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Tags: Fiction, Short Story, Short Fiction

The only comfort I had now was the cool bricks of the alleyway pressing against my back. My heart felt as if it was going to beat out of my chest. I could hear the sounds of the creature devouring its prey only a few feet away. I pushed myself more into the wall behind me, wishing I could just melt away. Melt away from this hellish nightmare. Melt away from this creature’s terrible grasp on my consciousness. My mind was jumbled- I wanted to move but my legs were frozen in place. My breathing was shallow, and my heartbeat continued to race. Finally, as if on cue, I began to gain control of my legs again as the sounds of the creature stopped. I didn’t even wait to hear footsteps. Wait to see what the creature would do. I just ran. Ran as far as I could. As far as my legs could take me, and then some.

The sweat dripped down my face as I bent over, my hand on the cold brick wall of the seemingly endless alleyway. My vision began to fade, but I shook my head, forcing myself to stay conscious. “No… not… yet…” I breathed.

The only way I could describe the sound I heard was nails on a chalkboard, inching closer and closer. There was a corner directly behind me, so I did not see the source immediately. I turned my entire body towards the sound, and started to slowly back up. I continued to try and control my breathing, but it was getting harder and harder with every step, and with each second the sound got closer.

The sound got louder with every step I made. Yet, it was a slow incline- as if that thing was taunting me. Like a cat playing with a near-to-death bird. Continuing to try and fly out of its grasp, but failing every time only to be pulled back in.

I tripped. I laid on my back, trying desperately to force my limbs to move. To move. All I had to do was move. “No, come on… you have to… get up…”

I saw it. It’s two small black eyes stared at my feeble figure. It had to be at least eight feet tall, it’s ghostly pale skin sticking out like a sore thumb to the dark-red bricks of the alleyway. It turned towards me, snaking around the corner. It had 6 long legs, each ending in a humanoid-looking hand. It’s mouth stretched open, revealing endless rows of teeth spiraling into an endless void of nothingness. I opened my own mouth to let out a scream, but I couldn’t muster anything. It approached, each of its limbs moving differently than the other.

I thought I was dead. I thought that it was the end, to this monstrosity that every cell in my body screamed should not exist. Then, I heard a yell. A few more joined in. A chorus of battle cries filled the empty air, and I felt my muscles loosen up a bit. I flipped over on my hands and knees, struggling to get to my feet. Facing opposite of the creature, I saw human figures. One, two, three… At least a dozen. As they ran past me, still yelling their battle cries, one stopped and knelt down. I looked up at her soft face as she held out a hand. “Need some help?”, she asked in a rough yet comforting tone.

I nodded slowly, placing my hand in hers. With a surprising burst of strength, she pulled me up to a standing position. She pulled me to her side, helping me to stand fully.

“I noticed your ankle is sprained from that fall you took. You should be fine, with a bit of rest.” She shook her head a bit and started to help me walk the way she had come from. “Yet… we don’t have time for rest. At least, not now.”

I looked at her, a bit puzzled. “What do you mean by that, uh…” My sentence trailed off as I realized I knew nothing about her, I just was following her blindly. I shook my head to try and collect my thoughts and pushed away from her and grabbed onto the wall of the alleyway.

“Hey, what are you doing, you’re hurt!” She said, taking a step towards me.

I scrambled a bit further away from her, still clutching the wall. “How… How do I know I can trust you? I don’t know a thing about you.”

Taking another step towards me, her face softening again into something closer to pity than anything else. “Kid, you won’t know anything about me. I’m just your escort- you need to follow me, if you don’t want that thing coming after you again.”

“Why? Your pals already chased it off.”

She shook her head, and took another step towards me and grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. “It already has your scent. That thing isn’t from our world. It will stop at nothing to get you. You need to come with me, or it will find you again and stop at nothing until it consumes you.”

“Then I’ll just leave the country, go overseas-”

“No, I don’t think you heard me right…” She grabbed my shoulders and pulled me towards her, her nose nearly touching mine. “It is not of our world. It can, and will find you, no matter where you go, and kill you. You can’t just run from it.” Her tone was strict and straight-to-the-point. I just nodded slowly, as I finally understood how much danger I was in.

A short story made nearly a year ago.