It was a supposed to be monotonous day. You had nothing out of the ordinary planned, nothing special you needed to do. Perhaps you would do some shopping, perhaps you would go watch T.V; in other words, simple. tedious tasks that you do habitually. The humdrum of an unvaried routine would echo in your mind, and you were none the worse off - perhaps you were content with the tedium, or perhaps you wavered on what kind of life you wished you had, not quite content with your current one, but also afraid to start a new one; or perhaps you took an extreme wish, and held on to the glimmer of hope in your heart, wishing that somehow, someday, the unthinkable would happen, and magic would color your life.

Today, of all days, that wish would come true.

You were all different individuals; some similarities, many differences. Nothing you could have known would have led you to predict that your fates would become entangled. You were worlds apart, and so apart from the other that whatever you did share in common would have been rendered moot by the physical and mental distances. But today, you shared between all of you three things:

Right now, your days was uninspiring; a restless feeling of ennui had overcome you.

Right now, you were walking away; from your room, from the supermarket, from a life you wished to leave behind.

And, right now, you were ALONE.

You all turn a corner, and find yourselves lost . . .

---

Shadows surrounded you. You do not know where they came from, or what they are shadows of, but you know you cannot get caught. You've felt the chill of their breath; you've seen their cloaks of death. You hear their whispers in the dark, calling out to you, and know that they yearn for you. And most of all, you can taste the decay in the air, something that they had brought along with them, something that they will bring to you if you do not run!

The world you are now in is a twisted mockery of the world you know. The sun is sickly green, it's rays dizzying you and confusing you; the earth is a dark-purple stain, the color of bruised skin, with the texture to match. The trees that surround you are gnarled and withered and black as death, yet they stand tall and terrifying, their branches seeming to follow your every step, like hands tempted to grab you in a thorny embrace. The sky is a bright, blinding red, and scarlet blood drizzles down from its gray clouds.

You are Alice, lost in mad Wonderland out to make you one of its own.

You start losing breathe, and feel your energy drain away, as your legs waver and your mind sinks into despair. Then, suddenly, a glimmer hope appears, like a light at the end of a tunnel. You hear voices and turn. From across you are other girls, girls who are fleeing from the same shades that haunt you. And, more importantly, you see a girl waving towards all of you, dressed in what looks to be the child of a ball gown and a suit of armor with an azure spear in hand. There are no shades around her.

"You girls! Over here, quickly!"

And thus your adventure begins.

Yet another school day. At least today wasn't as bad as others, I had art eariler and fuelled with my love of anime it made it much more interesting. Until Aki teased me again over my watching "far too many cartoons". When I got home it was just as bad, I was looking forward to catching up on some anime, when it hit me. Was Aki right? I couldn't get into the show, the house was empty, both my parents were still at work. I packed up my homework and a few collectible figurines to inspire me and left for Anime World.

The store was huge for our local area, anime, a floor of collectibles (cards, posters, figurines, a dream come true), a section for console games for the boys (and a few girls) and a whole floor just for manga. A small cafe there would have been ideal for me to my homework and relax. If I got there that is.

That last corner I turned, that was a step to far. It lead me straight into yomi-no-kuni with no way to return. The green landscape was bad enough, but the shadows, they really scared me. So I ran. I not only felt the shivers of fear from where I was, but it seemed the chill of the shadows tendrils that reached out toward me threatened to freeze me in my tracks. I dared not risk screaming, in case more tried to catch me, so I ran faster.

I had no hope left, the shadows were gaining, then there were other steps and other girls. They were in the same situation as me, we were all doomed.

"You girls! Over here, quickly!"

There standing like an Ezra Scarlet only with a spear, was hope. No shadows were near her. I had no choice, I ran to her and hoped I would make it to safety.

For Camila del Rosario Garcia, today was a fairly average day. Well so far it was an average day, but it was surely going to be more entertaining! This was due to the fact that she knew that her brothers were going to have a bout of fighting at the gym, instead of practicing bumps. While she had saw many of her brothers, and for that fact sisters, fight numerous times Hell even countless times, this was going to be a far more honorable rough-housing between Miguel and Arturo.

Perhaps they would even practice their dramatic speech-work alongside assaulting each other with aerial assaults from atop the ropes instead of jumping off of the house's furniture. Garcia swayed her hips side to side in some pseudo-dance. After finishing these motions, Camila thrust her right fist up in the air. A large grin formed on her face as she muttered out, "¡Excellente!"

