HOME | DD

Description
"I woke up to the sounds of hushed voices and distant rumbling. Grandpa was already up on his feet as I opened my eyes to see everyone lined up against the rock, 5 meters apart from each other, just like Shane, our group leader, had taught us to do in unexpected situations. People around me were in various states of consciousness, some looked like they just had been woken up and probably were and others were already looking vigilant. No wonder some of us were tired, we had been going for 4 days with minimal rations and all the smoke in the region wasn't making staying active any easier. After getting on my feet I took a spot next to the rock near my grandpa.

The distant rumbling got louder and as it did Shane tapped his hand on a rock thrice and gave us the hand signal to stay low and quiet. We grew more and more nervous as the distant rumbling continued to become louder and louder, and then, I could see a fleeting devious smile pass my grandpas face. It was that type of a smile someone would make when they had played a nasty prank on you, or when you saw your bully get hurt, but didn't dare to laugh. I snapped out of my thoughts and kicked some sand over our campfire that we had set up last night, just in case one of the, things, were coming our way. Robert, who was next to me and grandpa, started loading his gun and muttering something to himself. Robert, I think, was either ex-military personnel or a gun enthusiast, either way, he mostly just kept to himself and seemed to care more for his guns than us. He wasn't really the talking type, not that I ever dared to even go close to him to find out anything about him.
The brothers, Tom and Ralph looked very calm, despite the noises, which back then, assured me that nothing all too dangerous was about to happen. We had, after all, survived against insurmountable odds before. Tom and Ralph had a tendency to cause trouble with strangers, when we saw any that is, and I don't think any of our group members were all that fond of them back then. They always said that bossing around other people would be of use to us, since then nobody would dare to cross us, I doubted it, they were more like brawn over brain type of people, but Shane kept them in line, most of the time. And our last group member, Sarah, was nervously standing behind Shane, getting an occasional peek over the rock to see what was in the horizon. I didn't know too much about Sarah, since she was the newest member to join our group, from what I heard from her she had been living a pretty normal life, working at a nameless office, 2 children, husband. I wonder where her children are now.

The rumbling stopped. For a moment the only thing I could hear was the wind whistling between the rocks and the nervous, heavy breathing of the people around me. To be sincere, the silence made the moment all that more terrifying. I guess the phrase :"Calm before a storm.", really applied to this situation.

Suddenly the rumbling came back, this time even louder than before and it was accompanied by two extremely loud crashes. I remember covering up my ears due to the immense sound those crashes created, even the sound of the plane crashing yesterday was no match for these crashes. From the corner of my eye I saw Shane pull back for a moment, but he quickly stuck himself against the rock again. Even though I couldn't see Shane's face, I knew he was terrified for that brief moment, before regaining his wits. Seeing this made my heart drop, since I had never seen him terrified, up until now. Considering the things Shane had seen, this, thing, that was coming for us was certainly out of the ordinary.

The cacophony of noises continued, but then it stopped again, and the noise that followed, chilled me to the bone. I heard frenzied breathing from the distance. Ralph nudged Sarah a bit, to try to get her attention. Sarah quickly ducked behind the rock, but didn't look or even say anything to Ralph. Ralph visibly began to get more and more nervous, due to the lack of response from Sarah. Shane was locked into place, just barely peeking from behind the rock. My grandpa seemed as if nothing was going on, he hadn't reacted to the noises at all since I woke up. Robert, seemed to still be absorbed in his own thoughts, showing barely any reaction to anything, just reloading his gun, ignoring his surroundings. The breathing we heard wasn't that of a dog or a human. It was unstable, it sounded rough and forced, with long inhales and short and loud exhales. At this point I knew, what was out there, was one of those things, but it had to be much bigger than any of the ones we had previously seen, or perhaps it was closer to us than I thought.

