Let Me Out

by A H Alhaila

  Some of them started to shoot the creatures while others wanted to get out as fast as possible and did not want to confront them. Joanna noticed Mr. William had just left the men’s room on the other side and started to shout at him so that would come quick. Suddenly, the ground started to violently shake causing the two groups and the creatures to stop. They turned towards where the shaking was coming from when suddenly the shopping center wall behind Mr. William blew up, throwing Mr. William’s body in the air along with the rubble. The wall fell down and revealed a giant monster covered in flames! The explosion sent a large rock flying towards the two groups at the staircase. Steven noticed it coming very quickly but he reacted even quicker, jumping towards his daughter, pushing her out of the way. He tried to get up and follow her but the hit Steven, throwing him on the floor and crashing him into the wall. The rock caused a lot of damage, killing a few members of the two groups. Some of the creatures also died due to the rubble. It became silent for a few moments as light from the fire-giant penetrated the dust-filled air. Joanna started shouting, “Dad! Dad!”, looking for her father.

  Seeing Steven on the ground, Adam, who was already carrying Oliver, carried Steven on his back. He looked at the fire-giant and said to himself, “Good God! Is that where the fire came from?”.

  The fire-giant continued wrecking the shopping center trying to get in, as the creatures went through and over the creature, without being harmed by the fire. Adam went towards the stairs and was followed by Joanna. Lucky for them, the rock created the path for them to head down. Joanna stopped and started shooting some of the creatures trying to buy everyone some time before heading after them and seeing her father’s blood covering the stairs. She entered the basement and found everyone had gotten into the cars. She ran towards the sports car Adam had given her and started its engine. The first car, which had Elma and a few others inside, took off first and was followed by the other cars. It took a left but suddenly it was thrown in the air to the opposite direction. Everyone knew that the giant was on the left side and so they took the opposite direction. After leaving the basement, they saw that there was more than one giant!

  Everyone started driving together in a straight line behind one-another, but they were surrounded by the creatures. The creatures started throwing themselves onto the cars and climbing them. Leonardo’s group started driving away from Steven’s group. Adam had Oliver with his in the car who was crying, while Steven was in the backseat. There were creatures on top of their car because of the noises coming from it. Suddenly, a creature appeared and broke the front window trying to get in. However, the creature suddenly stopped moving as if something was pulling it away. It tried to hold on to the car roof, tearing it away completely, turning the car into a convertible! The creature was pulled by the giant while another creature jumped into the car and grabbed a hold of Oliver. Adam was able to grab onto Oliver’s hand, trying to pull him back in, as the car started moving sideways. Steven then woke up and saw what was happening. He slowly looked down in pain. As he was looking down, Steven found a gun. As he was reaching for it, he felt a lot of pain, but was finally able to grab it. He quickly pointed it towards the creature, but he was too late. Both the creature and Oliver had gone!! Steven lost his temper in anger and rage as he lifted his head towards the sky and looked at everything that was happening around him in slow motion. He saw the giant’s hand move above the car with the creatures moving on it. Suddenly a creature appeared and stood right in front of Steven, but Victor, who was driving in the car next to him, shot it in the head, saving him. Steven was helpless as he watched all that was happening in pain. He started thinking to himself, “If I kill myself, will I be with my wife? Will I be able to hug Oliver? Is this our end?”. He then remembered his daughter and started thinking differently. Even-though he was completely hopeless, his dream of his wife telling him to protect Joanna was what made him set aside all the negative thoughts. He wanted to keep fighting for Joanna. While all this was happening, the cars kept moving until something unexpected happened. Two giants had appeared in the crossroads in front of them. The first giant came from the left side with fire burning the building behind it, while the second giant was right in front of them.

  There was no way for them to go but to the right unless one of the giants speeds up and blocks their way. Joanna realized that they were in a difficult situation. Even-though she may be able to make the turn because of her being in front, the cars behind her may not make it. She started to lose all hope when suddenly a car appeared from Leonardo’s group from one of the shopping centers on their right. The armored car shattered the shopping center’s front glass entrance and became in front of Joanna. Joseph and Leonardo popped out of the car’s above opening and started firing their heavy mounted guns at the giant in front of them until it was down. It was a good thing that they did as all, but one car, were able to make the right turn. The final car that had Brian, Daniel and Victor did not make it as the giant on the left managed to move forward, causing them to crash into it. The continued their escape until they got to an off-road terrain. The area was full of farms that were completely destroyed by the giants. They were finally able to see the island in the distance. The gate at the beginning of the bridge was closed, which caused Joanna to accelerate until there was a large distance between her and the other cars. Joanna started looking through the gate in search for someone to open the gate for them. She noticed a few people running under the bridge. When they arrived, Joanna saw the people getting onto a boat trying to sail away. She quickly got out of her car and ran towards them, managing to grab hold of the boat. “Do you live on the island?”, Joanna asked the people on the boat.

  “Yes, we do.”, replied one of them. “Now leave the boat or I’ll shoot you.”, he added.

  “Dear Lord!”, said someone else. “The giants are coming, and we can’t go because of her.”.

