I was asleep in the back of the mental hospital truck in less than 10 seconds and danced around the realm of light sleep for what felt like a long time until I was jerked away by a series of alarms coming from outside. My eyes opened immediately and I lifted my head. A hand rested on my arm and Tao brought his finger to his lips. It was still dark outside but the sirens wouldn’t stop sounding.

“This is the government agency. We know you’re in there, so come out with the creature in plain sight immediately.” A voice boomed over a loudspeaker.

Kris cursed and glanced out of the truck’s back windows. “They're surrounding us…”

“Wh-what time is it?” I asked quietly, looking from Tao to Kris.

 “A little after 4:30 AM…and they found us this quickly…” Kris stared out of the window.

“If you do not come out, we will break into the vehicle. Once again, come out immediately with the creature in plain sight!”

Tense silence settled in the back of the truck.

“Don’t go out there.” I said quietly to Tao.

“No, both of you move to the driver and passenger seats.” Kris turned his gaze to me and Tao and handed me the car keys.

“What are you doing?” Tao looked at him.

“Just get ready to speed off. I’ll handle this.” Kris nodded at him confidently and motioned us to move. I quickly moved to the driver’s seat but Tao’s gaze remained on Kris.

“Go!” Kris hissed.

Tao blinked slowly then moved into the passenger seat.

Kris looked back at him, then me, then turned around to open the rear doors of the truck. He stepped out of the truck with his hands raised above his head and stepped onto the ground.

“Where’s the demon?” The owner of the loud-speaker happened to be the president Tao attacked.

“He’s dead. I killed him.” Kris stared hard at the president as he continued to walk further away from the truck.

“Excuse me?” The president lowered his megaphone.

“He begged me to do it. He couldn’t stand living as he was anymore, so I ended his life. He won’t ever bother anyone else again.”

A silence rang across the guards and president. The surrounding guards were standing in a semi-circle with guns pointed at the truck and Kris. Some of them glanced at the president, awaiting his response.

“…I see.” The president nodded slowly.

Kris stood in place with his hands raised, keeping his expression completely serious.

The president glanced at the nearest guards and cocked his head forward. The guards by his side ran up to Kris and forced his arms behind his back. Kris grunted as he was forced down on his knees as the president walked up to him.

“I see you really care about the creature.” The president stared down at Kris calmly.

Kris made another sound of pain as his head was forced up so he was looking right at the president.

“But I’m afraid what you’ve done is extremely regretful. We wanted the creature alive.”

Before Kris could form a response, his head was jerked to the side as the president’s hand collided with his face. Tao gasped a little and leaned forward in the passenger seat. Jill was too scared to make any kind of movement.

“Slim like you disgust me. You should never have made contact with such a demon in the first place. But now we’re in this situation.” The president shook his head and reached into his back pocket. “There’s only one thing left to do.” The barrel of a shotgun was pointed at Kris’s forehead and a loud boom exploded in the air. Kris flung backward, his body hitting the ground like a sack of rice.

A constant ringing sound took over my hearing from the shot firing as Tao’s blood-curdling scream broke through. He jumped out of the passenger seat and bolted for the back of the truck. In my shocked state, something told me to drive. To get out of there. It was Kris’s words before he left the truck.

Just get ready to speed off. I’ll handle this.

I jabbed the keys into the starter and slammed on the gas. The truck lurched forward and my back was forced against the driver’s seat. Many shots fired behind us along with indistinguishable shouts from the loud-speaker. “Close the doors!” I yelled, glancing at the rear-view mirror. Tao seemed to be in a frozen state. He was staring out of the truck as the trucks full of guards started to get closer to us. “HEY! CLOSE THE DOORS! TAO!!” I shouted and pressed on the gas harder.

Tao seemed to snap out of it after a few seconds by hearing the gunshots and quickly moved to the rear doors to close them and stumble his way back to the passenger seat. I glanced at the dashboard. We were approaching 100 miles per hour, but I could still hear the sound of gun shots and some noises of metal hitting the truck. I bit my lip and squinted in front of me, trying to see in front of me. It was still very dark but I could see the beginning magenta colors of the sunrise sneaking up over the horizon. . I stepped on the gas even more. Just when I started to contemplate outdriving the guards, the ground below us suddenly became bumpy and my eyes caught a glimpse of a waterfall in front of us. Then in the very next second, the truck leaned forward ninety degrees and the wheels weren’t turning on dirt anymore. We were plummeting down toward a pretty big lake rather fast.

We had just sped off a cliff.