Lena and Noah

The thing lunged.

  Too fast.

  Too close.

  Lena didn’t move.

  Her body locked.

  Her mind went blank.

  “I can’t—”

  A hand yanked her hard.

  “MOVE!” Noah’s voice cracked right beside her ear.

  Her body jerked sideways.

  The creature slammed into the ground where she had been standing a second ago.

  The impact shook the cracked surface violently.

  Dust rose.

  The ground trembled.

  Lena stumbled, falling hard to her knees.

  Her palms scraped against the rough surface.

  Sharp.

  Cold.

  Real.

  “Get up!” Noah grabbed her arm again, pulling her roughly. “Get up, Lena!”

  “I… I can’t breathe…” she choked, her chest tight, her lungs refusing to cooperate.

  “You don’t have time to breathe!”

  Another scream tore through the air behind them.

  Raw.

  Painful.

  Cut short too quickly.

  Not far.

  Too close.

  Lena flinched hard.

  Her heart slammed violently against her ribs.

  “I’m going to die…” she whispered, her voice barely holding together.

  Noah shook her.

  Hard.

  “Then don’t stand there and wait for it!”

  His voice was shaking.

  Unstable.

  But there was something else buried inside it.

  Desperation.

  Not just for himself.

  For her too.

  Lena looked at him.

  Really looked this time.

  His pale face.

  His trembling hands.

  His wide, terrified eyes that refused to look away.

  He wasn’t strong.

  He wasn’t fearless.

  He wasn’t ready.

  He was just… refusing to stop.

  “I don’t want to die again…” he said, quieter now, like the words were pulled out of him.

  That hit her.

  Deep.

  Sharp.

  Because she felt it too.

  That same fear crawling inside her chest.

  “I don’t want to disappear…” he added, his grip tightening around her wrist like she might slip away.

  Lena swallowed.

  Her throat dry.

  “…me neither,” she whispered.

  Another crack split the ground nearby.

  Loud.

  Violent.

  Both of them flinched.

  “Then move!” Noah said again.

  This time—

  She did.

  Lena forced her body up.

  Her legs shaky.

  Unsteady.

  Like they didn’t belong to her.

  But she pushed through it.

  “Okay… okay… we move…” she said, her voice uneven, almost breaking.

  “Good,” Noah nodded quickly. “We stay together. Don’t let go.”

  “I won’t…”

  She didn’t even realize she meant it.

  But she did.

  Because being alone right now—

  Felt worse than dying.

  They ran.

  Not fast.

  Not smooth.

  Just… desperate.

  The ground shifted constantly beneath their feet.

  Cracking.

  Breaking.

  Sliding in ways that didn’t make sense.

  “Watch your step!” Noah said quickly as Lena nearly slipped again.

  “I see it—I see it—” she breathed, though her vision blurred from panic.

  A body slammed into her shoulder.

  Hard.

  Lena staggered sideways.

  “Move!” someone shouted, shoving past her without looking back.

  She almost fell again.

  “Noah—!”

  “I’m here!” he grabbed her hand before she could lose him.

  His grip was tight.

  Too tight.

  Almost painful.

  But she didn’t pull away.

  Didn’t want to.

  Because every time their fingers slipped even a little—

  Her chest tightened.

  Like she was about to disappear.

  Like she would be left behind.

  “HELP ME—!”

  The scream ripped through the chaos.

  Lena turned instinctively.

  A girl.

  Tess.

  Curled on the ground.

  Scrambling backward.

  Her hands shaking uncontrollably.

  Her eyes wide… too wide… filled with pure, breaking panic.

  “No—no—please—!”

  The ground beneath her cracked open.

  Something moved under it.

  Fast.

  Wrong.

  Alive.

  “Noah…” Lena whispered.

  He saw it too.

  His face drained of color.

  “We can’t—” he started.

  But Lena was already moving.

  Her body reacted before her mind could stop it.

  “I can’t just leave her—”

  “Lena!” Noah grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “If you go there—you die!”

  “I know!”

  “Then why are you moving toward it?!”

  Because she couldn’t stand it.

  Because she had been there before.

  Frozen.

  Helpless.

  Waiting for someone to help her.

  And no one came.

  “I just—” her voice cracked, breaking open, “I can’t watch her die!”

  Noah hesitated.

  Just for a second.

  His grip tightened.

  Then loosened.

  “…five seconds,” he said quickly.

  “What?”

  “We help her for five seconds. If anything goes wrong—we run. No thinking.”

  Lena nodded instantly.

  “Okay… okay!”

  “Five seconds,” he repeated.

  “Five.”

  They ran toward Tess.

  “Grab my hand!” Lena shouted.

  Tess looked up.

  Her face wet with tears.

  “Please—please—!”

  The ground cracked again.

  Right under her.

  Something pushed upward.

  Fast.

  Violent.

  “No!” Tess screamed.

  Lena dropped to her knees, reaching forward.

  “Take my hand!”

  Tess grabbed her instantly.

  Too tight.

  Desperate.

  “Pull!” Noah said.

  Lena pulled.

  Hard.

  Her arms shook.

  Her muscles burned.

  Tess slipped—

  Then caught again.

  “Again—!” Noah shouted.

  They pulled together.

  Straining.

  Forcing.

  Tess’s body dragged across the ground.

  Just as—

  Something burst out from where she had been.

  A twisted shape.

  Dark.

  Reaching.

  Too late.

  They had already pulled her away.

