A Night without Stars

by Sabrina Albis

  “Guys!” she yelled and pointed at the sky. “Look! Above us!”

  Everyone looked up to the heavens just as the figure cleared them, landing in their path, with a loud thump.

  “Where the hell did that come from?” Mandy asked, sounding eerily calm.

  “Behind us,” Autumn replied. “It jumped over us.”

  “Holy shit,” Nathaniel muttered. “What is it?”

  “It has to be an animal,” Mandy reasoned. “Right?”

  “What kind of animal can jump that high Mandy?” Nathaniel asked.

  “We need to move, now!” Rick ordered.

  It was too late. The figure stood between them and freedom. It was crouched and ready to spring, blocking their escape. It growled menacingly, sounding like no animal Autumn had ever heard before.

  Autumn tried to see its features, but the darkness hid its appearance. She didn’t dare to use her flashlight. She didn’t need to see its face, to know it wasn’t peaceful. She knew instinctively they were all in serious danger.

  The sudden movement of the figure made Autumn jump back.

  Rick stood in front of her, taking his protective stance. Mandy joined him, and together they looked like trained martial artists.

  With her tiny frame and pixie-like features, Mandy seemed harmless. However, there was something in her eyes that Autumn hadn’t seen before. It was steely resolve. She would fight and win, at any cost.

  “Let’s see your face,” Rick said, raising his flashlight and shining it on the ominous figure.

  Autumn gasped. It was so horrific. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

  She felt a scream of pure terror escape her mouth.

  It was something inhuman, something not even animal.

  It was a monster.

  The creature hissed wildly in the bright light. It had normal limbs but it was clearly deformed. Its yellow eyes were huge and bugling. Its skin was covered in pustules. It had no mouth. Instead, there was a giant gaping hole, encumbered with rows of razor-sharp teeth. Its hands and feet were webbed and clawed.

  The way it moved was feral and Autumn could see its muscles tensing as it watched them, the veins in its arms protruding.

  “What the hell?” Rick said shakily, not taking his eyes off the monster. “It can’t be. It isn’t human.”

  He glanced at Nathaniel, who shrugged his shoulders.

  “Dude, I don’t know what it is,” he said, his jaw tense. “But I don’t think it’s a ghost.”

  The creature leapt closer to them, reminding Autumn of a frog trying to capture a delicious fly.

  It watched them hungrily, its eyes darting back and forth quickly.

  Autumn struggled to accept what was right in front of her.

  She couldn’t trust her own eyes.

  Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t of this earth. It was evil and dark, and she wanted no part of it.

  “We need to go,” Autumn stammered. “EVERYONE, RUN!”

  And she was off, feet pounding on the ground, dashing across the field, as she attempted to escape.

  Suddenly, the creature let out a deafening screech, and it began chasing her. She tried to outrun it, but it was no use. It was too quick. It wasn’t long before Autumn felt its scaly hands grabbing her and pulling her in. Her body tensed as the creature snagged her in its grasp.

  “Autumn!” She heard Rick bellow. She could see his face, and he was terrified.

  The thing gripped her tightly in its arms, and she could feel its skin, slimy and cold against her. She looked down at her arms. She was cut where the creature had torn her coat with its sharp claws.

  She was hardly able to breathe as it blew its hot, putrid breath on the back of her neck. It was strong but she squirmed anyway, trying to free herself from its grasp. It let out another ear-piercing screech.

  Autumn shrieked and writhed, to no avail.

  I’m going to die, she thought, resigning herself to fate. I’m going to die then my friends will be next.

  She looked at Rick, perhaps for the last time.

  He was furious. His eyes were cold, like a killer.

  She didn’t like it at all.

  “LET HER GO!” he yelled as he trod closer to the monster with Nathaniel and Mandy flanking him.

  “RUN GUYS!” Autumn screamed, unable to move now as the creature tightened its grip on her.

  “GET AWAY FROM HERE! NOW!”

  She couldn’t bear the thought of Rick and the others dying with her. They could run now and never look back.