But in order to get to the gym, she had a few more blocks to go. But in a rather strange event, as he crossed to the next block to head to her destination, something happened. Something really odd happened.

Garcia found herself surrounded by hideous shadows! The girl was in unnatural shadows that were only used by the most vile of luchadors and the most abhorrent of telenovella villains. Camila del Rosario Garcia quickly turned her head from side to side frantically, as she bit at her lip.

Surely this was just some weird and trippy dreamscape right? Maybe she was already at the gym and took a nasty bump from her brothers. Or maybe she got the bad end of a soccer ball and struck something. Camila kept her hands ready for action, and more importantly kept moving because these things seemed pretty bad.

And that was when Camila noticed a rather odd looking girl who had a weapon and strange dress. Camila stared for a brief moment, with her mouth now agape at the sight. "Odd Quinceañera..." Camila grumbled out.

Clearly they'd be helpful in helping Camila get out of this trippy dream-state. Maybe she'd give the Garcia girl some answers and explanations. But one thing was for sure; going towards her was sure as Hell going to be better than staying where she was now. So Camila del Rosario Garcia ran towards the mysterious girl.

Russia was.....cold, in October. Not that that was really a surprise to anyone who actually lived there, much less Katerina. But she was used to the cold, and she liked to think that she had a bit of a thick skin to deal with that sort of thing. Yet that didn't stop her from wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt, and a jacket on top of that. Just because she could deal with cold didn't mean that she was going to pointlessly suffer more than necessary.

"Come on Natasha," she called, looking back over her shoulder at her distracted sister. They were walking to the store right now to go get groceries, and she didn't see a point in wasting much time in doing that. Sure, her sister wasn't doing anything wrong, but the sooner they got there the better.

"Sorry sis," Natasha replied happily, running to catch up and reaching her sisters side quite rapidly. "Did you see the stuffed animal? It was so cute!"

Katerina nodded, moving along the sidewalk as she braced against the cold wind. "I did." She didn't quite have the same attachment as her sister to this sort of thing, but she wasn't going to try and dampen her enthusiasm. That would be cruel of her, and she had no desire to crush her happiness.

"I hope hey have everything we need at the store, it's cold out." Natasha huffed, pulling her jacket closer as she frowned, stepping a bit faster. She didn't want to spend longer out here than she needed to, and neither did Katerina.

Katerina smiled a bit, even as Natasha began to hurry ahead. I'm sure they will," she replied,even as her sister rounded a corner. She did the same, yet did not expect what happened. For as she rounded the corner her eyes widened in surprise, caught off guard by a strange sight that seemed like nothing that she knew.

"Natasha? Natasha!" Panic began to set in as she frantically looked around, taking in the shadows, the twisted mockery that the world had become, and the lack of her sister. Where...where was this? What was going on? Where was she and where was her sister? It all began to add up, tugging on her mind as she found it harder to breath, as she automatically assume the worst. Without Natasha, what could she even do? What would she tell her parents? There was no hope.

Her knees buckling, she was dimly aware of the presence of other people now, of girls like her. They weren't her sister, so what did they matter? It was only when she saw the girl with the spear that she was driven into action, if only because of how absurd it was. What was going on?

Rising up to her feet, she ran forward towards the girl, heeding her requests. She would find her sister, but for now she needed to figure out what was going on. And this seemed the easiest way to do that. Hopefully she would get some answers.

Weekly netball, though very rewarding for both fitness and amusement, was insanely tiring. Totally worth every tiring second and sore muscle though. Winnie contemplated this as she walked to the tram stop, fingers absentmindedly tapping to the upbeat song playing in her earphones. The streets were different at night. Wait, was it technically night yet? The sun was on the cusp of disappearing, streaking the sky a lovely shade of pink, so it was almost night then? Winnie leaned further back to admire the view. She craned her neck high, feet carrying her around the corner…

Before they strode into a texture much more rugged than the neat concrete in her neighbourhood. It wasn’t concrete anymore, it was dirt the colour of spoiled plums. The air grew chilly, much more than it usually did during an Australian Spring. The sky was no longer a rosy pink. It was completely bloodstained. Shadows emerged from the foreboding darkness, obviously dangerous and sinister.

Those shadows, they reminded her of that game her sister liked to play, that one with the main character with porcupine-like hair and an outfit with wayyy too many zippers. Unfortunately, Winnie did not currently possess any oversized household items to thwack them with. So there was only one option.

