Murdering Her Light

by Michael Clement

  Unsure of what to do, I took a step towards the green building.

  And slipped on a piece of shale.

  I went down hard, twisting my ankle and cutting my knee.

  “Fuck,” I hissed, pissed at my own stupidity, as I caught myself on the ground before I smashed my face into the rocks.

  My blood trickled down my knee and hit the ground.

  Thrummmmm .

  I felt a pulse of energy throb outwards, as the blood struck the ground.

  The shadows shifted across from me, against the other side of the ravine, as something tasted my blood in the air.

  What I thought were shadows were things, all sleeping on top of one another, like puppies in a pile.

  Or, my brain filled in, snakes in a pit.

  They looked long and lean, but arched strangely, like the body of a hyena. Grey skin covered their flesh tight enough that I could see ribs poking out. Dark black hair began on their heads and flowed down their back in a mane-like affair. Their faces were almost human, but… not. The angles were all wrong, and it looked like someone had infused the worst features of a hyena and a man together.

  My heart stopped beating when they opened their eyes. They were the color of freshly spilled blood.

  And… they glowed.

  Inside of those infernal depths, hellfire burned.

  The one closest to me let out a whining snicker that seemed to stick in its throat. It sounded like madness.

  Black lips opened and stretched wide, revealing ivory white fangs that glistened with a yellowish mucus, as it stretched like a cat.

  Again, a nervous twitter leaked out of the lips of the creature in front. Then, enormous black claws slipped out of its paws, as its body shifted in my direction.

  Pale white stalks that looked like antennae lifted up off of the beasts head, pointing in every direction like a porcupine's quills.

  Then, it growled.

  I felt the noise in my mind, instead of with my ears.

  Fear tried to lock me in place, as a wicked pulsing began.

  The antenna began to glow with a pale ghost fire, flickering from the base of the skull out to the tips.

  Again…

  And, again…

  It was mesmerizing.

  A headache bloomed in my mind, but so did lethargy and despair.

  “Sleep,” the voice cooed in my mind.

  “Rest,” it murmured, “just for a little while.”

  The monster shook itself and took a step forward into a fading stream of sunlight.

  Foosh .

  Its paw lit on fire.

  Yelping, the monster slipped back into the shadows. Its antenna dropped back down into its mane, loosening its death grip on my mind.

  Shrieking, I threw myself backward against the ravine’s other wall.

  More eyes opened. One, four, eight, twelve… Dozens of monsters had been sleeping in the shadows.

  And, a drop of my blood had awakened them.

  “Fuck,” I whispered.

  “Would you like to?” the creature hissed, as it shook its injured paw. “That can be arranged.”

  Then, it looked at the setting sun, tracing the sunlight’s beams into the ravine, before it looked back at me. “And, very soon,” it whispered.

  I looked at the setting sun with dread, then, I turned and stumbled towards the only sign of human civilization, the green building.

  “Come back,” the monster cajoled me. “Join us in the shadows…”

  Despite my hurt ankle, I stumbled onwards. The sun was setting and whatever those creatures were, I knew that to them, I was supper.

  Since when did monster hyenas with psychic antennas hunt humans? My mind whispered to me, as it edged towards insanity.

  “Fuck you,” I hissed at the monster inside my soul. “I don’t care what you think!”

  It took me almost an hour before I reached the green structure. The sun was beginning to set.

  I could see that it used to be a gas station. But, it was in bad repair. The desert was eating it alive. Green paint flecked off of the building and the windows were boarded up. A sign hung precariously on a pole next to the building. The only words still visible were… Eat.

  Fuck, I wanted to scream. It seemed like the world was out to get me. I was trying to hide from monsters in a building that proudly told them where their next meal was.

  The outside of the building smelled bad, like gasoline that had been cooking in the sun.

  I forced my way through the partially open front door. Sand and debris made it difficult, but I did it.

  It looked like the place had been abandoned without any forethought. The contents of the shelves littered the floors. Cobwebs, dust, and dirt coated bags of chips, candy bars, oil cans, flashlights and a hundred other things that a gas station would normally carry.

  It felt like everyone around here had just died, all of a sudden and no one else had ever returned for at least a hundred years. All the metal canisters were rusty. Most of them had dripped and puddled their fluids around them.

  I could smell oil, soda, and rotting chocolate. The smell attacked my nose and made me want to gag.

