Herd

Chapter 2

I heard the heavy footsteps pacing the floor. I held my breath, afraid that any sound my body made the creature could hear it. The footsteps sounded farther away and I dropped my hands from my mouth and my feet from the door. My breath came in short, quick pants. My eyes were adjusted to the dark and after straining a few more minutes to hear something I moved to stand. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I barely contained my screech of surprise. My fingers fumbled to pull the device from my pocket and my scared, clumsy fingers couldn't hang on to the glass.

The phone slipped from my hand and crashed to the floor, spinning out and away from the stall I stood in. My breathing hitched for a moment, but nothing else seemed to have heard my clumsiness. I unlocked the door and followed the buzzing sound. I reached down and grabbed the phone when the door to the bathroom was flung open. The light coming in from the hallway temporarily blinded me. Standing in the door was the creature from the alleyway. He ducked under the doorway coming toward me.

I scrambled backward across the gritty tile floor. It silently reached for me, grasping me by the ankle and dragging me back toward it. When I was close enough, he dropped my ankle and gripped my upper arm and hoisted me to my feet. Wordlessly, it pulled me into the hallway, down the stairs and out into the alley way.

It took me until the cold air slapped me in the face to attempt to fight back. I pulled against the creature's grip, thrashing as much as it would allow, a guttural scream clawing its way up my throat.

"Silent!" it roared at me, giving me a hard shake. My arm ached where it held me. The sirens were still screaming away in the night, the lights flashing. I was momentarily stunned by its human-like voice and perfect English. My head whipped back and forth, searching for someone to help me. Anyone. I screamed again and the creature slapped a massive hand across my mouth.

My teeth clashed together and I tasted blood. We continued down the block toward the brightest flashing lights, and I prayed that some authority there would help me. I stopped struggling and instead eagerly looked around for a police officer. There was no one around. We rounded the corner and even though there were six police cars with flashing lights and sirens going, there wasn't a single soul around. My heart fell and my knees gave out so that the creature was holding me up. Though it seemed to cost him little effort.

It looked around us for a moment, then stared down at me with silver eyes before he dropped me in a heap on the concrete. I rubbed my arm and stared around at the empty streets. The screaming had stopped.

The creature wandered away toward another building, unconcerned with me at the moment, its sword now strapped to its back. I crawled toward the closest police car, tucking my cracked cell phone into my jacket pocket and zipping it closed. The passenger side door was open and facing me. As I climbed inside, I noticed a splatter of blood coating the inside of the door. I froze, horrified by the sight before I heard a crashing noise from where the creature had wandered off toward. It snapped me back to attention and I started searching the police cruiser. There were wrappers on the passenger floor and two empty coffee cups sitting in the cup holder. I reached under each seat feeling for some sort of weapon but came up with nothing.

I shuffled through a few more crevices in the car and only came up with a baton that seemed to have fallen between the door and the seat. I clutched it tightly in my hand and made my way toward the next car. I kept glancing over my shoulder waiting for the creature to come raging at me from the shadows. The next car proved a bit more fruitful—a pocket-knife and a radio; but what caught my attention the most was scattered nearby: dozens of shell casings. Goosebumps erupted on my skin. I clipped the radio to my pants and tucked the pocket-knife in my back pocket. I had heard nothing of the chaos happening outside while I was listening to doctors droll on and on about various maladies. I ran to the next car—and dove into the driver's seat. I came up short when I noticed the body in the passenger seat. An officer sat there, his breathing labored as he clutched his belly. Dark liquid was oozing through his fingers and he barely acknowledged me.

I stared at him in horror. It was one thing to see the shell casings and the absence of the police. This was proof that something horrendous was happening—proof that I wasn't just losing my mind. I reached out to touch him and he started. He blinked slowly at me before he whispered, "They're coming from the hills. That's what they said, an invasion from the woods."

"Who is coming?" I asked. "What are they called? What are they?" I asked him.

"They're coming from the hills. They're coming...from...they're coming from...the ... hills," he wheezed.

"What are they?" I demanded, grabbing his lapels and giving him a slight shake. I could tell by the color in his face and his labored breathing that he was not long for this world. For a moment I was envious of him, I wasn't sure I wanted to live in a world that had alien creatures stalking us through the night.

His lips moved again but no sound came out. Instead, a few bubbles of bloody mucus inflated on his lips and popped before his body gave a long shudder and his breath whooshed from his mouth. I stared at him longer than I probably should have before a roar split the air. I shuddered but reached across the center console and unhooked his utility belt. A flashlight, a second baton, and a handgun were attached and I immediately strapped the belt on. It was loose but not so much that I was afraid it would slip off my hips. I pulled the handgun out of the holster and held the cold metal tightly in my hand.

My father taught me gun safety when I was younger. We would spend weekends in the mountains tracking and hunting game. Handguns were not something I was very familiar with, but I knew enough to check the magazine, load and unload it, and of course flip the safety off and pull the trigger. There were nine rounds left in the magazine. I snapped it back in place and leaned my head against the driver's seat.

I hadn't watched someone die from a wound like that before. I had never even really seen a violent death in person—the movies didn't count. There was something exhaustively heavy about watching the light leave someone's eyes. I sucked in a steadying breath and made to leave the police cruiser. I grasped the handgun in both hands and kept it pointed at the ground as I made my way toward another vehicle. My keys were currently in the alleyway on the ground from where I dropped them. I needed to find another way to get home.

I saw the creature coming back and hurried to dip behind another police vehicle. The tinkling of the shell casings as I kicked them followed me and I cursed myself for not being more careful as I ran. This vehicle didn't have its lights on or a siren wailing. I crouched down near the trunk and waited, watching the nearby area. The creature returned to where it had initially left me behind and dropped a sack of something down near it. It roared again and kicked the door of the nearby police cruiser denting it significantly.