Chapter 7:
The Creature

"Aw crude!" Bill yelled as the coffee ran down the front of his shirt. He reached for a paper towl, and
tried to wipe himself off. "I need to stop working so late." Bill Harms was the CFO of P.C. Gamer
Railways. He was in his office at the local station doing some paperwork and filing. He had just finished
trying to clean himself up, when the phone rang.

Brrrrriiiinnnngg!!!

"What now." He picked it up. "Hello?"  "*gasp*"  "Hello!"  "hello"  "Who's this?"  "This is Katie, Katie
Wells. I need your help. There--*gasp*--coming for me! Help--" she was blubbering hysterically. "Madame,
I can't help you, why the @#&% would you call me. Go phone the police!!"  "*gasp* I did. No answer."
"No one was there?"  "No one."  "Look, they probably just got called out or something, nothing is wrong.
Good-bye!!"  "No, wait, you don't unders-----"

Click.

"Man, what a nut. Must be her time of the month, I guess. Now where was I...."

Clink.

He raised his head to the window. Darkness. He squinted. It appeared to be moving.

Clink.

He got up and slowly moved toward the window. Closer, closer, closer. The black still seemed to moved. He
put his face to the window, and looked out. The ground was milky-lit from the full moon.

CRASH!!!

He reeled backward as the glass shattered before him. A massive clawed hand was rushing though it. Thud!
He landed on his back. The creature began to climb through the window. Bill rolled over and tried to get up,
but the thing lept onto him. It landed on his back, and sank it's teeth into his neck. He struggled to pull it
off. It's taloned hands began ripping at his chest. He stood up and began straining to get the creature off. It
hissed in his ear. He ran backward, slamming it into the wall.

Briefly, it let go. Bill bolted for the door. He set his hand on the knob, and yanked the door open. But as
soon as he had ran one step out the creature was upon him. It's talons slashed his main artery and ripped
open his jugular. Bill gurgled a scream as he fell forward onto the floorboards. He slid accross them. The blood
was flowing out. He slid off the porch and onto the dusty ground. The blood began to mingle with dirt and
dry. The creature ran over and looked him in the eyes. Bill had never seen anything so hideous in his life.
The creature bit his head off.....

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The creature. It was coming. Closer it was, but Jack couldn't see it. Where was it? He knew it was near, but
where? He looked right, and left. Where was it? Suddenly he fell face first as a big weight descended on him.
The creature had him pinned down. But he wasn't dead. How odd. A thing coming toward him. A creature on
his back, and a thing in front. The thing....

He awoke. His back burned, and his leg was throbbing uncontrollably. Jack looked around. He was in a cave. He
was lying on a pile of coal. He moved. Someone was next to him. A person. The person felt cold. He arched his
back to relive some of the pressure on the swelling. His legs were cramped, and he had a headache. He looked
forward. There was a heating furnace, with a cooking grill in it. Something was on the grill, it looked like....Jack
couldn't quite make it out. There were things, no wait, zombies around it. Suddenly, one of them turned and
looked at him.

"Master, he wakens."

Footsteps. Jack slowly turned his head. Stepping from the shadows, was the creature from his dream. The one
who had pinned him down. Suddenly, it all came rushing back to him. The tunnel. The creature chasing him. The
thing in front of him. His blood ran cold as he looked upon the vile beast. Then it yelled. It was the same
horrible cry Jack had heard at the parsoniage....

It was a FlesHorder. Jack could hardly bear to look upon the FlesHorder. It had a brain for a head, and on the
front of the brain was a mouth, filled with sharp jagged fangs. The spinal cord and esophagus was it's neck.
From the collerbone down was an assortment of organs and flesh stuck to it's exposed skeleton. It's hands and
feet were human, but they had huge 3 in. talons on them. But the most hideous thing of all, was the eye.
His belley, which was hanging out, had one giant eyeball secured right under the ribacage, all blood soaked.

It stepped  forward, taking Jack by the cuff of his coat, and began dragging him along the ground. His body
was in such great pain, he could not pull away. Bump. Bump. Bump. His vision swam. Suddenly, the
creature stopped, reached down, and stood him upright. The fire warmed him. He saw they were pulling
a leg off the grill. Next to it was the coal bin for the furnace. A shovel lay near it. All around the fire, hell's
minions were eating.

The creature pushed him forward.

Crackle, Crackle, Pop, Crackle.

The flames came nearer. The zombies began to moan more, eager for this newest feast. "I got to act, and now!"
Jack thought. They were ready to shove him into the furnace. Jack reached down with all his might and
grabbed the shovel, and with one painful twist, spun around, slamming it into the FleshHorder's chest and
eyeball. It howled.

Jack bolted for the caves "entrance". It was actually a catacombish type hallway. He ran down. Faster, faster.
His body was screaming all over. His eyes were caked in blood. Tears streamed his face. Faster, faster. Every
step hurt more than the last. Down this hallway. Up that one. To the left. Down again. Up again. To the
right. Faster, faster. White streaks began flashing across his eyes. Suddenly, ahead he saw some stairs. Up he
went. Round and round. He reached the top. The Mausoleum? He dashed down the hallway, the moaning
growing behind him. He flew out the front.

There were the trees, and bushes, and a tunnel. What was strange though, was the clouds had vanished, and
instead a black, starry night with a bright full moon was present....

He looked into the tunnel. A cold line traced it's way up his spine. The thing was coming toward him, just as
it had done before. It was riding toward him.....

Slowly but surely, it was coming for him, and he couldn't move....

to be continued...

Chapter 8: The Thing