I WRITE # FRIDAY FLASH

Beasts of Terror

by 

Carolyn Brown

A Paranormal Flash Fiction piece, set in a Fantasy world (700 words approx.), where unknown monsters tear apart the lives of the innocent.  One man survives and struggles to find others.

The sky seemed angry as the multitude of lightning strikes danced across the darkness.  Nolan had seen our enemy drive their forces against us in his vision, but we did not listen, we ignored his warnings and had laughed in mockery with our leader at his pleas.

I now wish I would have listened and taken heed.  I would not be standing here amongst this devastation if the king had only listened and acted upon Nolan's words.  if he had given orders for our armies to be ready for the onslaught that over took us, we might have had a chance.  But no, it was not to be.  Poor Nolan, for his troubles he had been beheaded and his words of warning laughed upon.


Now, as the heavens open and a heavy down pour of rain sheds its fury onto our lands, I wish I could turn back time.  But alas, that cannot be.


The water starts to build and begins gushing by me as I hide from our enemy, in the shadows of our once magnificent buildings.  It pools at my feet and I can see that the blood of my kin has been mixed into the swirling mass.  If I stay here, I will soon be swept away with the emerging current, as it quickly tears a path through the already torn city, much like our enemy before the storm.


They were ruthless and inhuman, with the strength of ten men.  Impossible to kill.  Their thirst for blood, endless and unstoppable.  I had seen human throats being torn out with bear teeth, in front of my eyes, ripped apart in just seconds with not so much as a second glance from the enemy, as they searched for their next victim.


The onslaught had been madness.  As if in a dream, I had fended off many, but was soon overcome by the sheer force of their numbers and strength, and along with a handful of my comrades, I had fled from the battle.  A small band of us survivors, were now hiding from the enemy, hoping not to be detected by any of these inhuman beasts as we scavenged the outskirts of our once beautiful city, trying to survive, while gathering as much knowledge as we could about our foe.


We had learned that after the battle they had preyed upon the flesh of our fallen, tearing bodies apart in an animal frenzy, as they jostled with each other over the remains of each victim.  Heartless, human flesh eating monsters!  We had no name for them.  We knew not where they came from, but they were now part of this world's existence and we needed to learn their weaknesses, if we were to survive.


I wondered if ours was the only city to be attacked or if our nearby neighbouring settlements had also been destroyed.  We had no means at our disposal to find out.  The only way was to journey to the next town on foot, while trying not to be detected by the beasts, a hard task, but not an impossible one.  This was a risk I was willing to take, as I could see no future to be had trying to live here amongst the rubble.


I decided to venture west and head towards Hawthorne, it was the closest of our neighbouring towns.  Carefully treading through the underbrush, keeping to the shadows, I made my way across the land. I walked continuously for days, finding berries and fruits on the trees to sustain my hunger and drinking from the clear flowing streams as I slowly forged ahead.

It was hard to tell if the enemy had been there before me, I could see no sign of their intrusion.  It wasn't until I came close to the outskirts of the town, that I could tell it had also been demolished.  My heart sank.  Our ferocious enemy had fed and left, leaving behind another empty shell of a once bustling township.


My only option now was to continue on to the next town and hope that it had not also been attacked, but I was now certain my world would soon perish at the hand of these beasts and we would be unable to halt them.