XI - Josh
Josh
felt the air rush out of him as he landed on his back in the half frozen grass
of the cemetery. His vision blurred for
a second, spots of silver clouding it and then vanishing, leaving behind a
dizzying headache. Above him, he could
see the orange glow, like firelight, only wrong somehow, lighting up the clouds
of fog that passed over him, and in the middle, a figure, head and shoulders only,
peered down at him, its head shaking wildly as if it were trying to expel a
demon.
His
arms worked automatically, dragging him away from the wall as his feet tried to
find purchase so he could get up and run.
His mouth was working silently, until his breath built up once more and
the words spilled out, "What the fuck! What the fuck! What the fuck!" The creature's wild gaze remained focused on
him as it crawled over the top of the wall, clinging to the rock like a lizard,
before leaping forwards like a cat.
Josh
was on his feet now, staring down at the thing which was crawling towards him
on all fours. He could see that it was
as large as a man, and proportioned much the same, but its arms and legs were
disjointed in comparison, allowing it to stay so close to the ground and move
so strangely. It crawled forwards
slowly, looking up at him now at an angle that would be impossible for any
human neck. It hissed and squealed and
then he brought his boots down where head met spine and there was a crunch that
made his own spine quiver.
What
the hell is this thing?
He
stepped away and let his gaze rise up to the top of the wall once more. The light had gone out.
He
stared at it for a moment, just shivering in the cold, before he made his way
towards it once more and began to climb.
Nothing
interrupted him this time around and he landed on the higher, asphalt coated
level of the car park with a light thud.
He could make out the looming shadow of the apartment block and ran
towards it, searching along its walls for the door. He half tripped over a piece of piping he had forgotten jutted
out onto the pavement, catching his ankle and twisting it just enough to cause
a lingering pain.
He hobbled
onwards until he reached the door. It
pulled open with ease.
Inside
the apartments were even darker than outside.
He wished he had fuel left in his lighter. It was quiet.
"Paige?"
He
hadn't even realised he was going to call for her, but somehow he knew she was
the one who had screamed. It just made
sense. Nothing about this made sense.
"Paige? Are you in here? Are you alright?"
His voice echoed. It made the
building sound empty, even though he knew there must be people behind each of
these doors. Had they not heard the
scream? Didn't they care? Or were they cowering in there, in the dark,
holding onto each other like fragile dolls.
He
heard something rattle behind a door as he went past.
He
burst into the stairwell and began to run up the stairs, two at a time,
ignoring the pain in his ankle. The air
in the well was clammy and warm. It
smelt bad, slightly sulphurous. There
were wet and sticky patches on some of the steps. He slipped a few times, covering his clothes in the stuff, but he
didn't stop to check it out.
At
the top he rushed out into the corridor and called out once more.
"Paige!?"
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