Assassin

Chapter Five

       There hadn’t been another car on the forest road since Emmie had turned onto it.  In a way she was glad, it meant she hadn’t had to back up or pull into one of the few dirt passing places.  Still, it seemed odd, given that the narrow road was usually a favourite short cut for locals like herself.   

     Usually Emmie only used the forest road during the day, but tonight she was in a hurry, and losing track of time at work had made her even later.  Her friend Sally was coming over with her latest boyfriend, Jack, to watch a film and have a takeaway with Emmie and boyfriend Alex.  Alex hated it when Emmie was late, which she always seemed to be, and the last thing Emmie needed was Alex in a foul mood.

      Reaching down to turn up the cars compact disc player, Emmie glanced at it’s clock, six thirty-four and already it was pitch black.  As she looked back up, out at the dark road ahead, a scream rose in her throat.  Slamming on the brakes, Emmie waited for the inevitable, and watched in horror as the dark figure of a man collided with the front of her car.  He rolled onto the bonnet, then bounced off it, landing just ahead of her on the road.

     Heart hammering in her throat, wondering where the man had come from and how badly he was hurt, Emmie threw open the car door and got out.  She ran to his side, dropping to her knees on the road, already wondering whether to roll him onto his back or whether that would cause more damage.  As she reached out to look for a pulse at his neck, Emmie drew her mobile phone out of her jacket pocket, switching it on as her fingers touched skin.  Except it wasn’t skin, it was too rough to be skin, too hairy.  She screamed, she couldn’t help it, snatching her hand back as she began to scuttle backwards, away from the thing in front of her.  It moved fast, rolling towards her, clamping one rough-scaled hand around her wrist as its own momentum brought it to its knees.  Its other hand, complete with claws, covered her mouth.

     As the creature dragged her to her feet, knocking the mobile phone out of her hand, Emmie caught sight of the other creatures sprinting towards them out of the trees.  She wanted to scream, but knew there was no point, not with the hairyy hand muffling all sound.  She kicked at her attacker, shoved at him, hoping to at least loosen his grip on her.  The thing seemed to laugh, not even flinching, as the others formed a circle around them.

     In the light from her own headlamps Emmie allowed herself her first good look at her captors, at what appeared to be scarring left over from serious burns, and rough matted hair that must have been their original skin covering.  The creatures, because she could clearly see now that they weren’t human, were somewhere between six and a half feet and seven feet tall.  Their hands, though claws was a better description than hands would ever be, bore an extra finger.  The thicker  hair on their heads was long, brown, matted and dirty.  Dark eyes, without whites, glinted at her through long narrow slits.  Somewhere in her mind someone was screaming ‘alien,’ it almost made Emmie giggle, and that was when she realized hysteria was about to rear its head.

     The creature holding her turned her slightly so that she was facing him, he moved his hand from her mouth to seize her jaw, his talon-like nails digging into the soft flesh to hold her mouth firmly shut.  He stared straight into her eyes, his gaze probing deeper and deeper into her mind, leaving a cold creeping trail in their wake.  At first Emmie wasn't sure what the creature was doing, , but it seemed to be seeking something.  His cold trail ran deeper through her head, into areas that made her hands numb and her eyes falter, as he passed by.  It took Emmie a few seconds to realize that the creature was deep inside her body’s command centre, tampering with her senses and controls, terrified, she closed her eyes and shut him out.  The thing was silent for a moment, then it made that sound like a laugh again, as it released its grip on her wrist.