Cade managed to help him out the window with the help of another guy, and Hayden was panting hard when he sat in his wheelchair again. The thing about being crippled was that a lot of movements always gave him weak fast.
Cade helped Alice out next, then he jumped out too.
The rest followed suit.
All the sudden noise must have alerted some monsters because growls were soon filling the air, and everyone froze up.
Three pig-like creatures circled the air, growling lowly and fear trickled down Hayden's spine.
"Fuck, we gotta go right now, guys." Cade called out fast, his eyes darting around. He spotted a long iron rod and rushed up to pick it up.
Hayden looked over at Alice who seemed to have frozen up, gripping her hand and pulling hard.
"Pull yourself together!" He spoke fast, and she nodded jerkily.
"Let's go!" He told her urgently and she nodded fast, wiping her face just as they all resumed running again.
Cries and screams could be heard from all corners but they didn't dare stop.
Monsters have really invaded the earth.
That's the only explanation for what was happening right now.
'How is this possible? Monsters didn't exist. They existed in fiction and that was it.' Hayden thought as they ran even faster.
"Out of the way, losers." A familiar voice called out from behind them before zapping past them.
It was James. Him and Finn were running hard, panting. Their designer outfits were streaked with so much dirt.
So they were still alive?
Hayden wondered if this was happening in every part of the city right now, then he instantly stopped moving, freezing up.
"My sister." He cried out, his heart lurching.
Cade wordlessly pulled his phone out and cussed.
"My mom and little brother, I've been thinking about them too. Do you think they're fine?" Alice whispered, voice wobbling.
Hayden pulled his phone out to call his sister but there was no service.
"The monsters are catching up, we gotta keep moving!" Cade called out.
Hayden shook his head. "I can't. I have to go back to find my sister!"
Cade shook his head, throwing a hand in the direction of the sky. "You can't. Are you dumb? The monsters would kill you."
Hayden's mind reeled. Where is his sister? Is she fine? Has the monster gotten to her? That thought made him sick.
He thought of his aunt, uncle and their three sons, wondering if they were safe too.
Weirdly, he didn't want them to die. After all, he and his sister still had a roof over their heads because of them.
But before he could utter another word, growls vibrated right behind him.
They all resumed running at the same time, taking turns after turns, not stopping even as the monsters managed to get some of the people running right beside them.
A cry left Alice's mouth as she tripped on a rock, and Hayden felt his heart give out. Two monsters approached her at the same time, snarling and growling.
Desperate, he grabbed some sand and flung it into the first monster's eyes.
It yowled in pain and screeched loudly, stumbling and flapping away.
Cade was fast, stalking toward Alice and smoothly pulling her up before the second monster's teeth could gnash her leg. Alice was trembling hard as she cried, her legs shaking.
Cade jabbed the monster in the eye with his iron rod before it could attack him, but despite the monster yowling in pain, it managed to scratch him across the chest with his long claws.
As Cade jabbed it in the eye again, it finally retreated, and blood dripped from Cade's chest when he faced them.
"Fuck. That looks deep." Hayden noted urgently. There were no first aid boxes around and no one knew if those claws were contaminated. They needed to stop the bleeding too.
"It's just a scratch. Let's keep going." Cade breathed out roughly as he grabbed his iron rod again. Hayden felt relieved Cade thought of grabbing that.
As they resumed running, Hayden constantly thought of his sister, hoping to the heavens that she was fine. But deep down, he feared otherwise.
After what felt like hours, they finally stopped running.
There were only three strangers running alongside them, the rest having died along the way.
"Let's rest here for a while." Alice proposed quietly, sniffling. They were standing beneath a large tree.
"This place feels unsafe, we have to keep moving." Hayden objected. For some reason, a pricking sensation was behind his neck.
"But we've been running for hours and I'm sure your hands are tired." Alice argued. "Cade's wound also needs some care."
Cade shook his head. "I'm fine."
Hayden didn't believe him. He was sweating badly and he suspected he was burning up.
"See? Let's continue then." Hayden declared.
Alice whined. "But my legs hurt. I can't run anymore."
"I'll carry you." He offered before he could stop himself.
Her face flushed pink. "What?" She spluttered.
"Since your legs hurt, I'll do it. Hop on." He patted his knees. He doesn't feel any sensation in his legs from birth so the extra weight wouldn't hurt him.
"B- but that would slow you down! I'll pass." She breathed out, looking away from him and clearing her throat.
Hayden frowned. Why was she acting weird?
Pounding footsteps echoed around them and they all froze up right before Finn, James and some unknown faces raced out of a corner, screaming.
"More beasts are coming!" Finn screamed as they all ran past them.
Without wasting time, they all resumed running.
Hayden's intuition ended up being right.
