In a night where all is pitch black, the sounds of running footsteps and deep growls spike the adrenaline and fear in you.

Everything was dark. There were no street lights illuminating the asphalt. The full, bright moon was the only beacon of light in the night. Everything was silent besides the panting of the three girls who had just run out of their own house, escaping.

They stopped in front of the house, panting, bending over to rest their hands on their knees. One girl finally caught her breath again and peered up, evaluating their surroundings. A small bush to their immediate left. A park across the street. Several abandoned vehicles lining the street. Dark figures were roaming slowly throughout the park. She could see them between the trees. Sasquatch-looking figures: extremely tall, lanky arms, but moving at a speed slower than a normal human.

Suddenly, up on the street to their right, the girls could hear thundering footsteps and howling cackles. It only took a millisecond to recognize the sound of danger. The girls all looked up, gathering themselves, and standing up tall from their bent, exhausted positions. And soon, there they were.

A stampede of demonic creatures, some winged, some dogs, but all utterly terrifying. Their red eyes were the only visual cues of danger until they got nearer. The girls caught their breath and gulped collectively. They backed up slowly, into the bush, waiting to see what the creatures would do. Would the creatures go into their house or would they attack the girls? The stampede of creatures drew nearer and nearer.

A winged creature that looked like a gargoyle flew into their house while other creatures stormed in, crawling over the threshold of the door and investigating. It was utterly silent for a second. Then two seconds.

Then — chaos. Screams from the creatures erupted from the house like a cacophony of dread. The girls ran. They had no choice but to run into the great park next to their house that surrounded the house on its left side and stretched in front of the house. They ran as fast as their little legs could take them, dodging trees, trying to follow the marked path in the park to avoid getting lost. They ran past several creatures that were too slow or too disinterested to give chase.

They stopped when they reached an empty clearing within the park, where they found a group of survivors, armed with automatic rifles and various other weapons. The girls felt saved. They felt protected. They clamored to the middle of the circle of survivors, the survivors’ backs forming a ring of protection in the middle. The sound of artillery rang around the girls, combined with shouting from the survivors. After a few moments, the activity began to quiet and the girls looked up.

“If you want to stay with us, you have to provide offerings,” a burly, stout woman instructed the girls as she rested her AK-47 on her shoulder. The group of survivors assembled together and began tossing their jewelry, rations, and other items of value into a common pile at the foot of the woman.

The girls watched as they caught their breath, waiting for their hearts to catch up to the temporary safety of the group. One of the girls stepped forward and released the silver bracelet from around her wrist and dropped it into the communal pile. The two other girls followed, dropping their jewelry and only items of value that they left their houses with.

The woman, assumed to be the leader, grunted in minor approval. “Good.” She peered down at the girls. “Don’t get in our way and we’ll protect you. Listen to us.” The girls nodded silently, a weak, “Thank you,” parting their lips.

The group then headed further into the park collectively, towing their prized possessions to share amongst one another. The group led the girls to a small town past the park, a few miles away with short, concrete buildings in rambles. The town was quiet, and it seemed as though the group had set up base there.

The group entered a heavily armored black building. Its windows were shuttered with slabs of metal soldered together, securely fastened. The door was a heavy metal door with a vault-like opening to prevent any creatures from simply turning handles and entering. The creatures had been adapting recently, being able to open doors gently to avoid alarm.

The survivors lined up in a single-file line, headed by the woman towing the communal possessions. The woman dropped the bag of valuables in front of a large, muscular man with a straight face that stood, arms crossed, in the first room of the building. He nodded at the woman and the group walked deeper into the building past him.

When the girls approached the man, he held up his palm to the girls. The woman noticed the man stop the girls and simply shouted out, “Newbies!” The man glowered down at the girls.

“We can’t be too careful. It’s become difficult to differentiate the creatures from humans now.” The girls’ fear shown through their eyes as they stood silently in front of the man. The man kneeled down to meet the girls at eye level and studied each of the girls’ faces.

