Everything is gone.

The world they knew is no longer exist.

They have nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, as the once they called family has turned into a mindless monsters and hunting them; the prey.

In desperation, the group of six children are running into the forest, the only ‘safe place’ they know, while the ‘adults' are chasing madly after them.

They have been running for some time before the ‘adults’ were getting closer and closer, and in desperation, their leader, the bravest kid on the group has stopped midway and running to another direction while attracting the ‘adults' attention, sacrificing himself so the other kids would have the chance to run away.

There’s no time to cry, they have to run, lest the boy's sacrifice will turn into nothing.

There’s plenty of time to cry later, after they’re safe.

They run and run as fast as they can, and eventually they manage to lose the ‘adults', as well as the brave little boy, but they have gone too far into the forest and they didn’t know where they are now.

The time they stopped running, they have come to The Cliff, the end of the safer part of the forest, and down below here, is a darker and denser part of it.

There are three girls and three boys before, but only five left. There they sat, crying and didn’t know what to do after all of this. Feeling helpless.

What can they do now? They’re only a child. They didn’t know what to think of all of things that happened, not to mention how to survive in the situation like this.

One of the girls, the oldest one with a bunny plushie on her hand, cried silently. Grieving.

The sun almost set, and she finally stands up and calling the other four kids, ready to go again, when suddenly, they heard something from below the cliff. Taking a look from the edge, they saw a small prairie right before the bottom of The Cliff, the start of the more darker forest the ground is, and from there, the earth is splitting and from there emerge a giant, black creature.

The creature was rising from the earth like it was pushing up by the earth itself. It’s entire body looks like it was made of tree roots at first glance, and it was sporting a pair of branching horns, though it is not at all like a deer’s antlers, and its color is black from top to bottom. It stood tall and was around ninety to a hundred feet with its arms folded to its chest, and eyes closed.

It stood there silently, and after the rumblings of the earth silenced, it opened its eyes, and staring straight at the terrified children with its pair of big, shiny black eyes.

The children were terrified but they couldn’t move away from the creature in front of them, thinking “this is the end, and now everything will be over”.

They hold each other hands and waiting for the ‘end’to come. No one shedding tears now, because one thing they feel relieved. They are tired, hungry, thirsty, and feeling exhausted emotionally. They did not want to run anymore.

There’s no place they could call home. Not anymore.

And on their mind, they’re actually feeling very grateful that they will not have to be killed by those they love, and loved them before.

What they can do now is to hold the hands of the others tight, for a little comfort before they die.

The creature only stood here, looking at the children one by one, and lifted one of its big and long arm to the children.

The children closed their eyes, waiting for death and the bitter darkness to come and take them away.

They waited, but as seconds passed, nothing was happening, and so one by one, the childs opened their eyes, peeking at the big hand of the creature in front of them. Waiting.

When they see that the creature didn’t do anything but placing its hand there, confusion is clearly written on their face, “What’s going on?” one of the kids whispered.

The eldest girl then taking another look at the creature’s shiny black eyes, and asking it slowly, “Do you... You don’t want to kill us?”

Hearing her asking it, the creature shaking its head slowly, and it push its hand closer to the girl while making some soft grunting noises, still waiting.

Realizing that the creature might be able to understand her but unable to speak their language, the girl then asked it again with a hopefull yet doubting voice, “Are you... Probably what to take us to a safe place? To help us?”

The creature then opened its other hand that’s been resting on its chest, and for their amazement, their brave little leader they thought were dead was lying there. Weak, but still alive as they saw the movement of his chest from where they’re standing.

They then looked at the creature again, not with the terrified eyes like before, but with hope.

The creature then places its palm closer on the ground in front of the children.

The girl with the bunny plushy then reached her hand slowly and touched the creature hand, and it picked her up gently and place her on its other palm together with the injured boy, followed by the other kids, one by one, ever so gently.

The children reunited with their leader, finding him sleeping peacefully on the creature’s palm, at least feeling relieved for the first time after the outbreak started.

The creature then started to fold its arm again like when it first appeared, but before it enclosed the children on its palms completely, it stopped ano turned around to one part of the forest where the children came from.

The children also looking back when it stopped and giving the forest the last look before they go to the ground with the creature, going to wherever it’ll takes them.

The creature then move it’s head and directed its eyes to the children on its palms, whom also staring back at it.

The girl with the bunny plushy smiled, and so the other children.

The creature couldn’t smile, but as they looked at its eyes, they feel that it is trying to comforting them through its gentle gestures.

True or not, they choose to believe so.

The creature then making a little sounds like before and stomping one foot at the hole where it came out earlier, and it swallowed the creature and the children like a quicksand the moment its foot landed in the ground.

But it didn’t scare them, because they know that wherever the creature takes them, they’ll be fine.

The sounds of shrieking and screaming is audible and coming closer from the the forest before The Cliff.

They’re here.

The ground keep on swallowing the creature and they are sinking, lower and lower, and when it’s all done, the ground turned back to how it was before, as if a collosal creature that was holding six children on its arms were never stepping out from there in the very beginning.

Where did they go? Nobody knows, but the children believed that they finally found their sanctuary.

*End*