It was dark when they finally stopped. They were all seated around a dark corner, lost, cold and hungry.
There were six in numbers left.
Cade, Alice, Finn, James, a stranger and Hayden.
The stranger had introduced herself as Katie. She was tall, lean and had a moody expression on.
Cade's breathing was labored. He was clearly in pain. He needed urgent help.
"What do we do now?" Finn demanded. He was pacing, angrily kicking around some rocks.
"Stop kicking dust everywhere, that's not helping." Hayden called out as he sneezed.
He had a really sensitive body. He got sick and tired easily and right now, he's completely drained.
"Don't talk to me like that, freak. I'm in a fucked up mood and can just gauge your eyes out." Finn angrily shot back.
Hayden dared him to, then a back and forth started until Alice screamed.
"Aren't you two tired? You don't have families to think about right now? Families who might be dead! Why don't we also worry about how we might not survive till morning? Huh? There's no food, no water and we're all freezing. This is the last place to be fighting."
Alice rarely lost her temper, and now that she has, Hayden felt ashamed cause she was right.
"Hayden doesn't even have a family to mourn, he was abandoned at birth. No one wants his freak ass." Finn angrily gritted out before walking off to sulk.
Those words drove a knife into Hayden's chest. He'd always wondered if his parents really died or if they purposely abandoned him and his sister.
He groaned and looked up at the sky. Everything is so weird now.
The moon in the sky right now was five in numbers, positioned right beside each other, with different colors. And they were all full.
What happened to the normal moon?
After sitting in the same spot for hours, on noticing that Cade was starting to slip into unconsciousness, they woke him up and insisted that they keep moving, hoping to come across anyone or anything that might help.
"We might get killed. Let's just stay here." James roughly argued.
"No one asked you to come with us." Hayden reminded him.
Cade heavily leaned against Hayden's wheelchair when they resumed moving again.
Katie followed them and surprisingly, so did finn and James.
It shocked Hayden so much when James grabbed Cade's hand and made him lean over his shoulders instead.
After wandering and completely losing their way, they finally came across a large building that towered high in the sky. The building looked new compared to the other buildings around it, and lights were turned on inside.
Without wasting time, they all approached and frantically pounded on the large door.
Hayden sighed in relief when the door opened.
"Please help us, we're lost, stranded and hungry. My friend here is—" he was still speaking when they were suddenly grabbed by strong hands and pulled through the door.
They weren't released despite now being inside. They were presently in a large expanse of space that was so broad and bright, it hurt Hayden's eyes
"What the fuck?"
"Where are you taking us to?"
"Who are you?"
"Let us go?"
Those words left their mouths but were ignored.
Despite their struggles, it was pointless. The people who grabbed them were dressed in some sort of uniforms, and they had guns on as well. Hayden squinted at the sight of the country's logo on one of the men's uniforms.
What's going on here?
"You're all gonna be tested first, to confirm you're not contaminated." One of the men dragging them down a hallway responded as they pushed a door open and marched them all in.
Hayden's mind reeled. Contaminated? What?
A remote shaped object was held on the same level as their foreheads and beeping sounds filled the room.
"Clean." One of them declared one after the other.
Hayden was beyond confused.
The person holding Cade swore when his eyes caught on his wound and he almost dropped him.
"He was bitten?? and you let us bring him in here?" The man screeched.
"No, he wasn't!" Hayden argued sharply, sensing the shift in the air. They were all regarding Cade Witt contemplating and Hayden's hackles rose and when one of them touched their guns.
"Let's throw him out. He's most likely contaminated." One of them spoke.
"What? He needs help after losing so much blood. You can't throw him out, please." Hayden insisted urgently, looking around. They were no longer being held tightly by those men, aside Cade.
"No. It's dangerous to have him here." They argued vehemently.
Hayden's heart sank into his stomach.
One of the men lifted his shirt and looked the wound over. "It does seem like a scratch."
The remote was held over Cade's forehead and it beeped.
"Seems he's uncontainable. You're all a lucky bunch." One of the men spoke, snorting and shaking his head.
"We are?" Alice asked quietly, her hands tangled together nervously. She was constantly looking around.
"Of course. The air outside is now filled with poison, to weaken the monsters. It usually kills humans after being inhaled for long." They explained and all the kids heaved in relief
"So this means you all know what's going on outside? Like an… actual apocalypse. Monsters are everywhere, killing people." Katie spoke this time as she looked around. Her voice had a low rasp.
"Of course. And what's happening out there isn't an apocalypse." The man responded as he stepped forward. He had a full beard and fierce looking eyes.
Hayden frowned. The person sounded so sure.
"So what's happening out there then?" He asked.
"Someone else will explain that to you. But for now, we have to test you first, to see if you'll awaken any class or not."