The beasts knock over anything in their path towards us, closing in by the second.

They're growling, drool visibly trailing down their sharp teeth and onto the floor in transparent droplets. Wicked eyes locked upon us, ready to pounce. The only thing keeping us alive right now is them waiting for the killing order from their master.

A rewind button sounds good at this time, especially for moments like these. Then we wouldn't be staring death in the eyes. Well, at least not this soon and unprepared.

Right now, M is standing between the blood-hungry beasts and me. The grimace on his face, torn and tense, is starting to embed itself into my mind. He's stupidly heroic. A solid wall of protection, but definitely not for long when Mørke decides to finally let loose his vicious killing machines.

The visible muscle under M's shirt tenses, fists clenched, showing the clear white of his knuckles, ready to fight.

His voice echoes in my head, the word: run, repeating itself, over and over again. A shrill force beats against my eardrums. An order more than anything else.

But even if I wanted to run, which is the highly wise option, I can't. I'm not going to just high-tail it out of here, not without M right behind me. Unscratched, not dead. He might be a self-sacrificing idiot, but so am I.

My hand snakes its way around his wrist, holding tight. His pulse is quick, thumping under my fingertips at a hasty pace.

Before M can fully react, I'm dragging him off his feet. His body follows along, his feet finding the ground quickly as he gathers the memo and rushes with me down the hallway without a word.

"You won't go far!" Mørke yells from where we left him in the kitchen. Probably staring holes into my cabinets for all I know.

I can hear the beasts set off towards us. Their claws click and scratch across the wooden floor in a rush to catch up to us. Like a dog rushing toward the toy their owner just threw away. It could have been cute if it was an actual dog, and it wasn't trying to kill us, but it is.

Because of our headstart, we make it to the end of the stairs. We start to climb them two at a time before a loud thud fills the house. I look over M's shoulder to see that two beasts have flung themselves into the once flat wall, which now showcases a big gaping hole.

"Caleb, where the hell are we going-" M questions in a scampered tone.

"Just come on," I beeline towards my bedroom. M is trailing right behind me.

I manage to close the door right in time. Locking it in the process. The beasts are scratching and bumping against the door, rattling it.

"Tina is probably still in the bathroom," M rushes to say, eyes wide in worry.

"We can't go out there again," I say, starting to pull at the root of my locks in worry. "Hopefully, Tina heard the commotion and left through the bathroom window."

She might have called the police, with them being on their way right as we speak, but I leave that out. The police won't be able to stand up against Mørke and his beasts.

Cracks are starting to form around the door, only getting bigger by the second.

"What now?" M exclaims in frustration. Frustration matching my own as we both look around my bedroom.

We're stuck. When I started to run, I didn't think the plan through, not very. Leading us up here might as well have doomed us even further. We are so going to die here.

"We have to get out of here," M states the obvious.

"And how are we going to do that?" I ask, pointing at the bouldering door. "We're trapped. Those monsters are on the other side of the door, which is our only way out of here."

"I might have an idea," M says. He starts pulling off his shirt, revealing toned muscle and a lot of tan skin. Then he goes to pull off his bindings.

"I know we're going to die and all, but now's really not the time, even though-" I say as I point at his figure.

"No idiot," M hisses as he tries to reach for the piece that holds the bindings tight and his wings confined. "We're going to fly."

"Are you crazy!" I exclaim in a splutter of noises. "You're still injured, and don't let me remind you that the last time you were flying around you face planted right into my backyard."

"There's no other way Caleb, unless you wanna go through them," M says, pointing towards the door where the beasts are ready to tear me limb from limb. I gulp, eyes wide as I take in M's words. "I can try and get us away from here."

"Okay," I say hesitantly. M turns around, letting me untie the knots in his bindings. The white fabric falls to the ground in a heap. And out unfolds his white feathery wings.

M goes to unlock the window pulling it all the way open. He's instantly bathed in the bright and pale moonlight.

"You ready?" M asks as he holds out his hand for me.

A cold draft of wind finds its way inside. Creating goosebumps along my skin. A shiver runs down my back as I take M's hand in mine.

"I don't think I'll ever be, honestly," I say as M gathers me in his arms, bridal style. My arms wrap around his neck. I spare a glance to look up at his face. He looks so concentrated, jaw locked tight.

There's a final crack coming from my bedroom door until it breaks, allowing all the beasts to tumble inside.

M takes a step up to the window. I squeeze my eyes shut, stomach plummeting as he jumps off the window sill.

I expect pain before the inevitable fading to blackness, but none of that happens. Instead, there's no pain, no nothing. I open my eyes to the clear night sky. The moon is closer than ever, shining brightly, bathing us in its light. Treetops are visible beneath our feet. And further away are all the brightly lit houses.

"Oh my god," I gasp as I look around us. We're actually flying. This isn't some dream but reality.

"Caleb," M speaks lowly.

"Yeah?" I say, looking up at his beautifully concentrated face.

"Stop moving," He begs with a soft groan. "You're heavy."

"Sorry," I wince, holding on to M tighter and trying not to move further.

The wind picks up, suddenly stronger than before. It pulls at us just as raindrops start to cascade down on us, drenching us in seconds. I can feel M's hold on me loosen.

"M?" I falter.

"Hold on." M is groaning, neck strained as he tries to keep us in the air, but to no avail. His wings give out.

Suddenly we're falling, heading straight towards the ground, no longer above the treetops.

M covers me with his body as I squeeze my eyes shut, preparing to make impact with the hard ground. Instead, there's a loud splash of water before everything becomes muted.

I can't feel M's hold on me anymore. Instead, everything has become dull, all sound gone and replaced with nothingness. Everything is dark, and the water starts to make its way inside my mouth and nose. The water is freezing, the cold bites my skin, lungs burning, with need for air.

I try to swim up, or at least to what I think up is. I reach the surface with a loud gasp, flailing around to catch sight of my surroundings. There's no sight of M anywhere.

"M!" I yell out, fear creeping up. He fell into the water with me. Taking the impact of the blow from the surface instead of me. If he's not here, he must still be under the water.

With a gulp of air, I dive down. It's dark, and I can't see anything, so I feel around desperately, trying to catch on to anything. M must still be here. He has to be.

I reach the surface again to get some air. Lungs burning in pain. I scream out M's name, but there's nothing. I have to find him because If I don't, that means-

I dive down again, flailing around until my arm hits something firm. I grab a hold of it, a hand unmoving and cold.

I use all my strength to pull M up over the surface. "M!" I scream into his ear as I hold onto him, keeping his head above water. He's not moving, no sound, nothing. In a panic I start to shake him to get a reaction, but his head only lulls to the side, responseless.

I pull him towards the shore, dragging him up the dirty ground. My legs are trembling. They give out next to M's motionless body as I cradle his face in my hands, looking for a sign of breathing. "Please wake up," I whisper brokenly. I place my shaking fingers under his jaw and around his neck, where a throbbing pulse should be.

"Come on, M," I beg. "Please wake up."