by Jacob Rayne
‘What did you say?’ Peter said.
‘Kick his ass, Pete,’ Davey said. ‘Show the little bookworm faggot a lesson.’
Pete laughed and grabbed Jarvis by the collar. ‘Ya got something to say now, Jarvis?’
Jarvis swung his foot hard into Pete’s groin. As Pete fell to the floor, groaning, Jarvis’ boot caught him full in the face.
Jarvis readied himself for another kick, but looked up to see Davey and Chris coming in, fists clenched, and bolted into the woods.
Pete stumbled to his feet and made to follow him.
‘Leave ’im, Pete,’ Davey said, pulling Pete back by the back of his shirt. ‘The little fag’ll make a good dinosaur snack.’
‘Yeah, fuck him,’ Chris laughed.
‘You’re right,’ Pete said. ‘Let the little fuck get eaten. Best thing for him.’
‘Yeah, little nerd,’ Chris said.
‘Faggot,’ Davey said, again exposing his rotting teeth. ‘He ain’t a real man, like us. He’s a pussy, a coward, like those pricks back at the town hall. I remember when this town was full of men, full of tough guys. My father’d be spinning in his grave at the way these pussies are carrying on.’
‘You got that right,’ Pete said.
‘Think we should go get him?’ Chris said.
‘Na, the goddamn pillow biter can fend for himself,’ Davey said. ‘Shame he never took his gun.’
Simone and Marla screamed. A few seconds later, Vanessa screamed from the roof. She couldn’t get a shot at the creature, for fear of hitting her husband.
Kyle struggled, but the creature’s claws were impaled into his ankle. He kicked out at its head, but it was like kicking a block of iron.
Vanessa screamed again as a creature emerged from the bathroom window and landed on the roof next to her. Its dark hide gleamed in the light from the bedroom.
‘Get to the car,’ Kyle screamed, seeing the dark creature headed for her.
She suddenly felt too weak to hold the shotgun up.
She fired, but the shot went low, sending chunks of roof tile flying into the air.
Marla ran away.
‘No, come back,’ Kyle said. Simone stayed next to him, too frightened to move.
Kyle couldn’t reach the creature’s head while remaining standing and the last thing he wanted was to be on the floor with the thing on top of him.
He watched Vanessa struggling with the gun on the roof, cursing his decision to leave the weapon with her.
She fired, getting a lucky shot and hitting the creature in the chest. The blow knocked it off its feet, shattering the roof tiles beneath it as it landed.
Kyle’s grin was wiped from his lips when the creature that had hold of his leg tried to pull him down. All thoughts of going on the offensive were forgotten; it was all he could do to stay on his feet.
Marla appeared, a line of scratches on her arm.
‘Did it bite you?’ he asked, dreading her reply.
She shook her head. ‘Thorns.’
He looked puzzled.
A crash from above distracted him. The creature pulled his leg hard, dumping him on his back.
On the roof, another creature had come to face Vanessa. She pulled the trigger, but a dry click greeted her ears.
Kyle cursed; he had the shells in his pocket.
Vanessa gripped the gun like a bat and swung it at the creature’s head. It hit hard, knocking the head to the side but the blow didn’t seem to bother the creature. It kept moving forward.
The creature was on top of Kyle, trying to sink its fangs into his neck. It took all of his strength and concentration to push it up and away from him.
He saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Marla. Please don’t get hurt, he thought. She hit the creature in the head with something.
Vanessa tried to hit the creature with the gun for a second time. Screamed as the creature caught her arm and wrenched it to the side.
The gun slid out of her grip and skidded down the roof. It hung in the gutter for a second, then fell to the yard.
Jarvis realised he was unarmed around the same time that Davey did. He contemplated going back for the weapon, then remembered what Duggan had said. Probably wouldn’t kill them anyway, he thought.