  “Are you insane? We are not leaving without you Aut!” Rick snapped.

  Mandy stood with Rick, unwavering. She stared the creature down, eyes full of rage.

  “You don’t scare me, you beast! I have relatives who are uglier than you! So let her go or I will kill you with my bare hands!” she growled.

  The monster didn’t seem to understand them. If it did, it wasn’t responding.

  Instead, it leaned towards Autumn’s face, its tongue slipping out of its gaping hole tauntingly.

  It was long and forked, and she felt it sliding across her cheek.

  Rick watched in terror as the creature retracted its tongue and glared at him maliciously.

  It growled and drew a single sharp claw down Autumn’s chest. She screamed, feeling the hot, stinging pain as the blood trickled from the wound.

  “You freak! Don’t touch her!” Nathaniel snapped as he handed Mandy his dagger.

  “Here, take this.”

  “Don’t you need it?” she asked, examining the blade.

  Nathaniel reached into Rick’s backpack and pulled out a large hunting knife.

  “No worries Mandy. I got bigger toys to play with,” he grinned. “My brother got me this for my birthday.”

  Autumn watched her friends, her heart pounding. There was a chance the weapons wouldn’t even hurt the creature, so stating they got close enough to use them.

  She didn’t want her friends to die saving her.

  She couldn’t. She wouldn’t let that happen.

  The creature’s curiosity seemed to pique as the weapons were drawn. It tightened its grip on Autumn, its claws digging deeper into her flesh.

  “I said, let her go!” Rick bellowed, and it dawned on Autumn that Rick was breaking. “Or I will end you!”

  Nathaniel stood beside Rick, wielding his hunting knife menacingly.

  “YEAH! END YOU!” he repeated.

  He glanced over at Rick.

  “We can end him right?”

  “Yes we can,” Rick said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of holy water. He opened the lid swiftly and splashed it on the creature.

  It shook off the liquid from its hide, clearly unscathed and growled loudly.

  Rick glanced at Nathaniel. “It didn’t work!”

  Nathaniel watched the beast warily. “Nope. All you did was give it a bath dude!”

  The creature, looking even more agitated now, bared its teeth and snapped at Rick, trying to bite him. Rick jumped back, avoiding the attack with ease.

  Rick didn’t hesitate any longer. He took his dagger and slashed the creature in the arm. It cried out in pain and tossed Autumn aside haphazardly before charging at Rick.

  Autumn landed, rolling across the grass. Mandy rushed over to her as Rick went head-to-head with the creature, Nathaniel at his side.

  “Autumn, are you alright?” Mandy knelt beside her, worry consuming her tiny features.

  Autumn felt lightheaded but otherwise fine.

  “Other than the fact that it licked me, I’m okay,” Autumn said, wiping her cheek disgustedly.

  “Yeah, what was with its tongue?” Mandy asked, helping Autumn up.

  “I think it’s part lizard or something,” she replied as Mandy inspected her wound
s. She had some cuts and bruises, but nothing too severe.

  “All I know is, it’s definitely not a phantom,” Autumn muttered.

  Mandy and her watched as the creature and Rick danced around each other. It leapt at Rick attempting to claw at his throat, but Rick dodged. Nathaniel moved in, slashing at the creature with his hunting knife and nicked the monsters arm.

  The creature made a guttural sound and pounced on Nathaniel, clawing him before he could move out of the way.

  Nathaniel looked at his arm, furious. “You son of a bitch!”

  The creature went after Rick again, this time spitting liquid out of its maw. Rick dodged the thick brown substance narrowly as it hit the ground, burning a large patch of grass in its wake.

  “It’s hocking acid loogies at us now!” Nathaniel said breathlessly.

  The creature was getting frustrated. It let out another feral cry and charged. Autumn felt her stomach drop inside her. Rick couldn’t avoid this. He took a defensive stance and as the creature came at him, he adjusted his blade.

