Alone Somewhere

I’m alone.
I’ve been driving for what? Ten hours now? And there's nobody. Fucking nobody, not a single fucking car on the road or pedestrian on the sidewalks of the towns I pass by. To think that I used to hate pedestrians…
No lights, either. Whether it be streetlights or house lights or even the lights at the gas station, the world is just dark. I only have my own headlights to illuminate anything in front of me. Shit…
I don’t even know what's happening. Or how I got here. I feel like such an idiot; I’m recording into my phone as if it’ll go anywhere. No service, nothing at all. There's just… nothing.
I feel like I should describe how I even got into this mess. I can’t just ramble on forever. Alright, steady your nerves, Dan… oh, that's me by the way. Daniel Edwards.
I lived -live in Chicago, in Archer Heights. I worked downtown: a desk job at one of the big financial buildings about a twenty-minute drive away. That's where I was coming from when this all happened. 
I was driving back from work, eating a burrito, you know how it is, just minding my business. I’m driving along one of the busier roads near Millenium Park, and I come to the intersection. The light was green; my turn to go, right? So I scarf down the last bit of my burrito as I’m turning across the intersection.
There's a split-second when I see the truck barreling towards me before everything goes black. I should have died. That was a semi-truck going at least 40 ploughing directly into the side of my dinky little sedan. There was no way I should have survived that.
Well, I woke up again. Still sitting in my car, at the exact spot in the intersection where I got hit, but everything's just fine. My head is aching, and I have a ringing in my ears, but there's no blood or broken bones or anything. I stepped out of the car to check it, but there was nothing, no damage whatsoever. It was as scuffed as it was when I pulled out for work this morning.
That was when I noticed it was night. And I mean it when I say NIGHT. The streetlights weren’t on, and neither were the lights in any of the buildings. I looked up at all the skyscrapers, and nothing. Pitch-black. And then it caught my eye.
No moon. There was just… no moon. No stars, either. The sky was just… black. 
Then I heard it. The wheezing, from across the intersection to my left. I thought it was maybe someone who could explain what was happening, so I pulled out the flashlight on my phone and shone it at the noise.
I don’t want to know what I saw. I caught a glimpse and I fucking lost it. Jumped right back into the car, shut the door, and slammed on the gas. I heard the wheezing right behind me, and I drove so fast that I almost lost control on the curb. But I didn’t, and I drove right on out of there.
I knew I had to get out, I needed to get out. Of Chicago, of the whole damn region maybe. I just drove down the streets to where I knew the interstate was, the way too quiet and way too empty streets. I didn’t see any more of those things, but I knew they saw me.
I kept taking turns and just driving. I think I got turned around at one point, and I almost had a panic attack. But I managed to find the interstate, and I just drove. I started slowing down about nine miles out of the city, and since then, I’ve just been driving. 
I… I found a car, about an hour back ago. On the side of the highway. Which is weird, because there have been zero others.
I stopped the car. I know, I was being an idiot, but I stopped the car, and I got out to investigate. It was gray, a Toyota Corolla. It was busted up, BAD. The front looked like it had hit something, something big, and the windshield was ripped apart. I shone my phone flashlight into the inside. There was blood. A lot of blood. And flesh, and bones. Whoever had been driving this car must have hit or been hit by something, which ripped apart the front of the car and then… um… him.
Then the wheezing came. I almost screamed, I was so fucking terrified. I caught a glimpse of it, walking through the trees at the side of the road towards me, before I booked it back to the car. I managed to get out again, and I couldn’t see it behind me. It also didn’t pull the trope of appearing in front of me right as I turned around again, so thank God.
But I’ve been noticing them. A lot more, now. I catch glimpses of them on the side of the road, in the headlights. They’re tall. They’re too tall, their limbs are way too long. Ugh, I can see one right now… you stay right there, motherfucker…
And they’re… um… getting closer. At the side of the road, for now, but every time I see one, it's closer to the road. An hour ago, they were in the treeline, and now they’re stepping onto the concrete. Shit, this is bad. This is really, really bad.
I um, I don’t think I’m gonna live through this. My gas tank is getting close to empty, and my phone is on 20% battery. I can’t turn around; my gas tank will run out before I get to the last town. I can’t get out and run, they’ll catch me easily. All I can do is drive, just keep driving, but they’ll inevitably get too close and grab me.
I have a gun, in the glovebox. I don't want to use it, but I don't want to end up like him back there. Worst comes to worst, those things won't be getting the pleasure of killing me.
This has been Dan Edwards, signing off. Probably forever. I just… I just wish I did more. Always thought I’d at least live to be over forty. I would have started my life by then...
Category:Monsters