Run!

Penny

I woke up to Yas shaking me, a frantic expression on her face. In the distance I could hear the sounds of combat, explosions, screaming, and the elements themselves raging. Yas was saying something, but all I could make out was that her mouth was moving. All I could hear was a constant ringing, deafening me to everything else. The room we were in shook, dust floating down from the ceiling, and Yas looked up in fear. She shook me again, and slowly, I could make out other sounds, though they were muted and barely comprehensible.

"-You hear me?"

"YEAH!" I said calmly, and Yas flinched.

"Good, we made it out of the townhall, and Alice is holding them off. She's gonna lead them on a wild goose chase so we can escape. If we get separated, here are the directions to get out of the town. So-"

"CAN YOU SPEAK LOUDER? YOU DON'T NEED TO WHISPER!" I asked, wondering why she was whispering like that.

"I'm not- That doesn't matter, but here's how you get out. We're gonna go through the back alleys, and they're a maze. So, take a left at the first four-way, then take a right at the first crossroads. Go under the bridge, then climb up the stairs, and-" An explosion rattled the house, knocking over shelves, and making something crumble in another room. The house wasn't going to take much more of this. Yas pulled me up and started dragging me out and continued to explain.

"-Now go through the red door. That will lead you out of the town, near the West river. Then make your way from the riverbank to the main road, where Alice is gonna find you. Got it?" I nodded, and she nodded grimly. We snuck out of the house, and as I looked up at the turbulent sky, I saw it illuminated by all the colors of the rainbow. A maelstrom raged above, the wind gusting my hair and clothes crazily. Multicolored lightning crackled in the clouds, smashing down into houses so accurately it was almost like it was being aimed. It probably was, given that all the bad guys were mages. Hail bigger than my fist crashed into weakened roofs, crushing the old shingles like matchsticks. Fire swept through the sky, ranging from fireballs to firehoses of flames, scorching everything they touched. Luckily, most of the elemental ordinance was aimed at a different part of the town, leaving us to just watch in equal parts awe and horror.

How in the world is Alice even fighting this??

We ran to the back alley, and the narrow corridors made me claustrophobic. The two of us could barely fit in it abreast, and we were both thin! The stone walls were pitted and marked with countless faded graffiti, some of it artistic, most of it vulgar. I could see some paint advertising a whorehouse, with a women drawn on her knees jerking off two cocks. Names and tallies lined a section, marking how many dicks someone had taken in one night.

Congr-lations Jackie! You man- to fuck 62 people in one night! --- slut.

As we ran through the alley, we reached the first crossroads. The two of us turned left into a slightly wider pathway, and sprinted down it. The sounds of conflict were louder now, the storm almost directly overhead. Lightning crashed down into the building next to us, vaporizing the house and spraying us with splinters and bits of debris. We both slammed into the opposite wall from the explosion as rotting wood crashed down onto us. I groaned and sat up, feeling my body ache from the impact. My armor and clothes had protected me from being torn to shreds, but couldn't really do anything against blunt ****. I stood up, and helped Yas, who groaned her thanks and staggered to her feet. I held her up and we stumbled forward. Each step was agony, and my lungs burned from the exertion. I felt a sharp shooting pain in my chest, probably the result of some cracked ribs, and my legs felt like jelly. I could see the next crossroads, just a hundred meters away. We were almost there. So close to the next checkpoint. As long as nothing else happened, we would make it there safely, and be completely fine.

But of course, you had to taunt the gods, and now they have to punish you for daring to have hope.

Something slammed into the tall house to our left, causing it to collapse directly on top of us. Yas pushed me forward and kicked herself backwards, and then everything was dust, darkness, and pain.