I grew up in a small town where nothing ever really happened. It was a nice quiet place, low crime, about 900 people, and on the edge of a beautiful forest. At least it was nice until a couple months ago.
It started when a kid went missing after school. He had gotten off of his bus and that was the last anyone saw of him. Of course a huge investigation occurred and rumors were being spread but nothing ever really came of it. The rumor mill was big though. You see, even when I was a kid there was a rumor about something that would take people into the woods and eat them. Parents used to say it to scare their kids into coming home early. So I didn’t really believe in it. Although it was said that anytime something like that happened, a horrific scream would come from the forest. But I never heard it, at least not until after that kid went missing.
I was walking downtown when a screeching noise came from the forest. Almost like an old broken tornado siren screeching out its last life. I looked around to see if anyone else could hear it but no one else was around. Almost like the town was empty. Then, when the sound ended, people were exiting stores and acting as though nothing happened. Although, one person came up to me and said “You heard that right? You have to tell me you heard that.”
“I did, what was that?”
“It was the scream of someone who became lost.”
“Became lost? What do you mean they became lost?”
“Can’t talk anymore, they’re watching. Don’t trust anyone. You have to get out of here.”
And with that the man ran into a nearby alley disappearing out of sight.
“Who was that?” I heard coming from behind me. I turned to see Chris, one of the town’s police officers and a good friend.
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen him before.”
“Hm, well its a small town. If I see him again I’ll be sure to give him a talkin.”
“You do that Chris, I gotta go though, nice seein ya.”
With that I was off and continued my normal day to day monotonous life. That was until more missing persons signs kept popping up. You see it’s one thing when one sign comes up every once in a while. But it’s another when thirteen have gone missing in the last three months. Something was wrong and I was determined to figure it out.
After the seventh sign popped up that was when I decided to give Chris a visit at the station, but he was nowhere to be seen. The clerk told me that he went on vacation, but that didn’t seem right. Chris was someone who loved his job and loved working. In the last ten years I have lived here, he only went on vacation twice. The other thing that seemed off was the way the clerk spoke. “I’ll let hhihhim know you stopped when he gets back.” Something about her voice was off. It didn’t sound human. It sounded as though an AI was learning to speak but still had some hiccups. That right there put me on edge.
It wasn’t the first time I noticed it either. The last few months I’ve noticed people’s voices sounding like that. Maybe I’m going crazy though, I haven’t been sleeping well and my insomnia has been catching up to me. Yah that’s it, I’m just tired. I need some sleep.
“Wake up.” I heard in my ear as I shot up from my bed scanning around the room only to find nothing like usual. That was the fourth time that it has happened in the last month and I was getting pretty annoyed. It was always at 3:16 in the morning that I would wake up hearing something say that. I got up and searched my room like usual looking for whatever spoke but could never find it. Then because of that, I would be awake the rest of the day. It pretty much just became my routine. I’ll let you know if anything changes.
It’s November second and the weather is getting pretty chilly outside. The last missing person was found today and is being questioned. The police department wants me to come and speak to him. I guess being the only psychiatrist in town puts you on the spot. I’m heading there at noon to speak with him.
As I was heading to the police station random people kept watching me every second as I passed. It was as though these few had their eyes glued on me waiting for something. Once I reached the station and got in, an officer greeted me right away. “This wayay.” he said, leading me into an interrogation room.
“What’s his name?” I asked
“Greg Farlec” The officer replied, opening the door. “Also no taking of notes or bringing in sharp objects. So hand them over nwow.”
Confused, I handed the officer my belongings and entered the room. “Mr. Farlec, I heard you wished to speak with me?” The man sitting in front of me looked up from his hands and I recognized who it was. It was the man who talked to me after the first screech was heard. “What are you doing here, you need to leave.”
“What do you mean? Why do I need to leave?”
These people aren’t who they say they are. You need to get out of here.”
Entertaining the man I asked, “And… How do you get out of here?”
“Kill yourself.”
“Excuse me?”
“You need to kill yourself, do it to escape. Otherwise they’ll keep you here. Feed off of you. Here let me help.”
With that the man lunged at me gripping his hands around my neck. “You’ll see, you’ll soon see.” He said as we fell down, his hands still choking the life out of me. In the matter of seconds officers rushed in pulling the man off of me and screaming at me to leave. The last thing I heard as the door closed behind me was “Burn them all.”
I couldn’t sleep at all the night after that. I kept hearing voices and skittering noises around the house. That guy had gotten into my head to make me think I was crazy. It was about four in the morning when I heard a knock on my door. It was Chris, I hadn’t seen him in a month. “Where the fuck have you been?” I said annoyed at him.