He cursed the group for dragging him into this. Ever since his father had died, his ‘Uncle’ Davey had tried to take him under his tobacco-stained, beer-swilling, wife-beating wing. Jarvis hated him and was genuinely confused as to how he had ended up in the woods with him and his asshole buddies.
He had known it was a stupid, potentially deadly idea, but hadn’t dared to say so. It looked like his spinelessness was going to cost him dear.
These things sounded evil, bloodthirsty. Invincible. A lad like him had no chance against something like that. He decided to turn back, to cut through the clearing and go back to town.
The only problem was that he had no idea which way that now was.
‘We going in then?’ Chris said.
Davey checked his watch. ‘Na, give it another five. Wanna have a smoke first.’
Chris nodded. ‘Right, I’m gonna take a piss,’ he said, moving into the trees.
‘Why don’t ya just piss in the clearing?’ Davey said.
‘And let that little cocksucker see my dick? No way.’
Davey shook his head. ‘He won’t be able to see it anyway in this dark.’
‘And cos it’s so goddamn small,’ Pete laughed.
Davey laughed too.
‘Shut up, you fucking dicks,’ Chris shouted from somewhere in the trees.
‘Ooh, he’s offended,’ Davey said. ‘Musta hit a raw nerve.’
‘He won’t be hitting any nerves with that tiny thing,’ Pete laughed.
Davey chuckled.
‘What do ya say to that, Chris?’ Davey said.
No reply came from the forest.
‘Ah, he’s took the huff,’ Pete said.
‘Gone all men-strool on us.’
‘Come on, Chris.’
‘Yeah, Jarvis called, he wants his cock back.’
Pete shook with laughter.
‘Chris?’
The only reply to their taunts was a low moan which they took to be the wind.
‘He’s hiding behind a tee, or some shit,’ Pete said. ‘Probably getting his tiny cock sucked by Jarvis.’
‘Chris, stop pissing about.’
‘Goddamnit, Chris. When I find ya I’m gonna slap you so hard you think it’s Christmas.’
He flicked his torch on and shone it into the treeline. They saw nothing, just sharp, angular branches.
‘You do right to hide, you son of a bitch,’ Davey called.
Davey walked into the woods, keeping his shotgun ready in case he saw any of the creatures. His beam cast around the forest, finding nothing but jutting branches. There was no sign of Chris.
He walked under the branches of a big tree. Scanned his torch beam around the area. A few spots of rain fell on his head.
‘Ah fuck ya,’ he shouted, going back to Pete who’d lit up a cigarette.
‘Can’t see him,’ Davey said. ‘Feels like it’s started to rain too.’
‘I didn’t feel no rain.’
‘The drops fell on my head. Like a shower. Didn’t you feel it?’
‘Na.’
Pete shone the torch on Davey’s head.
‘What are ya doing, trying to fuckin blind me?’
To show his intent, Pete wiped his hand across Davey’s head.
‘Davey,’ he said, the edge to his voice jolting Davey out of his ranting.
‘What?’
‘Look.’
Pete’s hand was smeared with blood.
Marcus and Grant split from Billy and Andy and set off to the north.
They’d been going for a long time when they felt something watching them. Marcus wheeled around, scouring the dark for the hidden watcher. His torch did little to cut through the gloom.
Seeing nothing,
he carried on.
‘Probably just my imagination,’ he said.
But Grant had felt it too.
‘He must be somewhere around here,’ Davey said to himself, scouring the branches above his head.
Pete had waited back at the clearing, so they didn’t get lost.
‘I didn’t go in too far,’ he muttered, turning back to the clearing to see how far he’d come. The orange light of Pete’s cigarette tip still burnt in the darkness.
He took a few steps back and shone his torch up.
He jumped when he saw that Chris was impaled on a sharp tree branch, the tip of which protruded from the front of his stomach, covered in glistening dark blood. His head hung limply down on his chest, his face a mask of agony and terror.
