They Come
There's no doubt about it: We fear rain. We wear our trenchcoats, and our umbrellas, and all that, to avoid getting hit by some lousy droplets of water.
But what is it that makes us fear it? It's not something we learn, it's something deep, that resonates within us.
An unexplicable repulsion towards getting ourselves wet during a downpour. It is not a learnt fear. It's instinctive.
Instinct. A small word for such a huge idea.
I've lived in the countryside for 4 months now, and am now back in the city.
The neighbors used to tell me to nail the windows shut for about 2 or 3 weeks right after I started living there, but it was the beginning of the summer, and with all the heat of the sun, I wasn't gonna do something as stupid as that. At least, I thought it was stupid.
You know that smell, the one that rises just before the rain starts falling on you? In the city, people will always say it's the smell of watered earth. Of the dirt getting wet. Of bacteria, and plants recieving the rain. But the people have never been in the country, they haven't the faintest idea. You see, the cities, the huge metropolis has not always been there. Mankind has been living in nature far more than it has been living in the cities. That is why we still have the instinct to fear the rain.
It is not the smell of earth, dirt, bacteriae, plants... it's their smell. They come out in the rain, and they seek to mate.
But they cannot hold their own, for they must retreat hastily, as soon as the rains give in, and the water stops.
I didn't nail my windows shut, and as soon as the rain came, I started hearing it. Have you ever heard the tiny, almost unnoticeable hum or high pitch that TVs make when they are turned on? Have you ever felt a pressure on your chest when a low pitched beat is heard? Those are the things that filled the air. That smell, and those moans; high and low thumping moans.
It's the smell they follow. I came home a bit wet, for the rain started on my way home. I started hearing those noises, some time after I entered my house. Then the scratching on my door began. I went to check it through the window, and what I saw was horrible. What at first looked like a giant worm was in fact a humanoid thing, with it's lower body being one long leg or tail. Its small, atrophied arms were strong enough to allow them to crawl, slither. And its face, it looked like it had been petrified, the only thing that looked like it was in use was its nose. It moved. And as soon as I got close to the window, it's face shifted towards me. The window was slightly open, and now I know it turned because it could smell me.
It moved towards the window, but it wasn't strong enough to pull itself up inside, and I had enough time to close the window. Soon enough, it turned, trying to sense the smell. My odor. And after a while, more came. From the hills came an entire legion of those things. 300, 400, maybe.
Thoughts of monkeys running up, towards high rocks, and climbing trees came to my mind. These are the things we've feared since the dawn of time.
After a while, the macabre sight became something I couldn't stand. The noise was so much I couldn't sleep, and the things were so ugly and disgusting, yet I could not stop watching.
Soon, I saw the old stray dog that always wandered around. It was a dirty dog, it must have been 15 years old. Too old to run, too old to live. They grabbed hold of his paws, one, two, three, five... The dog started howling, and tried to bite one, then the other. Soon, they overpowered the poor animal, and then... It happened. From their chests came out a sting. One, two, three, five, they all started stinging the poor beast. after that, they all turned to see towards the East. Then they started crawling, as fast as they could, towards the plains. They dissappeared as fast as they came.