Then I started hearing a sound, that was silent at the start, but grew increasingly louder. It was like the sound of a distant forest fire, no, it was more like the sound that a stream of lava would make. I couldn't hold my curiosity anymore, I had to know what was there! I took a few steps, before my grandpa stopped me with his walking stick. Even though he had just stopped me he did not gaze at me, he kept his sight fixated on Shane. The expression on his face was that of anticipation, maybe he was waiting for Shane's orders, or something else altogether. I did not resist, since I knew that grandpa knew what was best for me, so I silently took my place behind him again.

I couldn't hear any rumbling or crashing, or any sounds of movement in the distance anymore, it sounded as if, whatever was there, had stopped on its tracks, but there was absolutely no way that it could know we were here, hiding behind this rock. That plane crash must have attracted this thing, it must have, and now it must be just investigating the source of the sound. We thought we would camp here for a day and wait for the fire to go out in the plane so it would be easier to scavenge. We should have just continued on through the wasteland and ignored the plane, we were already low on food and water after all. As I gazed above the rock I could still see plenty of smoke coming from where the plane was, it probably was still on fire too. I wondered where that plane could have come from, grandpa had told me all the airports were shut down days ago. It would be impossible to fly here too, due to all the smoke and dense clouds in the area.

The thing remained still and what followed were the longest hours of my life. The breathing continued for hours, occasionally getting slower and faster. We stood there, behind the rock for what felt like ages, standing and waiting, for the thing to make its move. nobody was moving a muscle, we stood there like statues, covered in grey ash, we started to look like ones too. The welcoming warmth of the campfire started to fade as the last embers flew away with the fleeting smoke. My curiosity had died at this point and was now replaced with fear and terror. I tried my best not to give in to these emotions, since I was afraid of my grandpas judgement, more than that thing. We waited. And waited. For something to happen, anything to happen! The continuous breathing eventually started to play tricks with my mind. As the breathing got faster, I imagined the thing running towards us and it felt like it was right behind the rock a few times. And as the breathing got slower I could imagine it stalking us, from some dark corner somewhere. Yet we stood still and waited..."

Well since some of my drawings could probably use some sort of a background story, here's a small background to what's happening here. I'm not the greatest writer ever and don't intend to be one, but ya know, I hope it's at least readable

Description
"I woke up to the sounds of hushed voices and distant rumbling. Grandpa was already up on his feet as I opened my eyes to see everyone lined up against the rock, 5 meters apart from each other, just like Shane, our group leader, had taught us to do in unexpected situations. People around me were in various states of consciousness, some looked like they just had been woken up and probably were and others were already looking vigilant. No wonder some of us were tired, we had been going for 4 days with minimal rations and all the smoke in the region wasn't making staying active any easier. After getting on my feet I took a spot next to the rock near my grandpa.

The distant rumbling got louder and as it did Shane tapped his hand on a rock thrice and gave us the hand signal to stay low and quiet. We grew more and more nervous as the distant rumbling continued to become louder and louder, and then, I could see a fleeting devious smile pass my grandpas face. It was that type of a smile someone would make when they had played a nasty prank on you, or when you saw your bully get hurt, but didn't dare to laugh. I snapped out of my thoughts and kicked some sand over our campfire that we had set up last night, just in case one of the, things, were coming our way. Robert, who was next to me and grandpa, started loading his gun and muttering something to himself. Robert, I think, was either ex-military personnel or a gun enthusiast, either way, he mostly just kept to himself and seemed to care more for his guns than us. He wasn't really the talking type, not that I ever dared to even go close to him to find out anything about him.
The brothers, Tom and Ralph looked very calm, despite the noises, which back then, assured me that nothing all too dangerous was about to happen. We had, after all, survived against insurmountable odds before. Tom and Ralph had a tendency to cause trouble with strangers, when we saw any that is, and I don't think any of our group members were all that fond of them back then. They always said that bossing around other people would be of use to us, since then nobody would dare to cross us, I doubted it, they were more like brawn over brain type of people, but Shane kept them in line, most of the time. And our last group member, Sarah, was nervously standing behind Shane, getting an occasional peek over the rock to see what was in the horizon. I didn't know too much about Sarah, since she was the newest member to join our group, from what I heard from her she had been living a pretty normal life, working at a nameless office, 2 children, husband. I wonder where her children are now.

