The New Neighbor

filled his nostrils like mud and made him gag. Still clutching the charred wood in one gloved fist, he swung his other arm up until he felt the cane connect with something hard and crusty. The creature released a wet snarl that reminded Prosky of the sound of muscle being peeled away from bone and he struck again, harder. The snarl became a scream and the third time, when he stabbed the cane upward and felt its tip sink into soft tissue, the creature's grip loosened.

Prosky struggled and fought, swinging the cane again and again until, with a frustrated screech, the claws released him. The ground rushed up at him like a giant fist.

He slammed onto Lorelle's front lawn and rolled. His breath gushed from his lungs and he knew at least one rib had broken, but the sweep of powerful wings overhead made the pain easy to ignore.

He opened his eyes and saw Robby's sneakers an inch in front of his face.

'C'mon!' he rasped, clutching Prosky's arm. 'Let's get outta here!'

Movement hurt, but he did his best to ignore the pain. Still gripping his cane, Prosky crawled on his knees and elbows first, then stumbled to his feet and started down the street toward his car with Robby.

The sound of wings was gone. So was the awful smell.

Even the dogs had stopped barking.

All they could hear was the sibilant whisper of the wind, their rushing footsteps and gasping breaths.

Then glass shattered.

A frenzy of vicious barking echoed through the night.

They could hear the dogs behind them, their claws clicking against the pavement and splashing through puddles, their slobbering pants for breath between each fit of barking.

Prosky tried to run faster and ignore the piercing pain in his ribs, but he fell behind Robby.

Then she came again with a scream like a rake dragging over a chalkboard.

Robby moved further ahead, glancing back over his shoulder, eyes more white than brown.

The car parked at the end of Deerfield grew closer as the pain in Prosky's chest grew more debilitating, preventing him from drawing enough breath as he ran.

The stench fell over him again, making breathing even more difficult.

He desperately willed someone to hear, to come outside, knowing she would not want to be seen by others, not here where she lived and preyed on those around her. But Prosky knew that no one would come. They were all sleeping… very deeply.

* * * *

Robby reached the car, opened the driver's side door and got in, sliding over to the passenger's side. He looked out at Prosky and began screaming, 'Hurry hurry my god hurry!”

Prosky dove into the car and started to pull the door closed as he tossed his cane into the back seat, but -

– one of the dogs was on him. It closed its jaws on his left leg, trying to drag him back out of the car.

The second dog was fast approaching and Prosky knew that if it got there, he wouldn't stand a chance. He snapped his left fist back, releasing the blade, and slashed.

The dog reared its head back with a pathetic wail when the blade caught its snout, digging a deep gash over its nose and lips. But it dove forward again immediately and -

– its eyes flashed a deep glowing red as the gash peeled back, opening like a blooming flower on black raisin- like flesh that sagged grotesquely over a flat simian face and a mouthful of jagged yellow fangs glistening with clear fluids. As its right front leg lifted, bony clawed fingers sprouted from the paw, swiping at Prosky's abdomen.

The creature no longer bore any resemblance to a Malamute, or any other kind of dog. As it lunged forward, Prosky drove the blade into its throat and pushed with all his strength. The creature tumbled backward out of the car and Prosky jerked his arm back, pulled the door closed and locked it. He started the ignition as the creature threw itself against the car, rocking it like a boat on choppy waters, and clattered onto the hood.

Prosky babbled obscenities as he jerked the car into gear, then cried out in shock because -

– the other one was on top of the car now, pounding on the roof so hard that it was crumpling inward like cardboard.

Robby was slouched way down in the seat making small, horrified sounds in his throat.

Prosky's foot jammed the gas pedal to the floor. The tires spun on the wet pavement for a moment, then the car roared away from the curb and sped down Mistletoe.

The creature on top of the car rumbled over the roof, down the back window, and Prosky glanced into his rearview mirror in time to see it fall off the trunk, gracefully landing in a sinister crouch in the road as the thing that had been Lorelle rounded the corner, flying no more than six feet from the ground.

'Son of a bitch, it's her!' Robby cried, looking over his shoulder. 'Drive, hurry, go, go, drive!'

The creature hunkering below her hunched its shoulders and sprouted two frail-looking wings, broke into a run and lifted itself into the air.

Robby babbled, 'Oh Jesus shit fuck goddamn!”

The creature clinging to the hood of the car like a stone gargoyle perched on the corner of an ancient skyscraper opened its mouth in a wet grin as its wings broke free and spread wide, blocking Prosky's view of the road. It lifted its hands – three fingers and one stubby thumb each – and scraped it black claws over the windshield, leaving deep trenches in the glass, then flattened its palms against the glass and pushed.

The windshield sparkled with silver webs a second before it fell in pieces onto the dashboard, sprinkling their laps.

Black arms rippling with stringy muscles reached into the car as if to embrace Prosky and -

– he crushed the brake pedal with his left foot.

The red eyes widened as the creature snapped backward and fell to the pavement.

Robby slammed into the dashboard, then crumpled in a heap on the floor.

Prosky hit the accelerator again and all four tires rumbled over the body on the road. The creature's scream was so loud, Prosky could feel it vibrate through the body of the car.

It sickened him.

He glanced in the mirror. She was only a few yards behind him, and the smaller creature only a few feet behind her, while the other twitched in a heap on the road.

Prosky sped up, nearing the intersection of Mistletoe and Churn Creek Road, icy air slapping his face through the broken windshield. The light was red. He ignored it.

A pickup truck coming from the right of the intersection screamed to a stop, missing Prosky's car by mere inches as Prosky swerved and continued toward Hilltop.

'Where's a fucking cop when you need one?' he shouted at the steering wheel.

He barely slowed as he turned right on Hilltop, relieved to see the Motel 6 sign less than a block away. Prosky looked in the rearview mirror and saw -

– nothing.

They weren't there.

But he knew they were not gone.

'I think we're safe for a little while,' he said.

In a flat, numb voice, Robby repeated, 'For a… luh-little while.' There was blood on his face and a lump had swollen on his forehead where he'd slammed into the dashboard.

Prosky's tires squealed as he drove into the motel parking lot, not bothering to slow down for the speed bump as he drove around to his room at the back of the building and slammed to a stop in front of his door. He killed the engine, pulled the keys from the ignition and staggered around the car without his cane, leaving the door wide open. The deadly blade still protruded from his left hand.

Robby got out and followed him, moving haltingly as he glanced cautiously in every direction. Fishing the key from his coat pocket, Prosky unlocked the door and kicked it open. He pressed the tip of the blade against the doorjamb until it slid back into his hand with a click. He stepped inside, leaning against the door as he took the charred wood from his coat pocket and wrote quickly as Robby watched.

First, the circle.