“Oh hell nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope!” she exclaimed as she sprinted, hoping to get far, far away from them. Man, good thing she had her running shoes on from sport. Her schoolbag clunked rhythmically against her back as she ran. She spied other girls running from the same threats. Winnie briefly contemplated doing a serpentine run to try and shake off the shadows.

"You girls! Over here, quickly!"

A girl in some sort of cosplay outfit called out. A hero to save us? Probably. And if not, Winnie and all the other older girls could try to commandeer that nice looking spear and fend off the enemies. Winnie headed towards the sparkly looking girl.

Shakti adjourned the after-school meeting of the student council and prepared her belongings as the other council members slowly made their way out of the meeting room. As the last to leave, she made sure everything was locked. While her family had considerable wealth, it wasn't anywhere near the point where she had a chauffer or security guards, so she merely walked home for the day as she did everyday. She walked from the area around her school, which was much more ordered and clean since it was a place that had significant British influence, to the surrounding areas that were much more disorganized and showed a juxtaposition of the rural and the urban, where technology and tradition mingled as cultures, old and new, rested, staring each other down in an uneasy alliance. She wandered past marketplaces where a vendor could be seen selling cellphone accessories right next to one who sold fruit. People looked at her and could see her prestige based on her uniform and the way she carried herself. She was educated, she was wealthy, she was destined for greatness, and she was destined to leave this backwards morass behind.

Turning a corner, she found herself surrounded by smoke and dark colors. Believing she had wandered into a hookah bar or opium den on accident, she wandered backwards looking for the exit, seeking the waning afternoon sunlight of the market place. But when the smoke cleared she found herself in a shadowed devestation; no place in India looked like this. Was she hallucinating from second-hand opioid inhalation? Out of the corners of her eyes, shadows stalked her, giving her no clear look at them. She picked up her pace, rubbing her arms furiously to abate the itch of anxiety, as the stench and cold got under her skin, figuratively. As she ran she seemed to converge on the path of other girls like her, but not like her; they looked like foreigners. A voice called out and Shakti turned to see another girl wearing something ridiculous and holding a weapon. Yet the armed girl seemed to be keeping the shadows at bay.

"Wh-what's going on here?" Shakti asked in English with barely an accent; most foreigners knew English. She tried to hide her fear, to show strength and dependability and, if the girl with the spear proved to be unreliable, to take command as necessary.

As the girls rushed towards her, the azure one frowned. There were too many today. Far too many. It wasn't unheard of, but it was unusual. The last time something like this had happened was a hundred years ago, when that incident occurred. Preparing her spear, she settled into a low crouch, eyes flickering, and chose a target. Kagami was the closest, so she would have to deal with her first.

Propelling herself forwards, she was lost to the others in a sudden burst of movement, going at a speeds untraceable by the normal eye. The only indication of where she had gone was the trail of dust that had followed in her wake. The next time she appeared, it was behind Kagami and above the shadows that hunted her. She spun in the air and her spear-arm made a grand sweep sidewards, the 2 meter-long weapon cleaving through the shadows with ease. The shades fell to the ground, their mist-like bodies liquefying into a dark, black substance. Landing on the ground, she turned to her next targets: the shadows after Camila.

As she was about to charge, she noticed the group of shadows around the Winnie were in line with those of Camila's. Quickly seizing the moment, she switched her hold on the spear, its head facing downwards, and pulled it far back. Without so much as a cry of effort, she launched the weapon forwards. The power that came from the throw was unnatural; the crack in the air that followed its wake was the echo of the sound barrier breaking. It tore through both groups of shadows in a second and landed behind the Sasha.

She had planned to move towards her spear and tear through the last group, when a tingle ran down her spine. Instincts blaring, her eyes widened as she saw a shadow roll forward, just behind of Shakti. This shadow was a titan compared to the rest, as large as elephant, and as tall as a giraffe, with an unmistakably malevolent air. Rather than a mist-like entity, however, this one more closely resembled a torrent of water, its mouth arms and mouth shifting chaotically. It's movements were erratic, yet rapid, and it quickly closed in on Shakti.

The girl grit her teeth, and muttered a silent apology. She knew that she wouldn't reach her in time, but she would damn well try.

Once again disappearing, she pushed her legs as fast as they could take her. The large shadow loomed over Shakti, and its smaller counterparts hung back, either afraid or unwilling to get in its way. It bent down, opened its large, hollow mouth and bit into her . . .

