So, it appears some people liked my first tale of my new life of nightmares. Since this is the only way anyone outside of the county responds to our crisis, I guess I’ll tell another story. This one happened a few days after my first, when I was still recovering from my ordeal. If you didn’t catch that, maybe read my first post. If you already did, read on and “enjoy.”
After a week of straight terror hiding in my house, after my first night in the town I had been going around town seeing what had changed. While I was still terrified, I was also curious. I wish I could blame it on some creature influencing my mind, but truthfully it was all me. I’ve always been intrigued with the unknown; now I was becoming obsessed. Who wouldn’t in my situation be craving knowledge about fiction coming to life? Actually, I suspect most people would just run. But that wasn’t an option yet, not for me. Anyways, back to the story.
I was at a gas station filling up my car. Nobody was around except for one woman walking out of the attached convenience store. She walked quickly and darted her eyes around. I waved at her. She looked away and got in her car. Then she drove fast as a demon out of the lot and to wherever she was headed next.
I went into the store myself after my car was filled up, feeling a bit peckish. It looked like an ordinary store at first. I picked up a couple of snacks (chocolate) and a drink (Pepsi) before heading to the counter where Frederick was working the counter. Frederick and I had been acquaintances in school, but he stared at me while holding his hands under the counter. I smiled nervously.
“Can you tell me something only Robin would know?” he asked with a glance at my hands.
“Uh, why?” I asked him.
“Just tell me. Now,” he responded. His right arm twitched.
“Alrighty…well you once gave me a stick of gum in the sixth grade at recess.”
He relaxed instantly and let go of something below the counter. He smiled at me.
“Sorry about that Robin. How can I help you?”
“You’re not going to tell me what that was about?” I asked. “Think I’m an imposter or something?”
“No. Well, maybe. Have you not heard of the new…things living around here now?”
“I was almost eaten by one,” I replied.
“Yeah, me too once,” he said. “Well, some of them can look like people. I wanted to make sure you weren’t one of those. You can’t be too cautious there days.”
“Can they look like real people? In the daytime?”
“I don’t know, but I’d prefer not to find out.”
“Right. Can I get my snacks now?” I was beginning to regret coming in, but with the awkwardness out of the way I hoped I could just get my snacks and leave.
“Yes,” he said. “You’re new, so would you like a look at our other supplies?” He gestured below him. I looked.
Below the counter were at least twenty guns, along with barrels worth of ammunition. And there were other things, some of which I didn’t even recognize. Modified flashlights, bombs, what looked like4 silver orbs. This no longer looked like an ordinary gas station.
“I’m…I’m good,” I said. He ringed up my order and I fast walked back to my car. It was getting late and I wanted to be home before sunset. I was interested in learning, not dying after all. And I got ten minutes of driving done with only a hint of anxiety.
Then a dog ran in front of my car out of nowhere. I swerved a little too hard and lost control of the car for a couple of seconds. Just long enough to hit the curb hard on my right side. I cursed and got the car under control, but as soon as I moved forward I heard a scarping sound from under the car.
Dreading the result, I got out and walked to see the problem, which turned out to be some scratch marks and two flat tires. I cursed again. There was no way I could drive another-I checked Google Maps-twenty minutes on this. I looked to the Border Collie standing with his tongue panting across the road from me.
“I should have ran you over,” I yelled, half serious. The dog stood up on its hind legs and smiled at me in an unnatural way. A second later it turned into a tall naked man with balding, dangly hair and a psychotic smile on his face, only half of his teeth there. His grey skin was scarred and he stood on his toes. He barked at me in a mocking impression of a laugh before turning just as fast back into a dog and running off.
I felt my skin crawling on my back and chills in my bone. My anger at the car was forgotten in favor of the fear I now remembered. The night was dangerous, and the sun was setting. I called my father and explained my situation. He panicked.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“On Rogers Street, between Anderson and Rapids. Can you get here and back in time?”
“Possibly, but I’m going to need you to meet me part of the way. Can you run towards home as fast as possible?”
“I’ll run like hell,” I said.
“Good, because it’s arriving,” he said. “Now hurry, and I’ll meet you soon.” I took one look at the darkening sky, the first stars now visible, and ran.
The first few minutes of sprinting tired me out, so I had to switch to a fast jog early on. Still, I was making fast ground, and the exercise cleared my mind and helped control my fears. I was going to be all right I told myself. I crossed a street and turned onto another.
And standing there in front of me was that Border Collie. It was sitting on the corner, looking right into my eyes. It gave a smile with its lolling tongue that would have been cute under different circumstances. I flipped out. It was where I needed to be, but there was no where I was going near it. I looked at Maps and saw a longer route to go around the dog. I took it.
I made it almost to the end on my new path back to where I needed to go before that damned dog showed up again, lying across the street from the corner I needed to turn onto. I almost looked at my phone before realizing it was just going to show up again. Furthermore my father had to be getting close by now, and we couldn’t afford to waste more time. I had to risk the crossing.
I took a step forward. The dog smiled. My instincts screamed. The rational part of my brain told me if it wanted to kill me it could have already. I listened to it. After my first tentative steps I picked up speed and made a run for it. The dog didn’t move. As I reached the corner and turned I looked back at it, but it never moved. That was my cue to sprint for my life. After another few minutes I saw my father’s headlights ahead and ran to meet it. The sky was almost dark. He skidded to a stop and rolled the window down, beckoning me into the back seat. As I opened the door his eyes opened wide and I looked behind me.
It was standing there, this time as the man it had once turned into. He said one word in a guttural growl:
“Run.”
I did. I got in and my father took off like a demon, while the other creature turned into a dog again and followed us from afar, just barely visible in the backlights and the dying sun. Father saw that and sped faster. We were definitely speeding by this point, but no one was out to tell us otherwise. The entire drive I was looking through the back window as it followed, never too quick nor too slow to fall out of vision.
Not much happened until we arrived at home. As soon as we parked Father turned the car off and we bolted to the front door without so much as locking the vehicle. As we entered I turned back to see the Border Collie sprinting across the street. Father slammed the door shut and locked the door with shaking hands. A few seconds later we heard a loud thud as something ran into the door. Then we heard scratches that kept on for minutes.
When we looked through the window blinds it was doing that as the man. Finally with one last stare at the door the man barked twice and ran on all fours away. And that was the end of that.
I haven’t seen that dog or man again, but I also never spend time outside when there is less than an hour of daylight left. A couple of townsmen had rumors of a similar creature, but no one had a firm story. The only sign of it since was thirty miles away when a farmhand on his way to work discovered the torn body of an unidentified women not too far from a crashed car. And she’ll remain unidentified until her head is found too.
So that’s my second tale with the creatures of the night, or I suppose twilight in this case. I’d like to say I kept myself out of trouble from then on, but you know I didn’t. Looking back on it, there were so many times I came close to dying before I learned more. But I have learned more. And until I finally escape this place-still haven’t found so much as a rental-I will survive. The night will not win with me. If people like this story perhaps I’ll post another. I certainly have no shortage, and maybe these will serve as warnings to those of you out there who have yet to encounter anything. Because you never know when your time will be next.