Before Dawn

We’ll never make it before dawn. All that’s left for us is the cold, soulless embrace of the night and the fatal touch of darkness. Never will the warmth of the day again fill our living bodies. Our lanterns won’t hold out that long. 

One’s already starting to dim, the bright of its light slipping fast away with every step we take, evaporating out into the despair of the blackness around us. Another holds true, shining its beacon at the front of the pack, guiding towards the destination we are sure to never reach. The rest sway somewhere between, clinging to life, slowly dying.

Narrow is the forest road, an alleyway through the tangle of trees. The dusty dirt of the path kicks up under our feet, illuminated by our lights for mere seconds before once again returning to the dark.

My lantern swings tightly under my grip, my fingers squeezing hard, fighting to keep hold of it as the sweat from my palm threatens to send it flying from my hand. Threatens to doom us to what lurks—what prowls—in the darkness beyond.

The pounding of my heart matches my stride; the thunder of its beat striking harder with every passing second. A curve in the path hides the lead light from my sight. Just for a second. Maybe two. But that’s enough to send my heart out of my chest. To drive my mind mad.

I turn the corner. The light returns. My mind slows. Slightly. My heart does not. How long now? When had we fled? I don’t know exactly what our destination would look like. What our promised salvation would be. How long—

The light behind me goes out. No warning. It hadn’t dimmed. In an instant, it died. The one who carried it—Jed, I think—ties to keep pace with me. But his tired legs fall behind. First by a step. Then three. Then more. I could slow down. I could keep him in the light. Keep him safe. But we would’ve been ever so slightly farther behind the lead light. The brightest lantern. I would’ve been farther from safety. Closer to the demons of the dark. And even an ankle into the shadow was enough. Enough for it to catch you. To take you. I run faster. Jed slips. He screams. I run. The screaming stops, replaced by the cackles. 

Dawn will save us. The sun will spare my teetering life for at least one day more. If the lanterns hold true. If we can make it through the woods.

Wait for dawn, some had said, before we had left. Jed had been one of them, I think.

But we could not wait. The risk… the risk would have been greater, somehow. It doesn’t seem that could be true now. Certainly not to Jed. But I know. We all know. Staying back would have been worse. What would’ve taken us there… it’s worth risking the night. The horrid darkness and fiending creatures of the night. 

The dimmest light burns out. Another scream. This time a woman. Vara? Cackles. Silence. She is gone. Devoured. It keeps pace behind us. Unsatisfied. Still craving. Hungry.

I cling religiously to the light, holding it tight to my chest, keeping myself safely within its warmth. Another light extinguishes. No scream. Only the cackles. The crunching of bone and ripping of flesh. 

For some horrid, foolish reason, I turn my head back. A part of me has to see, has to see if I can see it. The demon that chases us. I slow for just a few steps, needing to see it, needing to know what hunted us.

Only darkness. Nothing beyond the safety of my light. 

Eyes. Just a flash. Glowing green. Pin-sized pupils. Quick and pounding steps. Breath the sound of cracking stone. It keeps its chase, not to be satisfied until all our heads filled its accursed stomach. I turn back front, forcing, willing, dragging my legs to run faster. To keep ahead of the rear of the pack. To keep away from the demon creature that hunts us. That needs us.

How many are left? Three in front. I’m ahead of two. Dammit. Only six? So few lights. So few chances to survive until dawn. I clutch my lantern tighter. It burns brightly still. The second brightest in the pack.

A flash. Another light gone. Screams. Cackles. Shattered bones.

The brightest lantern rests in my hands. Its flame a torturing comfort, taunting me with its light. Its promise of safety threatening to evaporate into the night, abandoning me to the dark. To the demon. To death.

I curse it, beg it to stay with me. 

How much longer? I almost hear it ask.

How much longer? I want to give an answer. I can’t. I don’t know. None of us know. Not anymore. 

Feet pounding, heart breaking through my chest, I press deeper into the forest. Into the dark. The dark I desperately hope will slip away into morning. Before my own light goes out. Before what chases behind grabs hold.

Another light burns away. The darkness grows stronger. Shrieking unimaginable. Nak is reduced to nothing. Utterly consumed by the creature behind. Nothing left to find but a lightless lantern, crushed under its weight. 

Four left. So many souls gone in the night. Lost to the infernal gullet of the creature. What drove it to this? Why must it hunt us? Why must the lesser evil still be a horror unimaginable?

Flickering. The light just beside me is flickering. Flashing between safety and death. Its bearer screams, pleads. Pem smacks at its glass case. Begs the light to stay. Sobs for it not to leave her.

It goes out.

Pem drops it. She tries to cling to me. Not to my light. To me. She grabs at my arm, as if pulling me down would somehow save us both. The light jostles in my hand. She’ll kill us both.

I keep my head forward, darting my eyes to her. Then forward. Then back to her as she rips a hole in my sleeve. She is dead. Whether she falls behind or pulls me down. She is dead. But I am alive. My light still burns. I can’t let her kill me.

Breath coming heavy, sweat clouding my eyes, I swat her face. She shrieks. I swat her again through ragged breath. She grabs my arm again. I tighten my fist. She stumbles. Falls. Into the dark. No more screams. She knows what comes next. 

Crunching. 

Cackling.

Death.

Tears pepper my face between beads of sweat. I hadn’t killed Pem. Her light had. You can’t survive without your light.

I wipe my eyes and look back. Only one light. Where had the other gone? When? No matter. They’re dead.

Fev is two steps behind me. Her light bright enough. But it won’t last. Not long. Neither would mine.

A flash. My heart skips. It isn’t a lantern. The sun. A beam crests the trees, shining on the path for an instant. We keep running. The sunlight falls behind. To the creature.

It roars.

My breath comes faster now. My heart beats furiously, almost as quick as the thundering steps of the creature.

The sun is coming. It is here. Minutes left. Seconds, maybe. And I’ll be safe. We will be safe.

Light. More of it. Then again. Consistent now. Feint glows of red and orange through the trees. Sunlight.

The one behind me laughs. Just once, quickly. But joyful. Sunrise. Finally.

The creature roars. A horrible, bleeding scream that rips at my ears, threatening to ruin them. It quiets. The pounding of its steps fades into the woods.

My legs stop. I collapse, still gripping the lantern tight. Morning. I’m watching dawn.

Fev keeps running, leaving me behind.

I shake my head. We’re safe in the sun.

Ripping. Tearing. As if the very ground is being hacked apart. 

My heart punches at my chest. My legs scramble, forcing me up. Arms flailing wildly, lantern in hand, I stand. And I run.

I run.

About the Author

Ryan is a senior English major with a concentration in creative writing. While his ultimate goal is to become a novelist, he's developed a passion for short stories, crafting tales that are either deadly serious or utterly bizarre--there's no in-between.