Blinking open my eyes, I try to figure out what just woke me. I look over at the clock on the nightstand, seeing that it is half past three in the morning. Warm arms wrap around me, pulling me back into a hard chest. Deciding to go back to sleep, I turn around and lay my head on Braeden's bare chest. His warmth helps to calm me down, but I am unable to fall back asleep.
A scream cuts through the air, stilling the finger I had been using to trace pictures on Braeden's skin. Sitting up in bed, I feel Braeden stirring behind me but not fully waking up until a second scream rips through the air.
"What the hell?" my mate mumbles, sitting up beside me. His hair is in total disarray and his blue eyes are blinking tiredly. I climb out of the bed, slipping on a pair of my boxer briefs that had been laying on the ground from last night. Braeden follows me out of bed, slipping on his own underwear before coming to stand beside me next to our window.
"Holy shit," I whisper, watching as something chases a young hybrid down the street. The hybrid girl looks about our age and absolutely terrified. Lights turn on along our street, hybrids probably trying to see what all the screaming is about.
A creature is looming after the girl. A very familiar and horrifying figure. My breath catches in my throat when I take in its full appearance. The body and face of the creature are completely deformed. The feet and hands are human, but it has the body of a black bear, huge and looming with bloody gashes in the dark fur. The face is like the one I had seen last week in the basement of the medical clinic. It has been haunting me every time I close my eyes, something I can never forget.
"What the hell is that thing?" Braeden whispers from behind me, looking out the window at the horrid creature stalking down our street. I can't answer him, unable to talk through the fear coursing throughout my body. It feels as though I can't catch my breath, but I am unable to look away from the scene outside.
The creature continues to follow the girl, and she looks exhausted but determined to get away. She trips and falls, barely dodging a swipe of the mutated hybrid's humanoid paw. Scrambling away, she clambers to her feet and tries to run again, but it looks as if her exhaustion is catching up with her.
"We have to help her," Braeden says, turning around and walking out of our bedroom.
"What?" I say into the empty room. Turning around, I run after my mate, following him down the stairs and into the dimly lit living room. It seems as if we weren't the only ones awoken by the screams. All of our housemates are downstairs, looking out the living room window at the bear creature and the hybrid girl.
"Braeden, you can't go out there. You'll get hurt or killed by that mutant thing," I say, running over to my mate and standing in front of him. That thing may not look so bad from a distance, but I know what it is like face-to-face. It is terrifying.
"We can't just leave her out there to die, Henley," Braeden says, walking over to the door and putting on his dark blue sweatshirt. The others are staring at us from the window, but it seems like Link agrees with Braeden. He walks over to us, Quinn trailing behind, and puts on his own jacket.
"That thing is dangerous, it will kill you," I say, desperate to stop them from going outside. Quinn is nodding his head, not breaking his gaze from Link.
"Link, please, I don't want you to get hurt," Quinn says, his bottom lip trembling as he stares at his mate. Braeden and Link look determined though, our words not enough to stop them from walking over to the door.
Link has his hand on the doorknob when a loud roar cuts through the night. Link drops the knob, looking over at his sister and Lena, who are still looking out the window. Their mouths are open in shock as they stare out the window.
"What is it?" I whisper, but they don't answer. Instead, Lena just motions me over with her hand, her gaze never leaving the window. Together, we all walk across the carpet towards the large window that looks across the street.
The girl who had been running from the mutant bear is now opening a door to a house, presumably hers, and slipping inside. That isn't what the girls are looking at, though. Their gazes are locked on three looming figures at the end of the street. The figures look even more deranged and crazed than the bear had been.
They walk down the street, seeming to focus on the lights shining out of the windows of the houses lining the street. Their human hands and feet make them walk with an odd gait, their tails swishing with every step. One of the figures- that looks like a mutant lion- lumbers towards our house.
"Shit," I mumble, backing away from the window. "The light, the damn light." I run into the kitchen, where the light was streaming into the living room from, and flick the switch, casting the house into complete darkness. The street outside is illuminated by street lamps, allowing us to see the lion mutant as it stalks up to the window.
