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Danny ran after his friends. He was panting even though he was pretty sure he didn’t need to breathe anymore. But old habits were hard to kill. At least they didn’t need to worry about tripping over anything, but that also meant that the monster wouldn’t trip over anything either. He risked a glance over his shoulder and gulped.
The beast was only a few yards behind them. They had already seen it tear a Spirit to shreds. Danny wouldn’t let that happen to his friends. He couldn’t.
He veered off in a different direction.
“Hey, lizard face! Over here!”
The beast snarled and started chasing Danny instead of his friends. Danny gritted his teeth, trying to quell his panic, and ran harder.
The creature was only about the size of a large dog, but that still meant that it came up to Danny’s chest. Not to mention, that it reminded Danny of the monsters from A Quiet Place but with a crocodile like head and two extra sets of limbs. It was more terrifying than any movie monster Danny had ever seen. But that might also be because it was chasing him.
Danny could hear his friends calling to him, but he ignored them. He sensed movement behind him, and he swerved to the side barely avoiding one of the creature’s clawed hands.
Danny could see more light up ahead. He was approaching the edge of the Forest. Soon he wouldn’t be able to run any farther.
He reached the edge of the trees and spun around, feeling the barrier at his back. He wished, how he wished, that he could run past the trees, but the barrier at the edge of the Forest kept them all in. It didn’t keep the creatures in though. Did the barrier keep them from coming back in? So far, none of the creatures who had left the Forest had come back.
The creature had stopped running, simply observing Danny and emitting a low growl.
“Come on!” Danny yelled. “Come at me!”
The monster snarled, standing up on its hind legs, and if Danny still had a heart it would have stopped in fright.
Then the creature leapt at him and Danny dove out of the way. One of its claws sliced through Danny’s arm and he cried out. Danny climbed to his feet quickly, clutching at his arm as it started to bleed green. He stared out at the creature who had paused. It scented the air. It glanced back at Danny, and he froze, getting ready to run again. But it scented the air again, turning its snout towards the direction of Amity. Then it settled down onto all its limbs and started running towards town.
Danny collapsed onto the ground. He closed his eyes. His arm hurt, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty. He had saved himself and his friends, but he had sent the creature towards town where it might hurt someone else.
But what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t fight back. He didn’t have any weapons. He didn’t have any way to fight back, to protect himself and his friends.
“Danny!” Sam and Tucker rushed to him.
“Why did you do that?” Sam said, barely holding herself back from punching his shoulder.
“I had to get it away.” Danny said.
“We could have gotten away together. Then you wouldn’t have gotten hurt!” Sam said, her voice verging on the point of yelling.
“Yeah, man. Don’t sacrifice yourself like that. We don’t want you to get hurt.” Tucker said.
Danny sighed. “Sorry.” he said, but he knew that he’d do it again. He’d do anything to protect his friends.