"What the hell," Jasmine muttered, stunned. She watched as the enormous thurnak clawed and roared and frightened people out of their wits.
"Come on Jaz!" Hannah yelled over everything grabbing Jasmine's arm and pulling her out of her trance.
Orange flames sparked around the village and stood out immensly in the night sky. Screaming echoed throughout the jungle and the air was thickening with ashy gases exceptionally quickly.
Despite the air pollution, Jasmine was breathing normally and was able to keep up with her friends. She looked over her shoulder to see the thurnak tearing up an area of thatch huts not far from where she was. Jasmine gulped as the mutant bellowed and this encouraged her to move faster.
Desperate to get away from the angry thurnak, Jasmine sped past Hannah, Izzabeth and even Adam who was up front due to his longer legs. Her chest tightened with every step she took and she was too occupied on the thurnak nearing them to see a burning log fleeting right in her direction.
"Hey look out!" Izzabeth shouted over the racket, pointing in front of Jasmine. Jasmine skidded to a halt and her eyes widened the second she layed eyes on the log. Given no time to react, Adam grabbed Jasmine's arm and yanked her away milliseconds before the flaming wood would've hit her.
Hannah and Izzabeth were forced to stop as the log smashed directly in front of them. Their faces illuminated as the flames intensified.
"This is insane!" Hannah cried, her eyes filled with fear.
No one spoke a word. They all breathed unevenly with char covered faces and shaking hands. Jasmine looked from Adam, who was still gripping her arm in shock, to the log to Hannah to the thurnak, which was nearing alarmingly close.
"We need to go now!" She exclaimed loudly.
"Where?! Jasmine, there is no where to go!" Jasmine panicked for a moment.
She looked to Izzabeth and Adam. They knew this place better than anyone, they must know somewhere they could hide until this mayhem passed.
"Why are you looking at me?!" Izzabeth spoke over the noise.
"You must know--" The thurnak bawled deafeningly as it trampled over countless huts and tore off roofs with it's pointed teeth.
"Nevermind hiding, we need to go right now or we're gonna be burnt human kebabs!" Adam shouted before taking off into a sprint. Having little choice, Jasmine, Hannah and Izzabeth followed him.
The four helped each other through burning homes, around terrified people and on the odd occasion they pushed each other out of the way of flying debris, wood or anything that could do damage. Despite their aching limbs, they didn't stop until they reached the edge of the village.
Adam came to a halt just in front of a bamboo wall with a symbol painted on the face. It was a diamond, a very simple one, and it was inside a tilted square. Something Jasmine had never encountered in her time here.
The girls stopped beside Adam, their lungs heaving, and gazed up at the symbol unknowingly.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
Alarmed, Jasmine swivelled around and sensed the others do the same.
A boy, whom Jasmine had never seen before, stood gripping a sword firmly. He was a fraction shorter than Adam and his hair was indescribable due to the amount of char and dust stuck in it. Hell, he looked like a hut had collapsed on him.
But what alarmed Jasmine most was who was stood beside the boy. Her eyes were as sharp as the daggers she was twirling between her fingers and she had char smudged across her flawless complexion.
"Surely you wouldn't wanna leave without giving your old friend a goodbye hug?" Trixie mocked. Jasmine had to force herself not to roll her eyes.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"I think it's about time people started listening to me. We let you in, you, the only outsider, and look where that got us." Trixie gestured to the raging fires behind her with her knife before pointing it at Jasmine. "And now you're going to pay."
"What makes you think killing her is going to stop this? You can't just stab someone to death and assume everything will be okay tommorrow. Life doesn't work like that." Hannah quipped at Jasmine's defence.
"I didn't realise you had a death wish too." Trixie sneered. The boy beside Trixie grinned evily.
"No one has a death wish. Trixie, this is not Jasmine's fault. None of it is. Nor is it Hannah's. We want this to end as much as you do. But killing is not the answer. It solves as much as a jigsaw with one missing piece. Nothing."
Trixie's expression softened for a split second after Adam finished talking. But it was evidently fake because she immediately switched back to her usual psychotic self.
"Easy for you to say. You're a miserator. You sit indoors all day looking after sick children."
Trixie stopped twirling her knife around. "And I know I'm sick of waiting." Realisation struck Jasmine as the last word rolled off Trixie's tongue and without a second thought, she smashed into the bamboo with her entire body. A shock of affliction coursed through Jasmine as she came into contact with the wall. It took her a couple of tries but eventually the wood caved in.
"Come on!" Jasmine cried, gesturing for her friends to follow her out of the village.
"Don't just stand there!" Trixie spat at the boy who watched as the four ran off beyond the wall in awe. "Go West. I'll go East. We'll cut them off." The boy nodded and took off through the dark jungle.
Large, rubbery leaves smacked Jasmine's face as she dashed through the leafy jungle, her friends experiencing the exact same thing. They all spluttered and held their arms out in front of them to try and keep the plants away but it was no use. The fire from the village was only a glow through the trees now, but the roars of the thurnak still rang in their ears.
Jasmine ached from head to toe. Her feet were sore from running, her head was pounding due to the fast pace of her thought processes and her limbs were growing weaker with every effort she made. The worst of all were her eyes. She was struggling to adjust to the gloom of the jungle and the further they trekked, the darker it got.
A scream sounded from behind Jasmine, obliging her to stop. Hannah almost bumped into her and Adam into Hannah, but when Jasmine turned around, Izzabeth was no where to be seen. Only the broad figure of a person stood out to her a few metres behind them.
She squinted to try and get a clearer picture but she didn't have to when she heard Izzabeth's voice.
"Get your skanky hands off me!" She choked. It was all shadows to Jasmine, but from the movements it looked like the person had caught Izzabeth in a tight head lock.
"Izzy!" Adam yelled, taking off to try and help her.
"Adam stop!" cried Hannah, racing after him.
"Take one more step and she dies." Jasmine spotted the glint of a metal blade being pointed at Izzabeth's outline.
Jasmine's head was screaming at her to grab the nearest person and run, but her heart denied the idea. She sprinted up to Hannah and Adam. "Are you deaf? I said take another step and she dies." Being closer, Jasmine could tell this was the boy beside Trixie earlier.
"I'm not going to." Jasmine retorted. Her hands were outstretched in front of her.
"Jasmine be careful." She heard Adam say under his breath. He was on edge. So was Hannah. She could feel it. One wrong move and Izzabeth was gone.
"I just want to know one thing," Jasmine sidled closer. Centimetre by centimetre. The atmosphere was drenched in uncertainty. "What did you have for breakfast?"
"What?"
That was it. That split second when the boy dropped his guard to say 'what'. Jasmine reached foward and circled her fist upward, knocking the knife out of the boy's strong grip. The knife span through the air and Jasmine pulled Izzabeth away from the boy and pushed her ahead of herself.
"Go!" She shouted. Just as she was about to take off after them, the boy leaped forward and grabbed Jasmine's ankles, sweeping her clean off her feet.
As she fell, Jasmine expected to hit her head on a hard, bark-covered root, but she didn't. She didn't land on mud or grass or a rubbery plant that she'd previously trodden on. Instead, she landed with a crunch on a thick, white, freezing layer of snow.