Day 2

I woke up with a physical jolt and felt heavily confused and dazed.

My thoughts surged through decaying memories of strange dreams where I could see planets and stars, a sundial frozen and some kind of blinding orb that bent black light around it, as if I was looking through an illuminated glass ball at the night sky...

But that wasn’t why I was confused and dazed.

The reason I was confused and dazed was because it was pitch black and all I could hear was rattling, screaming and a baby crying.

And the reason I woke up with a jolt was because something was jostling me to wake up.

Where was I? Had I fallen asleep downstairs? Was there an earthquake? Why was there a baby crying?

I fumbled looking for my phone but then I started to feel adrenaline blast into my system as I started shivering.

The voice became clearer as my body started pumping blood faster and faster and my brain started kicking into gear.

Oh shit.

“GODU WHERE ARE YOU! SOMEONE’S TRYING TO GET IN! WHERE ARE YOU! PLEASE!”

Marri!

I sprung up as I realised that the door was smacking back and forth as something was hammering into the door.

Someone’s trying to force it open!

The hospital bed trolley was being slowly pushed further in with every smash.

“Marri! I-It’s okay, I’m sorry-fuck! I’m so sorry! I’m here, I’m holding the barricade!”

The barricade and door were getting hammered and Lone! Poor little lone was screaming.

“WHO’S THERE? PLEASE JUST GO AWAY! YOU ARE SCARING US! YOU ARE SCARING MY BABY! LEAVE US ALONE!!” Marri’s voice broke due to the sheer volume she was screaming.

The only response we got was more frantic banging and sounds of heaving breathing that escalated, sounding excited.

There was some kind of sick anticipation of getting in.

My mind desperately raced to think amidst the screaming and crying and banging. I couldn’t see fuck all and I didn’t know what I should be doing.

I was hoping, praying, that maybe if I held the barricade, then the person would just give up and go away.

Maybe my voice will scare them off?

“F-FUCK OFF YOU F-FFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” I shakily roared out. The fear in my voice was blatant, making me feel like a stupid scared idiot.

Their breathing somehow intensified to a hyperventilating level and the pushing reached a frenzied level.

I could feel the barricade slowly creeping forward as I scrambled with my feet to push it back.

Suddenly it stopped.

I held my breath and looked up and over in the general direction of the door but couldn’t see anything.

All I could hear was the manic breaths and Lone crying.

But then, as if staged by some sick deity, there was a strong gust of wind that blew the thick blind aside and bright moonlight streamed in.

I looked over at Marri and saw her staring at the door in pure terror.

In what felt like slow motion, I returned my gaze at the door and…saw it.

It had managed to push the door open enough to start poking its head through.

A...human head that looked way too large, way too oval, with oily stringy black hair and it had oversized eyes, with yellow orbs instead of white with a jet black dilated iris.

And it had an oversized wide grin.

Oh god.

It was just grinning.

And staring!

And it’s teeth!

The teeth were plastered in blood.

The eyes were practically glowing with the moon’s reflection and as the blind fell back in place, I could still make out the eyes reflecting what little light was making it in.

Marri was scrambling up out of the bed whimpering, she slipped and fell, causing her to scream in panic.

Screaming from anger to fear to desperation and pain as she clutched onto a crying Lone.

My mind was frozen from the sheer overload of sensory input as I shakily stood up, staring at the pitch black entrance with the faint yellow eyes staring right back at me.

“GODU! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING!”

“MAKE IT STAY BACK! KEEP IT AWAY! PLEASE! GODU!”

She got back up and moved towards the window and I started to slowly walk back, still mentally overloaded, hearing the screeching of the barricade moving open enough for the creature to finally get in.

Marri yanked the blinds back to let light in and it made me jump and I stumbled back in horror as I watched the creature continue its entry whilst it scanned the room calmly, yet it was breathing so fast.

Large mouth agape, grinning, dripping unknown fluids littered with chunks of something that made little pit pats.

Its body was covered in a ragged gown that looked very dark, most probably stained with blood, considering its face also looked stained with either vomit or blood...or both.