“Vacation.”
“That’s all you’re gonna say. Vacation.”
Chris just stared at me blankly like I said something that offended him. “Wha-” “Can I come in.” He said interrupting my next question. “Sure, come on in.” I replied, opening the door more and motioning him inside.
“What did he tell you?” He said sharply walking into my kitchen.
“What do you mean?”
“The man at the station. What did he tell you?”
Something about the whole altercation seemed off, Chris seemed off, and the town seemed off. These last few months haven’t felt normal. A lot of townsfolk didn’t act the way they used to. And all sounded off. It was starting to really get to me.
Chris began snapping at me while saying “Tell me what he said.”
“Nothing, he just attacked me as soon as he saw me.”
“Fine, don’t tell me the truth. I’ll just have to get it out of you.” With that Chris pulled out his baton and began marching towards me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I said right before getting hit in the head and falling to the ground. Flashes of things I didn’t remember coming to the forefront of my mind. Hearing the third screech, walking into the forest, an old abandoned house, skittering in the trees, something crawling down my throat. All that washed away though as the second baton hit me in the ribs. An audible crack was heard and Chris said once more. “Tell me what he sa-ahrg” He was cut off as I kicked his knee inward causing him to collapse. I quickly got up and began running outside.
As I entered my car I saw Chris running toward me as if his backwards knee had never even happened. I slammed the car into reverse and sped out backwards out of my driveway until I hit something. Or something hit me. Stopping to assess the situation I saw a couple of townsfolk who began running and slamming themselves into my car. One even grabbed onto the top railings and began slamming her head multiple times into the passenger side window until it spidered. “What the fuck?” I screamed and she began pushing her face into the window causing the glass to cut away and peel off parts of her face. “I’m gonna getcha!” She said before I said said fuck this, kicking it into drive and speeding off.
I was heading for the town exit. Which prompted me to go through our main street and cross a bridge. While at main I saw buildings and cars on fire as well as twenty or thirty people all fighting and tearing each other apart. More of them ramming themselves into my car or in front of it in hopes to stop me. “What the fuck is going on!” I screamed as a man threw a brick at my car, shattering the windshield. I just need to get to the bridge I kept saying to myself to get me through the carnage.
It was another minute or so and I was there, but boy was I in for a surprise. As I reached the middle of the bridge, cop lights appeared on the other side. They created a barricade. I decided to kick it into reverse, but as I looked in my rearview mirror I saw Chris’s cruiser. Along with twenty bloodied up townspeople behind him. “Fuck fuck fuck what do I do what do I do.” I said to myself trying to think of a solution.
“Cmon man, It’s not that bad here. Come back into town and we can sort this all out.” I heard over the intercom. It was Chris’s voice. “We can make you forget all this ever happened. Just come out with your hands up.” That was it, I lost. There was nothing I could do, I was trapped and wanted this all to be over.
“Wake up.” I heard in my ear as I shot up from my bed scanning around the room only to find nothing like usual. That was the fifth time that it has happened in the last month and I was getting pretty annoyed. It was always at 4:16 in the morning that I would wake up hearing something say that. I got up and searched my room like usual looking for whatever spoke but could never find it. Then because of that, I would be awake the rest of the day. It pretty much just became my routine.
Something was off though… I looked at my clock again, “3:16”. That’s not right, it just said 4:16. With that, flashes of the previous night came to mind. Chris hitting me, that lady peeling off her face in my window, and then waking up. It’s not right, nothing’s right, “What is this place?” I said to myself before falling asleep again.
“Wake up.” I heard in my ear as I shot up from my bed scanning around the room only to find nothing like usual. That was the third time that it has happened in the last month and I was getting pretty annoyed. It was always at 2:16 in the morning that I would wake up hearing something say that. I got up and searched my room like usual looking for whatever spoke but could never find it. Then because of that, I would be awake the rest of the day. It pretty much just became my routine.
“Wait two sixteen?” I said to myself, that’s not normal. Previous night’s affairs began flashing in my head. Me heading into the woods, something crawling down my throat, Chris hitting me, bridge, death.” As I stood up I suddenly felt dizzy, almost falling to the floor. “Stay awake.” I said to myself, pinching my neck to keep me awake. “Honey, come baaack to bed.” I heard call out from behind me. “I will in a minute sweetie. Just going to the bathroom.” I called out, out of impulse. As I finished up in the bathroom I looked in the mirror and saw hand prints on my neck. “How did those get there?” I said as I stroked them. “Honey.” I heard from the doorway. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry I was just checking…” As I looked back at the mirror the marks were gone as if nothing happened. “I’ll be going to bed in a sec.” She giggled as she walked away back towards the bedroom. Something wasn’t right. I needed to figure out what was happening. But not after some rest.