I duck down behind the kitchen island, hoping the mutant didn't see me and watching its shadow move across the wall in front of me. I try to calm my erratic breathing and racing heart, but it is no use. The shadow grows larger, and moves off to the side, indicating that the animal is walking along the side of our house.
Slowly, I crawl out of the kitchen, trying to go unseen by the mutant that is attempting to peer in the windows running along the side of the house. I silently make my way into the living room, seeing the others crouched behind the couch. Lena is crying quietly into Lottie's neck, her shoulders trembling in fear. Quinn has his arms wrapped around his legs, his eyes never leaving the shadow moving across the wall.
Everything is silent as I slowly crawl over to them, trying not to make any noise. I sit myself in between Braeden and Quinn, wrapping my arm around my best friend's shoulder in comfort. Suddenly, a dull thump can be heard from the other side of the house. As if something is hitting the window.
"Do you think it's trying to break in?" Quinn breathes, tears falling down his cheeks. Link pulls his mate into his side, running his hand along Quinn's arm in comfort.
"We need to hide," I say, standing up and turning towards my friends. "It's going to get in, and we can't just be sitting here, easy for it to pick off." Lena pulls her head out of the crook of Lottie's neck, nodding her head before pulling herself and her mate up.
Just then, a loud crash breaks the silence, indicating that the mutant we are hiding from had finally managed to break into the house.
"Run, run," I whisper to all of them, grabbing Braeden and pulling him up. We all run up the stairs but split up once we reach the top. Braeden and I run into our bedroom, making sure to lock the door before pushing our dresser in front of it.
"What if it gets through?" I whisper low enough that my mate can barely hear me. Braeden turns and looks at me before grabbing my hand and pulling me into our closet. Softly closing the door, we place some of the boxes of books I hadn't gotten around to unpacking in front of it. The clothes hanging in the closet conceal us from view, but still, I tremble, terrified of the mutant lion.
"It's okay," Braeden breathes, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me onto his lap. "We'll be okay."
I shake my head, not believing what he is saying to me. The mutant is deranged. Braeden hadn't seen it up close like I had in the basement of the medical center. The crazy look in its eyes, the way it looked as if it just wanted to eat me.
Listening closely, I hear the heavy footsteps of the mutant. Its awkward gait due to its deformed hands causes it to walk heavily, making it easy to hear where it is in the house. The heavy footsteps clamber up the stairs and walk down the hallway. It is trying to find us, its snuffling indicating that it is trying to sniff us out.
My tears finally fall. There is nothing we can do to hide from this monster. It can sniff us out. Braeden pulls me even closer to him, placing my head into the crook of his neck to muffle my cries. It's no use, it can still find us.
The shuffling stops outside our door and silence rings throughout the house. It doesn't last long, though. The mutant is trying to break open the door, and it sounds like it is throwing its body against it in order to do so.
Our door splitting under the impact makes my breaths come quicker. Braeden moves behind me, and turning my head, I see that he is searching for something. It only takes him a minute to find what he is looking for. He pulls out a heavy flashlight. We store it there in case of emergencies, and it looks like it will finally be put to use.
Awkward footsteps make their way over to the closet door, and I scoot as far away from it as possible. Braeden takes me off of his lap and silently moves in front of me, the flashlight raised in attack. The first slam against the door makes me cry out. Braeden rubs his hand through my hair before turning back around to face the now splintering door.
The door cracks, and with only a few more hits, it is thrown off its hinges. The books we had been using to barricade the door are spilled everywhere, and there, standing in the now empty doorway, is the mutant.
It snaps its teeth at us, its crazed eyes focusing on Braeden. I feel Braeden tense up in front of me, ready to defend us if the beast attacks. The mutant crouches down, gathering enough power to spring at us.
It takes the first lunge and Braeden swings the heavy flashlight, the crack of the metal hitting the beast's skull is sickening. The beast backs away, trying to make another attack, but before it has the chance to recover, Braeden hits it again, stunning the animal. He grabs my arm and we run out of the closet and into our bathroom, locking the door behind us.
