The first shriek reaches my ears just as White yanks on my arm and practically drags me into a run. I have no idea what we’re running from. The sounds coming from the Chimera Storm aren’t like those of the Bandersnatch. It’s more along the sounds you would hear in a horror movie, or in a zoo when the animals are stirred up.

White sprints in the opposite direction, and I’m fighting hard to keep up with him. He moves fast, his legs pumping, and he’s practically dragging me behind him as I try to stay on my feet.

The wind picks up, swirling dust and ash into my eyes and coating my throat. I’m not nearly fast enough. I can hear the storm gaining momentum behind us, the shrieks and roars growing ever closer. I trip on a dry, crackled root when I try to glance backwards, and I go soaring towards the ground. I have a moment of panic, knowing I just became the stupid person in horror movies that trips right before they get murdered or eaten. If it isn’t such a terrifying moment, I might have rolled my eyes. Before I can hit the dirt, White scoops me up in midair and throws me over his shoulder. It’s clear I was slowing him down. The moment I’m off of my feet, we really begin to move, the world speeding by as if we’re in a car. I clench my hands hard into White’s waistcoat and force myself to look at the Chimera Storm closing the distance.

The air roars with the shrieks and screams behind us. There’s pain in the sounds, as if numerous creatures are in agony. I squint my eyes at the billowing dust to see what’s inside. Suddenly, as if I asked it to, the clouds become clearer, and I can make out what exactly is chasing us. And they’re moving so fast, they’re closing the gap even with White’s speed.

The Chimera Storm is made up of swirling cloaked figures tumbling over each other in their attempt to get closer. The material of their cloaks matches the landscape. They’re torn, bloody, and dirt colored. The creatures’ faces are shrouded by a hood as they climb over others to get closer, never once leaving the confines of the cloud. Hands tipped with foot-long claws reach forward, ready to tear into us the moment we’re close enough. One of the creatures in the middle loses his hood, the wind ripping it away from his face. It reveals a skull inside, not human. It’s some form of creature, horned with large dripping fangs. If I don’t know any better, I’d say they almost look dragon-like. When the skull tips backwards, I realize it’s a mask, but their real faces aren’t any better. The creatures have empty eye sockets, great gaping mouths, no lips, no nose. They’re horrifying, and I panic as the cloud slips a little bit closer.

The figure pulls the hood back over its head quickly and shrieks as they gain on us. I clench hard onto White, my heart beating a frantic rhythm inside my rib cage.

A clawed hand reaches forward, barely twenty feet away. Still, there’s no shelter in sight, nowhere we can hide from the storm.

“White!” I yell as I slip the knife from my holster again. I’m not sure what it can do against a pack of whatever those creatures are, but it’s all I’ve got.

“I know!” he shouts. He doesn’t even sound winded, and it helps me to focus better. At least he isn’t tired after running with me over his shoulder.

“Twenty feet!” I figure the best plan is to let him know how close the Chimera Storm is. I don’t have any idea how to handle this situation. I can swipe at the creatures if they get too close, but their numbers alone will overtake us almost immediately.

We’re flying across the land now, the landscape threatening to blur from our speed. More of the hooded figures appear, climbing over each other to get closer. We shoot past some sort of creature on our right. It’s running but far slower than we are moving. It resembles something like a Wendigo, its face a skull, antlers coming from it’s head. Its long limbs stumble, and I watch in horror as the cloud descends upon the creature, closing around it. I cover my mouth as the hooded figures tear into the Wendigo beast, tearing it limb from limb. Pieces of raw meat fly around the cloud that other cloaked figures fight over. The creatures shriek in victory even as the Wendigo’s bellows of pain bring tears to my eyes.

“Fifteen feet,” I croak, my voice gone hoarse from the scene.

“We’re almost there,” White shouts.

We’re moving swiftly across the Dark Lands, but the storm draws closer with each step. The rest of the world is a blur now, the cloud swallowing up everything we pass.

“Ten feet!” I scream, readying myself to slash at the creatures as best as I can.

I watch as one of the closest creatures lowers his hood and focuses on me. The skull tips back, and I’m certain it smiles before a clawed hand reaches out, closer, deadly. The cloud rises behind us like a wall, the sheer number of hooded figures tumble over each other threatening to take my breath away. We’re going to die. This is it. We’ll be consumed by a storm of Chimeras. Lightning strikes between the creatures, showing the impenetrable wall that is made up of hundreds, thousands of creatures, barreling closer.

“Five feet!” I shriek as another clawed hand reaches out. “White! Five feet!”

“Almost. There,” he grunts, enunciating each word as he pushes himself to move faster, pumping his legs harder.

I twist around just in time to see him raise his wrist and tap his watch. I hear the clink, clink, clink clear as day as he reaches around my thighs. Everything slows, the creatures barely moving within the cloud even though they still close the distance between us. White keeps pushing himself as hard as possible, his breath sawing from his chest in hard pants now. Slowly, the world begins to gain speed again, and the creatures draw too close.

Just as a claw reaches out and strokes against the ends of my hair, we tumble through the air and into a dark cave. The cloud doesn’t follow us inside, and we land hard on the stone, my knife skittering along the floor and further inside at the impact. We roll over and over again before coming to a hard stop against rough stone. I cry out at the impact, my body no doubt going to be covered in bruises later.

Outside, the creatures shriek in anger.