The rumbling stopped. For a moment the only thing I could hear was the wind whistling between the rocks and the nervous, heavy breathing of the people around me. To be sincere, the silence made the moment all that more terrifying. I guess the phrase :"Calm before a storm.", really applied to this situation.

Suddenly the rumbling came back, this time even louder than before and it was accompanied by two extremely loud crashes. I remember covering up my ears due to the immense sound those crashes created, even the sound of the plane crashing yesterday was no match for these crashes. From the corner of my eye I saw Shane pull back for a moment, but he quickly stuck himself against the rock again. Even though I couldn't see Shane's face, I knew he was terrified for that brief moment, before regaining his wits. Seeing this made my heart drop, since I had never seen him terrified, up until now. Considering the things Shane had seen, this, thing, that was coming for us was certainly out of the ordinary.

The cacophony of noises continued, but then it stopped again, and the noise that followed, chilled me to the bone. I heard frenzied breathing from the distance. Ralph nudged Sarah a bit, to try to get her attention. Sarah quickly ducked behind the rock, but didn't look or even say anything to Ralph. Ralph visibly began to get more and more nervous, due to the lack of response from Sarah. Shane was locked into place, just barely peeking from behind the rock. My grandpa seemed as if nothing was going on, he hadn't reacted to the noises at all since I woke up. Robert, seemed to still be absorbed in his own thoughts, showing barely any reaction to anything, just reloading his gun, ignoring his surroundings. The breathing we heard wasn't that of a dog or a human. It was unstable, it sounded rough and forced, with long inhales and short and loud exhales. At this point I knew, what was out there, was one of those things, but it had to be much bigger than any of the ones we had previously seen, or perhaps it was closer to us than I thought.

Then I started hearing a sound, that was silent at the start, but grew increasingly louder. It was like the sound of a distant forest fire, no, it was more like the sound that a stream of lava would make. I couldn't hold my curiosity anymore, I had to know what was there! I took a few steps, before my grandpa stopped me with his walking stick. Even though he had just stopped me he did not gaze at me, he kept his sight fixated on Shane. The expression on his face was that of anticipation, maybe he was waiting for Shane's orders, or something else altogether. I did not resist, since I knew that grandpa knew what was best for me, so I silently took my place behind him again.

I couldn't hear any rumbling or crashing, or any sounds of movement in the distance anymore, it sounded as if, whatever was there, had stopped on its tracks, but there was absolutely no way that it could know we were here, hiding behind this rock. That plane crash must have attracted this thing, it must have, and now it must be just investigating the source of the sound. We thought we would camp here for a day and wait for the fire to go out in the plane so it would be easier to scavenge. We should have just continued on through the wasteland and ignored the plane, we were already low on food and water after all. As I gazed above the rock I could still see plenty of smoke coming from where the plane was, it probably was still on fire too. I wondered where that plane could have come from, grandpa had told me all the airports were shut down days ago. It would be impossible to fly here too, due to all the smoke and dense clouds in the area.

The thing remained still and what followed were the longest hours of my life. The breathing continued for hours, occasionally getting slower and faster. We stood there, behind the rock for what felt like ages, standing and waiting, for the thing to make its move. nobody was moving a muscle, we stood there like statues, covered in grey ash, we started to look like ones too. The welcoming warmth of the campfire started to fade as the last embers flew away with the fleeting smoke. My curiosity had died at this point and was now replaced with fear and terror. I tried my best not to give in to these emotions, since I was afraid of my grandpas judgement, more than that thing. We waited. And waited. For something to happen, anything to happen! The continuous breathing eventually started to play tricks with my mind. As the breathing got faster, I imagined the thing running towards us and it felt like it was right behind the rock a few times. And as the breathing got slower I could imagine it stalking us, from some dark corner somewhere. Yet we stood still and waited..."

Well since some of my drawings could probably use some sort of a background story, here's a small background to what's happening here. I'm not the greatest writer ever and don't intend to be one, but ya know, I hope it's at least readable