My heart rate instantly doubled and I rushed out to the kitchen to see what it was. I tried to calm myself, probably just my parents home from town, Dusty should know better, but he's not always the smartest of dogs. I turned the kitchen lights on and then went to the porch. No one around, no car out in the driveway. I returned to the back room, it was probably simply the porch door slamming in the wind, Dusty was a very paranoid dog.
I tried to settle down to the movie once more. Dusty was still pacing, he was always nervous on windy nights. The mutant was just in the process of grafting someone else's head on his shoulders when Dusty stopped and stared up the stairs. Just before the power went off he began to growl.
This time, I was very nervous. Out here in the country, you assumed you were away from all the psychos and murderers, but then again, we had our fair share of oddballs out around here. That strange guy that used to come walking out of the woods in back of our house every morning last year, and then there was the fellow who had shot his father about five years back. I was imagining some rotten-toothed maniac from "The Deliverance" creeping through my parents' bedroom upstairs as I made my way out to the porch once again.
Over the front door was an old gun rack from when my Dad used to go deer hunting. I quickly and silently took one of the rifles down. Now, where were the bullets? I began rummaging through the cabinets, checking under the sink. Nothing. I opened up the door to the basement and grabbed my Dad's old hunting jacket and emptied the pockets. I was about to toss it aside when I felt something in the lining. There must have been a hole in one of the pockets. I tried finding it and then simply ripped out the inner lining and the bullet clattered to the floor.
I slammed the door to the kitchen shut and braced it with my foot as my fumbling fingers loaded the bullet into the gun. I grabbed a flashlight and then placed my hand on the outside door knob and was about to turn it when I felt it begin to turn in the opposite direction. I immediately shone the flashlight through the glass of the front door and saw the most indescribably hideous creature I ever wished to lay eyes upon.
It looked as if all of its pieces had been taken apart and put back together in the wrong order. Its arms were covered with layers of sharp barbs, its legs seemed far too thin to support its massive chest and its face seemed to have no recognizable features except for a monstrously large mouth. As I stared at it in horror and disbelief, the mouth opened and a fierce, yellow eyeball stared back at me. In my shock, I nearly dropped the gun. I managed to regain control in time to slide across the dead bolt. I then flung open the porch door and came face to face with a mirror image of the beast I just saw.
Without thought I leveled the rifle at the glaring eyeball and fired. The creature was flung backwards and I raced past it, knocking over the kitchen table as I ran, not waiting to see if the thing was still alive. I grabbed the cordless phone as I passed it and turned it on as I raced to the back door. The line was dead. I had to get outside, run to our neighbours, something. As I passed the back room, I saw Dusty cowering under the couch. I was thankful that he was a frightened dog, if not, he'd be dead now.
Shining the light out the back door showed nothing but the night. I flung the door open and began running across the knee deep field to the distant lights of our neighbour's house. I looked back over my shoulder and saw one of the creatures directly behind me. It leaped upon me and one of its claws dug into my leg. I fell to the ground and tried to fend off the beast but it was no longer there. I was lying in the field alone. The lights of the house came back on and I could hear screams coming from the tv.
"What the hell is going on?" I said aloud. Could I have dreamed it all?
I slowly got to my feet and felt the pain in my leg. There was a long tear
in my jeans and I could see a bloody gash below my knee. This was no dream,
but what was going on?
I walked slowly towards him, and spotted him cowering behind the tall grass. I reached down to stroke him, thankful that my dog hadn't totally abandoned me.
"Come on, boy," I said. "Let's go back to the house."
I walked slowly back, limping and sore from the cut in my thigh. Dusty followed closely behind, occasionally licking my hand to let me know he was still around.
The back door stood agape, and the sound emanating from the TV could be heard. I paused at the door and slowly looked in. There were no signs of the creatures. Or whatever they were. I tentatively put one foot into the doorway and entered the room. My breath caught in my throat as I surveyed the kitchen.
One chair had been knocked over, and the table was pushed against the wall. A bowl of fruits on the table, usually placed there by my mom, was now at the edge of the table, it's contents scattered across the floor. But as I moved toward the door to shut it I realised that it wasn't a dream.
Because there I saw the gaping hole in the wall where I shot the creature.
Except, there wasn't any creature there now. I could have sworn that I hit it. And yet, there were no signs of it. No sign of blood, or remains, or.. or anything!
