I looked back and my heart beat heavy in my chest.
Fire engulfed the building we had just exited, the building where my family had made their home. The heat licked against us, and I had an urge to run.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. If the building was on fire, the demons were around it, and Omi was close. “We need to move.” I took a deep breath and went to the street. I looked left and right. Nothing. “Come on.”
I ran to the other side of the street and hid in the shadows of a store’s entrance, my parents following me.
“No short cuts through the middle of this block?” I asked.
“I think there is,” Dad said. He and Teddie rushed to the corner of the store and turned at the driveway.
Mom and I trailed behind them. The driveway ended in a parking lot behind the store. A short picket fence surrounded it, and there was another parking lot and building, its back to us.
Mom and I dropped the kids on the ground, helped them cross the fence, then crossed it ourselves and got the kids back once we were on the other side. I tried ignoring the fact that Nicole was heavy, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold her for hours. Maybe not even an hour.
I shook my head. We made our way across the driveway of the building and slowed down once we got near the sidewalk.
It started snowing. Slow, fluffy flocks fell from the sky, sticking to our hair and coats, and covering the sidewalks and street.
The weight in my chest increased. “Now they will see our footsteps.”
“Let’s try to gain some distance from them before the snow covers the streets,” Dad said.
He crossed the road and ran into the front yard of a house. Mom and I did the same. Once we were on the house’s side, I looked back. Our footsteps weren’t clear. Perhaps the dumb demons wouldn’t notice.
A shriek filled the frigid air, and I almost dropped Nicole to clamp my ears. She stifled a cry, but sobbed in my shoulder.
“What was that?” my mom asked, her tone fearful.
“Bats.”
“Bats? Here?” My dad looked at the sky. “We’ve never seen bats here.”
“They have been spreading lately,” I said, satisfied for not lying for the first time since I arrived.
Dad’s eyes returned to mine. “How do you know so much about this?”
“It’s a long story, and we should get out of here first.” I marched to the back of the house.
With the Akuma, it would be harder to get out of here. They were probably hovering around the entire town, searching and maiming. Damn, this kept getting worse.
I looked around the backyard. There were trees lining the lot down the back, and then I could see the roof of a house, probably on the other side of the block.
“Let’s keep moving,” Dad said, walking past me.
I followed him to the trees. Mom was close behind.
We had just begun to weave through the trees when a shriek echoed through the sky. We all froze. The kids whimpered. The Akuma's screams sounded too close, but not right above us.
“Go,” my dad whispered.
We moved again, but it wasn’t the same. Any noise we made—crunching of grass or snow, sweeping leaves or branches aside—the demons would hear it and find us.
We finally reached the end of the trees, only to bump into a tall iron fence. It was approximately eight feet high with no horizontal bars we could use to step up and swing over the top. The tips had a blade-like appearance.
“No, no,” I muttered. I released Nicole and shook the fence. “No!”
My father let go of Teddie, then ran a few feet to the side, checking the fence. “No openings, no weak points.”
I looked up. An orange cloud approached, swallowing everything in its path. Omi would rain down on us soon.
“We can’t go back.” I looked around. “Let’s check the sides.” I pushed Nicole and Teddie closer to Mom and Tommy. “Stay here.”
Dad darted to the left, and I went to the right. My heart raced and my head spun as I shook the fence, trying to find some broken post or a gate.
This couldn’t be happening. Oh my God, I had to stop thinking about this, or I would break down right here right now and curl up on the snow and cry out my desperation, exhaustion, and fear. That was all I wanted to do. Curl up and cry. But that wouldn’t bring my family to safety.
However, I knew what would save them.
I sprinted back to my mom and siblings just as Dad did too.
“No way of passing,” he said, out of breath. “I saw a few bats flying by, and I saw an orange cloud coming in this direction.” He shook his head. “I must be out of my mind.”
I took a deep breath. “I know a way of making it through this. We’ll hide here for a while, maybe up in the trees. When we’re sure we can run around the fence and keep going, we do that and we don’t look back.”
“How are we gonna be sure we can run around the fence and keep going?” my father asked.
“Just … trust me.”
A sequence of shrieks resonated through the air.
“They are getting close,” my mom said. Fear laced her words.
“Okay. Hide. Now.” I pushed them against the thicker trees. I stepped back and looked at them. With the dark and the shadows, I couldn’t really see them, only if I tried hard. I hoped their auras were nothing and the demons would bypass them. “Whatever happens, hide, then run, and don’t look back.” I retreated one more step. “I love you.”
I ran.
“Nadine?” my mom shouted at the same time my father asked, “What are you doing?”
I didn’t stop. I just hoped they stayed hidden.
I ran to the front of the house and went toward Magnolia Avenue. I wasn’t stupid; I wouldn’t run toward the demons. They would catch up with me too soon, and I wouldn’t have given time for my family to escape. I ran north, hoping to be able to run for a minute or two, enough to get some distance from where I hid my family.
The shriek of an Akuma reached my ears. My heart stopped, and I slipped on the snow. I regained my footing as the creature flew to me. I ducked and it rose in the sky again. The thing flew away for a few seconds, to call the others probably.
I kept running, even when my legs hurt, even when I knew I was marching to my death, even when the urge to curl up and cry ripped through me again.
Moments later, the Akuma was back with some of its friends. I didn’t bother looking up and trying to count them. I was screwed anyway.
The grunts, growls, and battle cries of the Ornek and Arak surrounded me, followed by the sound of their heavy footfalls.
Oh, God, let me keep going for one more minute. Please, one more minute.
I gritted my teeth and pushed my muscles, my blood pounding in my ears. I turned slightly right onto the street that would become a ramp and lead to the road out of town.
Just a little more.
I could see the ramp, but I also could hear the footsteps and growls gaining on me.
Omi materialized in front of me in a mist of gray cloud. My shock made my muscles lock, and I slipped in the snow, falling on my knees at his feet.
I gasped for air, little clouds leaving my mouth as my rapid breathing froze in the frigid air, and I looked up.
He was smiling down at me, his eyes amused. “Finally, we meet.”