Malignant

eins

c h a p t e r o n e

Cold, hard rain splattered against the pavement soaking Lydia's battered converses. It was a particularly rainy day in Norwich- as it always was. The streets were dark, and silent aside from the relentless dogs barking into the night.

Not a single living creature dared to step out onto the street that night, except for Lydia of course. Soft, light footsteps splat across the sidewalk as Lydia hurried to get home. The moon was rising higher and higher into the sky signaling how late it was getting.

"Damn boss, keeping me out so late." Lydia grumbled to herself.

Her boss decided she was needed nearly until midnight, apparently because he wasn't capable of picking up the scattered pieces of glass along that tiled floors that he dropped.

Lydia tsked to herself, More like he just wanted to check out my ass as I bent over to retrieve the glass he dropped 'accidentally.

Grumbling obscenities under her breathe, Lydia picked up her pace.

"Stupid boss, stupid job, stupid bus, stupi-"

Screech!

Swirling around at the absurd sound and discovered a car stopped in the middle of the road just under a hundred yards from her.

Slightly spooked, Lydia turned herself around to continue the treacherous walk home.

Clash!

Lydia jumped, startled by the second loud sound. Turning around once again with her heart hammering in her chest,she stared fearful eyed into the night.

Eyes zeroing in on the parked car that's doors are now open, Lydia slowly crept forward, apprehensive of approaching the deserted vehicle. Slowly- but surely - she made her way across the road to the car.

Stalking around the side of the car, Lydia gasped and stumbled backward, falling on her backside.

"Oh my god!"

Lydia was both horrified and mystified by the sight before her. There, embedded in the front windshield of the small car, was a deer with its eyes wide open. Blood was dripping from its neck, creating a perfect red ring on the windshield surrounding it.

Stumbling to her feet, Lydia scrambled a good yard or so away from the horrifying ordeal in front of her. Turning herself around, she quickly began walking home making sure not to lift her head again.

*

"The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It's our fear of the dark that casts our joy into the shadows."

*

It had been no more than twenty minuets of walking, and Lydia had already begun to calm down her nerves, when the eerie feeling came to her. It crept up against her and surrounded her, nearly suffocating poor Lydia.

What is that?! Lydia screamed mentally, wanting to claw at her skin until raw, trying to rid the eerie feeling. Looking up ahead, Lydia was relieved to see the pier not far ahead.

Maybe sitting for a bit will help me relax. Lydia mentally decided. Nodding to herself, she picked up her pace with the hopes of having a peaceful and quiet break by the shore.

Climbing up the steps to the pier Lydia began walking the hundred-yard long pier. Looking over the pier's walls out to the deep, dark oceans enclosing around her, Lydia was surprised to see that the water was still.

Not a single wave washed ashore, aside from the small ripples caused by the lonesome fish beneath the water's surface.

Well that's- bizzare, yet eerily calming... Lydia decided to herself that this was not normal, but she decided that this will have to do.

Walking the final few yard toward the water's edge, Lydia perched herself at the edge of the pier with her legs hanging over the edge.

Taking deep-calming breathes all the while trying to rid the horrifyingly gory picture of the deer out of her mind, Lydia looked out over the edge of the dock at the tiny ripples in the water.

Huh, I suppose fish feel the eerie feeling as well. Not once since she had arrived, have the ripples gotten any bigger or have shown any signs of becoming larger.

Shrugging the uncomfortable feeling off, Lydia stared out to sea and began to think about earlier today.

*

Flashback

*

Main street was weirdly quiet today. Usually buzzing with life and excitement, it now resembles an old western ghost town- minus the cowboys and tumble-weed.

Lydia could not figure out what it was. Just earlier this week, there were little girls and boys chasing around birds and squirrels, teenage boys following around groups of girls in hopes of getting their number, men wandering around on a business call and women perched on picnic tables chatting about the latest town gossip.

Paying close attention to the cracks in the building's walls and overgrown grass, Lydia wondered to herself;

Could it possibly be the olden appearance? I mean c'mon, not even the squirrels are out!

Sighing to herself, Lydia picked up her pace and walked along the cement side-walk.

"Reporters say that bizarre things have been happening in town,"

Swivleing on her heel, Lydia turned to face the TV in the window of an electronic store.

"One citizen reported that in the middle of a windy night, all went still. It seemed as though every living thing held its breathe waiting for the bad to come. Then after several terrifying stale, breathless minuets, dogs began to bark wildly. "It was almost as if they knew a monster was coming, and that they were its prey." He said. Another Citizen crazed bird ramming themselves into walls of building and billboards, making it seem as if they truly wished to die."

Mental dogs? Suicidal birds? What the hell is this? The zombie apocalypse?

"So you're saying, there's something out there driving these animals to do this?"

"Well one things for sure Sam, these animals sure aren't doing it by themselves. If there is something coming, then its dangerous and seriously pissed."

"Well there you have it folks! The Beast seems to be near, and he's

Malignant."

*

Present

*

Where is all this coming from? Just earlier this week everything was sunshine and rainbows. Now its darkness and gore. Lydia thought to herself in dismay.

Serio-

Splash!

Alarmed as well as a bit frazzled, Lydia looked beneath her to find the once tiny ripples beneath her grow larger and larger.

Frowning at the water below, Lydia leaned forward a bit trying to see beneath the darkness's surface.

Splunk!

Lydia was met with the unwelcoming sight of a large fish flying at her face. Letting out a frightened shriek, she jumped back away from the pier's edge. Soon, more splashing and splunking began to asound.

Splat!

Snapping her neck to the right, Lydia watched as a fish flopped around on its side desperately trying to breathe.

"Oh my god.." Lydia had no clue what was going on around her. More splatting asounded and Lydia despreatly tried to make sense of the craziness surrounding her.

Fish were leaping out of the water onto the pier- hundreds of them. Filled with complete and utter hysteria, Lydia leaped to her feet and turned to make a run for it, but stopped in her tracks as she fearfully stared at the sight ahead of her.

There, in the parting of the the forest trees was a silhouette of a man with blazing, red eyes showing anything but mercy. Lydia stared ahead, gulping hard as realization set in, making her whisper her discoveries.

"Malignant".