I stood staring at it for a long time. I began to doubt myself again. Maybe I was dreaming, and was sleepwalking while having a nightmare. I scratched my head and thought that it was about time I gave up scary movies at night. Nevertheless, I did a thorough search around the house, checking the locks on the door and making sure everything was properly secured. I didn't have to worry about my parents; they had their own keys to get in.
As I made my way upstairs, I noticed that Dusty was still sniffing around the house. I watched him for awhile, then asked, "Hey, boy. What's the matter?" Dusty looked at me for a full minute, and decided to follow me to my room. I noticed that he did the same thing in the bedroom, sniffing under the bed and he kept looking out the window. He was also beginning to make me feel uneasy again.
I got into bed finally, after coaxing Dusty to settle down. I also took the gun with me, as I wasn't taking any chances. I left the bedside lamp on, and I settled down. But I couldn't sleep. Fact was, I wasn't really sure that what happened was a nightmare. It felt too - real. As I lay in bed, I started preparing myself for what would happen if the creatures decided to make another appearance. But before I got very far, I fell asleep.
I woke up with a start when the bedside lamp went off. My eyes were wide in the darkness, as I reached for the gun. But before I could touch it, I was dragged off the bed with such force, that I fell on the floor, and banged my head on the edge of the bed.
The pain was so intense that I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I was stunned, and for a moment, I didn't know what happened.
And in the blackness of the room, I saw those eyes again...
I raced down the stairs and bolted onto the porch, eager to meet a human, to get help. But it was obvious this person needed help too. "Help, help!!!" It was definitely a girl. The hood of the jacket fell backwards. She had long, sun-streaked blonde hair and a heart-shaped, tan face. She grabbed onto my shoulder and dug her long, manicured nails into my shoulder.
"We ... we ... we gotta go!!!" She shrieked eagerly. I took her shoulders and tried to stop her from shaking. "Calm down, what's the matter?" Her brilliant green eyes flashed with shock, horror, anger, flickering like fire. "What's the matter? You saw it!!! That, that, that thing!" I nodded, stunned and relieved.
"We gotta get out of here! To somewhere far away from those creatures!" I knew it was impossible to calm her down, she was almost in hysterics. "Okay, let's go." I whistled loudly and my dog appeared in the doorway, then bounded into my arms. I stumbled out to the driveway, the gravel grinding under my sneakers. I opened the door of the silver Toyota and collapsed into the driver seat. She eagerly piled in beside me, slamming the door and locking it tightly.
I revved the engine and pulled away quickly, spraying
a wave of gravel into some shrubs. The rest of the while was spent in silence.
I only had a learner's permit, but everyone always thought I looked older
than I was anyway. I might have asked the girl some questions, but she
was very distraught and seemed comfortable huddled in a ball near the window,
watching the rolling scenery. "What's your name?" I asked after a while.
"Dawn Breeden." She said quickly. I decided not to carry the
conversation on further.
I pulled into a motel. When we stood at the front
desk and asked for a room, I couldn't shake the dirty looks the elderly
woman at the desk kept giving me. "She's my sister!!" I lied. Startled,
the woman flung me a silver key and turned away abruptly. The room was
small and cozy, but the beds were lumpy. Dawn shed her coat to reveal a
red T-shirt underneath. The events of the night seemed a shady blur, far
away now. My thoughts centered on the fact that Dawn was actually very
attractive. She went to the bathroom, muttering something about having
to pee. When she returned, I thought I
saw something, something like yellow ooze on her lip. I gasped. She
flashed me an annoyed look and I saw her lips were now clean. She sat on
the bed and began to cry. I sat beside her and tried to calm her down.
"What happened?" she said between choked sobs. "I dunno," I said quickly.
Maybe I was paranoid, but this girl didn't seem right. It was her eyes,
those wild emerald eyes.
She smiled meekly and hugged me. "Thank you for helping me." She whispered in my ear. A chill went down my spine. Dawn sure was friendly and sure did recover from traumatic events quickly. If only ... if only I had seen her in that moment. If only I had seen that satisfied, arrogant smirk on her lovely face. If only I had seen her eyes turn that same wine yellow color of the monsters' eyes for a second before turning green again. If I had but seen that yellow spittle on her lip, I might have been saved from what was next to come.