While she ran with Tyson to catch up to Koran, Katie coughed into her sleeve. Koran was waiting for them and led the way once they caught up.
Fire erupted all around as they made their way through the city. The cannonballs of fire caused them to turn erratically down a new street or go back in another direction when one would explode in front of them. They were never hit by the fire, though Koran noticed that they were being led to the center of the city and if they didn’t find a way out soon, they would be surrounded by the raging flames with nowhere to run.
Koran tried to lead them down roads that weren’t close to buildings because when one was hit, it would crash, and chunks of stone would plunge towards the ground.
Fire constantly threatened to block every path Koran chose to take, as if it knew where they were trying to go.
Four searing orbs of fire plummeted towards the ground and erupted when they crashed, forming a ring of fire around Katie, Tyson, and Koran. They skidded to a halt, throwing their arms up to block the smoke from reaching their eyes.
With no other choice, Koran ran to his right. Unsure of what he was doing, Katie followed him. Soon it became clear what Koran was going to do, and there wasn’t any time to stop him. Koran leaped through the fire and vanished behind the flames. Feeling daring and stupid, but with no other choice, Katie did the same thing. She hoped that Tyson was right behind her.
The flames burned her skin as she jumped through. Katie was unable to breathe with the black smoke filling her lungs. She rolled onto the ground, which instantly became wet. Katie fell into a ditch that then filled up with water. It wasn’t very deep, but Katie was soaked.
Katie heard splashes and knew that Tyson had jumped through the fire as well. It was raining now, but it wasn’t enough to put the fires out. Katie stood up and the three of them exchanged glances.
The ground started to shake. The rumbling quickly grew louder. Katie looked around for the source of the disturbance. To her right, she saw a stampede of rats about twenty feet tall charging at them.
Without a word, Katie, Tyson, and Koran ran to the left; there was a narrow street ahead of them. Katie figured that this was the way out.
The stone street beneath Katie’s feet felt harder, probably because she had been running for so long, but it was only something she just noticed. She didn’t pay much attention to it; her other problems were far more threatening.
The three of them didn’t look back once as they ran down the small street, walls on either side so high that they couldn’t see the top.
Right, left, and another left, they ran through the city’s maze but no matter how fast or far they went, the giant rats were still hot on their heels. Katie was sure the roads had changed on them again. This time, there were no more buildings to be seen, just wall after wall after wall. It was almost as if they were the rats themselves.
Because the walls were so close to each other, Katie, Tyson and Koran bounced off them each time they made a sharp turn. The rats would ricochet off of them loudly, tumble over a few times in clumsiness, but it barely decreased their speed.
Katie, Tyson, and Koran reached a point where they ran straight for a while, with no turn available to choose. Here the rats were able to gain speed on them. Katie ran as fast as she could but knew the rats were getting closer.
Ahead of them part of the walls crumbled and formed a large pile of stone and rocks. Their only path was clear; they had to climb over the rocks.
The three of them jumped onto the rocks and climbed as fast as they could. They must have climbed about forty feet high. The rocks were wet and made it dangerous to climb quickly. But they didn’t have any other choice. Katie slipped and scraped her elbow.
Soon enough, the rats were attempting to climb the rocks. They were so big that it made it difficult. At first, the rats merely shifted the stones and caused them to roll on top of them, but the rats were too big to be hurt.
Katie panicked when a rat’s claw grazed her leg. It tore her pants easily but luckily didn’t cut her deep. Katie’s arm swung down when she slipped again.
A thin sheet of ice spread out across the rocks. The rats were unable to climb up this and fell to the base of the pile. Some of them fell onto their backs and were unable to turn themselves upright.
Tyson and Koran helped Katie to the top of the rock pile as they had already made it. It wasn’t hard to climb down the other side of it. Ahead of them was just another long road that went straight.
For a moment, they were safe. Breathing heavily, they took their short time to rest. But it was only a moment. Small pipes grew out of the walls and jutted onto their path. A thick and bubbly liquid gushed out of them. Katie leaned closer to inspect. It was a black goo that smelled strongly smoke and tar.
The liquid came out fast and hit the tip of Katie’s shoes. She heard a sizzle as the tar ate away her shoe slightly. Katie jerked her foot back.
“It’s like some sort of acid!” Katie yelled and ran. Tyson and Koran were right behind her. Katie ignored the pain in her now uncovered toes as she stubbed them with every other
