Dian Sketski's Story

"Alright dude, don't worry." Seth looped lightbulb's arms around his shoulders, dragging him to hide behind a car. Looking around rapidly to find a safe area. If there wasn't any, he'd have to ride his bike to a different, hopefully more safer place. "You're gonna be ok..." he muttered anxiously. It was meant to sound comforting, but the words sounded more like Seth trying to convince himself that everything was going to be fine.

I hope Xander and Dan and everyone else are ok...

"Over here!"

Huh? Seth's head swivelled towards the direction of the whispered shout, heart rising with hope at the familiar voice. When he spotted a familiar redhead beckoning to him with a grin, repeating the words 'over here!' again, Seth grinned in relief and ran towards his friend, keeping to sheltered spots and ducking low to avoid the griffin's attention.

It was a bit like playing hide and seek - run towards an upturned truck or car or debris as fast as he could, hide behind it until the coast was clear, then run towards the next obstacle to hide. Rinse and repeat, only this time if Seth lost he'd get eaten up alive by a bunch of monsters. Along the way he collected a crying small boy carrying a teddybear, a pair of young children who looked as if they were siblings and a young woman clutching her ankle and quietly cursing up a storm through gritted teeth as she hid between a truck and a car that were partially collapsed on each other like an upside down V-shaped ramp. Partially storing a couple of new curses to memory, Seth leant down and helped her get seated on the bike, gesturing to the kids behind him.

"Not far now," he whispered encouragingly, gratefully grabbing the scarf the woman offered to him to wrap around Lightbulb's head. It didn't hide the glow completely, but the thick material dulled it enough for it to be less noticeable than before.

They made it there without a hitch, although there were a few close calls. Seth was the last one to enter, hands pulling him in and taking the glowing-haired man to rest with the other afflicted people. He barely had enough time to blink before Xander and Dan were in front of him, squeezing him tight with a hug and entering into a rapidly deteriorating conversation. Closing his eyes, Seth sagged into their arms and hugged them back, allowing himself a moment to unwind as sheer relief soared through him.

His friends were alive.

"Seth! Oh my god I'm so glad you're ok have you seen those eagle monsters-"

"- there was this lightning thing and everything, I thought we were gonna die did you see the beam of ligh-"

"- and they ate her up like a live fish! Swallowed her down and everything -"

Ok, that was enough relaxing. "Alright, chill." Seth said over the two talking to each other. The two ignored him, and Seth winced as their grip on him began to tighten like a vice on a slow to set off beartrap. "Ok guys seriously chill - oof - alright Xander stop squeezing me Dan let go of my stomach-" Seth grimaced as he felt his bones starting to crack and with the last of his breath, smacked Xander's back and wheezed out "Leggo can't breath."

"Ah, right!" Seth staggered as Dan and Xander abruptly let go of him. "Haha, sorry," Xander said, not looking sorry at all. Seth glared at him, but there was no heat in it, and Xander continued to talk as Seth caught his breath, keeping his voice low. "We've been talking with the other survivors, and they're going to be headed towards the subway." He said, gesturing behind him towards the small group of survivors. From what Seth could see, there were around twenty of them in various states of dishevelment. A man with spectacles was tying a strip of cloth around the young woman's ankle while a girl was looking around for more strips of cloth. It wasn't hard to find - they were in a clothes shop.

A partially ruined clothes shop, but still a clothes shop. And Seth couldn't help but realise that Xander was wearing a new black jacket, his old one tied at his waist with the sleeves.

"The subway's probably the safest place right now, since its underground." Xander continued to speak as Seth looked around the shop with a keen eye. "The griffins seem to like to stay above ground - if they enter a shop its only if they want to eat us, and they come out immediately once they've found prey. Otherwise they stay out there," He said, a little too cheerfully for a talk about mythological creatures he hadn't realised existed until a while ago that he'd seen eat people. "Little chance of them entering the subway tunnels. Wanna head there?"

Seth looked up at the ceiling and thought about it.

Nothing else could be accomplished by staying here. It was dangerous, and so the best thing to do would be to head for safe ground. He shrugged, picking up a thick navy jacket that was around his size. Denim was a tough material, it'd serve him well. His other jacket could be used as a pillow or blanket once they reached their destination.

"Sure," he said, shrugging. Beside him, Dan gave a sigh of relief. "Why not?"