Darkness

There gets to be a point where fear can overtake anyone.

            Stained with pitiless justice, a knife is thrust more than once into the darkness, its silvery coating gleaming with fear. Nothing was there, not anymore. Jacob, dagger in hand, stood tall over a crouching, shivering heap that was Sarah. Roger tried to act brave, but was pierced with the same intimidation as the others. There was something out there.

            “M-Maybe it’s gone. We should run,” whimpered Roger.

            “And then, what? We don’t know if were going out or just deeper into the woods,” said Jacob in the calmest voice he could muster.

            “That’s a chance I’ll take. If we don’t do anything now then we won’t have that option.”

            “If you leave by yourself you’ll make too much noise. That… thing will come back”

            “What else can we do? Wait for it? I’m going. I don’t care if you come or not.”

            “I swear if you try to go, I’ll cut you down right here!”

            “You don’t have it in you to do that. Look at yourself! You can’t even hold the knife steady! You wouldn’t dare hold it against—“

            A long, terrible scream broke the conversation. While Jacob and Roger were arguing, the creature returned. Sarah had seen it but had been too stunned to warn the others with just words. A lot of things happened all at once. Jacob slashed out at the beast. With a gaping cut now pointing down what looked like its arms, it dashed at Sarah, who was still screaming.

            Roger kept looking in different directions. Searching for what he believed to be the way leading out. It was far too dark to see any difference from one side to the other.

            Jacob leaped between the atrocity and Sarah. He was knocked aside a few feet by the creature. After rolling across the grassy forest floor, he felt a sharp pain in his side. Trying to ignore it, he attempted to lift himself. The pain intensified immensely and he dropped to his hands and knees. He stared at the source of the pain to gaze upon his shirt, wet with his blood. Creeping out of his skin was the silhouette of the handle of the knife he landed on.

            Sarah was now face to face with the monstrosity. She could vaguely sort out a disfigured face, two long, gangly arms, and two legs, one smaller than the other making it lopsided. She stared directly into the glowing red beads that formed its eyes. They dilated as they focused on her.

            The beast lunged into the air. It was a shadow masking the night sky. It began a quick paced decline onto Sarah’s position. Her screaming resumed, but wasn’t cut short. A peculiarly shaped object had darted at the horror. Jacob, clutching the waist of the fiend, removed the knife from his torso and forced it through the hellion’s chest.

            The beast started gripping its chest with one arm and waving its other one madly trying to strike Jacob. A sharp scale-like spike on its shoulder grazed his cheek, but he was otherwise left unharmed until they landed.

            Enraged, the demon, buffeted Jacob repeatedly until life left him. Regaining some consciousness, Roger saw what had happened. He grabbed Sarah’s icy hand and dragged her to her feet. Together they ran from the bleak shadow being beaten by they creature.

            Roger didn’t know whether he was taking her deeper into the forest or closer to the exit, but what he did know was that they had to leave as soon as possible. Moonlight was a seldom landmark shining on the ground, but Roger tried to memorize the specific shapes and sizes of each one to as much of an extent as possible when sprinting from death itself. He saw that they were getting smaller. The trees were getting closer together.

            He turned to see a dark outline pursuing them. He couldn’t turn back now. He had to go deeper. He came to a large opening that light poured into. He knew they weren’t safe. They circled around to see if they could distinguish where they were, but it was hopeless. They were trapped.

            The beast’s figure burrowed out of the mist. All they could do was wait to see which one the beast would pick. It began to lean towards Roger. Realizing this, Roger made for the woods as fast as his legs would take him. This only seemed to anger the creature more. Sarah could only see the vague shape of it pouncing onto Roger. She began to feel everything go black..

 

            Sarah awoke in the dirt the next morning. She could see the sun peaking over the trees. She looked around herself and saw nothing but small trickles of blood. She ran, not even looking for the bodies of her friends, until she reached the edge of the woods. She whirled around to get a final glimpse of the beast’s lair. After thinking she saw the shift of a shadow between two of the trees, she began running again and never dared to turn back.

           

 

Author's Note

I figured I would write something like this for halloween.

Reviews

[James Watts]

Nice piece. Like the ending.

[That Weirdo You Just Mi..]

You are such a brilliant writer! I loved this.