[center][b][i]Malakaus Ironhide[/center][/i][/b]

Malakaus tried to smile. It felt so odd and unnatural to him, but he needed Haven to not linger too much on what he had said. And even though he made her promise to leave him behind if he went down, he wasn't about to make it easy for the monsters. [b]"I'm sorry Haven... But don't think that I'm going to throw away my life either. I'm going to do my damnest to make sure we all get out of here alive. Come on, take the rat and let's head out."[/b] Malakaus let go of Haven's hand and readied his weapon. It was starting to get somewhat more quiet, meaning either that the monsters were going away or getting ready for another charge. Either way he wasn't going to be here for long.

Malakaus ran back into the street, always sure that Haven was a safe distance away but also near by. He had to be stealthy, which was quite easy when the entire town was in chaos and disarray. The screams masked their footsteps, and the flaming wreckage made for good hiding places. But as he sneaked around, he did find out one thing: his parents had escaped. He knew because he went back to his home by chance, and found a lot of corpses of the monsters, but none of his parents. He always knew they could 
do it, and who knows, he might even find them on the way to the city. While there, he took the time to scavenge from his home, but the only thing he could get that wasn't searing hot was an iron long sword. It's blade was thin but strong, Malakaus was fairly certain that this was one of his father's experimental pieces. Something about folding the iron for a sharper edge, but the details mattered little right now. Jury rigging a sheath, Malakaus strapped the sword to his waist so that he could use it in the event that he loses his pick axe.

There was just one final stretch before Malakaus and Haven, who was hopefully following, would make it into the forest. They were actually already at the edge of town, but that was the issue. There was a large open field between the town and the forest, and no amount of sneaking will conceal him or Haven once they're there. They would need to run the entire way, not stopping to fight and hopefully able to out run the monsters, who should be busy razing the town to chase them down. Malakaus tried to get a breath of air but instead got a lung full of smoke, so after clearing his throat he looked to Haven. [b]"This is it. We just have to clear the field and get into the forest. No more sneaking, just running. You ready?"[/b]

[center][b][i]Xia Yang[/center][/b][/i]

It was a very tight squeeze for all three to fit on the horse, but the beast didn't seem to even make a noise of complaint. The massive beast just kept running and running, trampling anything fortunate enough to get in it's way. Even the monsters couldn't do much against the four hundred pound animal that could stomp a whole through their chest, not that they didn't try anyways. While neither Xia or the other passengers took much if any damage from the monster attacks, the horse was getting cut up from their claws, and the best that Xia could do was give it soothing words and kicking any of the monsters within her reach. And just as they were a little over half-way across the town, a [b]dragon[/b] showed up. [b]"This cannot be happening!"[/b] 

If only the horse could see behind it that maybe it would go faster. As far as Xia knew, the dragon was with these monsters, which may mean much worse things were about to happen. And it happened sooner than Xia would realize. Just as they got out of the town, the horse finally collapsed, bleeding profusely from it's wounds. Xia had just enough time to push herself and the others off the horse before the beast crushed them, and Xia fell hard onto the ground. She was a bit bruised and battered, but the pain was ignored when she got a good look at the dragon. Fear took over her body, with words and thinking taking distant secondary priority. Once she was on her feet she simply ran towards the forest, putting as much distance as she could between herself and whatever was happening in the town of Halrock.