I walked quickly across the uneven cobblestone of the Ground Level in the dark because the lights didn’t shine down here. I’d gotten used to it though. Just a little bit further. 

Something clinked, echoing through the street. I froze. Silence. My arm hung slightly out in front of me, hairs raised, but I refused to move. A sudden screech filled the air and stabbed like shards into my blood, edging into my rapidly pumping heart. No human could ever make a sound like that. Okay, time to run, I thought, already moving my legs. My pulse thumped in my ears as my legs moved quickly but silently against cobblestone, moving so that I landed only on the ball of my foot, so it would muffle my step. The shrieking got louder, and I willed myself to go faster. Another shout, high-pitched and sudden, echoed briefly through the night and then abruptly ended. Everything seemed to drop ten degrees colder. That one was human. 

The original sound continued, somehow still getting louder as I ran away from it- and then realization crashed down on me like a collapsing wave. I was going towards it. “No, no no no,” I stuttered, coming to a halt. A claw scratched around the corner, dragging its long, bloodsoaked nails across the shadowy brick building it hid behind. The nails were attached to a long, bony arm that stretched up above my head, and if that was its arm I could only imagine how tall its head was. I needed to turn the other way. Turn, and run. But I couldn’t move, my feet wouldn’t move, they felt like lead weights. 

The creature rounded the corner, looming over me even though it was on all fours. Spikes protruded from its scale-covered back, and its slitted, black eyes stared as it stalked towards me, black tongue hanging out of the tip of its curved mouth. My mind screamed at me to run away but my body wouldn’t listen, frozen in place. This was why no one lived, or ventured, anywhere remotely near the Ground Level if they could afford it.

A man suddenly emerged from the shadows in between me and the creature. I watched as its eyes slowly shifted from me to him, and yet he just stood there, smiling. 

“I’m ready,” he whispered, then closed his eyes. The Marbrer attacked. I turned away, hands shaking, and ran for my life because—

I’m not ready.