The lion lets out a loud roar, making me cover my ears. It runs towards the bathroom door but stops once the wail of a police siren cuts through the night. Looking out the window, I see at least six police cars outside on the street, their lights flashing and their sirens wailing.
Heavy footsteps can be heard moving away from the bathroom door and down our stairs. A few seconds later, the lion beast that had attacked us scrambles out of our house and towards the policemen. It lets out another roar, but it is soon shot down. It stands back up after the first two shots, attempting to get close to the policemen. Multiple guns go off at once, the bullets piercing the marred flesh of the beast. Even the mutant can't withstand multiple shots to the chest and head. It eventually falls limply to the ground.
The other lion hybrids run towards the police cars, trying to attack the hybrids standing there, but they are taken down much like the first one. A police man says something into the radio things they have on their shoulders, and a few minutes later, multiple ambulances pull down the street.
"It's okay, Henley, they're dead now," Braeden says, putting his hands on either side of my face. He looks me in the eye while wiping away my tears with his thumbs. "Everything is okay now."
"But it's not," I cry, more tears escaping. "It's just the beginning."
My mate pulls me against his chest, letting me sob against him while rubbing his hands soothingly along my back. Eventually, he picks me up and lies me on the bed, covering me with the blankets.
"I'll be right back, okay?" he says softly, brushing the hair out of my face. I nod my head before burying it into the pillow. He gives me a soft kiss on my cheek before walking out of the bedroom.
Closing my eyes, I tune into the conversation downstairs. Everyone seems to be okay but shaken up pretty badly. Their talking is cut off by a knock at the door. Someone answers it, and two new voices start talking.
"Hello, we are going around house to house, making sure everyone is alright. Can we check you over really quick?" a female voice says. My housemates must have nodded in confirmation because the female says a simple, "Thank you."
I stop listening after that, my exhaustion catching up with me. Closing my eyes, I fall into a half asleep state. Braeden eventually comes back into the room, followed by the two hybrids who were at the door. Gently, he shakes my shoulder to wake me up.
"Henley, these two hybrids are just going to make sure you weren't hurt during the attack," he says, helping me to sit up in the bed.
"But I wasn't," I say tiredly, laying my head against my mate's shoulder when he sits down next to me.
"They're just making sure." I hesitantly nod my head, watching as the one I am assuming is a paramedic runs her hand softly over my body. She turns me around so she can see my back, takes my temperature, listens to my heartbeat, and asks me a few questions. Seemingly satisfied, she gives a smile before her and the policewoman walk out the door.
Braeden pulls me against his chest, laying us both down on the bed and covering us with the blanket.
"Is everyone alright?" I whisper, wrapping my arm around Breaden's waist and laying my head on his chest. His fingers run through my hair, petting my fox ears in comfort.
"Yes, everyone is fine." I feel him turn his head, so I look up. "But you have to tell me how you knew about that beast."
My body stiffens, and I try to scoot away, but my mate just pulls me tighter against him. "H-how did you know?" My voice croaks.
"You seemed to know what it was before any of us could even get a good look at it. And this past week, you have been acting strangely. I know you have been having trouble sleeping lately."
"Yeah," I whisper. "I have seen one of them before." I go on to tell him about my encounter with one in the basement of the medical clinic. "I didn't want you to think that I was crazy."
"I would never think that," he says in a quiet voice. He leans his head down and brushes his lips against mine. "I'll always believe you."
I sniffle but hold the tears back, tired from what has happened. Snuggling further into my mate, he wraps his arms around me. We fall asleep, but the monster is still on my mind, causing it to be the usual restless night for me.
*****
Thank you all for reading this story, it means so much to me. In honor of NaNoWriMo, this story will be getting updates every three days, so make sure to be on the lookout for the frequent updates!
Oh, and the picture at the top of the chapter is the new cover for this story, and it was created by the wonderful brookemcx.