It came closer, and I could see that rain was dripping down the empty void, I could see that... there was a shape outlined by the rain. Bile rose up in my throat as I started to rapidly breathe in the tainted air. The smell was coming from that space, without a doubt. Just as my mind started to function on a level that would allow me to take action, I remembered there was a knife in my pocket. The gun was in the car. The invisible thing lumbered forward, ready to pounce...

A gunshot rang out, and the thing started to flicker in and out of visibility, like a flashlight with a dying battery. It let out one of the excited whooping shouts it had let out earlier, and it grabbed at its wound as it thrashed around.

Sarah was poking the gun out of the middle driver's side window, and was ready to fire again when the thing's thrashing body bumped into the van, knocking the gun from her hands. I dove for it, but I saw the thing glare at me in the last brief moment that its flickering form was clearly visible. It was covered in a shaggy mess of hair, coated with what looked like dirt, or maybe it was blood, with chunks of meat, organs and bones hung tied up in its matted and tangled hair. It had a face that bordered between simian and a sort of primitive caveman-esque look, with a deep-set brow and eye sockets that dug into its skull but... though it "glared" at me, its eyes were evidently non-functional. Or, at least, that's what it looked like. They were nothing but glazed over mush. There's no way it could have been able to see me, but its actions suggested otherwise. It opened its mouth into an exaggerated frown, displaying a row of toothpick thin teeth and a set of tusk-like fangs, a strange combination, then let out a pathetic sounding bellow. I took in all of that within that one moment before its form faded away again, and I just barely managed to snap out of it enough to leap for the gun that had been knocked from Sarah's hands. I felt something come down hard on the back of my head, knocking me through the open driver's side door so that my head smacked onto the floor of the van while my legs hung out onto the pavement.

I tried to get up, but fell back down onto my face. My head was still pounding, it still felt like I was being hammered on the head. My mind was swamped, my ears were ringing. It felt like my brain was slowly sinking into muddy swamp water. I felt my heart clench as the gun clattered on the pavement and bumped into my foot. The invisible thing stood just next to me, between the gun and Jared.

Come on, if I could just move enough to kick the gun towards Jared...

The creature let out a howling wail that shook the air around me, and I vaguely heard everyone shouting and panicking as my consciousness started to swamp over again.

With a shudder, my eyesight cleared just enough for me to see Jared ready with the knife, both him and the outline in the rain about to clash. There's... no way he'd stand a chance. Under all that fur, that thing was probably built like a great ape. I still... still couldn't move from the slight tap it had given me... Stars swirled around the edges of my vision, and I saw doubles of the sunflowers tilting their flowers to observe the confrontation. The beast wailed again, sounding strangely pitiable. Come on... move!

I had just enough strength to kick the gun with all my might, which sent it directly in front of Jared's feet. The beast seemed to whimper, Jared picked up the gun, a sharp throb of pain in my temples made me shut my eyes tightly, and I heard another gunshot as both Jared and the creature bellowed.

"Wh- Wha happened??!!" I blurted out, staring wildly around.

Sarah was driving and focused on the road ahead, Jared was in the backseat and Aaron was next to me, holding on to me. I realized that he and Sarah must have hauled me into the van. I saw the flickering shape of the ape-thing lifting itself off the ground behind us, a low weeping coming from it.

"Good, you're okay!" Aaron said as he climbed back into his seat, and then I noticed the gun propped up next to Jared. My eyes widened... a huge hand print was embedded in the barrel of the gun. The metal was completely crushed... the gun would be unusable.

I muttered, "Did that thing... do..."

Jared nodded solemnly, "Yeah. After I shot it, it grabbed the gun, I shot the bastard again, but then it crumpled the gun like a piece of paper right before it stumbled and fell to the ground. The bastard's still alive," he squinted his eyes, searching through the rain for an empty space, "And I think he's chasing after us..."

"I shot that thing right in the shoulder!" Sarah said in disbelief, "And Jared shot it right in its chest and stomach! And still it... still it didn't die..."

We didn't have a gun anymore.