Chapter 23: The Monsters
Annalise felt cold shivers running down her spine as her eyes hurriedly searched her surroundings to find the source of the inhuman sound that she had just heard.
Her heart was racing as fear started taking control over her senses and her brain was sending her the signals of warning about the great danger lurking in the shadows. Though she couldn’t see it, she could feel the threat that was moving toward her.
She once again tried to move but the vines wrapped around her ankles once again stopped her from running away. Those vines were slowly making their way up her legs to grip her more tightly.
As panic took hold of her, she started struggling against the hold of the vines on her ankles in desperation. She even tried to pull away the vines with her hands but she was no match to those things. The more she struggled, the tighter their hold became on her. At a point, it became so tight that a painful cry escaped her lips.
Running across the orchard had already drained her of energy and her hands kept trembling as she struggled to get the vines off her legs.
The snapping sound of dead tree branches pulled her attention toward a huge tree that was standing a couple of meters in front of her while blocking her sight, making it hard for her to see what or who was hiding behind it.
But she didn’t have to wait too long before the beasts stepped out of the shadows and appeared in front of her. Around five feet tall, bulky in size, with red glowing eyes, sharp fangs hanging from their mouths, and long tails that were covered in sharp thorn-like elements, the beasts not only looked dangerous but also scary.
"N-no...!" Annalise stared wide-eyed at the monsters that had their eyes fixed on her as they kept stepping toward her, their dark intent clearly visible in their red glowing eyes. She had become their prey.
Her heart pounded in her chest as her eyes tried to hurriedly search for an escape route, however, there was no escaping for her, at least not until she was still in the death grip of the vines. But even if by some miracle she succeeded in getting rid of the vines, she would never be able to run away from those five deadly beasts standing in front of her.