I’m thankful that my legs seem to be full of strength, and I start through the yard with haste. I pass tombstone after tombstone and aged angel statues, searching for a way out. Trying desperately to get home to Emma. The child lost her mother at such a young age, and she could be home right now, scouring the house for her misplaced father. I’ll hug her until the sun comes up when I get home. I may, in fact, never let go.
Through a break in the brush that lines the edge of the cemetery, I see a streetlight. I move faster, feeling as if I’m in a race against time to get back home and make sure that Emma is okay.
I come to a rod iron fence and wrap my hands around two of its posts. I look both ways down the structure, unable to find a gate or an opening. So I climb.
In mere seconds, I scale the eight-foot fence and land on the sidewalk.
Something growls nearby.
I freeze. My arms are down at my sides and I can’t seem to move them. The growl turns to a hiss, sounding like a large, angry dog. I slowly turn around to face the source of the sound.
My eyes widen.
Twenty paces or so down the sidewalk, kneeling down between two of the light posts, there is a figure. A human-shaped figure. From the crew-cut hairstyle, I can identify him as a male. I want to guess how old he might be, but my eyes go straight to his mouth, which is covered in thick blood. I gaze up to his eyes, which are pale, matching his milky-white skin.
He tilts his head to the side, and that’s when I finally notice the sprawling legs on the sidewalk beside him. A hand quivers, almost as if it’s trying to signal me.
The kneeling man hisses, and I notice under the light that he is no man at all, but a creature.
The body lying on the concrete raises its head, and I see the face of a young man. A chunk appears to have been taken out of his throat. He looks to me with empty eyes and mouths two words: ‘Help me’.
The creature focuses back to its prey, and mounts the man’s neck. I hear the tearing of muscle and tissue above a hollowed out cry. The thing puts both its arms out and looks up to the sky, then spits out a large patch of flesh. The body underneath ceases to move, and the creature lets out a scream that sounds like that of a large bird from a B-horror movie.
I turn, and I run like hell.
I don't look back; I just run.
I come to an intersection, and I veer right to head down a different street. Looking around, I finally realize where I am. The diner, the laundry mat, Sam’s Barber Shop, and that boutique women’s clothing store... I’m on Main Street. Home is only about a mile away.
My legs stop when I hear a sound.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Following the noise, I turn my head toward Maggie’s Diner. Like every other building on Main Street, its lights are off. But the noise sounds as if it is coming from behind the building, so I carefully make my way across the street and step onto the sidewalk. The closer I get, the more defined the noise becomes.
Crunch.
Crunch.
I head around the side of the building, and as I make my way toward the back, I see the shadow of a figure on a large wall. I follow its shape to the origin, and my eyes come across another creature. It stands in front of a dumpster, leaned in toward something. I remain still as my heart punches the inside of my chest.
My eyes widen.
A person — a woman, I believe — is pinned to the dumpster by the creature’s hand wrapped around her throat. I look into her eyes. They’re crimson red, blood spewing from each side of her neck where the monster’s head is buried. Her mouth moves, but no sound comes out. She looks as if she wants to scream, but her voice is apparently gone.
The grotesque sounds cease as the beast pulls back from the woman. It growls, then it slowly turns to look back at me. Like the one I saw on the sidewalk, its eyes are so pale, its skin a stark grey. The thing hisses at me, flashing its teeth, and though its face is covered in blood, I can see the protruding fangs inside.
The woman cannot be helped. But, Emma...
I turn and, again, I’m running.
I don’t look back, and I hear another howl in the distance. There’s no other choice but to ignore it and just keep running; I have to get to my only living child.
The entrance to my subdivision is only about another mile away, and I keep churning my legs. Adrenaline must be pumping through me, because I’m by no means tired. I feel like I could run for the rest of the night if I had to. And I’m starting to realize that it’s very possible that I might have to do just that.
I reach my neighborhood without coming across another creature. In fact, I haven’t even come across another human. I know it’s late, but you’d think that someone would be outside. What in the hell is going on? And was that thing I saw back there what I thought it was? No time...
As I turn into my neighborhood, just when I thought I’d wander the night alone, a young woman bursts out of her front door and comes running out of her house. I don’t know her, but she’s screaming for me to help her. But, Emma. I can’t stop. So I don’t. That same grotesque howl rings in my ears, and a monster charges out of the house after the woman. It’s
