She slapped me. I felt nothing. I felt my eyes slowly flicker shut whilst the kids broke the door down. I could see here mouth contort into screaming curses but heard nothing, slowly sinking into a sensory blankness. Eventually she did something kinda inexplicable.
I was lucid again in seconds and she pulled away. There were tears running down her cheeks.
“We need to get out of here.”
We ran. Everything was still a blur but I remember glimpses; bursting through the back door and through the crumbling back yard fence, away from the outstretched hands and in amongst the deafening cacophony of screams and laughter. Eventually my legs simply stopped and I let the other two drag me as I stumbled a little. My legs ached, my throat was sore and I could taste the faint tang of blood. Eventually I collapsed and they ran on without me. I fell to the curb with a softened thud and turned to see the swarm wander towards me. They started flooding in from adjacent streets and close in on all sides. More and more until there were at least two hundred I a closing semi-circle around me. I glanced up to see the gap in the horde grow smaller and smaller. I saw my former companions running full pelt now, the kid starting to hobble and fall behind as the blood loss got to him. At last he came to a halt and she turned to glance at him before running on. The first few kids start to block my view of her as the escape route started to disappear.
Funny how you’re priorities change when confronted with death by small child.
I pulled myself up with a sudden determination and ran full pelt through the closing gap as hands grazed the lapels of my shirt. I ran like a fucker until I reached the Little Caesars parking lot to see that bitch trying to steal it. Before she could finish unlocking the door through the open window I’d reached her.
“Sorry I had to ditch you I didn’t think you’d make it. And the kid was a goner.”
“I know- I saw him…”
I slid my hand in and opened the door and we both pulled ourselves inside. The engine stalled a few times and I saw the little fuckers turn the corner and close on us far sooner than seemed possible. Eventually the car started and we raced off. I didn’t care where we were going;
I just aimed for the desert and tried not to miss.
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