I don’t know why I stared at them for as long as I did. More importantly, I’m not sure why they stared back at me either. Not until I got forcibly pulled by the fox-masked girl. Just before her hand closed around my right elbow as she dragged me away from the windowsill, the creatures began running towards my direction.

Well, I say running but it was more like sprinting.

I came crashing to the ground as she reached for my arm once more. She pulled me up and, sort of, dragged me out of the room in haste. I regained my footing and followed her. As the door closed behind me, I heard the sound of something pounding on the wall. I turned to glance back but the fox-mask pulled me tighter.

“Fucking move, mate,” she said through gritted teeth as she started running, letting go of my arm.

I stumbled to the floor, suddenly free of the extra weight I was leaning on. I watched as her sneakers, an odd blue and white mix, disappeared around a corner, leaving me alone in a long hallway.

For a moment, I froze, unsure of what to do. I mean, I was free from them, you know. I could run away and not look back and be free of the madness I had been dragged into. My breathing got faster as I contemplated my freedom. Then, the wall behind me exploded into dust and ash and my feet started moving.

I ran down the hallway behind the woman, taking the turning she took which opened to another long hallway. I paused for a brief moment until I heard something akin to a scream or shout. It’s hard to say, on account of adrenaline. But whatever it was made the hair on my skin rise.

Speeding up my pace, I made the length of the hallway before stopping unsure of whether or not I should go left or right. Footsteps alerted me to my back and I turned to see a man and woman standing at the end of where I had run from. They looked at me with blank stares even.

The first guy was dressed in some red and blue shirt, with black jeans. Black hair, hook-nosed and bushy brows. The woman had long blonde hair and she was wearing a black dress that had ripped from the side. My cheeks heated as her knickers came into view. I frowned when I noticed that she only had one of her heels on. The other foot was blackened.

“Is she okay? Were you caught in the blast?” I asked as I took a step towards them.

The lady shrieked and I watched in horror as her jaw unhinged itself, a loud pop echoing as bone came free. The man next to her shouted, the sound distorting as he did the same. In unison their elbows and knees wrenched out of place, kneecaps snapping loudly. Skin and sinew ripped as arms and feet grew longer. Spittle dripped from their mouths, splattering in blood specked pools in the ground.

I began running again then, taking the left turning. Behind me, heavy footsteps slammed the earth as the creatures began chasing after me. I glanced back once, seeing a long arm enter the new hallway, smashing into the wall. I yelped and stumbled as my legs caught each other.

Dread filled me as I tried to get to my feet. I could hear the steps coming behind me faster now. You know when you’re certain that no matter what you do, you were fucked. This was that moment for me. I was certain that by the time I got to my feet and resumed running, they would be behind me. And I would be dying shortly after.

Still, I pushed myself to my feet as tears leaked from the corners of my eyes. I took a step before glancing behind me again. True to my thoughts, the man-creature towered over me. My legs froze in fear as I looked up at him. Or it.

Yellow slits stared into me as I finally saw the rest of his face. The skin around his jaw had ripped, hanging limply as fleshy bits fell to the floor between us. The remaining skin around his head made squelching sounds as it moved, held from falling by the horn sticking through it.

Under the ripped flesh mask, I saw its pale skin, tinged by the blood dripping from it. Bright blue veins were visible and they seemed to pulse in a soft glow. The wider mouth held a row of sharpened teeth with two particularly longer than the rest. The jaw hung loose, swinging as he took a slow, cautious step towards me.

Hard steps squished loudly on discarded flesh as he drew closer to me. The yellow eyes burned with an intensity that kept me in place, though my eyes kept darting to parts of his body. I could see the elbow bone sticking out, the sight of dripping blood pulling my gaze to the pool of blood forming under the creature.

The man-creature… thing… shook its head and the loose skin came flying off, hitting me in the chest. Streaks of blood and gore stuck to my shirt as the flesh mask slid off me. Bile rose to my throat but I suppressed it. Nonetheless, as if freeing me from the gaze, I found myself taking a step back away from the creature.

The creature’s face shook violently like it was vibrating and it wheezed. Behind it, I could see the woman creature make its way towards us. Part of her hand left arm was missing and all I could see was a bloody stump that squirted out blood as she padded behind the male creature. Behind her, I could see the remains of the arm, sticking through the wall she had hit.

I swallowed, coming to the total realisation of my death when a hand grabbed me from the side, throwing me to the floor. Standing in front of me, with a flamethrower, was the Oni-masked guy… I mean, Mark.

He was wearing his mask again. I glanced to where he came from and inhaled sharply as I stared at the door to my right. It hadn’t been there before. I was sure about this.

“Move,” he said, his voice grave.

I scrambled on my back, tearing my gaze from the door and back to the creatures and Mark. I watched as he lifted the nozzle towards the creatures and flipping the knob. A stream of fire burst from the equipment and the creatures recoiled from it, screaming as they did so. The stream of fire engulfed one of the creatures, the male one and it pushed the female creature aside as it ran from Mark.

The female creature fell to the floor and Mark focused on her… or it. He covered her in flames as she waved her remaining arm as if to protest the attack but Mark didn’t relent. Instead, I watched as he continued to burn her until she stopped moving.

At the end of the hallway, I saw the male creature turn the corner as if escaping the way it came and I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I was close to dying a few seconds ago and the feeling was only just getting to me. I shook where I was, unable to cry, unable to think.

I felt a pain in my arm and looked up to see the fox-masked girl looking at me, through her mask.

“Get up. We have to go. Fire doesn’t kill them,” she said.

I looked at the burning, blackened, unmoving body of the female creature and then, back to the fox girl. She looked at me before sighing and then pointed to the creature’s body.

“Because of you, that one will now be immune to fire. It won’t even flinch. So, get to your feet or I will leave you here. With it,” she said in measured tones.

A knife appeared in her hand and I shot up to my feet. She nodded and turned. I fell in step behind her, giving the creature one last glance before following her through the door Mark had come through.