You try to save the girl

You decided to chance it, taking a breath and rushing forward. The flames, as if sensing your presence, jumped out to grasp and licked at you, making the hoodie you wore red hot and constricting. You ignored the pain, the scalding warmth at your side and the pounding in your head and went over to the lock. The girl was screaming and crying for help and that helped ground you a little. Two very hard blows of the wrench broke the latch and within seconds you had the girl in your arms, ushering her out and trying to navigate through the wall of fire and the ****, obscuring smoke.

There was a cacophony of shouts, screams, the cracking of splintering wood as the fire consumed more and more. The girl had her hand clasped tightly within your own as you rushed through the madness. You thought you might have heard your friends calling, but you really couldn’t be sure over all the chaos.

The girl screamed, and when you turned you saw a cloaked man with a baboon mask grabbing her. “Not so fast,” the man’s voice was muffled by his mask, but there was venom in every word, “The incubus must be fed, slut!”

You didn’t even think, just swung as hard as you could and cracked the guy over the head with your wrench. It made a sickening crunch as his mask caved in along with what must have been his nose, but it was enough to make the man release the girl and topple backwards into the flames. His screams were drowned out by the all the others.

“C‘Mon,” you said, ushering the girl towards the stairs, “this way!”

Marcus and Tina were waiting for you, weapons clenched tightly in their hands. Relief filled their eyes as you approached, but there was no time for words. The fire had spread, hell itself stretching out and devouring the flailing cultists. You all began to hurry up the stairs, your friends and the girl going ahead while you held down the rear.

A voice called out, inhuman and screeching, but with just enough coherence that you could recognise its words. “Miiiiichaaaael…”

You spun around, saw the mummified corpse emerge totally engulfed in flames. It reached out with a clawed hand, something shot through the air and you felt pain like no other grip your chest.

“Mike, let’s go,” Tina was at your side, grabbing you and dragging you up the steps. You were vaguely aware of things, of shuffling through the steel mill as smoke rose and blanketed the world, but the pain that bloomed in your chest banished all thought.

The cold air of outside kissed your face and suddenly you found yourself near a tree and several yards away from the now burning mill.

“That was fucking crazy,” Marcus said, struggling to catch his breath. “But we gotta keep moving, they’ll be hunting for anyone in the area.”

With a collective groan, your friends and the girl you had rescued pushed on, moving deeper into the nearby woods until you were confident that the cultists wouldn’t follow you. Tina fussed about your wounds, but you tried to downplay it, tried to ignore the pain across your chest and keep moving.

The girl you had saved came over, and looked at you carefully. Her eyes were haunted and exhausted, but she found it in her to gift you a small smile. “I don’t know who you are,” she said in a quiet voice, “but thank you for saving me. Those….those lunatics were going to kill me.”

You stared at her wearily, but nodded. “What’s your name?”

“Gabbie.”

You held out a hand, “Mike,” you gestured to your friends, “that’s Tina and Marcus.”

Marcus took a step closer. “I gotta ask, did they tell you anything? About what they were planning?”

“They mentioned…like, crazy shit. Magic, and monsters…” she hugged her arms, “It was like they were tweaking out or something.”

That almost made you laugh, but then pain shot through you and made you double over. Tina was at your side in an instant, and when she saw you clutching at your chest she pulled up your shirt to examine the wound. She gasped, as did Marcus and Gabbie. It was dark, but when you looked down you could see it plain as day. Three bone splinters were lodged in your chest, each of them glowing a horrible, luminescent green…