Creatures

Part 5: Showdown

The gym seems to shimmer as if coated in a layer of fog. The kind of fog that doesn't do much damage but is enough to make everything fuzzy and feel out of place. Warm up just ended and the game is about to begin. Gold medal game, all or nothing. The opposing team is already lined up on the court with their tallest player ready to take jump. In a blur of motion the game begins and the other team gains possession.

 I turn to direct my team but stop short. Alex and Riley are on the court. None of my friends play basketball. Suddenly the ball comes flying in my direction and seems to perfectly land in my hands. Something is wrong, the ball doesn't feel right. The haziness in the air morphs into a thick cloud of hot steam exactly like a sauna. The ball in my hands starts to shrink smaller and smaller as the cloud grows and swallows me. The hot air is too much for me to handle and I start to involuntarily fall to the ground. The basketball has become smaller than my fist and yet for some reason I can't let it go, like some sort of greater force is willing me to keep hold of it. 

Number 34, captain of the other team crouches down to my level and grabs my hand with the tiny basketball in it and firmly presses it to my chest until the basketball becomes nothing. My body starts to shake uncontrollably and I can see an explosion of red where the girls hand had just been. In the blink of an eye the gym is clear of the steam, the spectators and everyone but Alex. She is holding me and yelling frantically and I just close my eyes and try to block it out. I'm okay, I just need to sleep.

"Tara! Tara please! I can't be alone, I can't do it." Alex's rough voice is pleading, she sounds traumatized for some reason.

I just continue to rest, I know I need rest. Alex is never upset, she just keeps her feelings to herself most of the time. Mrrrrrrgggggrrrrlllll. That sound, what is--. The creatures! I'm not in the gym. I sit up instantly only to find the world tipping from side to side. The events of the day come rushing back like a cluster of unorganized photos. Suddenly I feel Alex wrapping her arms around me.

"I thought you were gone too!" Alex whispers. Gone? Gone where?

"Where are Riley and Kate?" I ask. Alex pulls back to give me the most heartbroken look I have ever seen on her face, or anyones for that matter. That's when I clue into everything. The screams and shattering glass just before the door broke. They were watching the windows at the back of the cabin, and now they will never leave. Gone.

"We have to go Tara." Alex says softly. "The creatures are still out there, and we might have a chance. We can't let Riley and Kate's deaths be for nothing."

"What happened? The creature came at me and I hit something, and that was it."

"It was the counter. Once I saw you on the ground with that thing on top of you I tried to push through the mob of them. I then dragged you into here." She stops to gesture to the hall with broken shelves that we were sitting in. I must have hit my head pretty hard, I can feel the throbbing pain increase as I start to come further out of my daze.

"How did you keep them off of you?"

"We have learned that the creatures skulls are much weaker than we anticipated them to be. They also have extreme sensitivity to heat and light." She recites. "I didn't get to share that one before they started attacking. Come on let's get out of here, I know you're hurt but we don't have time."

I stand up and she hands me a blood covered table leg.

"It's the best weapon we have." She shrugs while holding up her own. I nod and she creeps up to the door ready to fight our way out of this place. It's a showdown 2 against 12 or more. Pretty good odds right? Before we even open the door I can smell them and hear their ragged breathing. I take a deep breath and hold up the pathetic excuse of a weapon. Bang. Within seconds of the door hitting the ground the things are around us. Growling and screeching through their tight mouths, baring the teeth that brought Riley and Kate to their ends.

I start trying to hit them as hard as my weak arms could. Alex makes some progress moving forward while I am still stuck in the closet door frame. All of their eyes illuminated by the sliver of light peeking around the door frame. Light. Extreme sensitivity to heat and light. I grab a two bottles of mysterious liquids from the shelf closest to me and run through the crowd of pale white creatures. As I try to run through they cling to me and jump me from behind. Their claws tearing my clothing and their weight slowing me down.

"Cover me Alex!" I yell as loud as I possible can in hopes she will hear me through the never ending shrieks and vicious growls. She makes some dramatic movements to help keep the creatures off me while I run. I make it to the living area and have two of the things lashing out at me with their disfigured arms. The ground around me is littered with the white limp bodies of the dead creatures, and I have to fight to keep my last meal where it needs to be. The corpses smell worse than their living forms if it was even possible. The dead bodies have a dark shade of blood oozing from them in various places.

While fighting against the two creatures, I make it to the remains of a dining table I remember seeing earlier. I struggle to empty the bottle in my hand while keeping the creatures off me, but I finally empty them out on the wood. I hope to god whatever this stuff is that it's flammable. The bottles were decorated with a collage of warnings so I would be surprised if they aren't. I pick up Kate's matches from the floor.

"Alex!" I scream out to get her attention. She looks over and sees the matches in my hand then sends the killing blow to the creature at her feet. I drop the match and start to run, hoping Alex is behind me and that my plan will be successful.

My prayers are answered as I feel a wave of heat from behind me, and then see Alex at my side. I don't chance looking back, I just run. I swat away low hanging branches and feel shrubs scratching the exposed skin on my legs.

I'm not sure how long we run for, but we reach our original picnic spot and I almost stop to break into tears. We stopped to have a picnic and now only half of us are coming out alive and we won't be the same again. No one can be the same after seeing the things we did.

We reach the car and both hop inside, Alex volunteers to drive because of my head that still throbs. She pulls off the shoulder and turns around towards our home. Alex has a tight grip of the wheel with her knuckles starting to turn white.

I don't even know what to do when I get home. There is no easy way to tell people what happened, and there is no way to not tell them. I start to let tears roll down my cheeks as I watch the trees fly by in the window. All of the 'what ifs' start to swallow me whole. I could have refused to come, I could have requested to continue down the highway rather than down the trail even further. I could have been more vocal about the suspicious things. How could I have been so stupid! What are we supposed to say to Riley and Kate's families? Hey there! We tried to go on a picnic in the forest but got ambushed by weird science experiment creatures and your daughter is dead! Yeah, no.

I turn my head to look down the empty road and almost think I'm actually losing it. The sunny sky is obscured by the familiar boney, distorted silhouette. Alex sees it too and goes to slam on the breaks, but it's too late. The all too familiar image of the creature was back, and this creature was directly in front of Kate's small car. I see everything in a matter of seconds, not my life, but every single little mistake I made throughout the day. All the mistakes that led to the deaths of two of my closest friends. Now I draw one last breath and wait in anticipation as the car is about to make impact, the last thing to meet my eyes are the big haunting eyes of the creature. Those eyes are the last thing I will ever see. Crash.