  Tess collapsed against Lena, sobbing uncontrollably.

  “Thank you… thank you… thank you…”

  “No time,” Noah said quickly. “We move now!”

  Lena nodded, grabbing Tess’s hand.

  “Can you run?”

  Tess shook her head weakly.

  “I… I’ll try…”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Lena said, more firmly than she expected.

  Tess looked at her.

  Something shifted in her expression.

  Fear…

  but also—

  a tiny piece of trust.

  “O-okay…”

  They moved again.

  Slower now.

  Because Tess kept stumbling.

  “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” she whispered over and over.

  “Stop saying sorry,” Noah snapped, his voice sharp.

  “You’re alive. That’s enough.”

  Lena glanced at him.

  His voice still trembled.

  But there was strength in it now.

  Something steady.

  “You’re doing good,” Lena added softly.

  Tess nodded weakly.

  “I don’t want to die again…”

  “I know,” Lena whispered.

  “I know…”

  A loud impact echoed nearby.

  They turned.

  Jax Hollow.

  Standing firm.

  Unshaken.

  A creature lunged at him—

  He didn’t step back.

  Didn’t hesitate.

  He stepped forward.

  And crushed it.

  Just like that.

  No fear.

  No pause.

  The thing vanished instantly.

  Gone.

  Lena’s breath caught.

  “…how did he do that…” she whispered.

  Noah stared.

  “I don’t… know…”

  Jax looked at them briefly.

  Cold.

  Uninterested.

  “Standing still gets you killed,” he said flatly.

  Then he walked away.

  Like none of this mattered.

  Like people weren’t screaming around him.

  Lena felt something twist inside her.

  Fear.

  But also—

  something dangerous.

  Because for a second—

  she wanted to be like that.

  Untouchable.

  Unbreakable.

  “Lena…”

  Noah’s voice pulled her back.

  “We need to move.”

  The ground trembled again.

  Harder.

  Faster.

  Cracks spreading toward them.

  “Yeah… okay…”

  She tightened her grip on both of them.

  “Stay close,” she said.

  “I’m not letting go.”

  “Good,” Noah said.

  Tess squeezed her hand tightly.

  “Please don’t leave me…”

  “I won’t,” Lena said.

  Even though—

  deep down she knew this place didn’t care about promises.

  They ran again.

  The noise never stopped.

  Screams.

  Cracks.

  That horrible sound beneath the ground.

  Moving.

  Hunting.

  Lena’s breathing grew heavier.

  Her legs burned.

  “I can’t keep this up…” she whispered.

  “You have to,” Noah said.

  “I know… I know…”

  Her steps slowed.

  Just a little.

  Just for a second—

  And that was enough.

  The ground beneath her foot gave way.

  “Lena—!”

  She slipped.

  Falling forward.

  Her hand tore free from Noah’s grip.

  “No—!”

  She hit the ground hard.

  Pain flashed—

  Then vanished.

  Too fast.

  “Lena!” Noah dropped beside her instantly.

  “I’m okay—” she tried to say.

  But her voice came out weak.

  Her body didn’t respond right.

  Something felt off.

  Disconnected.

  “Get up!” Noah said urgently.

  “I’m trying—”

  Her arms shook as she pushed up.

  Too slow.

  Everything felt too slow.

  “No…” she whispered.

  “I can’t…”

  The ground beneath her cracked again.

  Right under her.

  Noah froze.

  “Lena…”

  She looked down.

  The cracks were spreading.

  Reaching toward her.

  Like something beneath had found her.

  Chosen her.

  “Get up!” he shouted.

  “I can’t!”

  “Yes, you can!”

  “I can’t move—!”

  Her body locked.

  Again.

  Frozen.

  Useless.

  The ground split open.

  Right beneath her.

  Something moved.

  Closer than ever.

  She could feel it now.

  That presence.

  Cold.

  Hungry.

  Watching.

  Waiting.

  Noah grabbed her arm, pulling hard.

  “Move!”

  “I—!”

  Her breath hitched.

  Her chest tightened painfully.

  “I can’t—”

  The thing burst out.

  Right in front of her.

  Too close.

  Its shape twisted.

  Wrong.

  Unnatural.

  Reaching—

  Her vision blurred.

  Her thoughts scattered.

  This is it…

  “I can’t…”

  Her voice broke.

  Soft.

  Empty.

  Noah’s grip tightened painfully.

  “Lena, look at me!”

  She didn’t.

  She couldn’t.

  The thing lunged.

  Closer—

  Closer—

  Time slowed.

  Everything stretched.

  And in that second—

  Lena heard it.

  A voice.

  Low.

  Cold.

  Right behind her.

  “…pathetic.”

  Her breath caught.

  Her heart stopped.

  That voice—

  It wasn’t Noah.

  It wasn’t anyone near her.

  It was close.

  Too close.

  Right at her back.

  A presence.

  Stronger.

  Darker.

  Watching her break.

  Watching her fail.

  And just as the creature’s claws were about to reach her—

  A shadow moved.

  Fast.

  Silent.

  Deadly.

  Something intercepted it.

  A sharp sound—

  A violent force—

  The creature disappeared instantly.

  Erased.

  Just like that.

  Lena’s eyes widened.

  Her body still frozen.

  Her breath stuck in her throat.

  Slowly..

  very slowly...she turned her head.

  And what she saw made her heart stop completely.

  Because standing there......right behind her… was him.

  And for the first time Lena realized.....maybe dying wasn’t the scariest thing in this game anymore.