Davey let out a cry. The blood was pooling on the end of the branch and dripping down. More of it had landed on his head. He rubbed it off, feeling tainted by it. In doing so, he dropped his torch. It clattered to the floor.
‘That’s fucking broken then,’ he hissed. ‘Just great.’
But it was fine.
He was shaken by finding Chris’s body – Chris was a big tough guy, so something would have to be really strong just to outfight him, let alone lift him in the air and stick him onto a branch so hard it made his guts pop out of his stomach.
He could look at it no longer and rushed back to the clearing.
‘Holy shit, the poor bastard’s been impaled on a tree,’ he said as he crashed through the final layer of branches.
No one replied.
Pete was gone, leaving him alone and terrified.
Kyle looked round and saw the gun. Saw Marla hit the creature again. Heard the creature cry out. Its arms sought Marla, to eliminate this thorn in its side.
As it did, it lifted its weight off him. Driven only by the thought of protecting his daughter from this monster, he found a new burst of strength and rolled the creature off him. As his world spun, he saw that Marla held a bloody section of paving slab.
God bless her, he thought.
She handed it to him and took a grateful step back, then she told Simone to help her get Jodi down. Jodi dangled by her arms, not daring to let go.
‘We’ll catch you,’ Marla assured her.
Jodi dropped into Marla’s arms.
Kyle rolled on top of the creature and slammed the stone down on its head. The creature clawed at his face, but he was too angry to notice. He brought the rock down again, spraying cold, insectile blood onto his face.
Its struggles became weaker as he continued to slam the rock into its head.
The creature’s shattered skull leaked blood and brain onto the flagstones. Kyle felt sure it was dead, as his last few blows had not been resisted at all, but he wasn’t sticking around to find out. He ran to his girls.
His buzz vanished when he saw their faces.
They were all staring up at the roof which was now populated by one fallen creature.
There was no second monster, but there was also no Vanessa.
‘The fuck was that?’ Andy asked, spinning fast and looking up into the trees.
‘Probably just a rat or a bird.’
‘Sounded like one big ass bird.’
He shone his torch around the trees, trying to see if anything lurked there.
‘Can’t see shit,’ he said.
‘There ain’t nothing there anyway.’
They carried on walking and again heard the crashing behind them. Then the sound moved and seemed to come from in front of them.
‘That sure as shit weren’t no bird,’ Billy agreed.
They saw two tiny orange lights floating in the air.
‘Looky here,’ Andy said.
‘I see it.’
‘Whadda we do?’
‘Shoot the scaly son of a bitch.’
The muzzle flash lit the darkness for a split second. The shotgun blast tore through the silent woods and into the orange-eyed figure.
They heard a squeal of pain, accompanied by the sound of a body crashing through the trees, then the eyes dropped to floor level.
‘Danged if I ain’t bagged me a dinosaur,’ Andy drawled.
His shoulder ached from where the shotgun had slammed into it, but the excitement of killing one of the supposedly invincible creatures made him forget about it.
They crashed through the woods towards the eyes, showing no grace or finesse whatsoever. A charging buffalo would have made less noise.
Billy had three years on Andy and reached the body first. He hooted, the sound echoing off the trees and coming back to them.
Andy reached the creature and he too let out a cry of triumph.
He kicked the bleeding, ruined face of the creature. It didn’t flinch, didn’t make a sound.
‘Well, looks like Mr Bigshot city man was wrong. We gone killed us a monster,’ Billy grinned.
‘I shot the damned thing. I killed it.’
‘Well I helped.’
‘How exactly did you help?’
‘I pointed it out to you.’
‘No you didn’t. I pointed it out to you.’
While they argued, the creature made a small noise as the blood bubbled from its nostrils. Its chest rose and fell softly, then one of its eyes flickered open.
Grant and Marcus were terrified and trying to decide whether to go back or not.
‘Maybe they need help,’ Grant had said.
‘I don’t know. We heard one gun blast. No screams. That says to me they bagged one.’
