Love and Fear

Chapter 8

Fear shot awake. There was a loud thud. It was the hatch. He sniffed the air. Nothing yet. Was it another set of curious teenagers. His mind went to the thought of food. He was still sleeping off his meal from a couple days ago. He shrugged, he could eat again. He quickly got out of his bed. It was still a mess. He sniffed the air again. This time a smell wafted to his nasal cavity. Seven humans, three females, and four males, they would make a great meal. He wouldn't have to go out for months. He could make so many recipes, maybe he could even use the old stove up stairs. His long black tongue ran over his teeth in his true mouth. He made his way down the hall. To the main room. He peeked out from the dark and saw a bright flashlight. They were talking loudly and their minds were working at a rapid pace. He stood out of sight. For now he had the element of surprise. 

This was his domain and they had stupidly blundered in to it like a mouse in a foxes den. He moved slowly along the wall out of sight; he had to close the hatch, then they couldn't escape. Suddenly a light blinded him. He heard several gasps. Shit. They saw him, now he really had to get moving. With a low growl he raced to the stairs. One of them yelled "don't let it get away." Ironic Fear thought, they believed he was trying to leave. No, he was going to trap them. He heard footsteps after him. He reached out and grabbed the hatch pulling it closed. The only light now was the humans flashlights. 

He turned and sped down the stairs, bowling past the man coming up them. He needed to get the element of surprise back. He ran down one of his tunnels. It led to a large empty room. It was unfinished and the walls were rough, allowing him to climb them. He scurried up and held on to the roof. With a pop and a crack he rotated his neck vertebrae to twist his head and look down. He slowed his breathing and waited. Not five minutes later a single man entered the room. Perfect they didn't know where he was. The man looked around, shining his flashlight everywhere. Everywhere but the roof. Fear let go and dropped behind him. The man shrieked and dropped his flashlight as Fear dug his pseudo teeth into his shoulder. The man screamed and jabbed something into Fears' skin. He realized too late that it was a stun gun. It didn't bring him down but it did cause him to let go and jump back, taking a sizable chunk of the man's flesh with him. The screams had alerted the other humans and Fear scrambled to get back on the roof. They came running in voicing their concerns for their friend. He should have gone for the throat. The man was wailing and pointed to the roof. A flashlight shined up at him and he let loose a loud snarl. He twisted his head again and stared down at them with his four white eyes. They paused and stared back. He was evaluating them, learning their secrets, invading and analyzing their minds. Their names, their lives, their strengths, and their weaknesses. 

That's when it hit him. A sharp pain in his back. He quickly reached out and grabbed it. It was a dart, an empty one. He growled, now enraged that he had not detected the gun. Another one hit him. Crap! He needed to move. Fear pushed off the roof aiming to land behind them. But his mind was becoming foggy and his body unresponsive. He fell short and landed to the side of them. His body rolled and pain shot through him. NO. He dragged himself up, his body already working to stop the tranquilizers. The humans stood in front of him. He narrowed his eyes and flexed his claws with an angry hiss. He watched them. The male with the gun raised it to take another shot. Fear rushed forwards. Swinging his arm to slash him. Claws meet flesh. A shot went off, disappearing into the blackness. A taser met his flesh and he convulsed. His muscles stiffened and he stumbled, crashing to the ground. They were upon him and he felt three more darts pierce his skin. The tranquilizers flooded his system and he began to fade into unconsciousness. He growled. No this wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

~ Eva was panting, beads of sweat rolled down her face. She stood behind the creature, her taser in hand. It's probes still stuck in the creature's skin delivering high amounts of voltage. She started to laugh, they all did. She was covered in blood from Luke. "Holy shit" she laughed out. This thing was a literal monster. It was tall, and had dark skin. It had long teeth and claws, both covered in blood. None of them had been prepared for this. Especially not the two guards. Luke was whimpering, holding his injured shoulder. It had ripped out a large chunk of him. "What do we do with it, '' Jim asked. '' We take it back to the labs, its obviously the murderer, and well it might just be the discovery of a life time.'' Eva replied. "We're gonna need chains,'' Ben remarked. "Will it even fit in the back?" Lilly chimed in. Eva thought for a moment and made up her mind. "Michal, Shelly, Jim, you guys go out and find a hard where store, get some locks and chains. Lilly, you take Luke to the hospital to get help." Lilly nodded and helped Luke get up. "Ben, you and I will stay here and make sure it doesn't get up and leave," Eva said. He nodded and the others took off. It wasn't long before Shelly came running back. She was panting "it locked us in, we need your help to open the hatch." Eva's brows clashed worriedly, it wasn't trying to leave it was trying to trap them there. She nodded to Ben. "I'll stay and watch it,'' she offered. Ben nodded and handed her the gun. They both rushed off down the dark hallway. Eva shone her light on the creature. Its face looked like an animal had half of its face ripped off and then healed. She spotted something and knelt down by its head. 

She reached out to touch it but recoiled, pulling her hand back quickly. It was a chunk of meat clamped between its teeth. Horrified realization dawned on her, as she identified as the part of Luke's shoulder. Eva gagged, turning her head away. This thing ate people and if they hadn't shot it they would have befallen the same fate as the man at the morgue. Ever wondered how many people it had killed. Loud footsteps echoed around the room has Ben entered. He looked at her disgusted face "what's wrong," he asked. Eva pointed at the flesh. Ben sucked in a sharp breath, "That's Luke's, isn't it." Eva nodded and got up. She handed the gun back to Ben. "Let's just hope the others get back soon." she said, moving to stand next to Ben, who was inspecting his chest. The vest had kept the creature's claws from doing some real damage. He took it off and then his shirt. There were five thin scratch marks from his collar bone to his naval. They were almost like paper cuts. Ben chuckled and held up the vest, it was shredded. Eva sighed, this was going to be a long day.