I watched the black void. It was so dark over there.
“Boys?” she whispered.
Hurried footsteps, then the triplets were in the room. The ax-bloke had a bandage on his head but was back in action.
Shame.
“Have you seen something?” she asked.
“No,” the biggest triplet answered. “But we hear it. Must’ve followed us.”
The noise again, a rattling. It wasn’t loud, more of a gentle sound. Tessa moved to the left side of the doorway and flipped a switch. The warehouse was suddenly revealed under weak light. A few of the strip bulbs blinked, unable to stabilize. The floor was wet and muddy, and I could see a few different closed doors, the one at the far end an emergency exit.
Poxy thing better open!
“Good to see the lights work,” I said. Stupid Conclave and trying to be all creepy with keeping them off.
“Hush!” she hissed.
The rattling was consistent, and I heard clicking footsteps with it. No human foot made that sound unless they had pod-influenced talons.
Crap!
It stepped out of the dark.
Tessa let out a squeak, the men fanning around her.
The creature’s head was rounded at one end, narrowing into a thin needle-like point at the other end where it was a spike with an opening, a weird yellow mucus dripping from the hole that must’ve been its mouth. A necklace of finger bones hung around its neck, rattling as it walked. Its eyes were a faint pink with no pupil I could see. Dragging behind it was a flap of yellow that looked like an empty sack.
It’s entire skin, without a hair in sight, was candy-striped red and white in a twisted, and I mean mega-twisted, resemblance to Santa. In fact, it was only because it was the festive season that I was going there.
What the actual fuck?
The creature stood on two clawed feet, its legs spindly, slightly bent as if it were about to jump. The arms were up like a praying mantis—one hand a nasty-looking spike, the other a three-fingered horror. There were two rippled swellings on its body with what could only be spiky nipples. The swollen bumps didn’t match in proportion, a cross between sores and breasts. Around its waist, tied to string, was another set of bones—bigger than the fingers around its neck. They knocked together as it walked, its attention on Tessa.
“Get back!” the ax-man bellowed.
“It followed us!” the big guy bellowed. “I knew we shouldn’t have dumped that body!”
What?
The creature pounced without warning, driving its spiked arm into the ax-man’s skull. He went down dead as the spike was retracted.
“No!” Tessa squeaked.
The remaining men double-teamed the creature. Sword-guy met the same fate as his brother with the ax while the big guy fell out of the way just in time.
“Shit!” he yelled. “Shit!”
The creature hissed but returned its attention to Tessa.
“Help me,” Tessa pleaded.
The big guy didn’t look so set on helping her. His wide eyes took in his dead brothers, then he was on his feet, running, leaving his hammer behind.
The candy-striped creature didn’t care. It was too busy eyeing up Tessa.
Red and white. That thing in the trees …
Honey, I think I’ve found the bone-stealer …
“This, this is all you!” Tessa hissed at me.
I didn’t answer her, instead planning my sprint.
It was really interested in Tessa.
What body had the big guy been talking about?
Ugh! No time for that now!
“This is what you brought down on us.” Tessa pulled a knife from her pocket. “Creatures like this.”
I really needed to be running like hell.
The creature kept moving toward her as she slowly backed away.
“Stay back!” Tessa hissed at it! “Stay back, pod-born!”
It lowered itself.
It was gonna—
The creature pounced on her, sending her onto her back. She screamed as the creature’s pointed head broke through the center of her chest. Blood sprayed from the wound.
With its spiky hand, it stabbed her in the side repeatedly as she writhed and screamed.
Oh, crap.
Oh, bloody crap!
Without any more hesitation, I bolted, heading straight for the exit door.
It didn’t open when I slammed into it.
I spun back, expecting the stripy fucker to be behind me.
It wasn’t. The creature didn’t so much as look at my way.
“Bollocks,” I whispered.
I tried another door to my right. Locked.
Double bollocks.
Tessa had stopped screaming. The creature tore into her thigh, cutting right through denim and flesh until its mantis-like hand pulled out her femur.
I swallowed back the vomit that came up, averting my eyes as more wet, slicing noises followed.
Man, this was such wankery bollocks of the first degree.
I had no spear, my ribs were aching like crazy, and my phone was gone.
This place wouldn’t be my resting place. No way. One of these doors had to be open, so I didn’t have to go through the dark doorway it was blocking. No, I couldn’t think about that being the only way out. Nope. Always looking on the friggin’ bright side of hell.
I went to take a step forward, and the creature looked up at me.
Shite on a bike!
The mess it’d made of Tessa was … I had to hold back the puke again. It’d removed her ribs, a collection of bones now placed into that yellow sack.
So much blood.
It was still watching me. My own bones were lead, weighing me down on the spot. Those pink eyes were rolling in their sockets, scrutinizing me. I could run around it, then try and loop back and get through that door. It was so dark through there, and I had no idea what obstacles would be in my way. I mean, of course, there would be something in there to make me fall flat on my face. Why wouldn’t there be?
The creature tilted its pointed head and hissed. Its legs quivered, lowering, that clawed hand flexing. More yellow ooze dripped out of its mouth, each drop a heavy splatter on the warehouse floor.
Shitshitshitshitshit!
I’d have to go for it, pound the ground because my life depended on it.
One.
Two.
Three.
It went back to ripping Tessa apart.
I’d almost pissed myself.
Slowly, so over this shit,
