LOvE PoTiOn # 9

#1

Eric stopped at the corner to rest, just for a moment. His lungs burned. The lab tech had given up chasing him after just a few blocks, but these things were relentless. He held himself up against the streetlight, shivering in its sickly glow. There was no point in staying in the darkness. They could smell him.

Behind him, the sound of shoes scraping across the blacktop. Getting closer. “If they see you,” he thought, “they’ll start howling again.”

Move!

“Where the hell is the river?” he thought. “Crossing water hides your scent from bloodhounds, doesn’t it? Maybe it would work on these things.” He ran across another street, and stopped to check if he was still being followed. Four blocks back, dark shapes drew closer. Pale moonlight revealed a crowd of twisted forms, tattered clothes and tearing skin barely covering the muscles beneath. Heads held high, noses sniffing the icy, autumn air.

“Oh, god! Run!” Cross the street. Down an alley. New road, potholes. Sidewalk broken, don’t fall. Just. Keep. Going.

A few blocks later, he found himself walking through a small shopping center, listening to the hollow echo of his footsteps. Not a person on the street. At this hour, almost everything would be closed. The only sign of life was a small sign across the road, the words “Dirty Diversions” flickering in purple neon. He considered his options. “The windows are barred, and it doesn’t look like there are any customers around… This might make a good place to hole up. If nothing else, I’ll at least have a few minutes in from the cold.”

When he pushed open the door, distant bells jingled. The inside of the shop looked like it had once been a book store, possibly as recently as that morning. Rather than remodeling, the new owners had simply thrown out all the books and filled the shelves with adult novelties. Eric grabbed a bookcase and pushed it in front of the door, a rainbow of “massagers” tumbling to the floor.