章 71: Chapter 71
Jackson ran. His feet burned, his legs screamed, but he couldn't stop. The sound of screaming echoed in his ears, distant now but so vivid it might as well have been right behind him. He looked back once, then forced himself to keep moving. The village was gone. The place where he had spent all his life—gone. All of it, wiped away.
A loud crack echoed from behind him, and he didn't need to see it to know. The apes were still out there, still hunting, still killing.
They had come in the night. At first, it was just rumors. The farm animals started to disappear, the crops were ruined. Some said it was bears, others wolves. But then they showed up. The apes. More massive than anything Jackson had ever imagined, all teeth and muscle, their eyes like dark pools that swallowed every bit of light around them.
The first few died fast, shot down by his father's hunting rifle. But they kept coming. They didn't stop. More and more appeared, climbing over fences, tearing down buildings, slaughtering everyone in their path.
His family was gone. His friends were gone. The houses were burned, the streets littered with blood and broken bodies. Only he remained, running for his life.
The moon hung high, a pale disk in the night sky. The trees around him looked like crooked fingers reaching toward the heavens, twisting and cracking with each gust of wind. Jackson's breath came in short gasps, his heart pounding like a drum. The only sound was the crackling of the leaves underfoot and the distant, low growls of the apes still searching for him.
Suddenly, something moved in the brush beside him. Jackson froze, his pulse a sharp hammering in his chest. He turned, his hand reaching for the knife he'd taken from his father's tool shed. His fingers shook as he gripped the hilt, but the movement had stopped.
He didn't dare take his eyes off the trees. Every sense screamed at him to keep moving, but something told him if he turned his back, they would be on him in an instant.
Then, the howl came. Low and guttural, it ripped through the forest like a freight train. Jackson's legs went weak, but he forced himself to stand, to move. There was no time for fear. There was only running, and only hope.
A branch snapped nearby. His heart jumped. He was being hunted. They were getting closer. His skin felt hot and tight, his body pushing forward on instinct alone, each step taking him further into the unknown.
He ran until the muscles in his legs burned like fire, until the trees parted and revealed a clearing. In the center stood a huge figure—bigger than the others. It stood on two legs, towering over everything around it, and its eyes glowed red in the moonlight.
Jackson stumbled backward, his heart a cold lump in his chest. The air around him thickened, the night suffocating. Behind him, more apes appeared, their eyes locked on him with deadly focus.
He could see the red gleam of their teeth, could feel the crushing weight of his terror. They had found him.
He spun around and ran again, desperate. The apes followed, the thumping of their feet on the earth like an ominous drumbeat. Jackson could hear them gaining on him, their breath hot and ragged, as though they were savoring the chase.
Ahead, a cliff loomed, the edge of the forest falling away into nothingness. Jackson's feet slid over the dirt and rocks. There was no escape. He had nowhere to go.
He stopped, chest heaving, sweat stinging his eyes. Behind him, the apes closed in, their shadows dark against the moonlit trees.
They circled him, moving in closer. He couldn't look away from their eyes—those soulless, hollow eyes that seemed to burn right through him.
One of the apes let out a low, menacing growl. Jackson's hand tightened around the knife, but it felt useless, too small.
Another ape stepped forward. The largest one, its muscles rippling under its matted fur. It reached out, slow, deliberate. Jackson's breath caught in his throat.
The last thing he saw was the red gleam of its eyes, the hand coming down on him. The pain was brief, a sharp flash of agony before everything went numb.
His body fell, limp, to the earth, and the apes began their feast.
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