  Then, I felt the sun slip below the skyline. Out, in the ravine, the monsters began to wail in that near madness reaching trill. He- heee -He was mixed into the sounds of a lunatic, as they swallowed glass. The howling roamed through the building, increasing in intensity as it sought me out.

  I wanted to kneel down behind the service counter, pull my knees to my chest and sob. That's what the sound wanted me to do.

  “Stay put,” it whispered.

  Then, I heard its true meaning…. We… are… coming.

  I sank to my knees. Death was coming for me wrapped up in claws and teeth. I wrapped my arms around myself and began to whisper words of madness, as darkness filled my thoughts.

  There was nowhere to run.

  There was no reason to run.

  Wait and die, I moaned.

  The end was coming.

  Then, I shook, as the monster that lived within my flesh woke up and stretched.

  “Not prey,” it whispered to my mind. “Fight. Live.”

  A warmth erupted from my stomach and filled my body. It felt like I had just taken two shots of Goldschläger real fast.

  I took a deep breath and stood up, breathing out a determined breath, as the monster calmed me.

  It had never talked to me before... not ever.

  Then, I heard that warbling cry again. They were coming for me.

  I need a weapon, fast.

  Then, the smell of gas tickled my nose again. Looking out the front door, I realized that the gas pumps were slightly intact. They were rusted and falling apart, but the pumps might still be full... if man had really just disappeared in a flash from this world.

  - 4 -

  By the time the pack reached the gas station, I was ready.

  I had always been good in the face of battle. Give me a bully and I would stomp him, not caring about the consequences until later, when I fell apart emotionally.

  Right now… it was battle time.

  With the sunset behind them, I looked out at nine creatures that looked like hyenas whose parents had fucked tigers and kept the best bits for their children.

  They were big.

  And, all of them had those strange glowing white antennas.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are…” the biggest monster crooned with its dark black fur. Like the others, its antenna was burning with an unholy light. The monsters evil red eyes glowed, as it thought about how tasty I would be.

  I could feel their thoughts pounding on my mind.

  I stepped through the doorway.

  It took all of my courage. Every last ounce of it. There was nowhere to hide within the building. I had checked it out, and unless I was a mouse, it would become my tomb if I tried to hide in it.

  So, I had spent my time making weapons.

  When bullies come at you in a pack, attack them.
Don’t let them get behind you or around you. Hit them hard and unrelenting. Cowards run, and bullies are cowards at heart.

  Those were my grandmother’s words.

  She had always believed in me, and I had always liked her. I just wish that she hadn’t died when I was still little . I could have used her help when mom went into the asylum the first time.

  In my left hand was a wooden broom that I had coated in oil.

  And, in my right hand was a lighter.

  Heh-heh-heh the monster chuckled in its hyena-like way. It strolled right through the pumping area, its eyes were focused on its supper... me.

  And, that's how I wanted it.

  It had talked about fucking me before, so I drew it in with the only thing that I had.

  My body.

  I had stripped out of my clothing.

  Now, the monsters were thinking about doing more than just killing me. They broadcasted their thoughts and emotions back and forth between them. Somehow, they communicated with their antenna and shared their crippled versions of feelings.

  Feelings was the wrong word, but it was all that I could come up with.

  They passed emotions of hunger, lust, and bloodthirsty desire between them.

  The pack wanted to fuck me, as they ate me.

  So, I gave them something to look at… so they wouldn’t sense the danger until it was too late.

  I was so scared that I was fighting not to piss myself.

  “Yum,” the lead monster trilled. “Come here, tasty morsel… I want to fuck you.”

  I just needed them to come a little further.

  “With that little dick?” I teased the ebony monstrosity.

  The monsters stopped, unable to believe what I was saying.

  “That little pecker would get lost in my pussy,” I complained, trying to be as dirty as I could manage.

  I looked over at the next largest creature. It had a bit of red in its mane.

  “Now… his dick, that looks like the right one,” I murmured. “I’ve always like cinnamon. They… have the biggest dicks.”

  The leader looked at its subordinate and bared its teeth.

  “YOU there,” I demanded, pointing at the redhead. “Get over here and fuck me!”

  The big black monster growled and stalked into my ring of death. I needed the pack to get as bunched up as possible for this to work.

  But, then he stopped and growled at the redhead again.

  The cinnamon looked at me, then back at the black monster, then me again.

  Winking at him, I raised my leg and rested it on the window casement.

