being stretched thin.

His last thought was of his mother, a fragmented image of her smiling face. He wanted her, he needed her. And then, with a final, agonizing tear, everything ceased. Eli, the last human, was no more. He was just another fragment of a lost world, never to be seen again.

The last human, was now no more than data, for an alien. A very sad ending, for a very sad story. The world, a little more empty, for his absence.