‘Or it got them before they could scream, having shrugged off the gunshot.’
‘Doubt it.’
‘Me too, just thinkin’ worst case scenario.’
‘I reckon they’re alright.’
‘Fuck it, they’re tough guys.’
‘Let’s carry on.’
‘You feel like something’s watching?’
‘Na. I know the feeling. But it’s just the dark, the quiet and seeing that thing at the meeting tonight. Nothing to worry about, just your mind playing tricks on ya.’
How wrong he would be.
Jarvis also heard the gunshot and he too wondered what had happened.
He reasoned it was a good thing; if the creatures were occupied with his companions they weren’t chasing him.
Moving slowly, he pressed on. He had never felt such utter terror in his life. His skin was crawling, his heart slamming a thrash metal beat against his ribs. His throat was as dry as the trees that scraped and snagged and clawed at his skin.
Every step was a battle of nerves, every noise around him a lurking creature on his tail.
He was not a religious man, but he found himself praying he would survive long enough to see the sun rise.
Kyle’s thoughts were a blur of panic and despair. He was tempted to curl up in a ball and cry, but one look at his children’s terrified faces snapped him out of it.
He had to stay strong, for them. They were his priority, even though the creatures had ran off with his wife. Vanessa had at least a small chance of fighting off the creature’s attack, whereas his children were almost helpless.
He snacked another couple of shells into the gun, told the kids to wait and keep quiet, unless something came for them, in which case they should scream.
He moved cautiously through the back yard’s gate. Funny how the dark and the feeling of being hunted could make such familiar surroundings so sinister.
A flicker of movement in his peripheral vision made him jolt. It turned out to be a tree branch flailing in the breeze. He turned away, not daring to let out a sigh of relief just yet.
He peered round the corner of the house. Saw nothing. He rushed back to the kids. They followed, doing their best to be quiet.
Kyle ducked back as he saw a creature lurking in a bush in the neighbour’s yard. He took a deep breath and ran at it, firing the gun when he got within range. The creature’s face disappeared in a cloud of blood and splintered bone.
The car stood at the front of
the house. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and opened the door. Frantically threw his kids into the back seat. Told them to hide under the blankets inside.
They disappeared, now just lumps under the tartan blankets. He locked the car and rushed into the house through the front door.
Vanessa watched the creature come towards her, but it felt like she was watching all of this happen to someone else. Its dark skull of a face seemed to open in a leering grin, translucent strands of saliva stringing from its fangs.
She felt too scared to even breathe, but, somehow, her mind and body were working in perfect harmony, leading her towards the TV on the chest of drawers.
The model was an old one, one of the huge boxes, rather than the lighter and more streamlined plasma screens. She’d always had trouble lifting it, but now her arms managed to haul it above her head.
She grinned as she saw that the device was still plugged into the mains.
With a warcry that would have shamed Boudicca herself, she launched the TV at the creature’s head.
Her aim was true and the TV landed screen first on the creature’s head. Glass shattered. Dark blood flew. Sparks showered her as the creature convulsed.
It fell to its knees, the TV impaled on its head. An ocean of dark blood pooled beneath its feet. It let out pathetic cries until it landed on its back and stopped twitching.
‘Wow,’ she said aloud, unable to believe what she had just done.
Her face and hands were covered in the creature’s blood. There was a small cut on her hand from where a shard of glass had pierced her hand. It stung like hell, but she didn’t care. She was alive, that was all that mattered.
She climbed back out of the window and headed down the roof, looking for Kyle and the girls. They were gone. So was the creature she had shot.
Out on the roof, she stood with her back to the window. A hand grabbed her leg. It’s just Kyle, she told herself. She turned to see one of the creatures sink its teeth into her calf.
She screamed and kicked out at it. The creature let out a surprised cry and tried to stop her attack. Her flailing leg struck once more, knocking one of the creature’s saberlike front teeth loose. Snarling, the creature dragged her back into the room.