Or, at least, it would have, had the girl not pushed her out of the way. Still, though a death had narrowly been avoided, she did not come away unscathed: the entirety of her right side was gashed and scarred were the things non-existent teeth ripped through. Despite these wounds, the girl had to toss Shakti a short distance away, staring warily at the great shadow before her.

"You girls! Take her and run! Keep moving west until you find another group of girls dressed like me, and don't stop moving!" she bellowed. Sweat trickled down her forehead. Fighting like this was going to be difficult with them around; she wasn't able to grab her weapon in the time she took to save her, and the monster she was facing was not an easy one, not like the smaller ones she tore through with ease. If the girls were still around, she couldn't fight and protect them at the same time. They had to leave -- it was risky, but it was better than being here. "What are you doing!? get out of here!"

I couldn't that shadows were real and that dangerous, the fear I had, that had kept me running. I had never run this hard before, and the girl in the ballgown started to charge me. I tripped and grazed both knees and elbows, I nearly lost my bag, until I managed to get to feet and staggered on. I gripped my bag, noticed a single figurine had come lose and fallen out, but left it where it had fallen. the girl was superb, she tore through the shadows chasing me and moved onwards to next.

I just stopped and stared at the carnage she left behind, my mouth was hanging open at the live anime unfolding before my eyes. then it became real as the titan rose above the indian girl and still Miss ballgown saved her as well and weaponless.

"You girls! Take her and run! Keep moving west until you find another group of girls dressed like me, and don't stop moving!"

Anime and school had given me a better understanding of English than most fourteen year olds, but the only thing I couldn't figure out was which way was west. I looked to the other girls and gripped my bag harder, ready to follow whoever moved.

"What are you doing!? Get out of here!"

I spoke up to the girls around me, "Which way is west?"

So the situation seemed to be something akin to a 'No Disqualifications, Pins Fall Anywhere' type of match. The contestants were the technico mask less luchadora versus the stable of shadowy rudos who were probably something akin to security level threats for the real villainous fighter.

Camilla del Rosario Garcia's eyes flickered with delight as she wondered how this dreamscape match would go down. Well that was until she noticed the foreign object taking out shadow security near her and the Winnie girl.

"EEEEEAAP!" Garcia hollered out in that mixture of fear and excitement inspired by events of telenovela storylines. She jumped back and shook a bit. It was at this point that the thought occurred to her that she was still in this and not awake.

Shaking her head vigorously she heard the ballgown girl cry out to fetch another girl. And so Camila did what any good-aligned hero would do if another was out. Camila ran over to Shatki to help her up and prepare to head out.

And that's when the other girl cried out about what direction West was at. Camila cocked her heads towards her and shouted, "That way!" And to compliment this uncertain knowledge she bobbed her head in the way Shatki was tossed. Surely the girl would've tossed her Westward to get her towards the destination and further from the villains.

Moving forward, Katerina could only watch with wide eyes as the girl before them swept into motion, gone in the blink of an eye to defend one of the girls who seemed like she had been in trouble. It took the Russian off guard, both the sudden motion and the crack that accompanied it, the sound of just how fast she was moving in the first place. Just what was going on here right now?

It was obvious that she was not in Russia, and she did her best to grab back on to her wits before anything happened. At the moment it seemed she wasn't being pursued by these....things, these phantoms, so she had more breathing room than the others to work with overall. Not that it made a difference in this situation, since what were her options?

"Understood," she relied in Russian, nodding at the oddly dressed girl as instructions were given out for them to flee. She would not hesitate to do so, only making sure that the girl who had been attacked was taken care of first. That she was, and now it was time for them to leave, as rapidly as possible.

So she ran, ran so that she could see her sister again, headed in the same direction as everyone else. She wasn't sure what would come next, but for now she went along with it. Fear met determination to spur her along, and she did not resist.

Cosplay girl engaged in the battle of her life, battling on even with that gruesome wound marring her side. Seeya, Cinderella. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. So here they were, running for their lives as a spear-wielding girl in a ballgown bravely faced a shadowy abomination the size of a large truck. Winnie sprinted along with the other girls.
Was she scared? Kinda. Probably? Winnie preferred not to have what-ifs cloud her thoughts. Actions spoke louder than words, and it certainly wasn’t going to be words that got her ass and several others’ asses to safety. Under simpler circumstances, she wouldn’t have left cosplay girl behind. The guilt would have nagged her for long after. But this was life and death. She wanted to get home. She wanted to watch the new Steven Universe episode that was airing tomorrow. She wanted to make sure that her sister would get through her final year of school without completely breaking down. So she ran.
The other girls seemed just as frantic as Winnie, if not more. One girl dropped a figurine in her hurry. Winnie picked it up, hoping she would live long enough to return it to her. The loud Hispanic looking one helped the Indian girl to her feet and ran with her. Winnie decided to help.

