Rebecca's POV:

I woke with an insane pain throbbing in my skull, like cannonballs were being fired and hitting the sides of my head on the inside. I was in a bed, a soft one at that. My hand hurt, and someone was crying. I tried to open my eyes, but when I did the light hurt. I groaned and moved my head a little. The crying subdued just a tiny bit, and there was a sniffle. I opened my eyes, forcing them to stay open. David was by my side on the right, sitting in a chair. His eyes were red and puffy, tear streaks clear on his face. He was shaking so bad that for a split moment I thought he was cold but then I realized  he was sweating. My hand was in both of his, and he was holding my hand close to his face. He rested his cheek on my hand and sniffled again. He was looking down so he didn't see me. I tried my voice to see if it still worked, making sure that I did it quietly so he didn't hear. I found that it worked, so I decided to use it. "David, dad, its ok. I'm fine." At the first sound that escaped my lips, his head snapped towards mine. His eyes connected with mine, and I saw the evident pain in his eyes. He didn't move, but he spoke. "For a moment I thought that you had died again." His voice cracked, and tears started flowing again before he was done with his sentence. I tossed the blankets off me and crawled up into his lap. He didn't let go of my hand, but I didn't want him to. I wrapped my left arm around his torso, letting his left arm wrap around mine and hold me there. My legs were on his, and my bum was also on one of his legs. My ear was right over his heart, and I could hear the steady boom-boom it produced as it kept him alive. Or in this dimension, or whatever-the-hell-you-want-to-call-it. His head rested on mine. His body was shaking from his tears, and I just let him cry. I rubbed David's back, and I just let him hold me. For a few minutes, he was gently shaking from his cries, but soon that went away. He ended up holding me for a long time. I fell asleep and woke up in his arms. When I woke up and saw his face, he looked deep in thought.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" I asked him, my sudden speaking making him jump. He looked down at me, surprised looking, as if I were an animal waking from hibernation three months early.

"That creature. And what it did. And why it was there. And how I'm supposed to protect you here when I'm facing something like...that." His eyes bored deep into mine, and I saw the internal turmoil that he was in.

"Listen, you'll do fine. You've proved that you can protect me and I have no doubt in my mind that you will. And, I know that even if you can't protect me, you'll get me back. And if I die-" He interrupted me.

"No. Don't say that. I will not hear it. I can't have you die on me again. We're supposed to have an eternity together and not even that is long enough for me. You will not die." I looked at him, a look of 'I love you and you're adorable, but shut the hell up' written plainly on my face.

"I know you can't handle that. But shut up, and listen. If, on the off-chance that I die, I know nothing will keep you from stopping the peoples responsible." He nodded. Then, he opened his mouth to say something, but then quickly closed it.

"David, what-" His hand clamped over my mouth to silence me, and I glared at him. He looked down and saw my scowl.

"There's something outside." He calmly whispered. I nodded my understanding, and he removed his hand from my mouth. Then I got off of him so he could get up, and we both made our way over to where he saw or heard the...thing.

"Get down!" He yelled suddenly, crouching down over my lowered form to protect my body. Glass toppled over us, landing mostly on him. I felt a few shards of glass embed themselves in my flesh, but I knew his wounds were more in numbers and worse. But the hellish shriek that filled the room drew me from my split second thoughts. I turned to look, but David grabbed my arm and jerked me away, nearly throwing me out the window the thing had crashed into on its grand entrance. I landed on the grass outside with a thud, and he popped out a moment later.

"RUN, REBECCA, RUN!" He screamed to me, grabbing my hand and racing off in the opposite direction as the house in break neck speed. My shorter legs were hardly able to keep up with his damn near stilts of legs, but I managed. I heard the winged nightmare shriek, and then I heard the flapping of its wings. I tripped and fell, but David had me up again in hardly a second. He grabbed my hand firmly, nearly popping my fingers off with the sheer force of his grip. We were just about to turn into and alley when he stopped suddenly, knocking me onto my feet. He almost threw me onto the back of a motorcycle. He got on, quickly started the machine, and tore off as fast as he could. I held on to him for dear life because 1; that thing and 2; sweet jesus his driving. I looked back behind us just in time to see five people in all black wearing hoods jump out in front of the beast. I wanted to yell at them to warn them to get away, but instead, the beast slowed. They surrounded it and a sort of net flung itself up and connected, forming a dome of rope/energy around the monster. It tried to escape but couldn't. I watched as the net gradually grew smaller and smaller, and then the creature turned to ash. The net dissolved.

"David, stop the bike! Now!" I screamed in his ear. The bike stopped so suddenly, I almost bit the back of his neck

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" He frantically inquired, wheeling around to face me. I pointed behind me.

"Look. That thing's gone. And those people are why." As I spoke, I realized...there were no more people.

"Urm, Rebecca, there aren't any people over there...What did you see?" So I told him, and he looked confused as ever.

"I swear I'm telling the truth. I wouldn't lie about this. Freaky shit is happening." I explained with the haste of a god.

"Oi! Don't swear."

"I have lived longer than you technically, so shut up. And I'm right. Do you think I would lie to you about anything? Let alone something like this? We don't even know what we're up against!" I told him, almost shouting. My hand motions would have made an Italian proud.

"I do." Said a voice behind me. I turned and looked. It was a man, one of the people dressed in all black that killed the thing chasing us.

"You-how-what? How did you DO that?! You popped out of the ground, like a column of mist! How?" David stammered.

"No time to explain, more of those things will be coming. Go to your home and bring what you need. Only bring things necessary to survival. Duct tape included. Pack lightly, but bring  one heavy coat or jacket. Don't stay at your home too long, it will be being watched. Get there, pack, and swiftly leave. Come to this address." He handed David a piece of paper with words written on it, ones I couldn't see because of the angle. "When you get there, the password is 'noodle soup' Don't question it. Just do everything as I have said. Now please do go, I don't want two more souls to be lost." And with that cheerful speech, he turned into a silhouette of smoke, and then proceeded to melt into the concrete and completely vanish from sight.

"Ok. That was weird." I said, slowly turning to David. His face was plainly saying "Well shit."

'Yeah." Then, he turned around, started the bike, I grabbed on, and we turned around and headed home.