Chapter 1: Lucky breaks
Ben had been running for two months. He had been chased out of his small hometown by some demon snake women who were trying to claw at him. Then, oh let's see
in Grand Rapids, he made the mistake of trying to stock up on supplies at a mall where he ran into some cheerleaders, who later tried to bite his neck.
Toledo was a disaster, with overgrown pigeons flinging their feathers at him, which stuck in the bench he had ducked behind.
In Colombia…..well, you get the idea. Ben had always managed to get away, either by blocking off the monsters, or burning them to a crisp, which he still had no idea how he could do. Following the water had always been safer for him, giving him some renewed strength before he continued on.
This cycle continued on until he could see the Empire State Building on the horizon. Yeah, two months to walk from little old Lake Ann, Michigan, to perhaps the most famous city in the world; he should have felt proud. Instead, exhaustion and anxiety filled him. He knew, somewhere in this city, his luck would run out. But he had no choice. He started walking straight for the enormous building.
It took him about five hours to get to the doors. Surely, in the middle of New York, he shouldn't be attacked by anything. He was completely wrong. Across the street was perhaps the largest, scariest looking dog he had ever seen. It was pure black, with sharp, pointy teeth, and strong looking muscles. This thing could probably smack him twenty blocks out of his socks. Thankfully it was on a leash, but the owner wasn't any kinder looking. He had a bloodshot eye-yeah. A single eye, in the center of his face. His teeth were sticking out of his mouth in odd angles and looked just as muscular as his dog. He bore his eye straight at him, and Ben knew he was dead. The thing gave him a crooked smile and let go of the leash. His dog started dashing across the street, leaping over the traffic and lunged straight at Ben. He dove to the side, rolled, and ran for his life-for the umpteenth time. He heard the beast crash through the doors and some panicked screams. The one eyed guy crossed the street and whistled for his mutt. Ben turned down an alley and rushed into an open taxi.
"Where to, kid?" the driver asked, as if he picked up random kids off the sidewalk everyday.
"Sound beach." That was the very first thing to pop into his mind. The driver looked over Ben with a new interest and said, "Ride's on me."