I awoke standing on the ledge of the bridge, cops on one side, bloody townspeople on the other. Chris’s voice over the megaphone again. “Don’t! You don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll kill us all. Just step down and we can make you forget.” Contemplating for a second I stepped back half a step. Previous nights flashing through my head. “That’s it man, it’ll be ok.” “No.” I said as I launched myself off the bridge.
They say the first thing you think of when you jump is regret. Boy is that right, feeling myself fall faster and faster almost made me pass out until.
I awoke groggy in a dark room, barely able to comprehend what was going on. Skittering on the floor and a screeching noise happening. But as I focused more I saw a tube pulsating in front of me going up to something on the ceiling. Shitty thing is, that the tube was also down my throat. Gagging, I slowly reached up and grabbed it. As soon as my hands touched in I heard a little shriek. That began to get louder and louder as I pulled the tube out. The thing must have been five feet long until it finally came plopping out. I still had one hand on it as it lunged towards my mouth again. Little eyes and a mouth full of sharp triangular teeth met me face to face. I squeezed harder and threw it on the ground before stomping on it.
Once I was done I looked around and saw that I was in a basement full of people. At least forty, all either sitting or leaning against the wall, white tubes down their throat. Sadly I can’t say I went and saved all of them. I don’t think I could have. The majority of them all looked almost mummified. Some pretty much were. Skittering could be heard coming from a room across from me. Little creatures poured in through the doorway making their way towards me. The screeching and squealing was almost unbearable. Looking around trying to find a way out I saw something that made my heart drop. It was Chris. Although he looked a lot older than the last time I saw him. His beard was unkempt and his uniform was almost black from dust. My saving grace.
Once I reached him I began shaking him profusely but it was to no avail. “I’m so fucked.” I said right before my eyes met his service pistol. I grabbed that and began shooting at the mass heading towards me. I hit a few, heard screeches and the rest scurried their way out of the room.
“You need to stop.” I heard coming from across the room. I Turned to see an almost mummified man sitting on what appeared to be a throne made of I don’t even know what. As I looked around I noticed all the tubes led into one central mass. And that central mass had a tube leading to that thing. “You’ll doom our whole species.” It spoke again.
“Why should I care after what I just discovered?”
“You were not supposed to wake up. You were supposed to feed us for years to come. We only take when need be. But when others come looking, we like to feast.”
“What are you doing to these people?”
“Feeding.”
“Feeding off of what?”
“Emotions. They are a delicacy. The only sad thing is that we have to virtually make husks of you. How about this. You leave and never look back. By the time you find civilization and get them to come back we will be gone. You’ll be deemed crazy and I will be sure to find you again. Or you can bring me a replacement and help feed us, until we are strong enough to take over, and you will be spared. The choice is yours.”
I stood there thinking for a second before almost out of instinct, raising the gun and shooting the being multiple times. Screeches and rumbles could be heard all around. The bulbus in the center of the room shook and the creatures from earlier were coming back. “Wrong Choice.” The being said before it fell limp.
I looked around eagerly to try and devise a plan but nothing was coming up. “Burn them” I heard Greg say in the back of my mind. I looked to Chris’s service belt to see his flare gun. I grabbed that and pointed at the mass on the ceiling firing the only shot I had into it. A deafening scream rang out causing me to drop to the floor holding my hands over my ears. Until I passed out.
I awoke in a hospital bed covered in bandages and loud ringing in my ears. “Nurse He’s awake.” I heard a familiar voice say. Looking up I saw that same malnourished Chris I saw in the basement looking at me. “Where am I?” I asked, sitting up slowly.
“Careful man, don’t get up too fast. You’ve been out for a while.”
“I thought you were…”
“Dead? Nah, I awoke to that screeching and dragged your ass out before the whole building collapsed. What was that in there?”
“It said that it was feeding on us, and that… are there anymore survivors?”
“Just us, believe I tried but the building was so old that the flare you shot caused the place to light up like gas on a fire. I barely had time to pull that tube out and carry you out before it collapsed.”
“What about that man in there? The mummy looking guy. Did you see him leave?”
“What mummy looking guy?”
“Nevermind, he must’ve stayed there.”
“You ok man?”
“I don’t know. I’m Just glad to be out.”
“Yah, same heheer.”