“Hee-yup!” she grunted with effort, taking up the other side of the girl.

“Westwards we go then! By the way, my name’s Winnie. Hopefully we’ll live long enough to hang out sometime!”

One arm holding a figurine, the other one holding a girl, and her back still bearing the burden of her schoolbag, Winnie ran with the others.

(Sorry, double posted because of the server problems)

Shakti was stunned by the costumed girl's attack on the large shadow creature behind her. Before she realized it, Shakti was on the floor too terrified and out of her element to know what to do. The group was commanded to go west, when the South American-looking girl picked Shakti up and started to run. Then the East-Asian-looking girl came to help carry her and introduced herself. Overcoming the shock, Shakti felt first resentment towards Camilla for usurping what Shakti saw as leadership of the group and for supporting her, making Shakti's momentary weakness visible to all. Shakti quickly swatted these thoughts out of her head, survival was more important right now.

"Shakti," she said to Winnie, recovering her composure. Without being rude, Shakti started running as well and pulled herself from the two who supported her since it would be easier and faster if they ran separately. It also made it clear that she could carry her own weight. "What do you think is going on?"

“What do you think is going on?”

To be perfectly honest, Winnie didn’t think that understanding the situation would make it any better. There were shadow monsters and they needed to run, nothing else to it. But she didn’t want to be rude to this girl she just met. If they were going to get eaten or die or whatever, she didn’t want it to be with a girl who had a negative opinion of her. So she kept those thoughts to herself.

“Shakti, huh? Pretty name! As for what’s going on…we’re in some sorta messed up alternate reality, with messed up monsters chasing after us. This is just my two cents, but I feel like that girl, the one who’s fighting for us… I feel like she was expecting us. The way she called out, and the fact that we all arrived at the same time, we were meant to come here. There’s a reason for all this.”

Winnie spilled a lot more than she thought she would. She hoped that Shakti would be satisfied with her answer.

(These server problems are going to be the end of me, I swear.)

And so the burden of shouldering Shakti singlehandedly was partially lifted due to the newfound assistance from Winnie. The Garcia girl sighed with a touch of relief that she wouldn't be assisting Shakti alone. But it appeared that to be a matter which Camila would not have to deal with for much longer. This would be due to the fact that Shakti managed to have stamina about her.

Seeing the girl in an unharmed and unhindered state warmed Camila del Rosario's heart for a variety of reasons. And so Camila smiled, before returning her primary focus in heading to that site the girl in blue wanted them to get to.

Camila glanced between Shakti and Winnie as they had a spot of conversation. This reminded her of something she needed to do; and so Camila looked towards Winnie. "Camila by the by. Thanks for helping! Oh while I'm on thanking..." With that said, Garcia focused on Shakti. "Hey don't forget to thank us when we get there would ya?"

I nodded thanks to the girl that offered me directions, she then went and helped another with some other girl. I didn't reckonise any them and each looked so different from next, it didn't make sense to me. for a moment I thought we were all inside some crazy anime show, but everything seemed so real, even the bruises I got from my fall eariler.

I looked quickly to see the three girls helping each other, and decided not to hinder them by joining. The only thing left was to grip my bag more tightly and follow the last girl. She didn't seem to speak english, but followed the instructions from the ballgown wearing fighter. I gave up trying to catch her and just followed as best I could.

I thought about how the fighter moved so quickly and her combat so deadly to the shadows. If she hadn't been there, I couldn't bring myself to think what would have happened. It seemed prudent, it was karma, I promised myself that if I made it out alive that I would somehow owe her for her aid in saving me. If i made it. I ran on, hoping it wasn't too far.

The girl in azure sighed. That was one problem out of the way. Now time to deal with this one. She bent her knees and her hands touched the ground, ready to fight for her life. She only hoped that those girls got away safely. With a fierce yell, she charged towards the shadow in front of her.

In the distance, the sounds of her fight echoed tremendously. A suddenly flash of blue light caused a massive explosion that rocked the ground even from afar.

