Page 70 of How Does It Feel?

A scream I had no business possessing tore from me as a drop of the acid fell into the flesh of my head, burrowing itself deep against my skull.

I faltered, plunging into a somersault and landing on my stomach. The pain was unyielding, sending sharp, blinding waves down the entire length of my spine.

No sooner had I hit the dirt than the large clouds covered me, dimming what little light I had. I glanced at the sky.

No!

It wasn’t clouds that chased me. Two enormous creatures hovered above the tree tops pelting more acid drops.

Each one of their projectiles embedded deeply into my back.

They thudded loudly against my skin. No, that was my heart that pounded in my head.

I could hear them snarling—wicked hissing snarls all directed at me.

I tried desperately to get up, but my arms refused. My elbows bowed with pain slamming my cheek against the dirt.

Something sharp grabbed my head.

My spine cracked at the pressure, and another scream tore through me when I saw the size of the creature that had grabbed my head.

It was easily the size of an elephant. Long bat-like wings pulsed against the air enough to keep its large black body just above the ground. The air flapped at the surrounding leaves like a helicopter about to land.

Along its stomach rested line upon line of acid spheres waiting to be dropped. Glowing red eyes looked to the sky, not at me. It was covered in black feathers from the tip of their giant talon-encrusted feet all the way to their thin arms.

Two curved horns sat atop each of their long feathered heads. One all black, while the other looked to have red tips.

They were giant. Their large wings easily commanded a twenty-foot span. Equally bulky as they were lithe and agile, as the one that held my head angled its long wings at just the right slant among the trees. Bits of skeleton inlaid the huge muscles and tendons that ridged its entire feathered body while sharp rows of teeth glistened inside its long skeletal mouth. They were horrifying.

I grabbed a hand full of rocks and threw them at it.

Fuck!

I hadn’t even come close to hitting it as the rocks fell to the other side. Not that they would have done anything anyway.

Both monsters snapped their heads toward the sound of the stray rocks hitting the ground but returned their hazy red eyes to the night sky as if listening.

By sheer luck, I rolled at the same time and managed to not only free myself from the monster’s grip but also catch the orb burrowed in my skull against the monster’s talon, freeing my skull from the searing hot pain.

I rolled into the underbrush, tearing the entire bottom off my silk gown. I flung off the glittering high heels and pressed against the tree in an attempt to hide from the abomination of wings and claws.

If I was anything, I wasn’t stupid. They were much stronger than me, and I didn’t know how to fight them. I was a scientist. I worked with animals, not enormous monsters that pelted you with acid marbles. My eyes tightened shut in frustration and panic. How would I ever survive this?

Immediately I felt their presence over top of me.

My only choice was to run.

I collected my breath as the dark forest seemed to still. It smelled like musty, rotten leaves and blind fear. The only sound I could hear past the blood that pounded loudly in my ears was the crunch of dry leaves and nearby clicks.

I could feel their shadows even in the dark woods. Even for their vast size, the darkness of night and the red tint of the horrible forest easily camouflaged them. The moon still shone a silver cast, but the vibrancy cast red against the mist, almost like a spooky haunted forest with red fog machines and lights.

I bolted, hoping to catch them off guard. One stayed toward the top of the tall trees as the other trailed me.

Fast clicks between them sounded as I abruptly turned and circled back the same way I had come. I tripped over a stray branch and fell to the dirt. Fuck!

A small arm had shot out from the ground, no larger than a small child’s, and grabbed ahold of my ankle, tripping me. Blood dripped down the pale gray arm and hand.

I shuffled back, only to be grabbed by more bloodied gray hands as they tried to hold me in place.