  Autumn grabbed Mandy’s arm and squeezed. She couldn’t look. She closed her eyes, only for a moment, and when she opened them, she saw the blade of Rick’s dagger going into the creature’s chest. She watched as it clutched its chest, sputtering. Then it crashed into the ground, where it stopped moving completely, eyes lifeless.

  The four of them stood frozen in the field, unable to move. Rick was shaking, his hand still holding the ghost of the dagger that was now lodged in the creature’s chest.

  Nathaniel’s mouth hung open as he stared at the dead thing on the ground. Autumn was still clutching Mandy, neither daring to move a muscle.

  The minutes slowly ticked by, like a clock with a dying battery. No one spoke or blinked, as though any movement might cause the beast to come back to life.

  “It’s really dead right?” Nathaniel was the one that broke the long silence.

  Autumn let go of Mandy’s arm, observing the creature cautiously. “It doesn’t seem to be moving.”

  “I’ll check,” Rick said firmly, and he walked over to Nathaniel.

  “What are you going to do?” Mandy asked dryly. “Check its pulse?”

  “No,” Rick said as he held out his hand to Nathaniel. “The knife please?”

  “Uh yeah dude,” Nathaniel said, handing it to him. “Are you going to stab it again for good measure?”

  “No. I want to be armed just in case it’s playing possum,” Rick said.

  “Rick, don’t bother. Let’s just get out of here,” Autumn pleaded.

  “It’s okay Aut,” Rick smiled at her reassuringly. “We can’t take any chances right?”

  Rick moved gingerly towards the beast, leaning over it slowly. Then he reached for his dagger, with Nathaniel’s knife in his other hand. He grabbed it, tugging on it with force, and it slid out. The creature lie there, unmoving. Rick examined it more closely.

  “It isn’t breathing,” he began, and then he looked at Autumn. She was in closest proximity to it.

  “Did it breathe before?”

  “Yes,” Autumn replied, remembering its putrid breath upon her neck. She shivered. “Unfortunately.”

  “Well, it’s not anymore, so yeah, it’s dead,” Rick said confidently.

  He walked back over to Nathaniel and set the weapons down by his feet. Nathaniel looked at the dagger. It was covered in a mucus-like brown goo.

  “Gross,” he muttered wiping it on the grass as Rick rushed over to Autumn. He wrapped her into his arms.

  “You scared the shit out of me Aut,” he whispered into her ear as he squeezed her.

  Autumn gripped him back tightly. “You saved my life Ricky.”

  “Hey, I helped too!” Nathaniel chimed in huffily. “I made an awesome speed bump between it and Rick.”

  Rick pulled away and began examining Autumn. “Your cut,” he said as he took in the marks on her skin, tracing his fingers gently across the large one on her chest.

  “They aren’t deep,” Autumn reassured him. “Nothing a first-aid kit can’t fix.”

  “It’s the mental scars that will never go away,” Mandy added in lazily.

  Rick had Autumn’s face in his hands now. “I thought you were going to become that thing’s meal,” he said, his voice barely audible.

  “I don’t think it wanted to eat me,” Autumn said thoughtfully. “Just kill me.”

  “Oh much better,” Rick said sarcastically.

  “I think,” Nathaniel began as he picked up the wiped off weapons from the ground.

  “You do?” Mandy cut him off.

  He shot her an idle glare but went on.

  “It was trying to procreate with her,” Nathaniel said confidently.

  Mandy shot Nathaniel a disgusted look. “Wow. A monster attacks Autumn, and his brain still goes straight to sex.” She sighed. “Am I the only one that doesn’t want to go round two with another beast? Let’s get the hell out of here!”

  “We can’t just leave the thing out here in the open Mandy!” Rick said.

  He had a valid point. A random dead creature in the middle of a field where people might pass by.

  It would cause a panic.

  “Well, what else are we going to do?” Mandy asked handing Rick back a dagger. “Bury it with the shovel you didn’t bring?”

  Rick sighed, as he put all the weapons into his backpack quickly.

  “I just think leaving it here will cause a commotion. I mean, people do come out this way. Some camp in the woods or throw parties nearby. Imagine people finding this thing? Or worse, the cops?”

