The Fallen - Ch. 7

The Children

Each of their hearts dropped in rapid succession, no longer fearing if they would make it out- but if these children would. It was in that moment that they felt they came down there for a reason. To save them. They must have been lost, they must have parents worried sick, they must have been more scared than themselves had been. The group were nearly adults and knew what they were getting themselves into...but the children? Lord knows they couldn’t have been responsible for what had happened; they couldn’t have been more than six or seven. The group looked at each other and had a single thought among them; we have to help them.

Lowering her light Prudence stepped forward slowly, “Heeey there.” The boy jumped nervously and moved behind the girl. “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you.” They must be siblings she thought as she neared them, lowering herself to a kneeling position in front of the little girl. “Are you lost sweetie?” The girl said nothing, just kept her large brown eyes locked on her. “Do your parents know you’re down here?” The little girl shook her head slowly from side to side. Her face was covered in dirt and it was breaking the group’s collective heart. They each moved a little closer but when her eyes shot wider at them in a nervous glance they stopped; Prudence seemed to be the only one to reach them.

She licked her thumb and cleaned some of the grime off her face, the little girl just stared into her eyes as it happened. For the first time in hours Prudence let a smile out. “Is this your brother?” The little boy scooted further behind as the girl nodded her head. Prudence’s voice was nothing but sweet kindness, “I’m sure you’re probably scared, huh?” The little girl shook her head no, Prudence smiled. “No, of course not...You’re a brave girl.” She nodded again. Still no smile from either of them but none in the group could blame them. “Protecting your little brother like a good big sister.” The girl nodded, slower this time. “How long have you been down here?” The girl shrugged. “Do you know the way out?” She shook her head, again quite slowly. “Are you hungry?” The girl nodded again. Prudence turned back to the group. “Hey Rosie, do you still have any more of those granola bars?”

Rosie was about to step forward to give one to her but stopped in her tracks. The whole group suddenly was a wash with a strange emotion that Prudence couldn’t read. They were seeing what she couldn’t. “What?”

The child had finally smiled, though there was something incredibly wrong about it. Where there should have been little stubby teeth trying to make their way into adulthood; were fangs. Each tooth was sharpened into a point making her grin look more like a bear trap than a mouth. Her eyes conveyed something dark and the group was powerless to stop it. Prudence looked back at the girl and tried to make sense of what she was seeing, suddenly filled with the same horror as the rest of them; but it was too late. The girl lunged forward and sank those daggers into Prudence’s neck causing her to scream with white-hot pain.

No longer the caring matriarch, she brutally shoved the girl off of her; little bits of skin went with her. Prudence lunged backwards onto her butt scooting away with one hand as the other went to stop the blood flow. It was mostly useless, the kid had gotten the jugular. The rest of the group was frozen in place, stunned at what just happened and how quickly it did. Jack managed to pull her to her feet as the little girl got to hers. She still smiled that malicious grin with bloody lips and teeth, soon her brother joined in, showing the same set of chompers.

They slowly started to walk backwards, never taking their eyes of the two. Prudence was howling in pain as she tried desperately to quell the bleeding. Her other hand fumbled around until it could find Jack’s and hold it tight. The children weren’t moving, they weren’t following, they were just staring, grinning those pearly daggers at them.

“SHIT!” Ben yelped as he leapt upwards. The group turned to him quickly to see what was up, not wanting to take their eyes of the kids but realizing it didn’t matter anymore. Ben had backed into another small boy. He gazed up into Ben’s eyes and then slowly cracked a smile, bareing his fangs. The boy took several chomps at his arm but missed as he did his best to dodge the attacks. Jack quickly glanced back at the siblings and felt his heart pounding in his throat, all he could hear was Prudence’s wails of pain; all he could see was a small gathering of children coming forth from behind the first two. All of them with their bear traps bared.

“Guys. We need to run.”

The group didn’t have to be told twice. Ben used his adult size to shove the kid to the ground, no longer feeling sorry for any of them and he lead them as they bolted down the hallway. “Come on baby we gotta go!” Jack held Prudence’s free hand tightly and pulled her along, bringing up the rear. She looked back in time to see the lot of them with their evil grins, start running towards them; giggling and squealing with joy.

They torn down the hall, flashlights in hand creating a strobe effect as they ran. The sounds of their footsteps weren’t enough to drown out the laughter chasing them. They quickly reached the set of stairs they had come up. Jack spotted them in the beam of light and shouted, “The slope! Slide down the slope!” Ben and Rosie looked back at him in disbelief. “There’s no hole! There’s no time! Do it!” With a sharp breath they both leapt hand in hand and slid down. Lee didn’t hear it, or maybe through the panic it didn’t register; either way he ran as quickly as he could down the stairs- two at a time.

Prudence and Jack both leapt. “Damnit Lee!”

“I’m sorry! I freaked-” He suddenly lost his footing and tumbled. Crying in pain as each of the concrete steps dug into him. They had already reached the bottom and saw him rolling down.

“LEE!”

He flopped at their feet, his entire body aching.

“Come on!”

“My glasses!” Lee cried. He had lost them in the tumble and could barely find them in broad daylight, much less in the depths.

“Leave em!” Jack shouted.

“I can’t see!”

“Just run!”

A few of the children took the same slide as they did, the rest came flooding down the steps. There had to be more than a dozen of them, little bare feet pattering, dirty clothes flowing, sharp teeth chattering in anticipation. Prudence tried to grab Lee’s hand but hers was bloodied, no grip to be had; regardless she had to quickly replace it to her neck to keep herself from bleeding out. Lee was up and bounding after them towards the hole.

Ben and Rosie had already cleared the gap, no more hesitation. Jack was ready but didn’t want to jump with Prudence in hand. He let her go and sprinted for it. Once on the other side he spun around and put out his arms. She swiftly leapt, though her footing slipped causing her to slide backwards. “JAACK!” He reacted quickly and caught her before she went tumbling in.  He looked in anticipation as Lee fumbled his way through and stumbled towards the gap.

“LEE LOOK OUT!” Prudence yelled.

“JUMP LEE JUMP!” Jack screamed.

It was too late, he had missed the last chance to leap and slid into the hole. Disappearing into the void.

“LEEEEE!!”

“Come on baby we have to go!” Prudence tugged at him, he was stuck staring at the darkness where his best friend had fallen. He backed up slightly, not yet ready to accept his friend’s inevitable death. “Surely they can’t make it, right?”

The children poured through the hole like a liquid, two at a time and never slowing. Jack stared as they bolted towards the gap and when the first one gracefully cleared it, he just spun and ran.

The pit that Lee fell into wasn’t bottomless, it was fairly quick into his fall did he hit a slope. As predicted, both legs shattered and he slid down head first. The shock of it was enough to stifle the scream in his throat until he choked on it. He went deeper and deeper, blinded without his glasses and blinded by the darkness. His flashlight came sliding down after him but did nothing to show him where he was going. It wasn’t until the chute dumped out onto solid concrete did it work, illuminating a small portion of the room. He busted his arm when he landed on the broken lantern, his bone shot through the skin. There was so much adrenaline running through him he still couldn’t even make a peep. He did cry though.

He looked around, hazy vision offering him little to go by but small things here and there caught his eye. There were more of those grubby toys around him. His flashlight rolled as it came to a stop and he followed the light as best he could. “Oh damnit.” Were the first words he could think of when he saw three little girls illuminated by the beam. Though he couldn’t see it, they each had their teeth bared, excited for their treat. They giggled as they tore him apart, his screams carrying far and wide, traveling up through the hole into which he fell; but his friends were too far gone to hear them.
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