  After cooking up a plan, Joanna let go of the boat and said, “Fine! Go! But open the gates for us. We’ve found a cure for this disease and we have lots of information about them.”.

  Those in the boat started arguing as the drifted away. “She’s lying!”, said one of them.

  “How do you know you’re telling the truth?”, said someone else.

  “We all lived among the creatures for a long time without being harmed. The giants forced us to think of living somewhere with water in between us.”, replied Joanna.

  “I’ll inform my leader, but I won’t open the gates with all the creatures behind you.”, someone said.

  “Don’t worry.”, said Joanna. “Someone will buy them sometime.”, she added.

  “Do you mean you’ll sacrifice yourself for them?”, someone said.

  They were staggered because Joanna was speaking seriously. “Just don’t let my sacrifice go in vain. I trust you!”, said Joanna.

  Joanna returned to her car as one man said to his friends, “Paddle faster!”. Another man looked at him and asked, “You believe her?”.

  “Did you survive living among those creatures?”, he replied.

  “No.”, replied the other man.

  “Then shut up. I’m sure she’s saying the truth. Even if she’s lying, at least we’ll have more information about them.”, said the man.

  They started paddling faster, while Joanna stayed in her car in front of the bridge waiting for the right moment to do what she was thinking about. She saw the two groups coming at the distance, and those in the boat getting nearer to the island. Joanna kept her eye on them to make sure that the man was going to talk to his leader. She saw that they had reached the island and that the man had ran out of the boat. Joanna knew then that it was the right time! She took off in her car towards the incoming groups very quickly. She came close to Joseph and Leonardo’s car and Leonardo shouted loudly so that Joseph would hear him saying, “Do you see what I see?”.

  “Yes!”, replied Joseph. “I think she wants to distract the creatures so that we can make it through the gate.”, he added.r />
  “Now I get it.”, replied Leonardo.

  “What are you doing? What are you doing?”, shouted Adam when he saw Joanna driving the opposite direction.

  Adam saw Leonardo talking to Joseph. He figured they knew what Joanna was about to do. Everyone was surprised when Joanna came to a complete stop. She started doing dough-nuts with the car to stir up the dust in the air. “Why is she doing that?”, Leonardo asked Joseph.

  “I actually starting to doubt whether she even knows!”, replied Joseph.

  “She will hit us if she keeps doing that!?”, asked Leonardo.

  Joseph though for a few moments then said, “I think she’s trying to make it difficult for the giants to see after we pass these sand hills.”.

  “Great! That will buy us more time.”, said Leonardo.

  Joanna’s car disappeared as she continued to stir up the dust. She suddenly appeared from the cloud of dust and headed straight towards the giants in lightning speed. “Does she have a death wish or something?”, said Leonardo.

  Joseph became silent and started shaking his head, indicating that was not what she was doing.

  “I’ll turn go right and you go left. Tell the others to do the same.”, said Leonardo to Joseph, after Joanna became very close to them.

  “Alright.”, said Joseph.

  The started to carry out the plan, as the cars gradually moved aside, creating a path for Joanna to go through. The cars were all covered disappeared in the dust from Joanna’s car, preventing the creatures and giants from seeing anyone but Joanna, who was driving straight towards them. The giants and creatures then set their eyes on Joanna who quickly turned the car, avoiding the creatures, passing beside them, shooting some of the to get their attention. Her plan worked as they all started following her. Meanwhile, the two groups had approached the bridge, but the gate was still closed. They stopped directly in front of it with no creatures behind them, Leonardo said, “How will get pass through?”. As soon as he said that, the gates started to open. The man was able to convince his leader to let them in. Joanna’s plan convinced him even more! Meantime, Adam turned towards Steven and said, “Hang on Steven. Hang on!”.

  Steven was almost unconscious as he had lost a lot of blood. He kept repeating, “Don’t teach them! Don’t teach them!”.

  “Don’t teach who? What are you trying to say Steven?”, said Adam.

  When the bridge gates were opened, Adam and the others were able to pass through. There were paramedics on the other side, waiting to help the wounded, among whom was Steven who kept repeating “Don’t teach them!”. Joanna was on the other side among the creatures saying, “Teach them! Teach them!”. Joanna made it to the outskirts of the city, skillfully avoiding the creatures until a giant suddenly appeared in front of her, forcing her to take a hard turn into an underground tunnel. The creatures went in behind her as the creatures who were already in the tunnel headed towards her, trapping her in between. Joanna thought that this was going to be her ending. With nothing to lose, she sped up and screamed as the giant outside, extended its arm into the tunnel, trying to kill some creatures. Not being able to kill any, the giant started destroying the tunnel from the outside, killing Joanna. Steven was carried quickly by the medical team, diagnosing him and providing him with blood. Adam tried to stand beside him, but the doctors would not let him through. In the midst of it all, someone else managed to go through the doctors and stand next to Steven. As soon as Steven saw who it was, his pupils dilated, and his heart lost its rhythm, falling into cardiac arrest! Steven’s heart stopped beating as the doctors hurried towards him, moving that person away from Steven whose eyes were closed and trying to resuscitate him.