  “It might do them some good,” Autumn said, annoyed. “Maybe then they will deal with the problem instead of ignoring it.”

  Rick looked pensively at the creature.

  “How about we go home, drop you all off, and I can get a shovel and come back alone and bury it?” Rick suggested.

  “No way!” Autumn protested immediately. “No one is coming back here! Especially alone.”

  “Well, does anyone else have a better idea?” Rick asked, hanging his head with exhaustion.

  “I do,” said a voice from behind them.

  11

  Autumn recognized the voice right away. She looked behind her, her heart clenching.

  “Eric! What are you doing here?” she asked, unable to hide the surprise from her voice.

  Eric was looking at the lifeless monster, his face expressionless or maybe even a little bored. He was wearing all black, a long trench coat and combat boots. His dark hair was messy from the wind.

  Nathaniel walked over to Eric, hands in his pockets, a small smirk on his lightly freckled face.

  “Well isn’t this a coincidence?” he began, suspiciously. “A monster dies and Eric King shows up. Did you come to say goodbye to your brother King?”

  “Nate,” Autumn said, giving him a warning look.

  “It’s a little too late for goodbyes don’t you think?” Eric said without humour as he walked past Nathaniel and over to the dead creature.

  Autumn felt a small stab of hurt that Eric hadn’t acknowledged her, but she knew why. She had lied to him about coming here tonight, and she deserved to be ignored.

  Everyone watched as Eric crouched over the thing, lifting its limp arms as he examined it closely. He spent a moment or so looking over the corpse before he seemed to find what he was looking for.

  “Who killed it?” he asked, standing up and looking at the group of them.

  Everyone turned to Rick, who looked up from his feet and raised his hand. “It was me. Why?”

  “Right through the heart. Your aim is dead-on,” Eric said, obviously impressed. “You have skills Jacobs. Most people would crumble in the face of one of these things.”

  “Eric?” Autumn looked at him, raising her eyebrows.

&nbs
p; She had so many questions like, why Eric was here and what exactly did Rick kill?

  “I can explain everything later,” Eric said patiently. “What I want to know now is, can I trust you guys?”

  Nathaniel snorted and Eric looked at him.

  “What?”

  “You are asking, if we are trustworthy?” Nathaniel said. “That’s rich.”

  “Well, give the man a prize,” Eric said sarcastically. “Seriously, all deep outrage aside, I need you guys to answer now.”

  Autumn knew Eric wasn’t playing games. She wondered if they were finally going to get the story behind Caleb and Renee’s cave excursion.

  Nathaniel crossed his arms over his chest defiantly.

  “We will answer your question when we are good and ready King,” he said smugly.

  “Because that sounded like something an honest person would say,” Mandy muttered.

  Nathaniel looked at Mandy. “I just don’t think we have to justify ourselves to him. We aren’t his minions! We don’t have to wash his dark ritual robes and tell him what a great evil mastermind he makes!”

  Eric let out an exasperated sigh. “Allow me to sum it up for you Nathaniel. We don’t know who or what might come wandering around next,” he said. “So we need to pick up the pace. That or you guys can wait in the van while I deal with this,” he gestured to the body.

  Autumn knew she would never betray Eric, no matter what. She was loyal to a fault. She learnt that the hard way with Nikki.

  “You can trust me,” she said firmly.

  “Says the fibber.” Eric smirked.

  “I offed the thing,” Rick said proudly. “So trusting me is a given King.”

  “I didn’t steal loot from your house,” Mandy said plainly. “And trust me. I could’ve.”

  Eric gave Mandy a disapproving frown then sighed, rubbing his temples.

  “I guess this is as good as it gets,” he said as he reached into his jacket pocket reluctantly.

  “Let’s get on with the show.”

  Eric pulled out a large vial of liquid, studied it for a moment and yanked the stopper from it.

  “What is that? The blood of virgins?” Nathaniel said, still cracking jokes despite the tension in the air.