---

The girls had been moving for a few minutes, and so far, nothing had happened. It was as if all the excitement and terror earlier had been nothing but a very blur, a false memory created from nothing. Yet the twisted background remained as testament that you were not imagining things. This experience was very, very real. Worse still, the blood from Shakti's wound did not ease up, and was steadily trickling down her sides. Already, her skin had become paler as she lost more and more blood, and it would soon reach the point where it would be difficult for her to retain full consciousness.

More time passed still, and so far, there were no other persons in sight. All that surrounded them were decaying brown hills and more of the black, twisted trees. Just when the silence had stretched into a quarter hour a chorus of moans echoed through the air. From behind the hills sailed a group of five shadows, much like the ones before. Only there was a kind of frenzy in their wails that was not present in the voices of those that came earlier; these shades sounded so much more desperate, starving even. And the they came after the one that came into their sights first: Winnie

The ambush came swiftly, as they dove straight towards Winnie, scrambling over each other to reach her first. So quick was their strike that there was scarce any time to react to it, and as a result, one of the shades tore off a large chunk of her torso; a fatal wound that promised a quick and painful death. The shades flew over her, fighting and tearing each other to pieces over Winnie's ruptured flesh, and as the argument grew heated, the body of one of the shades fell down in front of her, landing on the ground with a wet squelch.

Suddenly, a panicked and distressed voice rang out in the minds of all the girls gathered: "If you want to live eat the remains of the shade in front of you! HURRY!"

The shades arguing over Winnie's meat had quickly divided it among them and devoured it, and now, with no meal at hand, they turned to the nearest source where they could get it. Their dark, faceless heads twisted unnaturally, facing her and the rest of the girls of the group.

Running, running, that was what life was like now, with shadows everywhere and terror around every corner. At the very least they were no longer in imminent danger, but that did not make Katerina feel any better about their situation. Indeed, she might even have been able to pretend that it was a dream, were it not for the twisted shadows, and the bloody wound on the one girl who had been struck before that did not seem like it would let up any time soon.

It was impossible to know how much time had passed, not in this strange reality where light hung in the sky and everything remained in motionless silence. Running along, Katerina found herself not just focusing on the situation at hand, but also worrying. Was her sister in this place? Had she come with? And if not, did she even know if she was gone? Was she lost somewhere in Nizhny? The thought was terrifying, and it kept her from wondering about the other girls that were here.

Then the shadows were back, Katerina's eyes widening as the vicious attack landed, striking down one of the other girls at the same time. Bile rose in her throat at the sight as red rose to the surface, the sight of the lethal wound. Holy shit," she swore, more to herself than anything as the severity of this situation slapped home once again. There had been salvation once, but it was too good to be true. They were going to die here, she would be lost forever, and her sister would be left alone. How could she live with that?

The only surprise was that the....things, seemed to start attacking each other, one of them even killed in the process. Who could have seen that coming? She certainly didn't, yet it didn't come as a relief that they seemed to be arguing over who would get to kill the meals here first.

The only thing more surprising than that was the voice that rang out, urging them to eat the thing that had dropped down dead in front of them. "You have got to be kidding," Katerina muttered in turn. Who knew where that thing had been? And not even that, how did they know that this thing wasn't poisonous? It was as likely to kill her as these things were, and she was still very much a fan of living at the moment.

Yet the situation pushed her along as she noticed the things looking at them all once more, and that prompted her to move, closing in on the thing, wrinkling her nose and fighting past the smell and touch as she ripped off a bit and quickly ate t. If this was the way she would get back to her sister, then there was no other choice.

I ran, following the stranger in front of me as best as I was able. then the deafening roar of an explosion came from behind me, it spurned me onwards. I only hoped the girl that had saved us, in some small way, was at peace. I checked behind myself to see if the three others were keeping up and caught the rapidly fading glow of blue light where we had fled from. I noticed the blood running down one of the three, and then the shades were on one of the others in a sudden frenzy.

One shade had swiped and ripped a gaping wound in her torso, I screamed. The other shades ignored me in a frenzy to eat the dripping flesh. they tore into themselves to get to it and I screamed again at the violence. i fell to my knees and just looked on as the hoard slowly turned to face us.

Suddenly, a panicked and distressed voice rang out in the minds of all the girls gathered: "If you want to live eat the remains of the shade in front of you! HURRY!"

Of course I wanted to live, but at what cost?

I made my decision and hugged the last possessions I had tighly. I would not fall to to these creatures depths, I would not succumb to barbarism, I would remain civilised in this unnatural world whereever it was. "I will NOT."

I held my bag tightly and gritted my teeth for whatever was to come.