It looked like a cluster of dead branches until it started to move, curling and uncurling with all the ease of well oiled hydraulics. In the dim evening light and dense undergrowth it blended in seamlessly to the point where anyone walking would easily miss them.
She'd been busy retying her shoelaces and fallen behind her friends, now distracted in her crouched position by the clusters of dead branches now crawling all around her. Calling for her friends was her first instinct and one that she quickly rejected, not wanting to draw unwanted attention and not knowing exactly what these creatures were capable of.
She reached for her phone instead, moving slow as molasses off a spoon and praying they didn't notice. Her fingers flew across the keypad as she desperately tried to reach her friends and get them to turn back for her, claiming she was hurt and needed their help - it wasn't entirely untrue either.
Instead of typing back, she heard them call out for her and head towards her current hiding place, completely unaware that they were walking among monsters. She tried to tell them to be quiet but they were too worried, too busy calling out to glance at their phones and see her frantic messages.
She didn't see how it happened. She only heard them scream, heard meat tearing and and several thuds as their bodies dropped. The dead branches nearby all scuttled off towards the carnage, leaving her free to run the other way.
She did not look back.
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