It had slightly elongated everything.

Arms, fingers, legs and its head looked hunched over it’s shoulders.

I couldn’t get over how wide its mouth was with that grin.

That fucking grin.

It suddenly locked its eyes behind me and the grin appeared to get even wider.

It’s mouth opened as it stalked closer and amidst the strands of fluid you could clearly see a piece of flesh with a tiny wristband wedged in the teeth.

Human flesh. A small tiny half mangled limb with tiny toes.

Ah. Must have been from the NICU.

The neonatal intensive care unit for babies born too early.

As the realisation hit me I was surprised I didn’t throw up but instead I…didn’t feel anything.

I felt blank.

“OH MY GOD IT HAS BEEN EATING CHILDREN!”

“GODU!!! IT WANTS LONE! IT WANTS TO FUCKING EAT LONE!!”

“I WON’T LET IT TAKE HIM!”

“YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT YOU HEAR ME!! YOU COME NEAR HIM AND I’LL TEAR THAT FUCKING GRIN OFF YOUR FACE!”

She was sobbing and screaming and Lones voice was cracking from all the screaming and crying he had been doing.

As I backed up, I spontaneously had a flash of the most grotesque scenario appear in my mind.

Disturbing, sick images where this thing grabbed my little boy and started to chew on him whilst he cried in pain.

*Crack* *munch* *scream* *rip* *tear* *scream* *squish* *slick* *wail* *whimper*

Was this judgement day? Was I staring at a demon? A monster? A nightmare?

Some piece of me broke at these imaginary images and thoughts as I became drunk from aggression.

I felt a mixture of rage and fear.

But rage was exponentially winning, blocking out all the fear.

I felt pure hate.

And logic dictates you must kill what you hate.

Everything switched as I felt an insanity fuelled rush course through my body.

I hadn’t made up my mind, but my body had taken over.

Rational thoughts had its chance so now it was time to go feral.

I let out a roar as I charged into the creature, right shoulder first.

It reacted to my first step almost instantly, hissing and wrapping its arms around me whilst we made contact and embraced me as it bit into my shoulder.

As it sunk its teeth, my reckless sloppy charge knocked us both off balance and onto the barricade.

It suddenly let go and screeched as it bashed into the metalwork of the bed, bouncing us slightly back up, then falling onto the floor with my weight toppling on top of it.

I was 6ft 3, and this thing was probably the same height, but our weight classes were evident the moment I knocked into it.

I was heavier. Much Heavier.

Our arms flapped around as we scrambled to try and get a purchase and gain an advantage. There was just a constant screech and an inhumanly high pitched wailing coming from the creatures mouth and that fucking enraged me to no end.

I was sleep deprived, utterly stressed and all this noise was just fueling my rage and anger and hatred.

The few times I could grab onto an arm it felt revoltingly thin and slimy. The thing smelled absolutely foul, like warm bad milk with decaying dead animals.

I managed to get one hand to hammer fist down on the thing's face and it’s head bounced against the metal.

It briefly stopped making noise and my brain approved.

So, being a pattern creature, I did it again.

Bang. No noise. Good.

It clawed at my face and scratched me painfully on my cheeks, chest and arms. Then screeched as if calling out for someone.

Hammer again. Wet Smack. No noise. Good.

My body felt pain but it felt...distant. So I ignored them.

Smack. Again. Silence. Good. SMACK. Again. More Silence. Good.

SMACK SMACK. Again. Again.

Crack. Smack. Crunch.

It’s resistance was getting weaker and weaker but more importantly, quieter.

I briefly noticed that Lone had stopped screaming and I couldn’t hear Marri either. But it was just a brief passing observation as the thing started to make more noise.

I feel so tired, I just want to sleep...STOP MAKING SO MUCH NOISE!

With one final roar I brought both hands up and slammed them down onto the fuckers still grinning face, aiming all strength onto it’s nose area.

It’s nose was more receded than a humans with enlarged slits.

A sickening crack rang out as I felt cartilage depress into its skull.

There was silence as I took one heavy breath..then another heavy breath.