  Grinning, I touched myself.

  It was the hardest thing that I had ever done. My heart was jackhammering like a rabbit, and I really needed to piss now.

  Touching my pussy without pissing was so hard.

  Inside, I hammered into my crotch thoughts of handsome men with huge dicks, rippling biceps, and long flowing locks.

  Somehow, I excited myself.

  My lust lit up the air, just like my blood did.

  But, this time, a very different response was created.

  The redhead growled and then twittered with that manic insanity that hyenas are known for.

  Both the redhead and the black monster moved closer to me, as the pack closed in.

  Just a little further, I prayed.

  “Come fuck me,” I insisted, hoping that the two monsters would lose their minds with lust.

  If they smelled the gas, then I was done for.

  I envisioned a man standing before me, and not a monster. He had broad shoulders and rippling muscles. And, his pecker was hard, as he slowly stroked it.

  I grew wetter, drawing the beasts in closer.

  God was good, the pack drew up close to the building, putting themselves between me and the pumps.

  Then, the redheaded monster growled at the black.

  “Mine,” It snarled.

  Perfect.

  I began to caress my clitoris, increasing how wet I was becoming.

  The black one looked at me and then growled, showing its fangs to the other, as my scent overwhelmed its mind.

  I felt it broadcasting that it wanted to fuck me, repeatedly, before it feasted. Blood and sex filled its thoughts, as it drove itself and those in its pack into a feeding-fucking frenzy.

  It was hard, but I ignored its emotions, not letting it break my train of thought.

  My imaginary man had black hair and blue eyes.

  When he slipped inside of me, I shook and clenched.

  Juices dripped out of me, driving the monsters insane.

  They tore into one another, as the pack pulled in even closer. Taunts and encouragement poured out of the monsters as they egged the fight onward.

  The two biggest monsters grappled with each other, rolling in the sand and mud around the station.

  Everywhere around us was dry desert wastelands, but the sand under the pack was moist.

  The monsters didn’t question that fact, which would be their downfall.

  It wasn’t wet with water… it was gasoline.

  Ignoring me, none of them noticed when my lighter lit the torch in my hand.

  Nor did they notice when I touched the wet ground.

  I prayed that it would work. If it didn’t, I was going to get eaten and fucked, real quick.

  The desert burned.

  The gas-soaked mud roared into a bonfire when flames hit it.

  The monsters shrieked, but I wasn’t alright with a little fire, when a lot is what I wanted. So, I grabbed the oil cans that I had placed next to the doorway and launched them through the air at the hyena monsters.

  The cans exploded, increasing the blaze.

  And then, I realized my mistake.

  The flames touched the pumps... And , the world turned crimson.

  I was thrown back into the building, as the fire detonated the weeping storage tanks below the ground.

  The fireball reached up into the air, clawing at the sky in its fury.

  As I passed out, I heard, and felt, the mournful wails of the dying monsters, as God burned them to a crisp while they continued to broadcast their agony to anyone who could hear.

  - 5 -

  I opened my eyes slowly.

  Everything hurt.

  I was lying on a small hill, looking down on the inferno below me. Nothing had survived that conflagration, even the building was completely engulfed. In the darkness, the blaze would be visible for miles.

  I could feel burns covering my flesh, almost everywhere...

  Turning, I screamed as a portion of my skin pulled away on my face.

  “Hush,” a concerned female voice insisted. “You’ll attract more monsters.”

  I didn’t care.

  I just wanted to die.

  Looking down, I saw a thick, jagged piece of wood sticking out of my charbroiled stomach.

  Whimpering turned into thrashing.

  I needed to escape my body. This hurt too much!

  Tears and blood poured down my face.

  Then, whoever was talking to me held a glass to my mouth and dribbled something sweet into it.

  I choked, gasping for air. Even swallowing hurt.

  But, she continued, at least it felt like a girl. My vision was blurry and I couldn’t seem to get my left eye to open all the way.

  Whatever the liquid was slipped down my throat, creating heat in my stomach, like a good brandy.

  Then, darkness coated my mind….

  -- M --

  I woke up in a pool of liquid… Underneath its surface.

  Bubbles were leaking out of my mouth and slowly floating upwards, but I didn’t feel scared or panicky.

  Nothing hurt and nothing bothered me.

  I felt stoned.

  I could see movement and light above the fluid, but moving would take effort, and I didn’t want to expel any effort.