Beautiful Creature

Chapter 3

Clare's POV

     I had worked a full day at the cafe, nothing very interesting happened. One grumpy customer that complained about the taste of his black coffee, I was more confused than anything. There is no possible way someone can mess up straight black coffee. I made myself a latte for the walk home, paying for it before leaving. It was only around 6 o'clock and the sun had almost completely set. One of the weirder things about my planet. I made sure to take the busier streets to have some kind of other human beings around. 

     Even though my planet was considered crime-free, I wasn't taking any chances. The temperature had dropped and the sun had completely set. I pulled my sweatshirt tighter around me. Fifty degrees wasn't my idea of warm and it set me on edge. As I continued on my way home I didn't miss the fact that there weren't many people on the streets. Even at 6:00, there were always a couple of people out. I keep walking trying not to make much noise or draw attention. I crossed the street and saw someone. She was a couple of years older than me, around 23 maybe. 

     "Hey, do you know where everyone is tonight? There's usually a lot more people out," I asked. She jumped in surprise, she must have been deep in thought. "I-I'm sorry, what did you say?" She said hesitantly. Poor thing looked nervous as hell, "Do you know where everyone is? There's not a lot of people out tonight." I repeated. The light turned to the walking person and we walked across as she talked, "Today's the anniversary of the first settlement on the planet. Everyone's probably at city hall, did you forget?"

     I had totally forgotten. 

      I rubbed the back of my neck "Um maybe?" I said trying to make her laugh, hoping it would release some of the tension that seems to surround this lady. It didn't work, if anything it made her tenser. I stopped talking after that think she would eventually go on to a different street and I was right. I turned a counter and could see the apartment building. Before I could do anything a hand covered my mouth and arm grabbed me around the waist, pulling me into the alleyway. "I'm going to have some with you doll~," said a clearly drunk man. 

     Fear churned in my gut at his words but that didn't mean I wasn't going to fight back. I bit his hand hard, drawing blood and he hissed in pain. I gaged a bit at the taste but it did its job. His grip loosed enough for me to lean forward and kick back at him, right in the balls. He let go completely and I made a run for it. "Help!" I screamed, "Help someo-" The man grabbed me again in the same way he did before, "You aren't get away from me, doll~" as he spoke his hand began to go down my pants. Rage burned through my veins and he didn't get far. I wretched my arms out of his grasp took hold of his arm and flipped him over me on to the ground. 

     I made another run for the street but a hand grabbed my ankle. I fell to the ground and my vision went blurry for a second. I went up on to my knees and the mad man spoke, "You know what, you're too much work doll," and then I saw it, a gun was pointed straight at my head. My mind was working trying to find a way out. He smiled, "You got any last words doll." I refused to show this scumbag any fear. I smiled at him smugly, "Go to hell you son of a bitch," I said. He became furious, the gun shaking in his hands from anger. 

     Suddenly the shadows pulled him in and the gun went off as it hit the ground. The sound deafened me for a moment and then the man's screams replaced it. I covered my mouth so I didn't throw-up at the sound of tearing flesh. A river of blood flowed towards me and I saw the body of what once was a man at the start. I heard something growl and I whipped my head in the direction of the sound. It looked like what nightmares were made of. Its scales were pitch black and it was standing on all fours. Its claws were covered in red blood from its kill. 

     I moved back a little and it leaped at me. I ran for the street that was so close, freedom was so close but it pushed me to the ground, caging me under it. I round over slower then I would have liked but I was losing the strength to go on. I was able to see now that it didn't have any eyes. It should have been blind but I could feel its stare as it hesitated on killing me. It inched its way forward moving its head closer to mine. My body was trembling as it came closer still. It was no more than 4 inches away from my face now and it could probably hear my heart because it was pounding so hard in my chest. 

     It breathed out a breath and I saw a quick movement of its mouth opening. I screwed my eyes shut but instead of death, an intense soothing voice filled my head, "Beautiful" I opened my eyes in shock, in my state of mind all of my thoughts came out my mouth, "W-What?" It jerked its head back, surprised by me speak. Straight after it did a bright flash lite up the alleyway. I tilted back my head to see the same lady I had seen earlier. Out of my side vision, I saw the creature get ready to leap. "R-Run run!" I shouted frantically but the woman was too slow. It leaped at her and her screams echoed as the creature carried her away. 

    I stood up unsteadily and walked to the sidewalk. I saw a phone lying on the ground, it must have been the lady's phone. I opened up the phone and saw a picture of her family, happy and smiling. A family she would never see again. I allowed one tear to fall down my cheek as I went into her gallery. I needed to know if she had taken a picture or not. The most recent picture was indeed one of the creature and me under it, in the alleyway. A simple photo had gotten her killed or worse. I hovered my finger over the delete button before clicking it. 

     Whatever that creature was, it wasn't from this planet. Which meant only two things, either it was an undiscovered species, which wasn't likely, or the SEAR program had brought it here. If word got out that the company had purposely put a dangerous creature on this planet. There would be a riot and more people might die. The people needed to remain calm and murder wasn't the way to show them that. I dropped the phone and run home. I unlocked my door with some difficulty and went to my room. I crawled on to my bed, not caring if blood got on the sheets. 

     I laid there for a few moments before breaking down. Tears would not stop falling as the emotions from the last 20 minutes came crashing down on me. I don't know how long I cried or half things I thought. Part of me didn't want to know. I guessed that at some point throughout all of it,  I fell asleep.