Falling Onto Outlast

When the clever and quirky Harlow Okino woke up in a strange world, the first thing she thought was, “Man, sinkholes suck.” The memory of falling into that pitch-black void was still fresh in her mind. “What the heck is that!?” I exclaimed as I ran from creatures that looked as though they had crawled straight out of a horror movie. People surged around me, shouting, stumbling, pushing past one another. There were too many of them to count. The sounds they made were raw and unfiltered, nothing like the polished screams you hear in films. These were real. Everything about this was real. A woman tripped just ahead of me. My breath caught. My stomach dropped. The look on her face was enough. She understood what was about to happen. I did too. I hesitated. Just for a second. It was enough. A scaly creature slipped in behind her, its claws already raised. It struck before she could even scream. I tore my gaze away, but the image stayed burned into my mind. The creature reminded me of Blue, the velociraptor from Jurassic World, but there was nothing familiar or reassuring about it. There was no intelligence in its eyes. No restraint. This can’t be happening. I tried to tell myself it was a nightmare, something pulled from all the violent movies I had watched. But the weight in my chest, the sound of pounding footsteps, the heat of panic—it was all too real. Another shriek cut through the air. Sharp. Inhuman. Close. I glanced back. Something was chasing me. Its shape was wrong. Too human, yet not human at all. Black fur stretched over a towering frame, its mouth lined with sharp, uneven teeth. My pulse spiked. I had never imagined myself as prey. I never planned to become one either. So I ran. Faster than I ever had in my life. Faster than I thought I could. If it meant surviving, I would outrun anything. Even Usain Bolt. Thrown into a world overrun by monsters eager to devour her, Harlow and her newfound companions fight to survive as they search for a way back to Earth. A love story? There might be one somewhere along the way. “Have you ever watched Titanic?” Harlow asked the boy beside her. He shot her a look that said everything. Now wasn’t the time. Harlow glanced back. Their pursuers were closing in. “Well, if you had, you’d recognize this line,” she said. “I jump, you jump.” Before he could respond, she grabbed Akari’s hand. Something unfamiliar flickered through his chest, brief and unsteady. Then she jumped. No warning. No hesitation. She pulled him with her as they plunged over the edge of the waterfall. As they fell, he caught a glimpse of her face. She wasn’t afraid. Her eyes shone with certainty, as if she already knew they would survive. And in that moment, he understood. If anyone was going to make it through this world, it would be her.