Shaking and shivering.

I felt like I was going to vomit.

Suddenly I was tackled from the side and had the air knocked out of me.

Stars punched into my vision and I didn’t register what had happened for a second or more.

Something was trying to bite into my side as it pinned me down, so I clawed at it to try and keep it off me.

As pain seared in my side, I let out a growl of pain and as I looked up, I could see the smashed up face of the creature I had been beating on staggering behind what I realised was a second one currently biting down on my lower ribs.

My adrenaline fueled rampage was slowly draining from me as I started to panic and started to groan, trying to muster the last few dregs of strength.

I feel weak...and so tired...dammit I can’t fight two of them...I hope Marri escaped with Lone..

Without warning, the pain in my side stopped as I felt the second creature release my side and raise its head.

It looked at me with bulging, grotesquely large yellow eyes with its mouth wide open.

It seemed like it was trying to say something…but couldn’t? Its face fell to the side away from me as the first creature came falling on top of me.

Raising my hands, I grabbed its throat, trying to keep it from biting my face.

I squeezed as hard as I could and felt its windpipe collapse under my thumbs with no attempt to fight back.

Must have already been too weak….damn I don’t feel good.

I heard a loud crack next to me as I pushed the limp creature off.

I looked over and saw Marri had the second creature in a headlock and had crab locked the vile piece of shit from behind.

I got up and stumbled as I stood over Marri who was visibly squeezing the things neck as hard as she possibly could with her arm and there was a few seconds as I just stared dumbfounded by the situation before realising I needed to do something more.

I need to..make sure.

“Roll it this way” I struggled to push out the words.

Marri pushed the thing off her and it flopped over onto the floor with a slap.

Once it was away from her I knelt on its back and grabbed its jaw and the back of its head and I twisted and yanked with whatever strength I had left until the neck joint felt sickenly limp.

I took no satisfaction with the snaps and cracks where tendons and bones probably were getting heavily destroyed, but I think Marri had already snapped its neck.

Half of me was appalled by this extreme violence, but the other half was too enraged to care right now.

And so tired...

I got up and shakily stumbled over to the first shithead and started clumsily stomping on its neck.

Just to make sure.

After several stomps, I slipped, fell over and broke down, sobbing on the floor.

This act of violence was so terrible.

I didn’t stop however, I couldn’t, as I got up and dragged the body to the window and heaved it out, still sobbing.

Repeating the same for the second but I stopped when a set of keys landed on the floor.

There were around 8 of them and each one had a number on it.

What if..

I finished throwing the body out and picked up the keys before staggering over to the door and, matching up the number 8, managed to lock the door.

YES!

I felt a huge improvement to my sanity at that point and I grinned moronically, looking over at Marri in the moonlight who was shaking, drinking some water next to the cot that was holding a quiet Lone and swapping glances from him to me.

She had tears streaming down her face but she managed to give me an awfully broken smile that almost looked like...

I started to panic as a cold feeling swept over me in anticipation for her to tell me something horrendous had happened to Lone…

But nothing was said and I heard a faint mewl as I heard Lone do a big sigh.

We were both eerily silent, staring at the cot and at each other before my body started to succumb to exhaustion and I felt overwhelmingly weak and dizzy.

The room started to spin rapidly and I felt like I was falling through quicksand as I stumbled and then collapsed onto the floor, my vision just rolling around.

My muscles were not responding and I felt numb, confused and sick.

It was similar to a time I had been spiked when out with a group of friends.

A horrible experience where I could think perfectly fine, but my other senses were all sparking in and out of existence.

My body simply wouldn't react or allow me access to my senses properly.

Then, the paramedics were called and were trying to communicate with me to try and help but I had no way of communicating physically, yet I was screaming inside my mind “HELP! I’VE BEEN DRUGGED! I CAN HEAR YOU!”

A very troubling experience, where you realise, the actual you, the grey ball of thinking matter, is trapped in a meat and bone suit of armour.

My mind started fading as I figured that either the bites or scratches must have infected or poisoned me and my body went into shutdown mode.

And then….the void.

…

..

.