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A flicker of h, about fifteen feet off the ground I tensed, ready to sprint

The beast scuttled into the light, crawling along the sheer wall fifteen feet up, like so, rew in patches along its spine; the rest of it was covered with pinkish wrinkled skin Its skull was al jaws, too large for the head, protruded forward,the wide, flat nose sees sprouted from the jaws, barely hidden by white lips But the eyes, the eyes orst of all Small and sunken deep into the skull, they burned with ripped the brick ith oversized digits and dashed across, toward the car, agile like a monkey, too fast for a spear throw Athe car in one single, powerful lunge, and landed behind the Honda

Dahtened

The beast leaned forward,It looked enorest Great Dane I’d ever seen was four and a half feet long This beast had a full foot on it

The creature opened its h the night The hairs on the back ofIt sounded like soerous and vicious

The wo toward them Whatever you do, don’t run If you run, it will chase and kill you

The woman took one tiny step toward the door

The creature slinked behind her and e full of whispers and , as if a dozen people lamented and mumbled at once

"Oh Jesus," the woman whimpered and took another baby step toward the door

The beast let out a high-pitched cackle I was almost there

The woman dashed into the house The beast chased her The door slammed shut and the creature rammed it head-on The door shuddered with a loud thud

Oh no, you don’t I flipped the spear and thrust "Put your weight into it, darling!" Mom’s voice said from my memories I sank my entire momentum into the spear The point of the spearhead sliced into the pink, wrinkled flesh, right between the creature’s ribs

The beast howled White blood bubbled around the wound

I leaned into the spear and turned, wrenching the irass The monster clawed the lawn, ed down, pinning it, and pushed, putting every ounce of strength into the spear, forcing the beast across the grass and into the darkness on the side of the house

My heart pounded at about ascreeched, squir on the end of the spear If it was human, it would be dead I should’ve hit its heart, but it showed no signs of dying I had to finish it and quickly, before the entire subdivision noticed its screaate I had no clue what its vital organs were or where they were located

If I couldn’t aio forThe beast flipped on its feet, i claws like sickles I shied to the side Sharp talons rakedfor its gut The beast knocked my spear aside with its shoulder I whipped the weapon around and drove the butt of the spear into its throat, pinning it to the side of the house The beast gurgled, scraping at the air with its claws, trying to rendto breathe, or never I flipped the spear and drove it into the shrunken chest

Bone crunched I freed the spear and stabbed it in, again and again, as fast as I could Stable, powerful thrusts Another crunch White blood leaked froashes Sweat drenched my face The spear felt too heavy

Another thrust, another, another

Thick white pus tinted with clued Its horrible clawed hands rose one final tiain, just to be sure My wound burned like so red-hot needles into my side I doubled over O, ow

As much as I wanted to dramatically collapse in pain, noas neither the ti out of here before somebody saw me

I surveyed the monster It was a skinny beast, but still five feet tall Had to be at least a hundred pounds Carrying it was out of the question Not only it was too heavy, but it was bleeding white sli it was e to the spear Electric blue veins shot through the weapon The spearhead curved into a crescent barbed hook A cross-handle formed toward the foot of the shaft That would do I hooked the beast and pulled

The body slid across the grass The da was heavy

A thump followed by a faint creak announced the door of the house swinging open Great, just what I needed I spun, weighing my options I was in a narrow space between two houses Behind uarded the backyards The lawn in front of ht to the left, the people would see o

A man swore "Look at the door"

A woht

A cell phone beeped "I need to report an attack," thechasedwith cops Well, didn’t that just take the cake?

The fence belonging to the house on the left had a gate I reached over it, groping for a lock My fingers brushedopen I hooked the creature, dragged it into the neighboring backyard, and shut the door behindoaks threw their shadows over the grass and to the right a wooden playhouse crouched in the shadows Too s spot Besides, I couldn’t spendthe cops would stay, and dragging the beast hoht wasn’t an option

I pulled the creature across the grass to the opposite side of the yard and tried the fence It was old and weather-beaten

The distant wail of a siren rolled through the night Alarray wood and pulled A nail creaked, the wood popped, and a board caetting closer

I yanked the second board off the fence Here’s hoping people in the house were sound sleepers

The siren screeched, so close