“You’re clear… For now.” The man stood back up, crossed his arms over his chest, and nodded his head to the right, indicating that the girls can move past him. The girls clung onto one another, still shaking from fear, as they walked deeper into the building slowly. Step by small step.

“Listen up!” The burly woman shouted out towards the group. Fifty or so survivors began gathering around the woman. They were towards the back of the compound, sunlight began to shine through the slits of the windows.

“Tomorrow is the meeting with the governor. We need to present our case and show him why we are an asset and need refuge in their city. As you know, we need another 10 individuals to present to the governor to prove ourselves.” The woman started.

A jumble of shouting erupted from the group. “Why not pick them?!” A man shouted, pointing at the girls — the newest additions to the group. The girls clung onto one another even tighter, only able to express fear from their entire body. Shouts of agreement came from various places within the crowd. The woman then stuck stickers on the girls’ faces that stated, “TOP TEN” — as if it were a good thing.

The women continued through the crowd and picked seven more individuals and placed the same sticker on each of their cheeks.

“Load them up!” The woman shouted out as the crowd filed back into the middle of the compound to retire for the dawn. A large, metal truck backed into the compound with a shipping container. The other chosen survivors lined up and waited for the truck to settle before filing in. Their faces were solemn, but understanding.

The girls turned to one other. One of the girls looked happy and breathed an audible sigh of relief.

“What are you happy for?! We’re going to be executed tomorrow!” Another girl whisper-shouted at her.

“Yeah, but that’s tomorrow. We’re safe for the night.” The girl kept her relieved smile.

The girl rolled her eyes, “Okay, we need to get out of here.” They were in the back of the compound, only a wall separating them from the outside. It was getting brighter, so the creatures were less abundant, but there would be rival groups of survivors out and about, trying to eliminate any other rival survivor groups.

The girls crouched down and snuck out of the compound as the shipping container settled and its doors began to open. The other seven individuals that were picked as “Top Ten” noticed the girls just as they were about to get loaded up until the meeting, and followed their lead. Albeit understanding, they too did not want to be executed.

The girls began to crawl out of the compound little by little, army crawling their way along a short wall that led outside. They followed along some train tracks that ran parallel to the compound. The sun was rising and soon it’d be the middle of the day.

A vehicle roared past them, men shouting from within the vehicle. “I see someone!” They armed their weapons high above their head and shots a few round of bullets into the sky above them. The vehicle skidded to a stop next to the short wall and the entire group froze. The men filed out of the car, shouting incoherently. They marched over to the train tracks, blocking the group’s path, their weapons pointing.

After both groups stared at one another for a few seconds in silence, the men fired their automatic weapons towards the group.

Some survivors tried to get up and run away, but that only made them easier targets and resulted in a flurry of bullets aimed at their backs.

The girls bent their heads down, trying to protect themselves uselessly with their arms. They were each struck multiple times and laid on the ground, still in their army crawl positions. Blood seeped into the dirt below them. Their breaths shallowed. The girls were weak and couldn’t muster up the energy to use any of their magic energy.

Until the bittersweet moment of adrenaline rushed into the girls as their lives danced between the lines of life and death. One of the girls rose, translucent wings sprouting from her back, her arms outstretched downwards, and a protective circle of purple magic glowed around her. Her eyes shown purple and a sudden surge of energy burst out from her chest. All of the men collapsed immediately.

More men began to file in. The remaining two girls found their energies as well as their adrenaline spiked, and released bursts of energy towards the men. One of the girls, whose energy was the color blue, looked around desperately, looking for her sword that she typically had stashed on the side of her leg. She found the hilt of the sword half-buried in the dirt and grabbed its handle. The sword grew in length, glowing blue to match her energy. Her eyes turned into a fiery abyss of blue and she charged towards the remaining men.

No more shouting from the men or survivors. No more gunfire. Just the sound of the song that was playing from the men’s vehicle.

The girls collected around one another, their energies simmering down. They panted as their magic subsided, feeling the weight of their injuries now. “We need to go,” they all whispered to one another at the same time.