Tears ran down Abby's face as she fumbled down the stairs, her hands shaking, clutching her hastily packed belongings.

'I don't want to go,' she cried. 'I can stay and fight with you and mother.'

Helping with her wooden chest, a look of dread on his thin tired face, her father responded, 'You are too young to fight.'

'But you were fourteen when you signed up for the king's army and fought in your first battle. And I don't have to fight. I can help in other ways. I can join the city's potion brewers in finding a cure.'

'Please, let's not argue. Your mother and I would feel better if you evacuated the city with all the other younglings. Do it for us.'

Eyes now swollen and her vision a blur, Abby replied, 'But I may never see you again. You can't make me go.'

'Don't talk like that, my little one. We'll see each other again. We'll defeat the Mad Prince's plague, and you'll return home. Things will go back to normal, and you'll finally be able to go to potions' school.'

Potions' school? For Abby that felt like a dream now, another life, yet it was only two weeks ago that she was packing her chest with books and equipment, ready to board at the School for Potion Makers. Then everything, everyone's lives turned upside down. The plague was swift.

Looking down his crooked nose, a battlefield injury, Abby's father repeated, 'We'll see each other again. You just need to leave.'

'But leave where?' Abby asked. 'Do you know where they're taking us?'

'I wasn't privy to such information. Only the people who needed to know were told.'

'Why?'

'Just in case the memories remain after infection, but where you're going is somewhere far from here. Somewhere safer. Far from . . . everything.'

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Abby saw her mother. She too was crying as she held open the front door, revealing a waiting carriage outside pulled by a scaly green wingless dragon. Scared children and older younglings from the neighborhood were scrambling to get on, their parents clambering to lend a hand.

Suddenly, a loud groan followed by a ripping roar thundered down the street, making Abby, her parents and everyone outside pause to wail in response.

'That sounded close,' blubbered Abby, her legs turning to mush for the umpteenth time since the plague broke out. 'Do you think they've broken through the barricades?'

Her father and mother didn't respond but the old gray man perched on top of the carriage bellowed, 'Hurry up. I can't wait around forever. We are running well behind the others, half a day at least.'

'Quick,' Abby's mother cried out, grabbing a purple robe from a coat rack and wrapping it around her daughter, 'this could be the last transport.'

The three jostled out of the front door. And as they got to the carriage, the wooden chest was tossed onto the back and tied down with the other belongings.

'Now, get on,' said Abby's father.

Abby looked longingly at her parents and sniffled, 'Please don't make me. I want to stay with you. I won't get in anyone's way I promise. I'll be a good daughter.'

Her father cupped her cheeks and wiped away a tear. 'You already are a good daughter. No, a beautiful, smart, wonderful daughter. A daughter any father would be overjoyed to have.' He then said sternly, 'But do it now. Get on the carriage.'

Abby launched her arms around her parents, gave them both blubbering kisses before hesitantly jumping on, the carriage bursting to overflowing. And with no seat for her to sit, she crouched on the floor beside a young boy from across the street. His name was Jacob and he looked terrified like everyone else.

'Are we going to die?' the seven-year-old wept.

Abby caressed the young boy's curly black hair away from his face and repeated to him what her father had said, 'Where we're going will be a lot safer than here.'

Jacob nodded and clutched Abby's hand tightly, his little fingers half the size of hers.

A few more younglings climbed on board before the driver shouted, 'That's it. We're off. GET ON!'

Abby was about to look out of the window, to see her parents for possibly the last time, when the carriage bolted away in haste. And before she knew it, they were flying through the empty streets, through the makeshift safe zone with walls of stone as high as the thatched roofs of the city's buildings.

They were drifting through a square, past a marble statue of King Adalwin mounted on his battle saber cat, when a roar punctured the air.

'Dear gods,' the driver swore, and the carriage shook violently to a shuddering halt.

Abby thrashed around, bodies crumbling to the floor. Shrieks melded with the raspy, aggressive howls of the wingless dragon before another roar echoed all around.

Clawing back to her feet, Abby threw her head out of a window, joining several others. And as she looked past the wingless dragon and down the street, terror grabbed her and didn't let go.

A grotesque creature with muscly growths and as tall as the carriage swayed madly, gobs of yellow froth hemorrhaging from its tusked and warped mouth. And its eyes, bulging with veins and hidden under folds of more growths, glared.

Abby couldn't believe it had been a human once, the shredded clothes dangling on its contorted skin the only hint it ever was. The Mad Prince's plague was ruthless and unmerciful, a revenge only he could have spread across the city.

The creature opened its mouth and gave out an ear-splitting rumble, making the air around it vibrate beyond anything Abby had heard. Then with its gnarled and clawed feet, it kicked the ground like a raging three-headed bull before pounding toward the carriage.

Abby tensed up as the driver swore again.

'Dear gods,' he yelled.

'What is it, Ted?' a voice cried out.

A tall boy poking his head out next to Abby, someone Abby had known since she was a child, stuttered loudly back, 'One of them has broken into the safe zone.'

Screams filled the carriage as the driver bellowed, 'Everyone, hold on tight.'

But nobody had time.

'GET ON!!'

The carriage spun around fast, almost sending Abby flying out of the window, but she managed to join the rest back inside. And as they took off in the opposite direction, more screams erupted as the monster's pounding feet grew louder. It was gaining on them.

With another swift turn, they drifted down a wide street.

Market Street, Abby recognized. Normally it would have been packed with vendors selling their wares but now the stalls were silent and still.

Yet in a flash, one exploded beside them, it morphing into another monster and sending debris rocketing all around. A large splinter pierced the carriage with ferocity, missing a girl's head by inches.

'Another one's after us,' stuttered Ted.

'Dear gods,' Abby swore this time, watching the infected bound towards them. And as she kept her eyes on the monster through the window, the carriage turned right, barreled left, zipped over a bridge and tumbled down a set of stone steps leading to the city's western gate.

'We're almost there,' shouted a blond-haired girl, as the monster Abby was watching disappeared from view.

But then . . .

WHAM!

The carriage tipped onto two wheels, throwing everyone around once again, before crashing back down.

Abby had no time to stabilize herself before another came.

WHAM!

A gigantic knobby fist smashed through the back of the carriage, blowing out a massive hole.

Abby only saw an ascending flash of distorted flesh when the carriage lurched violently, the ceiling bowing with weight.

'IT'S ON THE ROOF!' screeched Ted.

Yells of scared protests from the driver rang out before he sent the carriage swerving, eventually sending the monster flying off and through the wall of a tavern across the street.

But that's when everyone saw it, through the hole in the back.

There were just too many to count, like a herd of wild beasts. All on the hunt and right behind them, closing in fast.

It was only moments later though when Abby heard something welcoming and glorious. The sound of grinding.

Abby shot her head out of the window and saw the western gate. It was opening, soldiers on top of the gatehouse, ready to fire down with their crossbows.

'COME ON!' the driver bellowed to the wingless dragon. 'COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT! GET ON!!'

Yes, come on, begged Abby.

And their prayers were answered.

The carriage swept under the gate, it slamming back down just before the monsters could follow, their bodies pummeling into the thick metal bars, morphing, squishing into a hideous fleshy blob.